2010 06/09-06/15

MANILA MAIL COMMUNITY

(L-R) Front act, Jojo Mabolo, Ara Mina, Bugoy Drilon and Christine Reyes entertained Memorial Day Weekend crowds in 'Sister Act' in Reno.

Silver Legacy in Reno got a dose of 'Sister Act' overflow crowd featuring real-life sisters,Ara Mina and Christine Reyes, with Pinoy Dream Academy's Bugoy Drilon last Memorial Day Weekend.

Her Royal Highness, Mrs. Agoo 2010 - Jocelyn Tabora, 2nd right, escorted by gleeful husband, Matt Tabora (leftmost) of San Jose, was crowned anew recently at downtownSan Jose's Holiday Inn Mediterranean Hall by Sheryl Magdayao (2nd left) and this columnist.

All good wishes to Felicidad Ong(2nd left) who is celebrating her 90th birthday this coming June 12, 2010, shown here at a recent event with her children and grandchildren.

The thinnest smartphone - the long awaited iPhone 4 will be available June 24. Photo from Apple.

The newly-crowned Mrs. Agoo 2010, Jocelyn Tabora (2nd left) of San Jose, with her supporters and friends, L-R, Mrs. Lina Estoesta, Mrs. Mila Publico and Mrs. Lourdes Singayan.

Congratulations to Gian Patrick Marcos, 13, (3rd left) for recently finishing Middle School at Merced Adventist School, shown here with dad Dong Marcos (2nd left) of New York Life Insurance Company and his dad's co-workers and friends.

Christine Reyes with Foton Motors' Junny Borgonia during the grand opening of Heavenly Scoop Ice Cream in San Jose last week.

Ara Mina with Heavenly Scoop Ice Cream owner, Ben Acorda during the grand opening of his store in San Jose.

Georeliant's Tarny Perkins, rightmost, with some of THE PHILIPPINE ADVANTAGE roundtable discussion participants held May 18th in San Jose, CA

iPhone 4 is here!

TO-BE SEEN IN THE CITY

Finding it hard to find that perfect ‘Father’s Day’ gift? Here’s a suggestion – unveiled in San Francisco Monday morning by Apple’s Steve Jobs, is the thinnest smartphone (only 9.3MM thick) – the new iPhone 4 (previously called the iPhone HD or iPhone 4G, or even iPhone 4GS by technocrats months before it officially came out).

Available starting on June 24^th, it will be sold exclusively from Apple Stores for $299 for the 32GB version (same price as last year's 32GB iPhone 3GS, provided you sign a two-year AT&T contract), or $199 for the 16GB model. This renders the iPhone 3Gobsolete (and will be discontinued). No Verizon or other carriers was mentioned.

According to online updates by Yahoo, the new iPhone (yes, it has 2 cameras, front and back for video chatting) has a ‘retina display’ 3.5-inch screen with a revamped, higher-resolution (960 by 640) display, now boasting 326 pixels an inch (or 78 percent of the pixels on the iPad).

It will also have a longer battery life, thanks to the iPhone 4's bigger battery and improved power management on the A4 chip. Also a new three-axis gyroscope, which combined with the existing digital compass and GPS sensor should make for better tracking of the exact direction in which the iPhone is pointing — which comes in handy for games or finding your way in a confusing neighborhood with Google Maps.

Meanwhile, the iPhone 4's camera gets an upgrade to 5 megapixels (up from 3MP on the iPhone 3GS), a 5X digital zoom, and (at last) an LED flash. Another cool new feature: HD video recording, or 720p-quality video at 30 frames per second, to be precise, same as on the new HTC Evo 4G for Sprint (which, with its 8MP camera, still has the upper hand in terms of resolution). Even better, you'll be able to edit your videos directly on the iPhone, with a little help from the new iMovie for iPhone app.

The biggest revealation in terms of the iPhone 4's camera was FaceTime — two-way video chat, a feature that pretty much everyone in the blogosphere had predicted thanks to the front-facing camera on the lost iPhone prototype.

FaceTime gives you a full-screen view of the person you're chatting with, as well as your own video image in a smaller, inset window. Nifty, but FaceTime will work only over Wi-Fi, "in 2010," Jobs said, and only from one iPhone 4 handset to another. When will FaceTime work over 3G, you ask? No word on that, beyond the fact that it won't happen this year.

So, what are you waiting for? Sign in on your apple store online, make that reservation and get in line early!

SEEN IN THE CITY

The Next Wave of Business Outsourcing

On Tuesday, May 18, the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry and Georeliant, The BPO Company sponsored THE PHILIPPINE ADVANTAGE, a roundtable discussion centered on business process outsourcing. The discussion was led by ICT Chairman, Secretary Ray Anthony Roxas-Chua. Participants also included thePhilippine Consul General in San Francisco , Honorable Marciano Paynor, Jr., the Philippine Trade Commissioner Josephine Romero and georeliant’s VP of Operations Bill Draper. Attendees included representatives from leading eCommerce, visual computing technologies, content management, web marketing and other technology SMB companies.

A lively discussion centered on why the Philippines is the destination of choice for BPO and Call Center outsourcing. Several truths were revealed during the discussion including; The Philippines is the 2nd largest offshoring destination and number one in voice BPO; the Philippine IT-BPO industry is proven, having developed over the past 10 years; the Philippines is good for outsourcing beyond “traditional leadership” in voice services – including IT and data entry.

Many facts as to why the Philippines is good for outsourcing were discussed. One key advantage of the Philippines is the large (and diverse) number of college graduates. The Philippines has a population of 92 million, a median age of 22.5 years, and a labor force of 37 million. The Philippine nation prides itself on its English proficiency, cultural adaptability, strong customer service orientation and cost competitiveness. And the Philippines is positioned for continual grown as evidenced by the highly educated graduating classes, government subsidized training programs, computer literacy programs, English proficiency programs and industry specific curriculum development. This all contributes to a Filipino pool of world class talent that will not only sustain but fuel growth.

There are other viable IT-BPO locations in the Philippines beyond Metro Manila andMetro Cebu. They include: Metro Laguna, Metro Cavite, Iloilo , Davao , Bacolod , Pampanga Central, Metro Bulacan, Cagayan de Oro, Central Bulacan , and Lipa.

The discussion ended with consensus that there was strong government support around the IT-BPO industry in the Philippines . georeliant discussed their own positive personal experience of living in the Philippines and working with Philippine BPO companies and call centers. They supported the discussion’s findings and suggested that a second wave of opportunity was presenting itself through systematic onshore sales, marketing and first line support. Judging from the enthusiastic reception to georeliant’s comments, it seems that georeliant is onto something big.

If you want further information you can go to www.georeliant.com or contact sales@georeliant.com.

PERSONAL NOTES

Congratulations to Straight-A student Gian Patrick Marcos,13, of Merced , CA who recently finished Middle School at Merced Adventist School . He is the youngest son of proud dad Diosdado Marcos and mom, Angie (deceased).

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“It is great to be living in the 21st century. We come from different backgrounds to represent different races, but we are all connected. We all desire to have a sense of meaning, a sense of purpose, a sense of contribution. We all desire to be both great and good. We all desire to leave a legacy. I am Emmanuel Dapidran Pacquiao. I am proud to be a Filipino.” – by BWAA ‘Fighter of the Decade’ Manny Pacquiao on accepting personally his award in New York last June 4^th. The award so desired also by Mayweather, Jr (he apparently thought he deserves the award better), is being pointed out by some sportswriters as the main reason why he abruptly announced a 2-year retirement from boxing, dodging another Pacquiao fight in November anew.

This column also appears online at www.FilipinoVillage.com andhttp://sites.google.com/site/adkinsmmcevents/Home/ with readership in 80 countries now, according to the latest Google Analytics report.

Do you have any personal or community events you want announced or published? Just email them to bradford_adkins@yahoo.com