The 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit (MBS1) last 27 October 2007 was an unambiguous success. One indication is the number of participants: 97, not counting the organizers, resource speakers and guests. Another is the amount of copy now published on the Web — click here to see the links. For a first-time event — MBS1 was a pioneering effort at gathering bloggers from all over the country for a singular objective — I believe it was a major achievement. The theme, Spotlight Mindanao: Blogging for Culture, Identity & Understanding, was very apt: it proved to be the accompanying statement of all the Summit’s activities. •••Read on»

Today marks a first as The Usual Suspects host the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit in Davao City. The purpose of the Summit is to encourage bloggers to wield their technological tool called “blogging” for the betterment of Mindanao’s global image. The theme “Spotlight Mindanao: Blogging for Culture, Identity & Understanding” sums it all up.

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Donald Lim, president of Yehey!, delivered an insightful talk on “new media” during one of the breakout sessions of the 6th Mindanao ICT Congress last 24 October 2007. While the presentation revolved around Yehey.com offerings, what Lim said about emerging new media rings true across the world.

What is new media?

Blogs are a part of it. In fact, they are a good example why it’s called “new media”. Up until several years ago, having your own website was costly and often required technical skills. Today, powerful and user-friendly blogging platforms (such as WordPress.com and Blogger) are freely available to anyone who cares to publish himself online. Not only has this resulted in an explosion of content (Technorati estimates that there are currently more than 75 million blogs), but aso in the perceptible weakening of the reach of traditional media. •••Read on»

Next week will be brimming with high-octane activities, all in Davao City. The 6th Mindanao ICT Congress kicks off tomorrow; the 1st BIMP-EAGA ICT Conference will also form part of the MICT Congress; not to mention, the Senior Officials & Ministerial Meeting of the BIMP-EAGA member-nations.

The Internet Café Association of Davao will also hold an event, and there will also be the annual Davao Trade Expo (DATE). And of course, the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit on the 27th. That’s what’s been keeping me preoccupied for the past couple of months. Blogging isn’t necessarily an ICT thing, although of course the technical stuff behind blogs is pure information technology. But I digress. •••Read on»

VeriSign, the company that globally manages the two most popular top-level domains (TLDs), has announced that it will raise the wholesale rates of .com and .net domain names this 15th of October 2007. Domain names ending in .com, from $6.00, will be increased to $6.42; and .net domains, from $3.50 to $3.85.

This rather huge increase will necessarily mean that domain registrars and resellers will have to increase the retail prices of these domain names. I use ctcd.com, and they currently sell domain names for $8.94 per year. This rate is indeed a far cry from the time when Internet addresses sold for $35 per year, but — in Internet time — that was ages ago when Network Solutions held the monopoly. •••Read on»

Cubepixels Design Studio’s Ray Rubio has done it again! Last year’s Corel-centric event for graphics designers in Davao is now followed-through by this year’s CorelWORLD in Davao 2007. In cooperation with Canadian software giant, Corel, and WordText Systems Inc. (WSI), Cubepixels has organized another successful event for the benefit of Davao’s graphics designers and animators.

From 5 to 6 October 2007 at the NCCC Mall, CorelWORLD featured poster and logo design contests; technical seminars on the latest in graphics design; and talks by Rubio, Corel’s Ram Kumar (Regional Manager, South East Asia and India), the city government c/o Vice-Mayor Sara Duterte and Maikee Aportadera, WordText’s Jane Orejola, and yours truly. •••Read on»

I recently purchased a one-year Web hosting package from Lunarpages.com, and I was able to get a 28% discount plus two months worth of free Web hosting. I’d actually been scouting around for a web hosting provider for some of my clients’ websites, and I finally decided on Lunarpages after I saw this blog site called Lunarpages Coupons. •••Read on»

For those of you who are into online poker, blackjack, roulette and other popular online casino games, it might be a good idea for you to check out this Web portal first: Online Casino Bluebook. It’s a resource site that shows a list of the top 10 online casinos, among other things. •••Read on»

One of the things that sets large corporations apart from the rest is the attention they pay to their customers. Plus: the tools with which they accomplish this. Up until recently, only such companies could afford sophisticated — and expensive — systems that enable them to keep track of customer relations.

In the Internet Age, consumers are now vastly varied and have access to a world of information regarding products and services. So much so that industry-strength software is necessary for a business to be on top of what its customers currently want. In the cutthroat world of sales (actually selling stuff) and marketing (generating leads for future sales), dispensing with the necessary tools would be tantamount to suicide. •••Read on»

Good news to Filipinos! PayPal has now opened its full system to Philippine-based account holders. Previously, we could use PayPal only for remitting or paying, but not for accepting funds online. Now, we can accept moneys via the Internet, as well as make use of PayPal’s industry-strength and secure payment gateway facility. This is indeed a very welcome development, especially for those of us who are into technopreneurial activities.

I have yet to implement the PayPal shopping cart and payment gateway on one of my sites, but after reading through the documentation, I’m confident that PayPal can offer Filipinos a myriad opportunities for doing business online. What’s more, the basic system is practically free — except for the minimal transaction charges, there aren’t any setup fees or recurring monthly charges. Credit card purchases made on your site, for example, carry a minimum 2.5% charge, plus a US$0.30 fee per transaction. •••Read on»