Lakeview Terrace: Understanding Your Neighbor

From the trailer of this movie, I thought Samuel L. Jackson played a psychopathic cop - which is how the interracial couple in the movie probably judged him to be as well. When my husband and I watched it, I realized that the character had a lot going on in his life that pushed him to make bad decisions.

He was a cop, patroling a bad neighborhood and trying to be a mom and dad to his two kids. He is probably still grieving over his wife's death. He is getting pressure from work because of his not-so-gentle way of catching and educating perpetrators. He worked hard to be able to live in the nice home he has provided for his family.

A young interracial couple moves in next door. Patrick Wilson who plays the privileged Caucasian husband gets on his neighbor's bad side by throwing cigarette butts carelessly on Samuel L. Jackson's yard, unknowingly revealing too much to the cop's children in their backyard pool that was visible from their neighbor's home, and just demanding that his neighbor turn his lights that were shining into their bedroom off without listening to the safety reason for them.

The quarrel between the two neighbors escalate fueled by other aspects of their individual lives. The suspension of the cop and the problem of getting along with his kids had Samuel L. Jackson on edge. The pressure of his wife being pregnant and the feeling of not meeting the expectations of his father-in-law making Patrick Wilson quick tempered.

Kerry Washington, the African-American wife who worked from home and wanted a family her husband was not ready for was caught in the middle. She was the more understanding partner who advised her husband that he should not judge his neighbor because they did not know him well.

And I think this was the moral lesson of the movie. People are so quick to judge others, too caught up in themselves to understand what another person is going through that we end up dismissing them. Especially with today's economy a lot of people have problems we could not know so we must be more understanding and kinder to them instead of taking their behavior at face value and adding to their problem by antagonizing them.

You never know how a simple smile, taking the time to listen and doing what you can to help out will affect your neighbor. You could be saving another person's life and not even know it!

Be kind - this is the best time to become a good neighbor and a great friend.

Gift Ideas For Your Geeky Valentine

Here are a few geeky valentine gift ideas from Etsy, a cool online store selling gifts you won't find at your local department store.

Pi Earings by nerdgoddess from Etsy:

If your valentine is a fan of Numb3rs, this gift is sure to be a hit!  Bring fun into your valentine with this unique gift.


Instant Geek, Just Add Coffee (Funny Computer Geeks T-Shirt) from signaturetshirts in Etsy


Get your geeky Valentine something to smile about - most geeks can relate, I can vouch for that!  Caffeine is high on our must-have list.

Happy shopping!

Rice That Survives Under Water

I am Filipino, rice is our staple food. About half the world's population eats rice as a staple. Rice crops keep millions of people from starvation in many third world countries.

This morning CNN featured a discovery by Professor Pamela Ronald from the University of California - Davis. Professor Ronald and her colleagues, David Mackill who is a senior scientist at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines and Julia Bailey-Serres who is a professor of genetics in the University of California Riverside were able to breed a flood-tolerant variety of rice. Rice is grown in paddies and appear to be flooded with water to keep the weeds away, but apparently rice finds it difficult to grow under water. They spend all their energy trying to survive, that at the end of the flood they just die.

This new breed of rice can survive flooding for up to 17 days. This means farmers will have greater chances at producing a good harvest in areas were it is prone to rain or storm too much.

Wow! Great work on this! Your hard work will save a lot of people from starvation especially in this difficult economy.

Managing Employee Training With Conductor

I’ve worked for companies where constant intensive training was required to do your job in the most productive manner. We had training classes, but no actual feedback as to how we were doing and what other training courses we needed to take. We would just be told that we needed to be in a certain class for ten days. Then after the ten days, we would be told now you have to take this other class for five days and so on. There was no way for us to gauge if we were doing well or not – and this made us feel insecure and uncertain about our progress.

I work in a field where continuous training is required so that you do not become obsolete. If I ran my own web development company, I would want to make sure that my designers and developers were not obsolete. But with all the work running a business entails, I would want to minimize employee time spent on managing these training courses. And I think I may just have the solution!

Conductor is a training management software or a learning management software that helps a company track all employees and their training courses. It’s easy for a manager to assign a course to one of his employees, check on course attendance and grades. It’s easy for an employee to look up his curriculum or gauge how well he is doing. And for the administrator, it’s easy to organize and manage all the training classes for the company. The trainer can easily record attendance and grades in one system for the other authorized employees to view.

This product can definitely streamline the employee training process. This is just another way to do things efficiently to reduce wasted hours and save money. In these hard economic times, we need these solutions to keep our businesses on track. Great job on this application!

This post is sponsored by Conductor.

How I'd Spend $1,000 in Winnings

If I won a thousand dollars on scratch-off tickets (which I don't really buy, but theoretically) I'd probably spend it on accessories for my camera like the SB900 flash we need for event photography, a good quality tripod and possibly a few studio equipment. Camera and studio equipment are so expensive, but I enjoy taking pictures.



Right now I am saving the money I earn from blogging to buy these accessories - it takes quite a long time to earn enough. So if I am lucky enough to win such a prize it's definitely going to be spent on this hobby.

Internet Marketing With Web 2.0

Web 2.0 has given birth to new advertising techniques. Many businesses have realized that in order to market their product effectively, they need to build an online presence and utilize these Web 2.0 technologies efficiently.

Building a great website, signing up for all the social networks, blogging and branding viral content are just a few examples of the elements that make up a company’s internet marketing strategy. Learning about search engine optimization, pay per click ads and Adwords to market products and service efficiently gives a company a chance at a level playing field to compete with big companies wherever they may be. In the long run, it all boils down to do you have a good plan? Do you know how to navigate the world wide web to find the best keywords for your products? Do you know what the terms click fraud, above the fold, page weight and page highjack mean?

If you’re scratching your head just about now, don’t worry internet marketing is now a complicated industry and more often than not it is easier to have an expert to guide you through it. Reciprocal Consulting offers an informative internet marketing blog that lets you in on industry secrets, basics and strategic tips. It is a great resource when you are planning your internet marketing strategies.

Reciprocal Consulting also offers Pay Per Click Management, Search Engine Optimization, Competitive Intelligence on competitor traffic and keywords, Social Media Optimization and Reputation Management solutions. If your business has been affected by the unfavorable economic times, you may want to try another avenue of reaching your current and potential clients. Go online and see what the world wide web has to offer! Just in case you need help, you may want to go to Reciprocal Consulting for assistance.

May your business prosper on the world wide web!

Amazon Kindle: 200 Titles in 10.3 Ounces

I just finished reading a couple of books and was trying to tidy up my bookshelves. It was frustrating to see that they were crammed full and had no place to store my finished books. Now I probably could remove a pile or two of magazines and file folders that I haven't opened in over a year, but that would only be a temporary band aid and not a complete solution.

I actually like my books. During summer breaks when I was in school I'd read and re-read my paperbacks until they got so worn out. I love the smell of a new book, having time to just relax and read a book is a treat for me. But my small place is dangerously close to looking like a library and there is absolutely no more room for new shelves.

I love the look of the Sony Reader, prominently displayed in Borders whenever I have time to actually go to the bookstore to browse - I try not to buy new books if I can help it. It is quite expensive for my tastes, the Valentine edition starting at $299.99 and the regular one at $399.99.

Now the Amazon Kindle has been out of stock sing Oprah sang its praises on her show. They are said to be coming out with a new version on February 9, 2009. It is priced at $359 on Amazon. The main difference between the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle is the wireless connectivity that doesn't even require you to find a hotspot to let you buy books, read blogs, and look stuff up in Wikipedia. And Amazon handles the wireless bill, you don't need a wireless plan to have access! Plus, you are confident that since Amazon is a big book seller, you'll never run out of interesting titles - pack your Kindle with up to 200 titles.

Now when your Kindle is almost full, you can save the books you've read into an external hard drive. With the same amount of space as I have in my bookshelves, I can probably hold a lifetime of ebooks on external drives. And they'll look cool and high tech too:)

Love to read? Got too much book you don't want to give away just yet? Get the new Kindle and read to your heart's content - plus reduce your carbon footprint by getting rid of printing and decreasing paper use. Definitely a green technology for the new generation! Great work on this gadget.

Virtual Private Servers: Bootstrapping Online Businesses

Developing websites can be expensive, especially if you want to run your own server so that you can customize the settings and applications to suit your needs. Aside from server hardware costs, you need to find a great collocation facility that ensures your server is up 99.9% of the time – and collocation fees are not cheap. Then you need to buy licenses for the OS if you’re not running a Linux box, the applications if you’re not using Open Source applications. It can add up to quite a large sum.

But don’t worry, there is still a bootstrapping alternative to your online business. Rapid Switch is offering virtual private servers or virtual dedicated servers. Virtual Private Servers are privately segmented parts of a physical server that can host your applications and software. It gives you root or administrator access to your VPS.

When you’re starting your business, resources may be limited – this is the next best thing to your own dedicated server at a much lower cost. And if you want to try it out and see first, Rapid Switch has a VPS Starter plan for just £1 – truly a great deal!

This post is sponsored by Rapid Switch.

Gran Torino: Asian Culture Revealed

Clint Eastwood has done a lot of memorable films lately and Gran Torino is no exception. The story's premise is close to my heart because it depicts how differently family means to Asians and Westerners. Asians tend to value the wisdom of their elders even though they may not be as up to date as the modern world. There is value in their experiences.

The Hmongs kept to themselves - as with many Asian communities in America. In the movie, Walt (played by Clint Eastwood) found the Hmongs to be strange and stayed away from them as best he could. But he had a good heart - when he protected their daughter, Sue, from harrasment and did not file charges when their son, Tao, tried to steal his car - he became a hero in the eyes of the family next door. Another Asian culture, intense gratitude.

Sue introduced him to their food and culture. Bowing to the Hmong culture of Tao repaying his debt to him by working for him, Walt discovered that Tao was good at fixing things too and they went about fixing up the neighborhood. Walt admired the boy's industriousness, determined nature and eagerness to learn. And the neighborhood, which was mostly Hmong, grew to love Walt. Another facet of Asian culture depicted in the movie was the abundance of parties and gatherings.

Walt felt his neighbors were more concerned for him than his sons were as his illness progressed. He felt that he had never known how to get close to his family. Meanwhile, Sue forced him to be close friends and he became Tao's male role model. When Tao refused to join his cousin's gang and they beat him up - Walt retaliated by beating up the biggest guy in the gang and warning him to stay away from Tao. A few days later, Tao's home was ridden with bullets in a drive-by shooting. Sue was raped and beaten. Walt who loved them both was so angry but the demons that haunted him because of the atrocities he had committed during the Korean war left him confused. He made sure that Sue and Tao would get a chance to live a normal life in the end.

It was a great movie that showed two sides of Asian culture in the US - the good and the bad. I enjoyed it and was able to relate to it. The ending was truly inspiring! Great job on this movie!

iEmployee: Save Money & The Environment

In these tough times companies are all looking for ways to save money and be environmentally responsible at the same time. Even with around a hundred employees, our company still uses printed timesheets, we still track our paid time off on printed files of paper although I’m sure they have an excel sheet that electronically records everything. It is still easy to miscalculate paid time offs and still cumbersome to prepare attendance sheets.

iEmployee Time and Attendance service automates this process. It makes sure that data collected – time clocks and data capture are accurate. It makes auditing and reporting easier. It saves employee time by having to answer and ask the Accounting department about paid time off – since iEmployee provides self-service tools that let managers and employees track and manage paid time off.

It even has online paystubs so that we can reduce our printing and materials cost. Using less paper also makes our company greener. Printing less reduces our company’s carbon footprint.

iEmployee’s online Time Tracking can be completely suited to your business. Because it’s online, it’s easy to have telecommuting employees log in from their homes and manage their timesheets – and this helps managers edit hours worked and have one-click approvals at their fingertips. iEmployee also has the capability to manage project-based or contract-based employees’ timesheets. Companies can build their business rules that affect overtime and shift differential calculations into the system so they can customize the business rules to their needs.

iEmployee makes a business more efficient and more productive. It reduces a business’ cost and carbon footprint. Saving money and the environment – it’s truly a win-win situation!

A Push for Greener Vehicles

President Obama signed a memorandum today, for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reconsider an application by the state of California to set its own auto emission and fuel efficiency standards. This application was rejected by former President George W. Bush stating that having different rules in different states would be confusing and unenforceable.

But what is California really asking for and is it so off target of current motor vehicle design trends? Stricter auto emission standards and higher fuel efficiency in vehicles would aid in solving two of our problems - it will help prevent global warming and it will help us find more alternative sources of energy to fuel our vehicles decreasing our dependence on foreign oil.

The 2009 Detroit Auto Show last week had a lot of greener vehicles. In fact in Auto Blog Green's Top Ten vehicles, an American-made Cadillac Converj topped the list. Among the favorites were a battery-powered Ford, Chrysler's big all-electric surprise the 200C EV, the Toyota Prius, and the Honda Insight. These top vehicle makers are already making greener and more fuel efficient vehicles and showing them off in car shows. So doesn't President Obama's memorandum just push car manufacturers further along to where they are already headed? What would be so confusing and unenforceable about that?

What do you think? Leave me a comment and share your thoughts.

Rich Dad's Online Writing Project

I am a big fan of Robert Kiyosaki, the author of my favorite money book - Rich Dad Poor Dad. He was a great influence on my personal financial education. I love the simple way he writes that makes it easy to understand the concept behind investing.

I received an email from a friend yesterday about a new project of Robert Kiyosaki. I loved the concept and signed up to participate. To all you fans of Rich Dad Poor Dad, I'm sure you will love this new book.

Here is the full text of the press release:

Conspiracy of the Rich is a new book in development by Robert Kiyosaki, the bestselling author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, that has traditionally bucked convention and undoubtedly will yet again with this new work in progress.


In this book he challenges conventional wisdom about finance, and teaches readers how to adapt to money's new rules in today's economic turmoil.


This book will be distributed free, online, chapter by chapter, and readers are encouraged to read, ask questions, post opinions and contribute their points of view on the subject. It's a completely collaborative process, and the author will be hosting discussions and inviting commentary throughout.


The site is in final stages of development, and will be available soon. If you'd like to be a part of the Conspiracy of the Rich discussion, please submit your email and you'll be notified when the first chapter is available free of charge, online.
On the site you'll be able to:

• Read each chapter, for free


• Post questions and comments


• Get involved in the writing process


• Discuss the topics with other online readers

Visit www.conspiracyoftherich.com

I look forward to discussing this new book with you. Hope to see you there!

Estranging the Apathy: President Obama's First Weekly Video Message in Office

I want to share President Obama's first weekly video message since he was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. This was posted in the WhiteHouse.gov blog today. In this video the President explains his American Recovery and Reinvestment plan that's all over the news. I have watched how the republicans are contradicting it, I have watched Nancy Pelosi saying they are on schedule with it and hope to have it on the President's desk for signing soon - but I must admit I never really knew all the components of the plan until I watched this message. So please before you make your own opinion about the Recovery and Reinvestment plan, please watch the video and be informed.

I think the new President has worked so hard in his first week in office - and I applaud his swift action on matters like the closing of Guantanamo Bay. I love the fact that he has put up the website Recovery.Gov - a website that will show the nation where its tax dollars are going, part of the President's bid to be an accountable government.

I must confess I have been apathetic about politics and government for a long time. In the Philippines it had been hard to rally over a government that tries to impeach its President every year and has a long list of hearings for different public officials' corruption cases. It just felt like everyone was focusing on the problem and not enough solutions. I love my homeland and I think it is a beautiful country full of potential - I still feel homesick at times.

But coming to America, seeing how desperate times have become and then seeing a new President trying to change the way people perceive and interact with its government - it's very inspiring to me. I am part of the Internet revolution, I am witness to how important the Internet has become especially with President Obama's campaign and government. And now I find myself caring about the Recovery and Reinvestment plan and its successful implementation, I care about what the President is saying at the end of the week. I want to know what is happening, how it affects me and how I can help now. The apathy is gone because this government cared enough to find ways to reach out to me, to communicate with me. That may not seem like much to some people, but that means a lot to me!

It's a great time to be in America. Have a great weekend everyone!

Benedict XVI: internet a new way to speak of God

Pope Benedict XVI is now on YouTube and he already has several videos uploaded! The 44th US President is not alone in the realization that the internet is a great communication tool to reach out to constituents where they are - and right now they're online.

This is a very exciting development and another giant step in the technological revolution! Here's to another great channel on YouTube.

Plinky Prompt: My Road-Trip Mix Tape

All my favorite tech blogs are buzzing about this new application called Plinky.  Plinky is said to be the cure for writer's block.  Have you ever tried starting a blog then ran out of things to say?  Plinky provides daily prompts - topics to talk about - and you can share your answers easily with your blog, Facebook, Twitter or any application that supports HTML or email.

The Plinky interface reminds me of Twitter a little.  There's a main section for prompts and answers.  It shows you the latest answers at the bottom of each prompt.  On the right side is a box that summarizes your activities, links to what you can do, statistics, who you follow and your services.  The design is simple, but effective.

Founder and CEO, Jason Shellen, used to work for Pyra Labs - the developer of Blogger, one of the first blogging platforms that was later acquired by Google.  His blog development background has produced a great product.  Great job on this application!

I tried Plinky for myself - here is the answer to my first prompt...

Here are my favorite songs to listen to on road trips.

Beautiful Day by U2

It kind of forces me to decide that it's going to be a beautiful day - no matter what. It also keeps me awake.

Don't Cha Wanna Ride by Joss Stone

I love Joss Stone's sultry and smooth songs. This is a carefree song that boosts my confidence level.

I Go Blind by Hootie & the Blowfish

I love the way this group sings - the catchy rhythm and the lyrics that seem to explain an exaggerated reaction to a woman's presence appeals to me.

Great Resource: WhoRunsGov.com

My least favorite subject in school was current events or social studies. I liked discussing issues well enough, but I disliked the tedious task of finding out who was the secretary of which governmental department because in the Philippines they used to change so often.

That is probably why I loved this newly launched website called, Who Runs Gov. It gives you detailed information about the people in government right down to the issues they support. It's a very interesting read and easily navigable.

So next time your kid comes home asking you who runs a certain government office, you know where to go. Show them how to use the site and maybe they won't find current events so hard anymore. This is a great tool to promote social awareness with respect to public officials.

Great job on this, Washington Post!

Surviving the Economic Crunch: Digg's Sales Strategy

On President Barack Obama's inauguration, the micro-blogging platform Twitter overtook the content aggregation platform Digg in views and market share. This morning Webware's Rafe Needleman reported that Digg CEO Jay Adelson announced that they are going to lay off 10% of their 75-person workforce.

Now while we all may think that there's another sign of the unforgiving economy, Jay Adelson stated that Digg is now concentrating on profitability and growth. They will soon be building up their direct sales force and head of sales - anyone looking for a job out there? People in sales are always in demand - we should all develop our sales skills I think.

The good news is Digg has multiple years of cash on hand for operating expenses because of their current rate of consumption. I think because of the small workforce needed to maintain such an application as Digg, their overhead is manageable compared to the big tech companies.

That's another great aspect of technology, you can build an application which pretty much maintains itself - and it continues growing even if you don't do anything to it. I have firsthand experience to attest to this, it's a byproduct of Web 2.0. If the people like your product they will use it, they will interact in it and your application will flourish building a community and growing it without you having to think about a hundred and one advertising ideas to get more people in.

Digg is populated by the online community. It is grown by the masses. So it doesn't require thousands of people to populate it with content daily. Here's hoping that your new goal of profitability and growth is met in 2009! Good luck, Digg!

Mobile Phones & Nintendo DS in the Kitchen

Nintendo DS never ceases to tempt me with its Brain Age application, which entices me to no end for some reason. More recently they came out with this Personal Trainer: Cooking advertisement that has added to my curiosity about the gaming console. Argh! These advertising geniuses are too good for me!

I love experimenting in the kitchen and I even have a wishlist of gadgets specifically for my cooking experiments. While my gadget wishlist may consist of 14-cup food processors, stand mixer attachments, ovens and stoves - the hottest kitchen gadget nowadays was reported to be the mobile phone.

Yes, I've used it as a timer. I've accessed the web with it to lookup recipes. I've even taken photos of food for posting on my blog using my mobile phone. So I guess it is a kitchen gadget to me as well - I just never realized it.


Do you use your phone while cooking? Do you use applications on it in relation with cooking? Would you consider using the Nintendo DS to learn how to cook? Share your thoughts by leaving me a comment.

Happy cooking, everyone!

Green Technology: Smart Fridges

These days a lot of green homes are being built incorporating solar panels and other alternative sources of electricity to minimize a household's carbon footprint. We find and install greener sources of energy in our homes and choose energy star appliances to live greener.

With the advent of incorporating processors into our consumer electronics and appliances, we are in the age of smart technologies. In Australia a group of researchers from the national science agency CSIRO have developed a network of smart refrigerators that can gauge the fluctuations in power supply and adjust accordingly.

Meaning if there is a shortage of energy from a solar panel, it can turn itself off then turn back on when supply is normal again. Now isn't that cool?

Here's a great use of making our home network smarter by putting computer processors in them - to help the environment stop global warming. Make energy star appliances even more efficient! Wow! That would be a great use of technology that a lot of people will surely support. Way to go, Australia! Now that's what I call green technology.

Win Free Scholarships at ScholarshipPoints.com

After graduating from the seventh grade, I became a scholar. I passed two exams and had earned the privilege to go to Philippine Science High School. This paved the way to a Department of Science and Technology scholarship in college. Yes, I was lucky. I had been given all the opportunities to earn scholarships that helped me get a first class education.

I think having a great educational foundation gives you an advantage in your career as well as in life. A college education is definitely not cheap – and with the state of today’s economy it might be a bit challenging to get your degree.

I found a website that might help. They offer free college scholarships and all you have to do is create an account and earn points by logging in and participating in the fun activities online. You can win scholarships worth up to $10,000 – the points you earn enables you to enter the periodic drawings.

The money might help in buying books, tuition fees, or miscellaneous fees. Sponsors of the website provide chances to win free scholarships when you enter for their drawings using your points. And it is easy to earn points, they might ask you to answer a few questions, follow their twitter feed or just check out offers online.

So if you're worried about not being able to afford your college education – don't lose hope. Check out ScholarshipPoints.com.

Sponsored by ScholarshipPoints.com.

CNN Puts The Headlines On Your Shirt

CNN places the 2009 Inaugural Headlines on your shirt, using American Apparel products and the historic headlines of 01.20.09. Are you ready to wear your headline?  Of course having the phrase, "I just saw it on CNN" helps promote the network a lot - but that is the ingenuity of the whole campaign.

Check out this unique merchandise as a souvenir from this historic inaugural event. Which headline do you like most?

A New Kind of Web TV

In an interview published on TechRadar.com Eric Kim, Intel's Vice President for the Digital Home Group, states that:

"The TV is the largest screen in people's lives and it's been the one to lag behind in terms of functionality.

There simply hasn't been the right platform to enable greater functionality. The TV and other CE devices have been highly optimized for playback only, so their application processing aspect is weak. Delivering a powerful media processor (the Intel Media Processor CE 3100) opens up the possibilities."

Right now a lot of content from TV is being uploaded online to our computers, we can now watch full episodes of our favorite TV shows and even movies online.  The television industry has recognized the ubiquitous nature of the internet and is taking advantage of it.

But unless you have your big screen TV hooked up to your PC, the viewing experience gets you to miss the sheer size of your viewing area.  I have debated getting a bigger monitor because of this, I am primarily a programmer - although I do some photo editing on my PC - it's not the unit's primary function so getting a bigger monitor will just be adding a lot of white space to my work area.

Intel has now proposed a solution to bring the internet to your TV.  Web TV was not very successful when it launched years ago, but that was before Web 2.0 - before most of our TV shows enticed you to interact online. 

Imagine watching a basketball game on TV while simultaneously instant messaging your friend in the Philippines who is also watching the show?  Wouldn't that make the world just a little bit closer?  When those TV contests ask you to vote for your favorite and you can do it right on your TV without going on your PC or needing to find your mobile phone, wouldn't that be less of a hassle?

Considering that most internet services are bundled with a TV and phone service nowadays, adding Web 2.0 to your TV seems to make more sense now than it did when WebTV came into existence.  

What do you think?  I would love to read your thoughts about this new technology.   Please leave me a comment.  Thanks!

Hope Won: Obama Becomes 44th US President

President Barack Obama was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts and became the 44th President of the United States of America at 12:05 PM ET today.  Millions of people gathered in Washington D.C. for the historic event, but for those of us who have to go to work - we had to settle for recording it on our DVR's or if you have a fast internet connection going on CNN Live to watch the event.

I explored the CNN Live Video Coverage, which had a video feed (that didn't play for me because I didn't have a required grid application installed) and a Facebook window on one side where you can change your status as you watch the inauguration.  The funny thing is the only Facebook friend I had who commented on the feed was someone who isn't even in the United States!   I guess most are using Twitter and other technologies to connect with friends while watching the inauguration.  I just thought there would be more people using the Facebook feed - or maybe it's just me and my network (we may all have needed to go to work or they may all be watching attentively and forgot to interact).

It's a nice interface though - watching together and interacting as if you're all in just one living room enjoying the event.  I can't wait to go home and watch my recorded version.  I love Oprah's email where there was a picture of her wearing a shirt that read:

HOPE WON!

That's how I feel today.  I feel that hope has won and despite the dreary state of our economy it is hard not to be positive about where this nation is headed.  Hope won!  Who wouldn't feel good about that?

Circuit City Going Out of Business

There is a Circuit City four or so blocks from where I live. I noticed the big yellow Going Out of Business banner and the Everything Must Go signs just this afternoon as we drove passed it. I tried to access the Circuit City website and got this announcement:

Circuit City would like to thank all of the customers who have shopped with us over the past 60 years. Unfortunately, we announced on January 16, 2009, that we are going out of business.

They announced that they were closing some of their stores a couple of months back, but due to challenges to their business and the bleak economic environment they are closing their doors and liquidating their assets to pay their debtors.

These Going Out of Business sales may give us good deals, but it is a sad reminder of the state of our economy. I hope and pray that it starts looking up soon.

The presidential inauguration is tomorrow - maybe change will bring us hope. Maybe change will stop more businesses from closing their doors for good.

Stay happy, healthy and hopeful, everyone! Change is good. Change is hope.

The YouTube Copyright Censorship

The advent of Web 2.0 has complicated a lot of things for intellectual property rights owners. When a person makes a home video and puts a song on it from his CD collection then shows it to friends and families in his home - everything's ok. But when that same person now has the power to upload those same home videos and show the world - then we have a problem!

YouTube, one of the world's most popular video sharing site, has gotten into a lot of trouble over intellectual property rights issues - especially from the music industry. They have now been testing a way to take the copyrighted music off, but leave the video. So apparently, there are now a lot of home-made silent films on YouTube because of this.

That's a great filter to get you out of hot water with these copyright lawyers! We can just all be music composers and make our own tunes to go with our videos. Maybe that's why Rockband, Guitar Hero and Wii Music were designed in the first place!

Happy composing, everyone!

Text Tivo to Record a TV Show

I remember when my coworker back in the Philippines was working on her thesis - she accessed a remote lighting system and turned it off from her computer. I thought that was pretty cool back then.

Of course huge technological advances have passed in the years since then and now Kwiry - a mobile service lets you do so many even cooler things on your mobile phone. It can add a product to your Amazon wishlist, by texting amazon and the product name to Kwiry. It can add a movie to your Netflix queue by texting netflix and the title of the movie to Kwiry. And now it can even Tivo shows you forgot to set up before you left home by texting tivo and the show name. How cool is that?

I think this type of innovation is great - it's something I'd more likely use than a mobile or internet application that controls the locks to my home (one such application was featured recently in the blogs I read daily). Adding a show to my DVR or a movie to my queue which I can find later and delete if I need to is something I'd let a remote system do. But I'm not as confident with remote systems yet to entrust them with the key to my front door. Maybe it's just me, but the thought is a bit scary.

So there we have our cool mobile technology of the day! Hope this helps make your life a bit easier...

Yojo Mama: Location-Based Mobile Service for Parents

Location-based mobile services where popular in the Philippines in the early 2000s - the company I worked for then developed several location-based application one of which was for dating and another for child security/tracking. It's nice to see that the western countries are catching on to the usefulness of such a technology.

After the location-based service that helped you find the nearest and cleanest public toilets called MizPee - we now have a helpful tool for moms or dads looking for services for their kids called Yojo Mama. It helps you find nannies, haircuts, changing station, food and other useful places near you through your mobile phone. It is currently only available in New York and San Francisco, but they are working on getting Los Angeles in there soon.

Hope you find this website helpful! It's certainly an interesting niche for location-based services. Great job, Yojo Mobile!

Eco-Friendly Conservatory Furniture

When my husband and I talk about our dream house, one of the constant features we want in it is a sunroom or more formally known as a conservatory. We want a place to just lounge in peace with a small array of plants and a big cage for our birds. My husband and I also agree that we are in love with rattan furniture and that it would be the perfect furniture for our conservatory.

Rattan furniture always gives us a feeling of being on vacation because most of the resorts in our country have this. It’s durable and comfortable. I think that great Conservatory Furniture should have fabric covers that are cleanable, I don’t mind having to get it dry cleaned as long as I can wash the dirt and grime off it. I also think that they should have proper support, just because they’re conservatory furniture doesn’t mean that you can just put a bad foam in brightly colored fabric and expect your family to enjoy spending time there.

2furnish Conservatory Furniture has a huge selection of rattan, cane and wicker furniture for your sunroom or conservatory. Their products are of the utmost quality and look amazing – whether you like classic or modern style furnishings, you will find a set that you are sure to love here. And the best part is, these materials are from sustainable resources in South East Asia – so you are helping the environment knowing that natural resources are not depleted because you have these beautiful conservatory furnitures.

Check them out, they’re having a January sale! So not only will you get wonderful conservatory furniture, you can get them at a great price. Happy shopping!

Do You Have What it Takes to be a Web 2.0 Media Manager?

Have you ever wondered what it takes to manage a celebrity's Web 2.0 online persona? 

Here is an actual job requirements list:

• You are a social media expert with Google Analytics, SEO and SEM experience
• You have experience launching, building and managing communities online
• You are addicted to social networks such as MySpace or Facebook, technology and social media blogs, and playing around with new technologies such as Twitter.  You are constantly thinking about how they can be leveraged by a branded social network.
• You love creating and maintaining relationships.
• You are an analytics nerd (ouch!) and adore metrics (now that's a better description of a stats lover like me) because they show off your success and help determine your new goals.
• You have some design and photoshop experience.
• You know how to moderate content and when to ban party crashers.
• You are a popular culture addict and passionate about the intersection of Silicon Valley and Hollywood.

So there you go, do you meet the requirements?  Ohh, I forgot one more thing, you must go to Harvard.  This ad was posted by Brandcasting Unlimited in a Harvard-only job site because they are looking for a Web 2.0 Media Manager for Britney Spears.  Still interested?

Here's wishing all you job hunters good luck and many happy days earning big bucks while doing what you love - living online!  Do you think one of the interview questions would be how many friends do you have on MySpace/Facebook?  Sounds like fun!

Water Restoration 911

Our apartment building is going through a major repiping project, the owners finally decided to change the plumbing to copper pipes. Last Christmas, one of our neighbors in the ground floor came home to a flooded house. She had all her presents for her friends and family under her tree and they had gotten soaked through – she was very very upset. Water damage affected all her furniture, her walls, her carpet – her place was definitely not livable at that moment.

Water damage should never be taken lightly, it is a health hazard because mold grows in damp places so you must make sure that everything is thoroughly dried and thoroughly cleaned. For this type of work, you must call in a professional.

Water Restoration 911 has a 24 hour 7 day emergency service and they can be on the scene within 30 minutes. They perform extraction, drying and dehumidifying services to ensure that your home is free from flood, water, sewage and mold. They have over 12 years of experience in water restoration and is recommended by most insurance companies.

Water Restoration 911 also handles mold and fungus remediation, fire and smoke restoration, and sewage and drain backups. Call their 24/7 hotline at 1-877-356-6314 if you have an emergency.

I hope you never have to call, but just in case at least you have their number already. Be safe and dry!

This post is sponsored by Water Restoration 911.

The US Senate & House of Representatives on YouTube

This was on the YouTube Blog today. YouTube launched two new platforms to help the people of the US access their senators and house representatives. I went to the Senate Hub, in the landing page you are shown a map and then you choose a state, it shows you the name of your senator. Click on your senator's name and you will see her YouTube video. I went to the Californian senator, Diane Feinstein, she had three videos uploaded - she must be new to YouTube - so I chose another state, Virginia, and the senator from Virginia had a lot of videos from symposiums he's hosted among other things.

My mother-in-law used to love writing to her congressman. More often than not, her letters go unanswered or sometimes she gets correspondence that is not personalized - something that could have been sent without reading her letter.

I've never tried writing to a senator or a member of the house of representatives, my thought had been they probably receive thousands of letters a day - why would they read mine? But this gesture of putting their videos on YouTube, of asking for readers to share their videos or comments with them, is a nice beginning to 2009.

It is a gesture of the government finding out where its constituents are and its willingness to meet its citizens there. I like that thought. If the leaders are willing to listen then perhaps we should give them our feedback, perhaps we should reach out - maybe then we can build a better nation together through better communication and collaboration.

These are trying times we're in, but if we focus on breakthroughs and solutions we might just forget about our problems. This is a great initiative - I think it deserves our support.

Baby Slings: Helping You Care for Your Bundle of Joy

We helped a friend organize her daughter’s second birthday party yesterday. Most of her friends carried babies in bulky strollers and carriers. But I saw one mom hugging her baby to her using a sling. In the Philippines I’ve seen lots of moms use baby slings and I thought it was a great way to make sure you’re baby doesn’t slip from your grasp while you hold him. It also frees up your hands to do other things.

In my friend’s case, she was on the phone orchestrating all the deliveries and helping us set up tables, chairs and decorations. Meanwhile her sweet toddler followed her around for a while then asked to be carried, which had her juggling tasks and rendered her almost unable to help out. Good thing her daughter decided she liked playing with one of her guests at one corner of the hall. If my friend had a sling, even when she had her baby in her arms, she could’ve managed to do more.

Do you have a baby? Do you want to be able to work on chores and projects while carrying your baby? Or would you like to make your baby feel secure and loved by holding him close to you in a sling? You can find a variety of ergo baby carriers at BabySlings.com, an online retailer. You can find every type of baby slings even those for kids who want to carry their dolls and for holding a pet. They also have other products like nursing wear and supplies among others.

It’s definitely a great site to find helpful things to help you care for your bundle of joy!

My Three Cheese Hawaiian Style Pizza

I have often heard from people that pizza you make at home isn't as good as the one in the pizza restaurants. I had come to the conclusion that there was a secret ingredient in pizza that you can never duplicate at home. Well, you know what? They were wrong!

My husband and I are trying to eat healthier for the past week or so and had been sticking to light sandwiches for dinner instead of having rice, a Filipino staple in meals. Frankly, I was hoping to spice up our menu by introducing alternatives to sandwiches.

I took a store-bought whole wheat pizza crust, slathered mushroom flavored spaghetti sauce on it (the one that says Heart Smart on the bottle) then topped it with half a small bag of mozzarella cheese made from skim milk. Mozzarella is a very bland cheese so I decided to salt it with Parmesan and a bit of the earthy Provolone. I added some leftover holiday ham, pineapple tidbits, slices of red and green bellpeppers to the toppings then covered it with the leftover mozzarella and another sprinkling of Parmesan. I popped it in my oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes and voila! A home made pizza for the record books! My husband loved it! He said our little experiment was very very successful.

Doesn't the photo of it make your mouth water? Yummy! So for the home cooks out there who are pizza-shy, never be afraid to do it yourself - who knows you might just discover a great recipe or two. Happy baking, everyone!

The Sony Webbie: HD Video is Going Small

Over a year ago, Pure Digital came up with a revolutionary product Flip Video.  For people like me who do not really have the time to get into the details of video editing, the YouTube generation who want to shoot video and upload it for sharing with the world wide web.  Back then the Flip Video had a few competitors, mostly companies who sell low-cost camcorders like they do - now the high-end manufacturers have taken notice.

Sony is launching this HD camcorder called a Webbie in the Spring of 2009.  It's small.  It saves to a memory stick so it's easy to upload videos.  It shoots HD video.  It has 5x optical zoom and 20x digital - I think this aspect is where small camcorders should improve their products.  More zoom power please!  It can shoot stills as well - yey, great for those self-photos or self-videos for that matter.  The Webbie is probably inspired by the popularity of the Flip Video camcorder (which I still love).  We have to wait until spring to find out if it shoots Sony quality videos as well.

HD Video is going small - HD Video is going to the masses.  The huge professional HD video camcorders that cost around $5000 or so used to be out of reach to amateurs and hobbyists - the Sony Webbie only costs $199.  Is that a deal or what?  So go forth and produce more user-generated content - go into the age of entertainment by the masses...

Thanks for such a great little product, Sony.  Good job on this one!

35 Million E-cards, 7.5 Million Capital

It's one of the best viral marketing tool around.  You receive a hilarious e-card, see a link to send your own e-card and you follow it back to the e-card website.  You send your friends e-cards and they send it to their friends, who sends it to their friends' friends - and so on and so on.

One of the funniest e-cards I've seen over the holiday season was Elf Yourself from jibjab.com - who says 35 million e-cards were sent during the 2008 holidays.  Wow!  Just in case you've never heard of the Elf Yourself e-card.  It puts an uploaded picture of you and your friends onto the body of dancing elves.  The video result is pretty cool - which is probably why they got sent so much!  It certainly had me laughing.

And as their reward the venture capitalists have provided $7.5 million to keep the e-cards flowing.  And that's our good news of the day.  Enjoy your 2009, everyone!

Facebook @ 150 Million Members

Yesterday Facebook hit it's 150 million members mark and almost half of those members use the site everyday - I am one of those members. I find myself drawn to Facebook every time I am online. So what is it that makes this social networking website tick?

• My friends are there - I like seeing how my friends are doing and what they are doing.  I've found a lot of elementary school and highschool friends there.
• You can interact easily - whether it's to comment on something a friend posted or just to send a message to someone - they've made the user interface so friendly I enjoy using it.
• All the updates on one page - their feeds are great, I have to go all over the website to see what's going on it's all in one page.
• Simple and uncluttered design - I don't feel bombarded by ads when I am on Facebook - the design is simple and uncluttered.

I'm sure there are many more reasons why Facebook grows in number of members, gains member loyalty and gets its members to invite their friends in - the list above is my reason for going to Facebook everyday.  What's yours?  Or do you prefer another social networking platform?  What is it and why?

Moving Up: Budgie Love Additions

For my new readers who don't know, I have six pet parakeets or budgies as I prefer to call them. In February they would have been with us for a year. We have them in this medium-sized hand-me-down cage, which they are starting to outgrow. My husband and I have been wanting to buy them a bigger cage, but I looked online and they are so expensive.

One of our friends in Ontario has this huge white cage where he kept 2 lovebirds, 2 budgies and a canary. He kept it in his patio and at first it was well-loved and cared for. Ontario is famous for its share of Santa Ana winds, one night, the wind blew the huge cage over and the lovebirds and canary escaped. Since then the weather has grown cold and nasty and they feared for the birds out in their patio.

When he talked with my husband and learned that we were trying to see if we could get a bigger cage, he offered to give us his cage - if we would adopt his 2 parakeets. We agreed and brought them home last night. The 2 new budgies are in our small cage next to the huge one so that they can get to know our 6 old budgies without getting bullied. Once we see that they are accepted and seemingly used to one another then we will put them with the others.

I took a picture of my six beautiful budgies after I had transferred all their toys to the new cage and they were probably wondering why I was depriving them of their playthings.

The huge white cage more than twice the size of their old home.

My almost ethereal white budgie, Snow, adjusting to their new home.

This is my friendliest one, Fluffly, she tilts her head when you come up to say hi and she usually goes nearest me when I come up to them with my camera.

This is Botchok, she is the sweetest of the bunch - she was the first to let my husband hold her when they needed grooming without trying to peck him.

This is Batty in front and Coolit behind him - they are the wildest of the bunch, up to now Batty does not like being held and Coolit well, she's the queen of the castle since she's bigger than all the others (we think she's an English budgie, bigger than their American cousins).

This is our newly adopted male budgie, we have not named them yet.

This is our newly adopted female budgie - too early to name them I think.

And those are the new additions to our growing family. Hope you enjoy the pictures!