Alleba Blog » Google

Personal Finance on the Web

Andrew — Fri, 27 May 2011 17:39:12 +0000

Managing my finances or investing in stocks are things that I haven’t had the time or guts to delve into. Now that I think about it, now might be a good time for me to explore that idea. It’s been well, years, since I seriously touched a calculator. Yes, no one could not have guessed that I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Management and Economics. When I graduated, I swore to myself that I’d keep away as far as possible from anything that resembled ledger paper. Accounting terrified me as much it does now. That might be one of the reasons why paying the bills is not on my list of favorite activities. I found sites such as Mint.com (US and Canada only) and Wesabe to be useful in that area, since each allows me to track my savings, spendings and investment performance. I create an account, and these sites collect my financial information, letting me keep track of credit cards, home loans and bank and brokerage accounts all in the comfort of a website interface. For Facebook nuts, Wesabe works similarly as a social network where users can share tips and advice on a range of financial issues.

When it comes to tracking investments and financial advice, Social Picks stood out from the pack. One popular feature is the Blog Tracker, a tool that monitors the performance of well-known financial bloggers, Wall Street honchos and analysts based on blog articles and other information. As the name suggests, much of the site is powered by its community, allowing an objective and informal exchange of ideas and advice.

If I wanted to invest in Philippine stocks, the Philippine Stock Exchange website is an excellent starting point for newbie investors like me. The site provides weekly reports on exchange activity, analysis and commentary and spot rates on foreign exchange and index/sectoral averages. It also suggests reputable online brokers to help you start building your portfolio. Reading a book by Ken Fisher or this Fisher Investments article can be of great help too.

My dad’s been an active investor in stocks for more than ten years and saw some success before the financial crisis struck. He has gotten back in the game, but is still kicking himself for not buying those coveted Google stocks when I told him to do so. I guess his stock broker was not doing his job properly. Me, well, I’m just a guy who happens to read a lot of news, and perhaps one day become his father’s financial adviser.

Google Pilipinas Zeitgeist for July 2010

Andrew — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 10:58:02 +0000

Google published a list of the most popular news searches made by Filipinos last July, 2010. What’s different now is alongside this list, a video was produced by Pinoy Googlers to highlight it.

Here are the terms that made it to the top of our list:

Pacquiao – No surprise there. The most famous international boxer is now a Congressman of the Philippines!
Charice Pempengco – The Youtube sensation has been dodging rumors about being included in the cast of the second season of Glee, until she grew tired and admitted it on Twitter.
Panfilo Lacson – The most wanted fugitive in the Philippines might just be able to come home now that GMA sits next to Pacquiao.
Basyang – Ondoy definitely left a lasting impression on Pinoys after killing thousands last year and causing billions of pesos in damage. Basyang, the Philippines’ first typhoon in 2010, is nothing to scoff at either. It left about a hundred people dead and destroyed bridges and roads.
73rd Season of UAAP – College basketball addicts made a killing of their own when the latest season of the UAAP commenced.

Watch the video:

Google Marks Philippine Independence Day with Doodle

Andrew — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 16:58:00 +0000

For the second time Google gives honor to our Independence Day (Araw ng Kalayaan) with another “doodle” on the homepage of Google.com.ph.

Last year’s doodle was a little more straightforward and traditional. The golden sun replaced the first “o” while the three stars are pinned to mark their places on the Philippine flag. This time Google made it more whimsical, using swirls and lines to form the sun and stars. It almost reminds me of Van Gogh’s “Starry, Starry Night”. The first doodle holds a special place in my heart (so much that I wrote about it), but I really love the second one! Cheers to Google!

Happy Earth Day

Andrew — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:15:18 +0000

Happy Earth Day! Let’s try to be more aware of our surroundings and think of what we could do to help protect it. That is the gist of Earth Day. Love our Mother Earth!

Google loves our planet, so expect a Google Doodle very soon. And they love telescopes too. Expect a surprise on the 24th!

Google USB Stick

Andrew — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:44:58 +0000

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.

Google Wave for Domains

Andrew — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:34:23 +0000

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.

Google-STI Business Stimulus Package

Andrew — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:32:46 +0000

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!

What’s included in the Stimulus Package

Design and website structure creation
Maximum of 5 static HTML pages
Hosted on Blogger.com

Pages include the following

Home
Product/Service Gallery
Business Location Page with Map
Profile/About Us Page
Contact Us Page with Form

Training

Complementary two hours self-maintenance training will be provided.

Here’s a video of Google’s Southeast Asia Marketing Head, Dereck Callow, explaining the stimulus package during their official launch earlier today.

If you have a business that is just starting out or have friends who wish to have an online presence for their businesses, feel free to tell them about this offer, or simply send them to this page to sign up immediately.

Get a Free Google Business Card

Andrew — Sat, 02 May 2009 02:46:36 +0000

Google is giving away business card sets to 10,000 users. It’s a cool way to show off your Google profile and moreover, it’s free! All you need to do is login to your Google profile and make it public if you already haven’t done so. Shortly after you’ll see the sign up link above. The downside is they ship only to U.S. addresses. Bummer for us. But I used my aunt’s New York address to snag myself a set of 25 cards. Sweet.

Google Auto-Suggest Feature Launched for Southeast Asia

Andrew — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 04:51:50 +0000

I apologize for the long absence! Busy, busy month! Anyway, I wanted to share with you that an auto-suggest feature has launched for Google Philippines, as well as for Google Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Go Southeast Asia!

Here’s a sampling:

[photopress:auto_suggest.png,full,centered]

Whoa, people are actually searching for my name! (hehe)

Max’s Restaurant’s 3-Day Online Delivery Service

Andrew — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:41:59 +0000

My friend RJ asked me a while ago if I knew of a restaurant in Manila that delivers and accepts payments through Paypal. He said Max’s Restaurant did, but him and his friend didn’t feel like eating chicken tonight. I asked my friends on Plurk if they knew of any. Gail pointed out something odd about Max’s online delivery. In their Conditions of Use page, it states that you must make your order 3 days in advance. But notice the banner on top where it says “We Deliver the Max’s Experience in 30 mins”. Hmmm. Isn’t that strange?

What is stranger is you are forced to make a minimum purchase of $12. But if you cancel your order 1 week ahead of time, there’s a processing fee of $12, basically leaving you with nothing. If you cancel 3 days before, you get a 50% refund but you still need to pay the $12 fee. So let’s say you order food worth $12 and cancel in time for a 50% refund. You get $6 back, but you owe them $12 to process the cancellation. As a result you end up $6 poorer. So why bother canceling at all? What gives, Max??