Singapore Presidential Election

Tan Kin Lian
http://tankinlian.blogspot.com/2011/08/election-symbol-for-tan-kin-lian-hi-5.html

My election symbol is a raised hand in a speech box. The raised hand represents the people of Singapore and the five fingers symbolises the 5 personal values that I hope will guide our country: Honesty, Fairness, Positive Attitude, Courage and Public Service. The hand is inside a speech box which represents my slogan to be the Voice of the People. The colour of our campaign is Red+White (representing Singapore) and Grey (representing independence from any political party).

His blog is a simple blogspot, looks clean and nice, but not very "savvy"

Tan Cheng Bock
http://www.tanchengbock.org/

Why I chose the palm tree as my election symbol.
The leaves of the palm represent...s our multiracial society, the trunk represents them coming together, and the roots represents us taking root in Singapore. My Chinese name is 木, so a tree represents my name. My supporter also mentioned that the tall solo tree signifies integrity, independence and transparency.

Mr Tan's blog is a little messy, and his attempts to use "Social media" sees an empty Twitter Feed. This Youtube video dubbed with someone else's voice makes me feel that he is very "fake" The blog does not give me a good feeling at all.

Tan Jee Say
http://www.tanjeesay.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/TJS_BANNER.jpg

Mr Tan unveiled his campaign symbol, the shape of a heart, which he said stands for conscience and empathy.

Mr Tan's Blog is a very effective wordpress blog which is clean and simple. It looks very nice and not "corporate" and yet all the information is there.

Tony Tan
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dr-Tony-Tan-for-President/111779502245855
www.tonytan.sg

Here's my symbol, the good old spectacles. ...No one ever ruined his or her eyesight by taking a long term view.

Tony Tan's Blog seemed new, it was not found but he did spend $$ on Google Adwords.
It is professionally made, and definitely feels "Presidential" and "Corporate"


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Overall, I like Tan Jee Say's Blog best as it is functional and his logo is the best thus far.

Tony Tan's glasses has so many meanings and I could think of many that are not so positive. His webpage again feels a little last minute and a little too professional and high budget.

Well, it seems that the presidential election is both online and offline, all the best to all the candidates!

-- Robin Low

Curry Incident

Right before the National Day in Singapore, This news report came out.
Number of neighbour disputes hit high

I have posted the whole report below, but there is a SOCIAL MEDIA CRISIS brewing when you search for Singapore Indian Curry on Google, you actually get this:

There are a few weak attempts to try to resolve the incident, and the government is still using traditional PR methods, "Mediators are a neutral third party"

There seemed to be no attempts to engage in the current conversations and address the problem. I understand that there are "Hard Power" approach, however, I feel that the government has to start engaging the public and use "Soft Power" to influence and build trust.

For one, a quick response in the comments to address the concerns would be much appreciated by the public, but it seems that since the elections is over, there is much less interest in attempts to please the needs of Singaporeans.

-- Robin Low


Here is an excerpt of the News Report (Copied and pasted before any edits by the Newspaper)

"Number of neighbour disputes hit high

Neighbours lack communication and increasingly intolerant: CMC
by Quek Sue Wen Carolyn
04:45 AM Aug 08, 2011
SINGAPORE - From dripping laundry to obstruction at common areas to the cooking of curry, there have been more than 300 cases a year since 2008 of warring neighbours taking to mediation to iron out their differences.

Last year, the proportion of neighbour disputes handled by the Community Mediation Centre (CMC) hit a high - with such cases making up two thirds of the total case load. And the trend has not escaped the attention of the authorities.

Responding to Today's queries, a Housing and Development Board (HDB) spokesman said that it is currently reviewing its penalty framework for public nuisance and is consulting views from various stakeholders.

The spokesman added that the authorities will take enforcement action, as a last resort, if the disturbance in question affects the neighbourhood, and when all efforts to resolve the matter amicably have failed.

The spokesman said: "In such instances, the HDB may initiate legal action to compulsorily acquire the flat or impose the penalty."

The CMC is the main mediation body here for social, community and family disputes that do not involve a seizable offence.

Out of the 498 cases seen by the CMC last year, 67 per cent were neighbour disputes, an increase from the 2007 where such disputes only made up 50 per cent of the centre's caseload. (see table)

According to the CMC, 75 per cent of these mediated neighbour dispute cases usually reach settlement.

Still, according to two CMC volunteer mediators - who have about 13 years of experience presiding over 200 cases each - neighbours are getting increasingly intolerant of each other and pick on trivial matters at times. There is also a lack of communication, so when conflicts arise, they would rather seek a third party than settle the matter themselves.

Madam Marcellina Giam, 54, a CMC master mediator, told Today: "I feel (neighbours) are less tolerant these days and they are bringing very small neighbourhood disputes to the CMC like disputes over a few pots of flowers or washing the corridor, which never used to happen."

Fellow master mediator Thirunal Karasu Palaniappan, 49, added that unlike in the past, when the "kampung spirit" was strong and neighbours ventured into each other's homes freely, many neighbours now do not know each other.



A silver lining

Most of the cases the mediators have seen are between neighbours living in public housing, though they have handled some cases involving residents of private estates. About 80 cases the CMC saw in the past two years were also referred to it by the HDB. This is out of the 1,700 complaints on inconsiderate neighbour behaviour the HDB receives on average in a year.

Mediators are also seeing more disputes involving new immigrants. Both mediators felt that most of the cases they see could be easily solved by the neighbours themselves but the latter choose not to.

As a dispute can usually take up to one hour to resolve and in one session, they said this showed how all that was needed was face-to-face communication to settle matters amicably.

While mediators are seeing a greater proportion of neighbour disputes among the cases that they handle, the good news is that fewer neighbours are taking the legal route to resolve their differences.

According to the Subordinate Courts, with the introduction of a more rigorous and proactive case management and pre-trial process last year, a majority of magistrates' complaints - which include neighbour disputes - have been resolved without the need for a full trial.

In 2009, there were 4,569 magistrates' complaints filed but this dropped by 412 complaints to 4,157 last year. In the first six months of this year, there were about 1,800 magistrates' complaints.

This translates to fewer cases in the Neighbourhood Court, a dedicated court set in 2008 solely to deal with neighbour disputes.

"Frivolous and unmeritorious complaints are weeded out at an early stage while the rest are settled by way of mediation, which has been very successful," said a Subordinates Courts spokesman.

When neighbours disagree ...
by Quek Sue Wen Carolyn
Case 1: A family, who had just moved here from China, had resorted to mediation because they could not stand the smell of curry that their Singaporean Indian neighbours would often cook. The Indian family, who were mindful of their neighbour's aversion, had already taken to closing their doors and windows whenever they cooked the dish, but this was not enough.

"They said: 'Can you please do something? Can you don't cook curry? Can you don't eat curry?'," said Madam Marcellina Giam, a Community Mediation Centre mediator. But the Indian family stood firm. In the end, Mdm Giam got the Indian family to agree to cook curry only when the Chinese family was not home. In return, they wanted their Chinese neighbours to at least give their dish a try.



Case 2: A 40-year-old sales manager was shocked to find a note posted in one of the lifts of his Telok Blangah block. The anonymous writer had complained that his children were making "ear-piercing screams everyday and making the environment very unconducive for resting". The writer said the screams were "hurting the ears" of the residents and called on the children's parents to be "socially responsible".

The sales manager, who wanted only to be known as Mr Su, said he thought of responding and finding out who the letter writer was. He decided against it eventually. "I don't know why the writer had to do that, he could have approached me directly," Mr Su told Today.

He has also told his two sons aged three and five not to make too much noise when they play. Mr Su also said he will let the matter rest - provided it does not happen again. Carolyn Quek"

Its on Bloomberg now!

Creative Ads

I really like these AT&T ads, great visually, and even so interesting that I'm sharing them.

-- Robin Low

Google+ - Will it be successful?

I've seen the way Google+ integrates with your Gmail, and your Google searches when you are logged in. I must say, it seems pretty well thought of and well executed.

Comparing it to Twitter, Google+ has some similarities as you can follow famous people like Mark Zuckerberg or even Family Guy and add them to your circle! Google+ does not allow you to play social games like Twitter.

Comparing it to Facebook, Google+ allows you to post photos, share messages to specific groups of friends (in your circles) It allows you to share links and of course, spammers selling links for $$

SEO Shop Puts 50 Google +1s on Sale for Just $9.99

I think with Chrome browser, there is a lot that can be done to make Google+ better than Facebook and Twitter. As suggested by my friend Charlie, there are a few features on Google Wave that were very useful.

When people started a conversation, you can simply add others in and join the conversation instantly. You can sort of do this with circles but it is just different. I'm not sure if Google is going to add that feature as I feel it is very inclusive and it allows others to add friends that might further the conversation, enhancing the collaboration.

One important thing to note. Google+ is available in China! Though reported that it is very slow, the availability may make Google+ take off as it does make the world a smaller place for conversations to happen.

I would like to see more for Google+. Companies should be allowed to have Google+ profiles as certain companies have supporters that want to hear what the company have to say, like on Twitter. Today, as Google+ is still in beta, only a few companies are allowed to have Google+ profiles.

Will Google+ be successful or terminated like Google Wave? It looks as though Google may have finally got the Social Network right, but it is still too early to know.

-- Robin Low

Google+ Revisited

As the days go by, I start to notice my Gmail connecting more with my Google+. As I already check Facebook daily, this little subtle notification is great as it notifies me when something happens to my Google+.

Not only when it tells me what the notification actually is, you can check it out on Google+ with just one click. (Click on "View All")

If you get a notification like someone adding you to their Google+ Circle, you get to see each notification and check it out by clicking on the little arrow on the notification that catches your attention, and check on other notifications by clicking on "newer" or "older"

You can even update your Google+ status on Gmail itself!

Just click on the "Share" tab.

I find myself using Google+ more because of this Gmail integration. I think this integration clearly makes me visit Google+ more.

Here is my profile, perhaps we can know each other better too!

http://gplus.to/robinlow
https://profiles.google.com/robinlow

-- Robin Low

Tips and information on Google+

After trying out Google+ for a little more than 2 weeks, I'm starting to get the hang of it.

First Look at Google+ (G+)

Design: It looks and feels like a Google product, all white and clean looking. Even the Google+ application looks clean.

Usability: Google+ is not like Google Wave, filled with tons of things you can do. Its essentially simple and clean. Here are the following features:


For Mobile + Web
- Home (Stream) - Nothing new, like Facebook news Feeds.

- Huddle - Huddle is basically a group-texting feature for the Circles you create.

- Photo - The photo editor is essentially Facebook photos but with a photo editor. It’s quick and well-organized, making it a welcome addition to Google+.

- Profile - Google+ Profiles essentially port the existing data on your Google Profile. Nothing new here.

- Circles - Much easier to use than Facebook friend list or Twitter lists. Drag and drop feature is fantastic!

- Notifications - Tells you updates which may concern you. Similar to Facebook Updates.

Web only

- Hangouts - Hangouts is one of the more innovative concepts of Google+, it’s a cool approach to getting users to accept group video chat. The camera switching feature (it changes who’s on camera based on who’s talking) is far superior to having multiple video feeds open at the same time. That said, it will require users checking their Google+ streams every day for potential chats to join. This is indeed better the Skype!

- Sparks - Google created a recommendation engine! It’s designed to augment Google+, and if it works as Google designed it, it will create winners and losers in the publishing world, making Google +1 buttons actually matter.


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Google is opening invites to more people, I was able to use the different features more.

What I like about Google+

Circles: The drag and drop feature using HTML5 is indeed great and user friendly. Instead of mass conversations happening, Google puts the communication back in the different overlapping circle of friends.

It makes a lot of sharing more relevant and targeted, and your friends will feel less "spammed" as the information is more relevant to them.

Hangout: The video chat thing is indeed awesome. Its what I've been wanting on Skype, and I was surprised that Google actually came out with it first. It will be a killer app if there is critical mass, but I feel that it might become a novelty as I've done 2 great chats, and could not get friends to "Hang out" even with 100+ friends.

Spark: Content discovery through the "+1" is a very cool thing. Just like Facebook Likes, but for Google, it can recommend you things as well as you log in your Google Profile and use the search.

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Will Google+ make way for more spam emails?

I feel that with Google+, certain information for Chain emails can be just shared with Google+. Now, with your GMAIL, you can share content from your emails directly!

I think this is a step up from the chain emails and mass mails which get deleted or filtered most of the time. Hopefully, marketers can use this to share information with people, and not use the mass mailing. Since people are already sharing information on Facebook, I think eventually, we may get less spam email, and hopefully "relevant" information on our G+ streams.

This way, instead of email marketing, with G+, it may now become social media sharing, and as people can be segmented in different groups, this may make the information you share more targeted and hopefully, getting more views.


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So if you have read about the exciting features, but have not started to use G+, here are a few tips to get started:

1) Start by finding people you know
2) Then find people you don't know. (Simply type their names in the "Find People" box and you can follow these famous people.
3) Get your circles organized. (Segment your friends, overlap is ok)
4) Fill in your Google Profile
5) Follow some folks from Google?
6) Comment and interact with the interesting content.
7) Set up Sparks. (Will help you get interesting content you like)
8) Join Hangouts
9) Check out Suggestions, add them to different circles as you wish.
10) View the different stream and circles to get different content.
11) Create a GPlus account (go to gplus.to)
12) Invite friends and family.

I hope you find this information useful, if you find more uses and cool things about Google+, feel free to contact me or add me to your Google+ (http://gplus.to/robinlow)

-- Robin Low

Google+ for non US members

Is there Google+ for non US members?

Many people have Google+ accounts.

But there is no Google+ App in the App Market for non US members outside US.

So what can you do?

I've asked around and managed to have friends recommend me to this thread.

XDA member sacredsoul posted the solution for you. Developed under the codename Emerald Sea, Google+ is basically Google’s latest attempt at creating a social network, each Google+ profile will center around the Stream, which is essentially the same thing as Facebook’s news feed – where all of your info and updates from your chums are rounded up and constantly updated. The Stream will be joined by four core elements – Circles, Hangouts, Huddle and Sparks.

Just click on his link in the message ->here<-.

Show some thanks!

Not there is Google+ for non US members!

-- Robin Low