Microsoft Philippines and Smart Communications is partnering to bring us the “Best of the Best Developer Competition”. Get a chance to win a Developer Showcase worth PHP500,000.00… plus more! This team based contest is open to all “Professional Developers” only… what are you waiting for? Team up and form a group of 3 or 4 of the best developers and pre-register!

If you think you make the cut and that you are the Best, head on over to msdnphilippines.net and pre-register.

Students? They’ll have their own competition… soon.

Discuss @ http://www.istorya.net/forums/programming/180070-best-of-the-best-developer-competition.html

One of the top artists of my generation, The Master Rapper, succumbed to complications due to Leukemia after a “Happy Battle” at 12PM yesterday (2/6/2009) at Medical City Hospital-Pasig. He will forever remain in our hearts and his music will continue to inspire us.

Discuss at http://www.istorya.net/forums/music-and-radio/13403-francis-magalona.html

More at http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/entertainment/entertainment/view/20090307-192805/FrancisM-loses-happy-battle-44

Its closing to August, and the Mandaue Business Month is getting close.

The website is finally up.  There were some things that had to take time like some of the things we wanted to do i.e. cebu Blog Contest, Sugbu Kini Tag contest and the Subasta sa Sugbu which required a fair amount of programming but now its almost done.  Pls. do browse the website for details at www.ccebu.net/mandaue

There are a lot of exciting events, and there are developments daily, and therefore sometimes, it is really what a website is good at – giving periodic updates.

One of the events that is fairly exciting for me is the LAN Party that the Mandaue Chamber is organizing which will happen a month from now – from  August 23 8 a.m. in the morning to August 24 8 a.m.  That is a 24 hour long stretch party which some of the techies are already starting to get excited about.

What is a LAN Party?  It is just a gathering of Gaming and Computer Enthusiasts who bring their computers together to play PC or online games.  It is also a meeting of PC and gadget enthusaists who wants to share files, comptuer and gadget knowhow, and show off their ‘rigs’, a term that talks about PCs that are modified and customized.  If you see car enthusiasts spend a fortune to make the car or their bikes very personal, there are also an increasing number of PC enthusiasts who are on the same boat, and I have seen PCs which have been re-engineered and re-modified and cost upwards P250,000 pesos!

In that event, there will be case modding comparison/competition, as well as file sharing and tips as well as mini seminars. It is also an opportunity to meet PC and gaming experts, see some cool software.  In one corner will also be Play Station Portable Eyeball and Meet, as well as challenge booths where gamers will compete against some well known players for prizes.  There will also be an eyeball for bloggers.

We will set up a network in the Cebu International Convention Center which has a capacity of at least 500 computers. Why is the Mandaue chamber of Commerce doing this?  Simply to show the people around the world that there is a sophisticated PC crowd here in Cebu!  LAN Parties are fairly common worldwide, and the events are  followed and published.  One town in Sweden called Jönköping would probably not ring a bell.  Now they are fairly famous in techdom because they host DreamHack, which in essence is billed as the world’s largest LAN party attracting over 10,000 computers!  As a result, the town became famous, and the big companies started to take a look seriously at them… if you can host that big a LAN Party, you must have a fairly sophisticated populace!  And Dreamhack is now a tourist drawer.

Our goal is to be able to put 500 computers under one roof, and show the world our increasingly sophisticated gaming and tech crowd.  Hopefully if we are successful, that is a fast way to put Cebu up.  Maybe next year, we will aspire to go for 700 or even 800.  After all, there is now a venue big enough to host it – the Cebu International Convention Center.

The event has been drawing a lot of comments and interest when it was posted in www.istorya.net, Cebu’s foremost forum.  Hopefully anybody interested should check it out.  The cost is just P400 pesos if you bring your own computer ( and that is to take care of the venue and electrical, and also the internet/network costs), and that is good for 24 hours gaming!  If you register and pay before August 10, it will be P350.00.  There will also be LCD monitors available for rent for those who don’t want to bring monitors, and also for those who dont’ want to bring computers, there will be computers on the site you can rent for P1,000 for whole 24 hours, or P50 an hour.  Entrance for spectators and other interested people is just P50 one time.

The organizers are as follows, and please do get in touch with them.  Let us show the world we also have a sophisticated tech populace!

a.    Mike Pato –Trustee, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce
b.    Ryan Yu –Fine Upgrades(www.fineupgrades.com)
c.    Brian Gerona –ACME Web(www.acmewebph.com), BFW Gaming(www.bfwgaming.com)
d.    Brian Chua –Trustee, Mandaue Chamber of Commerce

How it all began

Pink October was created in 1998 by a group of volunteers whose goal was to create a breast cancer awareness campaign that focused on the women and their families living in the Yuba-Sutter community.

Today, the month long awareness campaign encourages everyone to “think pink” and brings breast cancer awareness to the forefront.

from http://www.sutternorth.org/community/pinkoctober.html

Why Pink?

Pink for October is an initiative started in August of 2006, in which sites all over the world change their templates to include the color pink, in support of Breast Cancer Awareness, because October is the month of Breast Cancer Awareness.

from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_for_October

i am learning this in the middle of a nerve-wracking series of things that must be done. between the maddening rush of inner voices shouting you to do this (no this first!) and then the voices from the outer realms, not necessarily any louder, comes these fleeting flashes of walking heavenly beings. perfect ingredients for a brand of craziness that can only be heaven’s welcome gesture to Eris, the goddess of discord’s entry to our realm. imagine Earth’s fertility and the Underworld joining hand in hand to enter the pantheon of planets after their timeless dispute over Persephone, and then there was the Trojan War…

for once i am having doubts on whether the planets really have some kind of hold on human affairs. i feel an unusual affinity with this new one. now with Eris around and the ‘Great Satan’ dubiously handled by Dubya, er, World War 3, anyone?