Blog Posts by Kai Fong

Metersbonwe in the second Transformers film (Penn-Olson)

By Rick Martin, Penn-Olson

Product placement has become a big business for the movie industry over the years, and that's been especially true for the Transformers franchise. But what's notable about the third film in the splody series is that there are four Chinese brands in the movie.

The Metersbonwe clothing brand appeared in the last film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, but is back for an encore appearance in Dark of the Moon. TCL televisions are also featured in the movie, as well as Lenovo computers with reportedly five close-up shots of its logo in the film. The PC maker has also incorporated Transformers 3 into commercials promoting its Thinkpad Edge (see below).

The most surprising Chinese brand to get the Michael Bay endorsement is Yili milk, which you may remember from its role in Total (Milk) Recall back in 2008. I haven't seen the movie yet, but I suspect that the Autobots might slip some into the Megatron's coffee, thus poisoning him and saving the world.

But

Facebook makes progress in Asia. (Penn-Olson)

By Willis Wee, Penn-Olson

Facebook appears to be making some real progress in Asia. Back in February, we reported that there were 143 million Facebook users in the region. But now after five months, the figure has ballooned to 166 million, a 13.8 percent jump*.

As Facebook approaches the one billion mark, Asia's growth will play a huge role in helping the platform reach that figure. With that in mind we thought it would be fun to break down the Asia user base into it's respective countries. You can see the results in the infographic below.

* Stats retrieved from SocialBakers.

Top 40 Facebook Countries in Asia (Penn-Olson)

The Infographic of the day series visually expresses important stories from Asia and the world of technology.

This story is provided courtesy of Penn-Olson.

Starhub is raising its home cable television rates for the first time in four years to cope with rising content costs. (Yahoo! file photo)

Subscribers of StarHub's residential cable TV service will be paying $2 more (before GST) per monthly subscription from 1 Aug this year, regardless of how many channels they have signed up for.

The rate revision, which affects both existing and new subscribers, will help the second-biggest telecommunications firm in Singapore cope with rising content costs.

"We have managed to hold our prices for the last four years, but we are unable to continue absorbing the increased costs," said Iris Wee, StarHub's vice-president for home solutions and content.

Earlier this May, it was reported that StarHub's pay-TV revenue dipped 9.9 percent to S$91.6 million mainly due to the lower pricing and smaller subscriber base for the firm's sports programmes. Last year, StarHub lost the rights to broadcast the English Premier League to rival Singtel.

"We hope that our customers will understand our situation and support us so that we can continue to provide them with quality entertainment for their

BG (NS) Tan Chuan-Jin emphasizes the need for fair play when it comes to hiring and the need to hire on merit. (Yahoo!)

The Ministry of Manpower will be issuing a warning to an employment agency that advertised vacancies only for permanent residents and employment pass holders, said Minister of State for National Development and Manpower Tan Chuan-Jin.

Writing on his Facebook page, Brigadier-General (NS) Tan said he received information about this recruitment agency through someone who wrote in to him online.

Said BG (NS) Tan, "We have had a 'chat' with the recruitment agency and they have immediately remedied the discriminatory practice."

In his post, he also reminded employers and recruiters not to lose sight of "the need for fair play when it comes to hiring and the need to hire on merit."

"We also recognise that building progressive and fair workplaces that seek to engage local workers will attract more locals to join them," he added.

According to TODAYonline, a check on BG (NS) Tan's Facebook page showed that a netizen had alerted him to a recruitment advertisement from Antal International last

Do S’pore girls value a man’s social status over other factors such as kindness and personality? (Yahoo!)

A new research has shown that Singaporean women are "significantly" more materialistic than their American peers. Published earlier this year, the study by Singapore Management University (SMU) psychology professor Norman Li surveyed about 400 psychology students aged between 19 and 21.

The local females polled an average of 3.98, compared to the American women's score of 3.74. The closer the score is to five, the more materialistic one is deemed to be.

Survey findings also named a man's social status as the top criterion for Singaporean women when it comes to looking for a potential spouse, reported The Straits Times. Next on the list is kindness, followed by a lively personality. On the contrary, American women valued kindness the most, followed by looks, then a man's social standing.

While the study did not ask respondents for the reasons behind their answers, Professor Li said he is not surprised by the findings.

"Maybe Singaporean women are just being realistic. Here, you need a

In town for ScreenSingapore, Vanness Wu reveals his plans to have kids before he hits the age of 40. (Yahoo! Photo/ Kai Fong)

Forget the former F4 band member (and his rebonded locks) we met in Meteor Garden a decade ago.

The Vanness Wu we are seeing today is a grown and changed man who knows exactly what he wants — babies included.

Having "been busy being Japanese and lovin it" for the past three years, the 32-year-old Taiwanese-American is back and all geared up for his new Mandarin album, 'C'est La V', set to be released worldwide on July 8.

Good news for fans who can't wait to feast their eyes on the 1.8 metre tall hunk after 2009's hit drama Autumn's Concerto. Wu's upcoming Material Queen will premier on 17 June. It will also star Aaron Kwok's girlfriend Lynn Xiong and Daniel Chan.

Yahoo! Singapore catches up with the actor-turned-singer, who was in Singapore for the ScreenSingapore, to find out more about his thoughts on singing, acting, and his love life.

Tell us, what have you been up to?

I was actually busy with a lot of interviews and dance rehearsals, preparations. I'm actually in the process of

Joanne Peh, seen here with boyfriend Bobby Tonelli, is upset over Nando's terrible service. (Yahoo! file photo)

Popular restaurant chain Nando's is in the spotlight after local celebrity Joanne Peh stormed out of its Tanglin Mall outlet on Monday evening, complaining of bad service.

What made the incident worse was that after she left the restaurant with her boyfriend, Nando's staff started clapping, she claimed.

The 28-year-old actress, incensed by the fact she had been asked to pay S$3.90 for a cup of warm water, vented her frustrations on Twitter later that night.

"Somebody please save this restaurant. They have no idea what service and initiative means," she tweeted via @JoannePeh, triggering a flurry of comments from her 20,000 followers, many of whom supported her.

In an interview with Yahoo! Singapore three days after the incident, Peh reiterated that the underlying issue is not whether the restaurant plans to charge customers for tap water or not.

"I don't want to come off like I'm very petty... but the clapping was what I felt was most uncalled for in the whole string of events," she

An Indonesian maid reportedly tried to commit suicide after failing an entry test for the third time. (AFP)

UPDATE

An Indonesian maid who landed in intensive care in Singapore after a failed suicide attempt on Saturday died on Wednesday afternoon.

Sulastri Wardoyo, 26, was found hanging from the shower head inside a cubicle in a toilet of a maid's hostel last Saturday.

According to The Straits Times, Ms Sulastri's employment agency, her Indonesian recruiter and the Indonesian Embassy are making arrangements to send her body back to Indonesia. The woman was married to a farmer, Mr Sudarsono, and had a child.

It is not known why the maid, who arrived in Singapore early last week, tried to kill herself, but staff at the hostel said that she was feeling depressed after failing for the third time an English-language entry test that would allow her to work here, ST reported.

All new maids are required by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) to clear the written Foreign Domestic Worker Entry Test within three days of their arrival, among other requirements.

If they fail, they must leave, and they also