One Youth Headshot Clinic (Open Shoot)

For all Filipino Youth! You are invited to attend the Headshot Clinic One Youth shoot on February 27 & 28, 2009, Friday and Saturday, at Capones Bar in A.Venue Mall Makati Avenue.Open to all Filipino Youth. This is part of the very successful Headshot Clinic series of visionary photographer, Niccolo Cosme. Just go to the venue from 2:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Friday and Saturday and register for your

The age old question

It's a common stereotype that Canadians like to talk about the weather. This is true. Partially.

What the proponents of that stereotype are forgetting is yet another bit of our Canadianicity - we are a very polite people. So polite, that when we ask "how's the weather eh?" and get a long-winded response about barometric pressure, high-pressure fronts, and how you call this cold? i was in moose jaw back in '85 without a parka, now that was cold!, we politely nod along and even tell some weather stories of our own, too timid to break off the conversation by explaining that all we really wanted to ask is "do I need a jacket?".

Luckily, the Internet - in its ever-helpful and omnipotent way - has provided us with an alternative to these conversations. Do I Need A Jacket? will tell you not only whether you need a jacket, but *why* you do or do not need a jacket. I've linked to the Hamilton page because, well, that's the closest I could get.

I'll admit that I was originally expecting a straight-out Is xkcd shitty today?/Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the Earth? clone, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this is no longer the case.

--Ryan

Help Spread the Charity Virus - Be A "Kaibigan ng PCSO" Volunteer!

The Philippine Charity Sweeptakes Office (PCSO) started the celebration of it's 75th year anniversary last February 20, 2009 with the theme "Care, Share & Win, Tulong mo na, Suwerte mo pa (Help & Get Lucky)." The celebration's main event is the night concert entitled "Spread the Chairty Virus" where they launched the "Kaibigan Ng PCSO(Friend of PCSO)" program where sourcing of volunteer

MWC you later

MWC 2009 was the first since the launch of Samsung Mobile Innovator. And for us, apart from shirt pockets torn from the weight of too many businesses cards, phones and stand goodies, it was an overwhelming success.

We were at the event to announce the launch of our Windows Mobile and Java forums. The timing could not have been better as cross-platform development is definitely a hot topic.

Multiple platforms are here to stay and it's our job to make it as easy as possible to target Samsung devices while maximising the rich features and APIs specific to each platform and device. Sanj Matharu, my colleague in the Global Relations area covered this while participating in Monday's App Garage panel sessions and it’s definitely something we’ll be addressing on Mobile Innovator in the coming months.

Apart from the addition of two new platforms (be sure to check the Mobile Innovator site this Friday), Samsung announced the Omnia HD – a device which will really raise the bar on what consumers can expect in a phone – and Samsung’s first Symbian-powered touch device. It was great to see this phone being put through its paces running some of our Core Partner’s latest offerings including games from EA (Need for Speed) and Digital Legends (Kroll) and demonstrations from Imagination whose Open GLeS technology gives the Omnia HD graphics capabilities never before seen on a mobile device. Expect to see all the resources and tools you’ll need to develop on this infotainment powerhouse available on Mobile Innovator shortly.

At the Samsung pavilion we were located alongside Samsung’s software solutions. There were two offerings which really stuck in my mind in terms of how they might benefit Mobile Innovator members.

The first was a Widget SDK which considering how crucial this technology is becoming to the mobile UI experience, will be a welcome addition to any developer’s toolkit.

The second was a cross-platform PC studio, meaning device users can use it as a common interface between their PC and ANY Samsung mobile device. I had a quick play and this is definitely a giant leap forward from the current drag ‘n’ drop interface - very elegant and simple to use.

We'll have more about these soon...

The biggest mistake of my life

Backstory: Back at the beginning of January, a few minutes of one of my classes was devoted to showing the Britney Spears 'Womanizer' video. Arguments that maybe the best use of the thousands of dollars I pay in tuition being used to watch music videos aside, this was the first time I had ever heard the song (which had apparently been popular for some time).

Being the music elitist that I am, I took a perverse sense of pride in that - and a much greater pride in the fact that while my friends couldn't get the song out of their heads for days, I'd forgotten it within minutes.

Then, surfing around the Internet last night, I stumble across a link to Lily Allen covering 'Womanizer'. Through some combination of boredom, curiosity, and masochism, I clicked the link.

Bad move. I haven't been able to get it out of my head since, no matter how--WOMANIZER WOMANIZER YOU'RE A WOMANIZER WOMANIZER WOMANIZER AAAAAAH WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME YOU STUPID POP SONG?!?!?!?!?

*ahem*

On a completely unrelated note, it's always a bit of a jolt to see your (extended) family's story told in a newspaper.

I'm going to go listen to some other music now. Maybe that'll help.

--Ryan

MWC Apps Garage

So here we were at Mobile World Congress and the Apps Garage and the stage fior the panel sessions. the first session will have involvement from Sanj in the Samsung Mobile Innovator team to discuss cross platform development. This is especially relevant as we just announced forums for Windows Mobile and Java due for launch it the end of the month. Ok the stage looks empty at the moment but that's because us hard working souls in the Samsung Mobile Innovator team were here FIRST. :) They're expecting a lot of people here so fingers crossed...

The 81st Academy Awards Concluded - Oscars 2009 List of Winners

The 81st Academy Awards (Oscars 2009) has just been concluded and Slumdog Millionaire was the run away winner with eight Oscar trophies including the much coveted Best Picture award for producer Christian Colson and the Best Director award for Danny Boyle. The other six awards bagged by Slumdog Millionaire include Best Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Original Score, Original