On Slideshare.net

Here are some of the interesting presentations available at slideshare.net:

Social Media

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: networking network)

Social network websites: best practices from leading services

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web2.0 socialplatform)

Improving Interface Design

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: interface design)

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your map. your world.

"Product marketing manager of Google Asia-Pacific Jason Chuck explains to INQUIRER.net production specialist Janie Christine Octia how the Google Map Maker application works. The application is moderated and modified by the users who are allowed to input their local knowledge, data and information of the area, and or establishments. In this video, Chuck also shows how users can operate the application."

According to Google, this "allows you to contribute, share and edit map information for certain regions around the world. Once you understand the basics, you can locate, draw, label, describe and moderate local map features, including:

Borders and regions (states/provinces, districts/administrative regions, cities, neighborhoods, etc.)
Roads
Points of interest

And many more map features like railways, waterways, events and reviews. With Google Map Maker, you can become a citizen cartographer and help improve the quality of maps and local information in your region.

You are invited to map the world with us!"

This will definitely open new opportunities not just for learning new places, but also for entrepreneurs to promote and market better their products and services globally.

It will also be useful for us as we feature experts in different places here in the Philippines. Not just presenting their experiences and insights, but also for us to show where they can be reached.

source: http://www.inquirer.net/, http://www.google.com/mapmaker

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Our Country's S&T Today

In a recent interview by Inquirer.net with our two key personalities in the field of Science and Technology, I found it interesting to note that despite of our country's limitation to become at par with the rest of our neighboring countries, the Department of Science and Technology is still doing its best to produce the experts which our country really need.


As indicated by DOST Sec. Estrella Alabastro, our national government is in need of more support for our various S&T programs to flourish.

On the other hand...


On the state of Physics in the country, just imagine that we only have around 70-80 physicists out of almost 90 million Filipinos right now.

I myself dreamt of being one in my childhood days, but at least, seeing my sister Rubilyn Diane finished her Physics Major with a scholarship provided by the DOST and is now teaching this knowledge in a government secondary school in Quezon City, is already an accomplishment for my family. Also, Michael Andrew, a brother of mine, is presently a DOST scholar taking up his computer engineering at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.

As for its 5B budget...

I've noticed in a TV news that the DOST is in need of roughly 5.4 billion to support and finance its programs. I agree with some of our lawmakers that this is not enough and for me, we can possibly increase their finances through allocation from the E-VAT revenue.

Let's continue to support our DOST and our country's scientists and engineers!


source: www.inquirer.net

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Solar in Nueva Ecija

It was just around 2 weeks ago when I first noticed the solar initiative by the Nueva Ecija Provincial Government. From the poster that I saw, this was made possible by both Gov. Aurelio Umali and his wife, Cong. Cherry Umali.

It's indeed an example of good governance in terms of providing basic services while helping our environment.

This interview was conducted by Inquirer.net multimedia reporter Izah Morales and video was taken by production specialist Edzelle Pena.

Is there any other province in the Philippines who have already made the same initiative?

source: inquirer.net

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Square Watermelon, Anyone?

In a recent blog by Dave Knox, "Lessons of the Square Watermelon", it is quite interesting to learn that sometimes we can still think out-of-the-box to improve on something which we normally considered as normal or something that we take for granted already.

Like in the case of the watermelon which some people in Japan were able to make this into square shape. And that's really great!

I'd also like to share the following which Dave noted in his blog and I quote:

There are a five lessons that you can take away from this story which will help you in all parts of your life. Here are a few of them:

1. Don’t Assume: The major problem was that most people had always seen round watermelons so they automatically assumed that square watermelons were impossible before even thinking about the question. Things that you have been doing a certain way your entire life have taken on the aura of the round watermelon and you likely don’t even take the time to consider if there is another way to do it. Breaking yourself from assuming this way can greatly improve your overall life as you are constantly looking for new and better ways to do things.
2. Question Habits: The best way to tackle these assumptions is to question your habits. If you can make an effort to question the way you do things on a consistent basis, you will find that you can continually improve the way that you live your life. Forming habits when they have been well thought out is usually a positive thing, but most of us have adopted our habits from various people and places without even thinking about them.
3. Be Creative: When faced with a problem, be creative in looking for a solution. This often requires thinking outside the box. Most people who viewed this question likely thought they were being asked how they could genetically alter water melons to grow square which would be a much more difficult process to accomplish. By looking at the question from an alternative perspective, however, the solution was quite simple. Being creative and looking at things in different ways in all portions of your live will help you find solutions to many problems where others can’t see them.
4. Look for a Better Way: The square watermelon question was simply seeking a better and more convenient way to do something. The stores had flagged a problem they were having and asked if a solution was possible. It’s impossible to find a better way if you are never asking the question in the first place. Always ask if there is a better way of doing the things that you do and constantly write down the things you wish you could do (but currently can’t) since these are usually hints about steps you need to change. Get into the habit of asking yourself, “Is there a better way I could be doing this?” and you will find there often is.
5. Impossibilities Often Aren’t: If you begin with the notion that something is impossible, then it obviously will be for you. If, on the other hand, you decide to see if something is possible or not, you will find out through trial and error.

I hope this will inspire all of us!

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SocNets 2 B Connected!

The last few days generated more excitement for the social networking world. MySpace and Facebook recently announced their respective tools to become more open and connected to other social networking sites. Others such as Friendster, Orkut and Bebo are expected to follow this development.

And now comes Google Friend Connect - a service that helps website owners grow traffic by enabling any site on the web to easily provide social features for its visitors.

In their preview release this May 12, "Google Friend Connect has been developed to lower two barriers to the spread of social features across the web. First, many website owners want to add features that enable their visitors to do things with their friends, but the technology and resource hurdles have been too high. Second, people are tiring of needing to create new logins and profiles and recreate their friends lists wherever they go on the web. Google Friend Connect offers a solution to both these issues."

Here's a diagram of what Friend Connect wants to achieve:

So instead of doing so much legwork from the many available sites, this will greatly benefit the millions of social users and also those developers and companies doing business in this space. This will also lessen the need to re-create your profiles should you become interested in other social networking sites.

More on this in the coming posts...

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Doing More Online

With so many productivity tools now available online such as email, it is worth your while if you will have your PC-based documents become online too.

Not just long ago, the Big G launched its own online productivity tools - the Google Docs. It has wordprocessing and spreadsheet, somewhat similar to MS Office and OpenOffice.

And just this May 6, there's a new kid on the block which can help one doing more online these days.

The Google Docs Presentation

Aside from preparing presentations similar to having it on a computer, this is somewhat unique because this can be embedded in a blog or in a website.

Here's a snapshot of how to include your presentation using this tool:

Another interesting feature which you may consider is that "Google Docs enables multiple users in different locations to collaborate simultaneously on the same project."

I guess is that anytime soon, the Big G will also launch industry-specific online tools such as accounting, human-resource, manufacturing, etc.

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Philippines' Top Websites

As part of our compilation of ranking (based on Alexa.com) the most popular destinations on the Net, here are the top 25 Filipino websites well-known in the technology, academe, media and government sectors (list is by ranking, domain, Alexa.com rank, location):

1. levelupgames.ph - 1,806. Makati City
2. e-games.com.ph - 2,613. Makati City
3. inquirer.net - 2,619. Makati City
4. tipidpc.com - 2,701. Pasig City
5. sulit.com.ph - 3,203.
6. gmanews.tv - 4,432. Quezon City
7. philstar.com - 5,335. Mandaluyong City
8. yehey.com - 6,688. Pasig City
9. pinoypsp.com - 8,210.
10. abs-cbn.com - 8,416. Quezon City
11. mb.com.ph - 16,419. Manila
12. dlsu.edu.ph - 16,457. Manila
13. sunstar.com.ph - 16,585. Cebu City
14. chikka.com - 17,326. Pasig City
15. smart.com.ph - 22,333. Makati City
16. philmusic.com - 26,769. Pasig City
17. up.edu.ph - 27,294. Quezon City
18. dost.gov.ph - 44,955. Taguig City
19. globe.com.ph - 48,092. Mandaluyong City
20. mapua.edu.ph - 56,632. Manila
21. admu.edu.ph - 76,645. Quezon City
22. villman.com - 80,048. Quezon City
23. pldt.com.ph - 112,974. Makati City
24. tesda.gov.ph - 137,971. Taguig City
25. amaes.edu.ph - 140,901. Quezon City

Out of the 25 websites, schools are 5 or 20%, online sites are 8 or 32%, news/media sites - 6 or 24%, ICT and ITES - 4 or 16%, and government sites are 2 or 8%.

In terms of location, Makati City has 5 or 20%, Quezon City has 6 or 24%, Pasig City has 4 or 16%, Manila has 3 or 12%, Cebu City has 1 or 4%, Taguig City has 2 or 8%, Mandaluyong City has 2 or 8% and the undetermined location has 2 or 8%.

In terms of popularity:

• 10 sites made it at the Global Top 10,000
• 12 sites made it from 10,001 to 99,000 rank
• 3 sites made it from 100,000 to 150,000 rank

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Goog + Virg = Mars

In 2004, Pres. Bush announced that man will go back to the moon and beyond in the coming decades. Within that year, NASA was successful in landing robots in Mars.

As I can recall, it was also in that year when SpaceShipOne was able to travel in space and won in a competition. For its breakthrough, I later learned that Virgin Group had invested in it and had that ambitious plan of creating space tourism in the near future.

And now, Sir Richard Branson (of Virgin Group), Larry Page and Sergey Brin (of Google) had joined together in a joint-venture, with a mission: "the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars".

The newly launched Virgle Inc. believes that...

"contemporary technology is sufficiently advanced to make such an effort both successful and economical, and that it's high time that humanity moved beyond Earth and began our great, long journey to explore the stars and establish our first lasting foothold on another world."

Timeline

2010. The Virgle team will plan to use the Lunae planum area of the north side of Kasei Valles as the Plymouth Rock of the new New World.

2014. The 550-million-mile journey to Mars will begin with 550,000 1/500th-of-a-mile steps, as the LSE3, a multi-stage heavy lifter now under construction using the World War II-era Liberty Ship philosophy and launches the staging components into low earth orbit.

2015. When the Virgle 1 lands, teams of autonomous rovers and assembly platforms will leap into action, building the facilities such as nuclear reactors, Martian Positioning System, Earth return vehicles, Hab modules, production plants, assembly platforms, robotic vehicles, and greenhouses.

2016. The program will begin a synchronized semiannual schedule with human crews. In the five-month voyage to Mars, Virgle Pioneers will experience the same way they enjoy on Earth.

2108. Building the Virgle City.

"We feel that ensuring the survival of the human race by helping it colonize a new planet is both a moral good in and of itself and also the most likely method of ensuring the survival of our best... So, you know, it's, like, win-win." says Google co-founder Larry Page.

This is indeed an exciting milestone in our lifetime. Investments will really be huge, but of course, the founders have already considered the risks involved in this project.

And if one will consider the potential benefits, I don't see any limitations for this project not to push through.

reference: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/announcing-project-virgle.html

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