BLOGGED PHILIPPINES

Tom Cruise (Image via RottenTomatoes.com) Tom Cruise is back in yet another action-pack movie, Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol , the latest among the series of Mission Impossible movies. Cruise plays Ethan Hunt, an agent of IMF and with his team, they tried to stop a nuclear extremist from igniting the war between the United States and Russia. I watched the film in IMAX here in SM Cebu and my verdict: so so story but impressive stunts and panoramic scenes. I particularly enjoyed the scene when Ethan Hunt climbed the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world located in Dubai. Using just a pair of gecko-like gloves, the suspense is at its climax when at many instances, Hunt almost fell out. I also appreciate the sound effect that kept my adrenaline level at high. Several explosions caught me off-guard and I actually shook in my seat. The IMAX surround sound was outstanding and impressively complemented the movie action pack plot. Tom Cruise al...

Image via Wikipedia Proclamation No. 298 signed by Executive Secretary Pacquito Ochoa Jr declares Thursday, December 8, 2011 as a special non-working holiday in the City of Taguig. The Proclamation states that the declaration will allow Taguig residents to celebrate the Foundation Day of Taguig City along with appropriate ceremonies. Those who will be required to report for work on that date shall receive appropriate compensation based on existing Labor Rules set by the Department of Labor and Employment.

For consumers, the more options they have, the better. Now, here's a great news on that topic. The popular smartphone from Apple, the latest version of which is the iPhone 4S will be heading to the two largest networks in the country - Globe and SMART. Yesterday, Globe  announced that the reservation for an iPhone 4S has begun. And now, after a day, SMART announced that iPhone 4S will be coming to them as well on December 16 and reservations has already started. [ Read : iPhone 4S Coming to SMART on December 16 ] [ Read :  iPhone 4S Comes to Globe – Reservations Now Open ] iPhones Not Anymore Exclusive to Globe It appears that the exclusivity contract (if there is) between Globe and Apple Inc has already expired. In the previous years, way back to the original first gen iPhone, the popular smartphone was exclusively available via Globe Telecoms. After more than four years since the launch of the first iPhone, the celebrated Apple produc...

Image via Wikipedia Malacañang Palace released today  Proclamation No.295 declaring the regular, special (non-working) and special holidays for year 2012 . The full list is shown below: A. Regular Holiday New Year’s Day- January 1 (Sunday) Maundy Thursday - April 5 Good Friday- April 6 Araw ng Kagitingan - April 9 (Monday) Labor Day- May 1 (Tuesday) Independence Day - June 12 (Tuesday) National Heroes Day - August 27 (Last Monday of August) Bonifacio Day - November 30 (Friday) Christmas Day - December 25 (Tuesday) Rizal Day - December 30 (Sunday) B. Special (Non-Working) Holidays Chinese New Year - January 23 (Monday) Ninoy Aquino Day - August 21 (Tuesday) All Saints Day - November 1 (Thursday) November 2 (Friday) - Additional special (non-working) holiday Last Day of the Year  - December 31 (Monday) C. Special Holiday...

Has it ever occurred to you at one time that you forgot where you  placed your printed ticket? For me, it happens a lot of times. Especially now that most people book promo fares, they have to keep their tickets at a longer time because the actual flight date is far from the booking date. With Cebu Pacific , it's OK. You just have to know the name of at least one of the passengers or the credit card number used, and the confirmation number and presto, you just go the "manage booking" section of Cebu Pacific website and you can reprint your tickets from there. The problem occurs when you are booked with either Philippine Airlines , Zest Air , or Airphil Express . They don't have that type of service. You have to go to their ticketing office just to secure a copy of your purchased ticket. Manage Booking  Service of Airphil Express But things have changed for Airphil Express ! Today, Airphil Express proudly introduces their latest service: Mange Booking. This i...

Image via Wikipedia The preliminary result is out for the search for the new 7 Wonders of Nature and our very own Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) is one of them. Other provisional winners are the Amazon , Halong Bay , Iguazu Falls , Komodo Island , Table Mountain and Jeju Island . Puerto Princesa Underground River is a subterranean flowing body of water located in the island of Palawan. It is a contender of the worlds longest underground river. In 1992, it became a national park managed by the local government of Puerto Princesa.  Results May Change The New7Wonders Foundation said that the results may change pending the recount and validation of voting resutls. The final results will be announced during the Official Inauguration early next year, 2012.

PPUR. Image via Wikipedia Update: Here are the winners... The voting time for the 28 finalists of the search for the new 7 wonders of nature is over! It officially stopped at exactly 11:11:11 GMT (7:11:11 PM, Manila Time), November 11, 2011 (11/11/11). As of this moment the New7Wonders Foundation is finalizing the results! If you visit the official website of the foundation, you will be notified that the preliminary results will come out at exactly 7:07 PM GMT (3:07 AM Manila Time). Among the 28 finalist is our very own Puerto Princesa Underground River (PPUR) . We will see if it made itself part of the new 7 wonders of nature. Stay tuned!

NAIA Terminal 1 . Image via Wikipedia After being highlighted twice as one of the worst airport in the world, the 30-year old Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 is now being renovated. The renovation includes both structural and aesthetic improvement to the facility. Interactive travel website  The Guide to Sleeping in Airports (http://www.sleepinginairports.net/) ranked NAIA Terminal 1 as the worst airport in the world citing its poor facilities, bribery and security concerns as the main problems facing the old terminal. Also, the recently published CNN article entitled " World's 10 most hated airports " ranked NAIA Terminal 1 as the 5th in the worldwide scale. The flood of criticism that brought NAIA Terminal 1 to the limelight have prompted the Office of the President to act swiftly and make quick improvements. President Noynoy Aquino himself conducted a  surprise visit  to the airport just to make sure that the impro...

Do you want to receive promo updates as quickly as possible? Well, here's a good news regarding that. Blogged Philippines is now in Google Plus social network which means that you will receive updates faster than before! How? Google Plus has this email system where every post will automatically be emailed (default setting). This is in contrast with the current Feedburner email system where it only emails at one specific time of the day. So, without further ado, here's the link to Blogged Philippines Google+ Page . All you need is just a Google Plus profile. https://plus.google.com/b/115250672230473466414/ or just click this badge:         Related articles Google+ Invites Now Working Again! (techalang.com)

Popular pop/R&B singer and a YouTube superstar Justin Bieber hits 14 Million Twitter followers. Bieber, the voice behind the songs "Baby" and "Never say Never"  is one of the most powerful celebrities nowadays especially on the aspect of Social Media presence. For comparison, Lady Gaga has 15 Million followers and Oprah Winfrey has 8 Million

                                 Image via Wikipedia The Malacañang Palace via Procalamation No. . 276 declares November 7, 2011 (Monday) as a regular non-working holiday throughout the Philippines. This is for the observance of a Muslim event EIDUL ADHA (FEAST OF SACRIFICE). Eidul Adha is one of the two greatest Muslim feast celebrated annually. All those who will be required by their employers to work on that day should receive extra compensation according to Labor Code. Source:  http://www.gov.ph/2011/10/20/proclamation-no-276-s-2011/

Yesterday, I tried to book a ticket on Philippine Airlines (PAL). I used my HSBC MasterCard as usual but an unexpected thing happened. I reached the payment part where I was redirected to HSBC SecurePay page. Then, I entered my personal information. When I pressed confirm, I received an error message saying that the transaction is denied because I failed to identify myself correctly. At first, I thought maybe, I committed an error like misspelling when I was filling the web form. So I did it again from the very start. And guess what? The transaction is denied again for the same reason. I tried once more but with no success. I started suspecting that there’s something wrong in the system. I already booked several tickets in the past but I have never encountered this error before. I reasoned that if it is a problem in my card, then I couldn’t have used it in the past.

Image via Wikipedia This afternoon I received a call from a woman who introduced herself as a representative of a local Philippine Bank. She first asked me if I already had a credit card and when I answered "yes", she immediately invited me to their current so-called promo: "they are offering a credit card without requirements ". I know she meant that no physical documents and papers are to be submitted. Also, she mentioned that they are the lowest interest-paying credit card bank in the Philippines . At first it sounded very interesting to me but my mind changed as soon as she asked me some information that, in my opinion, is VERY CONFIDENTIAL and divulging them to someone who just called you on the phone may pose some security threat. Here's what she asked me.

Image via Wikipedia Tropical depression Ramon is threatening to swipe the entire Visayas region based on the latest forecast from DOST-PAGASA as reported by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC). As of 11 AM today, Ramon is located 245 KM East of Hinatuan, Surigao de Sur and continues to threaten Northeastern Mindanao and Eastern Visayas regions . Ramon has a sustained wind velocity of 55 kph near the center. Public Storm Warning Signal Number 1 has already been raised in the following areas: Eastern Samar  Western Samar  Leyte Provinces  Bohol  Biliran  Camotes Island  Northern Cebu  Northern Negros  Northern Iloilo  Capiz  Masbate  Ticao Island Surigao Del Norte  Siargao Island  Surigao Del Sur  Dinagat Group of Islands  Agusan Del Norte  Camiguin Island  Agusan Del S...

The news of Steve Jobs' death shocked the entire tech world. Many tech titans including his own "frenemy" Bill Gates , Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin hailed Jobs for his contribution to technology and making life easier. Also, along with the sadness expressed during that period, one thing keeps trending on searches, " Steve Jobs' quotes ". Steve Jobs has been a source of famous quotes and thoughts made many people think deeper. Below are some of the famous Steve Jobs' quotes. When asked what market research went into the iPad, Mr. Jobs replied: “None. It’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want.” "Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma--which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow y...

Image by asalga via Flickr Trending on twitter now and in other Social Media tools is the infamous " Anti-Planking Act of 2011 ". This was actually a law proposed by Quezon City Representative Winston Castelo which aims to penalize the act. Planking is is an activity consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location ( Wikipedia ). This has been one of the fads of protesting and has gained public attention during the transport stike last Monday. Of course netizens reacted quickly in their ire to the propoed law which many think is overly reactive. What is your opinion regarding the infamous "Anti-Planking Act of 2011"?

Image by Danny McL via Flickr Just recently, Honda Cars Philippines Incorporated (HCPI) announced that they will be recalling several models of their popular car products including Honda Jazz , Honda City and Honda CR-V due to the issue on their power window master switch which can causes smoke issuing or worst partial burning of the window switch cover. Although no reported accident has been attributed to this, Honda is on its way to voluntary recalling those models affected and replacing it with countermeasure parts. In the Philippines , a total of 19,143 units of combined Year 2005-2007 Honda Jazz, Year 2006-2008 Honda City and Year 2005-2006 CR-V models are included in this safety measure. Honda Philippines said that they already began notifying affected customers via mail. If you didn't receive a mail or unsure whether your unit is included in the recall, Honda had issued the complete list of models affected. Check it out at ...

Image via Wikipedia "Be proud, you're a teacher, the future depends on you!" That's the slogan I frequently see posted on the roof of public schools when I was still studying more than a decade ago. That time, the statement was meaningless to me for I am just an ordinary schoolboy to which every beginning of school year was marked with trembling knees because of my annual fear: a new teacher. But now that I'm already a grown-up individual, had already finished my studies and is now working on a profession I chose. When I look back and recall those words though, I now see it in a different light. It make sense. Yes to most of us, teachers played or will play a crucial role in our life. They were our second set of parents. Our teachers were frequently among the primary source of our understanding about our world. They were among the first ones to inspire us and help us discover and improve our abilities. I can still remember the names of my favor...

If you can't access your BPI online account today, well you're not alone. I tried too today without success after many attempts. If you are wondering about the reason behind this, then, here's the reason: BPI Maintenance Mode. If you waited until your login request expired, this message will be displayed to you (see image below): How Long? The honest answer is: I don't know. Yesterday, all BPI branches were OFF. All banking transactions were halted starting around 9AM. I was able to do my banking activity around 5PM already. When I asked the clerk how long does it usually take to restore their system, she just simply said, she don't know because it varies from case to case. Yesterday's incident may or may not be related to today's offline mode but it is safe to assume that it won't be restored as quickly as we think it is. Phone Banking If you really have urgent banking needs today, you are advised to call BPI Customer  service nu...

It looks like  McDonalds Philippines is really serious about boosting their relatively new "coffee serving business" McCafe . This upcoming Monday, they will be starting a "FREE COFFEE" promo on selected McDonalds branches around the country. Here's the promotional video: Promo runs from August 8 to 12, 2011 at selected McDonalds branches nationwide. For the complete mechanics, check out McDonald's  Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/McDo.ph

Image via Wikipedia The Manila US Embassy lauched last July 25 a Visa Reissuance Program (VRP) . Those who are qualified for this program will have his Visa renewal fast tracked. If qualified, applicants need only to schedule an appointment, appear at the Embassy at the appointed time, and then have the application screened and give 10-print fingerscans.  No need for an interview, and appointments are available within a few days! Of course not all are qualified for this program. To qualify, you must be able to answer 'yes' to the following questions: 1. I am a Philippines passport holder. 2. I have previously been issued, in Manila, a full-validity visa (a visa good for five or ten years). 3. My visa is still valid... or it has expired within the last twelve months. 4. I have in my possession all of my passports covering the entire period of time since I received that full-validity visa. 5. I have not been refused a U.S. visa in the last twelve months. 6. My visa...

US Geological Services ( USGS ) reported that a magnitude 5.9 earthquake that hit the island of Luzon, Philippines at exactly 01:15:44 AM, Tuesday, July 26, 2011. The location of the epicenter is at 15.07N,120.16E (epicenter), west of Angeles, Pampanga and north of Olongapo City.                                        View Larger Map As of the moment, there was no reported casualties and the extent damage is yet to be determined. Here's the official bulletin from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Siesmology (PHILVOLCS) regarding July 26, 2011 earthquake. http://volcano.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph/update_SOEPD/2011_Earthquake_Bulletins/July/2011_0725_1715_B1.htm For those who want further information, here's the contact numbers of  Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) Hotline: 926-3225/426-1468/926-2611/927-1095 TO BE UPDATED ...

Image by thepocnews via Flickr The Macanang Palace declared yesterday tha August 29 and 30 will be non-working holidays in celebration of the National Heroes Day ( August 29 ) and  Eid'l Fitr  or End of Ramadan ( August 30 ). This is in line with  Proclamation No. 84 issued by President Benigno "NoyNoy" Aquino III scheduling all holidays for this year 2011. This means a long weekend on the last week of August 2011 . However, for those who will be required to work during those dates should be compensated based on Labor Code requirements.

I think many of us would agree that we once thought that Rebecca Black is just another one-time hit maker and it's just "luck" or "favorable coincidence" that led her " Friday " music video on top of  YouTube's  greatest hits list. But now, I think we need to reconsider that young lady, especially now that she released her second video entitled " My Moment ". " My Momen t" was released just this week, July 18, 2011 and after just three days since its You Tube debut, the video had already crossed 10 Million hits ! And here's one more interesting thing about this video: it obviously was aimed against her critics! Yes, you can clearly see that in such lines as “Weren’t you the one who said I was nothing? Well, I’m about to prove you wrong.” and "Haters, said I’ll see you later". Yes, Rebecca Black is back with the best way to avenge herself: sing a song with a clear sense. See for yourself Rebecca Black...

Image via Wikipedia The Department of Education (DepEd) announced earlier today that there will be no classes on all levels (from Kinder to Highschool level) on Monday, July 25, 2011 due to the State of the Nation Address ( SONA ) of President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino . For tertiary/college level though, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is yet to make an announcement. There will also be a traffic rerouting in the Commonwealth area affected by the President's second SONA .

Low-cost airline Airphil Express announces today that they are giving away 20% student discount on all domestic flights. This adds up to other existing discounts such as that of Senior citizens, persons with disability and infants without seat. The discount is only available for those who will book via Airphil Express ticketing offices. The student shall be enrolled by the time of the booking and must present their valid school ID or registration forms.

It seems that Google is intermittently opening and closing the invite capability of their newly introduced social network named Google Plus or simply Google+ . Yesterday, it seems to be working after almost a week after the first shut-down of the invite mechanism. After few hours though, probably 5 or 6 hours, they closed the invitation mechanism again. Now, as of checking at (8:45 AM , Manila Time), the invite mechanism is apparently working again. For those who would like to be invited, just put a comment below. Please provide your email as well. As mentioned, Google Plus (Google+ or G+) is Google's new take on the social networking arena. It core features are the following: Circles . You can sort out your friends to different groups so as to enable you to easily limit the information you share to certain people. This is a great step with regards to privacy. Sparks. It is simply a feed of items with regards to a topic of your interest. The goal o...

                             Image via Wikipedia Vibal Publishing Foundation will be publishing an iPad version of Dr. Jose Rizal's Noli Me Tangere starting July 1. With this new ebook version, Vibal Publishing will try to revive the public interest regarding the powerful novel that sparked the Spanish revolution in the Philippines more than a century ago. Noli Me Tangere  is a novel about the tragic love story of Crisostomo Ibarra and Maria Clara, a childhood sweetheart whose love was broken by circumstances created by the corruption in the clergy and government during the Spanish Rule in the Philippines. The book was originally written in Spanish and has been translated to both Filipino and English. Interestingly, the iPad version of the ebook can be read on both languages. Pricing and Availability The ebook will be available on iTunes Bookstore starting July 1. ...

Updated: 24June2011 6:00PM Here's the latest updated list of CANCELLED flights of Cebu Pacific Air . The reason for cancellation is the bad weather brought by typhoon Falcon . COMPILED ADVISORY on Typhoon Falcon - List of cancelled flights as of June 24, 2011, 11:00AM Hi everyone! Please note that the following flights have been cancelled today due to Tropical Storm Falcon: 5J525/525-24 MNL-Naga-MNL 5J 521 / 522 – Manila-Naga-Manila 5J 513 / 514 – Manila-San Jose-Manila 5J 136 / 135 – Cebu-Caticlan-Cebu 5J 911 / 912 – Manila-Caticlan-Manila 5J 893 / 894 – Manila-Caticlan-Manila 5J 897 / 896 – Manila-Caticlan-Manila 5J 899 / 900 – Manila-Caticlan-Manila 5J 903 / 904 – Manila-Caticlan-Manila 5J 891 / 892 – Manila-Caticlan-Manila 5J 895 / 898 – Manila-Caticlan-Manila 5J 901 / 902 – Manila-Caticlan-Manila 5J 905 / 906 – Manila-Caticlan-Manila 5J 917 / 918 – Manila-Caticlan-Manila 5J 913 / 914 – Manila-Caticlan-Manila We will mount 8 extra ATR and Airbus A320 fligh...

            Image via Wikipedia In a press release , the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)  confirms their support for the alleged mistreatment of two Filipino women in the hands of immigration officials in Indonesia who suspected them to be drug mules. The DFA is working with the Philippine Embassy in Indonesia to conduct an investigation to verify if there's a basis to file a protest. The issue came to the attention of the government after one of the two Filipinas, who was incidentally a blogger, posted in her blog her "traumatic" experience when they visited Bali , a popular tourist destination in Indonesia last May. According to her, although there are many other nationalities in their flight, they were singled out by the immigration officers for an extensive interrogation and luggage and bodily inspection for no apparent justification. They were held in the immigration for more than an hour but were allowed to ...

Image via Wikipedia As many of you might have already noticed, Cebu Pacific has changed their trademark promo PISO FARE recently in terms of pricing. Last year, I remember booking a round trip ' piso fare '   ticket for my two friends coming from Manila to Cebu. The price was totally awesome, 195 pesos only for (no-baggage). And just recently, Cebu Pacific announces another edition of piso fare promo . This time however, I was a little surprised to find out that the total fare for a two-person (Cebu to Davao) , no baggage, piso fare ticket was amounting to 1228 Pesos. This was a stunning 530% increase! What happened? Well I did a simple investigation. I compared the price breakdown of my previous bookings and compared it to the one I recently done. Here's what I found out. Facts: Cebu Pacific breaks the price of your ticket with these categories: Base Fare Taxes & Fees Web Admin Fee Web Admin Fee (PC) Travel Insurance Excess Baggage Sports Equip...

Image via CrunchBase Remember the contest launched by Planely.com last April 2011? Yes, Planely goes out to determine who is the most sociable airline in the world. The goal is simple, to find out which airline has the most number of passengers who wants to share their flight information. In turn Planely will find a match for your profile. This can lead to having a new friend or a potential business partner. Well, last month's competition was already done. At the conclusion of the contest, our very own Cebu Pacific was crowned as the most sociable airline in the world . The victory was almost landslide, with Cebu Pacific registering a score of 913 and at the far second place was  Norwegian Air Shuttle with 351. Other airlines in the Philippines was also included in the list with Airphil Express was at No.7, Philippine Airlines (PAL) at No.11 and Zest Airways at No.17. But wait! After a month after the competition was concluded, Planely redefined their sc...

Cross posted from Technology Logs . Yes, Google's Blogger.com is now up and running! This is actually my first post after the almost-three-day downtime of the popular blogging service. The outage came after Blogger's scheduled maintenance last Thursday (PHT). The maintenance was supposed to to last for only one-hour but after it, Blogger came back to read-only-mode wherle users can't upload new contents to their blogs. They also removed all articles and comments posted during the short uptime after the maintenance. Although Blogger said that they already started restoring those articles, my posted articles are yet to be restored until the time of writing.

                                      Image via Wikipedia President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III announces today that Monday, June 20, 2011 is a non-working holiday throughout the Philippines in celebration of the 150th birthday of Dr. Jose Rizal , Philippines' national hero. The declaration is via Proclamation No. 154 . Rizal Day is celebrated annually every December 30 , the date when Rizal was executed at Luneta. This is the first time that the country will celebrate Rizal's date of birth.

In a press release, Apple announces that they will be releasing the iPad 2 to 12 additional countries this week. Those countries were  Japan, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and UAE  and  Philippines. Aside from Japan (April 28) , all others will have the iPad 2 by Friday, April 29, 2011 on Apple official retailers. iPad 2 iPad 2 is the second generation of a Apple's tablet device featuring a major upgrade from its predecessor including, thinner and lighter design, front and back-facing cameras for capturing pictures and videos and video calling, and a faster processor and graphics. Apple also introduced   Smart Covers designed along with iPad 2 . Click here for more details regarding the availability and pricing in the Philippines.

Willie Revillame . Image by ~C4Chaos via Flickr The  Department of Social Welfare and Development ( DSWD ) issued a counter-statement against Willie Revillame and his lawyers regarding the accusation of the latter that he has been a victim of politics regarding the issue of child abuse. In the press release published at the official website of DSWD , the government agency defended their involvement in the case. They said that after the video of Jan-jan was posted on YouTube they received "more than 100 email messages from concerned individuals, mothers, child advocacy/legal groups, and even OFWs from Hongkong and the USA" rousing them to act over the issue. The department also appealed to the public saying that "there is no partisan politics angle or any hidden agenda as Mr. Revillame and his lawyers alleged." They also made it clear that their primary concern is the welfare of Jan-jan and his family. They also added that Jan-jan's case was "one...

Cebu Pacific . Image via Wikipedia Nowadays, airline promos are as common as "common colds". Almost every airline has their seat sale every now and then. Except for busy seasons like Christmas and Holy Week, there are bunch of low airfares being offered for both domestic and international destinations . Of course, the Philippines' largest  low-cost airline , Cebu Pacific is credited to be the trend-setter of this phenomenon. But in spite of these, many are still complaining that they were not able to book cheap airfares especially during promos. There might be various reasons why but here are some tips based on my personal experience to help you save money when buying airline tickets . 1. Watch for promos several months before your travel period. Airline promos are usually made available for booking several months ahead of the travel period (three or more months ). I noticed from my readers' comments that they were usually looking for promo fares...

Cross Posted From Technology Logs I just bought an iPad just a couple of weeks ago. One of the key reasons why I bought this device is for me to be able to post on my blogs anywhere I am as long as there's WiFi connection (i just bought a WiFi model due to cost). So, when I tried to use it to post an article, I was extremely disppointed to find out that Blogger's "Compose Mode" is not working on an iPad. I later found out that the reason was that iOS , the system that runs Apple touchscreen mobile devices ( iPhones , iPod Touches , and iPads ) is not supporting Adobe Flash and Blogger's "Compose Mode" require's Flash to run. Since I already bought the device and I began to love its other functions, I have no choice but to use it. So, I searched diferent forums and blogs to find the workaround to this issue. There seems to be few suggested solutions. One was 'just use the "HTML" mode' which I don't like. The other one, wh...

Metro Manila . Image via Wikipedia The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB)  has approved today a fare increase on buses operating in Metro Manila. The reason for the fare hike is the continuous increase of fuel prices. Here's the detail of the bus fare hike : Ordinary Buses The minimum bus fare for the first 5KM is currently 9 PESOS and will increase to 10 PESOS. The rate for per succeeding kilometers which currently stand at 1.85 pesos will NOT change . Air-Conditioned Buses The minimum bus fare for the first 5KM is currently  11 PESOS and will increase to 12 PESOS. The rate for per succeeding kilometers which currently stand at 2.20 Pesos will  NOT change . The fare hike will be implemented starting on Tuesday, March 29, 2011. The approved increase is lower than the petitioned amount which is 5 pesos for ordinary buses and 6 pesos for air-conditioned. Buses operating outside...

Fukushima, Japan . Image via Wikipedia The hoax text/SMS about the alleged radioactive fallout from the problematic Fukushima had already reached other Asian countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, India and Hong Kong. The fictitious message warns people in the Philippines and other Asian countries against the radiation that leaked from the problematic nuclear reactors in Fukushima , Japan caused by magnitude 9.0 earthquake that rocked the northern part of the country last March 11, 2011. It advises everyone to stay indoors especially when it rains and to put "betadine", an Iodine based solution to the neck area to protect the thyroid from the radioactive particles. The text message began to spread in the Philippines early morning of Monday, March 14 after reports of a second explosion from one of the Fukushima reactors. By afternoon, the message became viral and already spread in the internet through Twitter and Facebook. At approximately 3PM ...

Nuclear Plant . Image via Wikipedia I think many people received the hoax text/SMS message regarding the fictitious report that the Philippines along with other Asian countries will be reached today by the radiation coming out from the problematic Fukushima nuclear power plant. And most of these people are alarmed and as a result, forwarded the message to their loved ones and friends. The message spread like virus. In fact, by 3 o'clock this afternoon, I already received 2 versions of this tale. The anxiety and confusion caused by that message is severe. One famous  university in the Philippines along with many other schools suspended their classes with the safety of their student in view. My officemate's mother even called him and ask him to rush into the nearby pharmacy to buy "betadine", an iodine solution, as instructed by the SMS message. The message, if true is really frightening but as we see events unfold today, the message was proven to be UNTRUE, a nice...

                             Image via Wikipedia Since the news spread out about the possible meltdown of Japan's nuclear reactor in Fukushima due to the strong earthquake last Friday , there has been fictitious text/SMS messages circulating around the Philippines . The text message warns that the radiation from the problematic nuclear plant will reach the Philippines and other Asian countries today and everybody is advised to stay indoors for their safety especially when it rains. Here's one variation of that text message: BBC FLASHNEWS: Japan government confirms radiation leak at Fukushima nuclear plants. Asia countries should take necessary precautions. If rain comes, remain indoors first 24hrs. Close doors & windows. Swab neclskin with betadine where thyroid area is, radiation hits thyroid first. Take extra precautions. Radiation may hit Phil at starting 4pm today. Pls send to your loved ones...