I was delighted when I found out that this blog was given the #1 spot by Ratified.org in its daily assessment of blogs in the Philippine blogosphere. This top position means that IT talks! garnered the highest positive change in rank.

Yesterday, my blog stood at the 387th place among all Ratified blogs in the Philippines. Today, it’s at the 113th place. Wow! A jump of 274 points! Google PageRank for IT talks! is also now at PR4 (but, yeah, it’s just a number…). •••Read on»

The 15th TechnoKapihan Davao will be held on 2 April 2008 (Wednesday) at the We R Inn Hotel in Bajada. The venue is by Central Plaza I, across the highway from Gaisano Mall of Davao. The event will be from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. Attire: come as you are! •••Read on»

The TechnoKapihan session for this month is a no-go. According to ICT Davao Inc.’s Bert Barriga, this monthly powwow will instead be held on the 2nd of April 2008, from 2 to 4 PM. No venue set yet. Whether we’ll have another TechnoKapihan for April, or this rescheduled session will be it, we don’t know yet.

Just to refresh your minds, the TechnoKapihan sa Davao is an informal get-together of IT industry players, supporters and guests. It’s where we can sit down and discuss issues and plans that affect our industry, but in a relaxed setting. For each time, the organizers — ICT Davao and the Davao Chamber — aim to create an atmosphere of openness so that people will be more inclined to share their thoughts. •••Read on»

I’m really getting good at this…. If you’ve been reading IT talks! since its inception last year (actually it was “born” in 2004), you’d know that I’ve transferred the site (address-wise) twice now. In its infancy, the blog was found at http://ittalkscolumn.blogspot.com. When I started acquiring domains, I put the site under http://ittalks.robilloblog.com, thinking I’d host all my blogs under the robilloblog.com domain. And now, once and for all, my IT column is here to stay: www.ittalks.net.

For those of you who’ve linked to my blog posts, don’t worry — they will still automatically resolve to the correct posts under the new domain. •••Read on»

In a recent article at TechCrunch.com, it was reported that the Japanese government is considering a move to crack down on file sharing (read: Torrent or Kazaa). In Japan, the most popular peer-to-peer (P2P) network for the distribution of computer files is Winny. In simple terms, “P2P” is defined as the combined connectivity and bandwidth of Internet-enabled PCs that do not depend on a server to propagate. Such a network has a number of functions, but it was only natural that Netizens have become its largest user base.

When P2P networks exploded in the late 90s after the much-ballyhooed Napster, the first to feel the brunt was the music industry. When techies began circulating songs in mp3 format through the Internet, it didn’t take long for music enthusiasts to catch on and embrace the technology. •••Read on»

…I thought of taking a break to post here.

I’ve been doing Japanese-to-English translation work for a consulting firm based out of Makati for a couple of years now. I really can’t talk about the documents I translate because they’re sealed under a non-disclosure agreement. But I suppose I can hint at the contents a bit. I see a lot of material about the Philippine I.T. industry in those documents. Shame I can’t reveal them here yet — but my principal told me that, as soon as they get published, I can quote them already. •••Read on»

DURING THE TIME I was organizing the 1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit late last year, I came to meet quite a number of interesting people. One of them is Ted Padova. Since I’ve never really delved very deeply into the world of creatives and graphics design, Mr. Padova was, to me then, just another blogger who had something of substance to say in his blog. Later I was made to realize by my contacts in the world of computer graphics that this fellow happens to be a heavyweight in their field.

Ted, as everyone calls him here, is an accomplished and well-respected author and lecturer. He is invited all over the globe for seminars and conferences at which he speaks. His expertise lies in the area of Adobe Creative Suite programs, particularly in Adobe Acrobat. He has published over a dozen technical books on that piece of software and on PDF (portable document format). My friend and colleague, Christopher Cubos, brought me up to speed when he informed me that Ted is in the business of producing educational content covering Adobe programs. •••Read on»

Following the success of the Damosa IT Park of Damosa Land, a number of other real estate development projects are now expected to see the light of day in Davao City.

Ed Villaver, Vice-President and General Manager of Damosa Land, confirmed recently that the Anflocor Group is entering into a joint venture with Ayala Land Inc. for the establishment of a 10-hectare business complex in Bajada. The property is located on JP Laurel Ave., near Victoria Plaza and Bo. Obrero. Villaver estimates that groundbreaking will commence middle of this year. •••Read on»