Davao City will be a WiFi free zone

Good news fellow Davaoenoes - local businesses in Davao City are mulling a plan to make the city a free wireless internet access zone. You heard it right, Davao City will soon be a premier information and communication center much like Singapore. The said project will be the main agenda on the upcoming 6th Mindanao Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Congress on October 23-24.

When I was in Davao last August, I was amazed to find out that most coffee shops within the metro offered free wifi access. This is a great boon considering that wireless internet access nowadays is rampant and offers added bonus to a local business.

If the project will indeed push through, it will be disruptive that telecommunications company might try hard to put the program in the back-burner, just imagine what will happen if VOIP suddenly becomes available for free and widespread.

And if indeed this will push through, Davao City will once again rise to the top. As of now, Davao City has the most comprehensive traffic management system of any city in the Philippines as well as having our own 911 help line, the first outside US and Canada. And with this project, Davao will be put in the ICT map and lucrative businesses will (hopefully) flow in.

10 Years of Thinking Different

This is the full text of the "Think Different" Apple campaign launched last 1997. The video of which always send shiver down my spine. As a history lover, it is always good to note the big figures being shown in that Apple commercial. Although I don't own a Mac, just an iPod, I wish Apple will once again starts to Think Different and cater back to their customer.

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do

The IT Solution

Old but still a good way to understand IT solution. Click on the picture to have a bigger view of it.

Do we need a National Broadband?

I don't have a TV. I admit I am poor. I get all my local news from Inquirer.net, GMANews.tv, and SunStar.com.ph. So recently I have been baffled by this current news in our country that talks about the NBN-ZTE Deal. For the uneducated (like me) NBN stands for National Broadband Network and it is a project by the Philippine government to create a private? network among all its government offices throughout the country (correct me if I'm wrong). And the beneficiary of such deal is ZTE Corporation of China. With a staggering budget of more than $300 million, this is the most talked about issue nowadays in Philippine tv airwaves. It even has its own Senate hearing.

As for me, I don't believe in this whole NBN thing. I prefer the private sector fund this kind of project. They have the money, they already have the expertise, and they can monetize this kind of undertaking. What benefit is it for the Philippine government to undertake this one? Just let us take a look at the US, the ones funding citywide "wification" are the private firms such as Google. And why do we need a private network? Is the internet not enough? If the problem is geophysical can't we ask the local telecommunications firms to serve that area? Or do we still have zero signal areas in our country? Anyway this is an interesting issue that will get interesting in the upcoming days. I will be reading more articles regarding this tv drama and giving some of my unimportant inputs.

Happy Programmer's Day

Technically it was yesterday, 09/13/2007. So anyway Happy Programmer's Day to all coders all over the world!

Programmer's day is celebrated every 256th day of the year. In programmer's lingua franca that's 2 to the 8th power. Why that calculation? I don't know.

So to everyone out there give some love to your favorite computer scientist. And to the computer programmer's out there, celebrate by fixing those damn bugs.

Seven Wonders of the IT World

CIO.com has compiled a rather interesting list of the Seven Wonders of the IT World. Some are very interesting while others are not.

The first one is the computer closest to the North Pole, and that title belongs to Webcam #1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory takes care of this floating eye at the top of the world.



The second one is the computer farthest from Earth, and that title belongs to NASA's voyager satellite. It is three times farther away from Pluto.




The third one is the world's most intriguing data center, and that title belongs to Googles' The Dalles, Oregon data center. It has a hydroelectric dam for power, two four-story cooling towers.






The fourth one is the world's largest scientific grid computing project, and that title goes to the E-sciencE II (EGEE-II) project. It is a large-scale scientific research projects in fields from geology to chemistry.




The fifth one is the world's fastest supercomputer, the IBM BlueGene/L (BGL). It helps researchers answer physics questions about stockpiled nuclear weapons and materials like Plutonium.




The sixth one is the world's smallest PC to run Windows Vista, the QOQ Model 2. Such a small and stylish device that runs the latest OS from Microsoft.




And lastly, the seventh one is the biggest paradigm change in enterprise software, that title belongs to the Linux kernel. One of the biggest name in free and open source software revolution.





Disclaimer: All images from CIO.com. Please click here to view the entire article.

OS Summit Asia 2007

A friend told me about an open source summit to be organized in Hong Kong this November 26-30, 2007. According to their website the summit is about "Combining the talents of the Eclipse Foundation and the Apache Software Foundation to create the first open source community summit in Hong Kong."

If you are an open source enthusiasts or a software developer that utilizes either Eclipse or any tools by Apache and have money, lots of money to spare then don't hesitate to give them a call or an email. Please click here to view their website.

Software Freedom Day 2007

I got this from the local Linux user group in Davao. To all tech enthusiasts who share a passion with free and open source software, it's this time of the year to congregate.

Please say hello to Software Freedom Day 2007! Share the banner to inform other people.

Bill Gates Open Letter to Hobbyists

Even way back then, Bill Gates was a strong believer in software as a business economy.

Read and enjoy.

--------------

An Open Letter to Hobbyists

by William Henry Gates III

February 3, 1976

To me, the most critical thing in the hobby market right now is the lack of good software courses, books and software itself. Without good software and an owner who understands programming, a hobby computer is wasted. Will quality software be written for the hobby market?

Almost a year ago, Paul Allen and myself, expecting the hobby market to expand, hired Monte Davidoff and developed Altair BASIC. Though the initial work took only two months, the three of us have spent most of the last year documenting, improving and adding features to BASIC. Now we have 4K, 8K, EXTENDED, ROM and DISK BASIC. The value of the computer time we have used exceeds $40,000.

The feedback we have gotten from the hundreds of people who say they are using BASIC has all been positive. Two surprising things are apparent, however, 1) Most of these "users" never bought BASIC (less than 10% of all Altair owners have bought BASIC), and 2) The amount of royalties we have received from sales to hobbyists makes the time spent on Altair BASIC worth less than $2 an hour.

Why is this? As the majority of hobbyists must be aware, most of you steal your software. Hardware must be paid for, but software is something to share. Who cares if the people who worked on it get paid?

Is this fair? One thing you don't do by stealing software is get back at MITS for some problem you may have had. MITS doesn't make money selling software. The royalty paid to us, the manual, the tape and the overhead make it a break-even operation. One thing you do do is prevent good software from being written. Who can afford to do professional work for nothing? What hobbyist can put 3-man years into programming, finding all bugs, documenting his product and distribute for free? The fact is, no one besides us has invested a lot of money in hobby software. We have written 6800 BASIC, and are writing 8080 APL and 6800 APL, but there is very little incentive to make this software available to hobbyists. Most directly, the thing you do is theft.

What about the guys who re-sell Altair BASIC, aren't they making money on hobby software? Yes, but those who have been reported to us may lose in the end. They are the ones who give hobbyists a bad name, and should be kicked out of any club meeting they show up at.

I would appreciate letters from any one who wants to pay up, or has a suggestion or comment. Just write to me at 1180 Alvarado SE, #114, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87108. Nothing would please me more than being able to hire ten programmers and deluge the hobby market with good software.

Bill Gates

General Partner, Micro-Soft

Which Transformer are you?

I AM 67% MEGATRON

Take the Transformers Quiz

Megatron

Megatron is the leader of the Decepticons. He will stop at nothing to establish his empire and destroy the Autobots, starting with Optimus Prime.

Like Megatron, you are not compassionate and harbor evil thoughts. You are inspiring, confident, and a natural leader. The Decepticons have chosen well. In addition, you enjoy being one step ahead of your friends as far as trends and technology.

----
Well, well, well. It seems that I am evil in nature. Next stop create 'sharks with friggin' lasers' and rule this world. Click here to test yourself.

What is FTW?

FTW is an Internet slang that stands for "For The Win".

It is usually added at the end of a message or a post to show enthusiasm on the subject.

USAGE

Guy1: Have you seen the new iMac?
Guy2: new iMac FTW!

Guy1 asked if anyone has seen the new iMac, Guy2 reaffirmed this. Whether or not the response of Guy2 was genuine or sarcastic depends on how we interpet it.

On the other hand, FTL - which is the exact opposite of FTW - stands for "For the Lose".

Pitfall of having a single point-person

It was this time of week that Z would normally hibernate. But fate would have its reason and he was denied of that precious luxury time.

There has been a major issue regarding the supposedly release of their software. His boss and other teammates have constantly been absent for the past few days. With the deadline looming over, it only means one thing, major overtime for him.

Why would these people be gone in the time like this, he winced. Don't they have any sense of urgency?

And so he spent sleepless nights and weekends trying to finish his module. With his boss nowhere in sight, Z at first seems helpless and then hopelessness sinks in. If we cannot deliver this project on time then that's it.

I don't want to be fired, he said defensively. This is one of those cases where this is out of my hand.

From the very start there was an anomaly regarding job designation in Z's company. One person, one project, one teamlead was the common mantra. Initially, it was a good plan as it would save scarce resources and manpower. But little did they know that this would be its pitfall.

So, if we do the math, it would be that three projects equals to three point persons. These three heads are the only ones who know the intricacies of their respective system. Its in and out. The lifeblood of the company depends on them and no person outside would generally understand the entirety of the project.

After that whole fiasco, the management decided that the best course of action to take was to assign multiple point persons to new projects. In that way, projects will not be stalled if at one point a teamlead will be run over by a bus tomorrow.

As for Z, he still has his job. Good thing for him the management realized its mistakes and did not point the finger at him.

A Funny Parody Letter from Bill Gates

I got this one from Slashdot. This is very funny. This is a parody on Linus Torvalds' (creator of Linux OS) famous declaration of the birth of Linux.


From: William Gates [email blocked]
Subject: Costly kernel for IBM PC
Newsgroups: comp.os.cpm
Date: 5 Oct 81 05:41:06 GMT

William Henry Gates III

Do you pine for the nice days of CP/M-1.1, when men were men and wrote
their own device drivers? Do you have too much money in your pocket? Are
you much too free to do what you want with your computer? Are you
finding it frustrating when everything works on CP/M? No more rebooting your
computer every 10 minutes? Then this post might be just
for you

:-)

As I mentioned a month(?) ago, I've purchased a version of QDOS for a song
and I'm busy cocking it up and I'm going to sell it to IBM (suckers) for their
new PC. It has finally reached the stage where it's completely unstable and
most of the cooler things in CP/M have been removed.
I am willing to put out the binaries, for a price, for wider distribution. It is
just version 0.02 (+1 (very small) patch already), but I've successfully
run BASIC/lunar-lander/COMMAND.COM etc under it (oh boy!).

Sources for this pet project of mine are all mine mine mine! Unless you talk
to Tim Paterson from SCP. Full kernel source is most definitely not provided, as
I have swiped a lot of code from CP/M and QDOS, and anywhere else I could find it.
The system is able to compile "as-is" on alternating Tuesdays and when the moon is
full or on a spring tide, and has been known to work. At least once. Heh.
Sources are locked away in my underground lair, I mean a shack I just bought in a
small town in Washington called Redmond.

I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?". The Amiga will be
out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows), and I've already got
CP/M and the Apple ][. Well, this is a program for business people by a businessman.
It's been real work and I expect to get paid for it!
Plus hackers and students can't really create anything worthwhile.
I'm going to hire really smart kids who don't know jack about computers
and give them a lot of stock options. It won't matter if they create shit.
We'll market the crap out of this thing! Once I get the hardware vendors to bundle it,
we're golden! It is the beginning of my plan to dominate the world!
Muwhahahaha! If you have any comments, please direct them to the guy
over there holding the chair in a threatening manner.

I'm also interested in hearing from anybody who has written any of the
utilities/library functions for CP/M. I'd like to steal them, I mean embrace/extend/extinguish,
I mean purchase them for a song, so I can add them to the system. If you
send it me, it becomes mine! And I'll patent it! Drop me
a line if you are willing to let me use your code.

Bill

PS. to STEVE BALLMER! I'm unable to get through to you, and keep getting
"forward error - hermanmiller unknown domain" or something. I think I've got
a job for you.

PPS. to the Homebrew Computer Club in Palo Alto -- I'm going to bury you guys!

Being a thesis-for-hire person

Patrick was out of luck. He badly needed some money for the reason he himself only knew. So there he was, in front of the PC chatting hoping to find some idea online. And then it struck him, why not become a thesis-for-hire person, he was excited about the thought, I will earn extra money at the same time I can gain additional programming experience. Having that idea, he quickly chatted dozens of people around the IRC channels, hoping to sell his "product". And luckily, a girl from one of the new schools in the city inquired about it.

With a potential customer at hand, he quickly bargained about the price. He asked the girl what she wanted for a thesis. The girl said I want an online registration form written in classic ASP. Patrick smiled - I know ASP, this is going to be a walk in park. Patrick asked for PHP 3,000 for the application to be finished in a month. The girl was satisfied, it fitted her meager budget.

A week gone by and still Patrick has not started the thesis project. He didn't predict that this will affect his studies. But he amassed enough will (money plays an important role here) to create the program during weekends. Three weeks have gone and Patrick finally finished it. He presented it to the girl and lectured her about the code and how to defend it. He even gave the ASP book for the girl to read. It was all spoon fed and the girl can graduate easily. Patrick received the money and he was delighted at the same time stressed out. This is the last thesis I will create for someone, the money isn't worth the hassle. But alas, as fate would have it, after a week the girl went back to Patrick's house and asked him one more time to explain the flow of the program. And with a clinched fist, Patrick obliged, I hate this.

Starcraft Jargons

These are Starcraft jargons that originated from (where else) South Korea, also known as Starcraft country. So memorize these jargons just in time for Starcraft II.

kekeke = laugh
babo = stupid
^^ = :)

Gosu = master
Hasu = average
Chobo = noob
HUK = OMG

HUK U BABO CHOBO KEKEKEKE ^^

*courtesy of Slashdot.

What is IANAL?

You have probably seen this acronym across technology-related websites or blogs, and turned-off by it. Who wouldn't? It denotes a bad meaning. But don't worry, pinoytechie is here to explain the real meaning of IANAL.

IANAL is an acronym which stands for "I Am Not A Lawyer". The use of this abbreviation serves as a warning for the reader not to take the opinion as professional legal advice. [wikipedia] The expression became more and more common on online web forums starting from the year 2000, when debate about file sharing and peer-to-peer applications started to focus on copyright, privacy, and fair use issues. [wikipedia]

USAGE

An example commentary on peer-to-peer applications.

Reader1: If ever I will upload a file on rapidshare.com, will I get sued?
Reader2: IANAL, but if the file is a copyrighted one, I think you will get sued.

Reader1 should not take seriously the words coming from Reader2, because as Reader2 clarified, he is in no position to say legal things rather he is just stating his own personal opinion.

Powertripper

John, just like any other newly grads, wanted to look for a descent job. He trimmed down his choices to two. One would be a call center agent, the other would be a faculty member. He decided to try his luck on teaching, thus he created his first ever resume and applied for the job. The school he was trying to apply at was one of the most recognizable IT schools in the country and being a product of a prestigious school he was confident that he can land the job.

Days gone by and still no call from the school. One afternoon, an HR person called and informed John to prepare for an interview at the same time for the teaching demo. He asked what topic would that be, the other person on the line just said that he can choose any topic he wants as long as he is confident about it. John knew by heart Visual Basic 6, he even knew how to code it with his hands tied-up and blindfolded. And so he prepared his visual aids and practiced for hours his prepared speeches.

The day came for the teaching demo, the attendants were the Dean for the computer science department of that school as well as the top administrator. John finished off his teaching demo with a breeze, no questions whatsoever from the audience. Then the powertripping came. First, the dean told him it says here in your resume that you are good in assembly language. John said, i am knowledgeable in that field sir, so yes i have confidence i know how to write one. The dean asked then to show him a basic assembly program, John obliged but in the middle of it all the dean wasn't so sure of himself if he understands assembly or not. Then again he quickly asked another question, your thesis centered around networking, tell me what is the difference between wan and lan, to which John answered, it differs in their geographical location sir. The dean was infuriated! I studied Cisco he said. That is one of the most idiotic teachings in computer science he added, now standing up. He took the chalk and began writing on the blackboard. LAN is when this ATM machine is not connected to the internet, if it does it is now WAN.

WOW. John said. That was the most superb answer he has ever heard.

Why IT (sometimes) sucks in an IT firm

I had a discussion with a friend - he currently works in a software firm - two nights ago about his current dilemma with their IT team. By the way, let's call my friend "anonymous".

Anonymous: I hate our IT.

Jan2x: Why?

Anonymous: He keeps on blocking every damn website.

Jan2x: Like what?

Anonymous: For example blogspot! My God! I asked him, what's wrong with blogspot? Does it harm our computers? And he just told me that it is management's directive.

Jan2x: Well man, it really sucks to be on a software firm with IT team like that.

Anonymous: That is not only the problem. One time, we had a manager that visited our office and his laptop has yet to be approved before our IT team can give him any access to the internet. All those papers for approval and he needs to check his email NOW.

Jan2x: That is the pitfall, I think, of that idea. Sooner or later you will be behind the technology. For example what if tomorrow Microsoft decides to release a new product for the internet? Then your programmers will greatly suffer cause in the long run they will have no idea of knowing what are these new technologies!

Silence.....

Jan2x: Well it's hard to be treated as government employees. *laughter*

That is one of the reasons IT (sometimes) sucks. It is good to be paranoid and secure but at what price?

Video of the Week: Thriller!!!!!

Wtf! Will I be ashamed that the whole inmates in our country's prison are dancing to the tune of Thriller? or will I be proud that we are the best dancers in the world?

I wonder how did the discussion started....

Inmate1: Guys we need to have a dance number....
Inmate2: WTF? at least not "hit me baby one more time"
Inmate1: ok, it would be Thriller, we all love jacko the wacko!

On the sidenote, why not Smooth Criminal?

Simpsonized Yourself!

With Simpson's the Movie just around the corner, Burger King launches a new viral marketing ad that will transform your picture into one of the Simpson's character. Here is my photo before and after being simpsonized.

before

after

Jan2x Simpson in the famous Kwik-e-Mart

Please take note of all the instructions in the site. No black and white photography, well I posted my non-edited photo. Click here to be simpsonized!

* updated, sorry the proper link is www.simpsonizeme.com