Ebenezer Scrooge may have more company this Christmas (image source)
Penny pinchers. Value-for-money shoppers. Bargain bin hunters.
Call them what you may, thrifty consumers have been around since time immemorial. The recent economic onslaught and accompanying rise in inflation will likely increase this group of discount shoppers. In a cash and job strapped situation, everybody – rich and poor alike – will pay more attention to their wallets.
There is nothing quite like a trip to Bangkok to revive, refresh and rejuvenate one’s jaded senses. From ultra-modern shopping malls, colourful street markets, health giving spas, larger-than-life shows to fabulous culinary delights, one is never spoilt for choice. Indulgence became our middle names as we soaked in the Sun – and rain – splashed pleasures of Asia’s “Sin City” during a short 3 Day 2 Night trip there.
What can one do in this city that never sleeps? Plenty of course! Let me count the ways…
Courtesy of Alex Steffen
Is there hope for our planet as the world population continues to explode? What measures can cities do to reduce their resource and energy use, narrow their carbon footprints, and give our planet a fighting chance for survival?
In a recent TED video, Journalist and sustainable activist Alex Steffen unveiled some surprisingly effective solutions to the climate change problem. Founder of the online magazine Worldchanging.com, Steffen proposed a couple of “cool” solutions and ideas that urban planners can consider:
Unfortunately, most of us do not have 8 arms (Source of image)
From organisational speed, let’s move on next to individual productivity. Once again, Harvard Business Review’s Ideacast features good ideas worth considering.
In “Productivity Secrets of a Very Busy Man“, Bob Posen, a senior lecturer at Harvard and executive chairman of a major investment firm, offers some great tips. Other than holding down two jobs, Posen sits on a few boards and manages to write a couple of articles a year.
After months of hard canvassing and pitching in a two stage competition, the winner of the Martell V.S.O.P. The Ultimate Start-up Space competition was announced last night. Mr Jeremy Nguee of the business idea “Preparazzi”, was selected by a panel of judges out of 10 finalists.
Predators are better in the movies than on the streets (source)
There are two forms of marketing out there.
The first is what I call Predatory Marketing. Almost every company and business selling to a consumer does this to some extent.
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I read this 2009 article in Museum Audience Insight on how technology is actually preferred by older museum visitors to younger ones. Have a look at the chart below:
Courtesy of Museum Audience Insight
According to their findings of visitors to Outdoor History Museums,
Singapore is not just a “fried rice paradise”. It is also a “hard sell paradise”.
If you flip through the papers on any single day, approximately 80% of the advertisements scream “DISCOUNTS”, “SALE”, “FREE”, “PROMOTION” and other words aimed at tugging at your wallets. Because we’re such avid bargain hunters, anything priced at the normal rack rates or list price will fail to trigger any immediate (or impulsive) purchase decision.
As I was about to enter my car a few days ago, I spotted this bright colourful flyer on my window.
Courtesy of Inner Altitude
Last night, I decided to catch a much talked about TED talk by Dr Jill Bolte Taylor and boy was I blown away! In the video, the celebrity neuro-anatomist described her experiences when she suffered a stroke on her left brain and painted a beautiful and vivid picture of that somewhat transcendental encounter. From that incident, she was able to isolate the functions of both brains via a first person perspective, showing how the two cerebral hemispheres (connected by a bunch of tissue called the corpus callosum) interact and work with each other.
Here’s the video for your viewing pleasure:
By now, tablet PCs are fairly de rigueur in almost any household with a need for fuss-free technology. Initiated first by Apple with its legendary iPad launch in April 2010 – barely 15 months ago – the market for tablet devices has swelled tremendously with major technology players launching a range of devices operating on Apple, Android, Blackberry, and Windows 7 Operating Systems (OS).
The latest player to jump into the fray is computer giant HP. Its tablet device the HP TouchPad runs on a proprietary HP WebOS 3.0, and comes with a 9.7 inch diagonal flush capacitive multitouch display, support for Adobe Flash, a virtual keyboard and instant-on access.
