Archive | February 2007

Nihongo proficiency among IT pros

Recently I passed the Japanese Language Proficiency Test Level 2. Without going into the specifics of this very difficult exam, let me just say that I almost jumped up and hugged the next person beside me when I found out. But I was in Compostela Valley that time, and I didn’t want to create a [...]

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Of standards and certifications

During last Tuesday’s Techno Kapehan at DTI-XI, we had guests over from the Philippine National IT Standards Foundation (PhilNITS) and the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), and they brought with them some very encouraging news. I shall write in more detail about the program that they’re putting together with DTI, but in a nutshell, the [...]

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Techno Kapehan

Yesterday was the 2nd Techno Kapehan session (I wasn’t there for the first, but I’m sure to be there for the succeeding ones), sponsored by the Department of Trade & Industry – Region XI. Patterned after the media’s long-standing tradition of powwows, at the IT industry’s, the "bigwigs" — as host Arriel Nengasca termed it [...]

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Safeguarding memories

Is it due to age that I’m talking about “memory” in two consecutive blog posts? No, it’s my long experience in Internet-delivered virus infections, hard disk crashes, what have you…. I’m sure everyone who’s been online long enough can relate to this. In an effort to protect my data from harm, I’ve gone through several [...]

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Down read-only memory lane

It seems that the older you get, the fonder you grow towards reminiscing them good ol’ days. Last Friday, with my good friends Rodney and Christian, we welcomed back an old friend, Roel Hernandez. Although, he was in town for only a short while. We spent virtually the whole night recalling past events in Davao’s [...]

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Industry clustering

Last Saturday, I gave a talk on the Davao Region ICT Cluster to a group of MBA students at the University of Mindanao. The event was a symposium on industry clustering, and government representatives from the Department of Trade & Industry – Region XI gave separate presentations on regional development strategies and creating competitive advantage.

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Blogginglish

SMS communication — or "texting" — has reportedly laid waste to our English spelling abilities. E-mail is said to have bastardized traditional letter-writing formats. And now, blogging? No, there’s nothing that blogging has done to our communication skills. But, I saw this article on the Web that’s dishing out how-to’s on blog-writing. Most of it [...]

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New MT org in Davao

After years of being the only medical transcription company in Davao, SSP Transcriptions is now joined by a handful of other MT outfits operating in the city. In another type of business, this might be viewed as the entry of competition; but not for the MT sector. The more, the merrier! SSP is a member [...]

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Medtrans for high school grads

Today MTC Academy – Davao, which was inaugurated only last 18 August 2006, launched its Basic Medical Transcription Course for high school students, starting with batch 2007. This program will offer training in MT for 18 months, which is equivalent to 3 semesters. The beauty of this is that, should the trainee decide to pursue [...]

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Taking a breather

The best thing about Davao is that, when the pressures of work get too much to handle, it’s so easy to find a spot for a breather. Or sometimes a bit more than just that…. Last night I went out with a few good friends and colleagues, to a newly-opened coffee shop in one of [...]

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