PR: Globe is best in broadband.

Globe Telecom was awarded as the country’s Broadband Service Provider of the Year by global research firm Frost & Sullivan for the outstanding performance and exemplary growth of its broadband business in 2010.

Globe has been bullish with its broadband segment, offering customers with innovative, relevant, and affordable services under its Tattoo product lines, Tattoo Nomadic and Tattoo@Home. The award was based on the recipient’s revenue growth, category market share and growth in market share, leadership in product innovation, breadth of products and services, major customer acquisitions, and subscriber base and growth. Receiving the award is Nikko Acosta, Head for Broadband Business of Globe.

giving justice to great movies

Jennie and I have a huge (800 GB) collection of movies and videos. This ranges from Hollywood to Asian to indie to music videos to random clips which we have edited during college.

Of all of these movies and videos, Jennie was able to watch 80%. My friend, ladies and gentleman, is… still normal.

Being the lame one, I was only able to watch about 55% percent. And the hard drive belongs to me.

Two days ago, we decided to watch a movie before work (we woke up at 6AM and we still had two hours to kill). Since she was comfortably tucked on the upper bunk of the DB bed, she told me to go ahead and pick a movie. (Now Jennie has this habit of re-viewing her favorite movies. Example? Easy A. I love you Jen, but I would lost my appetite to watch that movie again someday if we are going to see it again today. )


Jack Black’s acting is effortlessly impressive.

After minutes of scrolling up and down and clicking on folders, Gulliver’s Travels caught my eye. I wasn’t able to watch this movie before (unlike Jen). Besides, I like Jack Black. So when I asked Jen if we could watch this one, she agreed. But not before commenting that maybe the copy is of low quality.

This is something which turns me off when it comes to movies. No matter how great they are if my copy is not the HD version, I wouldn’t watch it. I’d rather wait for the HD version than not appreciate a work of art of the people behind it.

Going back, the movie quality of Gulliver’s Travel was great. We had fun–which lasted through the entire day. And it made me like Jack Black even more! :)

Globe proposes 3-year plan to reduce interconnection rates

In support of the National Telecommunications Commission’s (NTC) request for telecommunication companies to lower interconnection charges, Globe Telecom submitted a position paper detailing its proposal on reducing fees for subscribers calling and sending texts outside their respective networks.

In the position paper, Globe proposed a 3-year “glide path” implementation method beginning January 31, 2012 to allow mobile operators more time to restructure business plans and models given changes in pricing schemes, as well as to help cushion possible losses in revenues.

The NTC pushes interconnection charges for voice calls be lowered to P1 per minute from P4 within the next three years. For text messages, NTC requests charges be reduced to P0.15 from the current P0.35 per text. According to studies, the Philippines has one of the highest voice termination rates in the Asia Pacific region, averaging at $0.10, with most countries only in the $0.03-0.05 range.

Under the proposal submitted by Globe, charging for interconnection charges for voice calls is at P2.50 on the first year, P2.00 on the second year, and P1.50 on the third year. For SMS, charging is P0.25 on the first year, P0.20 on the second year and P0.15 on the third year, which is congruent with the NTC’s proposal. For landline, charging is P2.00 on the first year, P1.50 on the second year and P1.00 on the third year.

“Globe is in full support of NTC’s call to lower domestic interconnect rates among telcos. In fact, Globe also supports mobile to landline interconnection and vice versa, where interconnection fees should also be reduced. This way, subscribers will experience lower service charges,” said Atty. Froilan Castelo, Head for Corporate and Legal Services Group of Globe. “So as to give ample time for Globe to adjust its tariffs and billing system, Globe requests the NTC to implement these new charges by January 2012.”

To date, Globe is the only mobile operator that has submitted a proposal to show cooperation to the NTC. Last April, Globe completed full interconnection with Bayan Telecommunications (BayanTel) and Digitel Telecommunications Philippines (Digitel) in all areas of common presence and operations nationwide, benefitting subscribers who need not pay long distance rates to call another subscriber from a different network.

# # #

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Yoly Crisanto
Head, Corporate Communications
Globe Telecom
Tel. No. 730 2627
Fax no. 739 3075
E-mail: globe.corpcomm@gmail.com

Nokia launches two new phones: C2-00 and X1-01

Last June 14 and 15, I was privileged to be a part of a new innovation in one of the, if not the, biggest mobile giant in the country, Nokia.

It launched two new phones, the Nokia C2-00 and the Nokia X1-01. Each with a lot of new features, Nokia Philippines assures its market that they are not far behind the other companies which have launch similar dual SIM phones. For one, the new Nokia phones can remember the settings of up to 5 SIMs. One need not turn their phones off and switch SIMs. Just slide open, retrieve the SIM you want changed, and put in the new one. Easy and breezy. The phones speak convenience, cost savings, simplicity and style.

Nokia X1-01

Nokia C2-00

For more information about these phones, visit Nokia’s website, www.nokia.com

Fun Teaching Session with Tatay Mark

Yesterday saw the CAS Week Celebration, an event meant mostly to help the freshmen (for obvious reasons) and the seniors (because it’s their last year in the university). Although I wasn’t able to be there for the program, we went anyway because we thought we had classes.

Yeah, you can call us langka because we came anyway even if we knew that the CAS Week usually means abstinence from classes (but some teachers do not always follow this unwritten rule). But we decided to give our teacher the benefit of the doubt (and give ourselves the favor of not garnering more absences) and trudged to the CAS building.

Unfortunately for us and for our 6 pesos fares, classes were suspended that morning. Most probably, the teachers did not tell us about it because they all want us to be there. That was smart, heehee. :D

Instead, our teacher asked us to attend a Fun Teaching Session. These were informal “classes” on mostly GE courses. She told us that we could attend any FTS of our choice, but since we were late, we had no choice but to attend the remaining one wherein Tatay Mark is the “instructor”-much to our surprise.

Tatay Mark is more than smart. He is intelligent and is full of ideas you never thought you would hear if you have the habit of jumping into advance thoughts like me. Hehehe! We always see him as the scholarly one, one who is not physically healthy but emotionally and spiritually rich. He looked every inch the instructor that day. We (well, at least the five of us) all kept exchanging glances which says “Angayan gid siya mangin teacher”.

We were in awe of him, his knowledge about things and his command of the language. I am not sure if this FTS had been here before. I am not the attendee of these events except when I was a starry-eyed freshman. But I realized what I had missed. It was fun listening to your fellow student teach. Especially one as great as Tatay Mark.

We went home still thinking about the session (at least this was what I saw in my friends’ faces). When our Mommy Tin arrived, we told her about the session with Tatay Mark and she looked very disappointed that she was not there. We were all smiling as she lamented over the idea that she chose to attend the other FTS session instead of Tatay Mark’s. Better luck next time, Mommy!

P.S. We call Tatay Mark as such because we are a “family”. He, Mommy Tin, Wila, Bemjo, Jimma, Jennie and I. :))

[A thought came to mind while I was there listening to Tatay Mark's lecture. I would want to see myself in front of a group of students one day, speaking to them and listening to their views about things. Hmmm...]

Going Undercover: A lecture-forum on Quality Journalism

(This was one of the articles which my laziness forbade me to posts. XD)

Just hours ago, I and my classmates attended a lecture-forum entitled “Going Undercover: Making a Commitment to Quality Journalism”. The speaker was Dr. Gary Swanson, a multi-awarded and distinguished journalist from the University of Northwestern Colorado.

He was a great speaker: full of great insights, great experiences and of great ideas. He enlightened us about good and bad journalism, journalistic responsibility, electronic journalism and the importance of citing sources. He also touched on digital enhancement and photo manipulation, making some of us a bit uneasy—needless to say guilty (but we don’t publish ours, just for the sake of private humor, hehehe).

Funny because I am not a frequent visitor of YouTube, but when I close my eyes while the forum is progressing, it’s like listening to a YouTube video, only the speaker is closer and much more..alive.

He inspired us, not only because our field (Communication and Media Studies) is one which is directly affected by his lecture, but also because he is right. “One of the best things about being alive is watching the world change”. And we, as future media practitioners, are the ones most privilege to see and/or make that change.

He lamented about how the great information overflow is challenging the thinking capabilities of humans. “In a world where information is available, how can we even think?” Indeed, he is true. Instead of our brains, our fingers have done the thinking job for us.

I, however, disagree with his ethnocentric self. He told us a story about how his Chinese wife fancied a squirrel because it was her first time seeing one when she migrated with him to the United States. Then, for rapport, he asked us: Do you know what a squirrel is? Do you know how it looks like?
DUH. (No need to elaborate here, I think.)

This was after he told us that “The people in the United States know very little, or nothing at all, about the Philippines”. We understand this bit. We are not a country which is known for being an economic entity or for nuclear weapons. But to ask us a question so contradictory of his earlier statement about information overflow is simply dumb. “How can he even think?” Nah, just kidding. But seriously, I could have stuffed the squirrel up to his ***. We have Internet and schools here, hello? One of them is shading your Caucasian head now while you lecture.

But except for that part, I guess its safe to say that we have learned a lot from him. That’s what’s more important anyway. “If you can walk away from here with just one thought, then I’ve done my job”.
Ethnocentricity aside, thanks a lot still, Dr. Swanson!

breaking news…and families

8: 44PM. I was going to reserve this night to start on my recent find: John Knowles’ A Separate Peace. (I had treasure-hunted for it for some time now. When I finally saw it at Booksale for P83, I knew I had to buy it—even if it meant “loadless” days for my phone. Heehee.)

We had just finished our dinner when my mother received a text message from our neighbour. Toto—a wayward neighbour—was shot and died on the spot. The case: adultery. The killer: his wife’s kerido. The news shocked us, but for some reasons, we were kind of expecting it, Toto being involved in a feud, that is.

Our neighbours informed us that the incident is being aired through Bombo Radyo. My mother—whose twin was the Walkman and its speakers—immediately turned it on and tuned in to Bombo. There, in a commentary, Bombo Henry Lumawag discussed the incident and gave his viewpoints. It was then that I realized that it is indeed different (and weird) to be acquainted to the person/s involved in the news.

I felt pity for Toto’s kids the most. At 25, he was already married to Ate Rifanny, 23. They have two kids; the oldest is barely 3. It would be an entirely different world living without a father. The most painful part there is when the child begins asking where his father is. At 3-5 he will be contented with the “Sa heaven, upod ni Lord”. Give it a year more and he will wonder how and why.

By tomorrow, this news will have already reached all four corners of our barangay. It seemed that there will be another house which will stay lit until the wee hours of the morning. The longest night belongs to the bereaved.

RIP, Toto.

an eye opener

I think I might have found myself a new person to look up to: Carlos Celdran.

For the benefit of the doubt, Carlos Celdran, one of Manila’s tour guides, was arrested last night (?!) for committing a crime I never knew existed: offending religious feelings. The man donned a Rizal-inspired outfit and went in front of the mass holding up a placard with the word “Damaso”. Catholic groups. Bishops. Eucharistic Celebration. Surely, it attracted national attention.

If he did the act a month ago, many people would not have minded him. After all, it was only a few weeks back when the Reproductive Health Bill issue subsided once more. But what he did was as singularly and nationally spectacular as Venus Raj winning 4th place, Rolando Mendoza “hostaging” tourists and President Aquino allegedly eating New Yorker hotdogs.

Coincidentally, this event is significant for me and all others who are taking up PI 100: The Life and Works of Rizal. For our final exam, we were tasked to create a 15-minuter film depicting Rizal’s ideals. What we had in mind was a modern-day person who, more or less, lived the late National Hero’s life. Hell, if Carlos Celdran was only a few yards away from school, we could have had him as lead character.

For me, what he did was really courageous. I would even think that it was a spur-of-the-moment decision—a response to the Church’s meddling with politics. It was a bit disrespectful, but it was an eye-opener. In Peyups term, “asteeg”.

Nowadays, conventional ways do not attract attention anymore. People are forced to think of new ways to call for action. Why do you think PETA hired actors and actresses to do nudes while doing their advocacy? Why do you think Rolando Mendoza chose to hostage tourists? If you want to be heard, you must either raise your hand higher than anyone else or stand up and answer without waiting for the teacher to call your name. That is the problem with everything being politicized—it makes everything else rotten to the core.

Sadly though, it seemed that CC’s act just froze the comet that is about to strike Earth. It was courageous, yet temporary. However, it is not entirely useless. It was an eye-opener. Would you have done the same if you were he?

to call or not to call

“Call me, beep me, if you wanna reach me…”- Kim Possible opening theme song

For three days now, I have received calls from my boy friends in high school. My family obviously thought this was something peculiar because they kept on teasing me about it.

I don’t know if it has something to do with being a girl, but I usually prefer texting than calling, so much so that I would instinctively jump if I hear the familiar song, “Chu” by f(x) which has been my ringtone for almost 6 months now.

My friend has an even worse case. Not only she would jump if her phone vibrates, she would absent-mindedly stare at the phone for a few seconds before answering the call (or not if she presses the “End Call” button first).

Texting is cheaper, more convenient and cost-efficient. But of course, during emergency purposes, calling can yield better and faster results. AND, calling delivers the exact emotion you want the text message to carry, which is probably the reason people misunderstand each others’ written messages. But still, I prefer texting. You can choose to pay attention to a text message five minutes or five hours later and they do not actually make a person jump in surprise.

When a friend and I were texting, I wondered why his replies were slow and short. I had to ask him one time if he received my reply because if he were an average Filipino texter, five minutes would already be the maximum time for waiting for a reply—in my opinion. He replied to tell me that he would call me.

Thank God for mindful people.


Maybe boys are too lazy to press buttons. Or maybe they just want it over and done with. But for me, I think I’d rather send text messages still. I’m a very detailed person (who types in full sentences with the proper spelling and punctuation marks if I am not in a hurry) with a poor sense of hearing. And perhaps, I will still send text messages until I am a poor, old sucker.

numbers come and go

I am a Communication and Media Studies student and our curriculum does not actually require us to take Math subjects. When i usually hear figures, i would cringe or turn a deaf ear. This is one challenge I’d rather sleep over and wait for it to quietly dissolve.

However, it is election time once again. And much to my dismay, the radio 6 feet away kept on bombarding my non-Mathematical mind with figures in millions. The anchorman and the almost zombie-ish wave of field reporters kept on delivering minute-to-minute vote count differences of different politicians. Apparently, the media is having a field day.

Thanks to my somewhat tunneled ears, what goes from one side immediately finds its way out of the other. So i continue editing the media launch ID for a cosmetics company while keeping my social networking status away from ‘idleness’.