If you want to learn Chinese NOW at the convenience of your home - try popupchinese.com - it will pleasantly surprise you how easy it is to Learn Chinese!
posted by Paul “The Pageman” Pajo
Fresh from the WaTunes Blog and from WaTunes CEO, Kevin Rivers himself:
“Hey guys,
We are very happy to say that 12 Fruits as chosen WaTunes to release their latest compilation: SoundWave. This compilation will featured 14 bands and 2 bonus tracks. This compilation will be available on iTunes on June 25th, 2009. Great bands including: The Sophmore Beats, Select Start, I Am Empire, Another Option, and more! Be sure to pick up your copy from these amazing bands and spread the word to your fellow community. Here at WaTunes, we’re all about opportunities!”
Check out the SOUNDWAVE promo video below:
You can also check out the SOUNDWAVE announcement on their page:
“The CD will be hitting all tour dates as mentioned before, so don’t be worried because we will get to your area!
If the tour is not hitting your area, you will be missing out not only on our CD but an awesome show! The CD will officially release online (itunes and Shockhound) on June 1st! We will also be selling real copies online through bigcartel.
More information will be posted as in which Hot Topics the CD will hit and where else the CD will be sold! We will be updating this page as much as we can for you.”
Here are the bands on the CD:
Another Option
Rookie of the Year
Select Start
I Am Empire
Vega Under Fire
The Sophomore Beat
The Last Place You Look
Render Me Speechless
My So Called Life
Mr Fyner and the Tech Ed Room
Backdrop
Almost There
A Love Not Lost
Be sure to download the SOUNDWAVE album on iTunes and ShockHound on June 25!
posted by Paul “The Pageman” Pajo
I saw this on Aileen Apolo’s plurk page first (screenshot below):
I also found several blog posts about it - hey, it’s not everyday that a local holiday get Google Doodled. Here’s one from Jayvee Fernandez of the Blog Herald:
“These don’t come often in the archilepago in South East Asia. June 12 2009 (GMT +8 so they’re advanced) is Independence Day in the Philippines. And Google is first to greet. The logo today represents the colors of the Philippine flag, three stars and the sun. The sun’s design is quite reminiscent as well of the tees made for WordCamp Philippines ‘08 (video).”
Here’s another one from Andrew Dela SernaAlleba.com:
“This is the first-ever Google doodle for the Philippines so we wanted to make it very classic and meaningful for Filipinos. We created a special doodle on the Google Philippines homepage for June 12, 2009 to commemorate the Philippines’ Independence Day,” said Jay Trinidad, Regional Product Marketing Manager, Consumer Products, Google Asia Pacific. Trinidad is a Filipino Googler currently based in Singapore. “Google doodles also celebrate important local events and holidays such as this one. It is our honor to celebrate more than a century of national excellence and achievement with all Filipinos in our own creative and Googley way. On behalf of Google, I wish my fellow Filipinos another century of increasing prosperity and success. Mabuhay ang Pinoy!”
On June 12, 1898, revolutionary forces under Emilio Aguinaldo, the country’s first and youngest President, declared independence from Spanish colonial rule. The Philippine Independence Day doodle is based on the country’s current national flag, which is very similar to the one Aguinaldo raised 111 years ago. We’ve taken the sun with its eight rays, which represents the eight Philippine provinces that pledged their support to the revolution, and used it as the first ‘O’ in our logo,” said Trinidad, explaining the idea behind the doodle’s design. “We also used red, white, and blue, the Philippines’ national colors, which stand for patriotism, equality, and justice, respectively. We also incorporated the flag’s three stars in the design, symbolizing the three major geographic regions of the country.”
So, it was actually a Filipino who made this very special Google Doodle to commemorate Philippines’ Independence Day. Even ABS-CBN covered this:
“To commemorate the country’s 111th anniversary of its declaration of independence, Google announced that it has created the first-ever Google doodle for the Philippines. The unique doodle can be viewed on Google’s Philippine website, www.google.com.ph.
A Google doodle is a “decoration” Google makes to its logo every so often. Doodles are designed to celebrate worldwide events, anniversaries, and the lives of notable artists and scientists. Among the doodles that have been displayed on Google’s website are international holidays New Year, Valentine’s Day, and the December holiday season, and logos commemorating Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, and Edvard Munch.”
Personally, I’m happy that Google would take notice of our Independence Day - the problem is - is this kind of use of the “sanctioned” under R.A. 8491 (Flag and Heraldic Law of the Philippines)? The Law states:
”
I. Prohibited Acts
Sec. 34. It shall be prohibited:
a) To mutilate, deface, defile, trample on or cast contempt or commit any act or omission casting dishonor or ridicule upon the flag or over its surface;
b) To dip the flag to any person or object by way of compliment or salute;
c) To use the flag:
- As a drapery, festoon, tablecloth;
- As covering for ceilings, walls, statues or other objects;
- As a pennant in the hood, side, back and top of motor vehicles;
- As a staff or whip;
- For unveiling monuments or statues; and
- As trademarks, or for industrial, commercial or agricultural labels or designs. “
So, Section 3, article c6 might be prohibiting Google from using the distinctive features of the Philippine Flag from being incorporated into the it’s design. But that might be something that Ambeth Ocampo and the National Historical Institute to decide. I can only guess what Ambeth Ocampo’s reaction would be about this but here’s a clue based from his previous articles - here’s an one excerpt:
“Is respect for the flag and anthem irrelevant to our times? If it is considered petty to enforce a simple law, how do we expect others to follow greater, more difficult laws?
Two decades ago, James Fallows wrote about our “damaged culture” and reaped a whirlwind. We should update this to “pasaway culture” of our times.
Why do we have issues with authority and law? History gives us a hint: Rizal and Bonifacio went against Spanish laws and became heroes. Aguinaldo went against American laws and became a hero. Jose Abad Santos went against Japanese laws and became a hero. Today we are a free and independent nation, with Filipinos making laws for Filipinos who unfortunately have been historically conditioned to flout the law and hope to get away with it. Read the exchange on whether Nievera was right or wrong, and ask yourself why laws in this country are mere suggestions. Why can we not agree on how to best respect the symbols of the nation?
I should blame history for this confusion, but then maybe we should blame ourselves and our pasaway culture.”
And here’s another one:
“Should people treat flags in this way? Schoolchildren are taught that our flag should be respected: it is raised in the morning, lowered in the afternoon or in inclement weather. Our flag is folded in a special way and care is made that it does not touch the ground. When a flag is old, faded, or tattered, it is removed from service, burned and the ashes buried somewhere instead of thrown in the waste can or flushed down a toilet. This is what many Filipinos are taught in school and by joining the Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts of the Philippines. All this I learned before 1998 when Republic Act 8491, more popularly known as the Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines, was passed into law.“
Is the use of the Philppine Flag as a Google Doodle enough cause for the National Historical Institute and Ambeth Ocampo to censure Google? Let’s see what happens. Or maybe, they already have permission from the NHI? I can only guess. But wouldn’t it be supreme irony, that on the very day the we are supposed to commemorate Aguinaldo’s declaration of Philippine Independence against the United States of America, an American company would actually “doodle” about it?
posted by Paul “The Pageman” Pajo
David Rogers dreams of better if not bleeding edge retail tech:
“It’s all about performance and results so when you focus in on the real issues, you find that a huge amount of manual effort is required to run a retail operation, some of which has been automated (back office, POS and supply chain). But there is still a big void in the store, a lot of which is product replenishment. Unfortunately until they have cheap robots, that’s the way it will stay. Updating pricing, promotion and product information is as manual a process as it has always been. OK, we do have printers instead of in-store signwriters, granted.
How about this, I walk into any retailer with a laptop, a single communicator and I can show the store manager that I can update any price any time, anywhere with complete store-wide coverage, with no black spots and can report on every update. As Pepsi used to say, ‘take the challenge’, so come on take the ZBD challenge….. “
As David points out, probably the last fortress to fall (if not the HOLY GRAIL of) in retail technology is product replenishment. What if you had rows and rows and rows of electronic vending machines? Right now, these machines are probably expensive but if stores would have HUNDREDS if not THOUSANDS of these then you might be able to manufacture these machines cheaply and make them commodities.
posted by Paul “The Pageman” Pajo
from the De La Salle - College of St. Benilde website:
“This morning, DLS-CSB released an announcement on suspension of classes following the CHED regulation, which was sent to the College at 7:30 am. At 11:30 am, administrators of the College met with DOH officials and were informed of the one confirmed case, which prompted the amendment of the previous announcement.”
stay tuned!
To put into context what just happened, I’ll just quote blog.networksoultions.com:
“The audience at Word Camp Mid-Atlantic drew a deep breath as Anil Dash, one of the co-founders of Six Apart a rival blogging platform delivered the keynote address. During the keynote he made a very sensational announcement. The screen lit up with a URL http://www.sixapart.com/wordpress which is like Microsoft having a place for Apple software on their website.“
ReadWriteWeb aptly puts it this way:
“This is big news and akin to Apple announcing that it will use a Windows operating system for its new computers. Six Apart should be commended for choosing a very grassroots-type Wordpress event to make this announcement and we think this is a good way to introduce its services to bloggers on other platforms.”
While ReadWriteWeb hasn’t yet tried it yet - you now have a chance to do so - I’ve just installed it here in VERSTOL in Wordpress! 
so comment, comment, comment or rather TypePad Comment, TypePad Comment, TypePad Comment!
posted by Paul “The Pageman” Pajo
Here’s something that my students in IETHIC in De La Salle - College of Saint Benilde IS program have been working for a while - deploying Facebook Apps of psychometric profiles. Here’s an thought experiment - how do you combine Ethics (since I teach Information Technology Ethics (a.k.a. CyberEthics) with Facebook App technology?
Any ideas?
Here’s one - what if we can deploy the Ethical Mapping Instrument by Dr. Gini Graham Scott on the web and/or Facebook?
If you’re interested in how to make one, check out this screencast by Argel Cruz and also see his code released under CPAL license.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBdPcz9YBwE&hl=en&fs=1]
Here’s the codes (part 1 and part 2) if you want to deploy something like this.
