Into the Digital Light

After a 10 month work sabbatical I was asked to return to Redfox Technologies as its project lead.  September 30 was the day I started my journey of commuting daily from my hometown of Imus, Cavite to New Manila in Quezon City.  It’s about a two to three hour one way commute daily depending on the traffic conditions.  Before it was quite easy to go to work, all that I had to do was just wait for the bus on our main highway and sleep the rest of the way to Cubao. Then repeat the process again in going home in the evening.  The travel time was so long that I actually feel refreshed from sleeping on the bus. Now that the Metro Manila Development Council (MMDA) has imposed the ban for buses coming from Cavite from entering Metro Manila it has become more challenging if not tiring. The Morning Commute – the morning commute is not much of a problem.  I have resolved that I will leave home early so that I could beat the morning rush hour and just spend a few la...

Doing a Free and Open Source presentation on Software Freedom Day could be a nightmare to some resource speakers.  It is similar to eating “Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans” in the Harry Potter series since you would never really know the composition of the audience till you get there. Last year I had to improvised since I believed that the presentation that I prepared was too complicated for the audience to take notice off. I ended up with a 40 minute presentation with one slide that only tells about the title of my topic and my name (well, actually two if you count the next slide that contains my email account so that they could add me to their Facebook account).

Dear Mr. Edwin B. Dominado It took me sometime before I've decided to do this post. I believe in the power of Karma and my present financial state is not really that rosy. It has been a very difficult year and I have not been able to settle a few financial obligations. I fear that what I am about to do will rebound on me in the end. But my continued silence about the matter would mean that it would provide you with an opportunity to take advantage of other people due to your charm and charisma most especially the Filipino elderly community in Florida. Sometime in June, 2013 my bedridden Aunt who regards you as a friend entrusted to you the total amount of $1,900.00 to be remitted to my father here in the Philippines. A portion of that amount would have been used for the medical and medicine expenses of my parents. The rest was alloted to the educational needs of my sister's children who my Aunt is helping out. It was a normal business transaction for she has d...

How to set up an internet café from gener morada

FOSS Appreciation Course Philippine Trade Training Center May 8, 2013 from gener morada

Since I started blogging again a few months back, I am really having a hard time finding the right topic to write in my blog. If you had the chance to follow my previous blog, I mainly wrote about four things: Issues related to the operations of an internet cafe business The initiatives and projects of the Internet Cafe Association of Imus, Inc. ICAII was a professional organization that was composed of owners or operators of internet cafes in Imus, Cavite. We had a lot of projects and initiatives that caught the attention of other internet cafe associations, educational institutions and government agencies. ICAII provided me with the opportunity to get in touch with the different internet cafe associations all over the Philippines. I was later hired by G.ho.st (Global Hosted Operating System), a technology company based in Israel to be their country representative to market their G.ho.st Virtual Desktop in the Philippines. As early ...

School Year 2013 – 2014 promises to be exciting in the field of information communication technology in education. A number of schools have partnered with textbook publishers to implement a eTextbook program and they promised to bring learning through digital technology to a higher level of experience. As early as two years ago textbook publishers became interested in digitizing their content and offering a whole new learning experience to the students and teachers. They have either partnered with an IT company that develops the IT platform to be used or have invested in a new company that would handle the digitization and selling of the solutions. De La Salle Greenhills had their pilot project implemented last school year and other schools not only in Metro Manila but also in the provinces had expressed their interest in implementing one starting this school year. The advantages cited by the textbook publishers in shifting to the digital versions are the following:

What's Up ChowKing? There was a time that if you want good Chinese fast food Chowking was the place to be. But it seems lately that they are changing things in their company that it was not the way it used to be. Forget about the pronouncements of the administration that the country's economy is taking off. Things has been though on everybody including those in business but are you in the right path Chowking?

Since I went back to managing my own business last January, it is not often that we had an opportunity as a family to go out and eat at our favorite fast food restaurants. After spending the day in Manila for my father's medical check up I've decided to bring home to my wife her favorite chicken meal from KFC. I went to KFC Imus and ordered the full 2 piece Street Wise Meal that came along with one rice, mushroom soup, mashed potatoes, a brownie and a drink. I paid Php180.00 for the take out meal and while waiting I thought that it would be nice if I could bring some extra gravy for the take out since my wife really loves to have a lot of gravy in her mashed potatoes. When I got my order I asked the attendant if I could have an extra small plastic cup that I could put the extra gravy in and her answer astonished me.

The Piso Net as a business model is taking off and the proof of this is that big companies are taking notice and started creating a marketing campaign based on this model. The Piso Net model involves setting up of internet kiosk terminals in different places where people could get internet access. The computer units are individually placed in specially built cabinets and is managed by a coin operated timer that turns off the monitor once the time is up. Need more time just insert more coins in the system. Depending on the preference of the operator the Piso Net system accepts One Peso, Five Peso, Ten Peso or all of these coins. For a One Peso coin one could get on the average about four (4) minutes of internet access. Some internet cafe owners have opted also to operate a Piso Net system along side of their regular internet cafe. Through a 60 – 40 percent partnership arrangement with the site owner they are able to operate more internet access sites with a minimum sup...

It is happy to note that government is using all the tools that is available to reach out to the people most especially in ICT but it seems that standards being used in the creation of infomercials hasn't really changed since the martial law days.  They could have made it more interesting instead what they created is a slapstick style of comedy that is really not up to par with today's standards. 

  "I could have made money this way, and perhaps amused myself writing code. But I knew that at the end of my career, I would look back on years of building walls to divide people, and feel I had spent my life making the world a worse place." - Richard Stallman The other day I received an invitation from a friend who is also an advocate in the use of the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) to be part of a team that would propose and implement a FOSS program for a private school in the province. He is in touch with the school's MIS head and they are trying to find alternatives on the use of their P4's and dual core computer systems that is running on a Window's XP operating system in their computer lab. This is every FOSS advocate's dream to be able to come up with a working FOSS program for implementation by a school and the challenge is how to make that dream into a reality.

I've been writing about Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) initiatives since 2006 when I was introduced to FOSS by my good friend Mr. Troy Lim who was also an internet cafe owner. At that time the initial crackdown on the use of pirated software in internet cafes led by the Pilipinas Anti-Piracy Team (PAPT) got under way. As a response, we in the Internet Cafe Association of Imus, Inc (ICAII), formed a technical team that studied the possib ility of the use of FOSS as a replacement to the proprietary software in internet cafes. My further development in understanding the philosphy of FOSS was through my participation in the various activities of the Computer's Professional Union, a computer professional group with a FOSS advocacy, and attending live-in training seminars in the Philippines conducted by the International Open Source Network (IOSN ASEAN+3) and InWent of Germany. My previous blog chronocaled the various activities in advocating for FOSS that I had pa...

Basically through the years there have been a lot of things that has been written on how to succeed in this industry.   Mostly it was very technical but failed to discuss the most important thing. Have a clear vision of your target market.   One of the factors why most internet cafés fails is that they are only catering to a particular target market which is gaming.   This is understandable since this is the traditional target market of internet cafes but if you are going to go to that market one must understand how to attract gamers who will pay extra for the services that you would offer.   One of the biggest mistakes of an internet café owner is thinking that there is only a Php10.00 market and they could not raise their prices on computer rental per hour.   Once your frame of mind is based on this then you would only attract the kind of market that you thought that only existed.   The challenge is how to attract those people who are willing t...

About Digital Batang Pinoy - was an initiative that I started in iCafe Pilipinas to teach internet safety and security to children way back in 2010.  The different blog post were written in Filipino in order to have a wider reach with the intention of having it translated into the various dialects in the Philippines.  When I left iCafe Pilipinas in September, 2010 these blog post were posted under a different name.  I believe that it is time for it to come home to where it is really supposed to be. Ako ay naging isang opisyal ng samahan ng mga may-ari ng internet cafe, marami-rami na rin akong mga magulang na napapakinggan na nagrereklamo sa pagkasira ng buhay ng kanilang mga anak dulot ng pagkagahaman sa paglalaro ng mga computer games sa internet cafes. Kahit saan akong magpuntang pagtitipon saan mang panig ng bansa ay pare-pareho na lang ang kanilang mga istorya sa aking tungkol sa mga nangyayari sa loob ng mga internet cafe sa kanilang mga lugar.

 About Digital Batang Pinoy - was an initiative that I started in iCafe Pilipinas to teach internet safety and security to children way back in 2010.  The different blog post were written in Filipino in order to have a wider reach with the intention of having it translated into the various dialects in the Philippines.  When I left iCafe Pilipinas in September, 2010 these blog post were posted under a different name.  I believe that it is time for it to come home to where it is really supposed to be. “ U y, Tess” nasambit ni Linda sa kanyang kaibigan “Kay tagal na ata nating di nagkikita ano ang iyong ginagawa ngayon?” “ P asensya na Linda” tugon ni Tess “ Medyo busy lang ako ngayon at hindi na ako nakakalabas ng bahay.” S i Linda at si Tess ay magka eskwela sa ika-apat na taon sa mataas na paaralan ngunit hindi na masyadong nagkakasama dahil si Tess ay lagi na lang nagmamadaling umuwi pagkatapos ng kanilang mga aralin. “ M ukhang may bagong boy...

Spend some time to learn about software licensing – this is one area in which internet café owners spends so little time with not unless they encounter a problem with the Pilipinas Anti Piracy Team for the use of pirated software. Most internet café operators have very little interest in software licensing since it is additional cost and it is something that they could not associate since software is an intangible product.   They are very much interested in the computer hardware specifications since this is something that they could see and touch.

                Every now and then I surf the web trying to find articles or blog post about the internet café industry in the Philippines.   Sadly postings that I came across mostly wrote about the bad experiences of operating an internet café.   With all of these bad things written about internet café industry, one might wonder is it still a viable business venture that once could invest in.   My usual answer is “Yes but you have to do it the right way from the very start in order for you to succeed.”

          One of the first things that I had done the day I resigned from my corporate work was to visit 2 old friends in Marikina who are still internet café owners.   It was a welcome relief to be in the company of people who are practitioners in the industry that I was once in and had brought a lot of distinction to me as an internet café operator in Imus, Cavite.   I have not written about the internet industry in the Philippines since September of 2010 for a number of reasons particularly: 1.        I got out of the business when I got employed in Redfox Technologies as part of its marketing and sales team. 2.        Since I was representing a brand of computer system I believed that whatever that would be written about the internet industry would be construed to the brand that I represent. 3.        And most of all, I was...

                Here I am already in my second week since I relaunched my blog “Into the Digital Light” and all I have are repost from my previous blog.   I have been trying these past few days to come up with an article and yet I never really gone through the introduction stage.   For the past few days I have been blaming the holiday spirit and my mind is still in party mode.   Mind you, the Christmas holiday season is quite long here in the Philippines since Christmas is not really over till the feast of the Three Kings which this year falls on January 6, 2013. Call it an excuse but it’s a good one anyway.