IT talks!

[Media Release] March 12, 2009, Manila, Philippines — Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) today formally announced that tens of thousands of edits made by Filipinos on Google Map Maker can now be seen on Google Maps. Google Map Maker–an application that allows users to edit Google Maps data–was launched in the Philippines in October last year [...]

Yesterday, Microsoft’s Development & Platform Evangelism (DPE) group, in partnership with Lane Systems Inc. (LSI), held a long-overdue educational event in Davao City for the benefit of local software developers. According to Rodney Jao, president of LSI, the last time that Microsoft held an official event in the city was almost two years ago. The [...]

In light of recent events related to Davao’s IT industry and that of Japan’s, I’d like to bring your attention to the state of Japanese-language education in Davao City. These events are: 1) the growing interest of Japanese entities (IT companies, government agencies and non-profit organizations) in the growth of our IT industry; 2) the [...]

Christopher Cubos and I, ever since we got acquainted in the mid-90s, have been known to be at loggerheads when it comes to certain industry issues. For example, way back in the early days of Philippine Internet (Web 0.5?), we had a long-running argument about content vs. design. However, we are in wholehearted agreement on [...]

The 18th of September 2007 was an auspicious day for Davao I.T. That day saw the inauguration of the Davao branch of the Philippine National I.T. Standards (PhilNITS) Foundation. Formerly known as JITSE-Phils., PhilNITS has for 5 years been involved in uplifting the quality of I.T. professionals in the country, via a certification program that [...]

In order to sustain development in the I.T. industry, strong academic support is necessary. In line with this, the Davao Chamber and PAHRDF have partnered up to begin developing college courses that will encourage entrepreneurship.

iThink Technologies, an IT training facility in Davao, launched its Microsoft training and certification program today at The Venue. Together with iThink was Microsoft Philippines and edupro inc., a Manila-based training institute and Microsoft-Certified Partner for Learning Solutions.

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 [...]

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 [...]

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.