The first and biggest is COMMENTS! Registration is no longer required to post a comment on any post. Of course if you already have an account you can still login to ensure your comments are attributed to you, but those who don’t can now post a comment without any long term commitment. Also, on the right you can see some of the recent comments so you’ll always know what the active discussions are. This was the most requested thing we’ve heard from people since our last redesign and we’re excited to see where it leads.

The next change is also something that was heavily requested, and that is a change to the ADS on the sites. You’ll immediately notice fewer of them, but what might not be as obvious is those smaller square ones to the right are specific to this city only and are being sold for a flat rate for a period of time rather than a confusing CPM/traffic/network model. Depending on the city, these range from $7-$175 for a full week. If you purchase one, during that time your ad will be the only one in that spot and will show on every page. We set these up both to make it easier for smaller local businesses to get their ads on our site, and also to help us bring in ads that relate better to our local audiences. Also, keeping these sites online is expensive and every little bit helps.

There are a bunch of other things we changed but we’ll leave those to you to investigate and take advantage of. Hope you like it, and we look forward to seeing you in the comments!!

Love,
The folks at MBHQ

I was in grade school when she was president so I have to admit that I won’t remember anything much about her term except what everyone else has told me, and what I’ve read. There were people who didn’t quite agree with how she handled the affairs of the state. But I best remember her as the woman who had this quiet strength about her, a woman who had so much faith a woman who became a mother to the nation. For those of you who want to remember her, Pinoy Fear Factor has a blog post as a tribute to her: Corazon “Cory” Aquino’s life in photos.

Now that she has passed away due to colon cancer, I hope that she is already at peace with the God she believes in. And I also hope that whatever we learned from her will live in our hearts and be reflected in our actions as Filipinos who, as her husband said, are worth dying for.

Here’s a link to a video to explain the issue in less than five minutes.

Many books of most genres are greatly affected by this. And quoting my friend Alex who summed up it well,

Administrators should let this sink in – these books are making our students read again. Deprive them of that motivation and surely, we’ll find ourselves more illiterate as a society.

For the time being, we are making a lot of noise in twitter, using the #bookblockade hash tag, and spreading the word via other means. So far, there are already a couple of officials who heard our plea. But we still need more.

Please help spread the word.

For further reading please see: The Great Book Blockade of 2009: Timeline and Readings and We, the People: As Readers.

Serene Pleasures by Margaux Estrella, Melissa Sue Floro, Mazie Lynn Po

Mounted in cooperation with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Eastwood City, ”E.A.R.T.H. Designs” celebrates PSID’s 41st anniversary with an exhibit addressing environmental concerns in 21 masterfully-designed and executed interior spaces that strike a chord in today’s global scene.

Couch Potato by Vanessa Caisip, Alexi Chua, Ma. Elizabeth Constantino, Maylyn Cruz, Renz Jillian Tan

“Climate change is a global concern, translating its major influence on contemporary design and current trends,” explains PSID professor Jie Pambid. “The month-long exhibit focuses on creative approaches to sustainable interior design, showcased in four different habitat settings: High Rise Haven, The Blissful Burbs, Sea Sanctuaries, and Peaceful Peaks.”

Pop Earth by Aermaen Anne Balosa, Melissa Enriquez, Ji-Hye Lee, Katherine Kaye Reyes, Odessa Angela Sepacio

PSID has always been known for its innovative, groundbreaking, pioneering, and original exhibits. This year’s graduating batch rises to the challenge with “E.A.R.T.H. Designs,” another highly anticipated show of talent and creativity – standards that make the PSID graduates a viable force in the academe and the industry, and their exhibits a must – see!

With the theme “Words without Borders,” the MIBF celebrates the power of literature to cross the boundaries of time, place, and culture. MIBF showcases the largest and most varied collection of literature, textbooks, educational supplements, general references, religious and inspirational titles, self-help books, management books, Filipiniana, coffee table books, popular novels, children’s books, art books, graphic novels, rare and hard-to-find titles, magazines, audio and e-books, multimedia, teaching supplies and services, publishers’ technology, and travel materials.

The 29th Manila International Book Fair is organized by Primetrade Asia, Inc. in partnership with Asian Communicators, Inc., Book Development Association of the Philippines, Philippine Booksellers Association, Inc., and Publishers Representatives Organization of the Philippines. For details, call 890-0661 or 896-0682, log on to www.manilabookfair.com, or e-mail bookfair@primetradeasia.com.

If Metblogs is a city, hub.metblogs is the playground. We kept hearing from people that one of their favorite parts of Metblogs was meeting and interacting with readers and writers from other parts of the world, as well as getting requests for more ways that readers could be involved besides just posting comments. We thought about this for a while and decided that with a network like this, a giant community area where folks from all over the world could hang out, post photos and videos, talk with each other, form groups, play games, send messages, and do about a million other things was probably a pretty fun idea. The Hub is that.

If you have any tech ideas or suggestions join this group and speak up. See you on hub.metblogs!

More Information:
Inquirer – Jets start flying out of NAIA 3 for 1st time

Mall operators also cited that they do not earn from parking structures (yeah right) and that they charge parking so that people who don’t patronize their malls do not park at their parking structures (someone needs to go back to philo 1).

ABS-CBN News – Manila still has one of lowest parking rates