More eNGy business humor toons here. 

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You will badly need this if your computer has no CD-ROM drive, especially for ASUS EEE-PC. Read On…

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I know this is old stuff, but it’s funny since I have this conception and “sort of” short-hand observation that many bloggers today don’t even know how to get even a handful of traffic from digg. I’ve based my observations, of course, from my regular drops of entrecard. This idea, and perhaps my month long pre-occupation of digg, is fueled by my attempt to join the digg community. I’ve asked a friend about how to get that many diggs in an instant and, I believe, that also somehow strike a chord in me to research further about how to better improve my digg experience. So, expect more of these kinds of digg-crazy articles later on.

And now for the things you need to know. What makes an article a Super Digg Front Pager?

read more…

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The Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry has grown by leaps and bounds over the years. Largely comprising the ICT and ICT-enabled businesses, the outsourcing and offshoring (O&O) industry alone piped in US$4.8 billion to the Philippine economy based on the Business Processing Association Philippines data. This is both owing to the country’s modern telecom infrastructure as well as the abundance of world-class Filipino talent.

Indeed, one major factor in the growth of the sector is what industry insiders call “peopleware” – or the human component of the industry. More than hardware and software, peopleware completes the equation, which spells the success of ICT and ICT-enabled enterprises in the country.

The Philippines has continuously attracted global investors in the industry attributed to a large extent to the competency of Filipino ICT professionals. According to Jayjay Viray, general manager of JobsDB.com, an online Human Resources firm, “We have the skills needed by the ICT sector plus the good-natured attitude towards work.” She explained that Filipinos know how to multi-task and do other jobs related to their work.

The country continues to produce the brainpower needed by the sector. About 10 percent of the 350, 000 college graduates in the Philippines per annum have degrees that are related to the ICT sector, according to the Philippine Strategic Roadmap for the ICT Sector.

However, a study made by the Information Technology and E-Commerce Council (ITECC) revealed that there is a “lack of well-trained and competent trainers and educators in ICT and ICT-related subjects has contributed to the declining quality of education and of the country’s ICT and knowledge workers.”

Viray shared the same sentiment. “We have an oversupply of IT graduates, but we have an undersupply of quality IT graduates,” she said. “You’re not an IT if you only know how to encode,” she adds. While Viray laments that some IT graduates have no in-depth knowledge of basic principles of programming, for example, she is happy that some IT companies have partnered with IT schools to provide training and education.

One sector of the ICT industry that Viray hopes to see more Filipinos going into is software development. While there are many local (software) developers, their exposure to developing software is only bits and pieces of programs. “They’re in a box,” Viray says. “How I wish we could develop something of bigger impact like Linux or Red Hat,” she added.

Peopleware will be one of the topics that will be discussed in the forthcoming 12th ICT Professionals’ Congress, which is being organized by the Philippine Computer Society (PCS) and sponsored by JobsDB.com, Microsoft, Globe, Oracle, IBM and e-PLDT. The PCS, founded in 1967, is the premiere organization of 700 ICT practitioners in the country. It strives to continuously promote, protect and enhance the members of the ICT profession through its local and international activities.

Viray shares, “I’m an avid supporter of the ICT Congress and its efforts and goals. I like the objectives of this congress. This year, it will cover the sectors that I believe are very important – education, business, and economy. And one does not even have to be an ICT professional to be a part of it. Everyone stands to learn something from the good lineup of topics in the two-day conference.”

For more information on peopleware and other topics, register now for the Philippine Computer Society’s 12th ICT Professionals’ Congress on May 14 and 15, 2008, to be held at the Hotel Intercontinental Manila, Makati City.

For more details, please visit www.pcs-it.org or call 840-0985 to 86 or e-mail secretariat@pcs-it.org.

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SME customers typically operate in lean environments with limited resources and IT personnel.

Notwithstanding, business and technology issues confronting SMEs can even be more challenging than those faced by big corporations. At the very least, they are often dealing with similar business complexities and demands as large enterprises.

Thus, SMEs in the Asia Pacific continue to invest for the future by selecting applications solutions from providers which can address their needs. SMEs are making critical investments that will enable them to thrive and become more agile in the face of global economic growth and competition.

According to IDC, global SME “IT spend” has reached its highest level in the past decade, growing by 8.3% in 2007. The next phase of growth will be driven by greater industry verticalization.
The benefits of ICT to SMEs will be one of the major topics at the forthcoming 12th ICT Professionals’ Congress on May 14 and 15, 2008, to be held at the Hotel Intercontinental Manila, Makati City. Being organized by the Philippine Computer Society (PCS), the event is being sponsored by Microsoft, JobsDB.com, Globe, Oracle, IBM and e-PLDT. For more details, please visit www.pcs-it.org or call 840-0985 to 86 or e-mail secretariat@pcs-it.org.

When asked about the kinds of technologies that are in high demand to SMEs, Microsoft Philippines SMSP Director Louie Castañeda reported that their company has several offerings that SMEs are taking advantage of.

Castañeda shares, “There is Microsoft Dynamics – a line of integrated and adaptable business management solutions which automate and streamline financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes in a way that helps drive business success.”

Affordability & Flexibility

One thing that will make technology providers click to SMEs are their capability to reduce complexity and total cost of technology ownership – value applications and technology solutions which are affordable, and will enable faster returns on investments (ROI) and reduced risk.

SMEs intend to build flexible, adaptable IT infrastructures and adopt modern technologies such as service-oriented architecture (SOA), which are critical to enabling them to respond quickly to new business opportunities, customer demands and changes in operating conditions.

To be of utmost assistance to SMEs, Castañeda says that, “Microsoft Dynamics software and services are designed to be customizable in order to respond to unique requirements and allow users to easily manage workplaces for maximum productivity. SMEs can also take advantage of the secure Web functionality of Microsoft Dynamics for employees, customers, and other partners.”

He further adds, “To make our technology offerings more affordable to SMEs, we have financing programs to aid them as they invest in the technology that will empower their business. These programs cover the acquisition and implementation of business software, hardware, and services. Moreover, SMEs can manage their finances more effectively as the program allows them to extend the costs over time.”

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This is my 800^th article for sunstar since I started writing for it 14 years ago.  People always ask me where I get so many things to write about.  Actually, its simple – the more you read, and the more you think about what you read, the more ideas you will have to share.  I still make it part of my routine to read and scan through thousands of articles and as many books I can get every month.

The technology news is full of reports about the fact that Microsoft has decided not to pursue its bid to buy Yahoo.  After three months of negotiation, Microsoft apparently decided that the price they were asking for was too high – Microsoft offered more than 70% premium over the public stock price of Yahoo, but apparently Yahoo felt that their price was nearer almost double what it was before Microsoft started to court it.
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After knowing about Smart Bro a few days ago, I finally got one for Php4,500 (preloaded with Php 30 worth of one and a half hours of internet connection) this morning. Read the Full Entry…

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I’ve been searching different video hosting sites especially the ever-popular YouTube for 5Street (as it is known in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) / HighStreet 5 videos, and I found more than what I am looking for - Gamers Harassed HighStreet 5!

Continue Reading Now!!

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Remember the Million Blog List I was talking about before? Guess what? There’s another one like it where you could place a link to your blog for free. No need to register. Just edit the list and add your blog in there. Here’s the link: Wiki Blog Directory.

And here’s another social media site similar to Blogsvine where you could submit your blog posts too; Yearblook. I found it through my regular commenter Chelle…

get the links and the rest of the story here…

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Most of the people leaving entrecard always have this word in their mouth: BOUNCE RATE. They always complain that the traffic it produces is junk simply because they have lots of bounce rates which makes their blog stats ugly. I’m one of the guys who actually believed that bounce rates can really damage my blog’s performance leading to no search engine appreciation at all. But instead of removing my entrecard, I still cling on because of one reason. Most of my traffic comes from entrecard. And it’s like, remove it and my blog will die. That was until I read this post by Turnip…

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May 1 may be more famous in the Philippines as Labor Day, but on the other side of the world, a campaign to raise awareness about RSS is also happening today. Continue reading the whole post…

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We’ve all done it! Admittedly, I do. It’s among my fave pastimes in the internet: Googling my name, my family’s or somebody else’s name. It’s always interesting what one can find by Googling a familiar name. It’s even more surprising to find a name exactly the same as ours.

For Filipinos and I guess for people with Spanish lineage, it is very rare to find names that’s exactly theirs. Blame it on our parents who seemed to find pleasure in blessing us with 2 or more! I have 4 names (including my middle name, which is actually my mother’s maiden name) with Maria as the first name. My three other sisters have Maria for their first names as well and they have at least 2 more excluding our last name.

In America and most parts of the world, people have only one first name, a middle name (that is actually just any other name-not from their mother’s maiden name!) and a last name (which could be taken from the father’s or the mother’s). Most often, they would drop the middle name altogether and just use a first and last name as in James Smith, Charles Davis, or Jennifer Taylor. Much easier to Google and finding a match, isn’t it? Sure beats finding the exact person with the 4 names I have!

This guy from Los Angeles, Jim Killeen takes Googling his own name to the next level! He made it into a movie! It’s the latest buzzword now here in America, “Google Me”! Like you and me, he Googled his name and found a list of his namesakes. This lead to an idea of what if I track and meet these people? He did and thus transformed his remarkable journey from different parts of the world into a documentary-movie that premiered in YouTube last Friday.

“What do a cop, a swinger, an Irish priest, an engineer, a father of eight, an Aussie and a gambler have in common?” says the YouTube description. The documentary of course, stars 7 guys named Jim Killeen.

READ MORE AT MYSINIGANG.COM

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Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone maker, closed a deal with the world’s major music labels for its program “Comes with Music” which offers unlimited music download for nokia handset users.

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Get voted, get traffic, and get income. Those three reasons should sum it all I guess. I found this site through Entrecard. Yes, they’re really using entrecard. Blogsvine is a new social media site which gives you free blog promotion by submitting stories which its users vote on. The voting system is very much like Digg where your news gets more exposure when you’re voted more; just like its tagline: submit your blogs and start climbing. Currently, the site is still in its beta stage so there will still be more room for changes and further improvements.

read more and please join…

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I have just launched a new website for my accounting practice and consultancy. As mentioned in the website, my services will be geared towards small and medium enterprises, or SMEs, as well as online or internet ventures in the Philippines.

I believe that, unlike large companies which have huge accounting departments with ready access to established accounting and auditing firms, SMEs usually make do with the crudest record-keeping by its owners and managers as source of financial information.

Read more at Pinoy Seminars.

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