Top 5 Reasons Why I Did Not Use Friendster

Friendster recently announced its total closure with their social networking services by the end of May this year, following the palpable defeat over networking giant Facebook. The US-based social networking site however promised to roll out "new and exciting" services to complement Facebook. They found out that 50 percent of Facebook users logged on to Facebook for games, music and entertainment.

What to expect for new Friendster is pretty obvious and I don't think Friendster users who've just turned to Facebook would buy the idea. The new Friendster would be sure a combination of YouTube, Last.fm, Flash Games or anything that can guarantee the word "entertainment".



Before the team Friendster drops its social networking services and brings its total entertainment platform, I'd like to lay out my own version of why Friendster sucks and why I didn't use the service even before Facebook becomes the world-ruling empire.

Here's top 5 reasons why I did not use Friendster and why I deleted my account shortly after I created my own personal account. (I already forgot the many features on Friendster, but I'll try to recall some):

I do not use Friendster because of the CSS layouts & clutters

I might just be little too old to appreciate colors but seriously, one off-putting part about Friendster is the functionality that lets its users to change its profile background. A combination of five or more colors as background is not anymore pleasant to the eye. But in fairness, they've attracted grade schoolers who dearly love colors or the group picture of F4 as their background.

I do not use Friendster because of Profile Views feature

Stalking is sometimes my business. And as stalker, I hate being traced! And so why would I turn to social networking site that monitors my stalking activity?

I stopped using Friendster because of the annoying Ads

I understand why Friendster placed some ads on any profile page but those should've been placed properly. I browse through my friend's page for an update, not for Viagra or slimming pills!

I stopped using Friendster because it doesn't notify me for my friend's updates

Friendster is socially less interactive. I turn to social networking sites for social interactions, friends and connections. Unfortunately, neither can you get instant or real-time notifications on Friendster when someone leaves a profile comment nor someone sends a message. Neither in emails.

And ultimately, I do not use Friendster because of Facebook

Facebook made a grand entrance, and I was one of those who'd witnessed that. They introduced the site with full social interactivity in a plain design, less ads, no clutters, extraordinarily simple. That's why I moved to Facebook,which, at that time, is backed by advanced scripts making it a socially interactive portal.

Friendster is vaguely unique social networking service. It has attracted thousands to millions of users throughout Asia. The site for me, however, fall short of providing full interactivity to people who appreciate social interactions in much simpler way.

How do you like this post? Sure you have your own version of why Friendster sucks too. If you can think of other reasons why some people stopped using Friendster, leave them as comments below.

Why You Need To Take Up IT

As the world continues to digitize everything, it never is a suprise to see yourself realizing that playing around with numbers and letters (known as codes) is the coolest thing you can do the next few days.

More and more business organizations today are increasingly becoming more dependent to IT. In Mindanao Philippines alone, there's a growing number of enterprise owners who're apparently taking advantage of some basic IT architecture to support their booming business functions. The affordability of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems (ERPs) has in fact encouraged more business owners to adapt such business platform for the obvious: to take their business to the next level.



Well, the message here is clear. There's a sustained demand for computer programmers, system administrators, network administrators, Database administrators, IT consultants, system designers and web developers from now on. This torrent of IT demand will surely give you a lifetime of security - a career security.

On top of the substantial demand in IT professional these days and the coming years, IT is both fun and exciting experience. Information Technology is for people who don't want to stop learning and exploring new things out.

You can choose to concentrate on some areas of the field (they called it specialization), but that's exactly optional. The exciting part about IT is that you're free to explore nearly almost everything; the opportunity for you to learn (and earn) truly is infinite.

Just because you're investing IT doesn't mean you'll be a programmer in the near end. IT is a very broad subject, thus there's no way for you to spend too much time in an exhaustive craft of programming. Information technology is about leveraging your skills with "what's new" in the cloud. And that exactly is the beauty of IT; you'll always be at the forefront in the latest development in the web.

So, if you haven't decided yet what to take up in college, or if you just about to make a shift in your career, then, consider taking up IT! Being an "agent of change" truly is fun and rewarding experience! If I missed to tell some more reasons why you need to take up IT, please leave them as comments below.

What to get an idea what’s the best IT/computer school in Cagayan de Oro city? Click here.

Photo By: HitSummit.com

The Worsening Industry-Academic Collaboration in Northern Mindanao

There's something wrong going on right now between the IT industry and academic institutions in the region. And this worsening industry-academic collaboration needs immediate attention -- a reconstruction.

In Cagayan de Oro city alone, the large proportion of IT students graduated unprepared to the next battleground of survival for this reason: students are trained how to make a buko juice while the industry required them to be knowledgable in making pineapple juice.

The point is: students are trained so well in schools, but not to meet the growing needs of the industry.



CDO's Synctactics, Inc., the leading IT/web development company in the Philippines, is among those few who have recognized that. It's apparent that IT schools in Cagayan de Oro city are no longer producing top-notch young professionals with much-needed skillsets. I believe that this is a serious concern that needs to be remedied the soonest possible time.


ICT Cagayan de Oro needs to spearhead initiatives now to help both the academe and students see the larger picture. Those in the academic institutions and industry needs to come together and reconstruct its collaboration. Such collective effort must be pushed through in order to remedy this serious misalignment between universities and industry in the region.

IT professionals in Cagayan de Oro city is already diminishing in number while the demands continue to grow. It's high time now for CDO universities to redraft their IT courses or augment their training to meet industrys' standards. Timely and industry-driven IT courses are what Cagayan de Oro city needs now in order to support the booming IT needs of the city.

Have some share about this post? Leave them as comments below.

What To Expect For Opera Mini 6 and Opera Mobile 11

Mobile web giant Opera is set to release a whole new breed of ultra-fast mobile browser tomorrow, March 22.

Both Opera Mini 6 and Opera Mobile 11 will be available for download tomorrow; its gonna be a Beta release so guys don't dare miss it. Be the first to try Opera Mini 6 and Opera Mobile 11!

Opera Mini and Opera Mobile have been the top-downloaded mobile browser on earth, apparently because of its stunning features giving each user a unique browsing experience.

And talking about features, both Opera Mini 6 and Opera Mobile 11 should now come with advanced capabilities while tabbed browsing, cool UI, ultra-speed, data compression - name them all - are retained. Mobile enthusiasts all over the world should now be feeling excited about this new family of Opera browser for mobile. 


Features of Opera Mini 6 and Opera Mobile 11 - What to expect? 


What features and specifications to expect for Opera Mini 6 and Opera Mobile 11 by the way? Well, here's my take: (share yours by leaving comments below)

Both Opera Mini 6 (OM6)  and Opera Mobile 11 should now support Flash!

Opera has tamed its users that when they're to release new versions of Opera, users can expect for something "new"! With that reputation, both Opera Mini 6 and Opera Mobile 11 should now have a technology that enable mobile users to browse webpages with embedded flash, video and audio documents. If the current versions of Opera Mini support such technology, I don't think they had to made such major overhaul. 


Opera Mini that supports flash is possible, hopefully we can have that in Opera Mini 6 and Opera Mobile 11!

Opera Mini 6 and Opera Mobile 11 that supports geo-tagging. Why not?

Location-based, geo-tagging services are now on the rise, and Opera pretty understands that. A mobile browser that can point out your current location is quite possibly an update that Opera can craft off this 2011. It's possible, I tell you!

If you can think of other possible features that Opera can give this 2011, please do share. Leave them as comments below!

Understanding The Basics of Computer Networking with Ants

There's more to know about this wonderful creature other than a highly organized insect with a strength capable of carrying foods seven times their own body weight.

Few years back, computer scientists have been fascinated the way in which a colony of ants can solve complex problems; in particular, how it finds the shortest route to a food source.

Each insect in a colony seemed to have its own agenda, and yet the group as a whole appeared to be highly organized. This organization was not achieved under supervision, but through interaction among individuals. This was most apparent in the way in which ants travel to and from a food source. Ants form and maintain a line to their food source by laying a trail of pheromone, i.e. a chemical to which other members of the same species are very sensitive. They deposit a certain amount of pheromone while walking, and each ant prefers to follow a direction rich in pheromone.

This enables the ant colony to quickly find the shortest route. The first ants to returns should normally be those on the shortests route, so this will be the first to be doubly marked by pheromone (once in each direction).

Studying this uncanny skill has enabled researchers to create software agents capable of solving complex IT problems, such as rerouting traffic in a busy communications network.

Reference: http://answersingenesis.org/creation/v24/i1/ants.asp

Technopreneurship: The Missing Dimension in IT Education

The increasing demand of web and database applications nowadays has prompted Ms. Jocel Garrido, co-founder of i-Link Business Solutions, to draw together all IT professionals in Northern Mindanao who must have been missing the opportunity to venture more on technopreneurship.

Ma’am Jocel Garrido, a certified Cisco instructor who used to be an instructor in major colleges and universities in Northern Mindanao, has recognized the de facto that ”being a programmer or a web developer alone nowadays will not anymore give every IT professional the financial rewards they’ve been looking for”. The newly-built i-Link Business Solutions in Cagayan de Oro City, Northern Mindanao is inspired to deliver cutting-edge business solutions at minimal cost with education sect as their focal point.

Ma’am Jocelyn L. Garrido, along with the co-founders of i-Link Business Solutions, has felt the obligation to endorse the importance of technopreneurship – a subject that is missing in almost all IT curriculum in key universities in Cagayan de Oro City namely: Mindanao University of Science and Technology, Xavier University, Liceo de Cagayan University, and Capitol University.

During our over an hour conversation with this incredible woman at her 30s, I was like reading the whole chapters of book about how to make the best use about your programming skills. Computer savvy professionals or people who’re in the field of Information Technology have to admit that “selling your programs” is a whole lot a headache especially if you don’t have the marketing prowess. No matter how good are you when it comes to programming, you’ll never get the most out of it if you do not know how to sell yourself!

Of course, technopreneurship does not end all there. Technopreneurship is not all about how to make a program and sell it then to your prospect clients. Technopreneurship basically takes every IT professional in the starting point of maze way to a point where you as a developer will enjoy the rewards you deserve being in the IT field!

Incorporating technopreneurship with the current IT offerings will do a lot of wonders, and I hope colleges and universities in Northern Mindanao will be able to see it. The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) either has to encourage higher education institutions (HEIs) to integrate this most important subject – technopreneurship – with the current IT curricular offerings in Northern Mindanao, if not with the entire Philippines.

Mobile Software/Application Ideas - Top Picks

Nokia's Make My App was an open competition that invited anyone worldwide to submit an idea for a mobile application and get the chance to have it turned into a real app. From more than 7691 brilliant ideas to the voted shortlist of 90, judges chose 13 winning ideas. Those 13 winning ideas were made into real apps at Nokia World event held in London, September 14-15.

Looking at the rich diversity of the applicants, Nokia were proud to announce that creative people can be found everywhere in the world. Brazil, Latvia, Kuwait, Jamaica, India, France, Egypt, Malaysia and UK all got their own Make My App –winner. In fact, India got 3.

Here are the 13 winning mobile app ideas:

Face Recognition Based Device Locks "According to me every smartphone needs some securing tool. Here i am talking about an application that will guard the device at different levels of system.take it as complete device lock,particular file lock,applications lock,phonebook lock(particular contacts or groups),and a data encryptor." Says Piyush Veere, a 19 year-old Computer Technology student of India.

Toddler Tutor "A talking app that teaches kids Alphabets, Numbers and Common Words. The app should display flash cards we can swipe through and a speak button that speaks out the displayed card. The app should also include a coloring book with lots of images where children can select different colors to fill in." Says Revathy Sreedharan, a 29 year-old Software Engineer from India.

Mobile Photoshop "This is a thought for a miniature form of photoshop application or a boosted mobile image editor. A super phone like nokia n8 deserves such a creative tool." Says Piyush Veere, a 19 year-old Computer Technology student of India.

Auto HDR photography "As known N8 will feature amazing camera, so why not make it even better with app which could take HDR photos and merge them? I mean take 3 photos one after another with exposure -2, 0 and +2, and merge them together to get amazing looking photo. So far to do so we needed more equipment like tripod to keep phone steady (there should be almost no movement when taking HDR), remote keyboard to change exposure without moving phone and additional software to merge images into HDR. But it would all be solved with such app which automatically takes 3 photos and merges them together. For anyone taking photos with N8 this would be amazing addition. Attached pictures are examples of HDR pics I've made with Nokia N82 so far." Says Arvis Pukitis, a 17 year-old student from Latvia.

BioSeen "Take pictures of wildlfe with the phone's camera and the BioSeen app will be able to download info on the organism to your device while simultaneously uploading geotagging info as well as photographer comments. Usefull for locating and preserving valuable/rare species and sharing them with the world." Says Paul Heaven, a 21 year-old Civil Engineering student from Jamaica.

Document Creator Manager "Nokia should develop an app that can utilize the macro mode of the excellent 12MP camera to take optimized photos of a document and convert it into a WordPDF document which can be saved on the phone. The operation should be done on phone instead of uploading images to a 3rd party server. The app should also be able to manage these documents. This would certainly help reduce the carbon footprint and reduce the need for printing documents for reference." Says Dileep Devapal, a 29 year-old Software Engineer from India.

Emergency Geotagged Photo "This application would allow you to send in a easy way Geotagged Photos to your local Emergency unit, such as Police, Firefighters o others. This way they would know exactly with what they will be dealing, the exactly location and also would be avoiding prank calls. " Says Adamo Pinheiro, a 25 year-old Architect from Brazil.

First Aid "This app would provide users with information about how to apply basic first aid recommendations in case of an accident (Protect victims, Alert services, Aid victims !), heart attack or drowning : perform a heart massage ? Perform an Expired air resuscitation procedure.... " Says Yann Lossouarn, a 35 year-old User Experience and Usibility Specialist France.

Green News "This app should be source for environmental & climate change news & statics allover the world it should also allow widgets and may be donation to certain related organizations. " Says Omar Rafat Orabi, a 21 year-old Petroleum Engineering student from France.

I-Friend "Hi it's the time to have your electronic friend with you always A voice program using the mobile sensor, calender , GPS hardware, google answers, here & now ,and meeting reminder to be an electronic friend speaking and reminding to the owner and also answering him good morning you have a meeting." Says Amro Kira, a 29 year-old Senior Accountant from Kuwait.

Instant Voice Translation "Instant voice translation app combining voice recognition feature on Nokia phones and the huge collection of voice pronunciation in dictionary.com or Google Dictionary. Just speak to the phone in foreign language, the app will translate the words on back-end then produce the translated voice output." Says Yuen Liew, a 29 year-old Online Business Owner from Malaysia.

Sound Editor "Everyone likes music and a lot of us might wan't to make some. So what about little sound editor where you put sound samples together (like kicks, hihats, other drums, piano and such which should come with thhe app, at least some) in patterns and put patterns together to make a simple beat. WIth editing BPM (beats per minute) it would make a great, fun and useful app, which would be very useful for those who want to make simple beats anywhere with N8. Image attached of how I think it might look like." Says Arvis Pukitis, a 17 year-old student from Latvia.

Story Maker "An app that allows anyone to collaborate on making a story. You can select categories or topics, users write a paragraph or two and another user continues where the other person left off, again writing a paragraph or two. App can have friend lists, time limits etc to enhance the experience ! " Says David Lee, a 35 year-old Field Service Engineer from United Kingdom.