Intel, the Ultrabook temptation

If Intel brought this marketing idea into Singapore, I’d probably be the first one in line to try it.(Talk about kiasu. HAHAHA) Why? Because if you are able just follow the instructions they give you can just walk away with a free laptop! Do you hear me? F R E E ! ! !

It is a rather innovative way to market their laptop in my opinion, because instead of doing a normal roadshow at a shopping mall, they put it at weird places, like beaches and markets. And since they brought this “Ultrabook Temptation” campaign to three countries, Indonesia, Bangkok and Australia.

This was set up in Indonesia

Just a glass box with the laptop rotating around and all the people had to do was break the glass and BAM! The laptop is yours! Was quite hilarious cause one guy broke the glass and walked away… sayyy wuuut now?

This was set up in Australia

They put the ultrabooks in suitcases under the sand and other bogus items so people had to use the metal detector to find the suitcase. Haha sounds like an adventure that I would want to participate in.

This was set up in Bangkok

As we all know Bangkok is known for their kick-boxing and all, obviously they would put a pad there and ask people to punch it in order to unlock the glass box! This was the most interesting one in my opinion because after some people had their turn the monitor above flashes “You suck! / You are weak / My grandmother hits harder / You hit like a girl / Close, but not quite” HAHA was a good laugh.

The video below shows the one in Bangkok! Enjoy!

But then again if you’re interested in the other videos check out their official link below! :D

http://ultrabooktemptations.intel.com/

Have fun!~ <3

The right holder for your Ipad

Everybody would love to have an ipad even though they have got iphones. Or at least, I still would love to have one. Hehe. Why I would want Ipad?

Because I love cooking and I'm no where near remembering every single recepis of my favorite dishes. An Ipad would be very much needed when I'm in the kitchen and lost about where I should start to prepare my meal.

So that day,my friends were asking me if I'm aware of any new products. Then they started talking non-stop about Window 8, Galaxy Note 2, Ipad mini, blah blah blah blah... I meant: "Hello, I'm not an IT fan. What's the point of talking to me about IT stuff?". However, I would sound very shallow if I could not join in the conversation. In a brief moment, I had successfully googled "Innovative Products 2012" and see what I had found here! Belkin kitchen cabinet mount!!!!

At first, I had absolutely idea what this product is. The name is too alien, unfortunately. Yet, in another brief moment (haha), I was aware that this mount would allow me to put my ipad in the kitchen without getting dirty from the food.

You still have no ideas what I'm talking about? Let's watch this video below :)

You see now? For me, it is such an innovation! People like me would really want to grab one of these and place it in the kitchen immediately.

Has been launched for a year, yet in my opinion, Belkin's mount is such a hit to housewives or whoever amateur cooks are.

Often, I come across people that refer "innovative products" to IT, IT, IT, and IT stuff. It does not necessarily need to be a huge change in technology to be an invention. Sometimes, what makes your life easier and more convenient should be praised as well. Furthermore, this mount not only works for the kitchen cabinet but any types of cabinets as well! You name it: shoes cabinet, bedside cabinet, or even refrigerator!

Unlike any other mounts which require you to drill a hole in your cabinet, this Belkin's mount is foldable. You could easily place it or take it out anytime you want.

You see, Ipads and Tablets have been massively produced. However, they would be such a pain in the butts to work with if there ain't products like Belkin's mount. 

Christmas is coming very soon. Does your mom/ sister/ grandma or girlfriend love to cook? Belkin kitchen cabinet mount could be an option to consider when you give the gifts a thought. The mount is at S$69 at Harvey Norman. Yeah yeah I know it is expensive. But if it does make your mom's life easier when it comes to cooking and cleaning up the kitchen, does it worth it? I am sure that it does! Right!

One last note: Do you still remember how to "install" the mount? Watch the video above again! I'm gonna go off and get one of those Belkin kitchen mount now! 

Have fun!~~

Bloggers - PAID or UNPAID Advertising

There have already been too many talks about the bloggers nowadays. They talk about their influences, their posts, their daily lifestyle, and the list goes on. My past week has been my first experience with contacting the bloggers. My group and I were trying hard to get five minutes of their time for an interview. The whole purpose of it was only for a school project. Who could have thought five minutes could be so hard to spare? Well, only when we received the kind of answer "Sorry, I don't normally do interview for schools", the terms "Paid" and "Unpaid" struck me.


So what's the "Paid"?

"Paid" advertising happens when bloggers receive something in return for the blog posts. It could be money that they are going to get. Or free products, free travelling or huge discount in certain services.

Whoever has read Xiaxue's blog entries could easily realize that she is paid to write about certain products/ services.

Or let's talk about Ladyironchef. Being the number 1 food blogger in Singapore, he enjoys media food tasting in the finest restaurants across the island. That's the kind of "Paid" advertising I'm talking about.

The more popular the blogger is, the more likely they are paid by marketers to promote products/ services. It is very ironic when people tend not to trust unknown bloggers. Has it ever occurred to them that those unknowns are those actually give reviews based on their true experiences?

My group was to ask the bloggers about their daily lifestyle and relationship with marketers. Yet, in my opinion, the term "Paid" has already described that relationship. If you could not get along with marketers, you are less likely to accept any jobs offered by them. Thus, there should be less paid advertising posts on your blog.

I'm not saying "paid" advertising is not good and not trustworthy. "Paid" blog entry has, at least, been effective in raising ones' awareness about brands. Thousands of people are exposed to your brand name in a day because they are reading some popular blog. In marketers' point of view, it worth the money paid.

However, should bloggers bombard readers with paid advertisements? Will their credibility increase or decrease over time? That I have to leave for you all to decide.


And the "Unpaid".

Pardon my narrow knowledge, I have known too few bloggers who do unpaid advertising/ interviews. Perhaps, that's why I could not find the right person to approach for my school project.

Basically, "unpaid" is the opposite of "paid". Bloggers, by doing unpaid advertising, are going to get nothing in return for whatever amount of time they spend on the blog post.

I did not know much about bloggers and how or in what circumstances they are willing and voluntarily write about something. But it seems "Unpaid" are getting extinct. Ask yourself, when was the last time your favorite blogger write about a brand that she truly loves and no one has given her anything for the post?


In Conclusion,

Like I have said before, not all "paid" are bad and not all "unpaid" are trustworthy. But perhaps readers deserve the truest reviews when they need it. Bloggers, with their huge influences, should be the right opinion-leaders. Should money and rewards win over honest feedbacks about brands?

N-O. NO!

Money and gifts could be the motivating factors. Yet, at the end of the day, if a blogger has tried a product and does not like it, he/ she should let us all know. Like a Pop idol who is famous because of the fans, bloggers are popular because of the loyal readers. Staying true to your blog and being friendly with others could be the very first step for he/ she remain on top of the blogging competition. My experience with bloggers has been sour. Let me share with you a question that has always been on my mind since the moment my group was rejected:

"Must money/ gift/ rewards come first when we are asking bloggers a favor?

I will leave it for someone to answer it for me.

NEW PLAYGROUND FOR THE FASHIONISTAS

There is this undeniable truth that all fashionistas always face: "It is super duper tough to be famous in the fashion industry". You will either be the best or nothing at all. There is no "somewhere in between" for you. It is the reason for tens years, when people mention the word "branded", they are referring to Marc Jacob, Alexander McQueen and all the familiar brands like Louis Vutton or Gucci. There were very few playgrounds for the amateur fashion lovers to shine. 

However, everything has been changed. With the new platforms provided by social media, everything is possible. You could be new to the "f" word. Yet, you could be famous, popular and well-known world-widely. All thanks to pages like Lookbook.nu 

Basically, lookbook.nu is alike to Facebook. It is a social media site. However, lookbook.nu is only for people who love to dress up and post pictures of them wearing their favorite clothing for the whole world to see. Say goodbye to the days when we buy clothes to wear out and impress our friends. Now with lookbook.nu, you could impress anyone on this planet. 

 

People put on their trendy clothing pieces, take a nice picture and post on lookbook.nu

Viewers could show their love by "HYPE" the pictures. Those who have the most hyped photo would appear on the "HOT" category.

Lookbook.nu also allows users to share with other viewers where they have bought the clothing pieces in the photos. It would be very like, especially when someone really love to buy the same shirt/ pants.

The one thing that a social media site can never forget to have, the "comment" function. Fans of the popular lookbooker could express their thoughts with the "idols".

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When I say lookbook.nu is world-wide, it really is. You could see hundreds of photos that are posted by Singaporean fashionistas.

Beranadette F, a young Singaporean lookbooker that has more than 16k fans.

You may see some similar faces. Perhaps it's your schoolmates or friend of a friend? You never know. Here are a few more photos from Singaporean fashion lovers!

If you also are a fan of the "f" word, let's join lookbook.nu. By using your facebook account, you could easily gain access to the trendy world of those clothing-holics. You could as well use your twitter to connect with friends and fans. Since all popular social media sites are linked, it is never easier to get famous in the toughest industry. 

Try it, experience it yourself. You know I'm not lying :)

TWELVE CUPCAKES AT BUGIS JUNCTION

Being a girl, I always make sure after eating my main course, I would still have room for a little treat. Who could ever go home without a dessert to finish off the meal??? HONESTLY??? 

With such a love for those little sweetie sinful devils, I decided my first blog entry must be about DESSERT! And here we are, of course, talking about my most loved cutie cupcakes! *blink blink*

You could say I am on the quest to find where has the best cupcakes in town. This time, my adventure stopped at Twelve Cupcakes at Bugis Junction. 

Located at Basement 1 of busy and crowded shopping mall Bugis Junction, Twelve Cupcakes does not have dining area for their customers. It is a take-away kind of shop. You come, you eye your favorite cupcake, you purchase and you go somewhere to indulge. 

That's what I don't like, mind you. 

But still, those cupcakes have the better of me... I can't go away easily once I have seen what they have in-store!  

As the name says it all, the place has twelve daily flavors. From the world-famous like Red Velvet to simple flavors like Chocolate Vanilla, Chocolate Chocolate or Rainbow Vanilla. It's a pretty impressively wide range of choices, knowing they still carry 3 daily-special flavors, in addition. That makes 15 types of cupcakes in total! Can you believe it!??? I don't know how on earth one can choose what to buy, but I couldn't....

Since the choices are too many, I decided I should go for something famous but never-could-go-wrong, Red Velvet was the one. 

I'm no food critic but as much as I love dessert, I have no feeling for sugary-ish stuff. The sponge of this red velvet was moist enough to satisfy me. I still could tell that there is coco powder in the recipe. However, the icing was too sweet. I couldn't really taste the cream cheese. The huge amount of sugar was way too much that made the frosting taste like normal buttercream frosting. Should it be the way? N-O. NO!!!!! 

Second cupcake I order was the Chocolate Chip.

The sponge was vanilla with milk chocolate chip. Frosting was milk chocolate buttercream. To summarize what I want to say about this cupcake: I don't hate it but I don't love it either. 

I have been to quite a number of cupcakes shop. I always have this habit of ordering more than one cupcake to satisfy my craving. However, if I order two flavors, I expect the two to be distinct from each other. That is definitely not what I found in Twelve Cupcakes.

Name it vanilla or chocolate, cream cheese or buttercream, they are all the same here, in Twelve Cupcakes. Perhaps to make the price affordable ($3 each, $17 for half a dozen), the recipes and flavors are simple, too simple to make each of the flavor stand out from the rest. 

My friends ordered a few other flavors, they all said good things about the cakes. I guess I was being too picky there. I mean, which cupcake-fans ain't choosy in their superstars? RIGHT? :(

Anyway, don't judge the shop based solely on my opinion. There are others who absolutely love the cakes!!! <3 Let's see what others may say, k? :D

Clock-wise: salted caramel, strawberry vanilla, cookies and cream

1. Strawberry Vanilla Cupcake
   
   
   
   
   "Normally I don’t like eating cupcakes, mostly because I can’t stand the portions of cream that come with it, but TwelveCupcake’s Strawberry Vanilla cupcake really surprised me! The cupcake was neither too big nor too small, and the amount cream that was put on it was of acceptable portions.
   
   
   The strawberry cream had a pleasant aroma and the right level of sweetness, its flavour blended beautifully with the subtle taste of vanilla cake. The cupcake itself had the perfect balance of both firmness and softness; soft enough to enjoy taking a bite out of, and firm enough that the cupcake doesn’t lose its shape easily.
   
   
   Overall, the cupcake was a joy to eat, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a snack to share with friends and family."

     2. Cookies and Cream

"Visually, the presentation of their range of cupcakes looks absolutely fantastic and appetising and i could not make a decision on that appeal so i picked the cookies and cream because i fancy something with cookies that day. 

First impression on this cupcake was "wow, this is a pretty well-made cupcake." 

Firstly, the buttercream was generously and evenly filled with oreo crumbs. Creamy and not overpowering. 

Secondly the cake itself was great; the aftertaste of the rich chocolate flavour really lingers in the mouth. Although the cake itself is slightly dry for my liking, the oreo buttercream quickly kicks in to complement the chocolatey aftertaste, providing an all round sumptuous and smooth cupcake for the palette. 

Overall, i would give this cupcake a 4.5/5. I would definitely go back to try out more flavors they have to offer." 

3. Salted Caramel

"I have to admit that this is my first time tasting the Salted Caramel flavored cupcake so I was expecting the frosting of the salted caramel to be really sweet but it turns out that it was well-balanced with the vanilla base. 

Also the frosting was not too buttery unlike some other cupcakes that I've tried in the past. Overall Twelve Cupcakes has a great variety of cupcakes, and the overall service is pretty fast as well. I would return to Twelve Cupcakes to satisfy my cupcake cravings!"

4. Chocolate Chocolate 

"The chocolate cream cheese was elegant when paired with the velvety moist chocolate centre. It was perfect match made in chocolate cupcake heaven"

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Food reviews could be so subjective, as it seems. You never know if you would love a place based solely on what you read on the internet. What I could advise is: 

"Go and try it for yourself".

However if you ask me if I would ever come back to Twelve Cupcakes after knowing all the above things, I would say: I'm going with the flow. 

Twelve Cupcakes is one of the front-runner cupcake shops in Singapore now. They have branches in almost every areas of the island. When you have to travel all the way to Holland Village for Plain Vanilla or to Orchard for Marmalade Pantry, you have Twelve Cupcakes in your heartland areas. Their cakes are not so bad. 

Thus, if my friends say go, why should I say no? But perhaps, next time I'm just gonna buy one flavor and secretly go to another shop to satisfy my unfinished craving.

Overal Rating (Personal): 6/10

Overal Rating (General): 8.5/10

Twelve Cupcakes

Bugis Junction B1-03B

10am - 10pm

www.twelvecupcakes.com

PS. Since it's our first blog entry, ain't you curious about who is talking to you? Here is a funny pic we took while we were at Bugis, trying our cupcakes. At least you know the faces! <3

Left to right: Jia Jun, Natalie, Nancy, Alloy and Sherman