I attended a tech session over at the Microsoft Philippines HQ tonight, and guess what was the topic: PHP Interoperability on Windows. The session was conducted via Microsoft Office Live Meeting by Chris Ismael, who is based in Microsoft Singapore. Among the attendees are some familiar faces in the PHP Users Group Philippines.

So, what’s in store for the Open Source crowd from Microsoft. For one, it is not (or no longer) a sin to speak the “Linux” thing inside the HQ — just kidding.

Did you know that Microsoft already launched their Web Platform Installer 1.0 and 2.0 (Beta)? So basically, what are those, you may ask? They’re like “LAMP” or “WAMP” being distributed by Microsoft.

Also, Abet Dela Cruz (Microsoft Philippines) mentioned about the soon-to-be launched local Interoperability site http://www.interop.ph

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For the very first time, I had set foot on the City of Marikina! Why am I here? Supposedly, we’re to test the FREE WiFi access provided by SM City Marikina — the first SM Supermall to provide such freebie. The WiFi Stress Test started less than an hour ago, and I’m getting a fairly good signal:

Though SpeedTest.net is saying that I am currently located somewhere in UK(?).

We’re expecting some 300 bloggers and WiFi testers to show up at the SM City Marikina Cyberzone. Hope that all other SM Supermalls will provide Free WiFi access soon.

(photo courtesy of Melo Villareal)

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Happy Chinese New Year! May the year of the Ox bring prosperity to our families, and of the entire Philippines. Kung hei fat choi!

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Today, 23 Jan 2009 the entire Catholic world celebrates the feast day of San Ildefonso (Archbishop of Toledo, Spain). San Ildefonso, pray for us.

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Señor Nazareno, may You continue to guide us this year. Thank you for all the help you had accorded us in the past years. Viva Señor Nazareno!!

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May of all us have a Blessed Christmas 2008. Do not forget to thank the All Mighty for the wonderful gifts, both tangible and intangible, that we had received this year.

Maligayang Pasko sa lahat!

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Attended the briefing about Sky Cable’s Digibox this afternoon at the Hotel Intercontinental Makati. It was hosted by TJ Manotoc. The Sky Cable people, led by their VP made a demo of the Digibox — really kewl features like channel preview, a full week lineup with preview, lots of channels, and channel lock.

People from Sky Broadband was there, too. And as TJ describes it: insanely fast! How fast was it, 12Mbps for a residential broadband.

All bloggers went home with gift certificates from Sky Cable — free installation and rental of Digibox, plus a quarter subscription to Sky Cable Gold at zero cost. Kewl, isn’t it?

(Some pics grabbed from Az — thanks Az!)

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I was in the middle of my PHP lecture to my WEBDEV3 class this morning at around 1100H when I felt the teacher’s table tapping into my knees, back and forth. Then one of my students exclaimed, “Sir, earthquake!”. Calmly, I replied, “OK! Stay at your seats.” We were at the 11th floor of the SDA building then.I forgot that my PC was connected to the LCD projector when posted the event in TwitterFox, so my students saw me micro-blogging while the building is swaying.

The shaking was done in a minute, I guess. One student asked if we were to go done of the building, my response was (verbatim), “We’re at the 11th floor. There are only 2 floors above us. If ever the building will collapse, we have a fair chance of survival. If we will go down, and the building will collapse, the entire 14 floors will be on top of us.” And everyone laughed. Then came the second tremor, this time a little bit stronger than the previous one. By this time, Twitter posts from the likes of Jim Ayson and Charo Nuguid are popping-out of my TwitterFox confirming the first shaking. Then it’s done in almost a minute or so.

So I continued with my lecture, we’re still at the ECHO statement. Then came the DO (security guard), asking all of us to evacuate the building — an SOP. We used the stairs from the 11th floor all the way down to the ground floor nice exercise. I can still feel my legs aching up to now.

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Last night, Rose and I were present at the San Miguel Beer Oktoberfest 120 for Bloggers at the Taste Asia, SM Mall of Asia. Thanks to Aileen Apolo for the invite! Music was provided by Moonstar88. Too bad, we had to leave early, around 2200H as it was already bed time for Robyn Andi Xeon. But, we (I) did not went home empty handed: I won an ice bucket! Too bad, I wasn’t able to receive the goodie bag, as we need to wait for the show to end before the freebies will be distributed that’s OK. I know there will be a next time.

Azrael was there, and I personally handed-over to him his Internet Blackout book prize. Met also in the flesh was my long time acquitance Jay De Jesus (titikpilipino.com). BTW, the pic above was grabbed from Az, thanks Az! Hehehe ..

Da Who! Da who ang blogger na nagsilid ng isang dosenang Magnolia Flavored Tea sa kanyang bag? Clue: isa syang girl. Hehehe .. wala lang. Rose and I were laughing to our hearts’ out seeing her putting the iced tea bottles to her bag. Kakahiya. Yun lang!

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I mean, really, there are people who read my blog.

Last Thursday, I attended the Yahoo! Philippines Developers Network launch at TGIFriday’s in Glorietta, Makati. I left home at around 1730H, and what used to be a 15-minute drive took me almost an hour due to the huge traffic a sudden downpour brought about.

When I finally managed to reach Friday’s, almost all of the seats til the end of the hall were occupied already by eating and drinking people (most of them happened to be ‘walk-ins’ in an RSVP event — gate crashers!). No choice but to seat near the projector screen together with a couple — I did not bothered to get acquainted with them. Then suddenly, a guy came in and asked if there is somebody seated next to me — I replied that the seat is vacant, then he said, “You look familiar.” I replied, “Perhaps, you had read my blog, bobreyes.com, my face is there.” He said, ‘Yah! bobreyes.com, TurfSite Manila!”. This guy happened to be Jojo a.k.a. PHPCurious. He was NOT the last person that night who said, “You look familiar ..” to me.

Before the official launch began, seated on the same table with were Jerome Gotangco of Morph, Jacque Sara of Exist Global, Dr. Jaime Caro of UP-ITTC, and fellow CSB Prof Ranulf Goss (used to teach GAMEDEV a couple of years ago, he is now the President of Slycesoft). I also met (in flesh) Angela Sabas, a technical Yahoo! (in other words, someone who does technical stuff at Yahoo! and yes, she is indeed a Filipina!).

Ended the night, which I thought would be a boring one, filled with inputs coming from these bright people. Thanks to Yahoo! for the food and drinks. Til next time, Jerry Yang.

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The games of the 29th Olympiad has just began at Beijing, China. Missed the beginning of the ceremonies, which started at 8:08PM on the 8th day of the 8th month of 2008 (08 August 2008 at 8:08). Nice numbers. Wonder will this bring luck to Team Philippines.

Was excited to see the events of the Opening Ceremonies as they unfold “live” at C/S (Solar Entertainment channel), but got dismayed with the number of commercials during gaps. Luckily, I found another channel covering the ceremonies, just minutes behind the one aired at C/S. But, seems to be that the lucky day is not favoring me: the CCTV channel just went off the air. Got pissed, turned the television off and headed on to the net. Justin.tv is still not covering the ceremonies, but the pictures are already online at the official Olympics website and at Yahoo!News.

Now, I remember 16 years ago, I was just 11 years old then when Barcelona in Spain played host to the 1992 games. Because of the timezone difference, my dad woke my brother and I up at around 2AM just for us to catch the opening ceremonies. It was the first time that I had actually watched the Olympics Opening Ceremony. And who can forget the dramatic lighting of the cauldron by archer Antonio Rebollo? For those who were still very young to comprehend or remember the 1992 Olympics, here’s what happened during the final torch relay and ceremonial lighting of the cauldron:

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Did I already mentioned in my blog that I am a Rick Astley fan? Well, not as big as I am an SOS and TF fan, but during the first days of my piano lessons, I will ask my parents to buy me score sheets of Rick Astley songs at National Bookstore.

Last night, I missed a great portion of my life: (1) I missed the opening night of Elvert’s Omega exhibit at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) — though you (we) may still catch it, still have 28 days left; (2) Rick Astley performs live at the Big Dome. And the best ting about #2 was the fact that Roderick Paulate, Rick Astley Pinoy version, was invited to perform on stage. Never Gonna Give You Up lyrics and YouTube video of the Astley-Paulate encounter below.

Never Gonna Give You Up

Were no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do i
A full commitments what I’m thinking of
You wouldn’t get this from any other guy

I just wanna tell you how I’m feeling
Gotta make you understand

* Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

We’ve know each other for so long
Your hearts been aching
But you’re too shy to say it
Inside we both know whats been going on
We know the game and were gonna play it

And if you ask me how I’m feeling
Don’t tell me you’re too blind to see

(* repeat)

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I thought it was just another quiet Friday working day, when I over heard in the Manila Tower frequency that a plane is about to have an emergency landing. MIAA Fire, Rescue, and Safety personnel were alerted. Then minutes later, my phone rang, it’s the secretary of our General Manager asking why a Qantas Boeing 747-400 landed — quite unsual, since QF (Qantas Airways) flights are mostly at night. That’s the time I realized that the emergency landing was that QF 030 flight from Hongkong bound to Melbourne. Here are some pictures that I had taken using an Olympus u790SW digital camera:

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Fellow geeks and geekettes, did you know that Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP) is bringing the 2nd Internet and Mobile Marketing Summit 2008 dubbed as It’s All Geek to Me! this coming August 13 to 16, 2008 at Hotel Intercontinental, Ayala Avenue, Makati City?

Highlight of the three (03) day conference if the Boomerang Awards where it is known as the toughest interactive and mobile marketing competition in the world. Top geeks like David Ko of Yahoo! is coming to town for this event.

A must-attend for self-confessed geeks like me!

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