The what of media? Surely you jest.

 

Being part of the nation’s largest/only/greatest newspaper, one issue I’ve had debates over is the future of media here. My guess is, it will never die. It might not survive in the form as we know it now, but where else can we get our weekend SingTel, M1 or StarHub ads, or figure out the weekly NTUC, Cold Storage or Shop & Save promotions?

(Yeah, I’m not linking to the lame supermarket sites as the lack of details there is shocking, given that they are a retail front. Those guys should check out the weekly ads offered by mega stores like Best Buy or Target for lessons in proper marketing.)

Local newspapers, as the name suggests, are great with localised news but when it comes to international coverage…. the point is, even I head elsewhere for non-local news these days.

Take for example the latest E3 event in Los Angeles this week. This is only the biggest event for gadgets, video games and entertainment in the world. If video games were porn, E3 would be the Playboy Mansion. If gadgets were aliens, E3 would be Area 51…. you get my point.

One would expect that with the video game market booming, newspapers would be quick at reporting what is no longer to be considered mere’s child’s play.

Here are some interesting bits I found online, all announced in Los Angeles this week:

The Beatles: Rock Band

Project Natal

Metal Gear for Xbox 360

And these are just the ones on the first day. Now, I’m not saying local newspaper should dedicate the entire edition to E3, but compared to what was covered in the national daily, which I found using Google Custom Search on the main paper’s website, the results are appalling.

There was a total of eight E3 related stories, each with one picture on the four day event. Which is not too shabby, but what about events on the floor?

That’s where the power of the Internet rules I’m afraid.

With TweetDeck, I scanned for familiar E3 related topics and came up with these from fellow Twitheads.

 

More can be found here and here so you can probably guess what words I was searching for. And during the course of the four day event, I was on Viigo on my Blackberry, receiving RSS Feeds on various E3 topics from some of my favourite websites.

The good thing is, Viigo can be put in sync with my Google Reader, where I already have feeds from several sites directed to me. It’s like having a news concierge service for free.

Ok, I shall stop now in case this becomes a pro E3 rant, but one thing that traditional media has yet to embrace is how new technology is affecting perception of news gathering. And I’m not wondering about the 50 years old editors wondering about the future of 50 year old newspaper readers out there.

If 20 or 30 year olds aren’t reading papers now, there are bigger things to worry about.

If you’ve grown up watching videos on your phone, buying music online and receiving instant gratification of content with technology, your association with news print is that it is used to wrap vegetables in the market, if you actually do visit the market.

Let’s take a look at a traditional news source and a new one, and how each has embraced technology.

Local tabloid outlet, Today has blogs, and applications for iPhone and what not. Yippee.

Let’s check out the user generated resource, Twitter. Aside from the above mentioned TweetDeck, I have TwitterBerry on my Blackberry, alongside my Facebook, MSN Messenger and Google Talk.

My Twitter applications allows me to aggregate sources, across multiple devices, from phone to laptop, wherever I may roam . And if anyone asks me where I get my news from, I would look like a fool telling them to use one resource won’t it?

Just as well because in the future, media will have many facets.

 

SL

My RSS Feeds

So there is this hoo ha on RSS Feeds.

To cut to the chase, no more visiting a gazillion websites on a daily basis to read the latest postings, be it news, blogs, etc.

The RSS option send the news in snippets to your RSS Reader and voila, everything in one easy step.

I’m using Google Reader, which is great for those already with Gmail accounts.

Now, if only I can find out how to get RSS Feeds on my Blackberry…

SL

Square Burgers: Does Wendy’s know what it’s in for?

 

For those sick of crappy fast food and ginormous (but overpriced) burgers, there’s a new player coming into town, and she sounds sexy.

Yes folks, Wendy’s is headed for our shores and if you haven’t heard of them, shame on you. They are the guys behind these, their famous spicy chicken burger and this baby right here:

 

Yeah, it’s a bit hard to miss, you know, with the square patties and all.

The “but” here is, the Wendy’s/Arby’s Group probably did their research and saw images like these and thought, hey, Singaporeans love their food.

 

(My apologies if these images belong to you. Contact me and I’ll remove them)

But the reality is, most of the time, these places are empty and most probably struggling to survive. This is especially so if it intends to open any of its 35 outlets in the downtown office area.

Yeah, it’s not a pretty sight, as there’s food everywhere but not a hungry person about and honestly, eating burgers everyday is a no no, as my buddy Morgan Spurlock as determined.

So unless Wendy’s want a repeat of history (IIRC, Wendy’s was here in the late 80’s or early 90’s but left as fast as it came. Anyone knows for sure?), they better have a real good reason for coming back here, and not because they want a share of this.

And if they do come, do everyone here a favour – at least bring in Wendy’s famous 99 cents menu as well.

 

                                                              

SL

Who is Lady Gaga?

So, I was offered tix to a showcase by Lady Gaga.

I believe my exact reply was, “Who the hell is that?”

Ok, so “hell” is a replacement word for something stronger.

As it turns out, my younger sister is interested.

God I feel old.

SL

Rock Band: Beatles

Check this out:

 

Yeah, it doesn’t mean much to most people. But this allows 3 vocal tracks.

I say again – you get to sing as John, Paul and George.

Plus it’s compatible with GHWT instruments.

Cannot wait. Can’t expect EA Singapore to bring it in since last year’s Rock Band 2 isn’t even here yet.

 

SL

Multimedia message

Well. This seems fun and easy enough.

First thing I do each morning

It is more or less a ritual.

Each day, before I wash up, I head to Dark Horizons and Ain't It Cool to check out the latest news.

But recently, my desire to beat my friends at Restaurant City on Facebook makes me feed my staff first.

Who has Chocolate to trade with me?

SL