Crunch time

TechCrunch (TC), being a technology blog, should be stand-alone and independent website.

Gadget reviews are usually deal sealers or breakers for consumers.

These consumers want the best out of their money, so what do they do? They read and research about the item before purchasing it, carefully scrutinizing each details, pros and cons.

TechCrunch has been investing with tech companies, and yes, those are the same companies that they cover and write about.

There are three things that one should take note in the case of TechCrunch

·         Independency

·         Affiliation

·         Bias

As a result of these investments, TC has been writing articles that favors the companies which they’re affiliated to. They couldn’t maintain independence from these companies so they use TC as a tool in promoting the products of those companies.

Yes it has been done by TC, they have been writing articles favorable to their partners. It was observed and criticized by other journalists.

TC’s bias is obvious; it is towards their business partners. If an article would hurt one of their partners, they would probably think twice or even thrice before publishing it. On the other hand, there will be no reservations when it comes to praises and good articles.

How can you openly criticize a certain item or product that belongs to your business partners?

TC will just make misleading stories and reviews.

Yes money is important to run or to maintain something like TechCrunch.

I personally like and consult technology websites and I also read their reviews on specific items.

But in the case of TC, why invest with tech companies which you review or write a story about?

It reminds me of how a giant network delivers a story about an electric company.

Get your facts straight!

The last movie I saw which is related to Journalism is The Paper. It tackles different issues and real life situations in the world of print media.

A better movie is the Shattered Glass. It is about a journalist, Stephen Glass, who fabricated several stories which were published in the well known magazine The New Republic.

One of the duties of a journalist is to inform the people about the truth. It is deeply wrong to invent or fabricate a story and make it look like a factual, true story. There should always be a clear borderline between journalism and other forms of writing like that of fictional stories. These two cannot be mixed up.

Journalism is different from other professions. It is said to be difficult and more of a sacrifice or duty rather than just a work that pays. It is not the profession for someone who is salary oriented.

Stephen Glass wanted to make a name. He was indeed a talented person, but he used his gifts in a wrong way by cooking different stories that made him look good. (Well at least for a while)  

A journalist should not take advantage of his knowledge in writing stories and his privilege to be published. 

On the other hand, the movie also showed how fabricated stories found its way on a seasoned and trusted news agency. It showed that even though there are strict processes before a story is published, still there is a huge hole in those processes. Fact verification should not be taken for granted by any news agencies so that fabricated stories would not make its way through.

Today’s online journalism is also flawed. Different news websites want to publish breaking news before anyone else. As a result, some of the facts are not straight or verified.

I also remember some cooked stories that were published online, one of which was the shutting down of Facebook. In the story, Mark Zuckerberg was quoted, making some people believe that Facebook is really shutting down when indeed it is not.

The movie Shattered Glass is a classic and a must see especially by aspiring journalists.

Mario Brothers

Mario Brothers for the Nintendo Gameboy “Jumbo” version was surely a classic game.

My uncle who works in Japan gave me a Gameboy when I was young as a birthday present. My joy that time was unexplainable. I was easily addicted to it. I couldn’t help myself, I even played it while we were trekking the Marcos highway. I got really dizzy and threw up. That was unforgettable.

I did my best to finish the game that even some kids my age couldn’t get done. I finished it several times.

Then came the awesome and incredible Playstation (the first generation). It was yet another gift from my uncle, yes he’s really generous to his nieces and nephews.

There was too much excitement at that time, I forgot that it should be plugged in to 110 volts. White smoke came out of the Playstation after giving it some 220 volts of electricity, now that was a bummer.

I was hooked, I was so much into it that my parents scold me for playing too much. But I still performed well in school so it wasn’t that bad for me to be a video game addict.

When I have free time, I make sure that I play the games that I love. One of the best game franchises for me was the Resident Evil series. It was action, horror, thriller all rolled in to one amazing game. I finished Resident Evil 1-4, it took me some time to do that for the game was not too easy to finish.

Tekken 3 and Crash Bandicoot series were also exceptional games. I mastered the combos of different fighters in Tekken while I breezed through the adventures of Crash. In multiplayer mode, I beat the hell out of my opponents.

The world of video game has been very influential to me. It made my mind active and busy. There was always this urge for me to play and finish the game no matter how difficult it was. I feel fulfilled whenever I end a game.

This is my song for this month

This is not the end
This is not the beginning,
Just a voice like a riot 
Rocking every revision
But you listen to the tone
And the violent rhythm
Though the words sound steady
Something empty's within 'em


We say Yeah!
With fists flying up in the air
Like we're holding onto something
That's invisible there,
'Cause we're living at the mercy of
The pain and the fear
Until we dead it, Forget it,
Let it all disappear.


Waiting for the end to come
Wishing I had strength to stand
This is not what I had planned
It's out of my control....


Flying at the speed of light
Thoughts were spinning in my head
So many things were left unsaid
It's hard to let you go...


(Oh!) I know what it takes to move on,
I know how it feels to lie,
All I wanna do 
Is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what I haven't got


Sitting in an empty room
Trying to forget the past
This was never meant to last,
I wish it wasn't so...


(Oh!) I know what it takes to move on,
I know how it feels to lie,
All I wanna do
Is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what I haven't got


What was left when that fire was gone?
I thought it felt right but that right was wrong
All caught up in the eye of the storm
And trying to figure out what it's like moving on
And i don't even know what kind of things I've said
My mouth kept moving and my mind went dead
So, picking up the pieces, now where to begin?
The hardest part of ending Is starting again!!


All I wanna do 
Is trade this life for something new
Holding on to what i haven't got...


This is not the end
This is not the beginning,
Just a voice like a riot 
Rocking every revision
But you listen to the tone
And the violet rhythm
Though the words sound steady
Something empty's within 'em
(Holding on to what i haven't got)


We say Yeah!
With fists flying up in the air
Like we're holding onto something
That's invisible there,
'Cause we're living at the mercy of
The pain and the fear
Until we dead it, Forget it,
Let it all disappear
(Holding on to what i haven't got!)

Linkin Park: Waiting for the end

Midrange Droid

Android phones are all over the tech news so I was wondering for a great deal of time, when will I have one?

It was 16th of June when I decided to go to SM Cyberzone, It was also the day when I decided to part ways with Nokia.

Don’t get me wrong, Nokia has been good to me for so many years. Nice build quality, durability, reliability, regular software updates it offers.

I didn’t know what I’ve been missing until I got my first Android.

Samsung Galaxy Ace S5830: 13,600Php

I was disappointed when I saw its box; I was expecting a much bigger one. Welcome to the Philippines. It didn’t matter though; all the basic items were included in the package. (Micro usb cable, 2GB memory card with adapter, headset, papers, cd and 2 back covers)

At first, I was having difficulties using it. I was like in an unfamiliar terrain because it was almost nothing like Symbian smartphones that I had.

Galaxy Ace is not cheap and doesn’t look cheap. Its minimalist design still gives elegance to it.

It is compact and good to hold, its back cover (the black one) is slightly rough textured for better grip. It has another back cover included. (White)

Ace is packed with Android 2.2 Froyo infused with Samsung’s own Touchwiz 3.0. It also has a speedy 8ooMhz CPU and Wireless LAN.

User interface is brilliant; it lives up to Android’s reputation of being user-friendly. Customization can be done easily; you can have up to seven panes in your home screen which you can populate with different shortcuts and widgets. Tons of free applications can be easily downloaded at Android Market Place.

Battery life has been its weakest point; I have to recharge it once every 24 hours even if I turn off its 3G signal and set the screen brightness to minimum.

Forgot your digital camera? No problem. Ace is equipped with 5-megapixel camera with LED flash. It produces crisp pictures even in low light situations and an HD like image at daytime.

At the end of the day, I felt proud I got myself a decent Android phone that can do most of what you’d expect on a smartphone. 

Was it worth the cost? 

Definitely.

For the Youth

The Filipino youth today are now very much dependent to the internet. The popular culture is also very much appreciated. I believe that the youth are looking for something related to Technology, Entertainment and Lifestyle.

To tell you the truth, these are what I am looking for in a blog.

As a blogger, I intend to post these contents in my blog by writing a reviews and news updates of things related to technology, entertainment and lifestyle.

Technology includes gadgets, the internet, cars, computers, and other innovations. Since young people today are so much into socializing, they are also interested on how to socialize quickly and easily. Gadgets will be very useful if that’s the case that is why young people are interested in it. They want to be in and updated with the latest technologies.
 

With entertainment, I can have movies, sports, music and many more. Lifestyle on the other hand will include apparel, food, personal experiences, humor and tips.

This blog that is going to target the youth should not be heavy. It should be filled with interesting and useful information yet easy to read. By easy to read, I mean that articles or stories should not be very long and words are not so technical.

I like the color blue but is is now being used by Facebook, so the blog should not be more on blue. Experimenting on different colors would be nice. Yugatech has quite a nice color for its site.

Inserting photos to this blog will also help... a lot. Photos are helpful so that the blog will not become monotonous.It is also a great descriptive tool.

A mainstream blog site that caters the youth would be Tumblr. It is popular to many as people enjoy sharing funny stuff, pictures and short quotations by reblogging it.

The Blog should also look like this:

-Blog name should be in lower case letters

-There are links of recommended websites related to each category. (Not too many links)

-Comments and suggestions are encouraged

 -It should have regulars posts and updates (especially for technology section)

 -It should have an Archives Section for each category accompanied by a powerful search engine. This will make searching for previous articles easier.

One of my favorite youth website or blog is my friend's blog Deantastic

It is a blog about his personal experiences which I can relate of course. The thing about his blog is that he doesn’t write so much about this and that. What he does is he takes a snapshot of something interesting he encounters and posts it in his site. After that he will insert a humorous short article or caption about the picture.

It is so easy to read and understand. It will only take you around 5 minutes to finish reading an entry.

It is simple and minimalistic yet fun to read unlike some other bloggers who tend to write very long entries on their site.

The website is actually my friend’s own domain name. It is powered by Blogger so customization is really at the hands of its owner. Nothing complicated about the design though. It has several blog entries with the archives on the right side.

USA Today

USATODAY.com

Designing and layouting the Homepage

The USA Today, one of the prominent dailies in the United States, had managed to pull out an impressive online version of itself.

The website's homepage shows all the news that you can handle not only from America but also from different parts of the world.

The banner story has the biggest headline and other news stories follow it while the most popular stories are located on the right side.

Weather and markets are also there below the most popular stories followed by the top picks slideshow.

The subsections get their fair share on the homepage.( Nation and World, Money, Sports, Life, Travel, Your Life, Tech and Opinion) It also has its News from communities section which showcases news from different bloggers. These bloggers write reviews or something that they’ve experienced which can be relevant to  a specific audience.

Google search is located at the upper part of the homepage for searching news stories that were previously posted on the site.

The homepage has 4 boxes of advertisements, these advertisements are not too big and are also tolerable.

USA Today uses blue and other different colors in its homepage which I find good. It also has small pictures of different news stories making it more interesting. It has no dead spacing or gaps compared to CNN and BBC websites which both have empty spaces.

The Content

USA Today’s articles can be both long and short depending on what it is that’s being reported. What I noticed is that articles from this website are easy to comprehend. It can give you an understanding even with the topics that you are not familiar with.

It also captures whatever your interests may be, because of its interesting subsections. As for myself, I usually look at the sports and tech section of the website. They manage to update their articles frequently and just on time when a breaking news comes out. Different stories have small camera icons, it indicates that the story has a video included in it. A video is a great tool to describe a news story. I remember watching a video that made me imagine how horrible the massacre in Norway was.

When you open each news subsections, you’ll see more stories inside. It is like an independent website of that category and looks quite similar to its homepage (The homepage looks better). Your thirst for a certain news will certainly be quenched.

When you click a certain article, it is already integrated to different social networking sites which make sharing easy. You can also email it to a friend, print it out or comment on it. These articles also have different advertisements which are irrelevant to the story that you are reading. Ads are also placed awkwardly on the left side of the story usually under the caption of the picture.

USA Today also have interesting headlines that will make you curious about the story. The stories about health is one of the examples. Headlines lure  me and make me click the story. After reading it, I am contented with the time that I alloted for it because it was informative and has lots of trivia.

Android App

USA Today has a free application for Android smartphones. It is available to download at the Android Marketplace. After installing the app and connecting your smartphone to the internet, latest news stories are just one click away. News gathering has never been this easy.

USA Today and Social Networking

USA Today is actively participating on social networking sites. It has an official Facebook Fan Page and Twitter accounts which update its followers whenever a news article is published on the website. The subsections of USA Today also have their own fan pages.

Recommendations 

• It would look nicer if the advertisements inside the stories are placed somewhere else. It should not be under the photo caption.

• Maintain how the articles are being delivered: Easy to read and understand

• Subsections should be compressed to eliminate the dead spaces

• Integrate the Facebook fan pages into one . Remove fan pages of each subsections to promote the website as a whole.

Conclusion

USAToday.com is a great website, very informative and easy to navigate. It is not boring compared to other sites and its loading time is not bad either. Even though it is not perfect, the site packs all the things that a news website should have. It has no major flaws whatsoever.

The General Admission

The general admission section of the Araneta Coliseum is not a bad place to be.

After hearing that we were required to cover the opening games of the UAAP season 74 men’s basketball, I was not that excited.

First of all, it has been my routine to sleep every Sunday afternoon. Since weekdays are very tiring, I need to recharge every weekends. Second of all, the Fighting Maroons will not be playing in the opening games.

It was only my third trip to the Big Dome. Even though I am an avid basketball fan, I prefer watching games on TV rather than driving to Cubao. 

It was also my first time to be seated at the general admission section. The fun that I had was more than what I have expected.

At 60php, you get to have the view of the whole crowd at the Big Dome. You will see different kinds of people from up there. Lovers, best friends, group of friends, toddlers, parents, drummers and beautiful girls are all there for your eyes to see. 

It is also not that far from the basketball court, you don’t need to move your head sideways. You may let your eyes do the work.

Some parts of the floor at the general admission section are sticky, making you wonder how often they mop it. Nevertheless, air conditioning is comfortable enough, snack vendors are within reach and comfort rooms are easy to locate.

I was mesmerized when the guys from FEU made a human wave for several times. Aside from the game itself, crowd reaction and excitement were also entertaining to watch.

The energy and intensity inside the Big Dome are nowhere to be found in watching live TV coverage. You may hear and see it but you won’t feel it.

A 60 peso ticket is cheap-- a great bargain if you want to experience a live basketball game.

 

The Dirty Ice Cream

“My classmates don’t know about it,”

Instead of studying or playing during weekends, Oliver pushes the two-wheeled ice cream cart along UP Diliman campus to make a living.

He pushes it several kilometers from barangay Balara to Diliman campus and then roams around it.

This 15 year old sophomore from Culiat High School sells ice cream from eight in the morning until six in the evening.

“I earn 250 pesos each day,” (Saturday and Sunday) he said.

His father is also a sorbetero (ice cream vendor) while his mother's a housewife. Both are from the country side, they migrated to Metro Manila hoping to improve their lives. He also has 3 siblings.

It is admirable to see a kid working hard for himself and for his family. While other students just drink out and party over the weekend, this boy perseveres for his allowance.

“I also like eating it (the ice cream that he sells), it’s clean and free,” he said with a little smile.

His situation also reflects a problem in the society; a boy like him should be studying or playing but not working.

I suddenly thought of myself and how much I earn every weekend. We’re totally different in terms of how and how much we earn but our reasons for working while studying have some similarities.

“I like what I’m doing,” He said.

UAAP Season 74: Tamaraws whip Archers in opening game.

MANILA, Philippines— Far Eastern University Tamaraws humbled the La Salle Green Archers 74-65 in the opening game of UAAP season 74 at the Araneta Coliseum.

Tamaraws’ defense stepped up in the second half as reigning Most Valuable Player RR Garcia broke loose, unleashing 17 of his 21 points.

The first half of the game was a struggle for both teams as they tried to find their rhythm after a long offseason. 

The Green Archers were fully loaded in the first minutes of the first quarter, hitting their jump shots that gave them early lead. But the Tamaraws crawled their way back as their big men attacked the rim relentlessly. 

The second quarter ended 35-33 with Tamaraws leading the way.

The Archers regained the lead in the third quarter forcing FEU coach Bert Flores to call an early timeout. After the huddle, FEU got their composure back forcing turnovers that led to fast break points. The momentum shifted to FEU as the crowd roared to the sudden surge of the Tamaraws.

They took the lead and never looked back.

FEU was able to sustain its defense until the final minutes of the game while La Salle couldn’t capitalize on several occasions. 

LA Revilla chipped in 18 points for La Salle but got little help from his teammates.

The scores:

FEU 74 – Garcia 21, Ramos 16, Cawaling 10, Cruz 9, Romeo 6, Bringas 5, Tolomia 3, Escoto 2, Exciminiano 2, Sentcheu 1, Pogoy 0, Knuttel 0.

LA SALLE 65 – Revilla 18, de la Paz 9, Tampus 8, Van Opstal 5, Webb 5, Torres 4, Marata 4, Andrada 4, Gotladera 2, Vosotros 2, Atkins 2, Villanueva 1, Mendoza 1, Sara 0, Paredes 0.

Quarters: 18-18; 35-33; 52-45; 74-65.