What’s going on at InSing?

I happened to go by SingTel’s Singapore-centric hyperlocal content publisher InSing’s office on Duxton Hill and was surprised to find the shoplot empty. Gone was the frosted glass shopfront with the InSing logo and the funky furniture behind it. InSing used to take up the entire three stories of the shophouse, but now it was totally empty.

I checked out InSing’s website and found that its advertising contact stilled listed Duxton Hill as its address. Curious, I decided to ping InSing’s Twitter account and the press contact listed on its website.

I got a reply from InSing’s Twitter account telling me that the company had moved to a “bigger and better office” at 1 Chang Charn Rd. I looked it up on Google Maps to find that it’s a light-industrial area close to Singapore’s main car dealership area, Leng Kee Rd. That’s a very different kind of neighborhood from the artsy Duxton Hill area, with its historic architecture and hip bars, cafes and restaurants.

Varsha Rao, who headed InSing at launch, left this month to join daily deals site Livingsocial as its Asia vice president, trade publication Marketing-Interactive magazine reported. She was replaced by Loo Cheng Chuan, the former head of SingTel’s Idea Factory, which was in charge of innovation and content.

So, what’s going on at InSing? When the portal was launched in 2009, it was touted as a key part of SingTel’s move into the content-creation business. But two years later, it has lost its founding executive and seems to be involved in everything from daily deals to original city listings.

InSing also faces stiff competition from local media giant Singapore Press Holdings’ hyperlocal site, STOMP. InSing claimed 1.2 million uniques a month last year while STOMP has 900,000. STOMP seems to be more culturally relevant as well, regularly making headlines for its controversial, tabloid-style user-generated content. From the outside, then, InSing’s current state doesn’t bode well for SingTel’s content-focused strategy.

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WebFest 2011 – The Next Web, A New Strategy

Microsoft will be showcasing the “best of Microsoft on the Web front” this coming 23rd February at WebFest 2011. Be one of the first to find out more about IE9, the newly launched WebMatrix, PHP on Windows and more.

If you are interested in the Web and constantly asking yourself “What’s Next?”, you won’t want to miss this annual affair where we showcase the best of Microsoft on the Web front. Get it from the best – we will be featuring a guest presenter from Redmond USA, Gavin Warrener.

Gavin Warrener started his career in the Internet industry and was a successful entrepreneur for over 10 years founding two companies: Amorphous New Media and Mint Net. Gavin worked for the first 6 years of his Microsoft career in web strategy, and was most recently the Customer Segment and Web Lead for Microsoft Middle East & Africa, building a web evangelism business that executed evangelism initiatives spanning 76 countries. In 2009, Gavin transferred to Microsoft HQ in Redmond, where he now has responsibility for the global web application ecosystem in the Developer & Platform Evangelism team.

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Event Details

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When: Wednesday 23rd February 2011
Time: 1230-1600
Where: Microsoft Auditorium, Level 21, One Marina Boulevard

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So What’s This “Date Gul Panag” On Snapdeal? [Revealed]

Yesterday I noticed that my Twitter timeline was flooded with ‘Date Gul Panag’ link from Snapdeal and while a lot of wannabes are figuring out the deal part, we have the preview of what it is.

Well, the deal is pretty simple -  you get to sail with Gul Panag for INR 50K.

The sailing normally costs Rs. 5,00,000/ but you get 90% discount on Valentine’s day – i.e. have a sailing date with the actress for INR 50K.

Interested?

[this page goes live tomorrow, i.e. Feb 14th, 10 AM].

Recommended Read: The Snapdeal Story

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Pacman Twitter Client Pac’n Twit

Pac’n Twit for iPhone/iPad is a new free Twitter client by Bandai Namco, yes, the company made Pacman 31 years ago (Namco merged with Bandai in 2005).

Here is a screenshot of Twitter timeline,

It comes with Pac man themed design, has regular Twitter client features, tweet, reply, direct message, retweet, list, search, notification, post image.

Bandai Namco had already released i-Appli version of Pac’n Twit [J] for Docomo’s Japanese feature phone.

On settings, you can change themes from Pacman to Galaga’88, which is a special contents only for iPhone/iPad version.

Both i-Appli version and iPhone/iPad version are free. Although it says to support Japanese, English and French, it seems not available on US iTunes App Stores at now. Official Twitter account @pacntwit tweets only in Japanese, too.

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Mark Zuckerberg Look-alike Japanese Comedian

When a boom is coming, anything ridiculous can be a big news on media.

A Japanese comedian Shigeo Takahashi (photos on Google Image Search), a member of Savanna, manzai-style stand-up comedian duo [J], appeared for warm-up talk of “The Social Network” movie in Tokyo, because he looks similar with the Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg.

On the show, Takahashi talked [J] that he was a nerd type in junior-high like Zuckerberg, and if manage to meet Zuckerberg, he must click with him and take him to eat out. He said that he would register Facebook first, then bleach his hair to look more similar.

Besides being a comedian, Takahashi played a voice actor in a kids program on public TV NHK, and British animation Angry Kids, too. [J]

via Oricon via @otsune

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