Globe has now opened its flagship store in Greenbelt 4. The store is huge at 200 square meters. It will cater any customers needs, from Home, Business or Mobile.

The store carries top of the line accessories for cellphones and laptops. Aside from accessories, they have improved customer service and even has a small room for Platinum users.

If you are in the area, do try and visit this cool store.

In much the same way that the Philippines was recognized as the world’s texting capital in the late 90s, Filipino netizens have established their presence in social networking sites. According to “Power to the People –Wave 3,” a Universal McCann study released in 2008, the Philippines can be regarded as “the social networking capital of the world”. The study, conducted in 29 countries, estimates that about 90% of Filipino users read blogs (second only to Korea’s 92%). It also reported that the Philippines has the highest percentage of photo uploaders and web video viewers.

Pinoy_Blogfest 1.0 will tackle hot button issues about new media such as ethics, copyright concerns, and journalistic integrity. The keynote speech will focus on “The social and ethical responsibilities of new media.” Other plenary topics include “Optimizing the economic potential of your blog” and “Bloggers as media practitioners.” The morning session is expected to close with a facilitated discussion on “Crafting a blogger’s code of ethics.” Speakers include Gadgets Magazine’s Publisher & CEO Maribelle Alba, media personality Ira Panganiban, Yugatech’s Abe Olandres and Yvonne Chua from PCIJ.

The afternoon schedule of Pinoy_Blogfest 1.0 will consist of breakout sessions covering technology trends, gaming, mobile networking, photography, digital living, and health/fitness. Hosted by industry leaders, these sessions will showcase the latest advances in these fields.

Pinoy_Blogfest 1.0 is open to all bona-fide bloggers. Due to space limitations, we shall be limiting the conference to about 100 participants. Complimentary tickets are available for about 60 slots, after which a minimal registration fee of P2,500 will be charged to cover meals and the participant’s kit.

Pinoy_Blogfest 1.0 is presented by Gadgets Magazine in partnership with Coca-Cola Philippines. Other sponsors include Toshiba the official notebook partner, Canon, Asus Technologies, TCL Sun, Isukoshi, Reebok, and LG. Media partners are Manila Bulletin, Business Mirror, Jam 88.3, Wave 89.1, Magic 89.9, 99.5 RT, 103.5 MAX FM, NU 107.5, and Clickthecity.com.

Best motion picture of the year : “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), A Voltage Pictures Production, Nominees to be determined

Best foreign language film of the year : “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” (Sony Pictures Classics), A Haddock Films Production, Argentina

Best animated feature film of the year : “Up” (Walt Disney), Pete Docter

Achievement in directing : “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Kathryn Bigelow

Performance by an actor in a leading role : Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actress in a leading role : Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side” (Warner Bros.)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role : Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds” (The Weinstein Company)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role : Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate)

Adapted screenplay : “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (Lionsgate), Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher

Original screenplay : “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Written by Mark Boal

Achievement in cinematography : “Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Mauro Fiore

Achievement in film editing : “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Bob Murawski and Chris Innis

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) : “Up” (Walt Disney), Michael Giacchino

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) : “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Achievement in art direction : “Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg, Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair

Achievement in costume design : “The Young Victoria” (Apparition), Sandy Powell

Achievement in makeup : “Star Trek” (Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment), Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow

Achievement in sound editing : “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson

Achievement in sound mixing : “The Hurt Locker” (Summit Entertainment), Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett

Achievement in visual effects : “Avatar” (20th Century Fox), Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones

Best animated short film : “Logorama” (Autour de Minuit), An Autour de Minuit Production, Nicolas Schmerkin

Best live action short film : “The New Tenants”, A Park Pictures and M & M Production, Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Best documentary short subject : “Music by Prudence”, An iThemba Production, Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett

Photo above is a BMW. Natural disasters do not choose who to devastate, it does not matter if you are rich or poor as we can all attest to during last weeks deluge. Some of us got lucky and ended up unscathed but many felt the full brunt of Ondoy’s wrath. In this time of need, every little act of kindness is a gargantuan hand that can alleviate every victim’s ordeals.

How to help:

Barrio Siete has organized a fund raising called Barrio Bayanihan for the victims and please do visit them here.

Red Cross who have been one of the most active organizations since Saturday. Visit their site here
If you want to donate immediately (Globe Subscribers):
txt RED to 2899

There also a dozen or so organizations that can assist you in helping out the victims. If you do not have the resources to physically or financially aide the victims, spreading the word on how to help is a huge help by itself.

900 students of Dr. Arcadio Santos High National High School – Sun Valley Annex in Paranaque City will benefit from the 40 computer sets donated by ASUS through the ADOC 2.0. What is ADOC you may ask?The APEC Digital Opportunity Center (ADOC) was initiated by Chinese Taipei in the 2003 APEC meeting in Bangkok to meet the goal of bridging digital divide among APEC Economies. It has collaborated with seven APEC economies – Chile, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines since its inception. In the second phase of the project, ADOC asked for the support of private companies, like ASUS, to help gather resources.

The students would really benefit from the new computer sets because they can now acquire new skills that will greatly help them in a now globally competitive world.

Every year I do a list of things that I would change for the coming year. This year’s list are fewer than last year but hopefully I can muster enough will to make it happen!

1. Stop buying cigarettes- Hopefully by not buying my Marlboro and depriving myself of an access to some “smokes” would finally make me stop smoking. The only upside to not buying cigarettes is my brothers are also smokers and that would make me save money. Hindi na ako bibili ng yosi manghihingi nalang ako.

2. Minimize my drinking habits and Stop my drunk driving- This one is easy, ever since graduating from college I have never passed out from drinking.

3. Stop being a sleaze bucket- I had bad experiences before from ogling at girls. I had tons of heated conversations from many a former girlfriends about it. I don’t know why they got angry? Eh ‘Tangina kung sa lalaki kaya ako tumingin mas matuwa sila?

I just slimmed my New Year’s resolution to just 3 so that it would be realistic to fulfill.

Fire works image via Deviant Art

2009 Cow image via Deviant Art

Bhutan innovated the concept of Gross National Happiness(GNH) which considers the general spiritual and holistic well being of the Bhutanese people. Perhaps such system are flawed but we cannot take away the fact that the physical and spiritual well being is of utmost importance and financial progress is second. I feel that the only flaw GNH has is the quantitative measurement such factors have.

Another proposed replacement for GDP is the Genuine Progress Indicator.GPI is an attempt to measure whether a country’s growth, increased production of goods, and expanding services have actually resulted in the improvement of the welfare of the people.

In a world where materialism and industrialization abounds, do we still have value? In the Philippines, GDP has a growth rate of 7.3%(according to the paper I read), with such impressive growth rate how come plenty of people are still living in poverty and state that there is still no improvement in their life. The health care delivery system in the Philippines also suffer from lack of funds because Health Centers, Provincial, District and City hospitals are controlled by politicians that have jurisdiction over them, and naturally they fall prey to politicization and immature campaigning. If the Philippines’ Gross National Happiness would be measured, for sure it would earn a very low mark given the over all gloom that covers the country today.

The Philippines has been a bastion of capitalism and commercialism for centuries(with several areas where contentment was the focus). Do we really need new bridges, trains and roads if most of our countrymen are living way below the poverty line. Materialism is really abundant in our culture and I too admit to being materialistic. How do we change that when everywhere you go there would be advertisements pimping their products?

Every year we experience heavy deforestation,over farming and overfishing all in the pursuit of bigger profits whereas the only goal farmers, fishermen, miners loggers and many other workers have is the opportunity to feed,clothe and give education to their families. These adverse effects are the result of too much focus on income generation but the income the nation makes are unevenly distributed. This is OK as long as basic necessities are provided, but this is not so the case. These factors brings about higher criminality and lawlessness in the pursuit of materialism.

I actually support the GPI as replacement for GDP because it provides a more holistic perception of what a country is progressing into. Sometimes we always think of the bigger picture but most of the time its the people who are regarded as minuscule factors in the big race for profit.