Posts made in April, 2017

on Apr 21, 2017

By Benjamin Cher Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has shot back against American crime TV series, Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders’ portrayal of Singapore with a brilliantly crafted Facebook post. The series received brickbats from locals after an episode, titled Cinderella and the Dragon aired, portraying the island republic as a caricature of orientalist features. The STB has sent its rebuttal with a Facebook post highlighting the various locales that the series got wrong with a tongue-in-cheek captions that directly references quotes in the episode itself. There were other responses to this debacle such as one by popular local blogger, Mr Brown, who posted not one Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 21, 2017

By John Glenday Google is responding to a lower share of government data requests than ever before despite continued growth in data requests, which hit a new record in 2016. In its latest transparency report Google divulged that it had received more government requests for user data in the second half of 2016 than in any other six-month period since it first began to register such requests in 2010. Over that period requests have jumped from around 15,000 per year to just over 45,000 this year but in that time the share of requests for which Google provided data has actually Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 21, 2017

By John Glenday Uber has reportedly extended an internal investigation into alleged sexual harassment and a wayward workplace culture following the launch of an inquiry into allegations made by a former female engineer. Uber chief Travis Kalanick recruited former US attorney general Eric Holder and Tammy Albarran, partners at the law firm Covington & Burling, to head up an inquiry into practices at the ride hailing service after Susan Fowler’s widely read blog post into her own experiences of harassment. But, the enquiry has been drawn out as Holder hasn’t interviewed key HR execs who might be able to Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 21, 2017

By John Glenday Channel 4 is seeking to recoup some of the £75m it splurged on wresting control of The Great British Bake Off from the BBC over the next three years by inviting 350 advertising executives to compete against each other to secure the sponsorship rights. A floor price of £8m has been set for the trophy placing with expectations that the final price could surpass TalkTalk’s record breaking £10m sponsorship package for ITV’s X Factor. Advertisers are queuing up to be associated with the hit format with Channel 4 set to cash in to the tune of Read full story › Source: The Drum...

on Apr 21, 2017

By John Glenday This ninth annual Shorty Awards have grown up with recognition being lavished on a dozen big category winners ahead of this Sunday’s reveal of the full clutch of winners. Leading the pack with a best actor accolade was Stranger Things‘ Dustin Matarazzo, who was lauded alongside comedians Tyler Oakley and Thomas Sanders who were recognised with awards for best webseries and best YouTube comedian. Other individuals set fair for a merry 23 April include Same but Different who snatched Instagram of the Year; Bob Ross who was named Twitch streamer of the year and The Laughing Read full story › Source: The Drum...