Posts Under: Blog

Addressing the Absence of Attention

August 19, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment


I love this pie chart! (Courtesy of Creating Passionate Users)

One of the most prominent phenomena in this present age is its move towards slicing and dicing everything down to its simplest and most fundamental parts. This relish for reductionism has resulted in an ever increasing number of people who acquires information in a vast number of areas without ever dipping below the surface.

The latest I read was that mini-MBAs are now growing in popularity. Who has time to spend 1 or 2 years of their lives pursuing a fast ubiquitous qualification these days – other than the few oddballs like me?

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An Aromatic Afternoon

August 8, 2009 • Blog • 1 comment

As a pristine pastoral paradise, Kangaroo Island boasted of farms offering various primary produces. One of the first places which we checked out during our first afternoon on the island was the Emu Bay Lavender farm, a family owned property located beyond the Kingscote area of the island at its Northernmost tip.


View Larger Map

To give you a sense of orientation, I have included a Google Map above which shows where the place is. From Penneshaw where the ferry landed, it was a breezy drive through the largely empty roads through the farms and wilderness to reach this field of fragrant flowers.

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How To Generate a Good Following

August 7, 2009 • Blog • 3 comments


Having great photographs always help (courtesy of the highly talented Nay aka tranquil niche – a friend from Graduate House)

Why do we return time after time to a favourite blog, Youtube channel, web forum, or Flickr group? What makes it seemingly easy for an individual to attract hordes of Twitter followers while you have problems breaking past the 500 barrier?

The answer lies in what I call the degree of interestingness of these user generated content creators. In other words, the quality of their writing, photography, videography, music making capabilities and how these can help to sustain an audience.

Of course, being able to build relationships are also important, but you can’t just befriend your way to blog superstardom if your blog posts, facebook updates and tweet feeds are complete bores.

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Hoppin’ Happily to Kangaroo Island

August 2, 2009 • Blog • 2 comments

The greatest highlight of my family’s trip back in April to South Australia must be the one to Kangaroo Island, a sprawling sanctuary for nature and wildlife offering some of most spectacular sights I ever saw down under.

While it is seven times the size of Singapore, Australia’s third largest island (after Tasmania and Melville Island) is pretty sparsely populated with close to 4,300 residents. Almost all of its economy is agricultural, tourism (it hosts some 140,000 visitors a year) and fishing oriented. The charming farms on the island boasts of primary produce like honey, milk, wool, meat, fine wines, and eucalyptus oil.

Of course, the greatest thing about Kangaroo Island is its abundant wildlife, both freely frolicking the vast bushes or living in parks and reserves.

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Why Alcoholic Ads Are ‘Belly’ Funny

July 27, 2009 • Blog • 3 comments

Being one who don’t mind an occasional tipple (or two or three), I have always wondered about why alcohol advertisements – particularly those touting beer – have always set the benchmark in terms of humour and hilarity.

Targeted at largely men, alcohol ads often tackle the lowest denominators of male desire. It is little wonder then that sexy scantily clothed females, outright sillyness and football/soccer/footie (or any combination of the above) are often used as themes. Somehow the idea of having a good time, getting a beer buzz and laughing till you drop seems to flow beautifully together. Oh and of course celebrities like the sensational Jessica Alba and the whimsically whiskered George Lam, amongst others.

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World’s Biggest Rocking Horse and More

July 19, 2009 • Blog • no comments

Have you ever wondered how the Greeks defeated the Trojans in Homer’s epic tale? Or marvelled about the excesses of childhood fantasies?

Well, we had a chance to find out the answers to these questions recently when we visited the Biggest Rocking Horse in the World. Located close to the fertile wine producing Barossa Valleys of South Australia just north of Adelaide City, the wooden (or was it concrete and steel?) wonder was billed as one of the must-sees in the festival state. While the object in mind was certainly mind-blowingly colossal, the record according to the Guinness Book of Records belonged to a much smaller albeit truly rocking variety from Japan. I suppose if one takes out the need for motion, South Australia’s colossal artificial equine would win hands-down.

Here’s a photo journal of our journey in the South. Enjoy!

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How HP Marries Art with Technology

July 14, 2009 • Blog • no comments

Through the kind invitation of HP and their PR agency Edelman, I was privileged to attend a special experiential showcase of HP’s ‘Touch the Future, Now’ technologies last Saturday night at VivoCity (11 July 2009). Its great to see technology companies focusing on enlivening the complete user experience beyond just the features and specifications alone, and HP has done a good job doing that.

Part of their “Touch the Future, Now” Campaign, HP partnered with five local illustrators (or artists as I prefer to call them) – Brian Chia, Soh Eeshaun, Ben Qwek, Neo Ann Gee and Michael Ng – to construct and share their visions for the future around music, art, communications, gaming and the cityscape in Singapore. Their works were projected within the visual of an HP TouchSmart PC on the façade of VivoCity as part of a HP ‘Touch the Future, Now’ Light Show Extravaganza.

First, I made a trip to the “Touch the Future, Now” Experiential Zone at VivoCity Central Court B. Featuring HP’s TouchSmart Technology, it allowed one to interact more engagingly with the PC beyond just the usual mouse and keyboard interfaces.

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