Click – Technopreneurs’ Secrets, Revealed!
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On August 22, 2010
Technology is really emerging fast. The ones that are very successful nowadays are from technology & digital media. Good news to us as Manila Jaycess (JCI Manila) will feature them in the 3rd Entrep Summit happening at SM Mall of Asia, Center Stage Cinema on August 28, 2010.
The event is called “Click – Technopreneurs’ Secrets, Revealed!“. The title itself really caught my attention. I have been blogging for quite some time, attended a couple of social media events but it’s usually in these events that I get information that I already know. I really hope that this time around, I get to learn stuff that I need especially since I’m planning to do social media full time very soon.
This event looks very promising especially because it’s organized by the Manila Jaycees. Their events have always been very successful. Looking at the speakers lineup, I do know that they have gotten some of the best in the fields. Let me enumerate them here. I’m looking forward though to the talks that will be given by Abe Olandres, Dustin Andaya & Nix Nolledo.
- Lex Ledesma (Proprietor, Whistlestop Restaurant)
- Jay Fajardo (Founder & Former CEO, Airborne Access)
- Vince Golangco/Doy Roque/Yves Gonzalez
- Cesar Flores (President, Smartmatic Asia)
- Abe Olandres (Professional Blogger & Owner, YugaTech)
- Dustin Andaya (Chairman & Marketing Director, Island Rose)
- Ibba Bernardo (Founder & President, Mothercode)
- Nix Nolledo (Co-founder, Chairman & majority shareholder: Pinoyexchange.com)
- Martin Lichauco (Managing Partner, Global Gateway Venture Capital (G2VC))
- Paco Sandejas, Ph.D. (Managing Director, Narra Venture Capital)
12 speakers in one event! Wow!! Definitely would be a jampacked event! There really is a lot of information that can be had with so many speakers, and even if one speaker isn’t to your liking, you just can’t go wrong with that many speakers. I know for sure, as bloggers, we know who Abe Olandres is, and this is why I’m also interested to hear his talk. And the reason I also would like to listen to Dustin Andaya is that his company Island Rose is a company that I have already had the pleasure of dealing with, and I know just how much of an impact their online presence has had in their business.
These are all successful individuals that have leveraged and used the online world to their benefit while also providing a great service to consumers and end users. Even Nix Nolledo is someone we should all listen to since he and his team has been able to develop the biggest online community of Filipinos — that’s a real big deal in my opinion.
Anyway, there’s just so much that I won’t be able to summarize what each speaker has to offer, that’s what the seminar is for!
Tickets are being sold at Php1,200. If you’re interested & would like to join me in attending the Entrep Summit, go purchase tickets at TicketNet. I’ll see you there & let’s learn together 🙂
Keep Your Family Safe Online Seminar
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On August 21, 2010
Last weekend, I attended the Keep Your Kids Safe Online seminar at Victory Greenhills. Though I don’t have kids, I also feel that the things that were talked about were all things that are also critical for all of us to know and understand. Keep Your Kids Safe Online which is now called, “Keep Your Families Safe Online” is a program developed by blogger friend, Sonnie Santos which aims to help parents guide & protect their children online.
Sonnie had Chay Saputil & Carlo Ople as speakers for the seminar. Sonnie opened the event and shared how important it is for us to train our children to use social media properly. Chay, on the other hand, taught us how to control our kids’ access to internet while Carlo shared his gaming experience and how we can use our passion for productivity.
The great aspects about this seminar is all the real world examples that come along with the topics at hand. Sonnie shared with us a family that had just put too much information out there on the internet and was being harassed online. And even Chay shared with us the specifics of how to navigate the sometimes complicated means of protecting your kids online. She’s a windows expert, and she’s using much of her expertise in providing information on how to use the available services that both Microsoft and Apple has with their operating systems in order to protect your children.
There were some great tips that I didn’t even know, so I’m sure these would also come as a wonderful surprise to parents. There really are a lot of tools out there that we can use, and Chay did a great job in sharing with us all that information.
I appreciate the effort that Sonnie put into this program considering that it’s all done for free. What a great way to give back to the community! Internet & social media is really growing. More & more people, especially kids, are being exposed to it. As most of us know, the internet can be used to do good or harm. We wouldn’t want our family to be a victim right?
I certainly don’t, that’s why I attended the seminar. I hope you do too! So let me share the schedule lined up for the rest of 2010. You only need to allot time, everything else is free. The information you’ll get is priceless.
- 8/28/2010 – Philippine Alliance Christian School (Pasay)
- 8/31/2010 – WWCF Auditorium (ACCM Bldg., 102 Valero St., Salcedo Village, Makati City)
- 9/14/2010 – WWCF Auditorium (ACCM Bldg., 102 Valero St., Salcedo Village, Makati City)
- 9/25/2010 – CCF Auditorium (St. Francis Square, Julia Vargas Ave., Mandaluyong City)
- 10/16/2010 – Walter Mart (Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati City)
- 10/23/2010 – Walter Mart (Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati City)
- 11/13/2010 – Walter Mart (Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati City)
- 11/20/2010 – Walter Mart (Pasong Tamo Ext., Makati City)
If you want to know more or if you want to reserve slot/s for future seminars, just contact the Web Safety for Parents team at reservations@websafetyforparents.org.
CATS the Musical
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On August 21, 2010
During the 1st week of august, a few colleagues and myself decided to watch CATS, the musical for our girl bonding activity. We went ahead & bought the cheapest tickets which cost us Php772 each. A week before our scheduled gimik, I posted on my facebook wall that we will be watching the musical play at the CCP. Some of our friends advised us to wear something nice as we might come out as underdressed.
With that advice, we decided that we should all wear a black dress. Last August 4, we actually did as planned. Since the show was at 8pm, we had to change clothes at the office before we left. Everyone was like, where are you all going? hahaha!
The place was jampacked. The musical was really successful, they even extended to this sunday, August 22, 2010. I can’t say that it’s a must-watch because honestly, I wasn’t impressed. I felt a lil lost with the storyline. I didn’t do any research before going in the theater. Based on my personal assessment, the ff. are the reason why:
- we were seated at the last row
- we couldn’t see the faces of the performers at all, even with the Php50 binocular that CCP sold us.
- we couldn’t understand the words well. I’m not sure if it’s the audio or what.
Don’t get me wrong, the performers were SUPERB! I totally admire them for their talent. I think the story is a bit weak or too simple. Or maybe, it was really my fault. I should have researched first before I watched 😛
Anyhow, for those who will be watching from today till sunday, here is the plot based on my research after watching the show. CATS is based from the book, “Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats” by T.S. Elliot. Basically in a junkyard, the cats are auditioning to be chosen by Old Deuteronomy to travel to Heavyside Lair & to be reborn. In the end, Grizabella (played by Lea Salonga) was chosen.
Despite my poor rating for the musical, this shouldn’t discourage many of you to go out and see it for yourself. CATS is a definite must see for those who enjoy plays and musicals in general. It’s a legend in the musical industry, the show is long running, and has even been performed in 20 other languages. And for fans of Andrew Lloyd Webber, you should also be excited about this show too since he’s the original composer to this musical. This musical is one with a lot of history and awards to back up its continued popularity. However, plays and musicals, and this storyline in particular isn’t suited for everyone.
But I believe a lot of Filipinos watched CATS, the musical to catch Lea Salonga on stage. The highlight of the play was when Lea sang the song, Memory. For me though, I really loved when the whole cast sang a tagalog version of the song! Wayyy cool!
To be part of such a historic musical, I think you should at least see this once in your life. Who knows, you may like it more than I did!
My advice for those who are planning to watch is don’t expect a heavy storyline. CATS was mainly based on poems/short stories so just sit & relax, enjoy the music & the dances and you’ll go home happy and satisfied.
Lastly, they were selling CATS souvenirs & stuff but I must say they are expensive! The bracelet shown below actually cost Php1,000! Yaiks! Must be worth collecting.
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CATS Now & Forever
July 24 to August 22, 2010
TicketWorld
(02) 891-9999
The Old Spaghetti House
Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On August 19, 2010
After walking around Robinsons Galleria for almost the whole day, we decided to rest our feet and eat at The Old Spaghetti House. The original plan was just to have merienda but we ended up eating so much that it became our dinner 😛
The restaurant has great ala carte selections but I would very much prefer discounted bundled dishes. At the back of The Old Spaghetti House’s menu, there were 5 selections of trios namely: Asian, Healthy Option, Best Seller, Italian & Dessert. This can be shared by 1-3 people depending on their appetite.
We chose the Best Seller (Php585) which includes an Appetizer Sampler, Spaghetti Pesto w/ Grilled Chicken & 4-cheese pizza. However, my friend cannot eat chicken so we requested if we could have Spaghetti Carbonara in exchange of the original spaghetti in the package. The server was nice enough to accommodate our request.
So here they are:
- Appetizer Sampler
Individually, this dish is priced at Php210. The platter is a combination of onion rings, calamares & chicken fingers. The dish is your basic fried appetizer, utilizing a light batter and coating. It wasn’t as crispy, and the individual items weren’t presented as nice either. The dipping sauce actually matched all three items nicely. The whole appetizer dish did taste good, and with this combination, I think it came out as a perfect starter to the pizza and pasta. It’s definitely a good start to a very carb-loaded meal!
- Spaghetti Carbonara
Carbonara is a traditional style of cooking pasta. Most people think it’s just white sauce, but actually the original recipe actually calls for a mixture of beaten eggs, grated cheese, pancetta (or bacon), and a little cream if desired. If you order this ala carte, the price is Php145. With this Best Seller trio though, the serving is 1/2 more. So instead of getting just a single serving, it becomes 1.5 servings. The way they cooked this carbonara actually seems to me that they honored the traditional way of cooking carbonara, because I often see pasta carbonara cooked in heavy white sauce, which is almost like an alfredo rather than a carbonara.
With this dish, even though I’m not that fond of Italian dishes, I still think that they did a terrific job in the preparation and presentation. The dish wasn’t overly seasoned which was good, since there’s tendency for this dish to be a salty because of the bacon and the cheese. Overall I think, if you like Italian food, this simple dish will be a favorite of yours.
- 4-Cheese Pizza
Pizza with 4 different types of cheese. If you love cheese, then this is for you. Their pizza is basically thin-crust, it was tasty too! This is something that seems like old world Italy, I love it! It’s simple, basic, and so delicious. You really can’t go wrong with a pizza that has 4 types of cheese. I really think, when it comes to pizza, the cheese makes or breaks the dish. With this dish, it had an excellent crust, a very traditional presentation, and delicious bites all the way.
It’s not usually your typical pizza wherein they cut it triangular. This version is served in strips, like thin-rectangular ones. Good for 2 but if you’re really hungry, you can finish this all by yourself 🙂
Aside from the best seller trio, we also ordered drinks & dessert. We had mango shake (Php70) & sugar free chocolate mousse (Php70) . I especially love their mango shake as it was not too watery. You could really taste the mangoes in this shake, they didn’t try to cut cost or shortchange us, the shake was really rich, delicious, and full of mango flavor.
Below is a picture of us while we waited for the bill. The Old Spaghetti House is actually a pretty decent restaurant, nothing really spectacular but a good choice when you crave for something Italian.
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The Old Spaghetti House
3rd Level Expansion Mall, Robinsons Galleria, EDSA, Pasig City, Metro Manila, Philippines
(02) 631-8674
Starcraft II – Definitely Worth the Wait
Posted by Pabs Yambot On August 9, 2010
How do you improve on Starcraft, the top selling computer game of all time? How much time do you take to develop the sequel? How do you improve on one of the pinnacles of computer games and its genre real-time strategy games? This is after all a game that has an almost universal following in South Korea, where its top players are feted like rock-stars or top footballers; a game used by the US Air Force to teach officers about crisis management, a game whose tactics is taught in UC Berkeley.
Is 12 years- an eternity in computer gaming- worth the wait? Consider, in that span of time, we’ve had three Philippine presidents- FVR, Erap, GMA, Noynoy, three Olympics: Sydney ‘00, Athens ‘04, Beijing ‘08, four football (soccer) world cups- France ‘98, Japan- Korea ‘02, Germany ‘06, South Africa last month. Following the Moore’s law, we now have 64 times more transistors for CPUs now compared to the then state-of-the art PIII chips in 1998.
Was it worth the wait? Is it worth the not inconsiderable P 3,500 (Datablitz) price tag, for just one campaign- Terran- at that? Yes and more. Hesitant to shell out P 500 for pre-ordering, even with the dog-tag and Starcraft 2 shirt incentives, and a little surprised by the price, all these concerns, and the long wait seemed trifling once I started playing.
The campaign resumes a mere four years after Starcraft’s Brood War finishes. Jim Raynor’s raiders are still in a low-intensity conflict against Emperor Arcturus Mengsk. The latter considers Raynor as the #1 terrorist, evident from the TV news coverage shown between missions. Zerg, Protoss are relatively calm, but, as will be seen soon enough, this is more a quiet before the storm. Massing Zerg swarms, the scattered yet recovering and still powerful and immemorial Protoss, rumors of Xel’Naga artifacts all mean the uneasy peace will not last.
Jim, reunited with ex-con veteran Tychus Findlay, will soon be caught between Mengsk’s army and fleet, fanatical, die-hard Protoss and the Zerg led by Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades. Old ally Zeratul does a surprise visit, sharing a crystal that unlocks visions, and Protoss missions. Other unlikely allies, hardened mercenaries, branching decision points in technology investments and mission choices, make this campaign much more compelling than other RTS games and provides some (albeit limited) replay value.
All 26 missions are challenging at the ‘normal’ level. Carrots for points made me replay several scenarios to get more points. Examples of bonus achievements include destroying a prototype battle cruiser, rescuing all isolated allies and finishing a day-night hunt (where Zergs ruled the night, Terrans the daytime) in five nights. One of the most difficult is the secret mission, unlocked in the Media Blitz mission, which pits Raynor and a select squad of marines against a top secret bio-weapons facility. Other hero led missions with Raynor, Tychus, even the Dark Templar Zeratul, make for engaging breaks from the more typical resource gathering, force assembling and defending and eventual assault.
New Terran units such as the heavy assault mechanized walker- Thor and the Macross-like transforming Viking (aircraft to walker) rounded out the Terran forces. Old favorites such as the ghost or equivalent spectre, battlecruisers and tanks make Jim or Mengsk forces more than a match for isolated or straggler Zerg or Protoss units. Protoss and Zerg units have also been updated, with the former’s powerful Reaper being replaced. Kerrigan’s swarm, on the other hand, has been reinforced by a powerful mind-controlling ability, able to control any unit.
One, not exactly minor concern is a Blizzard confirmed bug that can overheat graphics processing units. A workaround is available, to limit the screen refresh rate. Fortunately, I’ve been playing with an external fan and air-conditioning. Of the 30+ hours played, I’ve encountered two crashes, where my PC just froze. Barring those, wait times and performance in my two year-old Windows 7 PC was fine.
This is one of the best PC games I’ve played in a long while. I can recall some milestones in computer games I’ve played- Civilization, Masters of Orion, X-Com, Diablo, Starcraft. The latter is a landmark, and builds on top of all of the great real-time strategy games forged by Dune 2 and followed by Warcraft II.
Some critics complain of SC2 being stuck in time, of not evolving beyond the original gameplay. That’s a very minor quibble. Just as Godfather 2 didn’t break new ground but simply improved, polished and built on an incredible original movie, SC2 doesn’t break new ground but polishes to a high sheen, updates the graphics and gameplay to the 21st century. Just as X-Com’s dated early 90’s EGA graphics do little to detract from the underpinning extremely addicting gameplay, so does SC2’s reuse of working elements, updated after an eternity (or Blizzard has once again come up with a masterpiece. Anyone into computer games should add Starcraft 2-Wings of Liberty to his or her library.