February 2, 2012
IDC: Nokia still top mobile phone maker for 2011
The worldwide mobile phone market grew 6.1 percent year over year in the fourth quarter of 2011 (4Q11), as the feature phone market declined faster than anticipated, dragging market growth down to its lowest point in over two years.
According to research firm IDC, vendors shipped 427.4 million units in 4Q11 compared to 402.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2010. The 6.1-percent year-over-year growth was higher than IDC’s forecast of 4.4 percent for the quarter, but weaker than the 9.3-percent growth in 3Q11.
“The mobile phone market exhibited unusually low growth last quarter, which shows it is not immune to weaker macroeconomic conditions worldwide,” said Kevin Restivo, senior research…
IMO bronze medalist tops 2012 PH Math Olympiad
One of 2011’s bronze medalists in the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) topped this year’s Philippine Mathematical Olympiad (PMO).
Winners of the 14th Philippine Mathematical Olympiad (from left) Kenneth Co, PSHS–Main Campus, 3rd place; Henry Jefferson Morco, Chiang Kai Shek College, 1st place; Mikaela Angelina Uy, Saint Jude Catholic School, 2nd lace; and Science Education Institute Director Filma G. Brawner
Henry Jefferson Morco of Chiang Kai Shek College won first place, taking home P15,000, while his coach, Frederick Buiza, got P5,000.
Morco won last year’s bronze in the IMO together with Carmela Antoinette Lao and Vance Eldric Go of Saint Jude Catholic School.
The Philippines’ medal haul last year was the country’s largest ever…
Buffalo debuts CloudStation storage in PH
Networking and storage equipment maker Buffalo Technology recently announced the availability in the country of the DLNA-certified Buffalo CloudStation, which provides storage for data that can be shared and accessed from any device.
Powered by Pogoplug and Bit Torrent client module, CloudStation goes beyond simple storage and gives access to photos, videos, music, and documents via smartphones, tablets, or PCs.
Installation is an easy two-step process that requires users to just plug in the storage device into any Wi-Fi router and then have it activated at the Buffalo CloudStation website. Unlike other storage devices in the market, Buffalo CloudStation does not need any software to run.
Similar to a hard drive that…
DLSU, Nokia stage inter-school mobile app dev’t contest
The local subsidiary of mobile phone maker Nokia has thrown its support behind “Xtreme Java: National Inter-School Mobile App Development Challenge” which offers winners the opportunity to be published on Nokia mobile phones and win prizes worth P150,000.
The Xtreme Java is a mobile app development competition among universities and colleges in the Philippines organized by De La Salle University, in collaboration with Nokia.
It allows college-level students, in teams of 2-3 members with 1 mentor, to develop and publish their own utility game and location-based applications and receive great prizes.
Participants can register at this site until February 15, 2012.
Each college/university represented by mentors will be given a Nokia Store publisher…
Globe: No more bill shock for mobile surfers
Starting February 2012, Globe Telecom said its subscribers will no longer encounter bill shock when they surf the Internet using their mobile phone after the company introduced its Globe Postpaid PowerSurf.
The mobile operator rolled out three Globe PowerSurf plans: PowerSurf 99 which allows 50MB of data for P99, PowerSurf 299 which has 300MB of data for P299, and PowerSurf 499 which has 1GB of data for P499.
All plans are consumable within 30 days, the company said.
“Bill shock has always been a concern for most of our postpaid subscribers who surf the Internet using their mobile phones. Our new worry-free plans, headlined by the P999 bill cap, show that Globe…
Pinoy gamers jump on tourism campaign
ABS-CBN Multimedia has recently culminated its “Amped4Fun” awareness campaign where players of Shaiya and WarRock Philippines submitted their own spin-off of the Department of Tourism’s “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” tourism campaign.
Rare weapons and enhancements such as a red Famas weapon for WarRock and a +2 enchant for Shaiya were awarded to 11 players whose entries garnered the most “likes” on Amped’s Facebook page.
Among the 109 entries from Shaiya and 183 from WarRock, Mark Achel Bacsafra Gagalac, Jerick Ebanreb, Jezreel Recolito, Clarisa Joyce Velasco, Drakken Joe, Noel Seblos, Geass Gelizon, Allan Abelada, Mark Dave Gregorio, Nikko Treveno, and Jhun Del Rosario emerged as winners last January 25.
Shaiya features…
‘Cybercrime bill will not impair Internet rights’
Noting the comments in social media, the main sponsor of the Cybercrime bill said the measure is not a threat to basic freedoms and will, rather, protect them from abuse on cyberspace.
Angara
Voting 13-1, the Senate approved on third reading the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 (Senate Bill No. 2796) which establishes a legal framework for the investigation, apprehension, and prosecution of perpetrators of Internet-related crimes such as identity theft, fraud, hacking, and child pornography.
“This bill is the product of collaboration not only among my fellow lawmakers, but also with many experts and resource persons,” said Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology.
“Throughout the process of crafting…
Pinoy Internet users urged to protect privacy
With almost 28 million Filipinos actively logging in to Facebook everyday and sharing the most mundane to the most intimate details of their lives, security experts are campaigning for data privacy awareness.
Trend Micro, an Internet security provider that maintains a regional lab in the Philippines, recently joined the National Cyber Security Alliance and several other institutions in celebrating Data Privacy Day on Jan. 28 to champion data security.
Data Privacy Day is an annual celebration designed to promote awareness about privacy and education about best data security practices. Ultimately, it aims to get the public aware of the many ways personal information are collected, stored, used, and shared. The day…
Landbank taps IBM for ‘simplified account opening’ IT project
IBM Philippines has announced that the Land Bank of the Philippines will be using the tech firm’s Customer Advisor Accelerator solution to improve the bank’s customer experience and reduce its account opening processing time.
Photo shows (L-R): Minda D. Rubio, assistant vice president and head NCR-D and project sponsor at Landbank; Alan V. Bornas, senior vice president and head technology management group at Landbank; Victor Silvino, software group country manager of IBM Philippines; and Leo Capinpin, banking and finance sector country manager at IBM Philippines
The Simplified Account Opening (SAO) initiative is a priority project for the Landbank management that aims to simplify the actual account opening processes and reduce processing…
