Pacman Doodle

In celebration of the 30th year of the game Pacman, Google.com.ph has included a doodle in honor of the game that we love. I was just amazed at the Pacman doodle.

Philippine Business Stimulus Package

Derek Callow,

Google's Marketing Head for South East Asia

Google has done it again. Helping out businesses jumpstart their business or add spark to their sales. Introducing the Philippine Business Stimulus Package Project. This project enables businesses here in the country to expand the visibility of their business. This is relatively good specially for micro, small and medium enterprises. Most notable are businessmen who are not that tech savy or do not have a website for their business.

The Partners talk and share

The packages offers the following for SMEs:

1. Free adverstising on Google - SME's can get PhP2,000 worth of Google Adwords credits.

2. For those who do not have a Website, STI will develop a website for them. The first 200 qualified businesses get it for free. For those who don't meet the cut-off you can have it made for only PhP3,000. (For more details click here)

The platform that will be used for the free hosting and free website is BLOGGER.COM. The one I am using for this blog. As mentioned in my previous blog entries, our students have been trained by Google to do the websites for this specific project.

Front (L-R) Derek Callow (Google) Mon Ibrahim (CICT) Nick Jacob (STI)

Back (L-R) Benette Alinduza (Go Negosyo) Mylene Abiva (PMA) Thelma Murillo (CITEM)

Partners for the project besides the STI Education Services group are Go Negosyo, the Commission on Information and Communications Technology, the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM) and the Philippine Marketing Association. This worthy endeavor is the third country in ASIA that will have this kind of event. Singapore and Thailand had more than a thousand businesses sign up and Google expects almost the same number.

To Sign In just go to this website:

Mr. Nick Jacob being interviewed by TJ Manotoc of ABS-CBN. Nick Jacob said that our students are ready for this project. In fact our students from STI College Cebu and STI College Cagayan de Oro will be trained by Google through K2 Interactive so that Micro Small and Medium Enterprises from the Visayas and Mindanao will also be given websites.

The event was held at Makati Shangrila and I was there Googling the place for girls and food! Hahaha

Google trains STI students

Google is synonymous to the word growth and because of that google partners with entities that will enable them to grow further. One of the fastest growing institutions in the country is the STI Education Services Group which has a network of more than 100 schools nationwide. That network is what Google plans to use for its next project which they will launch on November 3.

But before that project is launched, Google made some preparations on the "Army" that will put into action the nitty gritty part of the event - the Web Design part. STI Students from STI College Global City, STI College Taft, STI College Cebu and STI College Cagayan de Oro will recieve top of the line training from K2 Interactive with regards to web design and how to make a good website.

Just wait for additional details regarding the launch of the Google Stimulus project.

Another STI- Google Partnership

World reknowned brand Google recently spearheaded a new project that will seek the help of the services of the STI Network. The Google Business Stimulus program is a project that has been implemented in Australia and currently in Singapore. The project will hopefully be launched for the Philippines by mid October. The program aims to reach out to SME's to encourage them to utilize the internet for their business. ONe of the components of the project is offering we development serivecs using the Blogger platform. In Singapore, Google partnered with Singapore Polytechnic and in the PHilippines it will be STI. Stay tuned for more news.

Google Seminar @ Ayala Technohub

An empty lot just across the University of the Philippines has been transposed into an information technology hub that is the best in the country. The imposing presence of the University of the Philippines Ayala Technohub alone is enough for geeks to make it their haven. The Ayala Technohub is the best place for Globe Telecoms and Google to come together and invite techno geeks to listen to what they have to offer.

Not only are they the WOrld's best search engine, they are also the world's largest platform for developing huge web based applications. First to speak was Globe Labs iCenter Evangleist and head of Google Labs who happens to be my batchmate from the Ateneo, Blue de Venecia. Blue set the tone for the event as he gave the people a glimpse of what Globe Labs has been doin and what to expect. He invited everyone to send applications to globe with the first five receiving a big treat from Globe.

Google country manager Aileen Apolo was there to see to it that all her friends and registrants get Google giveaways and register. I for one was very happy with the google stickers given away together with the ID holder. It was a cool nice afternoon to learn and know more about the latest in technology. French Google Software Developer Patrick Chanezon was the Google evangelist who gave samples and demos on variouos applications one can use to maximize web development. His various demonstrations gave me a nosebleed since he was talking mostly about programmer's language which I believe I cannot dissect in a thousand years! Hehehe. Good thing though I understood some. Some is adequate.

I brought along three friends from STI College Cubao who are Computer Science students. Rezyl, and the two David Garcia's listened intently. I just don't know if they were like me or they understood what was being talked about. I later took pictures and got off. Needless to say I am looking forward to another Google seminar. Lets bring it on guys.

Google seminar at STI Academic Center

Yours truly with Dan Delima of Google Japan

When one talks about GOOGLE, the top of mind answer is always SEARCH ENGINE. But unknown to many, GOOGLE is beyond Search and is one of the best companies in the world because of their proactive stance in constantly improving the various products that they have. I for one witnessed the vast number of products that Google has to helps us connect, communicate and control.

Dan explaining GWT

To be able to capture a big chunk of Filipinos to use Google’s mail platform Gmail, Google Country Manager for the Philippines Aileen Apolo partnered with schools so that students today will be seeds that will eventually grow and make Gmail the most preferred email for us Filipinos. Yes, a rival email was first to make it big but there is a difference between the first one and the best one. Two years ago, the STI Education Services group became one of the partners of Google. STI students now have an STI Google mail that they can access through their school’s unique URL. These mails can also be upgraded to Google accounts and then you can start using Picasa, Blogger and other Google Products.

STI Faculty members listen intently

In an effort to give STI students added knowledge in programming, Aileen brought to the new STI Academic Center a Filipino software engineer working in Google Japan to give STI Students and faculty members added knowledge in the world of Google API’s. The guest, Dan Delima has been in Japan for five years and has worked for Google for one year already. He is one of the top engineers from Google Japan and even came went to the Ateneo to give the same talk to Ateneans. Imagine Google’s partners in the country, Ateneo, UP and STI.

Dan doing a demo of Google App Engine

The one thing nice about Dan’s presentation was that it only had six slides but lots of demonstrations. The more than 50 students who packed the classroom where Dan lectured were all eager to tryout what they have just learned. Dan started his talk with Google Web Toolkits and then talked a lot about Google application engines which is popularly known as Google App Engines. Eventually he dwelled towards different ways to be more efficient on the web and then ended his 2 hour talk with a glimpse of Google’s forthcoming baby Google Wave.

I was happy since a lot of students were interested and asked lots of questions. Faculty members also clarified some terms, procedures and applications and were all eager to see more demos and learn. Aileen assured my boss that in two months time she will be bringing in another guest to further boost the partnership between STI and Google. With Google on our side we can definitely say that the search is over!