Articles by Jason Tan
Seek, an Australian online job search firm, is finding social opportunities in this economic crisis. The company, with the help of The Boston Consulting Group, is using its technology platform to match volunteer do-gooders with non-profit organizations all over the country.
Australia already has a long-established history of corporations participating in community causes but the recent [...]
There’s a charming two-level space at the heart of Manila’s art enclave, Cubao X, that’s attracting a discerning crowd lately. On the ground floor is a home lifestyle store called Heima (Icelandic for “at home”). The owner, Bong Rojales, is also the director of the city’s Lomo camera cult, Lomomanila. This time around, he’s using [...]
RuralLight is a Philippine-based non-profit organization that’s using renewable energy to create sustainable businesses, improve local education and reduce poverty while keeping the environmental impact carbon-neutral. There are still 2,400 villages in the country living off the grid and the government is finding it too expensive to hook them up to the power plants. This [...]
It seems like the perfect formula for a date book: Jane Austen + undead ultraviolence. Last seen guiding people “How to Survive a Horror Movie”, Seth Grahame-Smith hijacks the classic author’s “Pride and Prejudice” with an unexpected and critically acclaimed zombie angle.
“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” is set to be the first of a series [...]
In a counter-intuitive move to close the gap on the budget deficit, the Philippine government is spending money for an advertising campaign featuring boxer turned national hero, Manny Pacquiao. The ad features the boxer talking about tax payer solidarity amidst the economic crisis and singing “this fight is for you” (translated) in the background. The [...]
“Freestyle dining” is an emerging food trend in Manila. The process: customers picks from a list of key ingredients. Then they order based on whatever emotion or adjective best describes their dining mood, trusting the chef with the task of translating it into a matching meal. It’s like assigning the chef the role of culinary [...]
The economic downturn has forced cost-consciousness into the way high fashion is being presented. The Economist reports that during last week’s NY Fashion Week, several designers slashed the $100,000+ cost it takes to do a 20-minute catwalk show out of their budgets, opting instead for more straightforward things like having their models interact with crowds [...]
There’s something poignant about this photo of a former bank vault in Tokyo that’s been converted into a semi-automated urban farm. In Japan, urban agriculture is not only making good use of spaces where money used to be, it’s also compensating for the traditional farmers that its shrinking population is shedding.
From Mumbai to Manila, cities [...]
The economy has hit the traditional brick-and-mortar book business especially hard. Even landmark literary institutions like Cody’s have not been spared. In contrast, Avalon.ph - a Manila-based online specialist in second hand books - has been thriving. Its founder, Jasper Ong, manages to maintain an independent shopkeeper’s touch by giving customers the chance to close [...]
Cebu is the creative craftsman city of the Philippines and is one of the most renowned furniture exporters of Southeast Asia. Local designers have successfully improvised around the region’s lack of rattan (the predominant wood used in traditional furniture) with freestyle experimentation of other indigenous natural materials. The playfully geometric work of up-and-comer Vito Selma [...]
Burnwater, a Philippine-based design firm, has teamed up with a lifestyle magazine (Rogue), a literary publication (Story), a recording studio (Wombworks) and a bookstore chain (Fully Booked) to produce a streaming HD video site called Pelicola.tv (”pelikula” is Tagalog for “movie”). The site aims to be an insider’s guide to the country’s cultural hotspots, influential [...]
Tokyo has always been the cool trendsetter of our global high school. And even as the city ages with the rest of Japan (20% of the population aged 65 or older), Tokyo is proving once again to be a beacon for anyone looking to catch a glimpse of the best, newest, products on the market. [...]
The Philippines has traditionally been a very working class contributor to the global technology sector. Some would say the industry here is built on two pillars: 1) outsourced product assembly and 2) tech support with American accents. Over the weekend, Inovent - a local industrial design firm - did a demo for a completely Philippine-made [...]
StyleBible.ph is the online voice of Preview, a leading fashion publication in the Philippines. The site is also in the process of building a well-curated online collection of independent homegrown clothing and accessories. Recently, PSFK got a chance to chat with Managing Editor Isabelle Andaya on the Philippines’ place in global fashion as well as [...]
Asian demand for internet encryption software originally came about because of local government censorship. Chinese wanted more blogging freedom, Thais wanted to watch YouTube, and other citizens with stringent firewalls just wanted to make VoIP calls in peace.
Now, we’re finding another great use for the technology: catching up on the latest American movies and tv [...]
Inspiration to make things better.
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