I got HOOQed

"Netflix in the Philippines?! No way? Yes way!" was my very eloquent thought process when I first heard about HOOQ from attending the CBC's first anniversary Black Party. They were one of the sponsors at the event and were just as lively and excited as we were, to our delight. They hosted a few games and gave us prizes _{(even a chance to win a few HOOQ shirts I wasn't able to get :( )}

"HOOQ is a gateway to a world of unlimited entertainment. With just one app, you can stream, download and enjoy thousands of movies and TV series. All from your phone, laptop or tablet." *

The first thing I noticed when I logged in _{(with the free 1 month subscription, thank you very much, HOOQ)} was the mixed feature of both Hollywood and Filipino films. As they explained the platform to me, I was expecting a selection of American movies only so it was great to find out that they also had Filipino movies and a selection of Filipino TV series in their movie library.

Luckily, I had a fairly new smartphone to work with so it could easily cover the tech specs needed to smoothly run the app. When I chose Mall Cop and started playing the movie, it was awesome that it was in great quality without any hiccups. The sound was good and the interface was familiar enough to understand.



I'm still waiting for the day they have recent movies and series in their selection as they only have shows from the early 2000s or earlier. A great feature to add too would be to let the user search a specific movie, or category: be they Hollywood or Filipino productions. Right now, you can pick between TV Series or Movies, and everything is mixed between the two, from genre to production, so a better filter would be great as the selections grow.

Considering all that, the pricing is quite fair especially if you're a big fan of Filipino telenovelas and the fact that you could pre-download your favorite movies was another plus for me. Personally, I'm excited to see what more HOOQ can grow into as they've tapped a service not many previously have had access to. Maybe they can venture into featuring live stream videos of sports or international events? Who knows? Excited for all the possibilities!

Bohol Maker Fest 2015

The event was awesome. Hands down. The Maker Fest started to run from July 23-25, 2015 at Island City Mall coinciding with the Sandugo Trade Expo and the Sandugo Fest. It was a three day rush of technology, enthusiasm, and opportunities for Bohol and it's people. It sucked that I was only able to catch it's last day, though.

The three-day event was full of exhibits, talks, and free workshops. You can check the event schedule on their website, which I think was really cool because despite it being a weebly site, they were able to create this central source of information that would be easily accessible to their target audience. Again, very cool.

The festival had one central display area for all the projects they features located at the center of the mall. I was partly expecting it to be in the activity hall but I was pleasantly surprised to see it at the second floor in between the two elevators. That meant everybody and anybody who wanted to go anywhere in the mall had to pass by the exhibit. The location brought us quite a crowd. Thumbs up to you, Alturas!

The projects being displayed at the exhibit were just as diverse as they were ingenious. They ranged from motion sensors that could assist the visually impaired to a motorcycle that surprised many of its passengers; there's something for everyone.

The bottom-left picture form the above's photoset shows PrintBit's Roy Bayonas posing with his water and electricity consumption monitoring system. The device is attached to the establishment's water and electricity meters and, with a dashboard, will enable you to control how much water or electricity you want to consume that month. It shows you the status of your utility consumption and helps you manage them, helping you make the most out of your resources. Cool!

A few wacky inventions I found was an Arduino-powered light stick. The device rapidly flashes a series of light sequences, whose speed is monitored by a small switch on its back. When in motion, the series of lights generate the programmed imagery. Guess what this one says!

Perks of a community manager. Thanks for the gift, guys!

The event had a great lineup of speakers. From digital marketing to community innovation, it got 'em all. It was particularly inspiring to see folk that weren't from Bohol tell their story of how they worked hard to make the country a better place and make money at the same time. The fact that they wanted to extend their services and benefits to the people of Bohol were a great plus. 

I fangirled a little as I got to meet Earl Valencia, President of Ideaspace. I've always looked up to their engagement with the community and their effort with connecting through grassroots level. Someday, I'm going to work for you, Ideaspace. Someday.

I especially liked the bit where he said that Bohol has its strong points in agriculture and tourism and that we had to focus our efforts on our existing strengths rather than add friction to sectors that we're initially not as strong at.

Being part of the ICT council, I've got some perks here and there. Booyah.

After the talks, I went back to the exhibit area to check out mor of the booths. We've got 3D printed sunglass frames, a robot that helps sort medicine in specialized medicinal trays, a solar-powered gardening system made by a friend _{(go Holynamians!)}, and accessories made out of used beer caps and preserved dog jaw bone.

I even got my hands dirty as I tried making my own bottle-cap keychain. Thanks for the tutorial, Tommy!

At the end of the day, it was all about the people. It was great seeing everyone in the Bohol tech community again and I'm excited to see what's in store for us! _{(shoutout to Charles for letting me sneak around and be annoying haha)} Perhaps the planned Startup Weekend Tourism Edition? Or being the next Geeks On A Beach hosts? Who knows. Just keep swimming guys! I'll join you back home soon!

FabLab's Maker Fest 2015 this Wednesday

FabLab, or Fabrication Laboratory, is Bohol and the country's first fabrication facility. They have been active in advocating the importance of innovation and it's integration, and have been monumental in supporting small businesses and those affected by disasters in the province.

As Sandugo plays a very important role in Boholano culture, FabLab partnered with DTI and other local chapters to celebrate innovation this week.

The Maker Fest will be held at Island City Mall, showcasing various experiments, creations, and products that embody a Boholano's creativity. Apart from the exhibit will be talks and workshops from reputable speakers and mentors that touch the topics of green living, entrepreneurship, and engineering.  

The opportunity for Filipinos to embrace their natural born instinct for innovation is here. For those Filipinos that are tactile learners, and for everyone who has a heart for creation, join us in the Maker Fest starting this Wednesday at Island City Mall and share with us your crazy idea, join the free workshops, or just hang around and talk to the creatives at the event.

It is also important to note that during the Makers Fest, the Bohol Ideas to Innovation Competition will be happening and will be constantly updated after every talk. 

The Competition will be about individuals presenting the best and innovative idea (hardware, software, industrial). The chosen ideas will then be supported by the Department of Trade and Industry and their partners for the prototyping. The prototyping will be done at Fablab Bohol - a prototyping and idea generation facility working with digital fabrication tools such as 3D Printers, Laser Cutters and CNC Routers.*

Follow their Facebook page for more updates and their website for more details. See you there!

all photos © FabLab Facebook Page

Win an iPhone 6 with Yamba!

That's right: WIN an iPhone 6!!

Yamba is a European social networking startup that aims to rid your feed of the internet's noise and serve you content you care about. Yamba was founded some time in 2009 but has just recently founded it's Philippine market.

Yamba makes use of the hashtag and follow mechanisms that filters content according to what you love. Think Facebook + Instagram!

I personally think Tumblr would be a good competitor for their brand as UX is king in these types of platforms. Considering they are still toying with their design, finding out what works and what doesn't, and tapping communities to help make their vision a reality, Yamba appears to be a good contender for the social media landscape. I especially like their move of connecting with local blogging communities as they (we) are exactly the type of market they are serving.

Currently, they have the web and iOS platform up. You can see your feed and upload content using either of these platforms.

To qualify for the contest, see details below:

To join the beta testers list, simply go to www.yamba.rocks and fill out the sign up form! Form is only open from June 30 - July 5, 12mn. There will be no extensions.

This is exclusive only to the users who sign up before July 5, 12 mn!

On July 6 - 20, the beta testers can play around the site - post, comment, share. The following people will get to win the prize:

• First winner is the one who has the most views post in yamba.rocks
• Second winner is the one who has the most followers by the end of the test.
• Third winner is the one who uploaded the most number of post (photos, links, quotes, texts, etc).

They'll send an evaluation form to all beta testers on July 20, to mark the end of the testing period.

All winners are rewarded with an iPhone6 and will be announced through Yamba on July 25, 2015. Winners can only claim their prizes IN PERSON.

So sign up today, invite your friends to sign up and follow you, and make sure you’re online from July 6 - 17 to post, post, & post and WIN an iphone 6!

Startup Camp Bohol and Cebu: Microsoft for Startups

Startup Camp Bohol and Cebu happened on May 7 and May 9 of 2015 respectively. Stars aligned that I was able to attend both which really gave me more insight on how the Bohol and Cebu communities worked. Other than that, I got to learn more about Microsoft's ventures into Startups through Mr. Arnie Locsin, the tech evangelist of Microsoft. They had more speakers in the Cebu camp though; the community being as diverse as it is. That's because the intended second speaker at the Bohol Startup Camp had to rest at the clinic for the day _{(lack of sleep and stress. poor sir Allan)}.

Two Microsoft programs were highlighted during the Startup Camp. Microsoft BizSpark and Microsoft Azure. The former is a program created by Microsoft for startups. Under it are similar programs like Microsoft BizSpark Plus and Microsoft Ventures, each with their own set of perks. Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform created by Microsoft for building, deploying and managing applications and services through a global network.

Microsoft BizSpark

Basically, if you get accepted into the Microsoft BizSpark program, you get $750 worth of Microsoft cloud services for three years. That includes Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Cloud Solutions and all Microsoft software. That's already $150 for five developers. 

"If you are a software startup and not a consulting firm, are in operation for less than 3 years, making less than 1M$ in annual revenue, you WILL be accepted. " *

In applying, it also helps to have a legitimate website domain name and custom email address.

If you are successful in your BizSpark application, you can then apply for BizSpark Plus with a stricter acceptance basis and regimen. Word of advice: before applying, sort out what resources you need and make sure that the BizSpark Plus program is really something you need at the current stage of your startup.

The BizSpark Plus program provides $5k per month as opposed to the $750 per month in the regular BizSpark program. Some startups fall out because they upgrade too early. Their consumption barely reaches a thousand dollars and yet they are applying for the BizSpark Plus program, only leading to their team's termination as their consumption is considerably less than what is given to them. So choose wisely.

Microsoft Azure

The portal enables you to create databases, websites, applications, virtual machines and everything on the cloud with your Microsoft account. It provides PaaS and IaaS services and supports many other languages and frameworks including many Microsoft software.

PaaS vs IaaS vs SaaS

IaaS, or Infrastructure as a Service, means that the cloud computing service provider takes care of setting up the Virtualization, Storage, Networking and everything it needs to setup an environment where you only have to worry about the operating systems and other stacks above that.

If you want to only worry about your code, the PaaS, or the Platform as a Service, is the model you're looking for.

Startup Camps will be happening at Ilo-Ilo and General Santos city next so if you're near the area, check them out! Stay tuned for updates via the TechTalks facebook page!

Takeaways from CBC's Basic Blogging Meetup

I haven't been to a CBC event in so long, I can't even remember the last time I went _{(seriously, I don't)} so, as timely as it was, they were having an event during my free weekend so I thought: why not?

For a little bit of background, the Cebu Blogging Community is a dynamic group of bloggers who are based in Cebu and provide an avenue for upcoming and new bloggers to hone their skill. Not that the entirety of the group is full of noobs, far from it! Many professional bloggers commit to the community and even host events on occasion for fellow members; even the team leads themselves are established members of the blogging community. So! That goes without saying that the CBC is reputable group of both professional and non-professional _{(but equally as passionate)} bloggers that aim for dynamism into becoming social good advocates of their communities.

Awesome people in the Cebu Blogging Community _{(don't mind Ace's sexy back as my wallpaper)}

This event is part one of a series of blogging seminars the group is planning to make regular. Mary Narvasa, the speaker of this class, is not only one of CBC's team leads but she has also worked in both digital and traditional journalism for years building up her portfolio and experience as a writer. She was really fun and interesting to listed to. Supplemented by the members' friendly banter, it made the half-day event just as meaningful.

From that, here are a few takeaways I can share:

1) Pop-up Marketing doesn't gain traction in the Philippines

Remember those stylishly annoying "Enjoy what you're reading? Subscribe to our newsletter!" floating windows that pop-up in a few blogs after you've scrolled through most of their page? I never click them. Maybe once or twice in I site I really like but generally I don't. And apparently I'm not alone in this revolution.

Pop-up marketing, as proven by our professional bloggers, doesn't work in the Philippine market. Unless you're target audience are people in places other than the Philippines, then you won't get very far in collecting e-mails. Why's that so important? We'll get into that in a bit.

2) Bounce Rate

The higher your bounce rate, the worse it is for your site. Personally, I haven't heard of this term up until it was mentioned when we talked about metrics at the meetup. Basically, bounce rate is the measure of how often a user visits your site but doesn't do anything, which is defined by them not clicking anything. There are various tools that can be used to measure this such as Google Analytics.

3) Use Flickr to host images for your blog

Storing your images in a separate image hosting site, flickr or photobucket are some examples, and retrieving them through direct links to your blog makes the images in your blog posts load faster and clears up some valuable space for more content from you, which is great!

4) Follow the 80/20 rule in publishing content

Obviously your blog can't live without some social media pages that'll make your content shareable and reputable, especially for those bloggers that are just starting out. On that note, nobody would even want to keep following you, despite how good they think your last post was, if you just post links of your latest blog posts or your latest product discount. Plugging yourself into every post just doesn't work.

The 80/20 rule states that 80% of what you post should be for your customers while 20% is for you. "For customers" could mean links to articles that aren't yours but you found interesting enough that you thought it might benefit your readers, product codes for various shops you were offered, giveaways even simple quotes! Engaging with your audience pays. Both figuratively and literally.

5) Collecting e-mails is important

The root cause of all these efforts, the optimizing, content planning and all that, is to establish a blogging network whose significance is measured through the number of e-mails you have in that network. With those e-mails, you can use tools to collect data from them, collect users like them to get their data, send out surveys, offers, discounts, announcement and, most importantly, build and audience and regular following for your blog and brand.

And that's it! The meetup was more extensive and talked about way more so I encourage all budding bloggers out there that are based in Cebu, or who are planning to visit Cebu, to meetup with CBC members. Share experiences, make friends and enjoy blogging! 

Check it. Look at it. Work it, powerpoint.

Talking to some of Bohol's LGU representatives about Blogging

PIA Bohol, their delegates and speakers at their Blogging for Tourism and Environment event

Going with my friend Dalareich to Catigbian, Bohol to help her present her segment, Basic Blogging, at PIA's Blogging for Tourism and Environment event was, first of all, far since the town of Catigbian is located in the island's interior and, secondly, very inspiring.

The delegates before the workshop started

I was expecting an auditorium of high school students before I arrived at the session hall with Dalareich as we climbed the stairs of the Catigbian Municipal Hall. The crowd that greeted us, though, was a selection of delegates from various municipalities in Bohol holding esteemed positions in their respective local government units. Dalareich and I shared a look.

Our friends at PIA Bohol were very welcoming and accommodating upon our arrival. I had the privilege to meet the people behind the scenes of PIA Bohol, their Information Center Manager Mr. Rey Chiu, who was a delight to listen to as he talked enthusiastically with Dalareich discussing with her their plans for the upcoming Blogging for Tourism and Environment Marathon this December, and PIA Cebu's Infocen Ms. Rachel Nessia.

Basic Blogging Workshop

Based on previous encounters with government officials, I was quite apprehensive about my segment of the talk as Dalareich was kind enough to include me in her workshop. I was tasked to talk about the technical side of setting up a blog with mine as an example. It pleasantly surprised me that the participants were so participative throughout both our segments, asking questions, answering our inquiries and being genuinely interested in improving how things were in the system which greatly impressed me.

Us after a successful workshop

The experience taught me that old dogs really can learn new tricks, or at least aren't deterred by learning something new and are more than willing to pass on the knowledge to their collegues. A lot in our government and culture can still improve greatly for our country's development but it gives me some peace of mind that we have these passionate individuals to push for the development of, at the very least, our small island.

PizzaPy First Anniversary: New Learnings on Python's Basics

Obviously I still have a lot to learn about the language and it's application, but being exposed to it for the most part of my internship at Symph, I CAN say though that I have a pretty good grasp of the language's basics.

I greatly referred to Learn Python The Hard Way when I first started, as referred by Albert, and it's safe to say that for those interested in learning Python, their modules are the way to go. Not only have I personally experienced the course's effectiveness, but so did many of the professionals that apply the language in real-world projects when they first started out.

PizzaPy is a meetup group that gets together every month for an evening of pizza, beer and Python. Veterans and beginners freely enthuse about the language and often have a main topic to talk about every meetup. Although being aware of their gatherings for a while now, the celebration of their first anniversary was my the first time I actually participated in a PizzaPy meetup.

PizzaPy's First Anniversary celebrated at The TIDE

The whole day workshop was packed with interesting topics for both Python veterans and beginners alike. It began with a Python for Beginners talk, enough to help us survive the day at least, and then was eventually followed by A Sip From The Flask and a Crash Course on SqlAlchemy.

1) Python variables are Nametags

Many programmers visualize variables as containers of values that they want represented.

Python, instead, uses variables as similar to nametags, pointing to the objects or values they want to manipulate. Python creates the value first and then associates the variable to that value. If another variable has that same value, it is again associated to the already made value.

There is no duplication of values in Python

2) Python lists are "arrays on steroids"

As Daryl, PizzaPy organizer and first speaker, colorfully put it. Python's list is equivalent to Java's array, with a little perks. For example:

array = [1, 2, 3, 4]

and printing array[0] will obviously print 1, right? Now try printing array[-1]. Using negative numbers as indices for the array is acceptable in Python. Their output will be the nth element from the last end of the array. In this case, it's 4. Neat, right? A few other tricks:

print array[1:3]
>>> [2, 3]
print array[:2]
>>> [1, 2]
print array[2:]
>>> [4, 3]

3) Four Spaces is Best

It was in this event that I realized that in programming etiquette, when indenting your code, using four spaces is best rather than simply using TAB _{(which I am guilty of)}.

Snippet of code from a project in Sublime Text 2

Reason is that every PC has its own set of spaces for TAB, it could be five or six spaces by default. So when you use your TAB, your code may look right in your machine but when another coder views your code, it'll look totally messed up if his TAB is set in a different number of spaces.

Why is this so important in Python? It is because the language does not have any braces({}) to denote blocks. The interpreter greatly relies on the indents to identify each block of code.

4) The Difference between "..." and '...'

Basically nothing, in general. Single-quotes and double-quotes practically work the same way in Python. The difference, I learned was:

print 'someone is "happy"'
>>> someone is "happy"
print "someone's happy"
>>> someone's happy

Use single-quotes when you want to display strings with double-quotes and use single-quotes when you want to display strings with single-quotes.

5) Flask was fun

Flask is a microframework  for Python based on Wrkzeug, Jinja 2, and good intentions. *

Steve, the second speaker, did a great job with introducing us to Flask. I used Google App Engine for Askbuildshare and I'm still a beginner at it so I'm not quite sure how it compares to Flask but Steve, when asked about Flask's scalability, said that their systems "haven't crashed yet" so I'm assuming Flask is reliable, at least for some apps that aren't heavy-duty.

My first Flask-run app, made with a lot of help

Trying it out and getting it to work was a really fun learning process for me and I'm looking to explore on it more, just to get a better sense of appreciation for the framework _{(then again, I still have Google App Engine to mess with so this will still be a while)}. If you want to learn more about Flask and it's applications, check out Steve's A Sip From The Flask. A very fun and cool intro to the framework and definitely work walking through.

So as you can see, I've only skimmed the surface of what I should have learned at the event/workshop and I definitely still am a sprout in the forest. I was quite happy to know, though, that majority of the event's participants were also beginners in Python like myself so I didn't feel too left out _{(although a lot of them were already masters of other languages in their line of work. meep)}. The event was smooth and fact-filled and was a day well spent. Hopefully I'll get to attend more PizzaPy meetups in the future and get to relate more with the hardcore programmers in events like these. 

Sending Bitcoin from Coins.ph to ChangeTip

If you've noticed, there's now a new little doo-dad in one of the sections of my sidebar.

Tip Me

Inspired by my research on Bitcoin miners in my last post, I decided to give Bitcoin a shot myself. I used the complimentary Coins.ph Prepaid Bitcoin card given as a freebie for Geeks On A Beach 2 participants and wanted to use those Bitcoins for ChangeTip, as they went hand-in-hand discussing Bitcoin and it's concept in one of the breakout sessions at Geeks On A Beach.

Navigating through the Coins.ph site, I managed to log in and cash in my prepaid cards. The site itself wasn't difficult to navigate at all and was admittedly very eye-candy. ChangeTip was similar. It surprised me since most of the sites I've visited in the past that had something to do with finances or formal transactions looked extremely boring and difficult to understand and navigate.

I decided to do an experiment with Coins.ph's Buy Load service where i purchased PHP 25 for my SUN Cellular account. Funny thing was, after the transactionw as done, the Coins.ph system said "You should receive your load in 5-10 minutes" but it didn't. I thought there was some type of bug or the format I typed my cell number in was wrong. So the next day I did the same transaction again but this time, true enough, I received an SMS saying I received the load I bought with Bitcoin twice.

The transaction I made the other night just needed some time to process, is all. That's for being impatient. Now I ended up spending twice what I initially intended to pay. Uplifted by the fact that I now had a pretty good idea  how the thing works, I decided to move on to ChangeTip. This was where I spent a good hour dumbly looking through it's pages and links trying to find the "merge with Coins.ph wallet" button, as I attempted to send a tip but was denied do the lack of funds.

For those of you who want to check Bitcoin out, ChangeTip's concept of sending a virtual but at the same time very real tip to an organization or individual you support is a great way to get Bitcoin's concept (people buy real estate with Bitcoin, apparently).

Following this tutorial on setting up your ChangeTip Wallet, the next thing you need to do to send Bitcoin from your Coins.ph wallet is to simply hit the "Send Bitcoin button" in the Coins.ph dashboard.

Send Bitcoin

A window will pop up and prompt you to enter the address you want to send the Bitcoin. Simply copy-paste the wallet address under the QR code in ChangeTip as stated in the tutorial above. And viola! You now have Bitcoins to tip anyone you support. It took me an hour and many Google searching to figure that out, despite it being too painfully obvious so for those of you who're stuck, don't let that stop you from trying the Bitcoin experience. If you have any problems that good ol' Google can't answer for you, I commend the very kind Coins.ph support team who are always there for you. Take note though Coins.ph works best if you're in Thailand or the Philippines.

It's fast, convenient and safe so why not give Bitcoin a try? You want in on the future of finance, don't you?

@mashleyuy Thanks Ashley!!! Have a great day ahead :D
— coins.ph (@coinsph) October 5, 2014

Top 10 Things I Learned at Geeks On A Beach 2

As I mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I had just attended my first Geeks on a Beach with my friends in the Bohol startup community. I got so bummed with not being able to go with them the first time so when I heard there would be a group discount for the next one in Cebu, I jumped at the chance and cashed in months early.

GOAB2 with hosts Dave and Albert

Naturally, I learned a hell of a lot while listening to all the talks, most especially during the Breakout Sessions I joined _{(which starstruck me a bit when sitting face-to face with people like Gwendolyn Regina and Mike Prasad)}. A few hilarious and completely embarrassing stories I can share with you regarding the topic of being starstruck was when I had the privilege to greet Janette Toral as she entered the venue. We've interacted before and I helped her with promoting her event once but that didn't stop me from making a fool out of myself in front of her. Same thing when Ravi Agarwal approached me to ask about MLePay, one of Symph's startups, during one of the breaks. I was all "Uhh.. haha.. I umm.. Yeah", being a total dumbass because I couldn't believe these people were taking to me in the flesh. All jokes and embarrassment aside, they were awesome people and were quite forgiving of me at times in our conversation when my brain gave up on me when I needed it most. 

For this post, I will bother you people with the "10 Things Ashley Learned at Geeks On A Beach 2" with the purpose of one, sharing what I learned and two, to keep myself from forgetting said learnings.

GOAB2 venue sans people

1) Portfolio Company 

A portfolio company is a company or entity in which a venture capital firm, buyout firm, holding company or other investment fund invests. All of the companies currently backed by a private equity firm can be spoken of as the firm's portfolio. * 

When put in the startup view of things, portfolio companies are basically the companies being funded or invested in by larger organizations. Like Tactiles and Nyfti from Ideaspace.

2) Bootstrapping Company

A situation in which an entrepreneur is starting a company with little capital. An individual is said to be boot strapping when he or she attempts to found and build a company from personal finances or from the operative revenues of the company. * 

Bootstrapping was what we did when we launched our new office. We did ghetto cut-outs as the office's signage and smacked on a Wordpress theme and did impromptu pictorials a day before opening to the public. Bootstrapping is what many startups do, usually during validation and testing, based on what I've seen so far.

3) Venture Funding

Usually a high-risk/high-return opportunity done by investors for startups with strong growth potential. As a small-to-medium business starts up, some founders feel the need to get an investor up front. Negotiations happen between the startup and the investor as the latter gives a certain amount to help fund the business and in turn, gets private equity stakes.

4) E-Commerce Law

Also known as Republic Act No. 8792, it is

An act providing for the recognition and use of electronic commercial and non-commercial transactions and documents, penalties for unlawful use thereof and for other purposes. *

The law puts the Philippines in the global market, making virtual contracts, online banking and connects all government departments to the internet and provide universal access to the public. More of the law explained in this wonderful post. 

5) Hacker News

The HN concept was quite new to me when I started research on it for this post. I've heard many of my colleagues refer to it when a substantially interesting event happens in the tech world. As it was repeatedly referred to by both participants and speakers, I decided to give it a look.

I honestly found the site very boring at first glance and only came back to it two hours later, but as I finally decided to give it a chance and actually read through some of the links I realized that the site was overflowing with information that actually matters. I should make a note to check what's up everyday.

6) Curating Serendipity

The most fun presentation for me in the whole event.

7) Success in Digital Media = Right Mechanism + Audience + Brand and product

8) Bitcoin Miners

Bitcoin is, for a lack of a better term, virtual money. This virtual money has value though and you can purchase anything with it, from books, clothes to property and real estate. Bitcoin come from Miners that are tasked to approve transactions and solve certain algorithms to generate more Bitcoin in return. Its software is completely free and open-source and, as I browse sign in Coins.ph, seems really interesting and convenient. Will probably make a separate post out of this soon once I've done a few transactions.

9) State of Philippine's Media Culture

In one of the breakout sessions in the second day, I got to hear Kaloy Uypuanco talk about his and his team's effort to revive the Visayan culture in the youth. I felt that this deserved a separate post entirely so I wrote something really quick previously, especially after I got to hear another speaker talks about the same issue at another event.

10) 10 Internet Facts by the World Startup Report

Google is a monster, overpowering all the world's tech companies together that it had to be put in a separate pie chart. The ranking of countries in slide number 5 shocked me so much that Andrius, Lead researcher of the World Startup Report, had to reassure me.

Want to know more about our Internet Hall of Fame Research? Ask us anything on Reddit: http://t.co/I4apcjMtYV
— World Startup Report (@WorldStartupRpt) June 16, 2014

One last funny story to tell you is that Movenpick Hotel, the venue of GOAB2 has these fancy rooms by the lounge. I needed to use the restroom and the concierge gestured to a room hidden away at the corner. I went in and thought:

Where am I?

I then noticed the drier and went around looking for a sink but didn't find any. Then I saw a door handle and lo and behold,

This is the bathroom??!!

So yeah, those green tube-like structures were the sinks and water came down on your hand like a waterfall. The experience was similar when my family and I went to hong Kong and I got to experience sinks with sensors for the first time.

It was good to see old friends again and I definitely had fun at the event, especially since I got to help the organizers on occasion. Cheers to Techtalks.ph and on to the next event!

One of the very few decent selfies I take for #goab with the Bohol + Joseph team @benskelton @jaypaulaying pic.twitter.com/4nvdFbJBYg
— Ashley Uy (@mashleyuy) August 21, 2014

Reaching Goals and Setting New Ones

Last year, I set a goal for myself. 

"Do something great before I turn 20."

 It was a very vague goal, with no measurements or events that would let me know if I've definitively achieved it, just "something great". I found out a few month later, however, that setting a goal so figuratively wasn't the best practice one should use but i decided to run with the idea and, with or without me knowing, the decisions I made from then on would lead me to achieving this goal a year early, at least in my standards.

Ideaspace #Technopreneur Bootcamp Bohol 2014

Just recently I had had the privilege to once again work with the wonderful startup community that led me to this path. Our friends at Ideaspace, after witnessing the success of Startup Weekend Bohol, wanted to hold Bohol's first Ideaspace #Technopreneur Bootcamp. Naturally, the local tech community and organizers of Startup Weekend Bohol _{(i.e. the TechTalks Tagbilaran community)} were contacted and tasked to be field organizers and prepare the group before Ideaspace arrived from other engagements.

Meeting New Friends

Much like our experience in organizing SWB, there was a deep low on the number of participants. Working with my friends in TTTagbilaran was clear as a whistle as everyone had the right connections and drive to push through all the technicalities and logistics needed for the event. Giving it our all, we only managed to get 15 to 20 pre-event submissions. 

Ideaspace arrived, the venue was set for an assumed 115 participants and the TechTalks Tagbilaran team were internally screaming. But lo and behold, 135 participants showed upa nd idea submissions bamfed up to 41 before the mentor's Cafe started, which immensely delighted our friends from Ideaspace. "You seemed like you weren't worried at all! You were so relaxed!" One organizer said to us, core organizers, referring to our mental and emotional state a day and a few hours before the event started when things looked grim. We awkwardly laughed and replied "It's because we couldn't do anything more to make the situation any better."

Startup Weekend Bohol 2014

The situation was just as grim in before Startup Weekend Bohol opened a few months ago with a high number of "free" participants and a low number of "participants who would pitch". Mentors and Judges, both local and international, were there at the opening night looking forward to hearing Bohol's bright ideas while the organizers and I looked at each other in the sidelines with weary eyes about the number of people we expected to actually go up front. Much of our efforts in pre-event bootcamp sessions were, although fun, only attended by a handful of people. We thought the event would be a bust since nobody had an idea to share but the people of Bohol thought otherwise. One stood and pitched, then a group of two then a third and the next thing I knew half of the seats were empty because everyone wanted to stand up and share!

My first ever Press Conference

So much to say, the experience of going out there and engaging with the local community opened my eyes and taught me many lessons. To never underestimate the ability of people and to never ever give up when a challenge has been put in front of you.

Hanging with the big leagues

Being able to organize two such prestigious events was such a mind-blowing thought to me when I realized I had actually reached my goal. Hopefully, I am proven wrong and another bigger chance for me to "do something great" presents itself in the following five months but basking in the afterglow which was the Symph experience, I just wanted to look back at the things I was able to do in just a year following my decision to make myself better and man did I do a lot.

Chilling at Geeks On A Beach 2

One of which "lot of activities" I got to do was attend my first ever Geeks On A Beach at Mactan, Cebu. I met new friends and reconnected with old ones and once again learned so much that my experience at GOAB2 deserves a separate post on its own.

All the reflection and self-praise aside, being exposed to these events and communities of such crazy and passionate people, you get to look deep into yourself and makes you think about what part you play in all of it. Saying that, I think it's time to set another goal for myself, with output i can actually measure this time so I can't cheat.

"Symph has to be a purely startup driven/developing company before I turn 23. By then, I also have to be an expert at Rapid Prototyping and reliable at Growth Hacking. " 

And when I say "purely startup driven", I mean "purely startup driven". No client projects, no odd jobs, just purely the team around a table working together to solve the world's problems.

That was quite an intimidating dream actually and I'm very tempted to change it, but setting such a high standard for myself will only benefit me in the end, I think. "It won't be too bad, I hope", says the idealist me as I type this last sentence sealing my fate to this three-year commitment.

Developing Startups and my Internship

It has been five months since Clint and I joined Symph as their newest Creative Interns and I have to say, it's been one hell of a ride. As I'm writing this, my time with Symph as their newest intern is ending. And in this post, I'd like the future me to know that whatever might happen, after I graduate university or when I seriously pursue my career, that my experience here in Symph had been a great one.

My story with them started two years ago in my first ever Startup Weekend Cebu. Dave, one of the Symph founders, approached me after my team mate, Lawrence _{(who ended up being my co-intern two years later)}, presented on Sunday Night. I vaguely remember Dave asking me if I did the graphics for our team and if I was still a student or not. Ever since, I've kept in contact with Dave and Albert and some of the Symph team members in some way and, if they ever knew it or not, they've continuously given me a source of motivation and inspiration to keep on doing what I was doing and to strive for the best.

Team Symph on their way to Team Lunch

Getting accepted into Symph the day we applied was like dream come true to me _{(statement justified by my reaction)} and it's hard to believe it's been five months since then. I can justify that the time we spent with them weren't all fun and games though. On the first day we officially entered the then old Escario office, we were tasked to help with data entry in one of the Wordpress sites the company was developing at the time. I was already familiar with it's interface, being in charge of media during Startup Weekend Bohol, so I was pretty ok with the task, as opposed to my friend who had looked at the dashboard for the first time.

Francis and Kai shenanigans

The following days were Albert, one of Symph's founders, getting us to learn Git, Python and Google App Engine and how it all plays out together in development. Clint opted out of the program and decided to focus on his design, working with Dan, the company's Chief Design Officer. A lot came out of that study for me. I learned how to apply what I learned in a working environment and I got to understand what it takes to be a developer in a startup _{(at least a taste of it)}. Albert assigned to me one of the old startups the company used to work on as my project for this internship. Askbuildshare is basically a list of problems and possible solutions that the public can access and validate or possibly help solve.

It started out that way at first but then, after a long talk, pivoted to a tool to help manage thesis projects for teachers and then pivoted again after testing to the original idea. The direction we wanted to take was that the higher ups in the academe would approve of the system so students can use it as inspiration for their thesis works. I went through the whole process myself from the development to the testing, leading up to the launch.

A lot happened in those months from staring at code for a whole weekend, trying to fathom where that id led to, to ending up deleting two months worth of code only to go back to phase one. The lessons I learned in that process were immeasurable though and I wouldn't change any of the challenges I faced then even if I could.

We are OKr

Of course, the fun part about working with a startup is the ability to see it grow and work on other projects that could possibly make the company big. Clint and I witnessed one of the company's milestones when we upgraded from the Escario office to the The TIDE, we've seen co-workers and friends come and go in the past few months and more importantly, we've got down and dirty with Symph's most recent startup, Outdoin.

We've obviously upgraded ourselves, practiced, watched tutorials, lazed around by ourselves or with other co-workers and just generally bonded with the team. I learnt so much in my stay with them and only hope to extend my experience with the company once I've graduated. A lot can happen in one semester and I can only hope Symph will miss me as much as I'll miss them. Thanks, guys v(=∩_∩=)ﾌ

GDays Mandaue 2014: Getting your business out there

Overview of GDays Mandaue here.

Bernardo Arellano III, GBG Iloilo Founder, went up as the second speaker . I remember getting updates from him and the GDG Crisis Mappers when the earthquake and Yolanda relief operations were happening. They came to Bohol and went out to map the areas where the roads were too damaged to pass through, where the most help is needed and where the nearest evac stations were. You can find the map here. They really helped out a lot of NGOs and made the relief process faster and more efficient. Hats off to them for making such a difference.

Bernardo Arellano III talks about Google Places

Why is mapping your business such a big deal? Most traditional brick-and-mortar entrepreneurs rely on the word of mouth within the community and fliers and whatnot to attract attention to their store. I'm not saying that that's a bad thing but, let's say, you're a hotel owner for example and you rely on the word of mouth. What good will it do if the people who know about your great services and amenities are the people that don't really NEED a place to stay since, well, they live there. What if you're offering a specialized service? Wouldn't it be great if not only the people around your area, that, give or take,  may only use your special service once a year, but also people that are actually looking for your service, use your service?

I made a foreign friend at a local event one time and she said "You can't look anything up in Google about the shops in Bohol". She was planning her trip here and turned to good 'ol Google to help her with her plan since she's new to the area. She wanted to look for a nearby convenience store near the hotel she was staying in, a auto shop or service center nearby her area to get her motor checked if anything happened, the nitty gritty details that she needed weren't there and in turn, these businesses just lost a fine customer. She could have just looked for them when she got to the hotel, of course, but my point in giving that example was visibility. You're running a business and you want as many people to know about it as possible. What better way to do it that using Google Places and Google Maps? With the right optimization, you could have a global audience! What also makes most Google services the best is that it's for FREE. A good chunk of these features are, which is great!

Here's a great video on what is so important about getting your business out there.

"Each small business is different but they all need one thing to make them successful. Customers."

So how exactly do you "get it out there"? I'm sure a lot of people are already familiar with Google Maps but there is this other service from Google that isn't as popular, _{(according to me that is because before the event, I had no idea that this service was available)} Google Places. Here's a quick video on what Google Places is all about:

So I'm not any Google Places expert and I've never even used the thing before since I don't have a business to market BUT I want people to know that a service like this with huge traffic, I might add is just there. For free. Just sitting there. USE IT. 

Creating a Google Places Business Listing

Calling out to business people in Bohol!! This exists! I will join your ranks soon but while I'm not there yet, give more power to small businesses!! Please, so all the smart Pinoys will STAY in Pinas!

Oh and on a  further note, I know this such a late announcement but whatever. Google Street View is coming to the Philippines!! Yeeey! So stop bathing naked in the street near the drain because you'll never know when your naked ass will be up live on the internet for everyone to see :D

Right now, only Intramuros has been captured properly. They'll be partnering with the Department of Tourism and will be starting at Metropolitan Manila and will hopefully work their way down to other historic places of the Philippines. A more detailed report from Rappler here.

GDays Mandaue 2014: Musings on Innovation

Overview of GDays Mandaue here.

The first speaker up for the event was Wilson Ng of Ng Khai Development Corp. It was really inspiring for me to hear all the efforts he and his team made to pursue their desire for innovation.

"A businessman isn't necessarily an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is someone who creates new wealth through innovation."   -Wilson Ng

He first talked about how innovation starts businesses. What are your consumers' unmet needs and how do you, as an entrepreneur, fulfill it? For me, that guide question is something I've been mulling about for at least a year now. Starting my own business has always been at the back of my mind and I know, in time, I can do it, but what would it be about? An Internet Cafe? That'll be okay I guess but let's save that option as a last resort. An IT Solutions Company? Plausible. I mean, I know a few people I can work with if it comes to that but there are a few _{(abeit underground ones)} popping up here in Bohol and there are a ton in Cebu so it isn't something that hasn't ever been done before _{(in the two given provinces at least)}. I want to start something new, something fresh, something I'll love doing, but everyone wants to do that now, don't they. I guess I'll have to give that question 5 more years to think about.

"Open yourself up because business opportunities will come and go." -Wilson Ng

That is so true. I look two years back and I couldn't have gotten this far if I hadn't opened up to my first StartupWeekend or, if I look ever further, took the responsibility of being the Web Developers' Guild president, the opportunities that I got today, all the entries of this blog actually, wouldn't have happened. So thank you WDG :)

Mr. Ng mentions that there are two ways to do business: 1) Use proven techniques and 2) Try to do something new. Obviously, an idealistic person _{(such as myself)} would pick number two but is it really that easy? To do something no one has ever done before? The challenge isn't only the "how" but the "what", too. What hasn't been invented yet these days. You have to have a special mind _{(not a Beautiful Mind because that's just creepy if you get the reference)} to be able to think ways out of the box. Because face it, we use the phrase "think out of the box" all the time but do we actually know where the box is in the first place? Yeah. Think about it.

One misconception about innovation is that we think it's something totally new but in reality, it can be a marriage of two different ideas or the alteration of an existing idea where you can add or subtract something from it. The fact that you took time on renewing an existing business model or product to make it better is already a feat in and of itself. But just don't get it too over your head and end up actually making the product worse than it already was. That'll completely defeat the purpose.

And that's it for my musings on Innovation. Big thanks to Mr. Ng on giving us a "4-month course in 40 minutes" and for really getting my attention. This post will forever be in my "references for future life situations" column in my brain.

I suck at ending my write-ups.