schema.org Derivative Logo from a Fan

I have searched around the Web but it seems schema.org doesn't really have an official logo. I don't know why. So, I went to the schema.org website and made screen shot and analysis of the logo. Here are the results that I've found:

• The logo can be written in Helvetica, Arial or Sans-serif font, arranged according to the priority basis set in the CSS.
• It is rendered in Bold
• The background color of the logo is #990000
• The color of the schema.org text is #ffffff
• The vertical shadow distance is 2px
• The horizontal shadow distance is 0px
• The shadow color is #510000

Since I am using a Windows machine and don't have a license of Helvetica, the schema.org logo/h1 that I usually see in my browser is using Arial.

Using Photoshop and the premises mentioned above, here's what I've got as the final product.

DISCLAIMER: I am in no way affiliated with schema.org nor with any of its collaborating organizations.

I just did this one for fun and not for any economic gain (I'm just a fan).

If you are interested, you can download the PSD format of my work in Mega File Upload: schema-org-arial.psd.

Remember, you are held responsible for whatever you do with the PSD file. :-)

Better Computers but Death of Privacy

In late 2020's, mankind will experience different lifestyle in a more complicated world through computers. That's what this post is all about, our future with computers and the death of our privacy. Many people are still not aware of the near future so I am taking this chance to write the things I know about computers. We think that today we already have most awesome computers and stuffs but after you finish reading this blog post, your view of the near future will never be the same again.

To have a simple recap about computers, let's just say that the first computers were intended only for huge corporations and organizations both secretive and non-secretive. Then the second wave is (was) the time of Steve Jobs and Bill Gates that enabled ordinary people to lay hands on computers. Then the next wave is the future, which is what they called as wearable computing. The idea of wearable computing is that there is a huge bottleneck when we use our current computers or digital devices and that these bottlenecks should be get rid off. Why? If one wants to take a picture, one needs to pick up his/her camera, and if it is a smartphone, one also needs to fire up an app to take a photo. Picking up the device and stuffs are the bottleneck. If you need something, it should be very instantaneous. So, in the very essence of wearable computing, Instagram is not as Insta+ntaneous as what you think. What wearable computing can offer is Google's Project Glass. Just as seamless as you can take a photo while riding a bike.

Project Glass Photo Courtesy of Google

With Google Glass, yes you can just say Android devices are nothing. It's not just a replacement for a camera but a powerful computer that looks like ordinary glasses. And

But to be able to make the Project Glass successful, there is still a need to make a worldwide coverage of true Internet connectivity. The device should be connected to the Internet almost anytime and anywhere as possible. Google says that's not a problem and they got it covered. What I'm talking about is Google's Project Loon. It is a research project that will try to provide worldwide Internet connectivity by using balloons that circle Earth.

Project Loon Image Courtesy of Google

If you are probably wondering why Google does this, it is because Google gets most of their revenues are from their online advertising program called Adwords. So, by creating Google Glass they can bring the advertising industry into a whole new level again. Just like what they did on the Web. The advertising industry completely changed after Adwords became mainstream. That is the very reason why nowadays you can see a lot of vacant billboards in roads and city streets.

Anyway, in order for Google to utilize the data that they can gather from the Google Glasses and organize it to manipulate the data for advertising, they need to perform the thing in computer science called as Machine Learning. Machine Learning is one of the most complicated problems in the world. Basically it deals about teaching a machine (computer) about both tangible and intangible things around us. Yes it is a part of the Science of Artificial Intelligence. Now to be able to do that, one needs a super powerful computer. That is why Google launched the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Laboratory that houses a cutting edge Quantum Computer from D-Wave Systems.

Google tries to do this in order to profile the people on the Web. Why do you think Google created Google+? They are trying to create profiles so that they can do better merchandising of the products that they are advertising. Not only for their products but also for the products that they were tasked to advertise. The more they know about the people's lives, the more they can do targeted ads and earn more profit. It's just all about advertising. But the problem is Privacy. How are we so sure that the data about ourselves are in good hands?

Take note that in the middle of 2013, "a former CIA/NSA agent/contractor" whistleblower Edward Snowden shocked the world with his revelations about surveillance programs that abuse people's privacy.

Just to wrap all up. In the near future, someone who's just taking a glance of you using glasses can already compromise your privacy.

Bottleneck brought about by Microsoft Word

While I was writing my research paper, I suddenly had something in mind. And it explains everything everytime I try to write something in Microsoft Word.

Oh well, I think I'm gonna have to fix this issue.

Keyboard, Alcohol and Rock 'n Roll

Today, I'm missing the stuffs I used to have when I was in my hometown. When I was in my hometown, I used to do crazy shits. Only now I realized that my life was a lot better in Musuan. I have my family and friends around me there and the stuffs that make me happy are there. As of this moment, I am currently drinking a classic Tanduay (an 80% proof alcoholic drink) while doing work. I have to work for a living for my next scholarship allowance might still take a while. Probably my next stipend would still be in the third week of December. I think my current situation is a win-win scenario. I am currently working with Git and NodeJS while at the same time drinking a hardcore alcoholic drink while listening to Disturbed's songs.

Rock 'n Roll and Hacking all the way!!!

Later on, I still have to finish writing my "IT-Based Application Project" paper though.

Shit! I think, Tanduay's kicking already. How fast could it be? I just consumed a quarter of the "Tanduay lapad" but I'm already getting drunk. Oh well, I think I'm gonna have to take my next shot.

That's it for now.

Software Developers should do Whiteboarding

If you're wondering why I put up a whiteboard in my workstation, it's because when dealing with computers, sometimes you can no longer paint the whole picture of what you're really trying to achieve. Probably that's the very reason why we have the sayings

"The palest ink is better than the sharpest memory."

and

"A picture paints a thousand words."

Even movies about the huge technology companies depict the use of whiteboarding. Below are the companies and the respective movies that pointed out the importance of whiteboarding.

1. Microsoft - Pirates of Silicon Valley

   

   Bill Gates writing on whiteboard
   
   Courtesy of Turner Network Television
   Screenshot from the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley

2. Apple Computer - Jobs

   

   Steve Jobs planning with the use of whiteboard
   
   Courtesy of Open Road Films
   Screenshot from the movie Jobs

3. Facebook - The Social Network

   

   Eduardo Saverin & Mark Zuckerberg working on a ranking formula
   
   Coutesy of Columbia Pictures
   Screenshot from the movie The Social Network

4. Google - The Internship

   

   Interns at Google using glasses as whiteboards
   
   Courtesy of 20^th Century Fox
   Screenshot from the movie The Internship

So, if you usually forget some of the details about your task, I think it would be great if you can paint it somewhere to visualize what you're trying to achieve.

Which is the correct way of writing it? "Manila City" or "City of Manila"

I was doing my research when suddenly my meticulousness got triggered by the problem about using the right phrase between "Manila City" or the "City of Manila". This kind of issue is very serious in my part since I am doing a Web API Project for Philippine Places. So, I instantly did a little quality research. I went to the official website of National Statistics and Coordination Board to dig for an answer. After some few navigations, I landed to the Philippine Standard Geographic Code's List of Cities and it says there "City of Manila". So without further a do, I'll start my tally.

1 point for City of Manila
0 points for Manila City

Then I went to the official website of the House of Representatives to look for further answers and I landed to the complete list of House Members. In the page, they just used the string "Manila".

1 point for City of Manila
0 points for Manila City
1 point for Manila

Then my next target for information seeking was the Department of the Interior and Local Government. I looked for the official list of cities that the Philippines have and found there an entry of "City of Manila".

2 points for City of Manila
0 points for Manila City
1 point for Manila

I'm still not convinced with the results so I googled for the document/bill/law about Manila and I landed to the Presidential Decree No. 824 by the late President of the Philippines, Ferdinand E. Marcos. I found out in the bottom-most part, the last sentence stated "City of Manila".

3 points for City of Manila
0 points for Manila City
1 point for Manila

I think that would answer the problem I'm trying to figure out. City of Manila it is.

Making cURL work on Windows 7

cURL is an awesome tool for software developers. It is used worldwide but most of the people who use it are Linux users so I decided to write this tutorial specific for Windows 7. The usage below is very exciting so just bare with the tutorial.

Installation

1. Download - Choose only one of the 2 links below then, Right Click > Save link as...
   32-bit cURL - (this is the safer choice)
   64-bit cURL
2. Extract the contents - extract the contents into an easy-to-remember location
   
   
3. Copy only the executable file curl.exe and Paste it to C:\Windows\System32
   
   
4. Congratulations! - Installation is as easy as that.

Usage

1. Open the Command Prompt - Click the Start Menu and in the textbox Type "cmd". Press Enter
   
   
2. Execute your first cURL - In the Command Prompt, Type "curl http://www.google.com"
   
   
   
   or you can also try publicly available data from Facebook
   http://graph.facebook.com/zuck
   http://graph.facebook.com/cocacola
   or even the public data from the World Bank
   http://api.worldbank.org/countries/ph?format=json

cURL is used mainly by developers to test the output of web services. Enjoy!

Music and Religion

I'm a huge fan of Disturbed ever since I was first year high school. I've been listening to them starting from their The Sickness album to The Lost Children. They are currently on a hiatus mode but I will patiently wait for their next album. Anyway, this post is about musicians' point-of-view to religion.

Photo courtesy of Ted Van Pelt.

Disturbed's second album is controversial. The symbol that you can see in the photo above makes the album controversial. The name of the album is Believe and its front cover has that symbol printed on it. Naive people thought that the symbol is somewhat Satanic. Well, I would love to tell you it's not and it even have a wonderful meaning. In a live performance video, starting at 1:53, Draiman explained:

1. "It is a symbol of universal belief"

2. "You have the Cross standing for Catholicism and Christianity"

3. "The Star of David standing for Judaism"

4. "The Pentacle standing for Paganism and Wicca"

5. "That is not a Pentagram!"

6. "We do not acknowledge the existence of Satan in the first place"

7. "The final addition to the symbol is the Crescent Moon of Islam"

I agree with Draiman. Is it not bothering you that religions are there to harmonize mankind yet they even create boundaries and disconnects? I'm proud to say that I really don't care about other's religion. As long as you are nice and you care for others, that alone is a good religion. To wrap it all, I'll say

"Love is my Religion"

that is the title of a song from Ziggy Marley, a Grammy Award winning artist and son of the legendary Bob Marley. Love encompasses almost any religion. I guess.

I Caught The Pirate Bay Upgrading their Software

I wanted to download the film TPB-AFK, I went to The Pirate Bay when suddenly the website was still upgrading their software. So, I took the opportunity to take a screenshot and here it is.

I considered it as a gem, a bluemoon, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Focus

I am so enthusiastic when it comes to technology startups in the Philippines setting. So, I watched the video from the event Geeks on a Beach and I heard a wonderful quote about focus from Minette Navarrete, president of Kickstart, the quote goes like this:

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

Then, I googled for the source of that quote and it led me to Steven Covey's 10 quotes that can change your life. I think that is the best decription for the term "focus".

Google App Engine for PHP - I got whitelisted!

I've already been developing in App Engine using Java for a lot of times but it was only in Google I/O 2013 Extension, Manila when I first heard of the Google App Engine for PHP. That was the launching! So, I immediately signed up for being a beta/charlie tester.

Today is a lucky day! I got an email saying my app got whitelisted for PHP deployment. Yipee! But it really took a while. I think it has something to do with the new version release. Anyway, I'll probably gonna try putting WordPress. :-)

Films about Personal Computing

If you want to know more about how the personal computing started, you can read it all from the Computer History Museum's Personal Computing Timeline. That's the best way for a jumpstart. Personal computing changed how mankind conduct day-to-day activities. It seems that people these days now have the power to communicate with almost anyone on Earth. Before the era of personal computing, only huge corporations have machines that make their jobs easier. Thanks to a lot of innovators like Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman who brought these new civilization we are experiencing.

Here, I'm gonna list 3 films that will give you the best idea of how personal computing started and evolved.

1. Pirates of Silicon Valley - It is a movie about how Steve Jobs and Bill Gates started Apple Computers and Microsoft Corporation respectively. The movie points out a very significant detail that the innovation of personal computing was made possible through "piracy". That's where the title of the movie came from. It's not about the literal meaning of stealing tangible things but the imitation of ideas to create better stuffs. Geeks call it as "hacking". Steve Jobs hacked the idea of some Xerox researchers. Xerox researchers were able to make one of the first "mouse". Steve then took the idea and implemented it in one of Apple's products. On the other hand, Bill Gates took the idea about the "mouse" from Apple and putted it to work with one of their products.

   

   Courtesy of Turner Network Television
   This is the front cover image of the movie Pirates of Silicon Valley 

2. Revolution OS - A documentary film about the Free Software Movement, Open Source initiative and the proprietary flags of Microsoft and Apple. The film depicts the story about how software should have appropriate licensing and distribution. Many geeks believe that to some extent, software should be free while making others proprietary.

   

   Courtesy of Wonderview Productions
   This is the front cover image of the documentary film Revolution OS

3. Jobs - It is a movie about Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Computers. Like the Pirates of Silicon Valley, the movie also depicts the journey of Steve Jobs in making Apple Computers became one of the most successful companies in the personal computing industry.

   

   Courtesy of  Open Road Films
   This is the front cover image of the movie Jobs

Today, personal computing is on the verge of evolution. In the next decade or generation, personal computing will turn into wearable computing.

New EP from Koan Sound and Asa

Photo Courtesy of Koan Sound and Asa

July 30, 2013 when I posted about Koan Sound having a new EP. Well, guess what? They will be releasing it on the 22^nd of October. That's what they posted in their Facebook page. Yuhoo! I'm so excited for this one!

Me and Electronic Dance Music

I'm really a fan of music. It was high school when I first realized that I am so into music. I listen to different genres and different generations of music. I really don't know about the generations of music but in my own observations it seem that music evolves pretty much every decade. Just like in the early 2010's there's this new era of music called as Electronic Dance Music. It's really hard to describe and classify the variations of EDM but below are the producers who made tracks that captivated me.

1. Skrillex - A Grammy Award winning Record Producer who made Electronic Dance Music to a whole new level. I'm pretty much aware that he is bashed on the Web but I still like his records no matter what. Maybe it's because we have the same orientation. He first loved Metal music when he were younger then eventually moved his interests to EDM. Absolutely, almost the same with my situation.
   

   

   Image Courtesy of Sonny Moore a.k.a. Skrillex

   I like almost all of the tracks produced by Skrillex but my handpicked favorites are in my SoundCloud set called The Best of Skrillex.
   
2. Zomboy - A Record Producer who admitted that he was inspired by Skrillex but then eventually he earned the respect of the EDM industry. If you enlist his tracks together with the tracks from Skrillex, maybe you won't be able to distinguish who among the two recorded the track currently playing. Their records are really somewhat alike.

   

   Image Courtesy of Joshua Jenkins a.k.a. Zomboy

   I also like almost all of the tracks produced by Zomboy but what I love the most are those from his EP's. The tracks can be found in my SoundCloud set called The Best of Zomboy.
   
3. Koan Sound - A Dou who produce EDM records. What I love about their records is about the concept of relaxation with groove.
   

   

   Image Courtesy of Koan Sound

   Here's what I want you to do, put yourself into a state of relaxation (preferably, lying down) then play the tracks from Koan Sound with just a reasonable calm volume. Their tracks can also be played in my SoundCloud set called The Best of Koan Sound.
   
4. Madeon - A 19-year-old Record Producer who was able to make wonderful tracks. Even though he is so much younger than me, he already gained a great respect from me.

   

   Image Courtesy of Hugo Pierre Leclercq a.k.a. Madeon

   He had made many remixes of tracks but what I like the most are his original works. You can hear my favorite Madeon tracks in my SoundCloud set called The Best of Madeon.
   
5. Killbot - A group of three Record Producers who called themselves Killbot. Their music is somewhat an infused product from Metal music and EDM. Just like what I've said earlier, I also love Metal music. Killbot's genre really sit in between Metal and EDM. That's why I love their tracks.

   

   Image Courtesy of Killbot

   Currently, Killbot have a single EP only. Sadly, they didn't publish their tracks in SoundCloud so I was not able to create my own set for them, anyway you can still hear their track samples in Beatport.
   

I listen to EDM tracks usually when I'm with my earphones on the way to the school or with my headphones doing software developments.

Indications of a Lazy Software Developer

You know what? There's this saying in computing:

"The lazier it is, the better."

but it doesn't mean that the lazier the programmer, the better he/she is. What it really mean is that, every software should be written as efficient as possible. But that's not what this topic is all about. This post is about the literal meaning of tardiness. lol. Anyway, I will be pointing out two very simple indicators that can identify a lazy software developer.

1. He/she loves to sing "The Lazy Song" of Bruno Mars. Yeah, everybody seems to really like that song. For once in a while there's this moment in our lives when we really feel lazy. But if you know someone who sings that song with all of his/her heart, then I think that's a good indication.
   
   

   

   ScreenShot Courtesy of Warner Music from "The Lazy Song" Music Video 

2. He/she loves to watch the movie "Office Space". In the movie, there's this Technology company which have software developer employees. Maybe you already know what an "annoying boss" means right? That's what exactly the movie is all about. It's about software guys being pushed by annoying bosses. With that, the main character wants to find a way to go to work everyday feeling "just fishing all-day".
   
   

   

   ScreenShot Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox from the movie "Office Space"

   
    Until such time, he doesn't give a f*ck to his boss anymore.
   
   

   

   ScreenShot Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox from the movie "Office Space"

   
   

   

   ScreenShot Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox from the movie "Office Space"

   
   

   

   ScreenShot Courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox from the movie "Office Space"

   
   If you know someone who keeps watching this movie, then you know why he/she does that. :-)

Well obviously, this post was written by the author. If you know what I mean. lol

StackExchange Network: A Perfect Place for Learning and Helping People

Today, I have signed-up to many StackExchange communities. To view all of them, here is my complete profile. The profiles that I have there are for preparing myself to becoming a better professional. My StackOverflow account will help me tone my programming skills, my Answers OnStartups account will teach me how the Technopreneurial industry works, while my Server Fault and my Super User accounts will mold the geek side of me. Also, I created my Area51 account so that I can get in touch with people who are so much interested with Information Retrieval and Search Engines like I do.

Logo Courtesy of Stack Exchange Inc.

If only the StackExchange network matured 5 years earlier, maybe I wouldn't need to study for my post-graduate degree anymore. Another thing that makes me happy with StackExchange is that I will have a chance to help people that seek solutions to certain technical problems. I think StackExchange will also give a better value for the Spirit-of-the-Web.

Ways of Rebooting a Programmers Mind

If you are a software developer or sometimes called a programmer, you would know that there is that moment when your mind really fucks you up badly. Some people call it a burnout. Of course, that also happens to me most of the time. So, my way of overcoming it can be any of the following:

1. Getting something to eat

   "Chocolates would do since they can give instant energy through sugar."

2. Drinking some coffee

   "It doesn't need to be one from Starbucks."

3. Taking 10 slow push-ups with 3 simultaneous repetitions

   "Exercise can give a good blood flow, thus it can circulate more oxygen for the body."

4. Taking a 45-minute sleep

   "REM sleep is one of the most important kind of sleep since it allows your cells to regain, and it is usually the first 45 minutes of one's sleep."

5. Reading posts on 9GAG

   "Just be happy and laugh."

6. Watching a worthy 30-minute free television show

   "A 30-minute break can help restart your focus."

7. Watching an action or a suspense movie

   "Make your heart beat faster, and gain more synergy that you can get from movies."

It is up to you on how to overcome it. Just find the best ways that can help you the most. :-)

Just Finished Having a REM Sleep

So, I just finished having a REM sleep. I think I'm ready for 3 hours programming.

PS: It's just that I love the sound of REM sleep than just nap. REM sleep sounds enthusiastic and awesome while nap sounds really dope and lazy. lol

If I Would Have a Child

If I would have a child, I will teach him/her about The Holy Bible and The Standard Model at an early age. I would give him/her most of my time, love and care. I will tell him/her the stories from the Old Testament during bed times. I will teach him/her how to ride a bike. I will help him/her with his/her assignments. I will support him/her with all he/she wants to pursue. I will make him/her drink his/her milk everyday. I will take good care of him/her more than what my parents showed me when I was young. Good thing I have great parents because I will surely not become a scumbag parent. :-)

I think I already wanted a child but maybe just later. According to some folks on 9GAG,

"If you still can't support yourself, you still can't support a baby."

lol :-) What were you expecting?

My First StackOverflow Question

I was having a hard time solving the problem with my Java code. I already spent many hours trying to figure out the problem. So, I decided to get help from people in StackOverflow. I raised there a question whether is it a good way to use java.util.List as a buffer or not? And when I was about to exit the site to look for solutions, answers flooded in my question. I was like, "Wow! this is awesome." It was one of the best feelings I've ever felt. And you know what? In just less than 10 minutes, I already found a way to solve my problem.

A Slogan for my Future Company

While I was eating my breakfast, I was able to coin a slogan and it goes like this

Health is wealth,
Information is Wealth,
Wealth can make you successful,
Therefore, Health and Information can make you Successful.

And here's another thing

Knowledge is Power

Whoever can harness information and turn it into knowledge can have Power. Remember that the largest data pool that mankind have is the Web and those organizations that try to organize it can gather tremendous amount of Information from it and eventually generate enormous amount of Knowledge.

That's what I'm preparing for now. I'm getting my post-graduate studies to help me mold on this one while at the same time trying to make myself fit. Health and Information, prepare for I'm going to get you!

Random Hacks of Kindness with StackOverflow

Have you ever experienced giving a random act of kindness before? The great feeling that really makes your day. I hope I can have more chances everyday to do such thing. However, in the Web you can also do the same. Yesterday, I answered a question in StackOverflow and it gave me a wonderful feeling from helping people.

I found StackOverflow to be more fulfilling than Facebook. In StackOverflow everything you do can help others but on Facebook, stuffs may even annoy other Netizens. lol. So I think from now on, I will allocate some of my time in posting and/or answering questions in StackOverflow. By the way, here is my StackOverflow profile. I may not be Einstein or Tesla but I can sure do help others through simple means. :-)

PSGC Data Refinement

A couple of days ago, I crawled the PSGC Directory Listings. Today, I've been very busy refining the data I gathered from those crawls. Even though the data I gathered was made by a huge government agency in the Philippines, the data is still not suitable for any use. I was able to find place names with parenthesized "Capital". So I needed to strip those off and get rid of other parenthesized stuffs like place name aliases. Maybe some more refinements and it will then be ready for Inverted Indexing.

Another thing I did today was extracting latitude and longitude data from the Barangays shape file I downloaded from the Philippine GIS Data Clearinghouse. The file is in .7z format so I needed to extract its contents first and then find the file with the .shp extension. I then used GDAL's ogr2ogr utility to convert the shape file into a .kml file. Since KMLs are marked up using XML, I then was able to extract the necessary data I wanted with some lines-of-code in Java and the jsoup library.

After getting tremendous data, I felt sad with the results. :'( Not all of the Barangays have coordinates data. Maybe I can find more stuffs on the Web but still have no idea where to get one.

So much for now, I'll post some more updates in the next days.

Complete Successful PSGC Crawl

One of the requirements for my post-graduate Application Project is to obtain an updated copy of the Philippine Standard Geographic Code. There are many reasons why the PSGC is updated, you can read all about it in the PSGC Interactive - Updating Procedures. So, I created a crawler to get the necessary data from NSCB's PSGC Directory, starting from the List of Regions to the detailed listings of Provinces, Cities, Municipalities and Barangays. My crawl finished around 2:30 pm I guess (Philippine Time).

The crawler was really not that complicated to make. I was able to make it by using Java and some external classes from the jsoup project. To store the gathered data I used MySQL (naive programmers' favorite choice) with the help of its connector for Java. The most notable obstacle that I've encountered during the making of the crawler was the old-school markup of the pages. You'll see that the markups for the pages were most of the time marked up using <tables> that's why traversing the tags to get to the right data may come a little tricky.

Even though I only used a not-so-powerful computer, yet I was able to crawl it easy. The crawler was designed for optimal usage of processor cores, thus making the crawling more faster. The computer that I used is just a laptop with only 2 cores but the crawler was made to have an optimal performance such that the number of threads to be run for crawling will be less than one from the number of processor cores, thus leaving another core for the main process that has the same set of jobs as the threads. Just some basic parallel processing. My previous professor even called it "Naive Parallel Programming". lol

I am so happy when I checked the PSGC's most updated summary (as of March 2013) because I had the same results of data after matching it with the data I gathered from the crawl.

For now, maybe the next thing I'm going to do is refining the data.

I hope God will give me the might to do everything I needed to be done. :-)

My First Whiteboard Set

So, I just bought the first whiteboard for my workstation.

I have been longing to have a whiteboard so that software developments will become easy. Now, it has finally arrived at my workstation. I still don't know if it would really help me become productive though. lol

Anyway, it is for the preparation for completing my INC grade and my IT-Based Special Project.

Good Guys

I woke up morning and tried to cook for breakfast but we're run out of rice grains. So, me and my girl thought that we need to buy stuffs to cook first. I volunteered to shop alone. While I was walking on the way, our tricycle driver neighbor said he'll give me a ride for free because he thinks that his passengers and I are going to the same direction. Upon arriving at the dropping point, of course I said "Thank you" a couple of times I guess. Then I continued to walk for about 80 meters.

There I was at the grocery, I picked 1 kilogram of rice grains, a pack of pandesal and a pack of Milo. When I went to the cashier and payed the items with a debit card, the cashier told me to sign something and when she tries to verify the signatures, she got shocked. My signature didn't match the signature in the card because I used my girlfriend's card. The cashier called her direct supervisor and their supervisor checked the items purchased then asked me why I was using that card. I just said "it was my girlfriend's". Then he said to the cashier, "that's not a problem". lol

In just a single hour, I met two Good Guy Gregs. What an awesome morning. Faith in humanity restored!

Broken Mode

Seriously, I'm so broke that I only have these.

I really wish I can surpass this current obstacle in life.

Philippine Places API

There is a need to have a Web API for the places in the Philippines which include the names of Barangays, Municipalities, Cities and Provinces. There are so many enthusiastic Filipino Web Developers out there that really need an API for it. So, my solution is the PSGC Web API: A Philippine Standard Geographic Code Software Platform.

The PSGC Web API is my post-graduate special problem. I hope that there are also some people out there who think that this project is very important. As of now, I'm still on research and documentation stage of it. I'll post again on this blog regarding the updates.

By the way, if you are interested with the project, you might want to read the Background of the PSGC and how the standard geographic code was structured. Then to make the API available for public use, I'm going to use JSON and probably XML as well to make something like this.

I hope I can finish my project as soon as possible.

Feb 19, 2017
UPDATE: I've already published the Web API in juan-ld.appspot.com. Go to http://juan-ld.appspot.com/ to see the available web services

Philippines going Digital TV

In the television industry in the Philippines, there is a huge war between Analog and Digital systems. But that is about to change. Philippines is expected to go Digital in terms of Television Broadcasting. This is by virtue of the National Telecommunications Commission's Memorandum Circular No. 02-06-2010 known as the Standard for Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Broadcast Service which states that there is a need to adjust on the current trend in television broadcasting and Television Broadcasting companies should switch to Digital.

If you are wondering about what is the difference between Analog and Digital broadcasting systems, then here are some stuffs that might help you:

Comparison by example of Analog and Digital:

1. The Sun is analog while a house light is digital.
2. Our eyes are analog while a digital camera is trivially digital.
3. A photo printed on a paper is analog while a photo on a computer screen is digital.
4. Your voice is analog while the songs in your smartphone are digital.

Can you see some patterns?

Basically, when you say that a thing is analog, it usually refers to a real stuff but a thing is said to be digital if it tries to simulate the real stuffs by using 2-state representations. A house light can be turned "on" or "off" but the Sun doesn't work that way. Pictures on a digital camera or songs in a smartphone are represented by a series of 0s (zeroes) and 1s (ones) called bits (which then when grouped together becomes bytes, kilobytes, or megabytes). Thus making the digital pictures and songs 2-state represented and makes them digital.

Now, what do we mean by Analog broadcasting?

It's simply a natural way of broadcasting in a specific radio frequency.

How about Digital broadcasting?

Broadcasting in a specific radio frequency will be done in a 2-state represented mechanism.

This then will make our television systems to have a better and clearer display since there is now a way for correcting errors by using the 2-state representations in radio frequency broadcasting.

As of today, majority of the Filipinos are still used to the Analog Television Systems. This may be because of the Filipinos' cultural value of putting sentiments on a certain property. That's why even in the mainstream of LED HDTVs and Smart TVs, many still prefer the old traditional CRT TVs.

Let's all wait what will happen in 2015 on wards but I think it's a new television era in the Philippines.

New Dubstep EPs according to Koan Sound and Zomboy

I am so glad to hear from Koan Sound and Zomboy that they will be releasing new EPs.

Yesterday (30^th of July), Koan Sound posted in their Facebook Page

Think we just finished the new EP... (finally)

I got very excited upon reading it. Right from the first I heard a track from Koan Sound, they instantly got my curiosity and attention at the same time. Their music is like a meditation soundtrack but with attitude. Listening to any of their tracks will make you feel like meditating and then suddenly you'll hear someone making drumbeats that add groove to the music.

Also, just few hours ago Zomboy replaced his Facebook Page Cover Photo with this

Then I became even more excited. The first time I stumbled upon Zomboy was when I googled "Dubstep like Skrillex" or something like that but I really can't remember the exact phrase. One of the search results said Zomboy. So I read more about it, and upon hearing a track from Zomboy, I said to myself "Wow! this is one great stuff!". And then eventually I became a huge fan. lol

I think I'm gonna have to be stay tuned for these new EPs.