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The Internet as the medium

Posted in The Pinoy Post by Melvin G. Calimag on Friday, January 02 2009 02:28 PM

It has been proclaimed many times that the Internet is a great leveler that has the power to eliminate barriers and inequities in this world. While this ideal notion has yet to be fully realized, we've seen a few instances where it has ably demonstrated its enormous potential.

I won't go far as I cite the case of the Philippines. As..... Read more ť

May the new year bring good tech-ings

Posted in By The Way by Eileen Yu on Friday, January 02 2009 03:07 AM

I'm feeling particularly melancholic this week as 2009 rolls in and we bid farewell to 2008.

The past year wasn't a great one, most of us would agree with that, and the new year isn't expected to be much better. The economic landscape remains bleak, and employees are shifting nervously in their seats as they read about yet another company..... Read more ť

High tech undone by low tech failings

Posted in Tech Legal by Bryan Tan on Friday, January 02 2009 01:42 AM

The recent Mumbai terrorist attacks have left the entire world stunned. Terrorists are now improving their skills so that they are able to beat the known skills of the law enforcement agencies all over the world. They are regularly using the Internet to obtain operational intelligence information like using Google Earth and Google Maps for geographical and location-spotting and planning...... Read more ť

Reflections of an eternal optimist

Posted in Inside India by Swati Prasad on Wednesday, December 31 2008 07:47 PM

We are left with very few hours of 2008--a rather volatile and difficult year for most of us. I have been meeting quite a few people of late--business tycoons, fund managers, senior executives at multinational firms, consultants and lots of ordinary salaried workers belonging to varied industries. Expectedly, they were all full of pessimism and gloom.

This is what the CEO..... Read more ť

Thanks for a great 2008

Posted in The M Files by Lee Lup Yuen on Wednesday, December 31 2008 06:22 PM

2008 was a great year for enterprise mobility, with plenty of new technologies and gadgets to keep us mobile workers happier than ever. This year I'm particularly thankful for:

-- Apple iPhone 3G for giving us the best mobile Web browsing experience possible on 3.5G. In the coming year, I hope iPhone application development will become less tedious than..... Read more ť

A look at the open source OW2 Consortium

Posted in Open Source by Peter Cheng on Saturday, December 27 2008 12:54 AM

During the OSCAMP event in Beijing, I had a chance to talk to Cedric Thomas, the CEO of OW2 open source organization. Here's an extract of our conversation:

1. Can you tell me about the origins of the OW2 Consortium? We hear OW2 is the result of a merger between OrientWare and ObjectWeb.
In 2002, a joint open source community..... Read more ť

Registering a trade mark or patent? Read this

Posted in Tech Legal by Bryan Tan on Friday, December 26 2008 11:01 AM

I have struggled to think of how to phrase this one but it is something I needed to say.

Increasingly, we have seen clients who have applied for U.S. or international intellectual property applications receive letters and e-mail offering them "international protection". These communications are received typically upon publication, where the registration details are made public.

I can understand the attraction--when..... Read more ť

Reflecting in a time of crisis

Posted in The Pinoy Post by Melvin G. Calimag on Friday, December 26 2008 10:48 AM

Although I'm a fierce Catholic, I don't consider myself a religious person. The financial crisis, however, has led me to reflect on my inner values and spiritual beliefs. And even if I feel incompetent to discuss these things, let me attempt to give a lousy elucidation.

The utter commercialism that has consumed most of us, especially in our desire for..... Read more ť

Why make consumers pay more for e-services?

Posted in By The Way by Eileen Yu on Friday, December 26 2008 03:07 AM

Electronic services have long been touted as a way for governments to improve operational efficiencies and facilitate better communication with their citizens. Offering government services over the Internet not only provides cost savings, it also allows for better service delivery.

So why do some e-services come at an additional cost for consumers?

Over dinner with my cousin on Christmas Day, she..... Read more ť

The German rule of order

Posted in By The Way by Eileen Yu on Friday, December 19 2008 04:51 AM

I'm back in Germany for another stopover this week, after catching a quick flight from Vienna, and staying with some friends in Cologne.

It's my first visit to the city, the fourth-largest and one of the oldest in Germany, founded by the Romans in..... Read more ť