110806: Bohol seeks P3M for ICT program

 

Gov. Erico Aumentado yesterday sought the release of P3 million from President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as her counterpart to the P19.5-million Information and Communication Technology project with Ayala Foundation, Inc. (AFI) that will benefit 115 public high schools throughout the province.

Aumentado presented to President Arroyo a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Provincial Government of Bohol and project partner AFI that is implementing Project GILAS or Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access fir Students.

AFI President Victoria Garchitorena signed for the foundation which will fund half of the P19.5-million total amount of the project.

“The Provincial Government’s share will be divided as follows: Office of the President, P3 million; Provincial Government of Bohol, P3 million; and the three congressmen and the 47 municipalities of Bohol, P3.75 million. This will be our joint counterpart for Ayala Foundation’s P9.75 million,” the governor reminded President Arroyo.

“This is an implementation of our joint public high schools Information and Communication Technology (ICT) program with the help of the Ayala Foundation as embodied in my letter to Her Excellency dated 31 July 2006 which is hereto attached also,” he wrote.

Education Secretary Jesli Lapus, Vice Gov. Julius Caesar Herrera and Congressmen Edgar Chatto and Roberto Cajes witnessed the signing ceremony Nov. 3 at the harbor View of the

Bohol Tropics Resort in Tagbilaran City.

“I trust and request most respectfully that Her Excellency will order the release of P3 million as the counterpart of the province at the soonest possible time in order that we can sign the MOA with Ayala Foundation and implement the project before the year ends,” Aumentado wrote.

Ayala Foundation is a non-stock, non-profit organization. Together with other private corporations, foundations, government agencies and public leaders, it aims to bridge the existing digital divide especially among Filipino high school students.

It recognizes the digital divide as a new form of poverty which is adding to the already compounded challenges burdening the Philippine education system. As such, it initiated Project GILAS to provide the necessary infrastructure that will allow the highs chool students in the public educational system to access the wealth of resources in cyberspace.

On the other hand, the provincial government aims to create effective and efficient policies and structures, adopt appropriate technologies and participatory processes, ensure and safeguard its balance and sustainable development, advance the economic social and cultural well-being of the Boholanos and spearhead the growth and sustain the competitive edge of its prime industries.

The provincial government recognizes the need to equip its youth with the necessary facility and training that will make them meaningful users of technology and help achieve the province’s mission.

Under the MOU, the signatories will allow, involve and engage the two schools divisions here in the project orientation, validation, teachers training, technical assistance, monitoring and evaluation – and in the maintenance and sustainability of the project in each school after one year.

The details of their collaboration will be outlined in a separate definitive agreement through a MOA.

This early however, several schools have been “adopted” in a pledging session Friday after the MOU signing.

Among others, the First Consolidated Bank (FCB) is distributing 600 Internet-ready computers to 92 public elementary and high schools. The distribution will be completed next year.

The Tapok-Tapok Bol-anon, Inc., an organization of Boholanos based outside of the province now headed by Rear Admiral Rogelio Calunsag is also donating a computer each to initially 30 high schools. The distribution is set next week.

Aumentado said the Bohol Hong Kong Association pledged to donate 40 computers. Lapus said the Department of Education will build six classrooms for the Lourdes High School in Panglao while his TODO Foundation will also donate computers to the same school.

Herrera will donate three months’ salary worth of computers for the national science high school in his hometown of Calape.

The Alturas Group of Companies, the University of Bohol, the Holy Name University, the Central Visayas State College of Agriculture, Forestry and Technology, businessmen and retirees also pledged computers, books and other educational materials to their “adopted” schools.

The Bohol Chronicle
November 8, 2006

http://www.theboholchronicle.com/fpage.php?issue=202&s1=2686&s2=&s3=&s4=&s5=2687&s6=753&s7=2688&s9=&s10=

110706: Gov't drafting e-commerce measures

Tuesday, November 07, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

News

 

The government has started mapping the use of e-commerce and information technology (IT) in the country.

It hopes more accurate data would help guide investors and policy makers tasked to narrow the digital divide between those adept at using the Internet to expand their reach into markets and their source of requirements on the one hand and those who are still steeped in the old — and costly — ways of doing business or procuring their needs.

Led by the National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB), government agencies like the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and private sector representatives are identifying indicators that will be used to track e-commerce and IT use and its impact on the economy.

They started the process in a workshop on this topic yesterday at the DTI International Building in Makati City.

NSCB acting director Candido J. Astrologo, Jr. said the adoption of IT indicators is a long-delayed project. "We are saying that we are the e-hub center of Asia, but we have no statistics to support it," he said.

To be sure, the Philippines has data on Internet and mobile subscribers, but these rely on information from telecommunication firms and count only subscribers. The government also has figures on IT investments and revenues but these are "piecemeal" data recorded by various agencies like the Board of Investments and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority.

What the government needs, Mr. Astrologo said, is a clearer number of IT and Internet users, which he said could be much more than the registered subscribers.

"These are the people who use the Internet cafes. Until now, we have no statistics and profiles on them," the official said, adding that they want to see demographics on who uses e-commerce and the Internet the most and who are getting bypassed by technology.

Today, the Philippines does not even have data as basic as the number of personal computers in households, Mr. Astrologo said. "We realize that there is a digital divide, but we don’t know where these areas are," he explained.

For businesses that rely on Internet users, much data is based on counting individual computers logging on to these companies’ sites, for instance. But that does not cover multiple use of specific computers or even of online accounts.

NSCB Memorandum Circular No. 8-2000 defines the objectives of this thrust — led by DTI and co-chaired by NSCB — as: to formulate the definition of electronic commerce that will be used for measurement purposes and determine its coverage considering both local setting and practices of international organizations and other countries; to identify the current and future concerns of policy makers on the use of electronic commerce in the country as basis for determining data requirements; and to consult concerned government and private sectors on the identification of data requirements and to secure their cooperation in the implementation of the action plan to be formulated.

The envisioned indicators will address the population’s readiness to IT, usage and intensity, and impact, Mr. Astrologo said.

The indicators will also help the government determine the areas that needs improvement, the NSCB official added.

"If I were the investor, I will need to see the readiness of the population to embrace e-commerce," Mr. Astrologo said.

Senior Trade Undersecretary Thomas G. Aquino said the data should make the Philippines more attractive to investors. "With advances in information and communications technology, e-commerce is growing by leaps and bounds and this presents new challenges for the Philippines. Relevant, timely, accurate and quality e-commerce statistics will help our policy makers and decision makers in formulating and shaping policies and making informed decisions," Mr. Aquino said in his opening speech.

Mr. Astrologo said the task force formed for this purpose expects to release a compendium of IT and e-commerce use and demographics in the first quarter of next year. Those figures will constitute benchmark for tracking future data.

Mr. Astrologo said NSCB will conduct the survey annually.

The International Data Corp. has estimated e-commerce in the Philippines to grow by 38% from 2002 to 2007, with business-to-business transactions accounting for 70% to 80% of total value. This growth assumes gross domestic product growth of 5% to 5.5% until 2007, compared to a 6.1% actual GDP growth last year, as well as targets of 5.5%-6.1% this year and 5.7%-6.5% next year.

Obstacles to e-commerce growth in the Philippines have been identified as widespread perception of lack of security on the Internet; low use of credit cards to transact on the Internet; and unclear business models for e-commerce players. — K. L. Alave

http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=110706a

110306: 1,000 public high schools now linked to Internet, says DepEd

 

By Blessie Cordero
Correspondent

A STEP closer to the completion of the aim to be able to get public- school students across the country connected to the Internet.
           
The Department of Education (DepEd) announced on Thursday that some 1,000 public secondary schools nationwide are now connected to the Internet through the Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students (Gilas) project.
           
Education Secretary Jesli Lapuz said that Gilas aims to provide Internet connectivity for the entire public high-school system in the country.
           
Gilas, whose idea started in January 2005, is a multisectoral initiative that aims to provide Internet access for students and basic Internet literacy programs in the 5,443 public secondary schools in the next five years.
           
The mission is led by a social consortium of private corporations and civic organizations, in coordination with DepEd.
           
Lapus considers information communication technology (ICT) in basic education a part of his key priorities recognizing the need to make ICT widely accessible and available to the students and the teachers in public schools.
           
“Educational development and interventions should be geared toward ensuring the empowerment of learners with lifelong skills through the use of appropriate technologies,” he said.
           
He added that it is the dream of the department that the best of the Filipino learners will emerge at the forefront of economic development empowered by an ICT-supported system of quality basic education for all.
           
The department’s ICT integration program, Lapus added, focuses on educational development, in line with several national policies that include the Medium Term Development Plan of the Philippines, the Basic Education Curriculum, Schools First Initiative and the National Action Plan to Achieve Education for All by the year 2015.
           
DepEd estimates placed computer penetration at one school for every 25,000 elementary pupils and one for every 728 elementary- school teachers.
           
On the other hand, high-school penetration is at one computer for every 111 secondary-school students, and one for every three secondary-school teacher.           

Business Mirror
November 3, 2006
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/eco03.php

110206: Yahoo video-sharing website goes European

 

November 02, 2006
Updated 07:47:59 (Mla time)
Glenn Chapman
Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO -- Yahoo took its quest for online video-sharing popularity to Europe on Wednesday, launching local Yahoo Video websites in France, Spain, Germany and Italy.

Each website was customized to the individual country's language, culture and trends, said Yahoo manager of social media Jason Zajac.

"You always want a social product to be relevant to the community using it," Zajac told AFP. "You want people to be able to chat online and read instructions in the local language."

The English-language version of Yahoo Video was launched May 31 and more than half the users were from outside the United States, particularly Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

"The ultimate goal is to provide it to as much of the market as possible," Yahoo spokesman Stephen Davis said when asked about plans to localize Yahoo Video for Asia and other places.

"We'll be nimble and we'll be quick. We are excited about video."

Yahoo's tailoring of a social networking video-sharing service complete with editing tools for creating clips came in the wake of Google's purchase of video website YouTube for 1.65 billion dollars in stock.

At the time of the YouTube purchase, Google's founders and chief executive predicted video sharing and streaming would be driving forces in the evolution of the Internet.

Yahoo bought online video editing website Jumpcut recently and added its tools to Yahoo Video to enable users to craft productions.

Viewers get to critique each others' works and "leave love" for videos they adore by clicking on heart icons.

Yahoo video editors showcase contributions that prove to be favorites with visitors and orchestrate website page layouts into themes based on events, trends or even holidays.

The Yahoo Video main page on Tuesday had a playfully spooky theme because it was Halloween.

"France probably won't have a Halloween site, but they will likely have a FIFA page during the World Cup," Zajac said.

Advertisers have tapped into Yahoo Video to catch people's eyes as well as get them to offer suggestions or criticisms regarding the productions.

Doritos had a "Crash the Super Bowl" Yahoo page created a few weeks ago and invited people to make a 30-second ad for the snack chips.

The winning ad will air at the US football season-climaxing Super Bowl at a cost of approximately two million dollars.

"If you are either the biggest fan of Doritos, or a film maker looking for a break, or an ad agency that didn't get a Super Bowl account -- you could get in there," Zajac said.

By getting people involved in the creation of video ads brands such as Doritos make deeper impressions with consumers than possible with passive advertising, according to Zajac.

Editors on Yahoo Video try to offset the unpredictability that comes with not knowing which will be the most popular videos on a given day.

"There are risks," Zajac said. "We try to make sure a car ad isn't next to a car crash video."

Yahoo Video features submissions by users and searches the Internet for content available from YouTube and other sites.

"We are constantly balancing the collaborative and competitive aspects of video sharing on the Internet," Zajac said.

"We are a search engine, so we are going to find what people are looking for even if it comes from someplace else."

Yahoo said it hosts and serves hundreds of millions of music, news, sports, movies, and television videos per month.

http://services.inq7.net/express/06/11/02/html_output/xmlhtml/20061102-30115-xml.html

 

 

110206: STI, eTelecare to develop course for call-center agents

 

By Honey Madrilejos-Reyes
Reporter

THE Philippines’ largest operator of information and communication technology (ICT)-centered colleges, STI, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the US-based eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. for the development of a curriculum and courseware for call-center agents.
           
Under the MOU, eTelecare will assist STI in developing the course by sharing industry knowledge and collaborating on training materials and content.
           
The call-center company will also train and certify 10 STI trainers, who meet its trainers’ profile and standard of qualifications, skills and competencies. The STI-eTelecare call-center agent course will be offered at selected STI schools nationwide.
           
STI has more than 100 campuses, offering IT and IT-enhanced programs in the fields of education, engineering, healthcare and business.
           
eTelecare, on the other hand, outsources contact center operations for leading companies in the financial, high technology, telecommunications, healthcare and other sectors. It has 11 call centers in the US and the Philippines, employing more than 7,000 people.
           
“We are confident that this partnership will help enhance the students’ global competitiveness as we match their skills with our standards for quality-driven services,” said Vivek Padmanabhan, eTelecare’s vice president for global shared services.
           
STI, for its part, said the partnership is part of STI’s strategy to take advantage of the growing business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.
           
“Prospects for the call-center industry in the country remain bright as demand for BPOs continue to increase. More importantly, the tie-up signifies STI’s firm commitment towards its Enrollment-to-Employment System (E2E),” said STI president and chief executive officer Monico Jacob.
           
The E2E System of STI provides students not only with education but job placement assistance as well. 
           
Estimates made by the Call Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP) indicated there are about 90 call centers in the country, collectively employing around 100,000 people. The Philippines is ranked third in the world for top BPO destinations, according to NeoIT’s 2005 Mapping Offshore Markets Update.
           
The BPO industry continues to be one of the prime movers of the Philippine economy, having generated $2.4 billion in 2005 and employing some 160,000 workers.

Business Mirror
November 2, 2006
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/comp01.php

103106: GILAS wires 1,000 high schools to the Internet

Tuesday, October 31, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES Philippine Silicon Valley By DENNIS POSADAS   Like many Third World countries, the digital divide in the Philippines is gargantuan. Only about 6% of public schools have Internet training and access. Only 39% of the 5,443 public high schools have computers that can be wired to the Internet. In contrast, most private schools provide access and training for their students on how to utilize the Web. GILAS, a nonprofit collaboration between private companies and the public sector, is hoping to provide an Internet lab for each of the 5,443 public high schools nationwide. GILAS, which stands for Gearing up Internet Literacy and Access for Students, is led by Ayala Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Ayala Group. It recently celebrated a milestone by wiring its 1,000th public high school to the Internet. The challenges in forming public partnerships to wire several thousand schools appeared daunting, yet many companies and individuals eventually signed up to help. Other supporters of GILAS include most companies of the Ayala Group; others like Smart Communication, Inc., Philippine Long Distance Telephone Corp., Bayan Telecommunications, Inc.; multinationals like Goldman Sachs, American Express, Citigroup, United Parcel Service; information technology giants like Intel, IBM, Microsoft and Apple; foreign and local government groups like the US Embassy, American Chamber of Commerce, departments of Education and Trade and Industry, and a host of individuals and nonprofit groups. Filipinos abroad, especially in the United States were an especially rich source of funding: over $160,000 worth of donations were received from them. There are several approaches to bridging the digital divide. One Laptop Per Child, an American nonprofit group started by former MIT Media Lab chairman Nicolas Negroponte, believes that the answer in bridging the divide is to give each child a laptop that costs approximately $100. Last October 11, The New York Times reported that Libya announced plans to purchase $250 million worth of laptops from One Laptop Per Child, for its 1.2 million schoolchildren. Other countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria and Thailand have promised to support the $100 laptop. The guardians of the personal computer industry, Dell and Microsoft, have other ideas as well. Dell is pitching a low-cost computer for Asia, while Microsoft believes in its FlexGo solutions, cheap computers whose Windows software have been modified to accept prepaid card payments, in effect allowing the user to slowly amortize the ownership of the computer. "We are now setting our sights on the remaining goal, that of connecting the remaining 4,789 public high schools," said Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, president and chief executive officer of the Ayala Group and co-chair of the GILAS project. "We cannot rest on our laurels, we need to accelerate the pace, the youth cannot wait," he added. Mr. Zobel de Ayala estimates that 1.7 million will graduate from high school this year, and he hopes that they will be better equipped for future challenges because of their ability to use the Internet. * * * Sources:        GILAS Web site <http://www.gilas.org/>        speech of Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala on Oct. 26, Hotel InterContinental Manila.        John Markoff, "U.S. group reaches deal to provide laptops to all Libyan schoolchildren," The New York Times, Oct. 11, 2006.        Jens Glüsing, Padma Rao and Hilmar Schmundt, "The dirt road to the information superhighway," Der Spiegel Online, June 1, 2006 <http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,419034,00.html.>

http://itmatters.com.ph/columns.php?id=posadas_103106

102906: Google races rivals to digitize world's libraries

 

October 29, 2006
Updated 10:26:50 (Mla time)

Agence France-Presse

NEW YORK -- A race is on to digitize the world's books, pitting Internet juggernaut Google against a vast anti-Google coalition backed by rivals Yahoo and Microsoft.

In late August, Google restarted its Google Book Search project initiated in 2004 with the lofty aim of scanning every literary work into digital format and making them available online.

Google has formed partnerships with major universities such as Harvard, Oxford, the New York Public Library, Complutense of Madrid and the University of California to add their collections to its virtual book shelves.

In mid-October the University of Wisconsin made its extensive selection of historical works available to the Mountain View, California-based Internet powerhouse.

Google has stored on its searchable database classic works in the public domain, along with copyrighted books either sent with or without the publishers' permission.

Google used its online search expertise to craft search boxes that use keywords, genres and authors to find works as opposed to the romantic practice of sifting through cards in a library reference index.

Google claimed the right of "freedom of quotation" to pull up search results from books.

The virtual library project caused an outcry from publishers and authors that argued Google did not have the right to commandeer their works for free distribution online.

Google has also rejected claims that, being based in the United States, it has favored English. It has promised it would next roll out a Google Book Search in French.

Opposition to the project, particularly by French and US editors, resulted in a group of book publishers forming the Open Content Alliance (OCA) in October of 2005.

The OCA is a non-profit organization which joins together an array of universities, foundations, and data processors to create a "common pot" of digitized books available online for download or printing.

The proposed collection of works contributed by members would consist of 35.000 works, including those of precursors such as the Gutenberg Project.

"The question is whether the knowledge of the world will be property of a private company or open to all," Open Content Alliance founder Brewster Kahle told Agence France-Presse (AFP). "Google thinks public is private."

"Everybody can make money out of it," said Kahle, who is also president of a site called the Internet Archive. "We hope to see many search engines."

Initially backed by Sunnyvale, California-based Yahoo, which was to tailor a search engine search engine and finance converting 18,000 books to digital format, the alliance was quickly joined by technology titan Microsoft.

The world's leading computer software company promised to contribute 150,000 digitized books to the OCA collection.

Microsoft also plans to launch its own large-scale virtual book search engine called Windows Live Books Search "later this year," and begin forming its own collection of works.

Microsoft followed Google's lead by asking editors to submit their books to be scanned into digital format free of charge.

"Microsoft will be more closed," Kahle said, who is eager to see the Redmond, Washington-based firm's budding project.

Microsoft was working double-time to catch up with Google in the virtual books department.

In mid-October Microsoft signed a deal with Kirtas, a manufacturer of high-speed scanners capable of digitizing an average-length book in eight minutes.

Microsoft also arranged to digitize the contents of the Cornell University library.

Neither Google nor Microsoft would reveal how many books they have already scanned.
"In the thousands," was the only hint Google would give.

At stake for the companies were advertising revenues that could be raked in from book-seeking Internet surfers.

"We are looking into the possibility of incorporating ads into the Windows Live Book Search platform sometime in the future," Microsoft told AFP.

The outcome of the battle of the online libraries will undoubtedly hinge on court decisions regarding copyright protections, and which search engine wins over the most coveted collections of written works.

The Open Content Alliance hopes to recruit the National Library of France, where 90,000 books have already been scanned.

 

http://services.inq7.net/express/06/10/29/html_output/xmlhtml/20061029-29387-xml.html 

102806: RP schools still behind in infotech

 

DESPITE increasing commitments and various programs to integrate information and communications technology in basic education, the mechanisms necessary to do so remain to be underdeveloped, the Department of Education admitted.
           
“While more secondary schools now have computers, student-to-computer and teacher-to-computer ratios remain extremely poor,” said Education Secretary Jesli Lapus during Thursday’s opening of a two-day conference titled “The Philippine Education Roadmap: Building the 21st- Century School System.”
           
The conference gathered around 500 education stakeholders from both public and private institutions to identify the challenges encountered by various sectors in today’s educational setting.
           
Lapus admitted that at the elementary level, computer penetration is “negligible” based on the latest estimates.
           
“Computer penetration [is] at one computer for every 25,000 elementary pupils and one for every 728 elementary-school teachers. Our high-school penetration is at one computer for every 111 students, and one for every three high-school teachers,” said Lapus.
           
In addition, he noted that software availability in schools consists mostly of office software or productivity tools and are limited to those for English and only a few for music and arts classes.
           
“Although the current curriculum advocates the innovative use of ICT to make learning more interactive, inrterdisciplinary, collaborative and authentic, there is as yet no nationally prescribed technology-enhanced curriculum,” he said.
           
According to the Foundation for IT Education and Development, 58 percent of the country’s schools reported that less than half of their faculty have undergone computer-related training.
           
In the same survey, around 12 percent reported to having no computer training at all.

 

Business Mirror

October 28, 2006

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/sfp04.php 

101706: Microsoft sets high hopes on Internet TV

Tuesday, October 17, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

News

 

Seattle -- Microsoft Corp.’s decade-long push into television is notable for false starts, bold promises and failed investments, but the company hopes to finally move into the living room this year with a service delivered over high-speed Internet networks.

The success or failure of Microsoft’s Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) initiative could determine the fortunes of a number of telephone companies betting billions of dollars that the company can help them encroach on cable television operators’ home turf.

Unlike the video clips uploaded to Web sites like YouTube, which depend on normal consumer Internet connections, IPTV gets priority from phone companies, using the main highways or backbone of the Web to deliver television programs with nearly all the features available from cable or satellite TV.

Microsoft sees a future when its IPTV platform will make a television set not linked into an IP network seem as obsolete as a personal computer today without access to the Internet.

"Microsoft’s been successful signing up customers to date," said Michelle Abraham, principal analyst at research firm In-Stat. "But the large-sized, commercial deployments haven’t happened so there is a lot that is unknown."

Fourteen telephone carriers around the world have signed up for Microsoft’s IPTV platform including BT Group, Deutsche Telekom AG and AT&T, but none of those companies are selling the service yet beyond tests.

Microsoft hopes its IPTV software will eventually open up the TV to a world of services already on the Web, such as shopping, e-mail and instant messaging. With 1.6 billion televisions in the world, the opportunity is immense. For now, it is more interested in making sure it can match the features available in cable and satellite TV with some new bells and whistles, such as faster and easier channel and program surfing with picture-in-picture capability.

Microsoft has spent the last decade trying to crack the TV market with billion-dollar investments in cable and telecom companies, numerous attempts at moving into the set-top box with limited success and an acquisition of WebTV, a service to allow people to browse the Internet through a TV set.

None of these investments delivered the results Microsoft had hoped: a prominent place near the couch.

This time, Microsoft thinks the technology infrastructure and, more importantly, the consumers are finally ready for IPTV, an application that is one of the most complicated ever run on computer servers.

IPTV, along with Microsoft’s Xbox video game console and its Zune portable media player, is part of the company’s push to move beyond the office and into the living room. -- Reuters

i.t. matters
http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=101706b

Google muscle to power custom search engines

 

October 24, 2006
Updated 13:10:45 (Mla time)

Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google announced on Monday that bloggers and website operators were free to customize its powerful search engine and put it on their Internet pages complete with money-making ads.

Google Custom Search Engine provided online tools to tailor query boxes for websites or blogs in a guided step-by-step process its creators promised would take only minutes.

"This is a new direction for Google," group product manager Shashi Seth said in a telephone press conference. "We are opening Google's search platform."

People customizing search engines can select which sites they want scanned and have the option of reaping a percentage of the online advertising that arrives with query results, according to Google.

Schools, non-profits and government organizations that customize searches for their sites using Google technology can have the advertising blocked.

Soccer fans could customize website search boxes to scan sites related to the World Cup; cancer support groups could focus searches on medical resources; or movie star lovers could target celebrity gossip.

"Custom search engines empower community," Seth said. "What is more powerful than finding information on your website and having the community make it better. In the end, we want the Google platform everywhere."

Search boxes would be featured on individual websites or blogs, but the work would be done on Google servers and share the same security and privacy standards as queries done at the California Internet juggernaut's website.

Those who customize pages can determine where to search, how information is prioritized, the layout of the results and whether visitors to their websites can add to the indexes of places to seek information.

The ability to make money from the search pages through Google AdSense program is "icing on the cake," Seth said.

Google Custom Search Engine was rolled out in the United States on Monday and was available at www.google.com/coop/cse. Google plans to expand the offering internationally in the coming weeks.

Climate change information website RealClimate.org was among those that tested Google's custom engine service before it went public.

Due to the controversial nature of the topic, online information regarding global warming ranges from "excellent to atrocious," said Gavin Schmidt of RealClimate.

"With the Custom Google Search facility, we are able to create a searchable subset of the web that in our expert judgment provides solid and reliable information," Schmidt said in a release.

"Hopefully, it will allow users to get to the good stuff faster, without some of the confusion that currently occurs."

http://services.inq7.net/express/06/10/24/html_output/xmlhtml/20061024-28424-xml.html 

Tuesday, October 03, 2006 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

News

BY MARICEL E. ESTAVILLO, Reporter

 

With high-speed Internet access now becoming more affordable, Internet café owners are finding innovative ways to maximize their investment.

Internet Cafés urged to offer value-added services to boost profits.

In a 150-seat Internet café in Zamboanga City in Mindanao, broadband Internet is being sold for as low as P20 per hour, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) senior vice-president for retail business group Menardo G. Jimenez, Jr. said.

The P20 per hour rate for a broadband Internet access was never heard of last year, particularly in provinces such as Zamboanga City due to low service consumption and the high investment needed to put up the business.

And with Internet broadband now becoming almost a commodity, he said Internet cafes should sell value-added services to assure profitability. Small business owners are advised to tap the Internet café concept to provide the value added to any small business such as gas station, sari-sari store, beauty parlor, car wash or restaurant.

For the latter, PLDT is now offering a Smart Bro Computer Station package.

Under this, for as low as P80,192 in one-time cash payment, one can run a two-seat Internet café or opt for an installment program -- 50% downpayment or P45,192 in initial payment, P10,184 monthly payment for the next six months and P3,714.90 monthly for the next 18 months.

PLDT will provide the broadband connection for two years, including all the necessary facilities to run the business.

For the value-added services, Internet café owners can offer printing services for an average of P10 per page and sell electronic load or eLoad of telecom companies.

There is also online gaming which is popular nowadays, particularly among the young market.

Publisher of Korean online games Level Up! has an estimated 50,000 gamers at any given time in a day. And each gamer spends an average of three hours a day, P20 per hour.

It is also estimated that the popularity of Level Up!, particularly its Ragnarok game, has resulted in P5,000 to P10,000 daily earnings for its Internet café partners. There are about 5,000 Internet cafés with 60,000 seats that sell these types of games.

Internet café owners can also ride on the booming call center industry and roll out the "Internet café by day, call center by night" type of business.

Pioneered by Five9, Inc., a call center provider of affordable call center application, the system allows a company to provide the necessary call center application for only $170 per seat monthly. It even has a business matching program, where Five9 will source the call center clients in behalf of clients.

Five9 country manager Junie Pama said the investment is minimal unlike the $8,000 per seat average investment of large call center companies.

News BY MARICEL E. ESTAVILLO, Reporter Maximizing investment in Internet cafés With high-speed Internet access now becoming more affordable, Internet café owners are finding innovative ways to maximize their investment. Internet Cafés urged to offer value-added services to boost profits. In a 150-seat Internet café in Zamboanga City in Mindanao, broadband Internet is being sold for as low as P20 per hour, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) senior vice-president for retail business group Menardo G. Jimenez, Jr. said. The P20 per hour rate for a broadband Internet access was never heard of last year, particularly in provinces such as Zamboanga City due to low service consumption and the high investment needed to put up the business. And with Internet broadband now becoming almost a commodity, he said Internet cafes should sell value-added services to assure profitability. Small business owners are advised to tap the Internet café concept to provide the value added to any small business such as gas station, sari-sari store, beauty parlor, car wash or restaurant. For the latter, PLDT is now offering a Smart Bro Computer Station package. Under this, for as low as P80,192 in one-time cash payment, one can run a two-seat Internet café or opt for an installment program -- 50% downpayment or P45,192 in initial payment, P10,184 monthly payment for the next six months and P3,714.90 monthly for the next 18 months. PLDT will provide the broadband connection for two years, including all the necessary facilities to run the business. For the value-added services, Internet café owners can offer printing services for an average of P10 per page and sell electronic load or eLoad of telecom companies. There is also online gaming which is popular nowadays, particularly among the young market. Publisher of Korean online games Level Up! has an estimated 50,000 gamers at any given time in a day. And each gamer spends an average of three hours a day, P20 per hour. It is also estimated that the popularity of Level Up!, particularly its Ragnarok game, has resulted in P5,000 to P10,000 daily earnings for its Internet café partners. There are about 5,000 Internet cafés with 60,000 seats that sell these types of games. Internet café owners can also ride on the booming call center industry and roll out the "Internet café by day, call center by night" type of business. Pioneered by Five9, Inc., a call center provider of affordable call center application, the system allows a company to provide the necessary call center application for only $170 per seat monthly. It even has a business matching program, where Five9 will source the call center clients in behalf of clients. Five9 country manager Junie Pama said the investment is minimal un -------------------- Story Location: http://www.itmatters.com.ph/news.php?id=100306a

 

Google, Intuit to coax small businesses onto the Internet

INQ7 MONEY - BREAKING NEWS

September 14, 2006
Updated 11:59:46 (Mla time)

Agence France-Presse

SAN FRANCISCO -- Online advertising mastermind Google and business software specialist Intuit announced on Wednesday they have teamed-up to tempt small businesses into seeking customers on the Internet.

Intuit's QuickBooks 2007 program slated to go on sale this fall will be imbedded with Google-powered ways to promote inventory and businesses online, the presidents of both company's said in a telephone conference call.

"It's a good win for Intuit. It's a good win for Google," said Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. "More importantly I think it's the beginning of a much deeper partnership."
The QuickBooks software package would target millions of small business, ranging in size from a few employees to 250, that have been unable or unwilling to create websites or advertise on the Internet, Intuit said.

The new QuickBooks will make it easy for businesses to list themselves on Google Maps; manage Internet advertising campaigns with Google Adwords program, and post inventory in Google's search database, according to Schmidt.

"The business world is one of collaboration because of the game-changing power of the Web," said Intuit chief executive Steve Bennett. "This is truer today than ever before."
"This is an exciting new alliance to help businesses find new customers."

 

PDI
September 14, 2006
http://services.inq7.net/express/06/09/14/html_output/xmlhtml/20060914-20938-xml.html

Nokia puts Yahoo Internet search software on new phones

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Nokia took a step toward online mobility announcing a new line of "smart phones" with Yahoo Internet search software already installed. California-based Yahoo would provide "state-of-the-art web and image search results" in more than 10 languages on an array of Nokia Nseries and S60 "multi-media computers" under the terms of a global distribution pact. "Nokia is extremely focused on providing the multimedia computer user the easiest route to explore the Internet and find what they need while they are on the go, such as images, facts, restaurants and addresses," Nokia vice president Ralph Eric Kunz said in a release. The combination of Yahoo's search expertise and the Finnish mobile telephone maker's savvy resulted in Nokia Mobile Search being "unrivaled" in the industry, Kunz claimed. Nokia and Yahoo have worked together since April of 2005 to mesh Internet services with mobile devices. "Yahoo is excited to continue our deep partnership with Nokia," said Christian Lindholm, Yahoo vice president of global mobile products. "Working with Nokia allows us to deliver a compelling mobile search solution directly to the millions of consumers wanting to use their mobile device to search for and find the information thats important to them." --AFP

Manila Times

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/sept/09/yehey/techtimes/20060909tech1.html

MySpace.com to sell music downloads, rivaling iTunes

By Jennifer Sondag & Nancy Kercheval
Bloomberg

NEW YORK—News Corp.’s MySpace.com, an online social networking site with more than 100 million member profiles, plans to start a service to sell music directly to fans in a challenge to Apple Computer Inc.’s iTunes music store.
           
MySpace.com is working with San Francisco-based Snocap, a company started by Napster Inc. cofounder Shawn Fanning, to introduce the service in the US by year’s end, said Amit Kapur, director of business development for the Los Angeles-based company.
           
“The artist community has been a huge driver behind our success,” Kapur said. “We’ve provided them promotional tools to connect with the fan base; now we’re expanding past promotional to commercialization.”
           
The service may enable MySpace.com and Snocap, a closely held company that helps artists sell music online, to profit from MySpace.com’s more than 3 million registered bands and artists. Unlike Apple’s iTunes, songs will be sold through artists’ member pages rather than an online store.
           
“The vast majority of artists are unsigned and independent,” Kapur said. “This will be their first big platform to make a little bit of money off of their content.”
           
The artists will submit their songs, which will be crosschecked by Snocap technology to ensure the content doesn’t belong to Britney Spears or Madonna, Kapur said.

Content scrutinized

“WE bounce the content against all the content in our registry of major labels and thousands of independents,” said Rusty Rueff, chief executive officer of San Francisco-based Snocap.
           
The artist provides digital artwork, a price and where he wants the music sold, Rueff said. Snocap provides an HTML code that creates a store to post on the musician’s MySpace page.
           
“At the same time we’re putting this store up, we’re authenticating the work to protect MySpace from copyright infringement,” Rueff said. “It gives artists that don’t have a way to get into the market a way to do it legally.”
           
The artists will set their own prices, Kapur said. The costs are expected to remain below 99 cents charged by rivals, unless it’s a rare recording of a live concert, for instance, he said.
           
Initially, the service will be directed to the so-called garage bands that make music without a major label to back them, Kapur said. “Eventually, we’ll try to get more major labels.”
           
The HTML tag will allow the store to be attached to e-mails or placed on other MySpace home pages to increase the distribution chain, Kapur said.

Revenue breakdown

MYSPACE and Snocap will split an undetermined percentage of each sale with the artist getting “the lion’s share,” Kapur said. Revenue will depend on the number of tracks each artist sells and at what price.
           
The announcement may help the music industry’s push for legal downloads. Fanning’s original Napster site was shut down after lawsuits from record labels and musicians accused the file-sharing network of eating into sales and violating copyrights.
           
Since then, Apple has come to dominate the market for legal downloads with the success of iTunes and its iPod music player. The Cupertino, California-based company’s iTunes store sells songs for 99 cents each and this year surpassed 1 billion downloads.
           
MySpace is using the music format to enter the e-commerce arena, Kapur said. Eventually, the company will explore offering the artists ticketing and merchandising outlets.

Business Mirror
September 6, 2006

 

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/it01.php

Smart makes texting more affordable

The Philippine Star 09/09/2006

 

Leading wireless services provider Smart Communications Inc. has made texting even more affordable and budget-friendly to its prepaid subscribers with its latest offering – SmartLoad All Text 20.

Under the SmartLoad All Text 20 promo, Smart Buddy and Talk ’N Text subscribers may purchase 100 Smart to Smart SMS for only P20, giving subscribers an equivalent of only 20 centavos per text message. The promo will run from Sept. 9 to Oct. 10.

The SmartLoad All Text 20 also comes with a P1 airtime load. Subscribers have to maintain at least P1 airtime load to use the SMS. Both the 100 SMS and P1 airtime load will be valid for one day. If the P1 airtime is used before expiry, the subscriber should just top up any SmartLoad, Pasaload or a call and text card to continue using the 100 text messages.

"We are constantly looking for better ways to serve the varying communication habits of our subscribers and to come out with services more fit to their needs. The SmartLoad All Text 20 is one such service that fits in very well to subscribers who avail themselves of our unlimited offers, majority of whom send around 100 text messages per day," according to Smart marketing group head Dan Ibarra.

He emphasized that at only P20 for 100 SMS or 20 centavos per text, this makes it one of the most affordable in the market with the best value.

Subscribers may purchase SmartLoad All Text 20 from SmartLoad retailers, neighborhood sari-sari stores, and at Smart Wireless Centers.

The 100 SMS may only be used when sending text messages to fellow Smart subscribers within the country, and not while roaming in other countries. – Mary Ann Reyes

 

http://www.philstar.com/philstar/NEWS200609090706.htm

More firms to offer cheap Internet calls

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter

FOUR information and communication technology (ICT) firms have obtained separate authorities from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to offer voice calls over the Internet, the regulatory body said.

VoIP or voice over the Internet protocol is a cheap alternative to traditional telephony, which transmits voice via the Internet.

The NTC approved the application of Fiber Telecom Inc., Pastels Inc. and Pacific IP Netcom Inc. as VoIP service providers.

The regulator also approved Mozcom Inc.’s application as a reseller.

The NTC defines a service provider as a person or entity providing VoIP services to the public, directly or through resellers for compensation, while a reseller is a person or entity that intends to derive or source VoIP from a duly registered provider under an agreement to resell the service directly to retail end-customers.

Fiber Telecom said it will rollout VoIP service in all cities and municipalities where Gokongwei family-led Digital Telecommunication Philippines Inc. are available.

Fiber Telecom offers Internet access, e-mail web hosting, Internet fax and e-commerce.

Pastels Inc. said it will roll out in areas where Capitol Wireless Inc. and PT&T operate, while Pacific IP Netcom Inc. will operate and maintain VoIP in areas covered by the network of Liberty Broadcasting Network Inc.

Last, Mozcom will operate and maintain its VoIP service in all cities and municipalities covered by Philcom fixed line facilities, and where Crown Multimedia and Information Services Inc. coverage is available.

Earlier, the company approved the request of Crown Multimedia, Cashrounds Inc. and BT&T Network Corp., Transpacific Broadcast Group International Inc. and Cebu-based Technetworks Corp. to offer VoIP service.

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/aug/09/yehey/business/20060809bus10.html