February 19, 2012

After being unveiled in a soft launch in August last year, the Department of Education and the Ateneo School of Government has formally launched checkmyschool.org, a website that provides information about the condition, services, and facilities in public schools and how community stakeholders can pitch in.

By logging in to checkmyschool.org, the public can access a particular school’s budget, enrolment data, number of teaching personnel, furniture, textbooks, classrooms, toilets, and information on test performance among others.

The public may use the information to fill up resource gaps or provide inputs on how to better improve the delivery of education services.

“We welcome this partnership with checkmyschool because it helps us address resource…

Now that the Apple iPhone has upgraded to an all-new 8MP camera and more photography apps are available, peripherals maker Ozaki introduced the Ozaki O! Photo Gear for iPhone 4 and 4S.

Click to enlarge

The integration of the case and the omnipotent lock-hole is designed so that people can easily attach it to a tripod. It also comes with a lanyard to avoid hand slippery.

The photo gear, which retails for P1,895, features:

• Connects to all tripods • Gives iPhone a soft and cozy hand feel • Prevents iPhone against dust and damages • Secures iPhone with anti-drop lanyard with a 15kg load-bearing strength • Offers complete front and back protection • Comes in red, white, grey, yellow, and black

Ozaki is exclusively…

Globe Telecom formally launched last week its quick-service menu to allow subscribers to register to various promos without having to memorize registration codes and access numbers.

Peter Bithos, senior advisor for consumer business at Globe (right), and Chee Loo Fun, head for consumer marketing

By dialing *143# on their mobile phone, subscribers can gain access to billing and load details, a list of Globe promos, GCash and share-a-load services, and applications, according to the company.

At the same time, the Ayala-owned mobile operator re-launched its Immortal offer — considered to have posted the highest recall, promo penetration, and acquisition among all Globe Prepaid services as it provides no expiration or validity dates.

The…

Quality of service (QoS) is emerging as the mobile industry’s latest buzzword, and is now viewed as the most important distinguishing feature of mobile broadband services by operators and vendors in Asia-Pacific, according to a survey conducted by Ovum and Telecom Asia.

For the first time in four years, QoS topped Ovum’s Mobile Broadband Industry Survey, Asia-Pacific (conducted jointly with Telecom Asia) as the “most important differentiator in the mobile broadband market”.

In comparison, last year’s survey found that coverage was the top issue.

Nicole McCormick, senior analyst telco strategy at Ovum, said: “While coverage is still a key differentiator between some operators’ services, the gap between incumbents and challengers has narrowed,…

American politicians are playing up a US anti-outsourcing bill because it offers them a good sound bite ahead of the November presidential and congressional elections there, a member of Congress said Sunday.

Romulo

“We expect the anti-outsourcing rhetoric in Washington to build up in the months ahead, simply because American politicians courting votes will want to make it appear they are protecting badly-needed US jobs from going overseas,” said Pasig City Rep. Roman Romulo.

“However, we don’t consider the Bishop bill a real threat to the booming outsourcing industry of the Philippines. It is just a pre-election political gambit. We seriously doubt the bill will see the light of day,” Romulo said.

Romulo…

A proposed legislation filed at the House of Representatives is seeking to establish and maintain a “Cyber Investigation and Assessment Center” within the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).

Under House Bill 5683, otherwise known as the “NBI Reorganization and Modernization Act of 2012,” the Cyber Investigation and Assessment Center will serve as the nerve center for computer, information technologies, data on cybercrime cases, computer intrusion, threats and other related crimes or activities.

The bill is authored by Ang Kasangga partylist Representative Teodorico Haresco, who said that the present NBI is still practically using medieval forensic technology that it does not even have its own national deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) database despite rapid…