Singapore has finally secured at least a silver medal, thanks to the table tennis team! Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu and Feng have advanced to Sunday’s finals to play against the winner of the China-HongKong match at 7:30pm. Eyes will definitely be glued to the television as Singaporeans hold their breathe for a shot at the gold medal. This will effectively place Singapore somewhere higher up on the medal tally, in which Singapore has always been at the bottom.

Let’s all hold our breathe from now till Sunday for a gold medal. Go Singapore, Go!

A medal for S’pore finally!

By Jeanette Wang

IT HAS been a 48 year wait, but Singapore has finally clinched their first Olympic medal since 1960.

The Republic’s paddlers, led by two stunning victories by Feng Tianwei, beat South Korea 3-2 in the women’s team semi-finals at the Beijing University Gymnasium on Friday.

The team of Li Jiawei, Wang Yuegu and Feng have advanced to Sunday’s final (to be played at 7.30pm) and are now guaranteed at least a silver medal.

World No 9 Feng finished off as she started, beating world No 21 Park Mi Young 11-7, 12-10, 3-11, 11-9 in 47 mins.

Earlier, she had given Singapore a dream start when she crushed world No 26 Dang Ye Seo 11-5, 11-5, 11-2 in the opening clash of the best-of-five match team event.

The tie was then levelled 1-1 when world No 6 Li lost 11-5, 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 9-11 to world No 11 Kim Kyung Ah in a thrilling 56 min-long encounter.

It was the same player the Singaporean had lost the singles bronze medal to at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

But Li bounced back from that defeat and partnered Wang to victory over Park and Kim in the doubles rubber, powering to a 11-7, 11-6, 11-9 win in just 28 mins to put the Republic 2-1 up.

The South Koreans levelled it again at 2-2, after Dang beat World No 7 Wang 11-9, 14-12, 11-9 in 33min.

But, finally, with the hopes of a nation on her shoulders, 21-year-old Feng produced a performance of maturity and composure beyond her age to send Singapore’s women’s table tennis team into the record books.

A weightlifting silver in the 1960 Rome Olympics by Tan Howe Liang has stood as the city-state’s only Olympic medal.

Singapore will face the winner of a semi-final to be played later on Friday between China and Hong Kong. If Singapore’s women lose the championship match on Sunday, they would still take home the silver.

Source: Straits Times Interactive, http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Sport/Story/STIStory_268441.html

Article extracted on 15th August 2008

When Straits Times first got their makeover about less than 2 weeks ago, I was lost. "Breaking News" merely linked me back to the first page which features only 5 "top stories" that rotates on its own; sometimes leaving little time for you to read the abstract. They have since kept their abstracts to one liners but that’s not the only peeve. The "latest news" link seemed to have disappeared completely too, and it was only after much clicking that I realised that they moved the entire thing to the bottom of the first page. Having non-distinct titles like "Singapore", "SE Asia", and so on doesn’t help much to distinguish it from the regular "Print Edition" section. I am just hoping that a brown background means latest news and a blue one signifies current print.

"The Print Edition" section no longer seemed to exist anywhere on the page and it was only after much navigation that I realised that it was renamed to "The Straits Times Digital". There’s perfectly no inkling that "digital" would mean "The Print Edition". Going into this section used to present (almost) the entire set of headlines. Now, it only presents 5 headlines and you’d only get to view all of it when you click to go into that particular section. Worse, to get back to the main page, you’d need to click on "breaking news". The "home" button simply returns you to "The Print Edition".

Now, The New Paper is contemplating a makeover. I shudder at the thought of having to relearn all the navigation on the website. Then again, I don’t really frequent there often. Yet.

Oh, did I mention about the irritating ad that keeps popping out like a sore pimple?

The New Paper to get a makeover

It marks its 20th anniversary with new look, edgier content; revamped paper out on Sunday

By Diana Othman

THE New Paper (TNP) will be getting a makeover to mark its 20th anniversary.

The revamped daily, which makes its debut on Sunday, is promising a new look, more sports and edgier columns.

‘The paper’s brand of purposeful and lively journalism…has evolved over the years,’ said editor Ivan Fernandez.

‘After 20 years, we have acquired a lot of experience. We want everything we cover - local news, lifestyle or sports - to have street-wise edge.’

Advertisers got a sneak peek at the redesign during a dinner last night at Dempsey Hill.

The paper will feature a new masthead, new fonts and a new colour palette. The masthead, though, will retain TNP’s iconic tick.

Mr Fernandez said the colour scheme will change every day, giving it a ‘chameleon-like look’.

There are also big changes planned for the inside pages.

A new column called Street Talk will provide commentaries on trends, reports on hot-button issues and interviews with movers and shakers.

A Harvard-trained economist will write a twice-weekly column called Boston Brahmin, which will tackle normally dry money-related topics in a punchy and easy-to-digest way.

TNP will also expand coverage of lifestyle issues, entertainment and sports - especially soccer.

The paper’s London-based soccer journalist Iain Macintosh will be accompanied by a new voice, Ms Alison Ratcliffe. Also based in Britain, she will bring a women’s perspective to the English Premier League.

There will also be a Punter’s League where readers can pit their prediction skills against one another and win prizes.

Meanwhile, Mr Fernandez said the newspaper plans to build on its strengths, such as human interest stories. He said TNP aspires to convey information to the man in the street in an interesting way.

TNP’s readership is 531,000. Its average circulation this year is 112,386 for the Monday to Saturday editions, and 138,565 for Sunday.

The new Sunday edition will offer a magazine-like lifestyle section titled Enjoy, with robust entertainment and lifestyle coverage.

There will also be a section called Inflation Beaters, which will contain tips on how readers can save on their shopping bills. It will be accompanied by two pages of coupons, offering hundreds of dollars in savings.

The response from guests after the presentation last night was positive. They lauded the vibrancy of TNP’s new design and colour palette.

‘It is quite funky and has more energy,’ said Mr Anthony Kang, president of advertising agency Dentsu Singapore.

‘I think it can appeal to the young but, at the same time, its essence will remain just as strong, especially in sports and entertainment.’

Others offered equally glowing reviews.

‘I like it! It is very colourful, just like a magazine. The different-coloured mastheads are also interesting,’ said Ms Lily Chandia Halim, a product marketing manager from Acer Computer (Singapore).

She added: ‘I find the new TNP more comprehensive, especially how the content is arranged in its different sections.’

diothman@sph.com.sg

Source: Straits Times Interactive, http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapore/Story/STIStory_268252.html

Article extracted from straitstimes.com on 15th August 2008

Warning letters have been sent to several KTV outlets asking for payments for royalties. Apparently, most of these outlets have already paid for some form of "rights" - which allows them to reproduce copies of audio and video. However, this payment does not seem to cover royalties that are being paid to publishers. This reminded me of the time that we had to pay $1.50 or so for some 版权 "copyrights" fee; and this was multiplied by the number of people that went for the KTV session. Needless to say, all of us were sulking over it because it was a hidden cost and there were quite a few of us. So now, we not only know that it’s really a fee that the KTV outlets pay, but we also know that it does not cover the royalties.

As in the "copyrights" fee, we learn that the outlets will be passing the cost back to the consumer - and with the exorbitant fee that the publishers are asking for, it does seem like the end of good deals is near. Either that, or it just get added on as some hidden fee. I hope they will put it up-front at the counter.

Karaoke outlets asked to pay royalties

By Carolyn Quek & Serene Luo

THE cache of songs stored by karaoke outlets for patrons to pick and choose from is now at the centre of a copyright wrangle.

The Composers And Authors Society of Singapore (Compass) sent out letters to over 300 karaoke establishments islandwide late last month, asking that they pay royalties to the music composers and lyricists for the songs in their collections.

The karaoke places were caught flat-footed. The royalties involved - estimated at $3 a song for the first copy and $1,000 for each subsequent copy - could run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Compass licensing manager Melvin Tan said that thus far, karaoke outlets have been paying only for ‘reproduction rights’ to make copies of the audio and visuals that go with the songs. This does not cover royalties for writers of the music or the lyrics.

The issue has arisen because of the Karaoke-On- Demand storage server, a gadget onto which suppliers copy digital music videos. Such devices are leased out to karaoke outlets at $250 to $350 a month.

Mr Andy Lim, 36, managing director of Octopus Holdings which owns 40 karaoke pubs, said he was taken aback by the letter. He has paid InnoForm Entertainment, which collects royalties for 10 record labels here, more than $150,000 since April last year, believing this would take care of everything.

On Wednesday, he and his 40 operators lodged reports with the Commercial Affairs Department, accusing InnoForm of having ‘cheated’ them. But InnoForm director Nancy Chua said clauses in the contracts with its karaoke operator clients state clearly that only reproduction rights were covered.

Compass’ Mr Tan said the warning letters were sent out because four publishers had sought its help in January to recover what was due to them.

Source: Straits Times Interactive, http://www.straitstimes.com/Singapore/Story/STIStory_268244.html

And this is quite an interesting highlight on the different copyrights:

Who holds copyrights?

THE right to reproduce songs belted out in karaoke bars is divided into two categories:

Copyrights to the lyrics and music

These are held by composers and lyricists under music publishers like EMI Music Publishing and Sony Music Publishing.

The Composers and Authors Society of Singapore collects these royalties for its members.

Copyrights to the singers’ vocal and video recordings

These are usually owned by record labels that paid for the work.

Entertainment company InnoForm collects these royalties on behalf of 10 record companies in Singapore.

Article extracted on 15th August 2008

I don’t usually blog about Olympics stuffs, but I guess this is too good to miss. Singapore’s table tennis duo is in the run for the silver medal - if they manage to defeat their nemesis - the South Korean duo in today’s semi-finals. However, should they lose, they will be in a 6-team play-off for the bronze medal. The Singapore duo has smashed their way through to the semi-finals through 3 straight victories, only to face possibly the second toughest pair in the semi-finals - Kim Kyung Ah (World No. 11) and Park Mi Young (World No. 21). The latter are known to be defensive players and it will almost be a test of stamina during the match. The team pairing was done using a draw and it does seem that Singapore got the shortest stick. Will their streak of victories end at the hands of the South Korean duo? Catch it live at HD5 at 2:30pm today (15th August 2008).

Moment of truth

Beat South Korea today, and Singapore are guaranteed the silver medal. Lose, and Singapore will go into a six-team play-off for the bronze

By Marc Lim, Sports Correspondent

BEIJING: At around 6pm today, Singapore will know if their long Olympic medal drought is over.

Or if the wait will continue.

At around 6pm today, Li Jiawei will know if her birthday wish to end 48 years of hurt has come true.

Or if her nemesis from the 2004 Athens Olympics, South Korea’s Kim Kyung Ah, has managed to put one over her again.

The luck of the draw often decides the fate of teams. And it is safe to say that Singapore drew the shortest stick in the women’s team tournament yesterday.

In South Korea, Singapore have the toughest possible opponents they could have gotten in the tournament draw.

As second seeds, Singapore had already been assured of avoiding top seeds China until the final.

But yesterday, their chances of featuring in the gold-medal match and, more importantly, being guaranteed at least a silver, took a blow.

‘It’s a tough draw,’ admitted national coach Liu Guodong, whose charges had earlier trounced the Netherlands 3-0 to top their qualifying group and book a semi-final berth.

‘But, if we want to make it to the final, we have to beat even the strongest opposition.”

Singapore would have preferred to meet China’s semi-final opponents Hong Kong, whom they beat 3-1 in the 2006 Asian Games.

Also, Singapore’s Feng Tianwei does not usually do well against defensive players like the South Korean choppers.

It was only in May, at the China Open, that Li and Co lost 1-3 to the Korean team of Dang Ye Seo, Park Mi Young and Kim.

Kim will be a name familiar to them, as she was the one who beat Li in the women’s singles bronze-medal play-off at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Kim and Park are the two choppers - or defensive-style players - in the Korean side. As a doubles pair, they have been invincible against Singapore opponents.

Said Korea’s coach Hyun Jung Hwa: ‘Our doubles pair are better than Singapore’s and that’s why we think we have a better chance against them.

‘We are happy with the draw. Playing China would have been a 70-30 prospect for us. Against Singapore, we have a 50-50 chance.’

The best-of-five team format consists of two singles, a doubles, followed by two more singles if necessary. Every player will have to feature in at least one singles match if the tie goes all the way.

Both teams are almost certain to keep to their doubles pairings of Kim-Park and Li-Wang.

Li and Wang Yuegu have been training together for only a month and are Singapore’s weakest link.

They showed it again yesterday when they were taken to five games by the Netherlands’ Li Jie and Elena Timina before prevailing 11-8, 5-11, 6-11, 11-6, 11-7.

Said Li of the doubles: ‘We weren’t very good today, we weren’t playing our best, which explains the five-setter.’

But the players’ individual form, including Feng’s, has been encouraging.

None of the trio has dropped a game in Beijing, with Li looking the most solid.

But, against Korea, it is Wang who will be the key.

Said the Netherlands’ coach Pieke Fransen, whose team also boast two choppers: ‘Wang is the best player in the Singapore team to handle defensive players. She is more patient than the rest.’

Indeed, patience will be needed if Singapore want to beat Korea.

Said Japan’s coach Kinji Kondo, whose team lost 0-3 to Korea yesterday: ‘My advice to the Singapore team is to be patient. Korea’s doubles needed five games to beat us, so they can be beaten.’

Singapore coach Liu said that a win would prove that Singapore are worthy title contenders, adding: ‘We have come this far, now we just have to believe that we can do it.’

At about 6pm today, Singapore will find out if they can indeed do it.

marclim@sph.com.sg

Source: Straits Times Interactive, http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Sport/Story/STIStory_268328.html

Article extracted from straitstimes.com on 15th August 2008