Forget apps, old-school mobiles ring in a comeback

May 27, 2014

Forget apps, video calls and smiley faces, handsets like the Nokia 3310 or the Motorola StarTec 130 allows just basic text messaging and phone calls.

They fit in a pocket, have batteries that last all week and are almost indestructible: old-school Nokias, Ericssons and Motorolas are making a comeback as consumers tired of fragile and overly-wired smartphones go retro.

Forget apps, video calls and smiley faces, handsets like the Nokia 3310 or the Motorola StarTec 130 allows just basic text messaging and phone calls.

But demand for them is growing and some of these second-hand models are fetching prices as high as 1,000 euros a piece.

“Some people don’t blink at the prices, we have models at more than 1,000 euros. The high prices are due to the difficulty in finding those models, which were limited editions in their time,” said Djassem Haddad, who started the site vintagemobile.fr in 2009.

Haddad had been eyeing a niche market, but since last year, sales have taken off, he said.

Over the past two to three years, he has sold some 10,000 handsets, “with a real acceleration from the beginning of 2013″.

“The ageing population is looking for simpler phones, while other consumers want a second cheap phone,” he said.

Among the top-sellers on the website is the Nokia 8210, with a tiny monochrome screen and plastic buttons, at 59.99 euros.

Ironically, the trend is just starting as the telecommunications industry consigns such handsets to the recycling bins, hailing smartphones as the way ahead.

Finnish giant Nokia, which was undisputedly the biggest mobile phone company before the advent of Apple’s iPhone or Samsung’s Galaxy, offloaded its handset division to Microsoft this year after failing to catch the smartphone wave.

But it was probably also the supposedly irreversible switch towards smartphone that has given the old school phone an unexpected boost.

‘Back to basics’


For Damien Douani, an expert on new technologies at FaDa agency, it is simply trendy now to be using the retro phone.

There is “a great sensation of finding an object that we knew during another era – a little like paying for vintage sneakers that we couldn’t afford when we were teenagers,” Douani told AFP.

There is also “a logic of counter-culture in reaction to the over-connectedness of today’s society, with disconnection being the current trend.”

“That includes the need to return to what is essential and a basic telephone that is used only for making phone calls and sending SMSes,” he added.

It is also about “being different. Today, everyone has a smartphone that looks just like another, while ten years ago, brands were much more creative”.

It is a mostly high-end clientele that is shopping at French online shop Lekki, which sells “a range of vintage, revamped mobile phones”.

“Too many online social networks and an excess of email and applications, have made us slaves to technology in our everyday life. But Lekki provides a solution, allowing a return to basic features and entertainments,” it said on its website.

A Motorola StarTac 130 — a model launched in 1998 — and repainted bright orange was recently offered for 180 euros, while an Ericsson A2628 with gold coloured keys for 80 euros.

“We have two types of profiles: the 25 to 35 year-olds attracted by the retro and offbeat side of a telephone that is a little different, and those who are nostalgic for the phone that they used when they were younger,” said Maxime Chanson, who founded Lekki in 2010.

“Some use it to complement their smartphone, but others are going for the vintage, tired of the technology race between the phone makers.”
- AFP Relaxnews 

Renting headaches inspired property website

Renting headaches inspired property website

The property rental website 99.co was founded by (from left) Mr Conor Mclaughlin, Mr Ruiwen Chua, Mr Anuj Bheda and (far right) Mr Darius Cheung. Mr David Yap (second from right) is part of the website’s team.

 

Digital Life, The Straits Times

Monday, May 26, 2014

 

Serial entrepreneur Darius Cheung, 33, gets all of his start-up ideas from personal hurdles that he has had to overcome.

His latest start-up, 99.co, is a rental site which carries listings from landlords looking for tenants, and covers both private and HDB properties. After many painstaking searches for a place to rent over the years, he said he yearned for a site which would simplify the search through online classifieds.

Mr Cheung was 13 when he came to Singapore on a scholarship from Hong Kong. He has lived in rented homes for the past 20 years. "Searching for a place to rent is not a great experience and searching online is inefficient," he said.

Some online sites carry duplicate listings and bogus ones, he said, because landlords and agents post listings on multiple websites in order to gauge how the market reacts.

"People try to game the market and it's very frustrating for tenants," he said.

When Mr Cheung set up 99.co with three partners, they sank in about $300,000 of their own money.

They chose the name because nine in Chinese symbolises longevity.

"By helping customers find their best home, 99.co wishes everyone longevity," he said. They have also registered the name in Chinese.

Their company's aim is to improve the search process.

They decided that it was worth the effort to manually verify and refresh listings to ensure that each is legitimate and unique.

They send a photographer to each address to take pictures of the place to give potential
tenants an accurate idea of what they are about to rent. It is labour intensive and it takes time, but it is worth it, said Mr Cheung.

After about half a year of work, the site now boasts 2,000 unique listings.

This is like how Airbnb runs its online rental service, he said. Both renters and property owners must register profiles on the site and their reputations online matter a lot.

Users with dodgy profiles are far less likely to connect with other users. The system encourages good behaviour and discourages fraud.

"Yes, we take a lot of inspiration from Airbnb. We're like a long-term Airbnb, I guess," he said.

"They do a lot of education work, teaching people how to be a good host, and how to take photos for their listings," he said of the added level of detail Airbnb puts into its working process with property owners.

This is Mr Cheung's third start-up. His first was launched not long after he graduated from the National University of Singapore (NUS) with an electrical engineering degree.

He joined the NUS Overseas College programme, which took him to Silicon Valley, where he interned with an interactive marketing team for half a year. Then in 2005, he started TenCube, a mobile security firm, with two other engineers.

The idea for that, he said, came from losing his own phone and realising he needed to secure the data in the device remotely.

"It was a specific idea that we were convinced had value. We were probably in the right place at the right time, because more people were starting to carry (expensive) smartphones, as well," he said.

In 2010, TenCube was sold to the anti-virus giant McAfee, which renamed it WaveSecure.

The whole team went to McAfee as well. Mr Cheung worked there for 18 months, before the start-up bug bit again, and he left to start BillPin.

This service allows people to split bills among friends and keep track of payments more easily.

"It started because it was a need I had when I was in my mid-20s, when a lot of activities I did, such as having group meals, needed an easy way for me to split the expenses," he said.

Unlike TenCube, BillPin did not get sold to a bigger company and the team decided to move on.

The service had acquired 100,000 active users by then, but the team decided there was a ceiling to its potential.

Such a service works for a specific age group and bill splitting tapers off once people hit their 30s, explained Mr Cheung.

"People either grow out of a group activity lifestyle, or they aren't splitting bills as frequently," he said.

BillPin did not evolve into a payments company.

They had hoped it would after it attracted a sizeable base of users willing to transact on the platform, but they realised it would never become PayPal. "PayPal does payments better and on a much larger scale as well," he said.

With three other BillPin founders - Mr Ruiwen Chua, 31, Mr Anuj Bheda, 24, and Mr Conor Mclaughlin, 25 - he moved on to 99.co. "We gave Billpin a serious shot and it was a clear decision to move on," he said.

They got cracking on 99.co at the start of the year and just announced a $700,000 injection from venture capital firms East Ventures, 500 Startups and Golden Gate Ventures.

They plan to grow 99.co into a property listing site with Airbnb-style emphasis on user reputations to give it an edge over the competition. Providing an interface which connects renters and property owners directly will be that edge, they think.

Unlike with TenCube, Mr Cheung is not setting up 99.co to be acquired so soon. "I hope I can build something meaningful in order for the company to be a good place to work at. It underscores my attachment to this city," he said.

As for his next start-up idea, he said ideas percolate all the time when he thinks about hurdles he faces.

He pointed to writings from the famed computer programmer Paul Graham: "People understand problems that they face themselves, and that's the pattern I follow when I think about new start-ups to create."
 

Online courses increasing in popularity

Online courses increasing in popularity

A student from Shanghai Jiaotong University watches a video lecture from an online education platform called "Nanyang Academy" via his iPad in April. The university currently offers lectures for 42 courses on its website - more than 1,000 hours of instruction.

 

China Daily/Asia News Network

Monday, May 26, 2014

 

CHINA - When Zhang Yang went on maternity leave last April, she also signed up for an online learning course. While looking after her 1-year-old takes up most of her time now, Zhang is happy to continue her online classes in art history with Peking University.

"I've found the course quite fascinating as I also took the subject in college," she said. "Plus, class discussions can be quite interesting because sometimes you discuss the topics with people from different parts of the world."

Massive Open Online Courses - which involve widespread participation and open access through the Internet - were initiated in the West. However, users in China now form one of the largest student groups.

On April 29, 2014, the Ministry of Education set up its xuetangX.com online education centre under Tsinghua University. This online course platform is based on edX, which was jointly established by Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2012.

Tsinghua University started to work with and provide courses to edX in May 2013, and launched its first series of online courses in October. So far, the university has provided 25 online courses, first through its own website and now through xuetangX.com. The platform has more than 120, 000 registered users.

"At first we started edX as a completely free online courses platform as we aim to promote free and good quality education for all to promote education equality," said Kathy Pugh, vice-president of edX.

The platform now has 2.2 million learners worldwide. About 60,000 of them are from China.
Pugh said edX started to offer courses that require tuition fees in September 2013. Now, about 2 to 7 per cent of its clients pay for courses through edX.

"We believe that there is a market for people who study for a verified certificate and are willing to pay for it, ranging from $25 to $250," Pugh said. "Students who take the for-fee option clearly have better expectations and want to get more hands-on experience."

Liu Wenbo, general manager of MOOC-CN Information Technology Ltd, the company that produces xuetangX.com, believes many more people are willing to pay for MOOC courses and certification.

"The percentage from the edX statistics is low because it costs people nothing to register a course on edX. Personally, I think if you ask those who keep an eye on particular courses, I believe more than half of them would be willing to pay for a certificate. The tuition doesn't cost much after all," Liu said.

The company started to run xuetangX.com in cooperation with Tsinghua University in October 2013. Liu said that the company had not considered profit at that time.

"But now we are considering this, because we've done certain market research and there is a market for universities in China," he said.

Liu said one way of making such profits is to rent certain courses to universities in China that are willing to open particular courses but are not fully prepared to offer them in traditional classrooms.

"There is a large demand for this coming from second-tier universities," he said.

The MOOC platform started getting popular in China less than three years ago but Liu believes MOOC certificates will particularly benefit those who learn "emerging" subjects such as Internet finance.

"Such subjects are emerging and it takes a long time for traditional classrooms to grant a certificate like this," Liu said.

"So we can do it in cyberspace."

How miserable are Malaysians?

May 22, 2014

Malaysia is in the top 10 least miserable countries in the world and how accurate is this study?

 

By Caitlyn Ng

If a study done by Economic Intelligence Unit is anything to go by; Malaysians are apparently not very miserable. But how is this study done? Arthur Okun, a distinguished American economist, ‘misery’, as it were, could actually be measured with direct links to inflation and unemployment. He developed the original misery index for the United States only, taking the sum of the inflation and unemployment rates to create it. This, he felt, could adequately tell us how miserable the people in a country were.

Fast forward to the late 2000s and you see Steve Hanke, a Johns Hopkins University economist, expand upon the original index in order to include other countries outside USA. For the updated version, he took the data for each country exclusively from the Economist Intelligence Unit and thus, it became the economic indicator which assumed that both a higher rate of unemployment and a worsening of inflation will create economic and social costs for any country.

Taking a look at the global index, it’s easy to see that for most people, their quality of life is important. Constituents prefer lower inflation rates, lower unemployment rates, lower lending rates, and higher GDP per capita. That sounds like a perfect country but in reality is near impossible to satisfy all qualities. Which is why on “The Best” list, you will still see the major contributing factors as to what makes the citizens a little upset (not as much misery as those on “The Worst” list of course!) along with the current rates.

Note: The misery index score is the sum of the unemployment rate, the lending rate, and the inflation rate (consumer prices; end-of-period) minus the percent change in real GDP per capita. Only countries where all four data series were available from the Economist Intelligence Unit were included in this index.

The most miserable countries

Ranking (The Worst)	Country	Misery Index	Major Contributing Factor	Current Figures
1	Venezuela	79.4	Consumer Prices	56. 2%
2	Iran	61.6	Consumer Prices	39.3%
3	Serbia	44.8	Unemployment	20.8%
4	Argentina	43.1	Consumer Prices	44.0%
5	Jamaica	42.3	Interest Rate	10.6%
6	Egypt	38.1	Unemployment	11.9%
7	Spain	37.6	Unemployment	25.2%
8	South Africa	37.4	Unemployment	25.0%
9	Brazil	37.3	Interest Rate	29.7%
10	Greece	36.4	Unemployment	24.2%

 
The least miserable countries

Ranking (The Best)	Country	Misery Index	Major Contributing Factor	Current Figures
1	Japan	5.41	Unemployment	3.6%
2	Taiwan	6.13	Unemployment	4.03%
3	Singapore	6.38	Interest Rate	3.2%
4	Republic of Korea	6.77	Interest Rate	4.4%
5	Thailand	6.83	Interest Rate	5.7%
6	Qatar	7.39	Interest Rate	0.9%
7	Malaysia	7.88	Interest Rate	4.0%
8	China	7.90	Real GDP Growth	7.8%
9	Panama	8.24	Interest Rate	2.2%
10	Norway	8.75	Unemployment	3.5%

So how accurate is this study?

How happy are you in Malaysia (since we’re in the top ten for happy)?

Caitlyn Ng is an Investigative Journalist of SaveMoney.my, an online consumer advice portal which aims to help Malaysians save money through smart (and most of the time painless) savings in their daily banking, technology, and lifestyle spending habits.

'Malaysia among the worst places to work’

'Malaysia among the worst places to work’

May 22, 2014

Workers' rights in Malaysia are not guaranteed, reports the International Trade Union Confederation.

PETALING JAYA: According to an international trade union coalition, Malaysia does not guarantee workers’ rights.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has ranked Malaysia as among the worst places in the world to work in its debut report, Global Rights Index which was made public on Monday.

ITUC is an international confederation of national trade union centres with 325 affiliated organisations in 161 countries.

It ranked the best countries as 1 and the worst as 5. Malaysia was ranked as number 5 along with 23 other countries.

In the South East Asia region Singapore scored the highest ranking with number 3. Indonesia, Myanmar, and Thailand were ranked 4 while Philippines and Cambodia were ranked 5 respectively.

According to the report, countries ranked number 5 do not guarantee workers’ rights.

These countries have legislation that spells out rights but workers do not have access to these rights and are exposed to unfair labour practices and autocratic regimes.

There are also countries that are given 5+ rankings. These countries do not guarantee workers rights due to breakdown in the rule of law.

There are dysfunctional institutions due to internal conflicts. South Sudan and Syria are among them.

Countries like Norway and Uruguay that are ranked 1 have irregular cases of rights violation though its collective labour rights are guaranteed. Workers in these countries can defend their collective rights through collective bargaining.

Countries ranked 2 have repeated violations of rights. It has slightly weaker collective labour rights as certain rights are under constant attack by governments and companies.

Countries where governments and companies regularly interfere in collective labour rights and fail in guaranteeing important aspects of workers rights are given a ranking of 3. Canada and Israel are among some which fall within this category.

Tokyo tops list of best city travel experiences

May 22, 2014

Travellers who’ve visited Tokyo are more likely to sing its praises and leave with memories of positive experiences of their trip compared to other cities around the world, particularly in categories like cleanliness, hospitality and friendliness.

Tokyo has emerged as the top city for overall travel experience, according to a newly released survey that asked globetrotters to rate destinations across categories such as culture, shopping, restaurants and hospitality.

In TripAdvisor’s second annual Cities Survey, the bustling Japanese capital outranked New York and Barcelona, receiving high marks across the board from more than 54,000 global survey responses collected last year.

Travelers who’ve visited Tokyo are more likely to sing its praises and leave with memories of positive experiences of their trip compared to other cities around the world, particularly in categories like cleanliness, hospitality and friendliness, taxi service and local public transportation where the city took the top spot.

Overall, Tokyo made the top 10 ranking in 13 of 16 categories in the survey.

After Tokyo, New York also ranked favorably among TripAdvisor users, who gave the city top marks for its dining and nightlife scene and shopping.

Where the city failed to make a good impression was in categories like the friendliness of taxi drivers and value for money: in both groups, the city plummets to 30th position.

Other highlights:
Solo travelers may want to consider Singapore, which was ranked the top city for traveling alone in comfort, while Rome was voted the best city for culture.

And shopaholics and travelers accustomed to the lap of luxury may want to add Dubai to their itinerary, which topped the category for shopping and hotels.

Here are the top 10 cities for travel, according to a TripAdvisor survey:


1. Tokyo
2. New York
3. Barcelona
4. Istanbul
5. Prague
6. Vienna
7. Berlin
8. Rome
9. Paris
10. Dubrovnik

From WeChat to WeBed: Next generation of online hookups

Report from The Heat (Malaysia) dated 29 March 2014 :-

From WeChat to WeBed: Next generation of online hookups



 KUALA LUMPUR: Sam is looking for a hot date. But the 24-year-old student from a private university isn’t “putting his moves on” at a night club or a café. Instead, he keeps his eyes on his smartphone.

He spots his target on screen – a pretty girl, judging by her profile picture.

She is alone and she has deliberately allowed herself to be discovered through her mobile device.

He sends her a message. “Hi, how are you?” he begins.

He would follow it with small talk and trivial conversation.

Eventually, the topic turns to sex.

A week later, they check into a hotel room together.

Sam is just one of the many people who have turned to their smartphone applications for a quick and easy date.

The particular app here is WeChat, a popular instant messaging app from China.

One of WeChat’s most popular functions is Look Around, which allows users to scan their surroundings and link up with other people within a 3km radius.

Other users with the Look Around feature turned on can be discovered and so a conversation can be initiated.

The feature, meant to discover new and like-minded friends within your vicinity, has now been turned into a method for people to discover potential one night stands.

This isn’t a feature exclusive to WeChat. Geosocial networking, as this is called, has been available in “hook-up” apps like Blendr, Grindr and Singapore-based Paktor to set up dates and other misadventures.

WeChat, however, is not designed and marketed for this.

The application has no age restrictions and can be downloaded by anyone.

The application doesn’t require users to register their real names, letting users interact with each other anonymously.

A seemingly harmless instant messaging app might just be used for more than making friends.

Using WeChat as a hook-up application isn’t confined to Malaysia. AsiaOne has reported a story on how Singaporeans have been using WeChat as a means for one night stands and extra-marital affairs.

The story cites the anonymity of the user and ease of hooking up as having made it easy for people to seek and engage in sexual relations.

And it is easy indeed, as Sam puts it. T

he student would enable the Look Around feature everywhere he goes and has been “getting lucky” constantly. 

“When I add people into my contact list after discovering them, I will observe their movements and find out which girls indicate that they’re lonely through their status updates, and whether their photos show that they are a flirt,” he tells The Heat. 

“I would choose a good-looking girl and text her,” he adds, saying the conversation will turn more flirtatious and sexual as it goes on.

  “We sometimes end up sending naughty photos or videos to each other.” Sam uses WeChat to keep in touch with the girls he dates, and they would meet again at the same hotel for sex.

The virtual Casanova also uses the application to simultaneously date multiple girls. “I’m not only engaging one girl with this application. I use it to chat with several girls and date them,” he says. 

“But I don’t end up having sex with all of them,” he adds wryly, saying that this is because hotel rooms are too expensive for students like him.

Sam takes full advantage of the app’s innocent demeanour, as well as some of its notable features. 

“Whenever I’m on a date with my girlfriends, I would uninstall the application and then reinstall it, which wipes out all my conversations,” he says. 

“The best part of this app is that your contacts are not deleted when you uninstall and reinstall it.” 

 Sam says that he also discovers that married women are also using WeChat to find one night stand partners.

He understands that the app is being misused by married people for extra-marital affairs, but won’t deny that it is useful to “look around, chat around and sleep around”.

His housemates are also using WeChat to hook up with girls and date them, adding that he would also set up his friends with the girls from his contact list, and they had dated.

That Sam can so easily seek out a partner using the application is no surprise, as WeChat has an immensely wide user base.

The instant messaging app has over 600 million registered user accounts worldwide, with a 60% penetration rate among Malaysian smartphone users.

But WeChat isn’t just serving as a hub for instant affairs.

Sam notes that people are also using the app for business.

Businesses that include the selling of sex toys and prostitution. “One time, when I was using the Look Around feature, a girl started a chat with me and told me about her ‘service’.

I figured she was a prostitute trying to get customers and I stopped my conversation with her,” he says.

In a media event, Louis Song, WeChat country manager of Singapore and Malaysia, says that “WeChat is a way to make aspects of everyday life more convenient”.

But should it be making things more convenient for people to engage in sexual activities and extra-marital affairs?

Misusing the app as a way for a casual hook-up is one thing.

The fact that WeChat can be accessed and downloaded by anyone of any age means that minors might be subject to inappropriate content.

In November last year, the Chinese media reported that high school students are being exposed to prostitution accounts via the instant messaging app.

A quick search on the Internet also shows that websites selling sex toys would also provide their WeChat addresses as another channel of business.

It could be worse. A regular user unintentionally leaving her Look Around feature turned on might be getting unwanted requests.

Or, like the girls that Sam engages, use it for casual, sexual relationships.

Right now, it is best that parents keep an eye out on their children’s WeChat activities, but the best way to solve it depends solely on WeChat’s initiatives.

Critics have been calling the company to implement real-name registrations to avoid its issue with user anonymity.

Perhaps it is more prudent that age-restrictions or stricter content filtering be put in place.

This app makes it easier to connect with our friends and family, but the misuse of it will become something that will corrupt our generation.

What price, international school education in Malaysia ?

What price, international school education in Malaysia ?



Many parents are forking out amounts up to RM100,000 annually to send their children to international schools.

KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 ― Education is largely free in Malaysia's public schools but a growing number of middle-class parents  are forking out amounts up to RM100,000 annually to send their children to international schools.

The reason? To ensure their children receive a rounded education with access to top-notch facilities and even special classes like a Brain Gym.

Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim said in only three months, her 16-year-old son was involved in a 10km run, planted 2,000 tree saplings and volunteered for two days at the local Borders bookstore.

“The co-curriculum is more structured,” the mother of four told The Malay Mail Online in a recent interview.

Her three elder children had studied and graduated from national schools but she made a decision to switch her youngest, who had just completed his mid-secondary PMR examinations, to an international school last year, after a falling-out with the public school principal.

She loved that her son was able to have teachers who could devote more time to each student due to the smaller class sizes.

“And performing arts. There are auditions for the students and even though you don't make it, the process of going through it provides a lot of character-building, something public schools don't offer,” said the chairman of education activist group, Parent Action Group for Education (Page). International schools generally have classes that are half the sizes of those in public schools and extra curriculum is an integral part of the syllabus, Noor Azimah said, adding, although “you are paying through your nose”. Her son's school also organises school trips in the field, including scuba diving, which carries a steep price tag.

“But he said it’s too expensive and didn’t want to tax me anymore, so he wouldn’t go on those trips,” Noor Azimah said of her youngest child.

Noor Azimah believes that public schools too can achieve the quality and offer a wholesome education that many are paying for at international schools with a lot more focus, and organisation.
Manveet Kaur, a 37-year-old mother who enrolled her son of seven years at an international school last September, was concerned with the negative news about national schools in which she noted the general level of education has been falling.

She was worried that her eldest may be deprived of guidance due to teachers who allegedly skip classes, or suffer as a result of favouritism.

Just in the first grade, Manveet said her son already has compulsory swimming classes, extensive music class, robotic games and on Mondays, he has a class called Brain Gym.

“They play games that make you think,” the mother of two explained. She pays about RM16,000 a year for his fees.

Manveet also said she plans to send her younger daughter to an international school in the future.
International schools have mushroomed in Malaysia ever since the government dismantled its strict enrolment policy and allowed regular Malaysians into institutions that once catered only to the children of expatriate community and diplomatic circles.

On top of fees that is expected to rise from 8 to 15 per cent yearly, parents have to fork out a one-time registration fee of up to RM32,000 and a yearly re-enrolment fee of up to RM7,000. Some even charge parents a land and building fee, which is more than RM20,000 at one school.

A realtor was shocked when she estimated that she would have spent close to RM2 million sending all three of her children to international schools, a staggering amount even before they enroll in colleges.

“My god, they are bleeding us dry,” said the mother of three who only gave her first name, Joyce.

She added that the cost was worth the price because of the “horrendous quality” education in government schools.

Her youngest child’s school fees at the British International School in the city as a Year 5 student is even more expensive than of his sister’s university fees in the UK, at RM53,853 for this year alone, Joyce said.

She had enrolled her first two children into the secondary level at the International School KL (ISKL) after returning from abroad for a job posting.

Joyce plans to switch her son to ISKL because she preferred the International Baccalaureate system which allows students take a combination of science and arts subjects, which worked out perfectly for her daughter who is  now studying medicine.

She also echoed the sentiments of other parents when it comes to the quality of students being produced at government schools.

She said she was willing to sacrifice anything luxurious for herself to put her children through school alone.

Although the percentage of Malaysian students enrolled at international schools is still low at almost 0.4 per cent of the 5,250,732 total students enrolled in 2013 or almost 20,000, it went up almost 1 per cent at more than 15,000 students from the year before, according to numbers provided by the Education Ministry.

The total number of students include students from Year One to Form Five at public, private and religious schools.

Another mother who wanted to be known only as Cindy said she had enrolled all four children at the Mont Kiara International School.

“When they have to speak up in class, it builds character, it's a very wholesome learning,” the 40-year-old said.

Besides the North American curriculum, the teachers had instilled self-confidence in her children as they have a lot of opportunities to speak up in school, Cindy said.

The first two have completed their secondary education and the third is expected to continue to college in the US next year after graduating.

Her youngest child has a world-language class, where a certain language is taught every three months, before it switches to another.

The four-year-old, who had just lost his two bottom teeth is currently learning about the French culture, and language, Cindy said.

Father of two, David Chew estimates that he had spent up to RM500,000 for both his children’s fees in private schools, and later on international school.

The schools had also offered fancy trips to the students that range from RM1,000 to Tioman Island, Terengganu, to RM10,000 ski trips to Verbier in Switzerland, he related.

His son has since graduated high school and is pursuing tertiary education in Australia, while his daughter is in Year 9 at the British International School.

“The way the subjects are taught at the school, they are more arts-based, they place as much emphasis on drama, sports as much as they do on core subjects, which is something we don’t see in local schools.

“They carry as much weight. So to me, it's quite balanced that way,” Chew said.
---- Malay Mail (Malaysia)   20 May 2014
 

Britain's wealthiest people are richer than ever, study finds

Britain's wealthiest people are richer than ever, study finds

Terry Leahy, CEO of Tesco, speaks at the National Retail Federation 98th Annual Convention in New York January 12, 2010.

 

LONDON - Britain's wealthiest people are richer than they have ever been, with a combined fortune of 518.9 billion pounds - equivalent to a third of the nation's gross domestic product, according to an annual study.

The Sunday Times Rich List for 2014 shows that the 1,000 richest men and women have surged to new heights, with their combined wealth rising by 15.4 per cent on last year's total of 449.6 billion pounds.

They include TV chef Jamie Oliver, former Tesco supermarket boss Terry Leahy and, in the under-30s list, "Harry Potter" star Emma Watson.

"I've never seen such a phenomenal rise in personal wealth as the growth in the fortunes of Britain's 1,000 richest people over the past year," said Philip Beresford, who has compiled the list since 1989.

"The richest people in Britain have never had it so good," he told Reuters. "The challenge now for the government and the rich themselves is to see this wealth percolate downwards and outwards, out of London and towards the north and west of the country."

The enormous wealth of those on the list contrasts sharply with the stretched finances of ordinary Britons, many of whom are struggling to cope with the effects of five years of austerity.

Last week, the first part of the Rich List found the number of billionaires living in Britain had risen to more than 100 for the first time, with Indian-born brothers Sri and Gopi Hinduja the country's wealthiest people with a combined 11.9 billion pounds.

They replaced Russian business magnate Alisher Usmanov at the top after the Arsenal football club shareholder dropped a place as his fortune fell to 10.65 billion pounds.

Only three of the top 20 are British, with David and Frederick Barclay, the publishers and property developers, the only self-made billionaires in this group.

The richest Briton, the Duke of Westminster, is ranked 10th with a property-based fortune of 8.5 billion pounds.

The super-rich want to live in Britain because of "culture, financial services, nice tax regime, good education for their kids and a nice lifestyle where they meet their friends", Beresford said.

APPLIANCES AND CANDY CRUSH
The second part of the List, extracts of which were released ahead of its publication in this weekend's Sunday Times, showed Jamie and Jools Oliver had seen their fortune go up by 90 million to 240 million pounds, ranking them equal 396, on the strength of their restaurant chain and related businesses.

Queen Elizabeth has added 10 million pounds to her personal wealth and is now ranked equal 285th with 330 million pounds.

John Roberts, creator of household appliance Internet retailer AO.com, makes his first appearance on the list with 410 million pounds. He is one of five investors to benefit from the AO.com float in February, who are all new entries.

Four members of the management of King Digital Entertainment, the company behind the addictive Candy Crush Saga computer game, join the list for the first time.

Another new entrant is former Tesco supermarket boss Leahy, worth 100 million pounds and ranked 863.

In the list of the 50 Young Rich, aged 30 and under, 24-year-old "Harry Potter" star Watson is now worth 30 million pounds, up 3 million.

Husband and wife Marcus Mumford 27, and Carey Mulligan, 28, enter the young list with a joint fortune of 13 million pounds from music and films.
------ Report from Reuters dated 18 May 2014

Buy friends online

Buy friends online

 

Benson Ang

The Straits Times (Singapore)

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

 

Friendship is cheap, I recently discovered.

This week, in one day, I bought more than 1,500 friends on Facebook ($3) and 15,000 followers on Twitter ($14).

More than 4,200 people "liked" a photo I posted on Instagram ($11) and another 2,000 people "liked" my silly petition on Facebook calling on the late American singer Elvis Presley to have a concert in Singapore ($2).

The total price of such instant popularity: $30.

Welcome to the murky world of social networking, where practically anything can be bought - friends, followers, subscribers, "likes", page views, even comments and retweets.

Besides Facebook and Twitter, it is happening on video-sharing platforms YouTube and Vine, and virtual mood board Pinterest too.

Two months ago, the winner of an online contest in Singapore involving Facebook "likes" admitted to trading currency from online game MapleStory for "likes".

He said he won the MapleStory items on his own merit and did not use money to purchase "likes".

The contest organisers, restaurant chain Poulet, let him keep the prize, which was a trip to Paris for two people..

But websites such as Swenzy, Social Yup and Seoclerks feature companies and individuals eagerly offering fake supporters for cash.

Internet security experts say the fake support comes from bots, which is short for "robots".

These are software applications programmed to run automated tasks in the background.

While they have been around for as long as computers and were previously used to generate spam and capture usernames and passwords, their more recent uses include generating fake social media profiles and likes.

Says Mr Chai Chin Loon, 50, chief operating officer of Assurity Trusted Solutions, an IT security firm: "Modern bots are generally good at emulating human interactions.

"With greater computational power, bots are able to process greater amount of data in order to make themselves more 'human-like'."

Indeed, some of my fake friends have profile photos and real-sounding names. Their profiles also listed their jobs and the universities they graduated from.

They behave like human beings, they share photos, write comments and invite me to play Candy Crush.

They hail from around the world including the United States, Holland, Denmark, New Zealand, Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia.

Acquiring these fake friends is simple. Place an order online - US$1 (S$1.25) can buy you 500 Facebook friends - pay with a credit card or PayPal, and the notifications will come rolling in within minutes.

Service providers say this practice is rampant. So do bloggers and social media experts, although few are willing to point fingers.

People and companies do this to appear more popular than they really are and to influence public opinion.

Swenzy, a social media marketing company in the United States, says it has about 1,000 regular clients from Singapore.

These business owners and individuals place orders every month, says Swenzy's founder and managing director, who wanted to be known as Mr Simon Z, 21.

The most popular service is buying Facebook "likes" on business pages, he says.

Adds the Russian who dropped out of school when he was 16: "Buying some followers will actually drive more followers, as it increases the profile of the page.

"Although this may seem dishonest, I see it as a powerful marketing strategy."

Companies with a strong social media presence say their fan base has grown organically and legitimately.

Says a spokesman for budget airline Scoot: "We do not condone the idea of acquiring Facebook fans through deceitful means."

Says Mr John Sinke, 48, assistant vice-president of digital marketing at Resorts World Sentosa: "We would never engage in the buying of followers or "likes" on social media platforms as it is not in the spirit of social media and would be detrimental to our social media efforts."

Scoot's Facebook page has more than 860,000 "likes" and Resorts World Sentosa's has more than 430,000 "likes".

Of the 10 bloggers and 10 businesses with social media accounts that SundayLife! interviewed, all said they do not buy supporters online.

Nonetheless, public relations companies say corporations and individuals might feel tempted to pay for some support on social media.

Mr Edwin Yeo, 46, general manager of public relations consultancy firm SPRG Singapore says bloggers depend on traffic to get funds and sponsorship, and petitions require numbers to demonstrate their following.

He adds: "People participating in online contests determined by popular vote would also want more 'likes' to win the contest."

To the layman, there does not seem to be a "sure-fire" method to prove someone bought friends or supporters.

Says Ms Rika Sharma, Singapore head of Social@Ogilvy, the social media division of Ogilvy & Mather: "The fake follower industry is so sophisticated now that you sometimes need a human eye to pick out the nuances between a fake account and that of someone who is not that active on social media."

Adds Ms Belinda Ang, 33, the director of thinkBIG Communications, a marketing firm whose core business is social media: "You can't really prove it unless the person admits to it."

Nonetheless, the experts suggest some tell-tale signs.

Mr Aloysius Cheang, 39, Asia-Pacific managing director of global computing security association Cloud Security Alliance, recommends messaging a suspected bot.

He says: "If it doesn't respond, it's probably a bot. Another way to tell is if someone else with the same photo or name tries to connect with you."

Says doctor-cum-food blogger Leslie Tay, 45: "Say the Prime Minister - arguably the most influential man in the country - has 300,000 'likes' and you have a million. One has to wonder where the 'likes' are coming from."

Full-time blogger Grace Tan, 27, who writes the business and lifestyle blog Working With Grace, says: "I've never felt tempted to buy followers.

"While the number of followers is important because some advertisers take this as a measurement of a blogger's influence, I don't think it is necessary to buy followers for this reason."

Facebook says it does not and has never permitted the purchase or sale of Facebook "likes".

Says its spokesman: "We investigate and monitor 'like'-vendors and if we find that they are selling fake 'likes' or generating conversations from fake profiles, we will quickly block them from our platform."


 

 

Highest and lowest paid fresh graduates in Malaysia

Highest and lowest paid fresh graduates in Malaysia

May 13, 2014

From this survey, we were able to gleam the top 5 and bottom 5 in terms of salaried fresh grads. Looking at the list, it appears that supply seemed to be the biggest motivator for salaries being either on the upward spiral or the downward.

 

By Caitlyn Ng

Much has been said about fresh graduate salaries: about how low it is or in the view of employers – how unreasonable it is to expect more. There’ll always be two viewpoints because employers are looking to save as much as they can in the hiring process and the employees will be looking to earn as much as they can. The constant struggle between two polar opposites will really never abate but numbers at least, speak for themselves.

Whilst an employer may argue about an overpaid fresh grad and a fresh grad may lament the low salary – in view of inflation, market forces of supply and demand – what does economics say about fresh grad salaries in Malaysia? We looked to a recent research that was conducted by JobStreet and published in April 2014, which showed that a majority of fresh graduates were struggling to make ends meet (approximately 77% who said that their salary does not leave them with any savings after spending on essentials such as car and study loans).

From this survey, we were able to gleam the top 5 and bottom 5 in terms of salaried fresh grads. Looking at the list, it appears that supply seemed to be the biggest motivator for salaries being either on the upward spiral or the downward. Meaning, are we producing more graduates (though with less quality) for a single field resulting in shortages in others? It could very well be that oversaturation of low-quality graduates could be contributing to the equally low salary.

Top Five


1) Pharmacy: RM3,640
It may seem a surprise to some that the usual career choices did not make the top spot, but there you have it, pharmacy takes the top spot on this list. Pharmacy involves the process of dispensing drugs and medicines, in addition to preparing them. Modern services related to this field include clinical services where pharmacists are the experts on drug therapy for the benefit of patients.

2) Corporate Strategy: RM3,200
Having to ensure that the corporation is headed in the right direction as well as the way in which its various business operations work together to achieve particular goals is definitely not an easy task. That’s why a fresh graduate who lands a job in assisting the senior management to guide the corporation in the right direction to successful outcomes has to be focused and driven – and will thus be paid handsomely for it.

3

) Sales – Financial Services: RM3,054
Financial services are the types of services (such as insurance, financial planning and money management) that one can expect from institutions such as banks and insurance companies. As such, this means that fresh graduates will be required to have an in-depth knowledge about the products and the benefits they can offer since they are representing major corporations in the industry. Not only do they require training and lots of reading up on the products and services, they will have to remain up-to-date on the ever-changing market so that they are in the best position to advice their clients. It’s not for everyone and those who meet the mark will be paid better than other fresh graduate counterparts.

4) Doctor: RM2,719
This is probably one position that comes as no surprise to the public, considering the amount of students who do their best to enter the profession after graduating from secondary school and it comes time to choose a profession. To be a doctor, it’s not all about the complicated operation procedures you see on TV shows such as E.R or House, it’s about being a qualified practitioner of medicine in general. Treating patients, no matter in what way, and then seeing them recover is one of the best ways to dedicate one’s life in working towards. Sad though, that doctors are only 4th on the list with pharmacists overtaking them!

5) Sales – Engineering / IT: RM2,612
Another sales position popping up on this list, which makes one realise that in the world of sales, if you have the determination of steel and the willingness to work hard, one can reap the rewards soon enough! Similar to the sales position above, this position involves the need for fresh grads to have a thorough knowledge of all things engineering and IT, not an easy task! This is because people in these fields make buying decisions differently than those in other consumer contexts, being based more on technical information and rational analysis.

The Lowest Paid
Customer Service Executive: RM1,800


Is it any surprise that this position is on this list? Many fresh graduates (yours truly, at one point, included) would have started out in a call centre and handled the numerous calls of enquiry and complaints coming in on a daily basis. While this job seems straightforward enough, it requires a great deal of patience as the fresh graduate will not only have to answer all calls efficiently, but deal with sometimes irate customers. Yet, it doesn’t take any particular skill and most any graduate can do it if they are of the right disposition and thus why customer service people are paid as they are.

Sales Coordinator: RM1,650
A sales coordinator is the person in charge of all types of inquiries related to sales as well as having to implement new policies that have been specifically designed to increase sales quotas and find new customer bases. One would have to conduct thorough market research as well as keep tabs on competing businesses. This person is the link to the sales manager and the other sales people.

Graphic Designer: RM1,600
If you’ve ever enjoyed beautifully designed advertisements, then you’ve got graphic designers to thank! They’re the ones in charge of putting together images or motion graphics in a way that’s visually appealing to create a piece of design. In the beginning, a fresh grad will face strong competition when applying for positions within the industry, as many companies will look for candidates with convincing talents. The starting pay may be crap but if you’ve got the goods; you’ll be raking in no time.

Administrative Assistant: RM1,500


The title is a little self-explanatory, but these people are the ones who have the task of providing different kinds of administrative support to the people and groups in business enterprises. This could mean doing anything that is required of them, from managing various files to managing the inventory of assets and supplies as well as preparing minutes of meetings.

Caitlyn Ng is an Investigative Journalist of SaveMoney.my, an online consumer advice portal which aims to help Malaysians save money through smart (and most of the time painless) savings in their daily banking, technology, and lifestyle spending habits.