Blowin' In The Wind

Ping - Hiring Tweeters and Bloggers to Send Ads - NYTimes.com

2009-11-22T23:14:16+08:00

Tuesday was another typical day for John Chow, blogger and Internet entrepreneur in Vancouver, British Columbia. Mr. Chow treated his 50,000 Twitter followers to a photograph of his lunch (barbecued chicken and French fries), discussed the weather in Vancouver and linked to a new post on his Internet business blog.

via www.nytimes.com

It is perhaps the last frontier in advertising — getting regular people to send a sentence or two of text, on behalf of paying advertisers, to their friends and admirers. The idea, according to the entrepreneurs who are developing such services for Twitter and other Web networks, is that people trust recommendations from those they know and respect, while they increasingly ignore nearly ever other kind of ad message in print, on television and online.

I saw Chee Soon Juan

2009-11-21T17:03:00+08:00

I saw the Singapore Democratic Party leader Chee Soon Juan selling his party newspaper at a hawker centre.

I was having coffee when two men and a woman appeared, all in red polo shirts, carrying armloads of newspapers. The slender, youthful-looking bespectacled man in the centre was Dr Chee. He did not give out his name. I could recognize him from the photos I had seen in newspapers and on the internet.

He did not make any speeches or criticize the government, merely saying he knew people had problems with wages being cut and held up a copy of his newspaper, asking if anyone would like to buy.

He was studiously ignored by the people, who went on eating and drinking, though several fell silent while others lowered their voices.

An elderly couple passing by stopped and the old man bought a newspaper from him. "Thank you," he said.

The woman with him approached me with a copy of the newspaper. "No, thanks," I said and got up, having finished my coffee.

A little later, as I was passing by the hawker centre, he was gone.

The people went on eating and drinking under burning lights amid the surrounding darkness.

I enjoyed walking in the dark past the silvery haloes of light of street lamps.

The night air was soothing in its tranquillity.

I love Singapore, the peace and quiet it offers if that is what we want.

I know. Like the trees spreading their branches but solidly rooted to the earth, I can't be budged from my comfort zone.

Biz Stone talks about Twitter & pay services

2009-11-20T17:15:19+08:00

Twitter is going freemium. There will be both pay and free accounts, says Biz Stone in this BBC interview.

"One of the first things we are going to do explicitly is commercial accounts," he says.

"Twitter will always be free to everyone but you will be able to pay for an additional layer of access to learn more about your Twitter account --- get some feedback, some analytics, become a better 'Twitterer'."

Twitter is also considering "licensing and syndication possibilities".

"We can give away this real-time feed of data to other companies such as Google and Bing to give them a better experience for searching Twitter," he says.

We're unique from an internet perspective in that our DNA is in mobile," he says earlier in the interview.

"We started out in texting and then we brought the service to the web."

He explains Twitter's advantage:

"We see over four billion mobile phones active around the world as opposed to the 1.65 billion active web accounts, so when you look at this together you see a very broad potential for growth for Twitter."

A memo leaked from the company earlier this year suggested that the firm wanted to reach a billion users by 2013.

However, Twitter is still finding its way, according to Stone.

"We are coming out of a very rapid growth over the last two years," he says. "We have a lot of work to do."

Google Chrome OS demo

2009-11-20T15:43:44+08:00

Google’s VP of Product Management Sundar Pichai demonstrates the Google Chrome OS.

All applications are designed to run in a web browser and all the user's data is stored on Google's servers.

Engineers from the firm said the first computers running the system would be available before the end of 2010, reports the BBC. It is initially aimed at netbooks.

TechCrunch liveblogged about the public launch at Mountain View, California.

Obama wants to contain China: People's Daily editor

2009-11-20T13:24:55+08:00

President Barack Obama was being less than candid when he said America does not want to contain China, according to an editor of the People's Daily Online in China.

Li Hongmei writes:

Even if President Barack Obama reiterated on the just wrapped-up Japan leg of his Asia trip that the U.S. would not contain China's expansion, in actuality, the monolithic super power has never put down its vigilance against China's rise. In its 2009 National Intelligence Strategy Report released not long ago, China was still characterized as a "threat" and a potential foe in addition to Iran, Iraq and Russia…

As a matter of fact, Obama's unfolding Asian trip is designed not only to shore up American power in the region, but to define a new direction for its Asian alliance, and more important, to seek China's "strategic reassurance", or rather, to secure China's promise not to compete with the U.S. for influence in the Asian-Pacific Region which has seen a steady rise of the Chinese clout.

She adds:

Generally speaking, the plural make-up of the U.S. society determines that its foreign policies must give consideration to all the interests groups. On this basis, Obama's endeavour to upgrade the Sino-U.S. relations and further the bilateral cooperation will not stray from the limitations of its traditional China policy---which mean that its cooperation with China is also confined to the scope that would help the U.S. struggle out of the economic mire and remain as a dominant power and no further.

Evidently, Obama's China trip is not merely to seek China's "strategic reassurance," but more to demonstrate a fact that the U.S. has always kept a vigilant eye on China's rise.

America has also been criticized in an article in Xinhua. The article, translated by Watching America, says:

Before his visit to China, Obama expressed in an interview the hope that China, as a powerful nation, would take on more responsibility. In fact, this hope would be more suitable if it was said of the United States.

Bringing to mind the Iraq war, which was recklessly declared by the U.S. and has brought suffering to people in Iraq and worldwide, the global financial crisis, which was due to the irresponsibility of Wall Street, and the current trade disputes between China and the U.S., we can see that the U.S. government is the origin of all these messes.

The restriction on Chinese tire imports, heavy taxes on oil well tubes, and investigation into the dumping of coated paper and phosphate are all for the purpose of protecting minority interests groups in the U.S. at the sacrifice of positive relations between China and America.

The U.S. may even cause a meaningless trade war and, when that day comes, the American government will not escape the reality that they are the cause of their problems.

Murdoch prefers India to China

2009-11-20T02:00:43+08:00

Asked where he would invest if he had a couple of billion dollars to spare --- in India, China, Mexico or the United States --- Rupert Murdoch promptly answered, "India".

He said,"As against China, it has the rule of law. It's an infinitely complicated country. But it has a huge advantage over other developing countries. There is the rule of law and it does work."

Asked about China, he said China is "remarkable", "the disparities of wealth are incredible". "But you never know. If someone doesn't like you somewhere, your partner's in jail on Monday morning or something. You got no business. For safety, every time India. For opportunity, India."

The Indian Ratan Tata said he would rather invest in the United States.

Murdoch praised India again in a subsequent interview broadcast by Fox Business. He said:

They have the rule of law there. You know what you are doing. It's a very complicated country. Different languages, different castes, etc. But they are a very entrepreneurial people. They are hardworking people. They are very poor. They are looking for work. And, over and above it, they have the rule of law. If you are cheated by somebody, or a competitor or by the government, you can go to the independent courts.

Singapore growth driven by biomedicals, construction, business services

2009-11-19T14:20:07+08:00

Singapore has declared the recession over with the economy growing O.6 per cent between July and September compared with the same period last year, reports AFP, pointing out it's the first time the economy has grown year-on-year since the third quarter of 2008.

The government now expects the economy to grow by 3 to 5 per cent next year after shrinking 2 to 2.5 per cent this year because of the recession that began last October.

The recovery is tentative still. Not only is the growth less than the 0.8 per cent forecast in the advance estimates. The services sector is still in the doldrums.

The growth is largely due to construction and manufacturing --- and one industry in particular, the biomedical sector, which expanded 64 per cent. Electronics and the rest are still down for lack of demand. Exports have not picked up yet.

But first the good news.

Manufacturing output grew by 6.6 per cent compared to the same quarter last year, and construction output rose by 13 per cent. Business services also grew by 2.6 per cent, says the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Now begins the bad news --- in the ministry's own words, from its full report for the third quarter.

The services producing industries fell 2.2 per cent, a moderation from the 4.9 per cent decline in the second quarter of 2009.

Employment

Employment grew by 15,400 in the third quarter of 2009, ending losses in the first and second quarters of 2009.

But the seasonally adjusted overall unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.4 per cent in September 2009 from 3.3 per cent in June 2009.

Among the resident labour force, the unemployment rate increased to 5.0 per cent in September 2009 from 4.6 per cent in June 2009.

An estimated 83,800 residents were unemployed in September 2009. The seasonally adjusted figure was 100,300.

Services employment rose by 13,400 while the construction sector continued to add workers (8,100). However, the manufacturing sector shed 6,600 jobs.

Productivity declined by 0.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2009 after falling 6 per cent in the second quarter.

Total exports continued to decline. Domestic exports declined at a slower 22 per cent, while re-exports registered an 18 per cent decrease following the
previous quarter’s 24 per cent decline.

Manufacturing and construction

The manufacturing sector expanded for the first time since the first quarter of 2008, largely due to continued strong performance in the biomedical manufacturing output. Most of the other manufacturing clusters, particularly electronics, contracted less sharply compared to the previous quarter.

The manufacturing sector expanded 6.6 per cent in the third quarter of 2009, compared to the 1.1 per cent contraction in the second quarter of 2009.

• The biomedical manufacturing cluster expanded 64 per cent.

• The electronics cluster contracted 4.4 per cent.

• The transport engineering cluster contracted 8.6 per cent due to lower level of activities in the marine and aerospace segments.
• Output of the chemicals cluster declined 5.4 per cent due to weak refining margins.

The construction sector grew by a slower 13 per cent in the third quarter, following the 19 per cent growth in the previous quarter.

Services

The wholesale and retail trade sector contracted by a smaller 8.8 per cent in the third quarter of 2009.

The hotels and restaurants sector contracted by 2.5 per cent in the third quarter. This was the slowest rate of decline since the start of 2009.

The wholesale and retail sector and the transport and storage sector declined by 8.8 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively.

Professionals

The report has one bright spot for professionals.

There is growing overseas demand for the services of engineers, architects, accountants and lawyers in Singapore.

Exports of professional services have increased in recent years, says the report. It adds:

The professional services sector’s share of nominal GDP rose from 3.9 per cent in 2000 to 4.7 per cent in 2008. This level places the professional services sector roughly on par with major manufacturing clusters such as electronics (5.1 per cent) and biomedical manufacturing (4.3 per cent) in terms of contribution to the economy.

Employment and wages in the sector have also risen.

Transparency plea to sovereign wealth funds

2009-11-18T01:03:42+08:00

Transparency International has expressed concern over the lack of transparency in sovereign wealth funds in its Global Corruption Report 2009. It says:

Sovereign wealth funds are entrusted with the current and future wealth of their citizens, their pension savings, foreign exchange earnings or natural resource revenues. Full public transparency and the strongest standards of public accountability are therefore essential. Citizens have the right to know that their wealth and savings are being managed properly and prudently.

The report was released yesterday along with its Corruption Perceptions Index which, it says, "indicates the perceived level of public-sector corruption in a country/territory". Singapore and Sweden are ranked as the third least corrupt countries on the index. New Zealand is seen as least corrupt followed by Denmark, and Switzerland ranked fifth out of the 180 countries surveyed. (See previous post.)

State investment firms are criticized in the Global Corruption Report in a chapter called Sovereign wealth funds: A challenge for governance and transparency.

It begins by noting:

The rapid growth of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) in the past five years has changed the landscape of global asset ownership and established a number of emerging economies as significant players in global financial markets. SWFs are comprised of assets that governments keep separate from their regular budgeting and asset management processes. The major SWFs in the Middle East, Norway, Russia and a few regional funds are based largely on revenues from oil and other natural resources. China’s SWF draws mainly on foreign exchange earnings from its huge trade surplus. Others, such as Singapore’s Temasek Holdings, reinvest budget surpluses or privatisation proceeds. Of the estimated US$3 trillion under SWF management, an estimated US$2.2 trillion is managed by just seven funds – those in the United Arab Emirates, Norway, Singapore, Kuwait and China.

It goes on to say:

As with the recent boom in alternative investment assets --- hedge funds and private equity --- the global economic muscle of SWFs, in combination with their lightly regulated nature, if not outright opacity, has raised a series of public concerns, including:

On the home country side, that public wealth and savings are not managed in a transparent and accountable manner and that investments are not made in line with basic ethical principles of the country; and
on the recipient’s side, that sovereign wealth funds are misused as levers for politics, that they present confl icts of interest for governments that act both as investors and regulators, and that SWFs could be a poorly understood source of financial instability alongside hedge funds and other lightly regulated investments.

Transparency and accountability issues

Little is known about most SWFs’ investment policies, governance structures and accountability mechanisms. Only Norway and Alaska release audited financial reports to the public. In the case of the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA), disclosure to the public of the funds’ assets is actually prohibited by law, and until June 2007 the KIA would not even reveal the total value of its holdings…

A study of twenty large SWFs found that more than one-fi fth were not accountable to the legislature and only 16 per cent were audited by the legislature.

Some SWFs have released their codes of ethics – including Singapore’s Temasek Holdings and Government Investment Corporation, Kuwait’s KIA and the United States’ Alaska Permanent Fund. None of the top 15 SWFs have developed compliance programmes for their ethical codes, however, with the notable exception of Norway.

The Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global is the second largest pension fund in the world, with assets of around US$400 billion, and it sets standards for transparency and accountability by releasing extensive information on its investment strategy, its quarterly results and its stock and bond holdings of individual countries and corporations. Few other SWFs match these practices.

Norway’s SWF is also leading the way in investing the wealth of the citizenry in line with ethical investment principles. For example, it is among the signatories of the UN Principles for Responsible Investment,and divested from 16 companies for breach of its ethical guidelines, including a violation of core labour standards as defined by the International Labour Organization (ILO)…

The policy dialogue on SWFs does not come easily. Suspicions of ulterior motives seem to abound in every corner. Because the vast majority of SWFs are hosted by non-OECD countries, the apparent North–South dimension of the discussions does not help…

At the same time, any reforms should keep in mind the fact that SWFs are entrusted with the current and future wealth of their citizens, their pension savings, foreign exchange earnings or natural resource revenues. Full public transparency and the strongest standards of public accountability are
therefore essential. Citizens have the right to know that their wealth and savings are being managed properly and prudently.

Singapore 3rd least corrupt, Transparency explains...

2009-11-17T22:43:32+08:00

This is why Singapore and Sweden are seen as the third least corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International.

Robin Hodess, director of policy and research at Transparency International, explains how countries are ranked.

The Corruptions Perceptions Index (CPI) does not indicate the level of corruption but "the perceived level of public sector corruption in a country or territory", according to Transparency International.

The distinction is important.

But as Hodess says:

"We focus on perceptions of corruption because it is very difficult to measure corruption itself. Perceptions are an important proxy for corruption, however, because what we found is that perceptions really do matter. They matter for investment and they are also related to economic growth. Inversely, we see that perceptions of corruption are the opposite of good governance measures such as freedom of the press."

New Zealand was seen as least corrupt followed by Denmark, and Switzerland ranked fifth out of the 180 countries surveyed.

The Singapore advantage

Transparency International says:

Highest scorers in the 2009 CPI are New Zealand at 9.4, Denmark at 9.3, Singapore and Sweden tied at 9.2 and Switzerland at 9.0. These scores reflect political stability, long-established conflict of interest regulations and solid, functioning public institutions.

Singapore has been ruled by the People's Action Party for 50 years, since before independence, from the time it became a self-governing British colony.

Another advantage may be its small size and population. The top 25 countries on the list include Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Qatar and Saint Lucia.

Small and medium-size economies and countries with relatively small populations make up the top 10. Here are the top 25.

Transparency International explains:

The Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) table shows a country's ranking and score, the number of surveys used to determine the score, and the confidence range of the scoring.
The rank shows how one country compares to others included in the index. The CPI score indicates the perceived level of public-sector corruption in a country/territory.
The CPI is based on 13 independent surveys. However, not all surveys include all countries. The surveys used column indicates how many surveys were relied upon to determine the score for that country.
The confidence range indicates the reliability of the CPI scores and tells us that allowing for a margin of error, we can be 90% confident that the true score for this country lies within this range.

Rank	Country	CPI score	Surveys used	Confidence range
1	New Zealand	9.4	6	9.1-9.5
2	Denmark	9.3	6	9.1-9.5
3	Singapore	9.2	9	9.0-9.4
3	Sweden	9.2	9	9.0-9.4
5	Switzerland	9.0	6	8.9 - 9.1
6	Finland	8.9	8	8.4 - 9.4
6	Netherlands	8.9	6	8.7 - 9.0
8	Australia	8.7	8	8.3 - 9.0
8	Canada	8.7	6	8.5 - 9.0
8	Iceland	8.7	4	7.5 - 9.4
11	Norway	8.6	6	8.2 - 9.1
12	Hong Kong	8.2	8	7.9 - 8.5
12	Luxembourg	8.2	6	7.6 - 8.8
14	Germany	8.0	6	7.7 - 8.3
14	Ireland	8.0	6	7.8 - 8.4
16	Austria	7.9	6	7.4 - 8.3
17	Japan	7.7	8	7.4 - 8.0
17	United Kingdom	7.7	6	7.3 - 8.2
19	United States	7.5	8	6.9 - 8.0
20	Barbados	7.4	4	6.6 - 8.2
21	Belgium	7.1	6	6.9 - 7.3
22	Qatar	7.0	6	5.8 - 8.1
23	Saint Lucia	7.0	3	6.7 - 7.5
24	France	6.9	6	6.5 - 7.3
25	Chile	6.7	7	6.5 - 6.9

Obama's Shanghai townhall meeting

2009-11-17T21:16:00+08:00

Here is another full video of Barack Obama's townhall meeting in Shanghai, this one from the White House website. I posted another one here, but this I think deserves an encore.