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Showing posts from October, 2010

Rice terraces, Palawan resort top PHL tourism show in Montreal

The Banaue Rice Terraces and the El Nido Beach Resort in Palawan highlighted the Philippines' tourism efforts at a recent tourism and travel show in Quebec, Canada. A report from the Philippine Embassy in Ottawa said the country participated in the International Tourism and Travel Show October 22 to 24 at Place Bonaventure. "The Philippines showcased its beautiful tourism destinations in two booths with the Banawe Rice Terraces and the El Nido Beach Resort in Palawan as the main backdrop attractions," the DFA said Saturday. Also, the booth showcased Filipino delicacies such as bibingka, turon and pandesal con adobo for the food-tasting event. It likewise gave visitors a sampling of the traditional Filipino massage or hilot. On the other hand, the Salinggawi Philippine Arts Organization performed Filipino traditional dances during the event. Leading the Embassy delegation to the event were Philippine Charge d'Affaires Minerva Jean Falcon, Philippine Consulate General i

Even on Everest, there's Twitter and Facebook

KATMANDU, Nepal – You can't get away from a cell phone call, even at the top of the world. Thanks to 3G towers newly installed near Mount Everest's base camp, explorers can surf the Web, tweet and post Facebook updates without worrying that their signals will disappear into thin air. The new high-speed service, announced Friday by Ncell, a subsidiary of Swedish telecom company TeliaSonera, will allow mountaineers setting off to the summit of the world's tallest mountain to access wireless Internet and make video calls to family, friends and supporters. "You know, I think it's kind of good and kind of bad, but to me it's kind of inevitable," said renowned climber Ed Viesturs, frequently described as the strongest U.S. high-altitude mountaineer. The 51-year-old veteran of seven climbs to Everest's 29,035-foot summit said the new technology is not for him. "I'm kind of old school," said Viesturs, who has climbed all 14 of the world's hig

Pinoy Facebook users 6th most in the world

According to analytics company Facebakers.com, the Philippines now has the sixth largest population of Facebook users in the world next to the US, Indonesia, the UK, Turkey, and France. In its latest online report released on October 30 in the Philippines, Facebakers noted that the country's Facebook users now totals 17,942,340 and may be expected to breach the 18 million mark within the month given current growth rates. Over the past month alone, the number of Filipino Facebook users went up by 8.08 percent or 1.5 million new users, according to Facebakers. This places the Philippines in sixth place (up from eighth place a few months ago) on Facebakers' list of countries with the most Facebook users. The report also indicated that the current number of Filipino Facebook users accounts for 60.4 percent of online Filipinos or 18 percent of the country's total population.

Elena Dementieva Announces Career Retirement

The Russian Tennis star who has announced her retirement from the sport. A look at her career which led her to Olympic Gold. The world of women's Tennis was left shocked when Russian star, Elena Dementieva, announced her retirement following defeat at a tournament in Doha. Dementieva was ranked number nine when she made the decision to quit and reached as high as number three at her peak last year. The defeat in the WTA Championships signalled the end of her career when Francesca Schiavone beat her in straight sets 6-4 6-2. She addressed the crowd in the arena to tell them of her decision and thanked ‘all the players for an amazing experience and some wonderful memories.’ Fellow Russian star, Vera Zvonareva, then spoke to say ‘Russia is proud of you, proud to have you.’ Earlier in the tournament she defeated Samantha Stosur but was defeated by Caroline Wozniacki amid fears she was struggling with an ongoing ankle injury. The highlight of the Russian’s career came in 2008 when she w

Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki advance to WTA Championships final | Tennis

U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium and top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark will play in Sunday's WTA Championships final in Doha, Qatar. Tennis Clijsters escapes injury in auto wreck before match:  U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters of Belgium was unhurt in a "scary" car accident before her match Saturday and advanced to the WTA Championships final by defeating Australian Samantha Stosur 7-6 (7-3), 6-1 in Doha, Qatar. Clijsters said a truck "came out of nowhere" at a roundabout and hit the right-front door of her official WTA Tour car. Clijsters said she was not injured, but her manager suffered minor cuts. "Obviously, it was a little bit of a shakeup. We're all fine," Clijsters said after the match. "I was really just kind of trying to kind of switch my mental state and focus on the match. "We got lucky. There was a lot of glass." Clijsters will face top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the season-ending final Sun

Fil-Am students spend vacation learning about their roots

CHICAGO – Some 57 young Filipino-American students who were on vacation from their schools here spent their summer learning about an important thing: their roots.   After three consecutive Saturdays, the students last week their Certificates of Attendance for completing this year’s pilot summer class on Philippine language and culture, part of the project dubbed “Eskwelahang Pinoy sa Konsulado 2010." The students recited Filipino poems and delivered speeches in Tagalog for the closing program. There was also a community singing of the trademark Filipino folk song “Bahay Kubo", accompanied by the Philippine Rondalla.   In his remarks, Consul General Leo M. Herrera-Lim thanked the Filipino community for its “enthusiastic response" to the program.   “We thank the Filipino community in Chicago for joining us in this journey of self discovery. All of us moved closer towards a realization of our identity as Filipino and fully aware of the richness of our culture and heritage.

Intramuros, Fort Santiago among ‘most vulnerable’ historic sites—intl group

Two historical sites in Manila dating back to the Spanish period—the old walled city of Intramuros and the defensive fortress Fort Santiago—have been included in an international organization’s list of “most vulnerable heritage sites" around the world. International non-profit organization Global Heritage Fund (GHF) included Intramuros and Fort Santiago in this year’s   list of “sites on the verge" of destruction , among with 11 other historical places in the world. The group cited “insufficient management" and “development pressures" as reasons why the two Philippine sites currently “look shabby" and are “in poor condition." “Although much of the modern development that has changed the face of Manila has occurred outside the walls of Intramuros, several major food chains have opened outlets inside the fortress," GHF said in its report. The group likewise said that high-rise   hotels   and golf courses surrounding the Intramuros and Fort Santiago “des

onOne Software New DSLR Camera Remote HD for the iPad to Provide Video Monitoring and More

onOne Software New DSLR Camera Remote HD for the iPad to Provide Video Monitoring and More onOne Software Announces DSLR Camera Remote HD for iPad and Video Support Popular remote release app now provides photographers with the ability to start and stop video on their Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras from their iPad, iPhone, and iPod Touch via a WiFi Enabled Computer October 29, 2010 -- onOne Software, Inc., a leading developer of time-saving software solutions for professional and advanced amateur photographers, today announced an upcoming major update to it's wildly popular application for remotely controlling Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras using Apple iOS devices. Specifically designed for the iPad, the new DSLR Camera Remote HD will include a redesigned interface takes full advantage of the larger screen on the iPad, improved gesture-based preview functionality and the addition of starting, stopping and monitoring video from supported HD DSLR cameras from Canon and Nikon. In addition

Mission Impossible shooting at tallest tower

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The crew of the latest "Mission: Impossible" will have at least one tall task: filming shots involving the world's highest building.The filmmakers are being tightlipped about plot details and where exactly they plan to shoot in Dubai. But star Tom Cruise and producer Bryan Burk did let slip Thursday that the fourth installment of the big screen series will feature scenes with the Mideast city-state's more than half-mile-high (828-meter-high) Burj Khalifa. "I'll be spending many days, many hours on the side of this building," Cruise told The Associated Press at the base of the silvery spire. "I can't give you details, but I will be up there," he said. Unlike previous sequels in the spy franchise, the fourth installment will go without a number. Cruise blew its cover Thursday: "Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol." Cruise is in the emirate with his family to shoot scenes for the movie after wrapping up

Overhauled Yahoo! email makes its debut

SUNNYVALE, California - An overhauled version of Yahoo! Mail was rolled out late Tuesday as the pioneering Internet firm sought to better integrate trends such as social  networking . A beta, or test, version of Yahoo! Mail has been streamlined for speed and designed to let people easily send or receive Facebook updates or Twitter messages directly from their inboxes. "We re-architected the product from the ground up," said Yahoo! vice president of product management communications Kakul Srivastava. "This is a major launch for us." Along with being built to be "blindingly fast," Yahoo! Mail pages were re-designed to reduce clutter and put "what is most important to you front and center," she added. For example, messages from people listed among a person's contacts are given priority and raised to the tops of inboxes. Search tools were improved to make it easier to find pictures, videos or other information in email inboxes that provide unlimi

RP student tops Bahrain speech contest

A Filipino high school student from the Philippine School in Bahrain topped a recently concluded Inter-School Speech competition in Manama. High school senior Karen Marie Dotado won championship trophy and a $300 cash prize in the competition organized by the Bahrain-India Educational and Cultural Forum. "In her prize-winning speech, Ms. Dotado pointed out that people should re-live and re-animate the ideals exemplified by Mahatma Gandhi who fought and died to build what can truly be called United Nations, and let the evils of our society sharpen and polish our global consciousness towards world peace and harmony," the   Department of Foreign Affairs said . The event was held on October 2 at the Indian Club Auditorium in Manama, it added. Some 10 pupils from different schools in Bahrain participated in the competition and delivered speeches with the theme of highlighting the need for global peace and harmony. The DFA said the event was also held under the patronage of United

Online Pinoys prefer PH over RP

The transition seems to be a no-brainer for Pinoy netizens. Yesterday, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)  announced  that it will officially adopt the abbreviation "PH" in compliance with  international ISO standards , eschewing the traditional and long-standing use of "RP". In an  informal   survey  of Pinoy Netizens, GMANews.TV found that most respondents welcome and actually prefer the use of "PH" over "RP". Some met the move with skepticism: "PH maybe simplified but RP is already used for a long time. Changing it now may lead to confusion," said Twitter user @ iloveJEQHM . " nakasanayan nayon mahirap na yon baguhin  (People have already gotten used to it, so it's hard to change)," added @ geraldpanarez . PH on the Internet However, others felt that it was about time that the Philippines adopted a new standard: "If you ask me, it should have been PH (in the first place). 'Philippines' does not start w

Top 10 Most Retweeted Twitter Users

So, who gets retweeted the most? The answer might surprise you. Check out our infographic below: Source Klout.com Folllow photo-my-lens on Twitter

Internet use in provinces catching up with Manila

Provincial cities are catching up with Metro Manila in terms of internet use, according to a recent media study from   The Nielsen Company . Based on a rolling sample over the past year of males and females aged 10 and above across all socioeconomic classes, Metro Manila still showed the highest percentage of Internet users: as many as 40 percent of those surveyed went online in the past month. However, close behind the capital city are Tuguegarao (37 percent), Olongapo (35 percent), Angeles (34 percent), and Dumaguete (33 percent) — each hosting a high concentration of tertiary schools and other educational institutions. "Several factors are contributing to the rise of Internet usage across the country, particularly in urban centers outside Metro Manila," said Nielsen Media (Philippines) executive director Jay Bautista in an email interview with GMANews.TV. He enumerated the following growth drivers: Proliferation of Internet café’s which allow even low-income consumers to g

Firesheep app lets you hack Facebook, Twitter accounts

he next time you go wireless in a mall or coffeeshop, watch your back. Eric Butler, a US-based freelance web application and software developer, has just released an application on his blog called " Firesheep " that exposes the vulnerabilities of open wireless networks. Firesheep allows a user to view and even edit the account of anyone using Facebook or Twitter while logged into an unsecure WiFi network. According to Butler, this intrusion is possible because most websites —including Facebook and Twitter— only encrypt the user's initial login. "When logging into a website you usually start by submitting your username and password. The server then checks to see if an account matching this information exists and if so, replies back to you with a 'cookie' which is used by your browser for all subsequent requests. It's extremely common for websites to protect your password by encrypting the initial login, but surprisingly uncommon for websites to encrypt eve

Sony Walkman bows out to the iPod after 31 years

NEW YORK (AP) — The Walkman, the Sony cassette device that forever changed music listening before becoming outdated by digital MP3 players and iPods, has died. It was 31 years old. Sony announced Monday that it has ceased production of the classic, cassette tape Walkman in Japan, effectively sounding the death knell of the once iconic, now obsolete device. The Walkman is survived by the Discman (still clinging to life) and ironic music listeners who think using a Walkman in this day-and-age is charmingly out-of-touch. It will continue to be produced in China and distributed in the U.S., Europe and some Asian countries. Digital Walkmans are also being made with models that display lyrics and have improved digital noise-canceling technology. Still, if you're looking to chisel a date in the Walkman's tombstone, then Oct. 25, 2010, is as good as any. For many, that it's taken this long is surprising: "They were still making those?" Perhaps Oct. 23, 2001, the day the i