PIECE OF STRESS.

Undetermined Coefficient

2018-12-02T05:10:00.001-08:00

The Undetermined Coefficient is one of the ways to find the particular solution to a non-homogeneous differential equation.

The advantage with this approach is reduces the problem to an algebra problem. However, this may work only on limited classes of g(t).

We can write y(x) as,

Where,

Let's solve this given SODE,

We first solve for yh,

Since they are real roots, we have yh as,

For yp, we have to guess what it looks like based on g(x). The table below will help us to determine that.

Since g(x) = 3e^(5x), then our yp guess is,

We can plug yp guess to get our actual yp,

we now have y(x) and y'(x) as follows,

To get c1 and c2, we set x = 0 with the above equations,

Now, we have our actual solution,

Separable First-Order of Differential Equation

2018-12-02T00:11:00.001-08:00

A first-order differential equation is said to be separable if , after solving for the the derivative,

the right-hand side can be factored by function of x and function of y,

If the factoring is not possible, this means that the derivative is not separable.

Let's have an example,

First, we check if it is separable,

Since it is separable, we can continue solving it by integrating both sides:

Another application for this is with Lotka-Voltera model of predator y - prey x dynamics.
It is given by,

Where,

Independently, they can't be solve in linear method. However, the dependence of the predator prey population can be solve by,

This now becomes a separable fode as proof below,

After we integrate both sides, we are left with an implicit function.

Fourier Series Approximation

2018-12-01T23:44:00.001-08:00

Fourier Transformation is a function f(t) derived from a given function and representing it by a series of sinusoidal functions. It is expressed as:

where,

It is used in multiple fields like signal and noise estimation, seismographs, and filtering.

To show how it works, we'll give the Fourier series of the given functions:

Since both of these functions is at t(0), we need to shift the charging formula.

If plotted, it will result to this:

Note that which equation Q(t) to use depends on time t,

To solve a0,

To solve an,

To solve bn,

By plugging the values, we will have f(t) as,

As we increase the approximation term n , the series approximation improves as well.

LU Factorization

2018-12-01T23:09:00.003-08:00

LU Factorization is used to factor matrix A as the product of lower-triangular matrix L and upper-triangular matrix U.

A = LU

In order to do such decomposition, one must have the knowledge of Gaussian Elimination.

To better understand how this works, given the matrix M below, we'll get it's LU Decomposition.

To get U we will do the following transformation:

A lot of us (or maybe just me) have at least once imagined what it be like to become spy. With their high-tech gadgets, jaw-dropping acrobatic stunts, and, more importantly, a covert life. We often see in movies that they pass around unreadable messages that seems to make no sense. But we eventually see that every message is just puzzle that is yet to be decoded.

Let's have an activity where we will try to decode this message:

The given encoded message was derived from this equation:

In order to get the original message (M), we can rewrite the equation to:

And we already have an agreement with the sender that our encoding matrix will be:

We need to first solve for the inverse of C. This can be done via LU Decomposition.

Now, it is just a matter of plugging in our values:

The result is represented by their ASCII values, so we can convert each of them.

And we will have the original message,

"Sherman - Morrison Formula!"

Which is actually the name of the formula we used to encode our message!

A VERY BUSY CHRISTMAS BREAK!

2011-12-27T11:12:00.000-08:00

I know you already heard many times that being student is hard and this post will only just whine more about the stressful life of a student because this blog post is made by a stressed-out BSIT 3rd year student - ME.

Third year is the time of most bachelor degrees where students are flooded with demanding, time-consuming, soul-eating, sleep-repellant, dietetic, and stressful major subjects. And I am currently experiencing this dilemma. We were given so many things to do - BUT I can’t say we were given insufficient time. It’s just that we can’t really work on our tasks everyday because it’s the holiday season – it’s CHRISTMAS TIME for crying out loud. We also need to celebrate with our families.

We were given the following tasks:

Software Engineering

· System Design Description

· System Test Plan

· At least 20% of the system properly running

Technoprenuership 2

· Initial drafts of all chapters of the business plan

Future Technology

· Technology Proposal

Network Technology

· Powerpoint Presentation for the Topic Sharing

Multimedia

· Design a logo for our college

· Study 166 videos for the exam

Project Management

· Powerpoint Presentation for the Topic Sharing

Thinking only of the list of tasks to do already stresses me out. I already finished my logo and half of the SE tasks are almost done but the others are still to be worked. It is really hard especially some group tasks needs to be managed by one person and some of those are managed by me so I have to allot time to plan the flow on how we will finish the task and the proper dissemination of tasks to the others. Another bad news is we are to return immediately in January 2. That means I (and my group mates) only have five days to finish the remaining work.

I know some of you might think, “So why did you even make this post if you were busy?” or “Stop whining and do your work!” Aside from being a student, I’m also a teenager who gets easily distracted with other things like facebook, 9gag, animes, mangas, and other things so I rather blog about this than browse 9gag or read some updates in facebook(This is also my chance of updating my blog :P ). But no worries, I have been in the same situation many times before and I have finished all my tasks. I know that this kind of pressure may come back when I work in the future so it’s better that as of now – as a student – I can calmly manage my time and work.

So that’s it, WISH ME LUCK!

[NOTE: I'm doing this 3 in the morning so I wanna say sorry ahead of time for the unchecked typographical and grammatical errors.]

Photo Credits: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTBsuejK_h5buGtm2apkms-LLf9vcvB8bxACDpMAnFmwrS4rU94fKiXIh6qBSFjyi39nr5BKCfSXLB1ku5oApQ-8SpqzWHrTsjYRhuvBo0HIBoI7wN_mGSUPPsfmIemWSfhDuIeP6Wdjs/s320/polls_stressed_out_kid_doing_homework_1840_174414_answer_1_xlarge.jpeg

GRAPHICON 2011

2011-12-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

On the first day of December, the Davao Association of Animators and Designers organized a graphic design conference at the Abreeza Ayala Mall. The event was dubbed as GRAPHICON 2011. The event was addressed to graphics and motion design enthusiasts as well as to students who want to venture on this field. A group of respected individuals coming from Manila, Cebu and Davao was invited to be the speakers of the said event. We were educated in motion and graphics design, copyrights and many other topics in which every person during the event listened intently.

The first speaker was Sonny Leon, an instructor from PCCI. He discussed about how to find the right balance for your design. What strikes me the most during his presentation was I thought design was all about being creative but he explained that logic is also needed to design to form the right mixture. He also showed to us that even with simple tools (e.g. Microsoft Powerpoint) coupled with a creative mind can result to amazing results. Another speaker, Drei Boquiren, told us that we were our own piggy bank so we must invest in ourselves – there is nothing wrong on spending our money to satisfy our wants. Eric Su, founder of PicLyf.com, discussed to us what design is and where it is headed. His explanation of design changed my perspective on the matter. I learned from him the difference between art and design. Design is how it works while art is only focused with aesthetic value. Elaiza Cristine Magno also taught us that in real life, having a good job doesn’t mean having a good salary but doing what you want to do. But the speaker that inspired me the most was Seph Mayol, a Multimedia Designer, who has been working with clients abroad making microsites and animations. Aside from his very interesting topic what amazed us the most was his story on how he go to his position right now. We learned that with determination we can defy all odds and achieve our dreams.

I always has been fascinated with design specifically with graphics and motion design and web design but I knew that I was not that creative to make this things yet after I knew that design is not merely an aesthetic value it gave me a light that I may have a chance to pursue into becoming a designer. The whole convention was a success and hopefully it will be a yearly event this will not only help the design industry of the city but also to discover new prospects for the next generation of designers.

Photo Credits:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/GraphiCon-Davao-2011/196679520411559

Neue Haas Grotesk (Helvetica)

2011-12-01T09:48:00.000-08:00

I have been using computers since I was in elementary and during that time whenever we have an essay to pass or a project where we have to do magazine cutouts or print words to paste on our scrapbooks, we always make sure that we attract the viewers starting by the fonts to be used. Since before I knew that proper font selection is essential in order to add aesthetic value on the words where we often use decorative fonts. Before I never distinguish any major differences between a serif and non-serif fonts and when we had our typography lesson during our multimedia class, the discussion didn’t changed my perspective on dealing with non-decorative fonts. But everything changed after our instructor made us watch the documentary film, HELVETICA.

The documentary film was about typography and graphic design centered on the typeface which is also the title of the movie, where its first name was Neue Haas Grotesk. The film was able to change my point of view in dealing with typefaces. The film was able to express that typefaces did not only contain mere strokes or weight neither that it can’t only form a letter or express a word but it actually contains a story where Helvetica was, if I may say, the prime mover of the typography industry during the age of modernism. The director was able to collect information from credible people like Massimo Vignelli , Rick Poynor and other world-renowned typographers where it intensified how promising and great was the impact of the said typeface during the 1950s.

The director was also brave enough to include in the documentary film the decline of Helvetica. Its popularity became its own disadvantage – it became dull and boring. The film was able to shift from uniformity of modernism to the “free” post-modernism where typefaces with no sense of uniformity and was hard to read that was made by typographers who thought that it was their time to make something unique. The clash between the modernism people with the post-modernism young people was also shown during the final quarter of the movie. But, as we may alls observed, Helvetica still is one of the kings of typefaces in print, logo, graphic or motion design. I recommend people who have interest to be future designer especially in the typography field to watch the movie to have a clear view on how to deal with typefaces in various conditions and projects.

Photo Credits:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Helvetica-film.JPG

ACTIVATE A 6-MONTH TRIAL OF AUTODESK MAYA 2010 FOR STUDENTS

2011-11-30T06:20:00.000-08:00

We will be having our 3D Animation project for our Multimedia Course. Our teacher advised us to use a proprietary software, Autodesk Maya. Obviously, the 30-day trial is not enough for beginners like us to make a short movie. Unfortunately, we don't have the financial capacity to buy the said software so I thought we only have one option - pirate the software. BUT luckily, as I was browsing for the installer of the software, I came up to a blog of an unknown instructor giving instructions how to activate a 6-month student trial version for Autodesk Maya 2010(actually the trial can be used for any Autodesk softwares). Six months is more than enough for us to finish our project.

To make things easier I made my own version on how to activate a 6-month trial version for Autodesk Maya 2010 by acquiring a serial code and product key for students.

[Note: I only pointed out the important steps. There are actually other "type you information here" or "press here" step but I decided not to include it]

1. Go to the Autodesk website for students

2. You must be registered in order to have your student serial number and product key. Press the "Register" link on the top-right corner of the website and fill-up the forms.[DON'T FORGET TO CHOOSE "STUDENT" ON THE COMBO BOX ASKING "I am a"]

3. Confirm your registration in your email

4. After that, Go to the Autodesk Download Center and choose Autodesk Maya 2010

5. You will be given a Serial Code and Product Key for you to enter during the installation of the software

6. Go to Autodesk and enter your username and password

7. Enter your serial number and press "Next".

8. Leave your browser for a while. As you finish installing the software, on the first run you will be requested to activate your product. Copy your request code

9. Paste your request code on the web page.

10. Copy your Activation Code

11. Leave your browser again and go back to the product registration. Choose "Enter an activation code" and paste your activation code on the textbox

12. Finally, YOU CAN NOW USE AUTODESK MAYA 2010 for SIX MONTHS :)

PARTY!! PARTY!!

2011-11-24T20:00:00.000-08:00

Me and my classmates are currently on the second floor of the Eng'g Building. We waited for our teacher for our Network Technology Laboratory when the secretary of our dean said that he is currently in a meeting so we took our free time to plan for our Year-End Outing. :)

After minutes of deliberation, the planned date is this upcoming December 19 and 20 at the Fernandez Beach Resort.

WWEEEEEEE~~~

ICEAN Congress 2011 w/ DevCon

2011-10-17T18:10:00.001-07:00

The Field Trip and Seminars Class of the academic year decided to co-organize the yearly ICEAN Congress rather than having an Interpersonal Skills Seminar this is due to we lack in number. The event is organized by the FTS Class, Society of information Technology Students, Computer Science Society, and Developers Connect. The vent was held at the University Social Hall last September 7.The allotted attendance time is 30 minutes at the start of 8:00 AM. It was followed by the Opening Remarks of Mr. Ronnie Kris, President of CSS.

After that was the recognition which was awarded by the Dean of the Institute of computing – Engr. Val Quimno, I was fortunate to be one of the students who was awarded with the Academic Excellence Award. But actually I already knew that I was in, in fact I already knew the names students who will be given awards because I was the one who was in-charged with the recognition. I was glad to see the smiling faces of the students who got awards especially that they did not know that there was going to be a recognition program.

What I learned?

After that, the compulsory public defense of the fourth year BSCS started. I was amazed with their theses. Most of them were using Digital Image Processing as an aid for their thesis.

After lunch, we have another attendance for the afternoon session. The program was started with the introduction of DevCon by its Vice-President. Then the lightning talk was started, it is when speakers are given only limited time to deliver their topics. Some of the topics that were delivered were PHP, Drupal, Web Development using Wordpress by Eugene Maning, Open Street Maps, IP Recon by Rexes P. Villa, Plone CMS, and a usepian student, Irwin Rod Adesna with the topic Sex of Ideas.

What I liked?

Afterwards, I had a chance to participate the Birds of A Feather, it is a debate about IT Topics, the motion was which operating system is better: Windows? Limux-Kernel OS? Or Mac? I belonged to the linux team. But unfortunately we loss to the windows team but that was okay the experience, itself, was already an award.

What I disliked?

Other students were very noisy especially during the thesis defense mostly first years and second years. I think they don’t feel yet the importance of the defense that is why they didn’t listen well.

FTS - TRAVEL REPORT

2011-10-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

University of Southeastern Philippines

Barrio Obrero Campus

Institute of Computing

TRAVEL REPORT

Sept. 20 – 24, 2011

Manila

Field Trip Overview

As BS Information Technology and BS Computer Science students, we are educated in order, in the near future; we will aid to hasten the development of technology. With that said, we should be exposed with the current and emerging technologies to have an insight to what is the world giving us, what do we have to develop more, what does the world needs, and other things but, unfortunately, the university does not have enough facilities to cater our needs and the region is behind in terms of technological development. But the academe made an effort to solve this problem, on our current curriculum that was started four years ago, a subject called “Field Trip and Seminars” was added along with other subjects. This subject gives the students the opportunity to be exposed to what the university can’t give.

We have heard a lot of amazing feedbacks from our higher years from what they had experienced during their major field trip in Manila-Laguna-Tagaytay. This added to our excitement. They always say that we must spend well our time in Manila to use well our spent money. Unfortunately, due to the new university policy, some of my classmates were not allowed to take the said subject for they are still 2^nd-year standing. We were really saddened with the news but we had no other choice but to accept it. After enrollment, we learned that only 20 students were enrolled in the subject and our instructor is Dr. Randy S. Gamboa. We had a series of meetings to discuss where and when will be our fieldtrip as well as how much will we spend. We conducted a survey to our parents to discuss which set are we going to take. Majority of us chose Set A which is 1 Major Field Trip, 1 National Seminar, 1 Minor Field Trip and an Interpersonal Skill Seminar. Because we were only composed of a 20 students where some already had their Interpersonal Skill Seminar last semester so they are not required to attend this year’s seminar, we decided rather than having an Interpersonal Skill Seminar, we will just co-organize the yearly ICEAN Congress along with SITS and CSS. Unfortunately, our minor field trip did not turned out well. Our class president and the Office of the Mayor of Davao City had a miscommunication which led for our minor field trip to be discontinued.

Last September 20, we went to Manila for our 5-day major fieldtrip to visit different companies to teach us what technology they are using. We were astonished and happy with what we saw and learned. We did not expect that the Philippines have obtained such technologies thus we have acquired a new perspective on the IT industry of our country. We had a traveling agency to help us which is the Maynilad Tours the same company that the first batch of Field Trip and Seminars class took. We paid a total of P16 500 for our major field trip.

DAY 1

Our flight going to Manila was scheduled around 6:30 in the morning and as a protocol we have to be in the airport two hours early so I have to wake up earlier than the others because I was still going to travel from my hometown to the airport that takes about 30 minutes and I had a big problem because there was flood in our subdivision where I have to walk through it from our house to the street carrying my luggage, what an unlucky start of the day. Anyway, when I arrived in the airport there were still only 11 students. Majority of us were first timers to ride an airplane including me so everyone was excited but it was not my first time to go to Manila, I already went there before but I was still a kid so I can’t really remember the time when I was there. WE decided to check-in by ourselves rather than having a group check-in because Dr. Gamboa said that it would be another experience if we were the one who will talk to the front desk. We waited around an hour in the terminal so me and my friends decided to roam around the floor. Just my opinion, I was a bit disappointed with the airport I thought it would be more stunning but at least they have a tight security. During the flight, we were busy taking pictures of each other but there is still an awkward aura between those who were not classmates before. We were on board around 6:16 and I have the chance to have a window seat so I had a great time watching the top view of Davao City when we departed. When we were about to arrive, I saw the top view of the capital of the Philippines, there were hundreds of buildings, unlike Davao where you can still see trees, all you can see is buildings and highways. When we arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport the pilot told us that we were 19 minutes ahead of time.

When we went out the airport we were greeted with smiling faces by the Maynilad Tours representatives, Maam Mheanne Flores and Kuya Byrone We had our breakfast on rode because we have to catch up with our time to go to our first company visit. As far as I can remember we had chicken and rice with pancakes, we were very full after the heavy meal. During travel, Kuya Byrone would share to us the history of Manila and its buildings, streets, and others. He is really smart to memorize all of those things, well; I think it also takes years of practice.

Today, I went on a company visit to

Our first company visit which was at the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company or popularly known as PLDT at Mandaluyong. We visited their INNOLAB. It is the Innovation Laboratory and Telecommunications Education Center of PLDT. We were guided by Ma’am Anita Ferrer, the company’s representative whenever there are students who visit their company.

What I learned?

Before we started the tour, Ma’am Ferrer first discussed the history of PLDT through their Memorabilia section. Their history is quite really inspiring, how they stand up from their destruction and evolve to be one of the biggest companies in the country. There is no need to discuss the details of their history so I will just summarize it through their headings: 1928 – 1938 (AGE OF BIRTH), 1939 – 1948 (AGE OF DESTRUCTION), 1949 – 1958 (AGE OF HOPE), 1959 – 1968 (AGE OF CHANGE), 1969 – 1978 (AGE OF CONTROL), 1979 – 1988 (AGE OF REVOLUTION), 1980 – 1998 (AGE OF GATE KEEPER), 1999 – 2008 (AGE OF TRANSFORMATION), and 1909 – Beyond (AGE OF FAST FORWARD).

Our next activity was an IT Lecture that was given to us by Engr. Edmund Mamboyo from Technical Training. His presentation is entitled “PLDT Business Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”. He discussed to us Data Networking and how important CISCO Networking Academic Program for students who wants to venture to the networking field. In the “Yesterday” slide, PLDT before was at its most basic form, a Public Switch Telephone Network. It was very tiring manual switching of lines where errors were just normal. In the “Today slide”, PLDT evolve to become a Fixed Business in DataCom, internet,and VoIP (Voice over IP). In the “Tomorrow” slide, they will have the NGN or the Next Generation Network. He discussed to us the introduction of telecommunications where “tele” means distant and communications mean exchange of info. We learned the early forms to telecommunications and its’ types. He also discuss the basic elements of communication where we already learned that during our English 1. Engr. Mamboyo was bombarded with questions with students which he politely answered it all. However, he lacked in time that is why he did not finish his presentation but he cordially gave his contact information to us if ever we have more questions.

Next we went to their breath-taking Business Solutions Center; it is where they try out new technologies developed by other people in partnership of course with PLDT. They have this technology where you can control your appliances remotely via internet, and a device that measures rain then send its data wirelessly to a computer to be analyzed. Another fun part was we had the chance to sit in their amazing conference room, where at a moment we felt like we were bosses. Our tour guide also showed us their enormous war room. If I’m not mistaken there were about 12 projected screens on one wall and people are analyzing the current news and trends that can affect the company.

What I like?

I liked everything about the PLDT. Especially their Business Solutions part of the tour.

What I dislike?

I think the only disappointment was they did not let us bring our cameras to take a pictures but I think it was for security and confidentiality issues so we had no other choice.

Next, we went on a company visit to

As we were on the path going to SPI Servisoft at Parañaque City, we had our lunch on the road – again. SPI is worldwide Filipino-made business processing company.

What I learned?

We were welcomed by a human resource representative who discussed to us what is SPI and what service do they offer. They give Solutions to companies, made by skilled and experience People, and systems that are adaptive to Innovations. After that we had our IT Talk with Mr. Joselito de Luna a Network Engineer he discussed to us the basics of networking: LAN and WAN, Configurations, VPN tunnel and others. Next was Mr. Justine a representative from IT Service Desk. He explained to us how service request are managed. If the severity of one issue can give Production Outage then it must be dealt quickly within 15 minutes. If it can give Production Impairment, it must be solve within 30 minutes. But if it can produce Non-Production Impairment issues den they can just solve in 3 hours or they can also let it pass until tomorrow jokingly said by Mr. Justine. We also learned the Standard incident Escalator: 1. Indentification and Logging; 2.) Categorizing, 3.) Prioritizing, 4.) Initial Diagnosis, 5.) Outage Assignement and 6.) Notification.

What I liked?

Lastly, we had a tour on their IT Floor were leaders of each group explained what they do and what thing they need that the get from other group and what things they give to other groups. It was actually a remarkable view seeing large groups working together to develop both software engineering and content solutions.

What I disliked?

The IT Floor Group Leaders were not prepared on our arrival but still they managed to explain their respective part of work well.

After taking a leisurely walk inside Mall of Asia and a long tiring day, we arrived in our hotel, Kabayan Hotel, and we checked in. it was really a nice hotel. Our tour guide always compliments the hotel that it was built in a strategic place because it was built under the intersection of MRT and LRT and the Mall of Asia is just one short ride away. Everyone liked their rooms. After taking our dinner, we roamed around Baclaran until we reach the famous Baclaran Church. We went back to the hotel around 10:30 pm.

DAY 2

Today, we visited

All of us woke up early because the tour guide told us to in order to prevent traffic and our destination, the University of the Philippines Diliman Campus, is quite far. We had our delicious breakfast at the hotel. Everyone was eager to visit the number one university in the Philippines. We were all in the bus before the departure time so our tour guide was happy to depart the hotel ahead of time. We chose to go to UP Diliman because the yearly event, Philippinr Youth Congress for Information Technology or Y4IT was being held there. It is a national gathering of IT students and practitioners to disseminate innovations and current researches in the field of IT, while discussing solutions to upgrade the country’s state of technology.where speakers from all around the world were invited to share their knowledge. The event was simultaneously held at four separate buildings. We decided to go first to UP Theatre. When we enter the said building, we were amazed on how big the theater was. It took a long time before the event started so some of my classmates took a quick nap. When the hosts finally arrive, they made their roll calls not by schools but by regions, this simply proves that the event is nationwide. Only a few cheered for Region XI, I think we were the only ones from region and the others were just having fun cheering for every region.

The Opening Remarks was given by the Philippine Society of information Technology Educators President and a USeP Professor, no other than – Dr. Randy S. Gamboa. We were proud to see our teacher deliver his speech in front of hundreds of people. He said that may this event be a way to make new friends and he thanked the sponsors for making the event possible and successful. A keynote Talk was delivered by an actor and senator, Hon. Vicente Sotto III. It was really funny when people were shouting “Pinoy henyo!… Pinoy henyo!…” then he just answered, “Mamaya pa yun..” and everyone laughed. In his speech he discussed the possible rebirth of Department of Information and Communication Technology of the Philippines. And he also gave his observations that led him to say that IT changed the world. He also said that the Filipino youth must not lose their values along the technological development of the country.

What I learned?

The first talk was about Windows Phone 7. It was not really our first time to encounter such topic because it was discussed to us before during last years’ Developers Connect in our school. The only difference was the talk in UP included minor programming tutorials. Next talk was about Game Development in Cloud Computing, this was the reason why we went to the UP Theatre first. The talk includes the current technology that is used by the Gaming Industry whether players now can have Asymmetric Games, where multiplayer games can now let players play not simultaneously at one game. Another was Augmented Reality Game where players can feel more like they are in the game using different tools and gadgets.

We had our lunch inside the bus because our professor said that it will be impractical if we will eat outside the campus because we might miss the first batch of afternoon topics. After resting a bit in the bus, we decided to go to a different venue thus we land at the UP Film Center. When we arrived the first talk already started. Ms. Christy Tsang talked about Linux Certification with a presentation entitled “Plan your Future. Stay Ahead of the Game. Get certified”. She said that the Philippines, as the 3^rd largest economy in Southeast Asia, has great potential to excel in the IT industry. Their goal is to build and maintain a professional skill standard that is supported and applied throughout the world through Linux Professional Institute, a global certification organization for Linux Professionals. It is a member of the IT Certification Council (ITCC) where some of their members include Microsoft and Oracle. Out of 300, 000 exams that were take only 10,000 passed and now are certification holders. The next speaker was Mr. Yong-Cheol Byun and his topic is SMART Life and SMART Applications. At first, I thought he was an affiliate of the Smart Communications but I was wrong. He talked about Smartphones and Smart Devices and what are their usages. He discussed how SMART Applications can be beneficial in one’s life by making himself an example. He uses applications like Sleep Cycle App, Dolphine App, Soung Hound, Awesome Note, Drop Box and many more in a day-to-day basis. His talk was about how people can live well by simply downloading applications to their smartphones to do almost everything. After that, Dr. Rafael Saldaña of Ateneo de Naga delivered his talk about Competitive Computing. It is an elective subject in their school that is centered on the development of strategies, techniques and skills used in competitive contests. It really took my attention when Dr. Saldaña said the description of the topic. I was amazed how their school is putting great effort for their students to be competitive in contests to the point that they made a subject especially for it. Their school has been entering the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest, an annual multi-tiered computer programming competition among the universities of the world. The contest is sponsored by IBM. Their school had a chance in to be the representatives of the Philippines for the asia autonomous region and last year’s winner contest for who will represent the country is from University of the Philippines.

What I liked?

After listening to three straight talks, we decided to transfer to UP Bahay ng Alumni, where stalls of different companies are lined up to showcase their products and services. I also bought an “Insert Your Code Here” T-Shirt there. We then went to the UP Oblation by riding the popular UP Ikot Jeep; then we went back to the UP Theatre to get our certificates. We then went to the COOP to buy some UP items. I only bought cell phone strap because the other items were very expensive.

What I disliked?

We did not have a chance to visit their laboratories unlike the previous batch.

After another leisurely walk at another mall, we went back to our hotel and have our dinner.

DAY 3

Today, I went on a company visit to

On our third day in Manila, we visited Fluor Daniel Incorporatin in Alabang. It is one of the world's largest, publicly owned engineering, procurement, construction, and maintenance services companies.

What I learned?

We were welcomed by Ms. Marren a representative from their Human Resource Department. We went through to their conference room on the third floor of the building. While waiting for the speakers, Ms. Marren gave us tips on how to make an excellent resume. You should first have put your basic information: name, address, cell phone and landline numbers and email account; then you put your achievements; then your competency and skills; your researches; and after all of that you will put your educational background and personal information. This way the Human Resource representative that will look on your resume can go straight and see what you have already done and not hire you based on your school. And you must never forget to have a proper haircut. The first talk was about Safety specifically when you are trapped in an elevator. They made this talk first to prepare us if there were problems during our stay in their company. First, you must stay calm and help your companions to stay calm too; Second, check if the elevator moves if you press the buttons, if not; Third, call the persons concerned using the emergency phone in the elevator and wait until help comes. The next topic was about Value Creation in a good team. It is composed of six values namely: Purpose, Process, Communication, Involvement, Commitment, and Trust.

The next talk was about the overview of the company. They have received multiple recognitions around the world and they say that they are the best at what they do. The next talk was from Mr. Angelo Cagaton, IT Service Manager. He explained the technological development of the company over the years. Before they were using concrete models to build plants and other things which is quite tiring where as today that they are using software like PDS and AutoCAD to develop their simulated view of the project. He explains that he considers IT as a living organism. He explained to us the process from acquiring request to the final system product. It was quite detailed so I can’t remember bits of the process. He also claims that the future of IT is the Cloud Computing, the delivery of computing as a service rather than a product, whereby shared resources, software, and information are provided to computers and other devices as a utility over a network.

What I liked?

After the heavy and delicious snack that they gave to us, we had our company tour, we were divided into two groups, our group went first to their IT floor where you can see people working hard but they still gave time to say hello to us. Next, we went to their data center where the security measure is at high priority. You can only enter by having swiping your ID and by biometric recognition. They explained to us the usages of different networking components like the blade servers, virtual servers, EMCs, high-end routers and switches, cables and they are still using tapes for archiving. In the room you can see fiber optic cables linked to the US and other parts of the country. Our visit there was amazing. Almost everyone said, after the tour, that they wanted to work there!

What I disliked?

There is nothing to dislike in Fluor Daniel. They warmly welcomed us to their company. And they were very accommodating.

We had our lunch – not on bored. Yipey! We went to a nearby mall which is the Fiesta Mall and they gave us P200 each as our food allowance.

Next, I visited

Our next stop was in DOST – Science Technology Information Institue in Bicutan. I was really excited to go there because I was hoping that they could tell us the contributions of Filipinos especially students to the technological development of not only in our country but in the whole world.

What I learned?

We ended up having an IPv4 vs IPv6 talk with Mr. Muleta, an IT specialist of DOST. It was really a big disappointed on my part but I have no choice but to listen. He also discussed their systems like the SCINET and ELIB that they personally developed and the Starbook a kiosk for made especially for schools. After that we went to their museum to see the line-ups of Filipino Inventors.

What I disliked?

The talk was very short. And as I wrote above, It did not met my expectations.

DAY 4

Today, I went to a company visit to

On our fourth day, the people were feeling a little bit sad because it was the second to the last day that we will stay in Manila. We arrived at the Social Security System at East Avenue, Quezon City around 8:30 am.

What I learned?

Ms. De Quiros explained to us the features of SSS which are:

1. Compulsory Coverage

a. Employee who are not over yet 60 years old

b. Self-Employed and

c. Voluntary Coverage

2. Shared Contribution between Employer and Employee

a. The duties and responsibilities of every person is to secure a SSS number and ensure that their deduction does straight to SSS.

3. Pooled funds for member’s benefits

4. Earnings related benefits and

5. Inter-generational for cross-subsidiary

They have two programs which are Social Security and Employee’s Compensation. And their plans are to enhance financial and benefits stability and improve the delivery of service. After that we were introduced to Ms. Malto, a representative from their IT Department. She discussed to us the evolution of the networking of the SSS over the years that contributed to the development of the services rendered by the company to the public. In 1983 - 1986, they started their outsourcing process; in 1986 - 1992, they started using the Oracle RDBMS, in 1992 - 1996, SSS went to full computerization; during 1997 - 2003, the begun web implementation and text SSS implementation and during 2003 - 2009, decommissioning of SSS revenues and their recovery system and at present, SSS also added some features in their web implementation and text SSS implementation, the MYSS, SSS connect, SSS query and the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS). SSS has 132 local branches and 14 foreign branches. They told us that if ever we want to work in SSS we should first pass the certification exam from the National Computing Institute located in UP Diliman.

What I liked?

We were escorted to a building where transactions are being done like loans, payments, and the SSS Card System. It was a centralized building for all SSS transactions which included a computer where you can check how your profile in SSS. For example, you can check your balance from your previous loan and other things. In the SSS Card System they told us that they acquired a third party to do the job because it would be cumbersome for them to personally produce the IDs.

What I dislike?

Their talk was very short and boring. They should have made a way to get the attention of the audience by having some eye-catching presentations

Next, I went on a company visit to

After lunch, we went to Exist Global at Ortigas Center, the last company visit! The center itself was very amazing tall buildings gathered in one area. Anyway, we first learned what the company was all about. Exist Global is a global software development and technology services company that specializes in developing enterprise software, interactive web applications, and technology software solutions. They have been doing these jobs since 2011.

What I learned?

Jools Briones discussed about Building a Career in the ICT Industry. Included on the discussion were the possible career opportunities that we can enter like network systems, information support and services, programming and software development and interactive media. She also discussed to us the Exist Code Camp it is where they train chosen people, people who passed their test, on specific topics like Ruby on Rails for about six weeks. And the people who will teach are the ones working in the company. Next we had a discussion about Open Source. He discussed to us what we can gain in using Open Source: Motivation, Freedom, Knowledge, and Free Work. And in order to help we open source community by contributing, or give some modifications, or to create new open source software. He gave us a tip before he ended his presentation: It is not important what you know instead the drive to know.

What I liked?

I liked how they included in their talk on how not to be intimidated by the people around us but rather use it to move forward and exel.

What I disliked?

Their talk was again too short. It was like they were not prepared for us.

We ended up early in Exist Global and our bus was caught up in traffic so we took the time to have picture taking in Ortigas Center. After that, we went to Divisoria! We waited three days to come here because of the low prices of items. And we were not dismayed, they did have a big selection of low-priced items. I bought a head phone and a bag. I also bought T-Shirts for my siblings and me and my classmates decided to buy pasalubong for our classmates. We took our dinner at the hotel and after that we packed our luggages.

DAY 5

The last day of our field trip. You can see the sadness of the faces of our classmates. But rather than being gloomed by the idea, we just enjoyed ourselves on our free day! First we went to Luneta Park, The burial site of our national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, which is just in front of the Quirino Grandstand where the President takes their oath of office. We walked around the park and we had a chance to ride a kalesa that roamed us around the park. We took a lot of pictures from the monument to the horses in the park. After that we visited the National Museum, we were really amazed with the things we saw there were old pots and jars, figures and others that were excavated from the different parts of the country. Also they had artifacts of the tools used by primitive people before. They also have preserved insects and animals lined up in one room. We were really amazed of what we saw. We did not expect that the Philippines had preserved such artifiacts.

After that, we requested to go back to Divisoria to buy some additional pasalubong. I bought sandals for my mother and older sister and flip-flops for my father. My friends also bought items for their families. We went to the airport two hours ahead of time. When we got there we were really hungry. The prices of their products were outrageously expensive. But we were really hungry and we still have an hour flight so we bought siopaos. While waiting we killed the time again by taking some pictures and the awkward aura of each other vanished away during the trip. We did not only gained new knowledge and experience but also new friends.

We arrived in Davao around 7 pm, I think. And we bid ourselves good bye to each other as we go straight t our homes. I hope I can still have the opportunity to go back there with my friends and just take the time of our lives.

2011 State of the Nation Address: TRANSFORMATION

2011-08-07T07:34:00.001-07:00

The second State of the Nation Address of President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III was conducted last July 25, 2011. According to the wikipedia.org, The State of the Nation Address (abbreviated SONA) is an annual event in the Philippines, in which the president of the Philippines reports on the status of the nation, normally of a joint session of the Congress(the House of Representatives and the Senate). This is a duty of the President as stated in Artivcle VII, Section 23 of the 1987 Constitution. The State of the Nation Address is delivered every 4^th Monday of July at the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Batasan Hills, Quezon City. Just a piece of information, President Aquino was the first President of the Philippines who delivered his speech during the State of the Nation Address in full Filipino. The theme for his SONA was TRANSFORMATION where he gave pride to the improvements he has done to the country on different sectors of the society. In my opinion, he is clearly trying to clean the remaining problems left by the previous administration with the intention of putting appropriate punishments for people involved by investigating the trails left by the previous administration. He also reported current and never-ending problems of the Philippines which he said that he will try to solve on the duration of his term. Before we go further let me impart to you that the president in only on his second year of his six-year term so we should not expect big reports for it will be to erroneous to have this kind of judgmental mentality. Let us discuss some of things that President Aquino reported during the last State of the Nation Address and let us give possible solutions with the help of technology.

The anti-“wang-wang” campaign was the first report given by the president which is about corrupt politicians and employees who are evading their tax duties to the country. In my opinion and as what I have seen in the news, the president did a great job of identifying those corrupt agencies and politicians in the country just like the case of the previous administration of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in just a year. But the government still needs improvement of tracing self-employed and professionals who are the continuing to be tax-evaders of the country. This is why I propose a tracking system. I do not know if the government is already using this kind of technology but if they were, obviously it is not implemented properly. The tracking system that I proposed will be like what they used in the National Bureau of Investigation of the Philippines where they will track if ever a person has criminal records or not. This system will be used by the Bureau of Internal Revenue to track companies, self-employed and professionals, and other persons who needs to pay taxes for the country. The system will go like this: each taxpayer will be required to register to the Bureau of Internal Revenue which involves their type of occupation, salary, and other information; and then every after the collection of taxes done of course by Bureau of Internal Revenue, they will trace those persons who are evading their taxes by establishing a report using the system. This can only be successful if the Bureau of internal Revenue has the complete list of tax payers in the country. I now that this is not an easy system to develop but if they will give the IT sector a chance to solve their problem there is a big possibility that this system will be successful. Hopefully, Pres. Aquino will continue to eradicate graft and corruption in the country in order for people to see the result of what he said during his speech, “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap”.

One of the reports was the large drop in car and motorcycle thefts. From the underlying number of 1010 cases of car and motorcycle theft from the first six months of 2010 it has reduced to 460 cases in the first months of 2011. But the president was disappointed for the fabricated reports of the media to the public which caused the people to think that there is no advancement of the cases. There have been many technologies developed to prevent such car and motorcycle theft. I propose a system that will track an individual’s car or motorcycle using the Global Positioning System or GPS, a space-based global navigation satellite system (GNSS) that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites which is maintained by the United States government and is freely accessible by anyone with a GPS receiver, provided by the person’s smartphone. He will first attach a device to any part of the car like under the seats, under the car, in the hood and anywhere else as long as it is kept hidden and be hard to find. Nest is when someone stole the individual’s car or motorcycle he can now use his smartphone to track where his stolen car or motorcycle is giving him the opportunity to report to the authorities where his car or motorcycle can be found in order for immediate response. This will help the people to have greater chances of retrieving their stolen car or motorcycle. But the individual must be quick to respond in this dilemma because we may not know but the thieves already found the tracking device and deactivate it or worse they may, in Filipino terminology, “chop-chop” your car or motorcycle before you can even reach them. I think that this technology is already available but a demand for more affordable gadgets is required in order for people with car or motorcycle but has no budget for expensive anti-theft gadgets to have other options.

Another was the decrease of unemployment rate of the country. Different sectors of the government including Department of Labor and Employment, Commission on Higher Education, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and Department of Education are preventing to have job mismatch for the people. But for my opinion, it is not enough. It is much more dependable for the society if the government will support small and medium enterprises more in order to generate more jobs in the country in order for people to have opportunity to have a regular job plus the chance to be with their families along the run. One example of an industry that has a big market is the IT industry which almost every industry nowadays are now incorporated with this industry. The IT sector of the Philippines is arising but in a slow pace. The government should encourage people to invest in the IT industry and the government should also make plans with this sector just like what President Barack Obama of the United States of America did with his meeting with the Chief Executive Officers of different social networking sites and IT-related companies in their country.

One of the things that really took my interest during the SONA was the president’s report about the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), which is a 100 percent government-owned and controlled corporation that runs under the direct supervision of the Office of the President of the Republic of the Philippines and their tasks are to regulate, authorize and license games of chance, games of cards and games of numbers, particularly casino gaming, in the Philippines; generate revenues for the Philippine Government’s socio-civic and national development programs; and Help promote the Philippine tourism industry. I was really astonished to know that the said division of the government spent 1 billion in Philippine peso just for coffee. And the eight percent funds disbursed for cash advances in the office of the regional governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao, located in the Mindanao island group of the Philippines, that is composed of predominantly Muslim provinces, namely: Basilan (except Isabela City), Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and it is the only region that has its own government, were not justified. It is really a big disappointment because the money was already spent before they investigated this issue where if the previous government had preventive measures the money would have gone to a more worthy funding like education and agriculture. So now the current administration should give more power to the Commission on Audit in order to give them the right to assess whether a certain division of the company is having the same modus. The definition of the word audit according to the merriam-webster dictionary is a formal examination of an organization’s or individual’s accounts or financial situation. With this definition, we can say that the Commission on Audit also made lapses on this issue. In order for them to check in full detail all government offices and agencies they should have a system to track in real-time the expenses of each division of the company. There should be an allotted budget over an item for each company at every certain length of time. For example, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation must only spend Php 50 000.00 for coffee for a whole month. Each agency and office of the government must to input all their expenses on the networked system thus the Commission on Audit can keep track of the expenditures. If ever the amount inputted by a certain agency or office over an item exceeds the budget predefined the system will prompt the Commission on Audit in order for them to investigate it quickly and file cases if necessary. The inputted data of each agency or office will also stand as their financial statement therefore they will have no escapes if they are planning to disregard putting in the system other expenditures.

He also took pride of congratulating the Department of Science and Technology, the premiere science and technology body in the country charged with the twin mandate of providing central direction, leadership and coordination of all scientific and technological activities, and of formulating policies, programs and projects to support national development, for their new inventions like the mosquito traps, landslide detector, and the planning of a monorail system with the partnership of the University of the Philippines. I think the government should not only focus on the inventions of the DOST but also for those innovative Filipinos who came up with new ideas or inventions but don’t have enough resources to develop it. They should allocate the funds efficiently in order to fund the inventions of the new inventors for them to stay in the country which will also benefit the economy rather than being brain drained by other countries.

In general, the second State of the Nation Address of the was good but I may say that I was expecting more from Pres. Benigno Aquino III even with only a year on the seat as the president of the Republic of the Philippines. The purpose of the State of the Nation Address is to report to the congress and to the whole Philippines what he has done or accomplished from the past year and what will he do next on the preceding year. But some of us, especially students, were not contented because there was no report about the problems in the education sector especially now that there is a lingering issue about budget cuts in state universities and colleges. Does this mean that the current administration did not complete anything for the education sector of the country for the past year and they don’t have any plans for it on the preceding year? It is really a big disappointment because, as everyone knows, education is one of the vital sectors of any government in any country yet it was one of the things not clarified during the president’s State of the Nation Address. Well let us just hope that he has big plans to help the education sector of the Philippines like giving additional budget to state universities and colleges rather than cutting them even though he didn’t include it in his SONA. Furthermore, may he do everything he promised and may all of us, the people of the Republic of the Philippines, participate in his envisions for the welfare of our country.

Technopreneurship First Discussion

2011-08-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

We have nine dots above. Now my task to you is to connect the five dots using your finger in just four lines without lifting your finger. If you accomplish it you can continue reading.

If you answered the problem above then you certainly are an open-minded person. You are a person who thinks outside of the box. You think things that surpass the usual way of how people think. This is what a technopreneur must comprise.

Last July 18 we had our first discussion in our technopreneurship class, we discussed why it is important to discuss technopreneurship in the academes. We also tackled the common mentality of students nowadays: Study hard; Get good grades; then be employed in a job. But this is not what technoprenuership is all about. It is about changing the mentality of the students from the previous mentality to Study hard; Get good grades; then start a business. In other words, the goal of this class is to bring out the businessman or technopreneur, to be exact, out of us. The curriculum tends to make us the employers and not the employees. The ICT organizations here in Davao are making ways of improving the IT industry of Davao. We already have an incubator in Brokenshire College of Davao and future IT parks in Abreeza Mall and SM.

The first step of the “SEED” curriculum is “S” which stands for Self Mastery. This lesson includes on how prepared we are, the students, based on our personality and emotion if we have what it takes to become future technopreneurs. I already passed my personality test that was given by our adviser but the purpose was not really to asses our current result but to compare the results of our current test with the result of the test that will be given to us on the last part of the semester. The continuation of the first lesson will be on my next blog :) ciao!

REFLECTION 2 - Pirates of the Silicon Valley

2011-07-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

What are the factors that contributed to the success and failure of Steve Jobs as a Technopreneur?

Almost everybody knows who is Steve Jobs is. He is the founder of the company Apple Inc., the home of our most adored gadgets nowadays e.g. iPad, iPod, iPhone and others plus many more as the company continue to progress. But seldom knew the story how Steve Jobs attained such position in the IT Industry. Who would have thought that he did not finished his degree in college but instead he ventured by being a young technopreneur back then. Last July 10 we watched the movie “The Pirates of the Silicon Valley” which is a story of two college boys, Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and how they move the history of computers If you want to know them better and I recommend you to watch this movie but if you want to have a straight-forward answer on how Steve Jobs became what he is today then all you have to do is read further. I will tell you the contributing factors to the success and failure of Steve Jobs as a technopreneur.

I already know that it is hard to start a business from scratch. What more if you are still a student. In my opinion, this is one of the contributing factors of the success of Steve Jobs as a technopreneur - being a risk-taker. You normally see students doing their assignments, preparing for their project presentations or doing riots on the university grounds but Steve Jobs was different. He had a wider perspective in life than closing his ideas in the four corners of his university. He also has this tendency of pushing his co-workers to their limits which, if became abusive, gives him the title of an encouraging superior or partner just like what he did to convince his friend, Steve Wozniak, to sell his invention by putting up their own business rather than giving it to other companies. Another factor that contributed to Steve Jobs’ success is how he manipulates or charms potential investors to supply his business and persuade people to buy his product which I think is also the reason why Apple hired him back.

Steve Jobs went through failures first before going back to Apple Inc. This is because of he can not control his anger where the encouraging superior now becomes an abusive boss. Due to his hunger for power he made two factions, Apple and Macintosh, and made them fight each other which made a division in the company that almost tore down apart the Apple Inc. And he is also fragile when it comes to family not only the part when he did not recognize the baby of her girlfriend as his even though she explained everything to him but also the part when Bill Gates used this weakness to trick him. Bill Gates made him believe that they were a “family” so this weakness also made him to easily trust Bill Gates and giving then the Graphical User Interface and Mouse technology that they acquired from the Xerox Company. These were the factors that kick him off from the top. He was fired in Apple Inc. but luckily he was rehired and now he is continuing what he does best in the IT Industry.

How do you see yourself as a technopreneur?

Let us first define the word “technopreneurship”. It is actually a combination of two words – “technology” and “entrepreneurship”. According to wikipedia.org, Entrepreneurship can be defined as “one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods”. Entrepreneurship actually comes in many forms and one of which where we Information Technology students must focus upon is technology. Technopreneurship talks about developing or planning enterprises with the main media which is using the current technology to endorse new innovation to the market. Being a technopreneur requires having good management and leadership skills with innovative and out-of-the box ideas. Unfortunately, I don’t really have these kinds of characteristics. I just simply satisfied of people giving me something to work and not the other way around. It is not really called mediocrity because it is the way I do things. It is the way that I am comfortable of having lightweight responsibilities. If I land in a good job after I graduate, I actually see myself as a junior or senior programmer, a web developer, a network technologist or maybe a mobile developer. But I never really imagined myself of building a business. And honestly speaking, this is also what most of my classmates imagine themselves in the future too. It is rare to see students prepare to venture for their own business during college or after they graduate. But I think this why the Philippine National Information Technology Educators of Davao promoted to have a technopreneurship class in the curriculums of students who are currently taking Bachelor of Science in Information of Technology students to change that mind set of rather having an ambition of being an employee they want us to have a wider perspective in life in order for us to become the employers.

If ever I will have a chance to become a technopreneur. First I will have to have a more business-suited attitude which means I have to eradicate my habit of being tardy and I should really try to practice handling big responsibilities. Second, I have to enhance my creativeness and innovative thinking in order to create saleable ideas. If ever I can accomplish all of this which I really hope I can, I see myself as a future Davaoeño technopreneur. It may take a very long time before an IT company in Davao City progresses but if you will think of it the IT industry in Davao is slowly emerging it will be about time when other businessmen will invest in the IT industry in Davao where as one of the few IT companies in the city we will get the upper hand of getting potential investors. I also see myself as a good boss, honestly, I am not really used to boss around people so as long as they do what I told them to do there will be no more problems. Actually, being a technopreneur is hard especially that we all know that the technology nowadays advances rapidly and you need to be adaptive to this kind of environment. I really hope that I will have the guts to start my own business in the future.

Would you take the same career path as Steve Jobs took? Why or why not?

Steve Jobs started to change the world at a young age. If I were given a chance I would also like to take the same career path as Steve Jobs took. He has proven to the world that his decision, though was coupled with failures, brought him as one of the big guys in the IT industry not just today but also in the future as he continue to innovate the world with his remarkable ideas. Steve Jobs has this extreme dedication on his work that I envy which led him to his success in the first place. This kind of characteristic is what I admire the most about Steve Jobs and what I think that all technopreneurs should have. I want to be like him who made a mark in the IT industry with his innovative ideas. The journey may not be called as a good influence for new technopreneurs for along the road he used his ideas to deceive other people which eventually backfired at him. But this story of Steve Jobs makes me realize that in the world of business is somewhat alike with the jungle. You do not know who you will trust or who you will depend on because the animal of deceit can be lurking around you; waiting for the right moment to devour you at your weakest. Steve Jobs made sacrifices to satisfy his hunger for power which resulted to his inevitable downfall. Unlike him I would never sacrifice anyone in order to attain my desires. Well, sacrifices in life are always expected but trying to manipulate other people in order to have personal satisfaction is not my thing. He may be the kind of person who is always ten steps ahead to most of his competitors during his time in Apple Inc. but he misused this ability by making factions in the company which is the opposite to what he must have done – unite and promote teamwork in the company.

It maybe easy to dream but everybody knows how hard it is to attain success. But for Steve Jobs he attained success with a breeze. But his problem was he was succumbed by power that is why maintaining his success was the challenge for Steve Jobs. The path of Steve Jobs taught me many things, not only in the world of business but also in the life in general. If ever I will have the chance to start my own career I would do my best not to encounter the problems that Steve Jobs had back in his days. I would never be succumbed by power but instead it will try to keep my feet on the ground. I will push my employees to do their best in a way that is not abusive but instead being beneficial for me as their employer and as for them as my employees. It will not be long (hopefully) before I graduate in college I hope that someday I would be successful on what I do and who knows you might be reading the blog of the future Steve Jobs!

PHOTO CREDITS: http://www.newsden.net/bill-maher-thinks-steve-jobs-should-take-over-obamas-administration-679/

THE TRUE ESSENCE OF LEARNING

2011-07-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

What is Education? And how learning is done in this process? From kinder to elementary plus high school and now at college, as a third year Bachelor of Science in Information Technology student, I already have accumulated 14 years of going back and forth to school and, hopefully, I will only have to spend another two years, including this year, in order to finish my degree. But is the sense of education simply the thought of going to school and, after hours of discussion, go home empty-handed? Or is learning a process of simply memorizing the lessons without understanding them?

Last July 3, during our technopreneurship class, we watched the popular Bollywood movie - “3 Idiots”. It was not my first time to watch the movie because it was recommended to us by our higher years last year where at that time they were also taking their technopreneurship class. The movie was great, very entertaining, very funny and heart-warming. The three main asts of the movie were Farhan Qureshi played by R. Madhavan, Raju Rastogi played by Sharman Joshi and Ranchoddas “Rancho” Shamaldas Chancahad/Phunsuk Wangdu played by Aamir Khan. I’m going to describe each actor and let see if the role they potray exists in true life.

Let us start with Farhan Quereshi. He is the only child of a middle class family. Since birth he was already sealed to be an engineer by his father. He was pressured by his own family that is why he took engineering at Imperial College of Engineering. His parents, especially his father, worked hard and did everything to make sure that their son will be a successful engineer someday to the point that they installed an air conditioner to Farhan’s room to make him comfortable while studying. His father did all of this because he expected his son to be a rich man in the future. Although he was lucky for being one of the students who passed the entrance exam over thousands of applicants in Imperial College of Engineering, his heart still stayed to his true passion – photography. His dream was to be a wildlife photographer but his father did not put his aspiration to consideration. If you are a college student like me or if you were a student before, it is possible to have a classmate who was just forced to take a degree instead of following his true passion by his parents. Let us face it, money is essential especially in these times but the reason why some professionals earn large amounts of money is not because of their professions but it is their willingness and passion to what they are doing. Let us take note that not all graduates of engineering courses or other degrees that is said to lead you to a high-paying job becomes successful. This makes me realize that it is not the profession that matters but it is where your passion is.

Next is the religious one, Raju Rastogi. He is the only male child of a paralyzed former postman and a stressed mother. He also has a sister who has difficulties of getting married because of their cultural traditions in India. He is expected by his whole family to uplift their status in life. And he knows, as the only son, his responsibilities to his family. He prays everyday and wears a ring for every problem he is encountering. Unlike Farhan; Raju’s, as he said in the movie, wife and mistress is engineering. But due to the pressure of the need to be a successful engineer to help his family he succumbed to the erroneous system of the Imperial College of Engineering. Rather than learning, he was just memorizing the words of their textbook never minding if he understands a thing he was memorizing as long as he can pass the exams given to him by his robot-like teachers. Even though I am the third child of my parents, they still expect a lot from me because my two older sisters do not have any jobs yet. They expect me to be the one who will, like Raju, uplift our current status in life. But as much as possible, I’m trying not to get pressured because I do not want to end up like “Silencer” who is like a photocopy machine that just scans the pages of the textbook without understanding it but instead I want to learn as much as possible in order to apply my learning when I get a job.

Last but not the least, we will find out who is Phunsukh Wangdu who disguised himself as Ranchoddas “Rancho” Shamaldas Chancahad in the movie. He is, among the three, the kind of a person I did not met yet in real life. Well, some people do have some characteristics or beliefs like Phunsukh have but if talking about the whole package, I doubt that I have ever encountered such person. He believes that in order to learn we must be do what we want and not because of what other forced us to do and we must learn not because we are ought to do but we want to gain knowledge. In my personal opinion, he is right! Obviously, learning is different from memorizing but is it really that simple to break the system even though we are still students? Is it that simple to announce to the whole university or to the whole nation that they are giving a misleading system of education? I can only think of one solution which is also what Rancho did in the movie. First, break the system in yourself. You should not succumb to the system. Do not let the system be in front of you but rather let the system follow you by enjoying what you do without caring if you are first or last. Second, pass it to others. Spread to other students how important it is to go with your passion and understand the true process of learning.

These three characters thought me the true meaning of Education and how learning is done. We don’t have to chase success but rather let us pursue excellence and success itself will follow. And when things will not go as we planned, let us always remember to put our hand on our left chest and tap it like you’re talking to your heart and say “Aal izz well”(All is well).

A NICK OF IMAGINATION: TECHNOLOGIES OF THE FUTURE

2011-07-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

Technopreneurship Assignment #1

Have you ever heard the song “BETAMAX “of a Philippine band with the name of Sandwich? The lyrics include the lines “Wala pa nung internet, wala pa nung iPod o mp3, wala pa nung cable, wala paring CD o DVD, meron lang Betamax”(Before there was no internet, there was no iPod nor mp3, there was still no CD or DVD, we only have Betamax) The word technology according to Dictionary.com is defined as the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science. Technology has given us many benefits from reducing human work, to entertainment, to improving our communication and socialization with others, medical advancement and many other things. As a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology student, we are exposed to the current and emerging technologies for these are what we future Information Technologist will use to develop applications and software or new networking topologies that can be used by the public.

As part of our IT Elective – Technopreneurship 1 subject we were tasked to observe three fast food chains, three shopping malls, three homes and USeP and from our observation we should come up with a technology that can solve the problems present among the said places. Some of my suggestions might be impossible as of our technology today but technology moves fast! We may see my make-up technology in action in the near future.

FAST FOOD CHAINS

Fast food chain is the term given to an establishment where you can buy food that can be prepared and served very quickly. There are many fast food chains here in Davao some of which are Jollibee, McDonalds, KFC, Chowking, Shakey’s, Mang Inasal, and many more. You can found them having independent buildings but most of the time inside shopping malls. On my opinion, the reason why these fast food chains gain tremendous popularity to the public it is because like what people say “Time is Gold” and in our current time where every second counts the people are getting use on doing things in a fast manner where some people also want to have food serve quickly because they only have a limited time allotted for eating. According to Wikipedia.org, “In order to make speedy service possible and to ensure accuracy and security, many fast food restaurants have incorporated hospitality point of sale systems. This makes it possible for kitchen crew people to view orders placed at the front counter or drive through in real time. Wireless systems allow orders placed at drive through speakers to be taken by cashiers and cooks. Drive through and walk through configurations will allow orders to be taken at one register and paid at another. Modern point of sale systems can operate on computer networks using a variety of software programs. Sales records can be generated and remote access to computer reports can be given to corporate offices, managers, troubleshooters, and other authorized personnel.” This just proves that there is an effort to make these restaurants serve faster to the customers. But customer service does not only stop on serving scrumptious food but it includes the effort of making them feel welcome from the start they step in the restaurant and the quality of entertainment while they are enjoying their food. These give the owners of these fast food chains addition challenges to top among others in the fast food industry.

Every time me and my friends decided to eat at a fast food chain, preferably at McDonalds, we have this recurring dilemma of finding tables and chairs that would accommodate us all. Of course, we have to move the tables ourselves if only there is enough space but there were times that we had to wait for other people to finish eating in order for us to have enough space to connect the tables. It is really awkward to walk around the place where other people are staring at you and during the busy hours you sometimes bump to other people and if you are unlucky you might bump a table and spill their drinks. As I observed, we were not the only ones who are constantly having this problem. Some students from other universities or colleges who come in fast foods in groups also find difficulty on finding tables. Although some fast food staffs will volunteer to arrange the tables for you it will still take some time and there is no guarantee that there is a staff to entertain you especially on busy hours.

It will be big advantage for the customers if, before they enter the fast food chain, there are already allotted tables for them. It would be nice if a there is such technology that will resolve this problem. A technology will be something like before the customers enter a fast food, the glass door of the entrance will show to them the vacancies inside the establishment where, if there is enough space, one customer will input the total number of members of his group then the system will now calculate the tables and chairs needed as well as the space required. After that, the crew or the tables and chairs themselves will arrange according to the specifications that was defined by the system whereas it will lessen the time of finding and moving the said furniture as well as reduction of effort in the part of the customers which gives the business plus points for additional customer service. The technology also have a feature of giving the customer the option of assigning the tables and chairs according to their ideal area like if they want to eat beside the window, close to the air conditioner or the counter. The system will also have the capability of calculating the efficiency of the whole area where it will also consider if other customers will have a chance to dine in if ever it puts the tables and chairs at a specific area. After the customers leave, the tables will immediately change into “cleaning state” where they will proceed to the cleaning room and go under tremendous cleaning and disinfection. A special type of robotic arm will scan the items present on the table and segregate them accordingly. After that the tables and chairs will change to “waiting state” where they will automatically fold to reduce space consumption and they will have to wait for the system to assign them new coordinates and the signal to turn to “active mode”.

Have you ever brought a laptop inside a fast food but you are afraid to use it because you might spill your beverage on it? Well in a simple sense the answer is easy: don’t use it. But what if you have to check your account for an important email? There could be a big problem if the worst scenario happens. To resolve this problem and in order to give additional entertainment to the customers the tables will act as water-proof monitors. They can browse the internet using the browser available where the sites are filtered to avoid prohibited sites. They can login to their social networking sites accounts where they can post about their experience while they are eating which is also an additional advertisement for the fast food. Moreover, a built-in camera is available for them to take pictures in order for customers have the chance of uploading it on their social networking sites accounts. And if you’re lucky enough, a blogger might write how wonderful and welcoming is to stay in your restaurant using your table which can increase the number of customers. Furthermore, if you don’t need to use the internet, the table will also have a paint application which is an additional reason for artists who loves to doodle to dine in your restaurant. You can also select a theme for your table whether be it on Christmas theme, Halloween theme, Happy Birthday theme and many more. You can also integrate the pictures you took using the built-in camera to make a customize theme just for your table. It also includes games for the kids and kids-at-heart to enjoy playing which will be fully-interactive and can be played by multiple players. The customers will have the chance to contact the staff via an application in the table where you can request for additional ketchup or a refill of a drink. And to maximize the fast food chain experience, the customers can send a feedback to the owner using again the fully-interactive table to give the whole fast food chain staff credit of the effort they have done to make then cozy during their stay.

SHOPPING MALLS

A shopping mall is a building where you can buy different kinds of products from clothing, to school supplies, house supplies, groceries, and many more or just do window shopping. It can also accommodate restaurants, fast foods, and entertainment centers to increase the number of clients. So with this kind of concept for a business it is ideal for the building to be enormous in size in order to house the large number of tenants and hundreds or may be even thousands of customers. The top ten malls of the Philippines according to the wikipilipinas.org have the following floor area and floors: (10^th) SM North – 48 hectares with six floors, (9^th) Robinsons Place Manila – 24 hectares with seven floors, (8^th) Robinsons Galleria – 21 hectares with five floors, (7^th) Gateway Mall – 9 hectares with five floors, (6^th) SM Megamall – 34 hectares with five floors, (5^th) Trinoma – 19 hectares with four floors, (4^th) Shangri-La Plaza – 8.6 hectares with seven floors, (3^rd) Greenbelt Mall – 12 hectares with four floors, (2^nd) Glorietta – 25 hectares with five floors and last but not the least (1^st) SM Mall of Asia – 40 hectares with two floors in the main building and six floors in both south and north building. The newly constructed Abreeza Mall in Davao City has a total retail floor of seven hectares with four floors with a parking-lot capacity of 2000+ cars but SM City Lanang is said to be bigger, according to neodavao.wordpress.com, with a total area of 44 hectares including IT buildings, Condos, Sport Club and etc.

Another thing you can do in a mall and what most people also do is just leisurely walking; taking time on appreciating the multi-million interior design of a shopping mall but what if you only have to run an errand or just eat at a restaurant to a point that you don’t have time to mind the environment wouldn’t it be annoying to walk a hundred steps just because the store or the restaurant that you want to go is on the other side of the building? Well, at least you know where you are going but what if you don’t? Will you succumb on walk the whole floor? That would be very exhausting, based on personal experience. But some malls nowadays, already have “walkalators”, a slow moving conveyor machinery that transports people; across a horizontal or inclined plane; over a short or medium distance. But the mechanism is rarely seen inside a mall and not flexible enough to solve the problem.

An “Automated Floor Panel” is what I recommend to resolve this dilemma. The whole floor of the shopping mall is somewhat like a giant “walkalator” but rather than having a fixed position, the customers have the ease to input where they want to go. Once you step on the floor of the building a hologram menu will appear in front of you where a 3D map of the inside of the building is waiting for you to set your destination which is, obviously, the store that you want to go. But if you don’t know where you are going, it has a search feature in order to lessen the time of finding the store you want to go. It also has a sort feature that will sort the stores present inside the mall according to type (e.g. shoe store) for you to have the opportunity to avail other stores with the same type. After you pick the destination, the computer controlling the floor will calculate the shortest path with consideration to traffic subsequently the floor itself will create a “walkalator” particularly from the shortest path generated. It will also have a traffic management system to avoid customers to collide with other customers or with a foreign object. It also has a speed meter where you can also have the option to choose your rapidity for example when you are in a hurry, you can choose the maximum speed. What if you saw a friend? No worries. It also has a PAUSE feature giving you a chance to talk to other people or having a quick window shop over a store. After that you can press the RESUME button to continue going to your destination. If you change your mind, a STOP feature is also available to halt you and give you another option on where you want to go. This technology is not only built for leisure but also as a part of a high-tech security measure, the security guards will also have a special access to the whole panel where they can stop or to be precise cancel the movement of the thief from running away by making the floor he is currently stepping on go to the opposite direction. After that, a blinking red circle will appear on the floor having the thief at the center in order to alert the customers of the presence of the thief in order for them to do the necessary safety measures. It will also help the security guards to immediately locate the offender.

Have you ever tried searching for a shirt in the mall by going through the stores one by one and checking their clothing also one by one? It’s very tiring and quite a hassle. Another technology that brought up by my wild imagination is what if the glass windows of the stores will also be a way for customers to find or select clothes easily. It will have a menu where the customers will select what type of clothing they would like to see (e.g. jacket, pants, t-shirts). It can also be sorted according to color or pattern and according to the type of fabric. After that a series of images of the desired type will appear on the glass window so the customer will have the ease to pick without walking around. The customer can also view the clothing 360° in order to fully assess the exquisiteness of the fabric. It will also have a weather simulation feature where you can see what will happen to your clothes on a specific type of weather (e.g. windy, sunny, and cold). It will give information about what additional temperature it will give to your body, how long it dries if it gets wet, or the way it moves along a certain wind direction. This will give an additional precaution for customers before buying the product in order for them to be ready for worst case scenarios. But what if you are searching for a specific item? It also has an item Identicality feature where a customer can send an image of his or her desired item from the customer’s phone via Bluetooth to the system then the program will search if there is an identical item in their store. It will also give a percentage of how the item is identical to the other items inside the store. This will lessen the time consumed if the customer was to search inside the store item by item. The program will also give the details of the individual items in the store like how the designer explain the design of the dress or polo. And in order for the store to evaluate their customer service rating a feedback feature will also be available where the legit customers can post their comments to the glass windows which can give additional advertisement to the store.

HOMES

A home is not merely a place to stay but it is a place where we can be comfortable of ourselves. It is, as other people would describe, our comfort zone. As a comfort zone, it comprises entertainment, solicitude, sense of belonging and resting place. It is what motivates some people to do better on their work to enhance not only the tangible things inside your home but the connection between them and their family members can be amplified by bonding. You may buy appliances and furniture to increase the comfort of your home like plasma televisions, high-speed computers, king-sized bed, luxurious chandeliers, and many more. But lavish items are not the only way to be comfortable. In our current time, pollution and environmental problems has been sprouting out due to the misuse or overuse of the technology provided that is why green technology is encouraged for scientist, engineers, programmers and alike to develop to lessen the causes of green house gases, water pollution, air pollution and other environmental issues.

The traditional window structure of the houses here in the Philippines is: it is caged with metal bars to prevent burglars to come in; then with series of jalousies that can be open and close to let air or light come in; and lastly screeners to prevent bugs, lizards and any small foreign object to come in. It is quite an, on my opinion, inappropriate design basing on the weather conditions of our country. Sometimes there is no enough air that comes in that is why we sometimes use our electric fans or air conditioners 24/7 which is extremely a waste of energy and it is one of the contributors of green house gases. I suggest a new architecture for the window structures that is not only be usable here in the Philippines but also a great benefit for other countries. It is a high-tech window where it is covered with a special type of hard glass that has microscopic holes that can let air in. The glass will have a menu where you can select how much wind or air you would like to come in without worrying about dust because it has a filtering mechanism that removes the dust on the air before coming in. It will also have a light regulator where you can select how much light will come in. You can also have the option to download an app for you smartphone to control the windows remotely. It will lessen you electricity bills because you will no longer have to use your lights in the morning and afternoon, and you can lessen the usage of the electric fans and air conditioners. You will not only worry about how much electricity is used for the high-tech window for it also has the capability to collect solar power where it is used to charge itself and power the whole system. If it is raining, you can still let in air because the high-tech window will not let water to pass through therefore you are safe from getting your things wet and you are taking advantage of the strong wind made during raining. If you don’t have a beautiful view outside your window, the special glass can also function as a screen where you can choose a realistic background to best suit your interest. You can put a vast garden full of flowers background even when you are located at the middle of a city. It will be also has a security measures added to it so that you will no longer buy other products. If a burglar tries to open or cut through a window, you will be immediately alerted by the window nearest to you about the attempted break in. If you are far away from a window or you are in a position where you can’t notice the window like when you are sleeping or the window is behind you. The window system will have the capability to send an alert text message to your smart phone. It will not be just a simple text message but an alert message where your phone will be programmed to vibrate and give loud annoying to wake you up or to divert your attention to the message sent by the system.

A home is not only for family members but also for friends to hangout or make projects. I already had the chance to go inside the homes of my classmates. Of course, them, as the hosts of the house they are doing their best to make us, the guests, as comfortable as possible. They serve us drinks and snacks, make us watch the television, and other more. There were times that we have to move tables and chairs at the living room to have enough space to accommodate us all. It is quite awkward to tell your guests to make them help move the furniture. So the next technology that came into my mind is an automated furniture mover. The menu for this system will be located at any part of the wall. As you start the system, a 3D representation of the inside of the house along with all the furniture and people will appear. You can now change the arrangement of only the furniture by just simply dragging the 3D representation of an object to the desired location where it will send signals to the physical object or furniture will instantly move with the help of wheels or with an automated floor panel to the destination set by the user. It will also alert you if you are about to smash an object to another or to a person to prevent unlikely results. It will also have a recommendation feature where it will recommend an arrangement for you depending on the location and the space you need. This feature will be great if you have no time to rearrange your furniture if you are planning to hold a party or any kind of event. You can also view the information of the furniture inside your house. The system can give the detail when you brought the object inside the house, the current value if you are planning sell it, and the place where you bought the furniture. Have you ever encountered that you forgot where you put your keys or pen? No worries. This technology will also have a search feature where after you input the name or the image of the image you lost, it will scan the whole house and give you the exact location of the object. And as for people who love to decorate their houses, the system can suggest furniture to maximize the beauty of your dwelling place. It can also suggest a theme according to the occasion or with the current trend. It will also have security functionality in order for the owner of the house, especially of those who has enormous houses, to know who the persons inside the building are. Whenever it detects an unidentified person it will alert the owner to give him time to have preventive measures. Whenever there is a fire or flood, the walls will give you the instructions on what to do and directions on where immediately to go in order to prevent harm.

USeP

A university is a sanctuary for those who are eager to learn and explore the vast world of knowledge. It is with common sense that the environment must be conducive for learning in order for students to have the appropriate atmosphere to get their brains to work. The University of Southeastern Philippines, as one of the leading universities of the country and an aspirant of becoming one of the leading universities of the ASEAN Region, should find and make ways of enhancing the teaching methodology of professors in order for students not only to learn more but also give them the interest to go to school. Based on personal experience, students learn more if they are thought using audio-visual presentations and PPTs. Teaching with the help of videos or with any graphic material negates me from being bored. Moreover, time consumed on writing on the board will be lessen thus the instructor will have more time to discuss his lessons while the students will only have to write down important notes because the entire discussion can be uploaded to the internet for students not only from the university but also from other students worldwide to download. But as a state university, we have insufficient facilities and equipments to make this kind of teaching methodology a day-to-day basis.

It would be better if the blackboards used in the university will have the capability the same of a touch-screen computer. The instructor will use a stylus rather than chalk to write on the board which will remove the possible allergic reactions and skin diseases caused by chalk powder. The board should also have a universal serial bus in order to use flash disks to view PDFs, WORD documents, AVPs, PPTs and others during the class. It will also function as an attendance system for students where the part of the board closest to the door will have a biometric machine so instructors will no longer make a roll call or the students will no longer write down on a piece of paper which will also eliminate discrepancies. It can also access the internet to find additional reference like educational websites and electronic books. It can also record the activities done on the board as well as the voice of the instructor using a built-in microphone so students can download it to replay the discussion which will be highly beneficial for late and absent students. And in order to fully interact with the students, they will have a special chair with the tablet arm that will function as a touch-screen monitor. It will view all the things that the instructor has done on the board which gives a chance for near-sighted students to participate well on the discussion. The students will no longer have to bring ball point pen and notebooks for they can type on their tablet with ac word application installed in it. Just like the blackboard the tablets will also have a universal serial bus so students can transfer the files given to them by the professors as well as the recording of the whole discussion to their flash drive.

Another technology that is brought out by my mind is a study center gazebo. An invisible ceiling will protect the students from tremendous light and rain where they can set a background for that ceiling to add ambiance while they are studying for example a cloudy sky or a starry night. During the middle of the day, where the sun is at its highest; the ceiling will also let out a cooling mechanism in order for students to stay at the medium temperature. When it comes to electricity, the ceiling will collect solar power during the day in order to conserve energy. The tables will also function as computers where they can insert their flash drives to access their documents where multiple users can use synchronously. They can also video call other students from other gazebos to have a sharing on what they are studying. The table will also function as a fax machine where students can now insert their assignments and send it to their respective professors. This will lessen the time and effort wasted in going to the faculty room and finding for the teacher. A special glass will surround the gazebo to protect the students from dusts and other foreign objects where they can set the amount of wind that comes in. They can also set the amount of light according to their liking. Another dilemma that I observed and encountered during my first week in USeP was that I did not know where my classrooms were located and there was this one time that I was late on my Psychology class because I roamed around the Engineering Building where my classroom was located at the College of Arts and Sciences Building. For this reason, the gazebo will not be only for students who want to study but also for those who are new to the university. It will also function as an information booth where a 3D hologram of the whole perimeter will appear on the table so that they can have a virtual tour of the university. This will be great advantage for new students who do not know where his or her classroom is located which can be very exhausting to find by walking. It will also give them information about the location of the offices of the different divisions of the university. This technology also has the capability of alerting the security guards for explosions and fire in order to know immediately the source of the fire and call the authorities.

And these technologies are just a result of my wild imagination. To think we only have four places to assess yet we can come up with so many different things what more if we were not limited with the places. There are so many possibilities in the world of technology that we can’t exactly predict how easy life will be in the future. Like what movies depict of the future will be: flying cars, teleportation devices, shrinking rays, time travel, food pellets that grow when heated in the oven and a ton of other stuffs. But let us all remember that moderation is always needed. You can observe nowadays the causes of our problems are not the technology itself but the people who are using it incorrectly. Hopefully, green technology like what I wrote above will gain popularity to the public for it will benefit the whole human race. Just like time, technology will continue to go forward enhancing the lives of the people. Use it wisely.

CASE STUDY #6 - PROCESS LIFE CYCLE

2011-03-22T02:54:00.000-07:00

In order to fully understand the process state diagram shown above, I will narrate how one job is process:

Every process that is created by the process manager is in the hold state at the beginning. For each process there is information stored about how many memory and which devices must be allocated to allow the processor work on the process.
When a process has been given all the resources it needs it is scheduled to the ready state.
After some time, the process will now go to the running state where we can now say it is “in the CPU”, that is, it has been given the CPU. A process enters the running state by decision of the process manager. That decision follows a certain scheduling scheme depending on the operating system.
While the process is in the running state there a three possible occurrences that your process may meet:

If your scheduling scheme is preemptive which means there is a possibility of an interrupt and if the process is interrupted by another process due to a certain reason from the algorithm of the scheduling scheme, it goes back to the ready state and wait until it is called to the running state.
If the process needs an I/O operation to finish or there is an occurrence of a page fault, the process goes to the waiting state where the I/O request or page fault will be given solution and if a signal is issued to continue processing the process goes back to the waiting state.
Lastly, if there are no interrupts, I/O requests, or page fault encountered, the process come to an end.

During the concluding of the process, the process will be issued as finished and all the resources that the process owned will be freed.

Now, questions are raised why there is no transition from the READY state to the WAITING state and from the WAITING state to RUNNING state.

READY state to WAITING state

As written above, the process in the ready state is ready in all aspects to make effective use of the CPU while the process goes to the waiting state if it is waiting for an I/O response or there is a page fault to be resolved. I/O response and page faults are only detected in the running state therefore if the process which is in the ready state cannot proceed due to device failure it is sent back to the hold state and not to the waiting state.

WAITING state to RUNNING state

The process scheduler only chooses from the queue of processes from the ready state to put into the running state therefore the transition from waiting-state-to-running-state bypass transition is not possible.

ROBOTICS COMPETITION

2011-03-05T00:44:00.000-08:00

I had another competition. I had another loss. But what matters most is --- I had another fun and rewarding experience.

Last March 03, 2011, Holy Cross of Davao College - College of Engineering and Technology hosted an Inter-school Robotics Competition for their Techno Fair 2011. Luckily, I was one of the chosen students to represent our university, University of Southeastern

Philippines

, along with Michael Palacio (BSCS - 2), Ian Glenn Salce (BSECE - 5) and Jay Rell Vic Guy-ab (BSECE - 5). I and Michael were assigned to do the programming while Ian and Jay were assigned to assemble the robot. The competition was participated by the University of Southeastern Philippines, Holy Cross of Davao College, Ateneo de Davao University, STI Davao, University of Mindanao and John Paul II College.

Our task was, from a starting point, the robot will transfer the objects (plastic cups) from point A to point B one by one then after that it will halt at the designated end point. And the robot should not go outside the presentation area.

It was a very hard task even our coach said it was a difficult task. Our first problem was we, the programmers, was not adept how the hardware parts function so we studied the parts one by one in order to give them the right instruction in the program which took a lot of time. Next problem was due to the environment we did not expected that our sensor will not work as it was supposed to function on the presentation area because it was too bright so we had no other choice but to change our plan. We had problems on calculating the delay of the motor in order to make precise movements. Unfortunately, we lacked in time and the program for our robot was not finished and the troubleshooting for getting at least one cup was not also finished.

During the presentation, all robots from the six participating schools failed to took at least one object from point A so the judges ended up with the decision to base the winners from their prepared criteria of judging.

The declared winners were:

Champion – Ateneo de Davao University

1^st runner-up – STI Davao

2^nd runner-up – Holy Cross of Davao College

It was a very fun event. I learned a little bit about hardware and I got to learn assembly language(the PL that we thought we would use) even though it wasn’t included in our curriculum and we were very FULL (LOL) because of the free snack and the delicious lunch that they ordered for the participants and coaches!! THANKS HCDC - CET :)

Pictures during the competition:

Photo Credits: Sir Mark Van Buladaco

Am I worthy of my freedom?

2011-02-12T04:00:00.002-08:00

Like any person in the world, I also have my personal secrets in life. Now, I’m going to share you one. But first let me tell you the details, it started during my sophomore year in high school. I was in the midst of my puberty stage therefore I have problems with keeping my interaction to the society. Moreover, it was harder for my part to be in a school governed mostly with students with wealthy families. My allowance was, for other students, just for load. So I resorted to the biggest mistake that I done in my life, to steal money from my parents. The amount I stole varied time to time. Sometimes just P20 but there was once I stole P1000. But as they say, “Nothing lasts forever”, my parents knew what I did. They were very disappointed to the point that my dad didn’t look at me when my mother was scolding me.

I took for granted the gift of freedom just because I was insecure about others family status. I realized that time that it doesn’t mean that I can do it; I also have the right to do it. It was a bit too late though to correct my mistakes but all I can do now is not to make the same mistake again.

I may not be born in a wealthy family but it doesn’t mean that I can’t change the way it is. So now, I’m studying at my best to get good grades in order to graduate in time and eventually and hopefully get a good stable job someday so that I can help my family uplift our status in the society. Not only for them but also for the family I will have someday.

Do I need to be a person because I am rational? Or Do I need to be rational because I am a person?

2011-02-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

In our day to day life, we encounter many instances that we have to make a choice. And in order to justify that choice we have to supply a reason. It is now on the view of the person to determine whether his or her reason is valid enough to justify and support his or her view on what is the right choice.

Before, I chose to go with what I wanted: played games, slept all day, not doing my house chores, not studying and many more. I had a reason for doing that - and that is because I wanted it to. Well, I had a reason for my choice of slacking around but the question is – was my reason valid? Was my choice the right one to do? My actions resulted to having bad grades, being scolded by my parents and having social discrimination due to my misbehavior.

Being a person has not only the aspect of rationality it also has the aspect of morality and freedom which leads to responsibility. Therefore, the power of reason was already within me since I was born, I just needed to become a person in order to fully utilize my gift of rationality. It is wrong to say, “I need to be rational because I am a person” because being rational is already contained in me – it is also what we call human nature and for that reason I just needed to do something to fully use my gift and that is by becoming a person.

Now, that I know that I need to be a person because I am rational I can integrate my power of reason upon my being as a person in order to make the right choices in my life which are: study hard to get good grades, help with the house chores and many more.

*LOL, I have a low grade on this one.. XD

How much have I valued my body?

2011-02-12T03:58:00.000-08:00

I don’t have a healthy body, physically speaking. I was unfortunately born with asthma. It’s a common disease nowadays you probably heard it from a friend who also has asthma or a relative or from your officemate. But only those who has this ineradicable disease knows how hard and how limited you feel carrying this burden for your whole life. You can’t do strenuous activities nor overdose yourself with sweets. However, funny as it sounds, I used this disease to have an excuse not to go to school before. I almost wished everyday that I will get an asthma attack especially whenever there is an upcoming quiz a day after. I drunk cold water and ate sweets just to make sure of it. Sometimes I failed but most of the time I got a day out of school. I only viewed my body back then as a mere tool. A tool, if incapacitated in doing things, will have time to slack over. That was my life back in the first half of my high school life. That was how I took advantage of my body just for gaining my personal wants not to think that the medicine for asthma is expensive plus the concern of my parents whenever I can’t sleep at night. I already stopped that habit but still I was not that conscious about my body.

Last year, my grandfather died due to asthma. I was in a state of shock that time. Not only because of the death of my beloved grandfather but also the thought of what if it will also happen to me? What if my body will become immune with the medicines? It was a big slap to my face. It was a go-start-a-healthy-life kind of a slap for me. Now that I already have a goal a life unlike before I don’t want to die early. I decided to slowly start a healthy life starting with controlling myself not to drink soft drinks and eating sweets. Hopefully, after I graduate, whenever it will be, I can start sleeping early properly. I will never take advantage of my body. Now, the value of my body is as twice as my dream for without my body I can never able to reach my dream.

How am I to live my life as a college student?

2011-01-18T00:39:00.000-08:00

In my elementary and high school years, I was enrolled in a private sectarian school but unfortunately I was not one of those gifted children who has the “burning” passion for learning but rather I was one of those who just go to school just to meet friends, to have allowance, to get out of house chores, did not mind to study for quizzes and exams and being satisfied of getting a score of at least 75. That was pretty much how I handled my early years of study. But all things changed when a simple idea got into my mind before I entered my third year in high school: “Magstudy og magpahonor kaya ko…?(What if I’ll study and be a honor student ?...)”. It was a simple idea that changed the course of my life. I started to become an honor student and I was happy with it not only for the high grades and praises from my classmates and teachers but most especially the thought that my family was proud of me. Even though my parents don’t tell it to me directly I know that they are depending on me on uplifting our family because although I’m their third child; my eldest sister already has a family and my other sister has problems of her own, we have a big financial problem in our family.

Questions were floating in my head: Am I going to let my family down? Am I going to let my family suffer like this? Am I going my future family go through problems like this? Am I going to let obstacles stop me from attaining my dreams? The answer is NO. Now, only one question remains: What am I going to do?

I know that big journeys starts with a single step so as a college student, I’m going to live my life dedicating my studies to my family and to my dream to be successful. I’ll study hard, pray everyday and become a responsible student. I know that some people might say, “Is that all you’re going to do?” But if you’ll just analyze and internalize what I wrote on how I will live my life as a college student you’ll realize that these things are the things that we commonly hear from other students, very easy to say but very difficult to do and maintain. But unlike others, I’m going to finish it.

HOW WAS YOUR FIRST WEEK IN 2011?

2011-01-08T03:57:00.000-08:00

If it was good, then congratulations and get the hell out of here and celebrate!!(joke..) But if it was not, we're in the same boat. It has been a very tiring week. A lot happened in just a span of seven days. Full of revelations, headaches and frustrating exams. I can't tell you all the things that have happened because some are quite personal but I really do hope I can share it with you some other time when I have the guts to do it. Anyway, for those who read my previous post("TSK.. TSK.. TSK.."), I think you already know one of the reasons of my headaches but for just a quick update, our professor said that he will check my complaint when he has the time to check our case studies. I hope it will end up well.

Actually, the biggest headache for me this week was the exams! And what I hated the most was the fact that the subjects where not aligned with my forté. I really... really... really.. hate memorizing! It's one of my unconquerable weaknesses. Nevertheless, ~~I still hope to pass my exams~~ I'm not losing hope to pass all my exams. I know from myself that I'm not doing well this semester. I just hope it will not be too late before I realize to get serious because honestly, I don't want to have a red mark. I don't care how low my grades are going to be as long as they are all black marks.

What the hell!!! What am I whining for??!! It was only the first term that passed not the whole semester! I still have two more terms to sharpen up my grades and to get serious. I believe that as long as I think positive partnered with dedicated work I WILL SURPASS THIS SEMESTER with no failing grades!!!!! :))

CASE STUDY #5 - DIFFERENT WAYS OF MEMORY ALLOCATION IN FIXED PARTITION USING THREE DIFFERENT ALGORITHMS.

2011-01-04T03:54:00.000-08:00

DATA:

a. Job1 (100k) f. Job6 (6k)

turnaround: 3 turnaround: 1

b. Job2 (10k) g. Job7 (25k)

turnaround: 1 turnaround: 1

c. Job3 (35k) h. Job8 (55k)

turnaround: 2 turnaround: 2

d. Job4 (15k) i. Job9 (88k)

turnaround: 1 turnaround: 3

e. Job5 (23k) j. Job10 (100k)

turnaround: 2 turnaround: 3

Memory Block	Size
Block 1	50K
Block 2	200K
Block 3	70K
Block 4	115K
Block 5	15K

A. BEST-FIT ALGORITHM

The best-fit algorithm’s goal is to find a partition from the first block down to the last block in which the job fits the best in terms of lesser internal fragmentation and to be allocated.

The OS will check where it will allocate the first job by searching from the first block down to the last block; it will then compare all the expected internal fragmentations of all the blocks that can accommodate the first job which are blocks two and four; the internal fragmentations will be, in block two, 100K and, in block four, 15K. Obviously, job one will be allocated in block four because it has the least internal fragmentation. After that, the OS will get the next job which is job two. Again, the OS will check the blocks starting from the first block; compares all the internal fragmentations of the blocks that can accommodate job two; then allocates it to the block where it has the least internal fragmentation which is block five having only 5K internal fragmentation. Same process will be given to job 3. It will be allocated in block one creating a 15K internal fragmentation. Job 4 will be allocated at block three creating 55K internal fragmentation. Job 5 will be allocated at block two creating 177K internal fragmentation. And jobs six to ten asynchronously checks the blocks but all are busy so they will have to wait.

After the first turnaround, jobs two and four ends making way for job six that will be allocated at block five creating 9K internal fragmentation and job seven will be allocated at block 3 creating 45K internal fragmentation. Jobs eight to ten will still have to wait.

After the second turnaround, jobs three, five, six and seven ends then job eight will be allocated at block three creating 15K internal fragmentation and job nine will be allocated at block two creating 112K internal fragmentation. The remaining free blocks, blocks one and five, cannot accommodate job ten so it will still have to wait.

After the third turnaround, job one ends and job ten will be allocated at block four creating 15K internal fragmentation.

After the fourth turnaround, job eight ends. After the fifth turnaround, job nine ends. And finally after the sixth turnaround, job ten ends.

B. FIRST-FIT ALGORITHM

The first-fit algorithm’s goal is to find the first available block starting from the first block to allocate the job. The search must always start at the first block.

The OS will find a block where job one is to be allocated. It first checks the first block but block one has only 50K which means it cannot accommodate job one which needs 100K of memory. The OS now checks the second block; block two which has 200K can accommodate job one so the OS allocates job one to block two creating a 100K internal fragmentation. Then the OS fetches the next job which is job two; it will search from the first block; job one can accommodate job two so the OS allocates job two to block one creating a 40K internal fragmentation. The OS fetches job three; it searches from the first block. Block one has the capacity to accommodate job three but block one is still processing job two. Same thing happened on the next block where block two is still processing job one. The OS now checks block three it can accommodate the size of job three plus it is a free block so job three is allocated at block three creating 35K of internal fragmentation. Same process will be made to the remaining jobs. The OS fetches job four; it searches form the first block; all the first three blocks are busy; it reaches block four which can accommodate job four so the OS now allocates job four to block four creating a 100K internal fragmentation. Job five cannot be allocated in the remaining block, block five, so the OS puts job five in the waiting list. Job six can be accommodated by block five so the OS allocates job six to block five creating a 9K internal fragmentation. Jobs seven, eight, nine and ten are all put in the waiting list because all of the blocks are busy.

On the first turnaround, jobs two, four and six ends. The OS fetches the first job in the waiting list which is job five and by the same process; job five is allocated in block one creating an internal fragmentation of 27K.Next, Job seven is allocated in block four creating an internal fragmentation of 90K. Jobs eight, nine and ten are to big for block five so they are still on the waiting list. Block five is now considered an external fragmentation.

On the second turnaround, jobs three and seven ends. Job eight is fetched and is allocated in block three creating an internal fragmentation of 15K. Job nine is allocated in block four creating an internal fragmentation of 27K. Job 10 is fetched but the remaining block, fifth block, cannot accommodate it so it returns to the waiting list. Block five is still considered an external fragmentation.

On the third turnaround, jobs one and five ends. Job ten is finally allocated in block two creating an internal fragmentation of 100K.

On the fourth turnaround, job eight ends. On the fifth turnaround, job nine ends. On the sixth turnaround, job ten ends.

C. WORST-FIT

The worst-fit algorithm is somewhat the “antonym” of best-fit algorithm. It still has the same process as best-fit algorithm: OS fetches the job; computes the expected internal fragmentation of all the blocks that can accommodate the job starting in the first block down to the last block; but rather than allocating a job in a block where it can only create the least internal fragmentation like we did in the best-fit algorithm, worst-fit algorithm allocates a job in the block that has the largest expected internal fragmentation.

We learned in the best-fit algorithm part of this paper that job one can only be accommodated by block two, expecting 100K internal fragmentation, and block four, expecting 15K internal fragmentation. In the worst-fit algorithm, job one will be allocated in block two because it has the most internal fragmentation. With the same process, job two will be allocated in block four creating 105K internal fragmentation. Job three will be allocated in block three creating 35K internal fragmentation. Job four in block one creating 35K internal fragmentation. Job five cannot be accommodated by block five so job five is put in the waiting list. Job 6 however can be accommodate in block five so job five is allocated in block five creating 9K internal fragmentation. Jobs seven to ten are put in the waiting list because there are no available blocks.

On the first turnaround, jobs two, four and six ends. Job five is allocated in block four creating 92K internal fragmentation. Job seven is allocated in block one creating 25K internal fragmentation. Jobs eight to ten cannot be accommodated by block five due to lack of size so they are still put into the waiting list creating block five an internal fragmentation.

On the second turnaround, job three and job seven ends. The OS checks the available blocks, blocks one three and five, if they can accommodate job eight but unfortunately they can’t. Same thing happened on jobs nine and ten so they are all put into the waiting list creating block one, block three and block five as internal fragmentations.

On the third turnaround, job one and job five ends. Job eight is allocated in block two creating an internal fragmentation of 145K. Job nine is allocated in block four creating 26K internal fragmentation. There are no blocks that can accommodate job ten so it is put in the waiting list creating block one, block three and block five internal fragmentations.

On the fourth turnaround, still there are no blocks that can accommodate job ten. On the fifth turnaround, job eight ends making way for job ten to be allocated in block two creating 100K internal fragmentation.

On the sixth turnaround, job nine ends. On the seventh turnaround, nothing happens. On the eight turnaround, job ten ends.

CASE STUDY #4 - MEMORY ALLOCATION IN DYNAMIC PARTITION AND RELOCATABLE DYNAMIC PARTITION

2011-01-04T03:43:00.000-08:00

Load the following jobs into memory using dynamic partition and relocatable dynamic partition: (The memory size is 220k with allocated OS for 15k).

a. Job1 (100k) f. Job6 (6k)

turnaround: 3 turnaround: 1

b. Job2 (10k) g. Job7 (25k)

turnaround: 1 turnaround: 1

c. Job3 (35k) h. Job8 (55k)

turnaround: 2 turnaround: 2

d. Job4 (15k) i. Job9 (88k)

turnaround: 1 turnaround: 3

e. Job5 (23k) j. Job10 (100k)

turnaround: 2 turnaround: 3

*turnaround – how long it will stay in the memory.

*apply compaction if only if the incoming jobs has no other block to allocate that will fit their sizes.

Click the picture to see the full size.

DYNAMIC PARTITION

RELOCATABLE DYNAMIC PARTITION