Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Yahoo Weather Comes Alive in iOS Update

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Yahoo today announced the latest iOS update by taking the award-winning experience on the Yahoo Weather App even further. By using technology typically only experienced in video games, we’re bringing weather to life on your iPhone, iPad and iPod touch through animations that appear directly in the Yahoo Weather Today widget as well as in your app. It’s the same beautiful design and location-based weather photos from Flickr, now combined with amazing weather effects.

Now when you check the forecast during a hot summer day, you will actually see the haze come across your screen. You’ll also see the rain, snow, and fog –with even more effects coming soon.

These animated effects will make checking the forecast daily more delightful than ever. So take the opportunity to explore the weather in your favorite places around the world, and see for yourself. Update your app or download the latest version in the App Store today.

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The Core Productions, Inc., represented by its Busines Development Director, Juan Paulo Galinato, together with ePM, a full service training and professional certification company with headquarters in Singapore and Malaysia, represented by its Managing Director and Founder, Mr. Allan Puyan, presented the first industry and awards night that revels the voice of the IT-BPO industry at the International Centre Information Technology (ICITE) Auditorium.

The BPO Choice Awards 2014 is the first awards night where IT and BPO professionals can nominate and vote for their peers, managers, companies, and celebrities in different award categories through the online voting platform, BPOChoice.com. The core mission of this awards event is to celebrate and promote the workers and organizations in the industry who are responsible for the significant economic contribution to the country.

The BPO Industry is a huge economic driver that has completely changed the business landscape of the
Philippines. The continuous increase in the size of the industry, with a targeted 1.3 Million filipinos employed by 2016, the industry has paved the way for the establishment of Small and Medium sized enterprises, development of more real estate projects, and demand for retail products and services. In addition, the IT-BPO industry have provided jobs to over 900,000 Filipinos currently handling a multitude of processes outsourced from around the world. Through The BPO Choice Awards 2014, this growing market will be properly represented and will help dispel the negative publicity attached to the industry.

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Epson, a world leader in digital imaging and print solutions, has once again received top honors as it has been awarded Buyers Laboratory’s (BLI) 2014 Winter “Pick” award for “Outstanding A4 Mid-Size Workgroup Scanner.” Through a series of extensive product evaluations conducted by BLI, the Epson Workforce DS-510 scanner consistently outpaced the competition, earning better than average results for the majority of performance categories tested. The unit’s overall performance and “Highly Recommended” status helped it to win “Pick” recognition for the mid-size workgroup category.

“Our customers depend on us to provide reliability and high quality imaging, which is why we continue to push our innovations to provide only the very best,” says Koichi Endo, Managing Director of Epson Southeast Asia. “To be recognised by such a prestigious industry influencer truly underscores Epson’s commitment to innovation and dedications towards helping companies achieve their business goals.”

Aside from its faster than average speeds and a higher than average efficiency rate when measuring the unit’s hardware throughput, the WorkForce DS-510 has also been shown to maintain its hardware speeds even when increasing the resolution or changing image processing settings. The DS-510’s Automatic Document Feeder (ADF) handles a wider than average range of paper weights, while the additional features include the ability to scan to various cloud destinations, smaller than average file sizes in colour mode and a wider than average resolution range. With the bundled Epson Document Capture Pro Software, users can customize up to 30 profiles for frequently used scan operations.

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Learn to be contented on what you have and never seek for anything that is better than what is yours. God has given you things better than what you have, so appreciate all his blessings and be satisfied with it.

If you’re somehow losing hope, do not search for something that will make your situation worse. All you have to do is pray to God and he’ll be there for you through your bad times.

Never ever steal neither someone’s wife nor husband. Someone will come into your life and will love you more than you wished.

It is not your pointless pleasure that will complete who you are. But it is your family that will make you happier and better.

We are proud to present to you our short story for the day. Read and enjoy!

Wazzup Pilipinas Original Short Stories Series: A Place for Solitary

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“People are illogical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway.
If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Do good anyway.
If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.
The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.
The biggest men and women with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest men and women with the smallest minds. Think big anyway.
People favor underdogs but follow only top dogs. Fight for a few underdogs anyway.
What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.
People really need help but may attack you if you do help them. Help people anyway.
Give the world the best you have and you'll get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you have anyway.” ― Kent M. Keith, The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council

“A Place for Solitary” can be categorized as a story that follows the Existentialism theory because it teaches us how sinful people are in nature and how these sins affect their lives. It also shows the differences of people’s attitudes and beliefs and how people should take responsibility in their actions. The story also showed how people evaluate a certain situation as right or wrong or good or bad depending on his or her perspective.

The most evident characteristic of existentialism in the story is the author’s confusion about how the world goes, why does things keep on happening to him/her and why these people around him/her act that way towards him/her. It shows that people’s experiences and observations are in contrast on what’s constant in our world today.

Please read below and enjoy our short story for the day.

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In Los Angeles (California), comedy bars are rampant and an easy place to visit any night of the week. On the other side of the world, Manila (Philippines), there are plenty bars with karaoke, live bands and party music to go to....but if one must need a comic relief, where would you go?

A sure hit funny guy is Mr. Mike Unson who has been in this craft for almost 12 years. He has performed to introduce Philippine' pride Rex Navarette and Hollywood's Rob Schneider. When asked what do you do before you perform, veteran comedian answers "I chill." He has done corporate shows, alumni events, bar scenes, reunions etc. He adjusts to his audience, a true sign of a professional showman.

How could serious be funny? Mr. Mike Unson does it professionally and interesting. His set of quips and jokes come from all over. He can deliver from current events, commercials, politics and everyday life. He is, indeed, updated with news affairs. He delivers appropriate jokes. It does not have to be a "low blow."

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With a pipeline of much-needed improvement projects for the Metro Rail Transit III (MRT-3) system on the plate of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC), the transport department is fast-tracking their implementation as it pursues the buy-out of the railway separately, so as not to delay any further the relief that riders deserve.

“The modernization and upgrading of MRT-3 is critical in order to improve our services to passengers in terms of both safety and convenience. Most of these projects will be completed in 2015 to 2016 under current timelines, which is why we are already pursuing them separately from the buy-out,” said DOTC Secretary Jun Abaya.

“We need to work together in the interest of MRT-3 riders. Government is still finalizing the details of its buy-out plan, but we will bring this to the private owner as soon as it is completed. The buy-out will pave the way for our long-term plans, which is intended to deliver not only a decent MRT-3 system to the public, but one that we can look forward to taking,” he added.

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The Grand Theater of University of Makati was so jampack during the grand coronation night of the 2014 Misters of the Philippines competition. Out of the 26 candidates, 4 winners were chosen to represent our country to 3 different international pageants: Mister International, Mister Global and Mister Tourism. A runner-up was also chosen to take over in case any of the top three winners is not able to fulfill the duty being the title holder of any of these.

The last year's representatives did pretty good job in the entire history of the Misters of the Philippines pageant: Mister Tourism 2013 placed 9th, Mister Global placed 4th and Mister International placed 4th and bagged the People's Choice Award. I hope this serves as a challenge to the most recent winners to prove that they can do better in the coming competitions.

The event started with the hunk contestants parading in a warrior's attire, then on a swimwear and a formal wear. The rest of the minor awards were already presented in the previous weeks so they just announced who won that night. The Misters of the Philippines 2014 pageant aims to find the 4 winners that are on top when it comes to physical fitness, final look, personality and international appeal. Last but not the least is the Q&A portion to determine who are the men of handsomeness and attitude that they are looking for.

Medicard-Metafit launches Metafit Fitness Boot Camp Season IV

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Medicard Philippines, Inc., a leading HMO provider, caps the year with Season 4 of the Medicard-Metafit Fitness Boot Camp at the Centris Walk, Eton Centris in Quezon City, beginning September 30, 2014. This is part of Medicard’s mission of encouraging the public to live healthier lifestyles.

"It is our privilege and pleasure to the partnership with Medicard in this Fitness Boot Camp. It is a great opportunity for fitness enthusiasts to have this type of activity. Rest assured that Eton Centris will always be in support of all Medicard's future endeavors." Maria Victoria L. Santiago, AVP for Centris Operations.

Dr. Nicky Montoya, President of Medicard Philippines Inc. , welcomed Eton Centris as the new partner for the boot camp’s fourth season.

“With the success of our first three seasons, we feel that it has become our duty to continue the goal of promoting a healthy lifestyle,” he said.

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Pvt. Brier is a representation of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. They both died in the middle of the war, and both were eager to stop the German advance in Europe, and both sustained injuries that attacked their legs.

Winston Churchill is presented here as Pvt/Sgt. Jackie Lake, who knew about the impending death and horror this war would bring, but the people wouldn't listen to him, just like in the first scene, where most of the members of Foxtrot didn't care, and they died, also reflecting the resignation or death that befell the members of the American and British Government, most notably PM Chamberlain, who led Britain through WW1.

Adolf Hitler here is Herr Richter, a man fueled and driven by intense beliefs. Sgt. Henderson represents Woodrow Wilson, who wants to pull out of the war, and does not want to risk more lives.

The bronze mirror in this story showed the traits of the characters, and the people they represent.

This story takes place at the Omaha Beach invasion at Normandy, France, otherwise known as D-Day, or operation Overlord. Modern English was used, except in parts were the English of that time were needed. There were many imageries and few metaphors to emphasize the truth about the war.

Please read on and enjoy our short story for the day.

Wazzup Pilipinas Original Short Stories Series: The Dream Catcher

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"Dream catchers are one of the most fascinating traditions of Native Americans. They are ancient spiritual tools used to help assure good dreams to those that sleep under them. A dream catcher is usually placed over a place you would sleep where the morning light can hit it. As you sleep all dreams from the spirit world have to pass through the dream catcher.Only good dreams can pass through the hole in the center while the bad dreams are caught in the webbing and are destroyed by the morning light."

When dreamcatchers were originally made, the Ojibwe people used willow hoops and sinew or cordage made from plants. The shape of the dreamcatcher is a circle because it represents how giizis- the sun, moon, month- travel each day across the sky. There is meaning to every part of the dreamcatcher from the hoop to the beads embedded in the webbing.

It is shown in the story that Luna doesn’t believe in dream catchers. Just like the author, the characters kept their nightmares a secret to one another for they are afraid the others will think they are paranoid. It was also shown obviously that she too cares for the safety of her friends yet wasn’t able to save them because of the situation. In such scenes the author might have done the same thing. All in all, the author and the characters both fear supernatural things.

Please read on below and enjoy our short story for the day.

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For the past years, the Philippines have emerged as one of the fastest growing economies in the world, impressively rivaling the growth rates of fellow Asian countries. From being referred to as the “sick man of Asia” in headlines, it has turned around to being referred to now as the “new breakout nation”.

Integral to the economic development and growth of the Philippines are the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), as they largely outnumber large enterprises in both quantity of establishments and share of the labor force they employ. To provide industry market intelligence to boost the business of SMEs, MEDIACOM Solution Inc. is staging the 2nd Philippine Small & Medium Enterprise Business Expo 2014 (PhilSME) with the tagline “Boost Your Business”. PhilSME 2014 is the largest trade show dedicated to the ASEAN SME Community in the Philippines with 238 exhibiting businesses from 18 business sectors and 20,000 expected visitors. This is set to be the focal point in the business community this year as it happens in November 21-23, 2014 at the SMX Convention Center Manila, Pasay City, Philippines.

“We aim to put together under one roof SME business owners, senior level executives, professionals, government agencies, trade associations from the Philippines and the ASEAN region to synergize their efforts in order to boost their businesses and the Philippine economy at large. The ASEAN economic community will become the 7th largest economy in the world with a combined consumer market of over 600 million people,” said David Abrenilla, Founder and Managing Director of PhilSME 2014 and CEO of MEDIACOM Solutions, Inc.

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The street magician levels up with his world tour which ends in the Philippines at a shocking 10.29 minutes of staying underwater without any form of breathing equipment.

David Blaine proves he is no ordinary magician as he bewilders the crowd with his death-defying stunts that made everyone cringing and worried for his life. His magic are unexplainable even when it seems so easy for him. I even thought he was going to reveal the solution behind one of his tricks but he actually made it more complicated to unravel how he really did it.

The Smart Araneta Coliseum was filled with fans that got more than glimpses of his performances as some of the crowd were asked to participate in the actual magic tricks on stage. First to join him were three individuals, mostly kids (two of which are girls and one boy) who were baffled by the ingenious card tricks.

This was after David drank three gallons of water, which seemed so simple yet everyone should know that it is quite difficult for the body to drink that much amount of water. But what really impressed us was how he used the water he drank to turn off the fire he started.

UAAP Cheerdance Competition 2014: NU Making Headlines, UP Making History

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The UAAP Cheerdance Competition for 2014 was "makapanindig-balahibo" to the extreme as we find the National University (NU) depending its title while the University of the Philippines (UP) tried to reclaim.

Undoubtedly, there were several amazing moves and stunts! But we can't remove the fact that those skills were over-shined by the message UP was able to convey to the audience. "Pantay-pantay" or all equals, if translated roughly, but we all get the point especially when they passed around the "rainbow" among the crowd.

We all send our congratulations to every school that participated especially for the buwis-buhay stunts that they made, or failed to perfect for some. Many are saying that "while NU will make the headlines tomorrow, UP made a history."

My timeline feed was all about the event ongoing at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao Quezon City which is probably in terrible traffic right after the cheerdance competition not only because of the rains, but also because of the sudden number of fans going home.

The National University (NU) bagged the 1st place at the UAAP Cheerdance 2014 while the University of the Philippines (UP) places at 2nd and University of Santo Tomas (UST) finishes at 3rd. NU deserved the crown for great precision. Yet, UP earned our respect for their vision of equality. UST can be praised for their creativity. Also, the UAAP Cheerdance Competition would never be this exciting and entertaining without reading out-of-this-world memes & boneless tweets! Bashing at it's finest!

Champion: NU (677.5 pts) 1st Runner Up: UP (658 pts) 2nd Runner Up: UST (625 pts). Kudos to all teams! Congratulations to all the winners.

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Some of the problems that our society faces when in terms of being a student are bullying and pride. In the story, there are some aspects of bullying because one doesn’t like the personality of the other particularly when Ben does not allow Lovelle to be part of the project instead of giving her a chance to work with him.

Another one is pride. That is when Ben cannot accept the fact that there is someone who has been better than what he got. This leads to misunderstanding and sometimes students may end up fighting and some do destroys each others name.

It is not that we are the winners all the time. If we want to be successful, then we should strive hard and make the best happen. If we lose, then it is the time that we should accept the truth and aim better. It is also best if we need to be humid. That despite of all the success that we may have in life, we still need not to be more than our limitations and still be ready for new beginnings, new friends and new opportunities.

The theme for the story is the camaraderie and the unity that each one of us should have within ourselves because no matter how best we are, no matter how great we are, we can never live alone.

Please read on and enjoy our short story for the day.