by magnolia_eic | Feb 13, 2012 | TechTalk
Its just the beginning of the year and the social networks are already amass with different discussions and opinions, and mind you, its not about new year resolutions or some melodramatic life experience — its about pertinent social issues that may actually affect each one of us. Public opinion back then, was strong. But public opinion now, in this digital age is stronger. During the times when social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or Youtube were non-existent, the people took to the streets to make themselves heard. Print media was the measure of public opinion, along with posters. But now, the media for public opinion has evidently increased, adding on the list, the giants of social networking — and it seems to be working very very well. Take for example what happened to the SOPA and PIPA bill, both were protested by a lot of people who did not necessarily rally on the streets to be noticed, but instead, they “tweeted”, “retweeted”, “commented”, and “liked”. Not to mention “blogged” and “reblogged” and “shared” just to get their sentiments known. The results, as you probably have already heard of, were remarkable. The voting for the bills did not go through. Back in our own country, the Impeachment Trial of the Chief Justice is the one being feasted on. If you have twitter, search for the hashtag #cjontrial and you’ll find literally hundreds of conversations regarding the day to day happenings inside and outside the impeachment court. You might be also surprised how smart the comments are. In facebook, there are shared videos, notes and pictures that stand for a...
by magnolia_eic | Feb 5, 2012 | TechTalk
Facebook Inc. has filed an initial public offering that could value the social network between $75 billion and $100 billion. This puts the company on track for one of the biggest U.S. Stock-market debuts of all time. According to some sources, the young company aims to raise as much as $10 billion when it begins selling shares. The company produced a $1 billion profit last year from $3.71 billion in revenues. Facebook pretty much gets majority of those revenues from advertising, with additional revenues from social gaming and other fees. In a matter of 8 years, Facebook has proven to be a force to reckon with – with millions of users interacting and exchanging updates everyday. Its most important contribution probably lies in it being a potential political or social tool. But the question remains though, will Facebook be able to grow into a mature global business keeping both advertisers and subscribers happy while balancing the demands of privacy and profit? This matter remains to be seen. The company has not decided whether to trade on the New York Stock exchange or on the Nasdaq Stock Market. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who owns around 28% of the company and holds 57% of voting share power has long been reluctant to join the stock market. According to people who know him, he is fearful of the damage that an IPO could do, and that the employees would lose focus in creating great products. His thinking however slowly changed when he realized that by the end of 2011, its shareholders will grow to more than 500, which will late prompt a regulatory...
by magnolia_eic | Jan 29, 2012 | TechTalk
In a world now flooded with social media, companies have resorted to marketing their products and brands through the various social networks available. There is also no denying that this modern marketing strategy works. Facebook, one of the top social networks allows millions of users to view products either through the small icons you can see at the left side of a user’s profile, or through the product’s fan page. If you check the recent comments of some of Facebook’s major brand pages, the numbers get very big quickly. Take for example, when Coca Cola asked fans whether they had ice-cold Cokes in their fridges, it generated around 30,000 likes and more than 2000 comments. And these are just comments from a single post. Add in all other posts plus wall comments and you have a seemingly unmanageable facebook fan page.So what should companies have to do? Especially in the event that there is a controversy involving the product or the brand and the customers get hysterical resulting in a massive facebook comment flooding? We found answers from an article in mashable.com written by Jason Keath, CEO of Social Fresh, a leading social media education company for marketers. Here are some of the helpful tips he recommends plus some comments of our own: First, the company must establish clear commenting guidelines in their Facebook page. Making public these guidelines before the need to actually enforce them will minimize further arguments by fans and also helps to clear out your page admin’s dilemmas. Second, delete negative comments only when absolutely necessary. Yes, it is very tempting to just delete comments...
by Jovie Cabais | Jan 22, 2012 | Tech Updates
While many of us were entertained by the impeachment trial of the chief justice, a very important matter concerning our freedom as humanity is currently being debated in the US Congress and Senate as well as in the online world. What is SOPA and PIPA anyway? SOPA which means “Stop Online Piracy Act” is a bill proposed by the US Congress and PIPA or Protect IP Act is the corresponding bill in the US Senate. These two laws attempt to protect the intellectual property of content or media producers whose business have been severely affected by online piracy. The problem is that these proposed laws have so much room for abuse because the content provider only needs to convince a judge that a certain website is doing piracy and the Attorney General can then order ISPs to block the website. It can also block its source of revenue by ordering payment processors like Paypal to disable accounts. Why would SOPA and PIPA affect us in faraway Bohol, Philippines? Because if the proposed laws are enacted and enforced to the letter, it would be very easy for content or media producers to allege that websites like Google, Facebook, Wired.com, Wikipedia, Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger, and many more, contain links to pirated content and therefore could be blocked. Then other countries might follow suit. If left unchecked, the Internet might become tiny islands instead of one big network. The impact of such laws would be worldwide but the benefit is only for the media and content industry. On January 18, 2012, several popular websites like Wikipedia, Wired.com, Google and...
by Jovie Cabais | Jan 22, 2012 | Tech Updates
Auza.Net will soon be offering training courses for students and IT enthusiasts alike. These are in-house trainings which will be held at the Auza.Net Training Center. The company also accepts organizations who want to schedule seminars and workshops. As of now, the company is offering the following courses: Basic Networking, Introduction to PHP, Basic WordPress, Advanced Networking and Advanced WordPress. These courses will soon expand to allow more choices for students, IT enthusiasts, businesses, and even executives. The first batch of training sessions are expected to be scheduled on the second week of February, depending on the number of trainees who sign up. For more information on these sessions. please call 501-8459 and look for Theresa or Gemma. Meanwhile, those who are interested to enroll in the 2012 Summer OJT program may now start passing their application forms. The different courses offered in the training center will be integrated with the lessons for this year’s batch of summer On- the- job trainees. For interested applicants, please submit your application letter and resume on or before February 27, 2012. Please address your letters to: OJT Program Coordinator Auza.Net Training Center Tagbilaran City, Bohol...
by Jovie Cabais | Nov 6, 2011 | Tech Updates
We have anticipated for quite sometime Nokia’s huge move to catch up with the ultra- fast paced world of smart phones. Ever since iPhones and Androids made it to the market, the former leading cellphone manufacturer was sort of lost between the two giant’s endless battles. According to Nic Fleming of TechnologyReview.com, over the last five years, Nokia has experienced a dramatic reversal in fortunes. The company once dominated the high-end phone market with its Symbian-powered phones, but Apple’s iPhone and devices running Google’s Android have jumped ahead. However, it looks like Nokia is already trying to catch the smartphone wave with its partnership with Windows and the release of their new smartphones powered by Windows OS. Nokia has now produced two smartphones that would hopefully help the company regain relevance in the fast-growing mobile-computing market. The Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710 are the first fruits of the Microsoft-Nokia alliance. The new Windows phones were unveiled during company CEO Stephen Elop’s keynote speech at the Nokia World event in London. “We are signaling our intent right now, here today, to be today’s leaders in smart-phone design and craftsmanship,” said Elop, a former Microsoft executive who signed the partnership deal with Microsoft in February. In a swipe at other manufacturers, such as HTC and Samsung, that have already launched Windows phones, he added: “Lumia is the first real Windows phone.” A glimpse of the Lumia 800 phone reveals that its hardware’s design is identical to the Nokia N9. Inside it is a 1.4-gigahertz processor and 512 megabytes of RAM, which lags behind the dual-core...
by Jovie Cabais | Oct 30, 2011 | Tech Updates
During the course of our web surfing, we found out that one of the main concerns of iPhone 4S users is how to maintain battery life for longer, especially since Apple hasn’t achieved significant improvements in this area with the new model yet. So, we searched again and found out from a certain website that Technology commentator Dan Warne has a few suggestions and steps in order to achieve the maximum life of your iPhone 4S battery, we’ve also added some from other sources: 1. Disable unnecessary connections: turn off Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when you are not using them. 2. Disable 3G: switching back to a 2G or GSM network saves a lot of power with the obvious sacrifice that web browsing becomes much slower. 3. Adjust screen brightness: the default settings are useful outdoors on bright sunny days, otherwise a dimmed screen light will improve battery life significantly. 4. Adjust Notification settings: iPhones have “Push” technology that allows your phone to stay connected to the internet all the time in order to receive emails and notifications and to deliver them instantly. This could be convenient but is exhausting for the battery. The technology writer suggests selecting the “Manually” option, under the “Fetch” section, which means the phone will only download for email when you actually open the email app and check for email. 5. Drain your batteries and then charge them until full. Avoid charging while the battery is half empty and at the same time, avoid overcharging. 6. If none of this helps your iPhone’s endurance, then you might consider a third party battery pack. Source: http://www.itproportal.com/2011/10/25/5-quick-tips-save-iphone4s-battery-life/...
by Jovie Cabais | Sep 25, 2011 | Tech Updates
Sophos, a computer security firm has discovered a virus that injects itself into WordPress installations. The virus, called “Mal/Badsrc-C” is found in the file index.html, and planted in such a way it that it would show itself only on Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser. Paul Baccas, a representative from Sophos, said in a blog spot that the hack appears to be widespread and warned website owners to be vigilant. The computer security firm’s initial investigation showed that the malicious code managed to inject itself into the PHP code used on some websites running WordPress, and that the code will only be served if the user agent is Internet Explorer. This means that if you visit them when running Internet Explorer you could be exposing yourself to a malware attack. What is not clear however, is on how the virus manages to embed itself on the website although according to Sophos, it is probably via compromised ftp credentials. Baccas says, “If you run a site which uses WordPress you would be wise to ensure that your passwords are chosen carefully and that you are not using the same credentials on any other websites. If you think your password details have been compromised, then change them immediately.” Baccas adds that WordPress users should be checking their site’s codes on a regular basis to ensure that there have not been any unauthorized changes. Source: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/wordpress-malware-spreading-sophos-140642288.html Share...
by Jovie Cabais | Sep 21, 2011 | Tech Updates
The Center for Culture and Arts Development of the Governor’s Office of Bohol conducted the Portraiture Workshop for a Cause on September 21, 2013 at the JJs Seafood Village. The workshop was conducted by Canada based Bol-anon Photographer, Mr. Dennis Sapong. There were about 50 participants composed of professional photographers, hobbyists and beginners. Sapong was assisted by veteran photographers Judd Gisete, Glenn Gamayot, Chris Ramasola, Noel Sand Andres and Sherwin Sapong. The workshop focused on portrait photography and detailed the need for proper lighting, options for poses of the subject and the photographer-subject relationship which is important to capture not only the image but also the experience. The attendees were then allowed to practice their new knowledge and skills in portrait photography in a mock-up studio at the venue. The organizers hired local personalities Sheh Balag, Alma Golosino, Euben Gamutan, Erika Karcher and Jhusica Villaflores as models. The setup was varied to demonstrate various lighting options and the attendees were coached on how to conduct the photo session. The GO-CCAD is headed by Mrs. Enriqueta B. Butalid. [Caption for the image: First-time portrait shots from one of the workshop participants.] Share...
by Jovie Cabais | Sep 18, 2011 | Tech Updates
Today’s gadgets and gizmos just won’t stop evolving and improving, and the technology giants just won’t stop innovating. After surfing the net, we found out another batch of technology’s coolest gadgets on display at the IFA Technology Fair in Berlin. Here are some of the most tempting displays. 1. Samsung Galaxy 7.7 Tablet The Samsung Galaxy 7.7 is 7.8 millimeters thin and weighs only 12 ounces. It integrates the company’s “Super AMOLED Plus” display technology which delivers “brilliant, crisp and high contrast colors” for an excellent viewing experience. This gadget’s battery power according to Samsung, lasts for up to 10 hours of video playback time. 2. Samsung Note with ‘S Pen’ Yes, its another Samsung device. This time, its a smartphone with currently the largest screen size of 5.3 inches. This means that there will be less scrolling and screen transitions. Web pages, PowerPoint presentations, and news apps can be viewed with minimal zooming or scrolling. The ‘S Pen’ is a pen input technology which allows users to draw, write and send handwritten images and notes via text message and instant messaging. 3. LG Smartscan Mouse This, says LG will “open a new era for scanners” .. well, maybe not just for scanners, but also for the ever useful mouse. This new innovation is a mouse which comes with a built-in scanner. Users will just click the Smart Scan button on the left side of the mouse, then run it over the material to be scanned. The user can then save the scanned image in a variety of file types, or dragged and dropped into a document or application....
