Thailand Voice

A study published today from research firm Nielsen addresses media consumption in Thailand following the recent political unrest in Bangkok. From a social media perspective, the findings make interesting reading as Nielsen claims to have observed “changes in consumer behaviour and media consumption during that time including how consumer behaviour is expected… Read full story >>>

I’m sure you all have read those stories about the hunt for stolen iPhones. It warms your heart to know the culprits get served and those phones are not even yours. Well now there is one happening right now closer to home and I’m on the investigation team. But with a BlackBerry, the hunt … Read full story >>>

Italian social media blogger Vincenzo Cosenza has updated his near legendary global social networking map with new data. Here is watch Vincenzo wrote back in his last update from December 2009 ( as blogged here ). Hi5 has also seen Facebook take over most of the territories where it was leading, and… Read full story >>>

As blogged on my Asian Correspondent page over the weekend , research from social media measurement agency Sysomos has indicated the Japanese are Asia’s most active bloggers Having researched and analysed the global blogsphere, Sysomos ranks Japan third globally with a 4.88% share of voice. The report, which lists the top fifteen… Read full story >>>

Since seeing Shadow of the Naga and 9 Wat earlier this year, I’m a sucker for interesting, gritty stories about monastic life in Buddhist Thailand, and when producer-director Tom Waller told me about Mindfulness and Murder , the hairs on my neck were standing on end. It’s a murder mystery, based on the novel … Read full story >>>

Vimon Kidchob, Director-general of the Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs has a letter in the latest edition of The Economist: Moreover, Thailand’s monarchy has evolved and will undoubtedly remain one of the kingdom’s pillars of stability. Doubts Read full story >>>

Long ago I concluded that the most important questions in life were: “Who am I?” and “What am I to do”? The second is pretty much a closed book now in old age as I slide toward oblivion. Cleaning up the messes I’ve made is certainly a high priority. But the first question still… Read full story >>>

Seasoned Burma-watcher Andrew Selth has, once again, weighed into the debate about whether there is a Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) program in Burma.  His article over at the Lowy Institute’s Interpreter has all of the details. I recommend it Read full story >>>

WSJ: The final straw for the government—as well as moderate factions in the Red Shirts—came earlier this month when the protesters and government negotiators failed to agree on a deal on what would have enabled the Red Shirts to go home in exchange for elections in November.People involved in both government Read full story >>>

Che Guevara was a not uncommon face among the protesters at the Red movement sit-in at Ratchaprasong in central Bangkok which was cleared by the army on 19 May. Guevara’s face was on t-shirts, stickers and badges, even a few hats and the odd flag. From Symbols He was not the… Read full story >>>

For my latest piece for CNNGo I interviewed two schoolboys from Singapore who run the hugely popular technology blog TechXav. To think these two 16 year olds run a website which scored 500,000 hits in a year AND find time to study is amazing. I was barely capable of… Read full story >>>

World Policy Journal (Spring 2010) has published a very interesting photo-essay by Thierry Falise titled “On the Run: In Burma’s Jungle Hell”.  It is available here .  It should go without saying but the photo-essay includes some simply superb images of eastern Burma. Read full story >>>

The Nation has a recent article exploring the growth of social media in Thailand. Perhaps the most notable point, aside from article’s continual reference to “the social media” ( obviously no one fact checked the term ), is the assertion that there are more than 39,000 … Read full story >>>

What would Bangkok be like now if Thailand had undergone a successful Communist revolution? Of course, the answer to the question depends to a considerable extent on how the revolution took place, the nature of the ideology of the victorious revolutionaries (i.e. more… Read full story >>>

It isn’t all that often that a Symphony Orchestra performs in Ubon so if this is your thing then keep Saturday the 24th of April free. It will be held in convention hall number two which is on the fifth floor at the Sunee Grand Hotel… Read full story >>>

Tulsie, after providing details of the rural background and upbringing of various staff from The Nation, then states: Somebody shouted, “Let’s have a class war” and many “sympathisers” of the poor immediately jumped on the bandwagon. A man drove his luxury car into parked red-shirt motorcycles and … Read full story >>>

While I’m really not a fan of senselessly reporting what is trending on Twitter (see how the Independent is able to squeeze out a regular ‘column’ ) it is worth noting that (keyword) Indonesia out-trended the Oscars (which take place tonight) on Twitter … Read full story >>>

AdMob, the mobile advertising network recently acquired by Google , has released its latest Southeast Asia regional metrics report . The findings focus on manufacturer share, smartphone OS share and the top devices on the AdMob network (which covers 15,000 mobile internet sites) across Southeast Asia, Australia and India during Q4 2009. Overall … Read full story >>>

After more than a decade in Bangkok, I’m still stumbling upon new entirely new dishes and places to eat. My latest discovery is an obscure intersection near Bangkok’s Chinatown that is home to several restaurants serving kuaytiaw khua kai , a fried noodle dish that’s also a relatively recent discovery of mine. The dish… Read full story >>>

Judgement Day has arrived – and over to you. Say what you think and share the latest news links, tweets and analysis right here. Don’t let me moderate. Short and sweet wins, no rude language. Please stick to the essentials. Related posts: Asian Correspondent & Bloggers’ Coming-Of-Age Not too long ago … Read full story >>>

Findings from Paris-based web intelligence firm Semiocast has shown Japanese and Malay to be the most prominent Asian languages used to communicate on Twitter. The research ranks English top (representing 50% of all messages) while Portuguese and Spanish also feature near… Read full story >>>

CNN: Visionary leader or venal despot: Opinions vary, like the color of the shirts his supporters and detractors wear. If you sport red, you think Thaksin was the only prime minister to offer the rural poor a voice and real benefits; if you… Read full story >>>

Analyst firm IDC has been busy publishing interesting predictions and statistics ( one is here ), the latest being Southeast Asia Telecommunication Top 10 Predictions: 2010 The Year for an Upswing . This list serves as an interesting warm-up for the company’s … Read full story >>>