Globe subscribers, your Internet access is going to be throttled if your downloads and uploads exceed 1 gigabyte in a day. For most of you, whose Internet access involves mostly just emailing and interacting on Facebook or Twitter, this isn’t going to be an issue at all. But for those who use the Internet (via Globe Telecom) for business, a broadband cap is going to be a major problem.

Filipino netizens today are very sophisticated, constantly finding amazing and creative ways to make use of the Internet. Buying and selling online are activities that aren’t so newfangled anymore, and an increasing number of Filipinos are finding jobs through websites and making a living via the Internet. These people are in need of better Internet access, which Globe Telecom would do well to provide.

Everyday, I hear complaints from people around me about their Internet access woes. At home, in the office, in public Wi-Fi hotspots, Filipino Internet users are dissatisfied. But more urgently, the satisfaction of Filipino Internet users whose living depends on the Internet are not being met.

In a news article, Globe Telecom purports that a minority of users are abusing access:

In a recent internal analysis, Globe said about 5 percent of abusive subscribers use 80 percent of the available broadband Internet bandwidth in the company’s network.

This leaves only 20 percent of the capacity to be shared by 95 percent of the remaining users.

Source: INQUIRER.net

They seem to be blaming “abusive” Internet access on illegal downloading of content (music, TV shows, etc.), but are they for certain that these are the only activities going on online? It’s like saying excessive use of knives is bad because it kills people. Do chefs kill people for a living?

I don’t think telecommunications firms in particular, or businesses in general, are in a position to dictate which activities are illegal and which aren’t. That’s the government’s job. In my opinion, Globe Telecom is imposing their broadband cap because they do not want to invest further in their facilities and infrastructure.

Do they really give a damn about Filipinos, about protecting us from illegal online activities? I doubt that very much. And my reason for saying that is this: if they did care, they would be proactively anticipating the fast-paced growth of Internet usage in the country, and addressing this by meeting our requirements. But no, what Globe seems to be doing now is attempting to hide the fact that their Internet service provision is sub-par and does not even meet the minimum requirements of today’s netizen.

I’m quite certain that everyone who’s using the Internet for work or business will agree with me here, that if Globe, Smart and the other telecoms firms provided better Internet access, productivity would soar and we would have more time and resources available.

TXTPower, a mobile users watchdog, has a very cogent suggestion: for the government to conduct an independent review of telcoms companies’ existing facilities and services vis-à-vis consumer demand. Let’s hope that the National Telecommunications Commission finds it persuasive enough. But if you doubt that, then let’s all be vigilant and defend our universal right to a better Internet.

I have now almost completely abandoned Yahoo! and all of its services. I’d stopped using their “search engine” a long, long, long time ago, and their Web-based email service is but a distant memory to me. I don’t use Yahoo Messenger either, except when I’m online on Nimbuzz, where I’d enrolled my Yahoo! account and kept it there for the sake of the few friends who still have my Yahoo! ID.

The last item was Flickr. I’d actually gotten myself a pro account a couple of years back, and was happy enough using the service, especially because many of my WordPress themes incorporate Flickr widgets. Around December 2010 I renewed my subscription via PayPal, but the payment somehow got flagged “Pending”. My PayPal balance was debited, though, and PayPal said that it was up to the recipient to accept the remittance. Days passed and nothing happened.

The daughter of one of my cousins had been given a DSLR, so I thought a Flickr pro account would be a nice birthday gift from me, but I had to settle my renewal first. It was not meant to be.

I emailed Flickr (after much digging around for the proper contact form) and got a reply no less than a week after, but only to be told that the problem was with PayPal. PayPal said, again, that the ball was in Yahoo!’s court, so to speak. Since I badly needed to reactivate my account and send my niece her own pro account, I actually made another payment transaction… but the same thing happened — payment pending. This time, I got no reply from Flickr / Yahoo! at all.

To make a long story short, my Flickr pro account did not get renewed. To hell with it, I thought. If they don’t want my business, then I’ll gladly take it somewhere else. Good riddance.

The Y! logo above is a trademark of Yahoo! and is being used here solely for identification purposes.

Ok, to be fair to the NTC, the draft Memorandum Order is actually about whipping telcos into shape: that ISPs should deliver a minimum of 80% of promised bandwidth. Still, allowing ISPs to put a cap on bandwidth use is anti-development, it’s against our freedom, and it’s just plain embarrassing.

The rationale, NTC said, is to prevent illegal downloading of huge amounts of cyber-contraband, so to speak. But that line of reasoning is flawed and flimsy. I know of many people who use the Internet to download (and upload) gigabytes of data for work or for pursuing knowledge and not for anything illegal. (It’s like saying highways shouldn’t be used at night because criminals operate in the dark…)

If you ask me, this smacks of the government colluding with greedy telcos. Wouldn’t those companies just love it if their bandwidth-throttling activities become legalized? Then they wouldn’t have to upgrade their facilities or technologies to keep up with demand.

Cocoy Dayao of The ProPinoy Project wrote an open letter to the president and to Congress. Click here to read it. Let’s hope the government listens.

When I was in Vilnius, Lithuania for a conference on Internet Governance, I enjoyed 4G access via a USB modem. I was uploading at an average of 5Mbps, can you imagine? In almost every foreign city I’ve visited, Internet access speeds are way out there compared to ours here in the Philippines. This in spite of our having a relatively high Internet penetration rate. You’d think our telcos would be competing against each other to deliver the best in terms of technologies in order to woo the market. Instead, they attempt to dazzle the masses with unfulfilled promises of “unlimited” access.

It’s not even only about reasonable connection speeds with Philippine carriers. There’s still that gaping problem of under-serviced areas in the country. But let’s leave that for another discussion.

More and more Filipinos are finding themselves online today, the hours spent by each Filipino using the Internet have grown exponentially since the last decade, and there’s no slowing down this growth. And yet, the providers of Internet connectivity aren’t keeping up. They say “broadband” to label their Internet products, but is it really? The way Internet access is now, I’m happy when I get a steady speed of 80Kbps, which isn’t always.

The final NTC Memorandum Order should indeed compel telcos to deliver what they’re advertising — and yes, they should declare a CIR. Heck, they should already be doing so, Memorandum Order or no. But, the NTC should drop that part about allowing providers to limit bandwidth usage.

Like what Abe Olandres of YugaTech said, “I’d (rather) look at the other provision that requires a minimum guaranteed speed based on the subscribed speed.” However, Olandres goes on to defend the draft M.O. and puts forth the analogy of the MMDA limiting the use of the highways in the nation’s capital via color coding. But, with all due respect, I think this analogy is not apt.

The days of saying physical roads are analogous to the so-called information highway are long over, in my opinion. The highways in congested Metro Manila are incomparable to the Internet because the former is a limited resource: what you see is what you get, despite the burgeoning amount of vehicular traffic, hence the implementation of color-coding schemes. But the Internet is not limited at all; it’s limited only by what the telcos are providing at the moment. So, in this vein, the question really is not about limited resources, but about competence.

There’s been talk about the “fair-use policy” being adopted by telcos. A good friend of mine pointed out that this is baloney. If you’re a waterworks body, he goes on to say, you are constrained to implement fair-use policies because potable water is in limited supply. But, again, the Internet as a resource is not comparable to water supply.

My view is that the Internet is not merely a resource, but a tool as well. That’s why throttling access to it is a detriment to progress.

Here’s what Jayvee Fernandez of a Bugged Life says about this: that it’s a human rights issue because this bandwidth cap will stunt progress. I agree with him.

I was fortunate to have met Robert Guerra of Freedom House, an NGO that monitors (among others) press freedom in the world, in Hong Kong and then in Washington, D.C. earlier this year. In an effort to help spread the gospel of Internet Freedom of Expression, his team has compiled a set of instructional videos on how to use the technologies mentioned above. Here’s one of them:

From Mr. Guerra:

As part of our project on promoting freedom of expression through technology and circumvention tools, my team has produced a series of simple, easy to understand video tutorials on how to use some of the leading anti-censorship tools.

Our aim is to not only help facilitate the promotion of existing circumvention tools, but also encourage the development of new creative materials that will make circumvention tools cool, trendy and popular to a wider internet audience.

We would appreciate your help in sharing these videos with your friends, colleagues and networks. Our collection of videos can be found on YouTube.

For security reasons we have also created versions of the video tutorials that have had all references to Freedom House removed. The anonymous videos are available here.

GoDaddy iPhone App

It was pure delight to find out that GoDaddy — arguably the #1 domain registrar in the world — has an app for the iPhone / iPod touch. According to the App Store, it was posted late last year. Sometimes I get an inspiration for a domain name, and it’s now so much easier and more convenient for me to just whip out my trustee mobile device and access GoDaddy.com via mobile.

It’s a great little app: you can do pretty much all the basic domain-name registration stuff, plus a little more. Purchasing domain names, of course, is the main feature. But aside from that, you can also manage your domains, including updating nameservers and other DNS-specific records, domain ownership details, auto-renew settings, etc.

Here are a few screen shots of the GoDaddy iPod app in action, taken when I was acquiring yet another piece of Web real estate.

Domain Registration

Domain Administration

Whois service

There’s even a way for you to check who beat you to that domain name you’d wanted to get. An online whois service right on the palm of your hand. Actually, you can also do a whois on the domain name search results screen.

I have 60+ domain names registered, and as heavy user of mobile platforms, this GoDaddy app is now one of the most indispensable tools in my iPod touch. There are still some glitches, but I’m fairly certain GoDaddy’s going to be updating this application faithfully. Also, there’s only one way to pay: credit card; no PayPal payments accepted via this app yet. But other than that, it’s awesome!

Problem is, it might cause even more domain-buying sprees…

The Tattoo conveniently connects via USB and installed without a hitch on my Windows7-powered laptop. When I plugged it in the first time, the modem’s connectivity software installed itself (after my approval, of course) and was up and running in no time at all. Connecting to the network is a cinch, too!

Speaking of which, the Tattoo will be able to detect signal strength as well as the availability of WCDMA or HSDPA in your area. For best download/upload speeds, make sure you’re in an area where either WCDMA or HSDPA is present. (Where neither is available, chances are, you’ll be glad you had Internet connectivity at all.)

I’m happy with the broadband access I get in various places in Mindanao: Davao City, Cagayan de Oro, General Santos, Zamboanga City. When I go and visit more cities in the Philippine South, I’ll surely bring the Tattoo with me.

The Tattoo is available as a pre-paid and as a post-paid service. I use the former, and I am charged on the basis of duration. I remember when Internet service providers used to charge on a per-kilobyte basis, which was OK back then because connections were still very slow. But now that we have broadband access, it’s very advantageous for users of Globe Tattoo to be charged on a time-connected basis. We can download (and upload) much more in a short span of time and get charged only for the duration of connectivity.

If you don’t have yours yet, check out the Globe Tattoo broadband gallery of products.

July 21, 2009, Manila, Philippines — Forty years ago today, on July 20, 1969, the world watched as the crew of Apollo 11 took the first human steps on the surface of the Moon. In celebration of this historic occasion, Google is launching Moon in Google Earth, an interactive 3D atlas of the Moon, viewable with Google Earth 5.0.

With Moon in Google Earth, users can explore a virtual Moonscape, follow guided tours from astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) and Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17), see the latest rover concepts by teams competing in the Google Lunar X-PRIZE, view high-resolution ‘Street View’ style panoramic photos, watch previously unreleased video footage captured from the lunar surface, and much more. Moon in Google Earth will also incorporate a complete lunar terrain data-set by Kaguya LALT, produced by JAXA/NAOJ, which will serve as the atlas’ base-map. Whether they are rediscovering the iconic moments in the history of Moon exploration or learning about them for the first time, Moon in Google Earth enables users to better understand the Moon, and our relationship to it, with an immersive, 3D experience.

“Forty years ago, two human beings walked on the Moon. Starting today, with Moon in Google Earth, it’s now possible for anyone to follow in their footsteps,” said Google Earth Product Manager Michael Weiss-Malik. “We’re giving hundreds of millions of people around the world unprecedented access to an interactive 3D presentation of the Apollo missions.”

The most recent tool to have been developed as a result of the Space Act Agreement between Google and NASA, Moon in Google Earth enables information about the Moon to be accessible to anyone in a unique three-dimensional context.

“Today’s announcement builds on the ongoing relationship with Google that Ames Research Center initiated in November 2006 when we signed a Space Act Agreement to foster collaboration with our Silicon Valley neighbor,” said S. Pete Worden, Director of NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. “We’re excited to be a part of this latest chapter in Google’s efforts to bring virtual exploration of the Moon to anyone with a computer.”

In addition to satellite imagery and terrain, the following layers can be explored with Moon in Google Earth:

• Featured Satellite Imagery – Explore overlaid satellite imagery and detailed descriptions of selected areas on the Moon from Arizona State University’s ‘Lunar Image of the Week’;
• Spacecraft Imagery – View selected imagery captured by the Apollo Metric Camera, Clementine, and the Lunar Orbiter;
• Apollo Missions – Travel back to the Apollo era and discover the landing sites of Apollo missions 11-17. Explore ‘Street View’-style panoramic images, watch previously unreleased footage from Spacecraft films, and read about the places astronauts saw on their trips to the Moon;
• Guided Tours – Take a narrated tour of the Moon from Apollo astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) and Jack Schmitt (Apollo 17);
• Historic Maps – Discover Apollo-era geologic and topographic maps of the Moon that were used in mission control for trips to the Moon;
• Human Artifacts – Learn about the various types of exploratory equipment that humans have left on the Moon and where those objects can be found today. Artifacts from the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the EU, Japan, and India are included, some of them as 3D models.

To experience Moon in Google Earth, open Google Earth 5.0 and switch modes from ‘Earth’ to ‘Moon’ on the top toolbar. Google Earth 5.0 can be downloaded at http://earth.google.com/moon.

For more information, have a look at our blog posts on the Official Google Blog and the Google Lat Long Blog.





]]> http://www.ittalks.net/2009/07/21/explore-the-moon-in-google-earth/feed/ 0 http://rss.robillo.net/~r/Blogie/~3/hDan9BvRrEA/ http://rss.robillo.net/~r/Blogie/~3/hDan9BvRrEA/#comments Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:33:36 +0000 Blogie http://www.robilloblog.com/?p=562 Copyright © 2009, Oliver Robillo.
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(Digital Fingerprint: 8b28c01dc97422ca3167f44d6f989be3 (74.125.44.136) )]]> A group of aggressively talented individuals, among them my blogger-friend, Kring E. of FunnySexy.ph, is gearing up for the launch of a bold and exciting project: Flippish.com. Dubbed as “the First Online Pinoy Video Channel”, Flippish promises to be the death of TV.

In fact, that’s what they’re calling their launch: TV is dead.

If you think that’s hilarious, you should check out Kring’s blog! Anyway, here’s the press release for the launching party of this brave venture. (I wish I could say “See you there!” but — alas! — I’m all the way down south and probably won’t have the opportunity to visit the capital in July.)

flippish \fli’-psh\ adj [fr. Filipino]
1: anything that has Filipino flavor.
2: fickle-minded or indecisive
3: odd, crazy or weird.




FLIPPISH is a play on the word Filipino. It means anything that has Filipino flavor or could also mean something that is odd, crazy or weird. Flippish.com is the first Pinoy online video channel that produces original online shows that are of broadcast quality. The people behind flippish believe that it is about time that we Filipinos take on the challenge of coming up with online entertainment that is of international standards.

THE SHOWS

Flippish.com pushes the creative boundaries by creating a variety of bite-sized (5-8 minutes) videos that appeal to Filipinos of all shapes and sizes!

Shows that cover diverse genres such as Direk, a comedy about a hot-headed, emotional and over-the-top director who allows you to see what goes on in the world of production when the cameras stop rolling and LSS, which showcases some of the most talented, unsigned Filipino artists, whose songs might be the next big hit playing in your head. Another show is Flippish Specials, which is a collection of featured videos, event coverages, and documentaries made by the team.
Flippish.com will tickle your funny bone, get you up to speed on the latest hotspots and goings-on around and outside the Metro, stimulate you brain cells with thought-provoking reality shows and most importantly, entertain you until it becomes an essential part of your daily internet habit!

BEHIND THE SCENES

Flippish.com is spearheaded by Chris Tan, the Co-Founder and the Managing Director of Ideal Minds and Kring Elenzano, the Creative Director of Ideal Minds and Flippish.com. Chris is also currently the director for the Asian Poker Tour Series and was recognized as one of the Top 10 Entrepreneurs of the Year by Entrepreneur Magazine in 2005. Kring, on the other hand, is one of the hottest young TV directors in the industry with several projects under her belt such as the reality TV show RIVERMAYA: BAGONG LIWANAG! In the blogosphere, she is known by her handle, FunnySexy.

R.I.P., TV



Flippish.com will finally be officially launched on July 2, 2009 at Fiamma at Jupiter St., Makati. With the availability of the internet and increasing broadband speed, more people spend more time online nowadays and for these reasons, the people behind Flippish.com believe that “Television is Dead.” and that online entertainment is the wave of the future. Appropriately, this, too, is the theme of the launch party. New shows and talents will be introduced that night and viewers and fans may register on the site to receive special invites for the party.

For more information about the website, its shows and the launch party, do check out www.flippish.com.





]]> http://www.robilloblog.com/2009/06/15/tv-is-dead/feed/ 0 http://rss.robillo.net/~r/ittalksdvo/~3/Lwyur9nOfLQ/ http://rss.robillo.net/~r/ittalksdvo/~3/Lwyur9nOfLQ/#comments Thu, 12 Mar 2009 05:20:51 +0000 Blogie http://www.ittalks.net/?p=314 [Media Release]

March 12, 2009, Manila, Philippines — Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today formally announced that tens of thousands of edits made by Filipinos on Google Map Maker can now be seen on Google Maps. Google Map Maker–an application that allows users to edit Google Maps data–was launched in the Philippines in October last year to provide local map enthusiasts a means to personally contribute to the building and updating of online map data for the country. Now millions of Google Maps users around the world can see more accurate and updated online maps of the Philippines including new roads, points of interests and regions all over the country.

Since the launch of Google Map Maker in the Philippines, hundreds of users have contributed tens of thousands of edits, reflecting the overwhelming enthusiasm by Filipinos to collaborate online and share their knowledge of their neighbourhoods with the rest of the Internet community. Google Map Maker edits have come from a diverse group of Filipino users all over the country including civil engineers, business executives, programmers, entrepreneurs, and students. Through a moderation and verification process, most of these edits, which include street-level data, landmark tags and business establishments, can now be seen on Google Maps.

“Congratulations to the thousands of Filipino users who have successfully contributed to Google Map Maker! The Philippines is one of the most challenging places to map because of the diverse topography of its more than 7,000 islands–this is why there is a dearth of accurate map data available online. Because of the collaborative efforts of local map enthusiasts, we are beginning to see the “physical face” of the Philippines getting clearer over time for the global community to see. This is a great start, but know there is much more to do, so we encourage you to join your fellow Pinoys and contribute to Google Map Maker to give the Philippines an accurate virtual country map to be proud of,” said Derek Callow, Head of Marketing, Google Southeast Asia.

“I’m passionate about editing maps and Google Map Maker’s interface is very intuitive and user-friendly. I started adding streets and establishments in Tuguegarao, where I was born, and Baguio City, where we lived when I was growing up. Then I quickly moved on to editing municipalities and cities,” said Wayne Manuel, one of the Philippines’ top contributors to Google Map Maker with several thousand edits. Manuel is a Chemical Engineering Filipino student currently studying overseas at the National University of Singapore. “It started out like a big jigsaw puzzle with many pieces missing. But when I saw the roads, street names and landmarks coming together on Google Map Maker, I felt really happy for my country and it encouraged me to contribute even more,” Manuel said.

“Seeing that the edits–including the ones I did–have been pushed to Google Maps means the Philippines is more and more on the global map, and that we put it there through our own Pinoy passion! It was personally satisfying for me. The reason I set out making edits is because I wanted to help promote the places that I grew up in and the country as a whole to the rest of the world. The mission continues and I hope even more Filipinos will join us on Google Map Maker to improve the online map of our beautiful country,” said Bernard Arellano III, another top contributor to Google Map Maker in the Philippines. Arellano, who works as a call center agent, made several thousand edits on Guimaras and Iloilo.

”I think it’s important that local users keep the edits coming in because having accurate map data helps promote the country’s viability to foreign investors and tourists,” said Dante Varias, a 56-year-old civil engineer who is also among Google Map Maker’s top contributors for the Philippines. “The Google Map Maker interface is so user-friendly you don’t need any specialized training before you can start editing.” Varias said that he had been looking for map-making software prior to the launch of Google Map Maker late last year. “When I discovered Google Map Maker, I immediately started enjoying the process of editing the map tiles of Cavite, so much so that after only 37 days, I had already added over several thousand edits on my own.”

Here are some screenshots and videos showing the amazing contributions of thousands of users of Google Map Maker in the Philippines:

Manila [watch video]



Cebu [watch video]



Davao [watch video]






About Google Inc.

Google’s innovative search technologies connect millions of people around the world with information every day. Founded in 1998 by Stanford Ph.D. students Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google today is a top web property in all major global markets. Google’s targeted advertising programme provides businesses of all sizes with measurable results, while enhancing the overall web experience for users. Google is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit http://www.google.com.ph/.

Google and Google Maps are trademarks of Google Inc. All other company and product names may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.





]]> http://www.ittalks.net/2009/03/12/rp-graduates-from-map-maker-to-google-maps/feed/ 0 http://rss.robillo.net/~r/ittalksdvo/~3/7mU378Bq-8o/ http://rss.robillo.net/~r/ittalksdvo/~3/7mU378Bq-8o/#comments Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:32:58 +0000 Blogie http://www.ittalks.net/?p=303 [Media Release]

It can be extremely stressful for businesspeople in these uncertain times. To put more time and energy on work may seem like the most practical way to survive and succeed in the global financial crisis, but doing so can also take its toll. Play and relaxation are much needed after a long day of business meetings and corporate decisions. Balance is the key to living a successful, happy life–in business and in everything else. But then again, in this harsh economic climate, more work means less play… or does it?



ExcelAsia President Rita Trillo-Ugarte

That’s why ExcelAsia President Rita Trillo-Ugarte chooses only the HTC Touch Pro in helping her keep a balance between business and fun. “I need a phone that is as fast and efficient as I want to be, so that I can communicate easily with my staff and my clients,” she says, “and the HTC Touch Pro does just that.” With its elegant touch-screen user interface and slide-out QWERTY keyboard, sending short text messages and typing out long e-mails and business letters on the Touch Pro can be done in a zip.

“The HTC Touch Pro really is a powerhouse beauty. It has all the features that I need, in a sleek and smooth little package,” says Rita. As ExcelAsia president and first and foremost a mother and a wife, Rita likes to stay on top of her business affairs without sacrificing time with her family. “My daughter, husband, and I were in Palawan recently, and I couldn’t believe I was able to take care of my e-mails through my phone! My laptop didn’t even get the service,” Rita explains. “I can be online all the time with my HTC Touch Pro, which is very necessary for me. Now I don’t need my laptop that much,” she says.

The HTC Touch Pro’s 2.8-inch VGA touch screen provides four times the resolution of most PDA phones, making e-mail and web-browsing easier and sharper. It also runs on the Windows Mobile 6.1 professional operating system, allowing quick and convenient access to Microsoft Office applications and important documents while on the go.



HTC Touch Pro

“I recommend the HTC Touch Pro to individuals like me who strive for balance between work and play. The Touch Pro is a fully equipped business phone with all the non-business perks. I can use the stylus, tap the unique TouchFLO 3D interface with my fingertips, or type using the slide-out QWERTY keyboard. Even my friends think it’s so nice and chic!” says Rita.

Rita also likes taking pictures with her phone, especially with the HTC Touch Pro’s 3.2 megapixel color camera with auto-focus and flash. “I sent my sister Annie some pictures I took while we were in Palawan, and she couldn’t believe they were taken from my phone,” Rita says. And the wallpaper on her HTC Touch Pro screen? A lovely photo of husband Jose Mari and daughter Camila. No wonder Rita is always inspired with the most brilliant ideas.





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