by admin | Sep 19, 2015 | Tech Talk
By Jerome Auza
In the past weeks I’ve discussed what I think is the reason for poor Internet service in the country. However, this weekend, I was pleasantly surprised to be on a remote sandbar somewhere off Bien Unido, Bohol and my phone had consistent 3G signal and fast Internet service. So I posted a panorama picture of the island.
For sure, we were at least a few kilometers away from the nearest cell site as it took 30 minutes by banca to reach the sandbar. The banca, by the way, was a twin engine model which means it was double the noise of regular bancas. And it was faster.
So why the fast connection out there? There were actually some factors that favor a good connection. First, I can see a few cell site towers at the main land which means there were no obstruction between my cellphone and the cell site it connected to. Compare this with the situation when you are in Tagbilaran City where the cell site could be just a few hundred meters away but there are a lot of obstructions like buildings and trees.
Second, I presume there aren’t that many users in that area thus the cell site is not as congested as it could get if it was in an area with a high density of users.
Lastly, my impression was just based on an hour there and only occasionally using Facebook and checking email. I know, I shouldn’t have checked email because I was on an outing but I had to test the connection.
If such connection is consistent, then I would say there is really some level of capability of doing outsourced services there. If the outsourced service does not require real-time interaction, it might just work.
Makaina islet/sandbar off the coast of Bien Unido, Bohol.
by admin | Sep 19, 2015 | Opinion
By Jerome Auza
What do you get when you have 11 million tweets in less than 24 hours? Popularity, bragging rights and more commercial contracts. And possibly a new Guinness Book of World Records entry.
The number of Twitter tweets is used as one of the measures of popularity of a certain topic or hashtag. A recent great example of the proper use of this social media platform is Eat Bulaga’s Kalyeserye, a comedy series that mixes studio and street scenes and a unique love story where the pair communicate only via dubbing of songs and hand written notes.
The longest running noon-time show in the country Eat Bulaga surprised its fans two months ago with the new comedy segment which includes a love story between Yaya Dub, played by Maine Mendoza and Alden Richards. Mendoza, who became popular on Youtube because of her hilarious Dubsmash videos, is a new talent introduced by the show. Richards is a budding actor who was paired with Mendoza in the segment.
The other characters in the segment played by hosts Wally Bayola, Jose Manalo and Paolo Ballesteros while the original trio of Eat Bulaga Tito, Vic and Joey act as if they are directors and commentators adding more comedy into the already hilarious conversations of the characters Lola Nidora, Lola Tidora and Lola Tinidora among others.
The segment is a completely new concept in the Philippine television industry and has made Eat Bulaga capture the coveted number 1 position in TV ratings for noon-time shows. It combined traditional TV promotions and social media techniques to increase its popularity.
The show’s excellent use of the social media platforms Twitter and Facebook prior to the start of the segment helps build excitement among the fans. Each segment ends with a cliffhanger scenario and the fans are left wondering and discussing in Twitter and Facebook what might happen next. So they keep watching the segments.
It also helps that the segment has the kind of unpredictability because it mixes reality and acting into the love story of Alden and Yaya Dub. All the while Lola Nidora tries to keep the two apart and wants them to wait for the “tamang panahon” or the right time. Even the real life parents of Mendoza and Richards tweet about the show. And so the conversations on social media continue every day, building up to a major event every Saturday.
For marketing professionals, it is worth studying how Eat Bulaga used social media in promoting the Kalyeserye episodes. 11 million tweets is a big deal because it means there are millions of unique users tweeting about it. And there are way more Twitter users who don’t tweet but see the hashtag and links and therefore exposed to the topic. Just imagine the commercial endorsements that Eat Bulaga can make because of this popularity. In fact, they already have two major commercials based on the Kalyreserye concept.
by admin | Sep 17, 2015 | Headlines
A massive earthquake measuring 8.3 magnitude on the Richter scale hit Chile on September 16, 2015 in the evening and triggered tsunamis as high as 4.7m. Tsunami alerts were issued around the Pacific.
The US Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the tremor struck off the coast of Coquimbo, 46km west of the city of Illapel at 19:54 local time (22:54 GMT) with a depth of 25km. The earthquake lasted for more than 3 minutes and was followed by dozens of strong aftershocks.
Chile is in one of the most seismically active regions of the planet. In 2010, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake caused damage on infrastructure and residences in Chile.
Power outage and breakdown of communication towers resulted after the quake.
An estimated one million people were evacuated from the coastlines and low lying areas that are threatened by tsunamis.
Sources: bbc.com.uk, weather.com
by admin | Sep 15, 2015 | Headlines, National News
If the 2016 elections were like basketball, teams have started pounding the ball and are dribbling to the basket, even before the organizers could draw the crowds.
And the referees could do nothing but scratch their heads in despair. Or is it despair?
Yesterday, out of apparent disgust on the unfair advantage some are taking, the National Movement for Free Elections called on the public to join in the campaign.
The campaign is to raise a red flag on early campaigning. No, not just raise, but smear these teams name in the national and international scenes.
Some people are obviously oblivious to the rules of the game and the referees are not picking on the violations.
The referees, when called upon to call the foul, said they can only do that after tip-off.
The Election Law however says unless these people file their certificates of candidacies (COC), they are deemed non candidates and non candidates and “campaigning” to them is void ab initio.
But, Namfrel, as with everybody else (except maybe the Commission on Elections) have seen the intent of the law and the goal to level the playing field.
In basketball, as with elections, in order to play and win the game, one must abide by the rules.
In it are mediators of sorts who will suspend the games as soon as rules are breached.
But even before the referees could come into the hard court, some teams have already started piling up on the hoops and are bringing the rah-rah with them.
Namfrel knows these calloused opportunists (who know the law better than us) are obviously circumventing the law and are getting away.
On this, one needs to do is to use, not their Comelec heads or ears or eyes, but the eyes, ears and heads that see these violations.
The move is against over-eager politicians promoting themselves months before official campaign starts. You can easily spot them: tarpaulins announcing events, congratulating, epals and riding on government projects.
All one needs to do is take a snapshot at a printed political advertisement, record the campaign speech and post these on a dedicated Election 2016 Pampams facebook page.
Pampan is a street language for prostitutes.
On twitter, all these documents could be uploaded and tagged with a hashtag #pampam.
You see, in a government that has become inutile over its prostituting, people can take the roles ostracizing the errant and exacting the kind of justice they deserve.
by admin | Sep 15, 2015 | Opinion
Governor Edgar Chatto has been insistent about a synchronized fight against drugs, a fight that will snowball from the barangays to the city, leaving drug personalities no place to run and hide.
We can always understand that. For the past years, Bohol has never “hosted” drugs as problematic as this.
Then provincial commander Constantino Barot showed not much drug apprehensions. Sources even revealed that an expressed instruction to the police stated: drug is not a police priority. Let the PDEA do it.
As it appears, it seems a legitimate order. The PNP is not principally tasked with the drug problem, as the law provides. On it are usually unnamed PDEA agents.
But, intelligence community reports can never be stopped; not even by powerful people who want it stopped. Like water seeking its own level, reports have a nasty habit of getting to popping in analysts tables who treat them as A-one.
Since Police Director Dennis Agustin took over from Col. Barot, the biggest puzzle started to take shape.
As it appears, Colonel Agustin pieced a puzzle so tough to solve that lives of a police chief and several officers have to be offered to enlighten us about the diabolical ogre we are facing.
Anybody following the high stakes drug drama would agree, when the police shrugged off the drugs responsibility, they allowed the seeds to root enough to send shivers upon police and prosecutors pursuing drug cases.
Which led many to ask: Has Capitol been involved? A pesky candidate has also accused Gov. Chatto of this.
While we are not that quick to the conclusion that Capitol is protecting, things are shaping. And the shape, unfortunately, is that of a fat lie sitting at the Capitol.
Today, we hit the second month after three sachets of drugs were found at the Capitol.
As much as we wanted the full details of the story, it took a brave old man, weeks to leak a plot to hide the drugs. And another month before an order to investigate was issued.
Two months of investigations, and all Capitol can do is accuse the old man and his school of planting drugs at the Capitol? While this alleged school is not entirely drug-free, it would be tough to imagine how Capitol could side sweep into a fallacy of ad hominem just to draw flak away from the government.
You see, Capitol had a window opened to cast away the issue on drugs. Had it exercised diligence in coming out with investigations, or appeased the Boholanos with the heads of workers who tested positive in the drug tests, it could have side-stepped away from controversy.
Unfortunately however, after two months, that window has closed.
