The Geek Brewery

Google is buggy right now. It even tagged itself as an unsafe website. Rumors have been spreading that the issue’s scope is worldwide — this I can’t confirm myself.

The bug shows up when opening an entry from the search engine results page.

Translation of the error above. Warning- visiting this website may harm your computer.

Supposedly, this blog should be on its final leg of revamp. Unfortunately, I hardly found time to work in out. The result, an unfinished theme I can’t consider applying right now.

As you can see above, I’ve only done the header part (actually, the footer too). The main contents area is not finished yet. I’m planning to relocate my sidebar somewhere on the bottom part. Basically, the screenshot above would be far from the end-result.

The screenshot above is open for suggestions and criticisms. If you have brilliant ideas out there, just share it to me.

Thanks.

I posted just to let you know I’m still alive

Late night yesterday, I happened to read something regarding an National Telecommunications Commission proposal on the Guidelines on the Provision of Contents, Information, Applications and Electronic Games [copy thru Google cache]. I tried to read the text of the said proposal and I find it kind of vague. The following are my views and interpretation of the text.

One of the goals of the proposed guidelines is to encourage and facilitate the development of contents, but I think not. The following are my views and interpretation of the said text. I am not claiming that my interpretation is right; feel free to read the full text and correct my interpretation.

A License is required to

Contents, Information, Applications and/or Electronic Games Providers, Contents Developers, Information Sources, Applications Developers, and Electronic Games Developers are required to have commercial presence in the country and shall secure Certificate of Registration (COR) from the Commission.

• post a picture on Friendster, video on Youtube, music on Imeem and the likes. The said proposal defines content as all types of contents delivered to/accessed by the users/subscribers such as music, ring tones, logos, video clips, etc.
• create a website, web application, SMS gateway and the likes that provide information such as board exam passers, news, maps and other useful information. The website/web app/SMS gateway all falls under their definition of application while the information delivered by the application falls under their definition of information. My SMS Plurk notification falls under this one.
• blog, plurk, twitter or post any content online. The vagueness of their definition of contents developer is hilarious. The text defines contents developer as persons or entities creating contents.
• web developers and programmers who create web applications, SMS gateways and the likes to distribute content or information. Does this means schools need to have license to post admission test results online?

Requirements, Prerequisites and Fees for Application

The application shall include valid registration from the Security and Exchange Commissions or from the Department of Trade and Industry, [...] facilities lease agreement with duly enfranchised and certificated public telecommunications entity. (see full text, cache) [under item B]

The following fees and charges shall be imposed. PhP 300.00 filing fee, PhP 6,000.00 registration fee,  [...]. (see full text, cache) [under item B]

Enough said by the excerpt. Does this mean I have to register my blog (community) as an entity to the Security and Exchange Commissions or as a business (advertisement space) to the Department of Trade and Industry? Woah, freaky!

Conclusion

Interestingly (as noticed by Codamon.com), the online document’s file name is electronicgames.html. Another thing, the guidelines and provisions doesn’t have item C. No idea if the hardcopy has it.

I don’t think the proposed guidelines and provisions are ready. Most terms were defined vaguely and may cover entities that aren’t supposed to covered.

Feel free to read the full text and discuss your views or correct me.

Related reads on the blogs:

• Philippines to require license to post content | The Mike Abundo Effect
• NTC requires license for Pinoy online content creators | Pinoy Gaming, Babes & Anime Blog Philippines by Kiven
• NTC Memorandum – 22 December 2008 Draft_analysis

I have rendered an unofficial list of PSHS SMC Batch ‘08 students who passed the UPCAT. Although all efforts were exerted to maintain the accuracy of the data table below, I do not guarantee accuracy of the rendered results. Some names may not be on the list. (more…)

The recently-installed Internet access in the dorm has brought much fun and comfort for all of us. Before, we had to go to the University Computer Center to access the Internet. Worse, it was not available on Sundays, and was only accessible till 7pm for the rest of the week.

This evening, Jeff of the adjacent room tried to google my given name, Conrad Miguel. The results page was filled by pages and profiles made by me. I got excited when he told me about an article by someone with my name on it.

I am Now a Web Celebrity

It was a blog post from my blockmate Nathan, titled “Kakalase ko si CatWoman, si Conrad Miguel (the Web Celeb), nakita na namin si “Sarah”, at naligaw ako sa CS subject ko” posted last June 14, 2008, start of the school year. It shared Nathan’s experiences in his first days in college. Here’s an excerpt from his blog:

Kaklase ko rin si Conrad Miguel. Well, di siya artista, cguro di nio xa kilala, ako, di ko xa kilala dati, pero nung sinabi ng prof namin na blogger xa, at nalaman kay michelle na WEB CELEB xa, nagulat ako. He pays his own fees sa server nia, and ang laptop nia, SWIVEL lang naman.

I did not expect that someone would actually blog that I was his classmate. Moreover, I wasn’t expecting that there were people who considered me as a Web Celebrity – but they did. This reminds me of my first day in CS11 (my major class) when my CS11 instructor recognized me right before I introduced myself to the class. Pretty cool, eh.

Reading the article drove me to look for more articles. Here’s another interesting one.

This Blog has a WikiPilipinas Article

Cool! WikiPilipinas is a Philippine-centric encyclopedia in wiki format.

Who would expect that my website would have an article there? Most of the contents of the article, though, came from my very own about page. It’s sort of outdated ’cause according to the article I am still an incoming freshie in UP Diliman.

I’m tempted to share more, but I guess I have to limit it. Here’s the last one.

People talked about me on forums, at least once.

Honestly, this one was caught my attention the most. One blockmate of mine and other members of the CandyMag forum talked about me and my attendance in class. My blockmate was sharing on how stubborn I was back then; on skipping my Math class and on how late I entered the same class (entering a 10:00 to 11:15 class 15 minutes before dismissal). Some people even asked if I passed the subject which I did.

Just a defense, despite my stubborneity (for sure, such word doesn’t exist but I know you know what I mean), I still manage to get concerned on my grades.

Conclusion

And that’s me on the World Wide Web. Have a nice week!

UPCAT Results 2009 are now posted on UP campuses and on the UPCAT website!

The server for the online results must be super overwhelmed by the number of  the number of search requests.

Anyway, those people who requested to have their named checks on one of my posts will receive their notifications soon. I have started sending out notifications.

Good luck to everyone.

It’s a brand new year. On my previous post, I’ve shared a short summary of my 2008 as well as my goals for this year — in case you haven’t read it yet. Promise, it’s worth it.

I’m currently on the process of removing clutter in this blog in almost all aspects, from the technical slash geek side down to the content. I’m planning to do this project for the entire month of January. I intended to dedicate that much time because I don’t want to set an unrealistic goal as I always did for the past few years. Those unrealistic goals just brought me disappointments to myself, and I don’t want that to happen.

In this post, I’ll be sharing my insights on my initial stage of the big revamp. I hope you’ll share yours, too.

Paid Reviews; those were the days

While reviewing my old blog posts (mark the useless ones for deletion), I’ve realized that it’s been a very long time since I made  a paid review. It was still dated April 17, almost 9 months ago. To my last count, I made 10 of them. From those eleven, one signifact thing I learned aside from having my Pagerank penalized by Google was that I make superb reviews. To further strenghthen the statement, let me boast my success in a local review-writing contest.

Those were the days. I earned a lot from them but it costed my blog’s Pagerank and credibility. To date, I don’t have any plans to continue writing paid reviews for stuff I haven’t really tried. I’m planning to focus more on making good and credible content.

Poor Layout

Lately, I’ve been reading web design and web development websites. I sure grasped a lot of good lessons and ideas from the experts. Reviewing the layout of my blog, I saw a lot of aspects I’ve overlooked; as follows:

1. The search form was not that visible right away. When users get lost, they usually look for the search form. My search form before was stuck on the middle of my sidebar making it hard to see. I decided to relocate it on the most prominent part of the sidebar, the topmost area.
2. The area above the fold was a total disaster. The area above the fold refers to the first area seen after pageload. My initial remedy was to remove the big advertisement block. I’m planning to reduce the height of my top horizontal navigation bar soon.
3. What’s clickable, what’s not? On some areas of the blog such as the top horizontal navigation bar, it was unclear which part was clickable or not. Initial action taken was to put an underline below the clickable text.
4. Advertisements were everywhere. Yes they were. Remedy was to put advertisements only on profitable posts.

A Better Theme from scratch while maintaining a same old feel

I’m thinking of making another theme for this blog while maintaining the same old feel. Maintaining the feel would be hard but as much as possible I’d try to.

Interesting topics?

Let’s hear it from you. You suggest any topic to be discussed here, who knows I might be interested on writing something about that, too. It’s okay if it’s not a geek stuff, I’ll try my best to put a geek touch on it. (laughs)

Hi fellows human beings! (cause I know spambots can’t comprehend this)

2008 : The Year of Milestones

2008 was such a great year for some of us. For me, it is one of my most treasured years. It was a year of milestones. To name a few, it was the year when:

1. I got a Pagerank of 3 for this blog which I later on lost.
2. I passed UPCAT.
3. I joined my first free food trip.
4. I had my childish anti-McDonald’s campaign (I also filed a complaint on McDonald’s 8McDo division).
5. I finished high school.
6. I earned an all-time high daily blog earning (which was three-digit dollars big).
7. I had a laptop.
8. I entered the University.
9. I had my first typhoon experience with Bagyong Frank.
10. I ran and lost for an elected position for the first time.
11. I won my first elected position.
12. I finally migrated to Linux.
13. I first delivered an informative shout-out (not a miting de avance) to a crowd during the 2nd Mindanao Blogger Summit.

2009, go go go!!

Whew. That was long list. Let’s leave 2008 behind and greet 2009 with a lively hello.

For sure, 2009 will be a more productive year for me as a student and a blogger (someone over the blogosphere is doubting if I’m rightful to be called a student blogger [which I think I am]). I didn’t give myself a New Year’s Resolution ’cause I kept on breaking them for the last few years. Instead, I will be imposing myself a goal to for me to accomplish for this year of the ox.

Goals for 2009

• Audit my finances as much as possible. I have downloaded numerous finance-related software such as GNUCash and KMyMoney. Paramter: uhm, I don’t know.
• Save more. I’ll be reading blogs on eliminating spending on non-essentials. For now, only one blog has reached my list, which is Get Rich Slowly. Parameter: a five-digit (in Philippine peso) savings by the end of the year.
• Eat less at fastfood. Last year, I ate fastfood food more often than I should. They ate a big chunk of my expenses. Amf. Parameter: could you suggest one?
• More bans. I think I used the wrong term, but hey, I mean it. More bans. Last year, I kept on imposing bans on myself — and they were all successful. To name them are; my two-month softdrinks ban, my one-month Nestea iced tea ban and more recently my one-month junkfood ban which is now on it’s second month. They are not only beneficial to my health, but my finances, too. Parameter: launched three bans last year, so I guess more than three is enough.
• Walk more, ride less; in the University at least. Hey, I’m not stupid enough to walk from General Santos City to Quezon City (which is more than a thousands kilometers away). Parameter: an average weekly intra-University fare expenses of less than PhP 35.00.
• Have a 7.5% monthly growth rate of feed subscribers. That would be 1.075¹² times my feed subscriber count yesterday [01/01/09] (which is approximately 200) subscribers by the end of the year. Parameter: 200 subscribers * 1.075¹² = 476 subscribers by December 31, 2009.

Life Long Goal

I am considering pursuing an aviation career in the future. After my Bachelor’s degree, I’m planning to work and save some bucks to go to an aviation school and get my Private Pilot License (PPL), Commercial Pilot License (CPL) and Instrument Flight Rating (IFR) [to date, a PPL + CPL + IFR course costs range from PhP 1M to PhP 4M (Clark Aviation)]. Based on what I read recently, the demand for commercial pilots are increasing due to the increasing number of aircraft orders of airliners.

Happy New Year!