Buyanihan.com

So I woke up late today and I got 2 emails from a new pinoy start-up named buyanihan.com. It's a website that features food deals and other deals. "Timely for X-Mas Giving". Normally, I would have been supportive of them simply because they're Filipino, but here's what they did wrong:

• They wanted me to buy a kamasutra cake for X-mas. Huh?
• They sent me two unsolicited emails without my permission using my inactive email account and my main account. 
• Webmaster cannot be trusted with my email so I won't signup.

Positive

• The cake looks lusciously delicious. But I am not going to send a kamasutra cake to anyone for Christmas.
• 50% off sounds good.
• The website layout looks awesome. But.....You know.... I don't have a clue what it is for.

I don't know how they got my old email addresses - which I haven't used for more than a year. It's just plain wrong for people to send unsolicited email advertisements. Sure the deals sound good, the pictures sound good, but it just doesn't make sense for me to send a KAMASUTRA CAKE ON CHRISTMAS. 

Come on!!!!! People.. !$!%$!#$!#$!#$$!$%^$%&$^$%

 

The Social Network Movie Review

I just saw the movie the Social Network and I can't help but feel suspicious about it. It smacks of one sidedness. It smacks of propaganda. And worst, it smacks of publicity for the popular social network. It's a cliche to mention that 'good and bad publicity is publicity nevertheless.'

Upon reading the Wikipedia entry about the Winklevoss brothers, I can't help but feel that the movie got all of their allegations to the dot. The entry was like a plot summary of the movie.

After watching, my paranoid mind queried:

• Zuckerberg didn't claim royalties for a movie about his life. Or did he? 
• The Winklevoss brothers aren't claiming to be the ones behind the movie - but they're so enthusiastic about it in interviews and that they are also not claiming royalties for a movie that involved them. Or are they?

My take on this is that this is a publicity stunt. An advertisement that generated revenue. A ploy to keep people asking the question, "Did Mark Zuckerberg steal facebook?"

I could surmise that the investors and marketing strategists behind facebook, gathered up all the players and told them, "Hey, we could get more publicity if there is intrigue between all of you." 

Let's start with the Winklevoss lawsuit, then add in the Saverin-Zuckerberg rift. Dash a few Shawn Parker, and we have a mega whirlwind of publicity that will create huge dividends for all of us. 

The important thing is, all the social networks will be buzzing about whatever you guys do. As long as people talk about you, you're good.

Let's not make this public. Mark, keep a low profile. Maintain that nerdy look and disposition. You're going to be the next Bill Gates. 

Winklevi, you're going to be his purported nemesis. 

Lawsuits, press releases, articles, allegations, scandal, money and a movie - we have ourselves an audience captivated with manufactured drama that will keep them talking and wondering about inessential matters.

If what I am saying is true, it's a heckuva marketing strategy and it's working. 

A lot of people are bashing Zuckerberg, a lot of people support him.

A lot of people are bashing the Winklevi, a lot of people support them. 

Etc. Etc.

Should you watch it? 

Up to you. 

Social Media and Government

It's great to see that most of the Philippines' government agencies are now putting social media to good and productive use.

Here's a recent view of the traffic conditions along Epifanio delos Santos Avenue. Good thinking!

Nike: Just Do It

Excellent placement by Philstar.com photographers to remind those who are complacent and tired like me to grab some of the vitriol of their youth and to - you know. JUST DO IT.

Photo Courtesy of Philstar.com

Bob Parsons: 10 Tips on How to Get Lucky

Didn't know that the founder of GoDaddy.com, a web service that sold domain names, had his own wacka doodle doo blog. Well, here's one of his video blogs.

Simple ideas. Awesome presentation. Man, I wish I could blog like the guy. Maybe someday I'll get lucky :)

Philippines Cited as World's Top Outsourcing Center

MANILA BULLETIN ARTICLE
"MANILA, Philippines – For the third time, the Philippines was cited as the “world's leading global outsourcing center” when it was awarded the Offshoring Destination of the Year Award for 2010.

The country first bagged the coveted title in 2007. The Philippines also beat other countries in the same category last year, making this year a back-to-back win.

The honor was given during the National Outsourcing Association (NOA) Awards Night, held at the Park Plaza Riverbank Hotel in London last week."

This is obviously good news that should at least make the head honchos of the outsourcing industry happy amidst the strengthening of the peso.

Google Buzzinga!

Google rarely contacts Gmail users via email, but we are making an exception to let you know that we've reached a settlement in a lawsuit regarding Google Buzz (http://buzz.google.com), a service we launched within Gmail in February of this year.

Shortly after its launch, we heard from a number of people who were concerned about privacy. In addition, we were sued by a group of Buzz users and recently reached a settlement in this case.

The settlement acknowledges that we quickly changed the service to address users' concerns. In addition, Google has committed $8.5 million to an independent fund, most of which will support organizations promoting privacy education and policy on the web. We will also do more to educate people about privacy controls specific to Buzz. The more people know about privacy online, the better their online experience will be.

Just to be clear, this is not a settlement in which people who use Gmail can file to receive compensation. Everyone in the U.S. who uses Gmail is included in the settlement, unless you personally decide to opt out before December 6, 2010. The Court will consider final approval of the agreement on January 31, 2011. This email is a summary of the settlement, and more detailed information and instructions approved by the court, including instructions about how to opt out, object, or comment, are available at http://www.BuzzClassAction.com.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
This mandatory announcement was sent to all Gmail users in the United States as part of a legal settlement and was authorized by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.

Google Inc. | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway | Mountain View, CA 94043

Convert RSS to Javascript, PHP, AJAX, ASP

Convert RSS, AJAX, PHP, ASP or Javascript

I am making a new blog that's going to focus on my online job as a freelance writer. It will be a no nonsense blog dedicated solely to freelance gigs. Along with my online gigs, I'm going to put in some rss feeds from other websites so that I could have all the gigs that I want in one location.

Along the way, I discovered a nifty tool that converts rss feeds into AJAX, iFrames, PHP or Javascript.

It's called WebRSS and it lets you design the look of the feed with a very simple interface.

ITS FREE!

Here's how it looks like:

Convert RSS to Javascript, PHP, ASP or iFrames

Globe Wimax Rain

Thinking of getting Wireless Internetless access? Get Globe Wimax Rain for your home. If it rains in your vicinity, we can guarantee speeds like Internet Dial Up. In fact, you'll get so amazed by how low our company can get.


Technical Support

When you subscribe to Globe WiMax rain, and as expected, you don't get any Internet connection at all, you'll be pulling your hair out of sheer frustration.

Then as a value added service, we'll sell you something that our company is really known for - hair nothing growers. Simply apply them on your neck, your balding head and your chin and nothing will happen!

Technical support? Oh, right, we'll make our technical support misrepresentatives all the more effective by asking questions like,

"Did you plug the switch?"
"Is it turned on?"
"What color is your eye?"
"Please restart your computer!"
"Ah, ah, we are upgrading our systems and we're smarter than you so get a piece of pen or paper and we'll give you a support ticket that you can stick up your..."


Wireless Internetless speeds at affordable prices

*Sometimes faster than dialup. but when it rains you're sure to dialup our technical support!

What are you waiting for? Get your Globe WiMax Internetless Connection NOW!

Globe - Disconnecting People Every Minute

Help Harvey Bring Books to Children in the Philippines

A socio civic leader here in the Philippines, Harvey Keh, a person that  I admire and respect has the noble goal of providing books for public school children.

His message:

The Acts of Hope for the Nation (AHON) Foundation aims to help promote quality basic education for every Filipino child by helping communities build functional public elementary school libraries. Since 2006, we have already helped build 37 public school libraries which currently benefit more than 80,000 students. 


Each Pack of 3 AHON Christmas Cards is worth P 300.00 only! Proceeds will help us in buying new books for public elementary schools all over the country. To order, please contact Herbel at (02) 355-1567 or send an email to ahonfoundation@yahoo.com . 


We offer free delivery within Metro Manila for orders worth P 1,200.00 or more. For more information about AHON Foundation, please visit our website at

http://www.ahonfoundation.com.

Yet Another Globe Wimax Review

I’ve been a Globe Wimax subscriber for at least 6 months now. So far, I could tell you that my experience is wrought with both pleasure and pain. There are times when my wireless Internet connection would let me download torrents at 100+kbps and there times when it would let me download at 0.06kbps.

Considering that I live to an almost jungle like setting, I guess that’s acceptable

Live in a Rainy Area? Don’t Get Globe Wimax

It just plain doesn’t work whenever it rains. Even if it’s just a soft drizzle, it just plain sputters like an old car with an old battery and a worn out spark plug. Simply put, you’ll be annoyed to death.

Globe Wimax Hates uTorrent

In their contract there is some sort of cap to the amount of torrents you could download in a month. If I am not mistaken, they set the limits to 20% of your downloads.

I’m not so sure if they follow through on that threat though. My hard and fast rule is to leave it to download at night and you have yourself something to watch for tomorrow.

Globe Wimax Customer Service Hates You

• ·         The first thing they’ll ask you to do is to check whether you plugged the modem in. Huh?
• ·         Then they’ll tell you to restart your PC or your Modem. As if we haven’t for the last 10 years.
• ·         Then they’ll tell you that they’re upgrading their facilities – which you have no way of verifying.
• ·         If finally, you’ve managed to stave off their excuses, they’re going to tell you that they’re going to elevate it to some higher power and they’ll give you a nice little pink ticket. Just call again after one week or forever.

The absolute worst that they did to me was to tell me that they’re sending someone over and I waited for that person to arrive since time immemorial. Up to now, that support person didn’t arrive.

At the end of the day, you can’t do anything about it. You’re stuck with them for the rest of your contract. They smile and grin at your stupidity and hope that they can come up with a heckuva marketing plan the next time they have a new product or service so that they could hoodwink you again for another year.

They’re quite practically, goons in business attire.

So if you are like me and you're stuck in a contract with them, this is what I have to say to you, 

"You Poor Sucker."