Yahoo search died today. If all goes well, Microsoft’s search engine called Bing will be taking over Yahoo Search. Microsoft launched Bing two months ago and currently owns 8 percent of the U.S. search market.

Read more at http://palaisip.blogspot.com

- 100,000 new users per day
- 30 million minutes played already
- Most international Facebook Game with users from 208 countries
- Four new mini games in the works

Berlin, 24. July 2009 – “Brain Buddies”, the game that has become the new favorite of Facebook users, achieved the mark of one million users in the record time of only three weeks of being online.
Louise S. from Miami, USA is the one millionth user.

There seems to be no end to Brain Buddie’s growth: The game already belongs to the Top 40 games on Facebook – out of a total of 10,000 games – adding 100,000 users daily. Overall the brain training game has reached 30 million minutes of play time already. The availability of Brain Buddies in eight languages plays out to its advantage: It has attracted users from 208 countries, among them Albania, Rwanda, and Vanuatu, an island in the South Pacific.

“We are very happy about the extraordinary start, but are in no ways resting on our laurels”, says founder and managing director Jens Begemann. “Quite to the contrary: we are continuously working on the game and have already included a number of ideas from our users. In addition, we will be integrating four new mini games soon”.

The brain training game that was launched on July 1st is the first game of the international game development company wooga from Berlin. Currently the team is already working on completely new games that the company will publish in the next few months, building on the momentum of Brain Buddies.

Brain Buddies offers its users a playful way to determine their brain weight. The game is focusing on a contest among friends to find the one with the heaviest brain. A set of eight mini games as well as entertaining graphics make the game fun to play for a long time. Brain Buddies is available on Facebook at the following address: http://apps.facebook.com/brainbuddies.

About wooga
wooga (www.wooga.net) – which stands for “world of gaming” – was founded in January 2009 in Berlin by experienced entrepreneurs (e.g. Jamster). wooga develops and markets games for social networks like Facebook. These so-called “social games” combine the two biggest current online trends: online games and social networks.

CONTACT: Mylene Gongon, +49-30-55576188, press@wooga.net

And it’s history, today was the record-breaking Longest Total Solar Eclipse ever experienced by the Human race – 6 minutes and 39 seconds total at its maximum point.

Most only experienced a partial eclipse like us in the Philippines, but regardless, it was still an experience we will treasure and pass on to the next generation (and those who missed it).

Here’s the report of the solar eclipse, coupled with photos (locally) and video coverage (India, China, Japan).

Enjoy!!

If you are wondering what are the important information that you should know about tomorrow’s Longest Total Solar Eclipse – from what and what not to use when looking at the sun, to how much of the sun will be covered (for those in the Philippines) – just read July 22, 2009 Total Solar Eclipse.

CINCINNATI – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office announced today a $40,000 fine settlement reached with the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corporation for violations of immigration laws.

ICE conducted an I-9 inspection of Krispy Kreme after receiving information from the Butler County Sheriff’s Office which revealed the company had employed dozens of illegal aliens at one of their doughnut factories in Cincinnati.

Employers are required to complete and retain a Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. This form requires employers to review and record the individual’s identity document(s) and determine whether the document(s) reasonably appear to be genuine and related to the individual.

“Employers have a responsibility to hire men and women who are authorized to work in the United States and fines are an important component of ensuring their compliance,” said Brian Moskowitz, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Michigan and Ohio. “ICE will use the legal tools at its disposal to address those who neglect or falter in their corporate responsibilities.”

The audit also revealed violations to the Immigration and Nationality Act. In September 2007, ICE issued a notice of Intent to Fine. The fine was settled Friday.

As part of the settlement, the company has taken measures to revise its immigration compliance program, and has agreed to begin implementing new procedures to prevent future violations of federal immigration laws.

In April, ICE implemented a new, comprehensive strategy to reduce the demand for illegal employment and protect employment opportunities for the nation’s lawful workforce. Under this strategy, ICE is focusing its resources on the auditing and investigation of employers suspected of cultivating illegal workplaces by knowingly employing illegal workers. Last week, ICE announced as part of this initiative, 652 businesses around the country would be audited to determine their compliance.

As we have informed our clients in the past and on an ongoing basis, the implementation and use of an immigration compliance plan is of great assistance in negotiating and mitigation of fines with ICE. It is my guess that the fine of $40,000 was very low because the company took an aggressive approach to compliance and showed good faith to ICE in implementing this plan. Stay tuned for more stories as I-9 audits become more commonplace.

- 1.5 Million minutes of play time during the first week
- Launched in 8 languages
- Most international Facebook Game with user from 150 countries
- Dispute among Facebook users: Whose brain is heaviest?
The new online game “Brain Buddies” is the new darling of Facebook users: Within the first week of being online, Brain Buddies reached 1.5 million minutes of play time, or 25,000 hours.

The brain training game has been developed by Berlin-based start-up wooga and was simultaneously launched in 8 languages on July 1st. During its first week the causal games has attracted users from 150 countries, among them Iran, Turkmenistan, and Fiji.

Brain Buddies offers its users a playful way to determine their brain weight. The game is focusing on a contest among friends to find the one with the heaviest brain. A large set of mini games as well as entertaining graphics make the game fun to play for a long time.

“Launching Brain Buddies in eight languages is paying off nicely”, says a happy founder and managing director Jens Begemann. “We are proud to have what is probably the most international game of its kind on Facebook”.

Brain Buddies is available on Facebook at the following address: http://apps.facebook.com/brainbuddies.

wooga (www.wooga.net) – which stands for “world of gaming” – was founded in January 2009 in Berlin by experienced entrepreneurs (e.g. Jamster). wooga develops and markets games for social networks like Facebook. These so-called “social games” combine the two biggest current online trends: online games and social networks.

CONTACT: Mylene Gongon, press@wooga.net

nearly a week after the winning bidder’s quarrel, Smartmatic and TIM have come together to revive their commitment in automating the Philippine’s 2010 elections.

read more [http://itpinoy.blogspot.com]

Firefox 3.5 is out and Mozilla once again leading in the race of advancing the web to embrace new technologies.  But let’s find out and see examples of the other new features that were not included in the Press Release.  Just click here to find out more.

There’s the new audio and video elements, webfonts, word-wrap, canvas . . .

the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC) inmates became famous two years ago when they danced along Michael Jackson’s Thriller (and earned them 25M+ youtube hits so far), yesterday they paid tribute to the King of Pop.

read more [http://itpinoy.blogspot.com]

Kenny Rankin died of lung cancer

Kenny who? The name just rang a tiny bell in my mind and the first thing that came into my mind was Chicken Roasters and the unit of temperature we get to convert from Kelvin in grade school science class…[Read More]

Which is more pleasing to hear: I Googled Bing… OR …I Binged Google?

Microsoft, in its bid to capture the search engine market, lauched its repackaged search engine, Live Search, which is now called Bing.[Read More]

Philippine Independence Day Google Logo

Google is known to add pizzazz to their already very colorful trademarked logo for every significant event within a year[Read More]

the 2010 Philippine poll automation would push through even with the disqualification of firms bidding to provide automated counting machines, the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) said yesterday.

read more [http://itpinoy.blogspot.com]

Asian Troubadours have finished recording their songs, and just released a sampler CD consisting of 11 tracks.

This is a compilation of the songs that they play, and is a mix of
various repertoire from classical to pop to folk songs and original
compositions, and is intended to garner user feedback about the choice
of songs, the arrangements, and how it is played.

Currently, the CDs are just given to friends and fans and a request to
provide feedback – either directly or through its web sites.

Please comment wat you say about the band. check their web and get a sampler cd. (cebu based only). Asian Music Profile on IMEEM

you might have recently seen the catchy “AKO MISMO!” advertisement, which includes celebs urging PINOYs to register at akomismo.org and make a stand by acting the causes they believe in.

read more [http://itpinoy.blogspot.com]

“Manila, Philippines – In response to the increasing number of Filipino hostages in Somalia, the Philippine president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ordered the Philippine Navy to go after the Somali pirates on the high seas of the Gulf of Aden. The flag-officer-in-command of the Philippine Navy has commissioned three Philippine Navy destroyers to proceed to the Gulf of Aden and engage the Somali pirates.” [Read more]

Stop dreaming about being in Amazing Race my friend. Ready, Set, RORO – DBP 4 is giving you the chance to experience that will challenge your physical and mental endurance in an inter-island race like no other. Be one of 10 teams who will compete over the GRAND PRIZE OF P1,000,000 CASH! And as a bonus, a Celebrity will be assigned to join your team in the race. That would definitely make it more interesting.

More details on Ready, Set, RORO – DBP 4 >>>

I hope that Earth Hour Campaign promoters will not claim the 84.2 mw deviation of the forecasted and actual demand on the 22nd trading interval (9:00pm – 10:00pm) in the Spot Market (WESM) as the result of the simultaneous switching-off of lights, primarily because the deviation is within the forecast error on that day. Read more about Earth Hour here…

Tomorrow is Earth Hour, all those who support the movement against negative climate change will switch off their lights from 8:30pm to 9:30pm local time.

This is an awareness campaign and will be presented to the world leaders later this year during the Global Climate Change Conference. If you care for this ONLY Planet of ours, if you care for your children, show your support by switching off your lights.

That’s one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind. ~ Neil Armstrong.

Show that You Care – Vote Earth Tomorrow