Pinoy Blogfest 2.0 Advocates Social Media for Social Good

From the inbox: With Filipinos once again acknowledged as among the most active social media users — via FaceBook, Twitter, Multiply, Tumblr, Flickr, YouTube, etc. — Filipino bloggers are challenged to explore the potential of social media as a transformative force in Philippine society. “Social media as an agent for change” will be the theme of Pinoy_Blogfest 2.0, happening on Friday, 05 August 2011, at the TriNoma Activity Center in Quezon City.

Leading the discussion will be prominent social media activists Usec. Manuel (Manolo) L. Quezon III and Ms. Gang Badoy, who will share their thoughts on these two basic questions: How can we harness the power of social media for the social good? Can bloggers become positive change agents through social networking?

Both Usec. Quezon and Ms. Badoy will be the main speakers during the Blogger’s BIO (By Invitation Only) programme, scheduled from 7:00 to 10:00 pm as the culminating activity of Pinoy_Blogfest 2.0 on Friday, 05 August 2011.

Manolo Quezon is a popular essayist and blogger, who is currently an undersecretary of the Presidential Communications and Strategic Planning Office. Prior to this, he hosted The Explainer and The Explainer Dialogues on ANC cable news channel. He also headed the Speaker’s Bureau and was a columnist and editorial writer for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, and was the assistant managing editor for the Philippine Free Press weekly news magazine. Usec. Quezon has received various awards for his professional work, including being named “Opinion Writer of the Year” in 1994 and 2005 by the Rotary Club of Manila’s Journalism Awards, one of the oldest journalism awards in the country. He also won the 1st Prize for the Essay in English for the Carlos Palance Memorial Awards for Literature in 1997.

Ms. Gang Badoy is a media practitioner and alternative educator. A product of the Assumption San Lorenzo High School, UP Diliman and the Indianapolis-Purdue University, she worked first for ABS-CBN in San Francisco and became news desk editor for NBC’s Eyewitness News. In 1999, she accepted a post with the Diocese of San Jose, California, and worked closely with Catholic Relief Services. She came home to the Philippines in mid-2003 and joined Jesuit Communications (JesCom) and spearheaded workshops on “Media and Ministry” for the East Asian Pastoral Institute. Primarily a writer, Ms. Badoy founded Rock Ed Philippines, an alternative education volunteer group that works for a more interesting way of presenting socio-civic issues to the youth. She also devotes time to giving media literacy lectures in campuses all over the Philippines, and is a staunch volunteerism advocate. Ms. Badoy was awarded as one of the Ten Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service (TOWNS) and Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) for 2010.

Pinoy_Blogfest 2.0 is a whole-day event, with several Social Activities targeted at various audiences. These are open to the public, as follows: 10:30 am to 12:oo nn – The New Workplace; 01:00 pm to 02:30 pm – It’s A Digital Life; 02:30 pm to 04:00 pm – Photography; 04:00 pm to 05:30 pm – Healthy Living. With expert resource persons for each of these social activities, the public will surely find the sessions both educational and entertaining. On-site registration will give the audience a chance to win raffle prizes and other give-aways.

Pinoy_Blogfest 2.0 is organized by GADGETS Magazine, with the support of The Coca-Cola Export Corporation, Teletech, Canon, Globe, Pony, Neo, Asus, Western Digital, Archos,
BenQ, JBL, Sennheiser, Manila Bulletin, Business Mirror, and TriNoma.

Review: Samsung Smart TV (Preview in Dubai)

From 'idiot box' into a smart box - that's how Samsung sees the Smart TV will fit. In a special Dubai bloggers meetup held March 31 at Media One Hotel, Samsung exclusively unveiled their latest innovation and let us experience some of its features, well, some.

Basically, it is a TV that has access to the internet. Through its Smart Hub - the user menu interface, you can socialize, browse any websites, search for contents you want to watch - did I say in 3D? And like your smartphones, you can also install apps in it. So you can access Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Talk or your mail, etc while watching. Imagine while you're watching football, you're seeing your Facebook wall and you can easily exchange rants and raves with your friends. Cool huh? Also, the Smart TV recommends contents related to your interests, primarily by your browsing history.

What we've spent a lot time on was its 3D feature. I must admit, it's really amazing. The picture quality is superb. I've also learned that it also has 3D sound system so it's definitely a shoo-in for a home theater.

Trying the LED 3D viewing 

Another cool feature of the Smart TV is converting 2D videos into 3D - any video - be it from YouTube, a DVD or even a mobile phone video.

File Transfer
Transferring photos, videos or music from your mobile device to the TV is so effortless. Thru AllShare, you can wirelessly transfer files from any compatible media such as Samsung Galaxy Tab or other Smartphones and hard drives.

Input Mode
The presenter used what appears like a typical remote control to navigate through during the presentation. Although they say, a remote control with a trackball on the front and a QWERTY keyboard at the back is coming out. There's also an Android app to download on your smartphone that you can use as remote control.

What apps does Samsung Smart TV support?
You can download Samsung Apps - which according to the presenter have around 300 apps to date. I know right! This is also what most of the bloggers cry about. But Samsung sees the number to grow byat least a  thousand by the end of the year. If you're an applications developer, you can contribute via their Samsung TV apps SDK.

The Expert Panel's Clamor
One of the most evident clamor from the bloggers is pointed to the lack of Bluetooth support. It's just an uncool idea to have a wireless smart device that doesn't support one of the basics and first in short-range connectivity.

While currently it doesn't have a built-in web cam, I hope it would support a 3rd-party webcam plugin too.

Nevertheless, I'm excited to pimp my living room with a Samsung Smart TV. It's like having a YouTube on a boob tube - and more than that. Did I say you can also play your favorite games, and you can convert them into 3D as well?

More photos from the Bloggers Meetup:

Roofcamp #7: Interesting journey to Web 2.0 & Cloud Computing

I got an invitation from John Arce on Facebook. It's for Roofcamp. Roofcamp what?

Roofcamp is an unstructured gathering with a friendly yet intense atmosphere of open information exchange, debate, teaching, learning, and discovery.

Apparently it's the 7th edition already of an event where technopreneurs, influencers, innovators, coders, designers, artists, VCs & Angels, philanthropists, startups, and other like minded individuals meet.

The guest resource speaker, Scott Henderson, CTO of Bookmans Entertainment Exchange, will share about their interesting journey into Web 2.0 and the Cloud Computing. Interesting!

If you also wish to attend, just show up. According to the WebGeek website, It's free and we'll also have a free beer. It will happen at Mag:Net Bonifacio High Street on Thursday, April 15, 2010from6:00pm to 9:30pm. I'm looking forward to meet new friends there!

Thanks to Jay Fajardo, Founder of Roofcamp / CEO of ProudCloud.net.