A new Davao Blogs aggregator is in town! Blog Davao is the premier site that gathers the best blogs created by Davao locals. Moreover, the latest posts from these blogs are summarized and linked for your convenience. If you think your blog is fit to be in Blog Davao, use our contact form. Subscribe to the Blog Davao feed too.

My Davao Jobs is a new site that allows employers and jobseekers in Davao City to connect. For employers, posting jobs is easy and free. All they need to do is use the submit form, fill in the job details and send. I noticed some nice activity slowly trickling in, which is a sign that people are finding it useful. For jobseekers, submitting an application could be done directly on the job page. My Davao Jobs, unlike any other site catering to the same locale, allows jobseekers to attach their resumes. If you’re an employer or jobseeker in Davao City, check out My Davao Jobs!

To all my readers who’ve stuck with me all these years.. And the new ones who accidentally drop by..

Happy New Year to you and your family!

Let’s all look forward to the new year with hope, ambition and more blog posts!!

-Andrew

Let me show off a cool schwag that I won a few days ago. It’s a Google USB Stick in the form of a nerdy looking lego dude.

Poor guy. I need to remove its head every time I need to connect it to my laptop.

Now it looks like my laptop is trying to eat him!

Here’s another one I found online (source):

IMO, mine’s cuter.

Did you know that it’s possible to have Google Wave for your own domain? Simply sign up here. This would come in handy if your organization is already on Google Apps and would like to have Google Wave amongst your current suite of apps. I’m not sure when I could get one for my domain as I signed up literally 10 minutes ago. But it’s worth a shot, right?

In light of that I have 8 invites up for grabs. First eight to leave a comment here get dibs.

Due to uncontrollable circumstances, I would like to announce that I’m no longer part of the core group of Mindanao Bloggers. That does not however take away the fact that I am a blogger from Mindanao. I will continue the ideals and crusade that we stood for, perhaps in another time, shape or form. Who knows?

I got 30 invites yesterday and now they’re down to 18. Who wants? Leave your email in the comments section. May take a day or two for the invite to be sent.

UPDATE: Down to Zero. I’m quite surprised by the number of requests I got! Wow! I will have more invites available soon. Please subscribe to my feed to get dibs on those future invites.

I’d like to extend an invitation to all bloggers to attend the Bloggers Christmas Party here in Davao City on December 4, 2009. We are also turning it into a party to celebrate Firefox’s 5th anniversary. Expect tons of sumptuous food, drinks, revelry, kris kringle, cool schwag and … wait for it … karaoke! There’s one catch though. There’s a measly P200 fee to cover the expenses. It’ll be worth it, I promise.

In light of that, things are definitely shaking up in the Mindanao blogosphere. Conflicts high in the mountains and unsurprisingly they abound in the online atmosphere as well. To tackle that problem we decided on forming a local bloggers group for Davao City and an altogether new one with a larger scope (hint, hint). If you wanna find out more, do join this event. Everyone’s voice will have a chance to be heard and we are keen on gathering as much ideas possible to make this work.

Last but not the least, we are going to introduce a newly revved-up Avatar Media — our company, plans, goals and mission. This group has been formed long ago but never quite took off. With a smashing new logo and website, we are ready to take on the challenges of new media in the city and Mindanao.

To join this event, head over to the official sign-up sheet found at Avatar Media’s official website.

For two straight days, Google has featured two different logos or “doodles” commemorating the 40th anniversary of our favorite children’s show, Sesame Street.

Here in the Philippines, Big Bird was the first logo that appeared.

And just an hour ago, Cookie Monster.

My fearless forecast is this will be going on for 5 more days, with Elmo, Bert and Ernie, Grover and Oscar the Grouch receiving their own doodles.

If you ask me, the Cookie Monster logo is pretty cute. It’s the one to beat.

UPDATE (11/6) Bert and Ernie:

(11/7) Oscar the Grouch:

(11/8) Elmo

(11/9) Count von Count

(11/10) Sesame Street Ensemble

Google, in partnership with STI, are offering a unique opportunity for businesses to promote their products and services online through the Philippine Business Stimulus Package. During these trying times, businesses may find it difficult to attract potential clients, be it offline or online. Online, Google takes care of that by offering a hefty P2,000 credit on Google Adwords. I’ve only seen P1,000 Adword credits being given away before and I was quite pleased to see them up the ante to P2,000. For businesses who have no online presence, STI can do the job for them for only P3,000. But for the first 200 businesses to sign up here, they can get the website of their dreams for free, plus a P2,000 Adwords credit!
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Congrats to the organizers of the 3rd Mindanao Bloggers Summit (MBS3) for a job well done! The MBS3 was held this time in Cagayan de Oro City, Misamis Oriental. Previous editions were done in Davao City and General Santos City. I wasn’t able to make it because I’m still recovering from injuries I sustained in an accident in Singapore. I hope to be around for MBS4 here in Davao.

MBS3 received raves from bloggers such as Migs Hipolito, Jim Hao, Lyle Santos and Brendel Balaga. I honestly was quite concerned about how it would go. But these concerns were quickly put to rest once several attendees began plurking. Notable speakers were Adel Tamano, Aileen Apolo, Lyle Santos and Avel Manansala.

The biggest surprise came when people began texting me congratulatory messages. Apparently I’m one of 10 recipients of the Digital Tribe of Mindanao award from Globe Telecom. I’m not exactly sure what the award means, but hey, I’ll take awards any day!

Again, congratulations to the MBS team in CDO, led by Chiq Montes. Good job guys!

I’m soooo pumped about Wordcamp NYC even if I can’t go. But do humor me because I consider New York City my second home.

The organizers of Wordcamp NYC 2009 were able to clinch Baruch College as its new venue sponsor. That means more participants, more tracks, more talks, more cool stuff! Baruch College also happens to be a staunch supporter of Wordpress, using Wordpress MU as the de facto publishing platform of its blogging community. Tickets will be sold by next week according to the official blog. Be on the lookout for that if you’re keen on attending this surefire awesome event!

The Philippine Blog Awards honored the Filipino blogosphere’s best of the best last October 9, 2009. Congratulations to all the winners, with special mention to my friend Mica Rodriguez, who won the Blogger’s Choice Award! Here’s the complete list of winners:

Special Awards

Best Blog Design – The Site Guy
Best Filipino Blog Abroad – The Warped Zone
Best Foreign Blog – My Sari Sari Store
Blogger’s Choice – Micamyx
Best Filipiniana Blog – Pilipino Komiks
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I vote for my photoblog, Davao Photo, to win the 2009 Blogger’s Choice Award at the Philippine Blog Awards.

A lot have been campaigning their blogs to win this prestigious award. I’m refraining from voting for anyone this time, because I made two promises to two people that I would vote for them, blindly thinking that it was possible. But after reading the fine print, I learned I was wrong. So to avoid hurting anyone’s feelings, I hereby declare that my vote goes to myself. There is no rule against voting for myself. I know I won’t win but at least I chose something close to my heart. And that is why I feel like I’ve won already.

xoxo

As I get up to speed with my blogging here, here are some things worth mentioning:

1. The Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3 in Cagayan de Oro City is a go on October 24, 2009. There is a minimum fee of P500 which covers expenses throughout the sessions including food and a city tour, and there is an option to go white water rafting for P1,000. Sounds like fun! Kudos to the organizing team led by Chiq Montes.

2. The Philippine Blog Awards is going to Mindanao! Yes, the PBA will be held in tandem with MBS3! Special awards to be given out are Mindanao Advocacy Blog, Mindanao Photoblog, Uniquely Mindanao Blog and Mindanao Destination Blog.

3. Nokia OVI spokesperson Jayvee Fernandez blogged about a contest where you upload a pic of your workstation and get a chance to win P2,000 in gift certificates and a Nokia phone. I submitted mine, but I doubt that I’ll win But mine doesn’t look so bad, right? More details here.

4. I just got back from a trip to 3 countries – Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. I had a blast, except for injuries I sustained while doing a Superman stunt on a walk-on conveyor. Read about it in my personal blog.

5. I recently launched a blog with my friend Aileen that’s dedicated to our favorite beverage — TEA! There are only two entries so far, but there’s more to come, I promise! Once Aileen gets her Internet back, she’ll start posting too. Head over to Tea, Completely.

6. I *really* hope I can revive this blog of mine. I wonder why people still keep visiting but I’ll try the best I can to keep it that way. I tend to over-analyze when writing an article for Alleba Blog and that burdens me a lot. My real style of writing could be seen on my personal blog, which is more relaxed and free-flowing. I’ll employ that tone here from now on. Should be great. Might I mention that I made some real cool purchases in Singapore which I look forward to sharing with you guys.

7. I wasn’t at Wordcamp Philippines 2009 for several reasons. Most of them I could not mention here. But let me say this. Leadership doesn’t mean sitting around, acting like a diva and think you can treat people like slaves. Wordcamp 2008 was a success because the team worked as equals. That’s not to say Wordcamp 2009 wasn’t a success, but I’d go as far as saying that Chattee, Lyle, Brendel and Jim did a splendid job in turning things around and making the event an enjoyable one.

8. Wordcamp NYC is now using a logo that I made for their event. I didn’t expect to win. Actually, four of us won! LOL.

That’s all for now. More updates coming soon!