How big can a hedgehog grow?
Two years ago, in an interview with WIT, Glenn Fogel, the man responsible for driving international growth at Priceline, attributed the group’s success to it being more like a hedgehog than a fox.He said, “People talk about the fox and the hedgehog – the fox knows many things, the hedgehog kn [...]
Goodbye, flights of peace; hello, fights in planes
Last week, I flew from Shanghai to Singapore. Having to leave the hotel at 5.30am, I was looking forward to catching some shut-eye, then wake up to eat, drink and be merry which usually means catching a movie or two, listening to music and, in case I get bored, I have my Kindle, Mac and iPad to amu [...]
F1 numbers are 3% down but expect last minute surge in bookings
The barriers are up, the streets are blocked, the lights are ready to go on, the noise about to commence. Let the race begin. So who’s flocking to the Singapore Formula 1 which takes place this weekend?Well, according to Amadeus and Forward Data SL, a market research and consulting company, the m [...]
On the wings of social media, Spring aims to soar
Given the proven power of social media in driving its brand awareness in China, Spring Airlines is hoping to replicate that success globally as it expands international flights to 20% of route network.Jonathan Hutt, speaking at the LCC & New Age Airlines conference in Macau, said the airline [...]
A Pinterest-inspired revamp for Wego Deals
Wego.com, has unveiled a completely redesigned version of its Deals site, which features a Pinterest inspired design that takes a photo driven approach to showcasingtravel deals.
The new site, which lists the hottest travel deals available in a market at any given time, is available on all 42 [...]
2 Doors, 7 Terraces, 1 Destiny
Once upon a time, there were two doors (pictured left). They were born sometime in the late 1800s and adorned the shophouse of a rich Peranakan (Straits Chinese) merchant in Penang.When the house fell into ruin, they were sold separately to two of the island’s most prominent antique collectors [...]
Welcome to Intensely Asia – and the unbearable lightness of sharing
If I were to come up with a new slogan for Asia, it’d be Intensely Asia. Forget Truly. Unique. Amazing. Even Awesome.That’s because I believe everything in Asia is so intense these days it’s almost frightening in an exhilarating kind of way. Like the feeling you get from a free fall when you [...]
The day I got lost among Supertrees and a Cloud Forest
For a couple of years, I’ve watched them take shape. They looked like two giant armadillos that had got lost in a grove of super mushrooms.Juxtaposed in front of the three towers of Marina Bay Sands and the circle of the Flyer, I felt I was watching a science fiction comic book being illustrated i [...]
No fifty shades of grey here, simple sells
It’s been a bad week so I have decided to write about sex. See, I have sex on my brain after reading the entire trilogy of “Fifty Shades of Grey”. Yes, I did. Not ashamed to admit it along with millions of women around the world.It topped the New York Times bestseller list for 12 weeks and [...]
WIT 2012 Charity: Island Foundation, raising English and IT literacy in Riau
It was a Sunday, the hours of fasting during the Ramadan season, in Bintan. I had not expected anybody to be at the learning centre opened by the Island Foundation. But Andrew Dixon, one of the owners of Nikoi Island, had called ahead.I wanted to see one of the five learning centres opened by the [...]
