Here is an article from New Media Philippines which discusses the recent study done by Synovate commissioned by the Cartoon Network on Filipino kids ages 7-14 years old.  The study found out that most Filipino kids are spending more time online compared to playing console games, listening to music, and reading non-school books. Internet usage is second only to watching TV.

Here is the article:

In a study done by Synovate commissioned by the Cartoon Network, Filipino kids 7 – 14 years old are spending more time online compared to playing console games, listening to music, and reading non-school books. Internet usage is second only to watching TV. If you think about it, this was kinda expected due to the increasing number of internet cafes all over the country combined with the aggressive marketing and roll-out of broadband service providers.

The latest Blogging Survey conducted by Videojug reveals that the blogging market is now in saturation and is profitable. Aside from that it also revealed a lot of interesting facts and results. A whooping 54.7% of bloggers had their blog for over 2 years with just 11% who have their blogs only for under a year. Another interesting result is the revalation that of all the blogs, a huge 55% don't have any advertisements in their blog.

Here is the summary of the latest blogging survey...

Below are a few of the popular questions that were posed in the survey, briefly summarised for quick reference.

The Philippine Internet Users' Society (PIUS) is an organization for everyone and has strong advocacy towards the empowerment of everyone through computer and internet access.  Yet, PIUS is non-partisan in order to create a venue for exchange and wider support for its advocacy.

As an individual however, I would like to give my sharing on two people who will be figures in the 2010 elections and who in their careers have shown a non-political, non-gimmick and non-TRAPO sincerity in supporting information technology and internet access.

These persons are Nicanor "Nick" Perlas and Party list Representative Teddy Casino.

The best way to celebrate OneWebDay is to join us at Mall of Asia Music Hall on September 22 and experience this first ever celebration of #OWD2009 in the Philippines.  However for those who really want to be there but  are too far away, WHAT CAN YOU DO ONLINE TO PARTICIPATE?

First,  REGISTER at www.piusonline.com and be a member of the Philippine Internet Users Society.

Second, you can still purchase the OneWebDay Certificate and we can send it to you.  Remember that OneWebDay's essence does not end on the day itself.  The campaign of PIUS for the realization of its advocacy is an everyday challenge that we must unite.

I remember the atmosphere of collision and hesitation when I attended the Committee Hearing for the Free and Open Source Software Bill being lobbied and presented by Bayan Muna Party List Congressman, Teddy Casino in 2006.  The FOSS bill was seen as a killer bill by those that belongs to the Software Alliance in the Philippines, while as an equalizer by those from the Bayanihan Linux group and the Computer Professionals Union (CPU).

The bill basically mandates government software providers to allow the inspection and customization of the codes that they will be supplying the government.  This bill also tries to argue that both open source and proprietary software are good software.

The current trend in government discourages open source software promoters and companies to do business because they are seen as less efficient and effective against their proprietary counterparts.  The prices of open source are also lower considerably and this is seen by government as a negative rather than positive when deciding on the lowest bidder.

This year for the first time, the Philippines through the Philippine Internet Users Society (PIUS) together with Events Philippines and various partner organizations which includes media organizations, non-government organizations, entrepreneurs, businesses, educational institutions and others have joined hand to officially marked OneWebDay - "The Internet Day" on September 22, 2009 at Mall of Asia.

On September 22, 2006 the first ever OneWebDay was celebrated. The idea was created by Susan P. Crawford, who set up the web site, traveled to different cities to encourage people to celebrate OneWebDay, and persuaded the initial group of evangelists to celebrate the day. David Weinberger, Mary Hodder, and David Isenberg (all OneWebDay Board members) were heavily involved in brainstorming about OneWebDay in 2005-06.

We in the Philippines are perhaps far ahead from those in the United States, that is why way before the OneWebDay, Janette Toral and others have actually started celebrating an equivalent event to One Internet Day here in the Philippines in 2000.  Although not a regular annual event it was an attempt to really make the internet more accessible to everyone.

(I originally posted this at The Delano Observer blog)

Another hoax is circulating in e-mail nowadays. The email says that whenever someone forces you to withdraw in an Automated Teller Machine or ATM all you have to do is to enter your PIN in reverse order. This will then let you withdraw money however the money will stuck up and it will also alert the police of the anomalous act being made. However, upon search online it was found out that this email is false and the system is not true.

Most of us will literally be led to believe that this is true since it is very practical and our concern for our friends will then led us to forward this to more people. What we do not know is this email may even include a tracking code that will allow people to snoop our emails or even worse.

So how can we determine if an email is true or false?

One rule in email: If it looks to good to be true and beyond the ordinary search for it in your search engine and add the word hoax at the end.

If it is a hoax it will easily be identified since there are people and authorities who are always on the lookout for hoaxes online.

Here are the references to the ATM Reverse PIN Code Alert Hoax:

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/reverse-pin-ATM.shtml

http://www.snopes.com/business/bank/pinalert.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATM_SafetyPIN_software

It's just fascinating and also irritating that day after day there are some e-mail scams that would eventually get past your usual e-mail filtering. Today I received an e-mail from a certain Col. Alex Tabara whose email is alextabara2@gmail.com. Perhaps he cannot use alextabara@gmail.com because it was already used. The e-mail talks about a large sum of money discovered by US troops in Iraq which he had stolen. It also has a link to the legitimate news about a real incident like this which is already under investigation.

At first look and if you are really interested with getting rich fast you will reply and communicate with this person in the hope of getting some of the money. But in the end you will ask yourself why you did it.

First if you look at the email address and the text there is a discrepancy in the name. Alex Tabara on the header and Col. Alex Tabarra on the content. It seems the sender is also confused of his real name.

I remember way back during the 6th National Youth Parliament, the Committee on ICT which I chaired back then passed a resolution for the passage of a bill in Congress known as the National Filtering System.  This system will filter content which are deemed not for public consumption.  The filtering system however will only be installed in internet cafes, schools, and other public internet stations.  I lobbied this to the members of the committee since I believe that private citizens should have the right to choose their content and that making the censorship encompassing will be tantamount to the constitutional right to information and to the privacy of the individual.

This piece of writing is not in anyway a position of the Philippine Internet Users Society (PIUS) but a personal opinion of mine.

First, I would like to congratulate the Congress of the Philippines for the passage of House Bill 6440 otherwise known as the Anti-Child Pornography Bill.  It is indeed a landmark bill which puts the child at the helm of protection.  A protection which the child deserves and was even enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child by the United Nations.

Phrases that you shouldn't be using at work anymore because they will make you seem old. This is especially true if you're looking for a new job. For example, on an interview, you should be talking about "cloud computing," not "ASPs" even though they are basically the same thing.

This list is useful for 20-somethings, too. Now when the senior person in the office uses one of these terms, you'll know what he's talking about.

1. Intranet