Infographic On Smartphone Apps Usage, Growth And Comparison

Retrieved from http://itech-buzz.com/177/infographic-on-smartphone-apps-usage-growth-and-comparison/ First posted on 11 June 2011.


See the cool infographic by xcubelabs.com, illustrating the usage, growth and comparison of Smartphone apps. According to the infographic

- 1/3 of smartphone users launch apps before even getting out of bed.

- On average, 33 million apps downloaded on iOS platform and 16.66 million apps downloaded on Android platform, 3 million apps downloaded on RIM platform and 5 million apps downloaded on Nokia platform everyday.

- The App store achieved the 100k apps landmark in just 482 days while Android Market tool almost 733 days to achieve it.

- As of March 2011, the total number of free apps in Google Android market exceeds that of the Apple App store for iPhone by more than 10,000.


- iPhone and Android mobile phone users represents 74% of mobile app downloads.


Infographic: http://itech-buzz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/smartphone-apps-infographic.jpg 







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‎
Something To Think About? - On Commitment & Excellence





"There is only one thing for us to do, and that is to do our level best right where we are every day of our lives; To use our best judgment, and then to trust the rest to that Power which holds the forces of the universe in his hands." - Orison Swett Marden




"This force, which is the best thing in you, your highest self, will never respond to any ordinary half-hearted call, or any milk-and-water endeavor, It can only be reached by your supremest call, your supremest effort. 


It will respond only to the call that is backed up by the whole of you, not part of you; you must be all there in what you are trying to do. 
You must bring every particle of your energy, unanswerable resolution, your best efforts, your persistent industry to your task or the best will not come out of you. 


You must back up your ambition by your whole nature, by unbounded enthusiasm and a determination to win which knows no failure... 


Only a masterly call, a masterly will, a supreme effort, intense and persistent application, can unlock the door to your inner treasure and release your highest powers." - Orison Swett Marden




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Zi Char - Stirling Seafood

169 Stirling Road


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Tucked away in a little coffeeshop off Stirling Road, Stirling Seafood is a Chinese Zi Char outlet that does good food.

Occupying most of the coffeeshop in the evening, their specialties include the 8 Mushroom Hot Pot, and Fish Head Curry.

The Stirling Seafood 8 Mushroom Hot Pot comes in only 1 standard size, and is enough to feed 5 - 6 people. The soup is really tasty as a result of all the mushrooms being stewed inside. Satisfying, especially on cold or rainy days!

The Stirling Seafood Fish Head Curry is quite spicy, and the overall taste is almost similar to assam fish curry, albeit with more coconut milk. Really good, excellent with their steamed white rice!


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8 Mushroom Hot Pot

Oatmeal Cereal Chicken

Fried Dough Fritters Stuffed With Squid

Fish Head Curry

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Zi Char - Yummy Claypot - Closed

340 Joo Chiat Road

http://www.ym.com.sg/


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Yummy Claypot... Sadly, it isn't that yummy. The claypot chicken and claypot pork spare ribs both were quite disappointing taste wise, the sauce wasn't fragrant enough and both dishes ended up tasting quite bland.

Thumbs up for the Yummy Chicken in Pig Stomach Soup though. The soup has that peppery kick, while the pig stomach and chicken was cooked till soft and tender. The presentation was a novelty as well.

Thumbs up as well for the Vegetable Juice... Looks horrible, but tastes extremely good. Drank it and was surprised! Pretty refreshing, do try it at Yummy Claypot.


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Barley

Claypot Bean Paste Sauce Spare Ribs Rice

Prawn Mix Beans

Pumpkin Paste Beancurd

Signature Claypot Chicken Rice

Vegetable Juice

Yummy Chicken In Pig Stomach Soup 01

Yummy Chicken In Pig Stomach Soup 02

Yummy Chicken In Pig Stomach Soup 03

Yummy Chicken In Pig Stomach Soup 04

Yummy Chicken In Pig Stomach Soup 05

Yummy Chicken In Pig Stomach Soup 06

Yummy Chicken In Pig Stomach Soup 07

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What's This ?!?

Could this possibly be our next marketing tool? Perhaps... Look out for it in the near future!

 

 

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Ivan Teh - RunningMan Blog QR Code




Decided to design a QR Code for my personal blog, Ivan Teh - RunningMan. 









Here's some info on QR Codes:
http://www.penn-olson.com/2010/11/12/qr-codes-social-marketing-2/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code


I generated this QR Code from http://qrcode.kaywa.com/






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Magazine Writing, Production & Development


For this course, we had to write, produce, and develop an idea for a magazine from scratch. 


We chose to go with an environmentally friendly and eco-friendly lifestyle magazine concept. 


This is the presentation: 


Planeteer Magazine Presentation


This is the report: 


Planeteer Magazine Report






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Groupon Tool Explained


Posted on 10th January 2011 by Davis Advertising (Retrieved from http://davisad.blogspot.com/2011/01/groupon-tool-explained.html) 


The following content is written by Davis Advertising. 


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I have read a lot of articles about Groupon. This blog post looks at Groupon in a more analytical way, since it seems every other article either sings their praises, or wishes they would burn for eternity.

For those that don’t know, Groupon is a social media tool that allows businesses to market to customers in an alternative way. The gist of Groupon is that customers sign up and connect their email, Twitter, or Facebook account to Groupon. When the customer signs up, they have to list their approximate location, of which there are around 150 cities available. First thing in the morning, Groupon contacts the customers and informs them of the “Deal of the Day”.

Although Groupon does try to have time sensitive ads, they cannot guarantee it. Therefore, do not try and line up a Groupon ad with a particular saving time period, (ie. Automotive groups could not guarantee that the Groupon promotion lines up with President’s Day weekend.)

Groupon writes the copy for the ad, and creates the links to your company’s sites, social media, etc. The reason for this is that they want the ad written in their voice, not yours. Although the goal is to bring customers into your store, they are not your customers. This is completely reasonable. Once they enter your store, they are your customers, and you can talk to them. Your company has to be concerned with two factors: how long is the offer valid for, and how many people have to take advantage of the Groupon for the offer to be valid.

Let's use an imaginary customer named Joe, buying a t-shirt from Sam’s T’s, as an example. Joe gets an email at 8:00 in the morning, telling him that there is 50% off of a particular shirt at Sam’s T’s. The shirt is regularly $25.00. Joe can buy a voucher to get this shirt for $12.50. Joe decides it’s a good deal, and so he clicks, “Buy deal.” He gives his money to Groupon via a PayPal account. He does not give the money to Sam’s T’s. One of two things happens at this point.

Not enough people take advantage of Sam’s T’s deal, and Joe is sent an email from Groupon, stating that the sale did not happen, and Joe never pays a dime.

Enough people do take advantage of the deal. Joe’s credit card (checking account, etc.) is digitally billed for $12.50. Joe is not charged until after "the deal is on", meaning that enough followers have decided to take advantage of it for the sale to occur. He receives a voucher electronically for the shirt. He goes into the store, hands over his voucher, and walks away with his nice new shirt. Sam’s T’s gets a check in the mail from Groupon. They do not give Sam's T's the $12.50 that Joe paid. They keep a portion of that amount. Groupon doesn’t tell you the exact amount until you are ready to do business with them, so it is not possible for me to disclose their commission rate. However, most sources on the internet put the commission rate at 50%...

Groupon calls this a “Win Win”, since your company put together the sale and never had to pay anything out of pocket for the advertising. There is no upfront cost, but you are certainly discounting your product by more than whatever the sale amount is, due to the commission rate. Everyone is in business to make money, and I am not saying anything derogatory about this process; I just want you to be aware of it. It is also important to note that since only one “deal of the day” occurs, chances are that Groupon is going to promote the deal that makes Groupon the most money. If your sale will have less penetration than a different sale, yours may sit on the back burner. If you are not extremely aggressive, your ad will never be shared to the Groupon followers.

Some real thought needs to go into the math before you create a Groupon ad. For example, if you need to sell 100 products at 50% off before you are able to turn a profit, you had better set your minimum requirements above the 100 member mark. Unless, of course, you are trying to simply blow out a particular product to reduce your inventory, and are hoping to sell additional point of sale items. I would strongly recommend working with your advertising people before setting up a Groupon deal, since you have the potential to hurt your business by not fully understanding the goals of the particular sale.

Another factor to consider when creating your Groupon deal is how are you going to market your Groupon deal? Are you going to simply allow for current Groupon members, or are you going to leverage your other social media channels to get the word out farther? Groupon states, quite clearly, that there should be additional social media used to promote the sale. If your company is not fully comfortable in the world of social media, then additional conversations should occur beforehand. Again, talk with your advertising firm beforehand, to make sure you have the reach to make this campaign reaches its full potential.


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Also interesting was this post: http://davisad.blogspot.com/2011/03/newest-audio-advertising-technology.html 

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Zi Char - River Palace - Closed

382 Havelock Road
2F Riverview Hotel

http://www.riverview.com.sg/dining.php


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If someone asked my opinion on the best place for a buffet, I would highly recommend River Palace Chinese Restaurant, located in River View Hotel.

Priced at around $40 per pax, with Hotel ambience, River Palace offers over 100 zi-char items on their buffet menu. Furthermore, their menu is partially seasonal, which means the next time you come, they will have new items, while keeping the old favorites and chef specialties.

Service is outstanding. Food is served within 10 minutes of ordering, and the River Palace staff are attentive and knowledgeable about the dishes on offer.

More importantly, the food at River Palace is fantastic. Ingredients are fresh, and the skill of the chefs is definitely a cut above your average coffeeshop zi-char. Good value for money.

Definitely a place I would patronize for special occasions.


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Blanched Spinach With Assorted Eggs

Braised Peanuts

Braised Sea Cucumber With Lingzhi Mushrooms

Crabmeat Sticks With Fruit Cocktail In Mayonnaise Japanese Style

Deep Fried Chicken Wings With Shrimp Paste

Deep Fried Fish Fillet With Wasabi Sauce

Deep Fried Fish Tofu With Chicken Floss

Deep Fried Marble Goby Hong Kong Style

Deep Fried Shishamo With Golden Sands

Deep Fried Shredded Duck In Yam

Double Boiled Conpoy, Chinese Mushroom, And Chicken With Superior Sharks Fin In Superior Clear Broth

Herbal Jelly With Sea Coconut

Jelly Cocktail

Mango Pudding With Sago

Poached Prawns In Chinese Wine

Sashimi Salmon And Tuna

Sauteed Fresh Scallops With Asparagus And Pine Nuts

Sliced Duck With Crispy Beancurd Skin Wrapped In Egg Pancake 01

Sliced Duck With Crispy Beancurd Skin Wrapped In Egg Pancake 02

Steamed Crab With Egg White And Rice Wine

Steamed Sea Bass With Plum And Tomato

Stir-Fried Sliced Venison With Spring Onion And Ginger

Wok-Fried Beef Steak With Black Pepper Sauce

Wok-Fried Pork Spare Ribs In Barbeque Sauce

Wok-Fried Squid With Leeks In X.O. Sauce

Yam Paste Or-Ni

To really get your money's worth, I suggest starting out by ordering all the 1-time-only dishes. These items are partially seasonal, but often include shark's fin, suckling pig, peking duck, scallops, lobster, prawns, crab, sea cucumber, etc.

River Palace Signboard

River Palace Menu

If I had to choose only 1 dish, or the Best Dish, I would recommend the Deep Fried Marble Goby Hong Kong Style. This is the dish that keeps me coming back to River Palace, and I could comfortably order only this dish throughout the entire buffet and be satisfied.

Deep Fried Marble Goby Hong Kong Style Again

While the desserts are good, they're actually there to distract you. River Palace doesn't specialize in desserts, so they produce only acceptable standards in their desserts. Skip them, you won't be missing anything.


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Update Sep-2012: Has it already been a year? Time flies... The last time I visited River Palace, it was for the same special occasion. And yes, nothing much has changed... Just the addition of a few new items on the menu, but otherwise, still the same great service and food I've come to expect from River Palace Chinese Restaurant.

Black Sesame Mochi

Braised Sea Cucumber With Abalone

Cakes Strawberry And Lemon Chocolate

Deep Fried Crispy Baby Squid

Marinated Jellyfish In Plum Sauce

Prawns In Fruit Salad

Sauteed Sliced Grass Carp With Black Bean Sauce

Sliced BBQ Pork And Cucumber

Steamed Eggs With Kani Stick And Ginko Nuts

Stewed Belly Of Pork In Superior Soya Sauce

Stir-Fried Mussels In Fragrance Sauce

Wok-Fried Crab With Chillies

Deep Fried Stuffed Chinese Crullers With Mayonnaise

Drunken Chicken

Sauteed Fresh Mushrooms With Garden Greens

Sweet And Sour Pork With Pineapple

Hot And Sour Sichuan Soup

Sliced Grass Carp Fish Soup With Century Eggs And Coriander Leaves

Iced Jelly Cocktail With Nata De Coco

Honey Sea Coconut With Aloe Vera

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