Wazzup Pilipinas News and Events

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

End Of An Era: Techbox Philippines Presents 'The Last Of The Nokias'

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From March 13-15, Techbox Philippines will offer a last-chance, limited-time only, knock-your-socks-off clearance sale of Nokia handsets.

“This is it - the last chance for Nokia enthusiasts to get the last line of smartphones with the Nokia brand on them,” said Angela Gutierrez, Business Unit Head for Techbox Philippines.

In the fourth quarter of 2014, Microsoft announced that it will discontinue the use of the ‘Nokia’ brand in its smartphones – a move that aims to simplify its marketing messages and bring all its smartphone offerings under one brand.

This marks an end of an era –Nokia, a brand synonymous with cellphones for more than two decades and one that pushed the advancement of mobile phones will no longer be present in the handset race.

“Nokia is one of the most popular mobile phone brands across the globe – especially for us who grew up with the brand. This is a momentous conclusion of a remarkable tech and lifestyle story. Our event will not just be a sale – it’s a tribute to the phone we’ve known and loved since we were kids,” said Angela. “This is the best – and last – time to own a Nokia,” she added.

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Asian Television Content (ATC) in partnership with PBA has officially opened its Foundation Cup of PBA D-LEAGUE, starting March 12, 2015 to June 29, 2015 for a total of approximately 70 exciting games at Ynares Sports Arena and Flying V Arena, after the successful ASPIRANTS CUP FIRST CONFERENCE, which ended last February 22, 2015.

Lots of thrills and frills filled the air from the beginning till the finals due to combination of School based teams and regular company teams. This year, the following schools are part of the 10 Team-member of the Foundation Cup: Hapee Fresh Figthers, MP Hotel Warriors/Letran College,Sebastian College/ATCLivermarin/San Sebastian,Café France/CEU,AMA University, Kerimix Racal, CebuanaLhuillier, Cagayan Rising Sun, TanduayRhum Master and Jumbo Plastic Linoleum.

PBA D-League was formed by the PBA Management to create a training venue under the watchful eye of Atty. Angelito “Chito” Salud,who is currently voted as its President and CEO under its new structural organization, in providing support to all basketball amateurs in their quest to be drafted as PBA Regulars by way of completing at least two to three years or until qualified during their stint at the league, which also covers referees, statistician and announcers (barkers) as well……..an advocacy in its own rights.

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Shelter Architecture and Design Magazine is pleased to announce the release of the publication’s debut book, Human Scale, the first title in an upcoming series of architecture monographs. Your friendly neighborhood Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas was invited to the launch that was held on March 7, 6PM at the Top Shelf of Fully Booked bookstore located at Bonifacio Global City (BGC), Taguig.

Comprising a panel during a short program held at the launch were Shelter Magazine's Editor in Chief, Architect Royce Mar Nicdao, WTA Architecture and Design Studio lead Architect William Ti Jr., and Shelter Magazine's Architect Dianne Naval.

Human Scale takes a look at the works of WTA Architecture and Design Studio, a multidisciplinary
firm composed of young architects, interior designers and engineers. The ten chapter book illustrates the concepts which the firm has found relevant in the practice, and which serve the need to find and explore new ideas in order to create a sustainable and livable urban model.

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The UP Theta Epsilon Sorority invites you to INTENSITY VI: Avast Ye!, a pirate themed event organized to raise awareness about rape culture through online campaigns with the help of our media partner, WazzupPilipinas.com and other sponsors to spread the message about the advocacy.

Intensity VI is a fresh way to get students involved with this advocacy that most people turn a blind eye to. So if you're one with us in supporting this cause, be sure to hoist your sails and cruise to IC's Bar and Cafe on March 19, 2015 at 8 in the evening.

Together, let us defend our rights, protect our bodies and safeguard a culture that promotes gender equality and respect like how pirates secure their treasures. We'll see you on the 19th!

Monday, March 9, 2015

WD Holds First Gamers Cup for Media

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WD, the world’s leading provider of excellent computer storage solutions, hosts its first ever gaming tournament for the Philippine tech press on March 6, 2015 at Imperium e-Sports Bar and Video Game Lounge in Metrowalk Commercial Complex, Pasig City.

Your friendly neighborhood Pambansang Blogger ng Pilipinas was of course among the many members of the media who dared join a team and compete in a friendly game of Counterstrike Global Offensive. What made the competition a lot more stressful was the fact that we were competing for a chance to win WD Green 6 TB desktop drives and a 120 GB Kingston SSD. That's for each member of the five-man team. Thus WD gave away a total of 5 desktop drives and 5 SSDs.

Wow! I think I perspired a lot eventhough Imperium was airconditioned, especially when the games was a close fight to the win.

I actually invited a blogger friend so he could be among my team mates but unfortunately the team members were assigned via fish bowl draw so I ended up with other members. It was a good thing I never insisted to change groupings since many of my team members were pros in Counterstrike.

Four teams were created to battle each other out for an elimination round via two teams versus challenge, and the final round between the two remaining teams on a best of three win. Since we won in the first two, we were unanimously the declared winners.

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For travellers that are always on the go, it is a tedious task to always have to book a hotel in advance especially when you are not really sure when and where you are to find yourself next. It's about time a hotel booking app that allows last minute booking was created to help alleviate the stressful hotel booking process. Better than just showing up or being a walk-in, a mobile app that gives you to[ choice of 3 to 5 star hotels is a great help for travelers.

Raphael Chohen, CSO and Co-Founder of HotelQuickly, the pioneering last minute hotel booking app has announced the full operations of their services here in the Philippines during the launch held at A Space Manila located in Makati.

The mobile app provides the best possible accommodation for travellers as compared with other online offers. The more than 5,000 partner hotels offering an average of 28% savings all over the Asia-Pacific is an indication that the free-for-all app would attract a huge number of users wanting to get the beast deals online.

Though the mobile app is useful only for a-day-before booking, it is the best service that can offer both convenience and savings especially for the individuals who travel a lot. The app conveniently displays the top 10 hand-picked hotels of a city so travellers won't need to browse over hundreds of choices. It is also available in 9 languages and an easy-to-use interface. The app also undergoes continuous product improvement to ensure they find better ways to serve their users.

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There's a new solution in IT administration that offers 300% savings in Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and increased data efficiency via a global unified management using VMWare vCenter administration.

I've been a network and systems administrator for several years and experienced a multitude of servers crowding our data centers. This includes a spaghetti-like wiring that would often confused us, plus the extreme heat dissipation emanating from the machines may it be 1u, 2u or blade servers.

Thus I was extremely surprised that there is now a technology that would put away the prehistoric dinosaurs of the data center. I guess with this technology, one server cabinet inside our data center would suffice already.

Imagine your towering servers filled with lots of servers being replaced by a couple of 2u servers. The hyperconvergence technology offers up to 3x reduction in TCO offering reduced cost. Now that's a lot of savings and efficiency for your data center.

SimpliVity, the leader in hyperconverged infrastructure for teh software-defined data center, kicks-off their “Get Hyperconverged” World Tour to help businesses simplify their IT infrastructure. There are more than 40 Cities in 20 countries named already – more to come soon. In South East Asia, the Tour started in Manila last 6 March at the Makati Shangri-La hotel in Makati.The morning was dedicated to media, while the afternoon was for the IT community.

Thai Royale Spa: An Affordable Massage and Spa Franchise in the Philippines

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Stress-buster! That's how I define a day in the spa. The feeling of being rejuvenated from all the stress brought about by the many causes of stress like traffic congestion, hectic work schedules and tasks, financial struggles, relationship problems, and other everyday problems of life.

It's always a refreshing feeling when you've underwent a whole body massage, or even a body scrub, or a facial. It almost feels like you've been reborn and ready to face the world with renewed vigor and excitement for regaining the strength and vitality that you've lost due to stress.

Now wouldn't it be nice if we have our own spa where we can have all the treatments we want while at the same time we'll be earning by offering the service to other people. Like what most people would do, setup a business that you either know or enjoy doing. Setting up a spa center will serve our need for our much needed spa service while we provide the same service to other customers with the same needs.

What is recommended is to setup the business using a business plan that already works. That is the beauty of franchising. We get to setup the business without the need to start from scratch. We will take advantage of tested and proven methods, and be backed up by a brand known already for quality and exceptional service.

Thai Royale Spa offers franchising for people who want to earn with them and enjoy the benefits of becoming a part of their success story. You'll never go wrong in choosing a brand with years of experience and a name you can count on. The 25 branches they have right now is an indication of how successful they are already.

Nelfa Querubin: A Passion for Clay Book Launch at Ayala Museum

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I have that special interest on works of art since I'm a frustrated artist myself. I wanted to take a course on Fine Arts or anything related to the arts but my mother disagreed saying there's not much money in the arts. Thus I ended up taking an engineering course, working as an IT professional for most of my life, and now writing for a living (if you consider blogging as writing).

I'm back to where I wanted to be. Writing and dabbling with artistic inclinations through my venture into blogging and social media. You have the eye of an artist when you have the capability to choose the right combination of colors, shapes, balance and other factors related to art.

Sadly enough, most artists are recognized when they are at the prime of their lives or after their death. During my youth, I think the only popular artists where the ones already in their grave. Their work only get attention, and value, because they couldn't create anymore new masterpieces. What remains are their last pieces of art.

It was therefore inspiring to have heard of Galleria Duemila proudly presenting a book launch highlighting Nelfa Querubin’s works. A Passion for Clay book launch held at the Ayala Museum last March 2, 2015 was sort of a tribute to the artist.

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BrainHQ is the leading international brain fitness online training. It is an inclusive and accessible all-natural cognitive training program that is scientifically designed with proven effectiveness in over 70 peer-reviewed publications.

BrainHQ Philippines, designated by the BrainHQ Posit Science based in the United States of America is teh exclusive distributor in the Philippines and is committed to promoting overall health and well being that starts with a strong brain function and that is known to power up the body's mental, physical and emotional faculties. Their management team is composed of individuals that are strong advocates of health. education and principled leadership. They are committed to improving people's quality of life by providing accessible all-natural health products.

The company recently organized the First Neuroplasticity Conference last March 2, 2015 held at the Fairmont Hotel in Makati. Nuroplasticity refers to the physical and functional changes that lead to improvement of brain processes. The key is identifying what mechanism to target and how to exercise them effectively. Exercising the brain is as good as physical exercise and requires regularity and consistency.

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Is there room for development while still preserving our heritage? It has been a constant battle to choose between maintaining our historical past or sacrificing them to build new structures. We are torn between making sure our establishments meets the standards of the future, and keeping our old buildings for the sake of the new generation.

In line with these thoughts, a symposium on sustainable heritage tourism was held last Thursday, 26 February 2015, 1-5 PM at the Conrado Benitez Hall of the Philippine Women's University along Taft Avenue, Malate, Manila.

Leading the talks was Gemma Cruz-Araneta, former Department of Tourism Secretary during President Joseph "Erap" Estrada's short term. She is now the Chairman of the Heritage Conservation Society. She heads the HCS in its daunting but enriching task of pushing for "a Filipino society that values and preserves its cultural heritage to instill pride of place and strengthen Philippine national identity through advocacy and volunteerism, project implementation, education and information."

Also present was Ivan Henares, a known hertitage conservation advocate and acting as President of the Heritage Conservation Society. He encourages heritage and cultural awareness among the youth through the establishment of school and local chapters of the HCS as well as through social media and his award-winning blog. Ivan engaged the students during his talk by letting them identify certain landmarks within the country. He also showed several before and after photos of structures that were destroyed or damaged by either nature or man.

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The Volkwagen brand is recognized as one of the most popular automobiles in the world and everyone will take pride in owning one of these vehicles. It's a great vehicle to bring out on the roads for both pleasure and work. The great looks, comfort and power provided by their cars are top of the line.

The Volkswagen Golf, produced in Germany since 1974 and marketed across seven generations, has been the recipient of several awards globally, which include the 2013 European Car of the Year for the second time (first recognition received was in 1992), 2013 World Car of the Year, 2013-2014 Car of the Year Japan (the first imported car to win the award), among others.

The GTI line was first introduced in 1976 on the 1st generation Golf. With its unmatched success, it popularized the GTI name and made it synonymous with the Golf GTI brand. Now on its 7th generation, the GTI is the ultimate sportsman within the VW sports car family. It combines technological leadership and uncompromised performance making it a sustainable sports car. The GTI is the sports car with true “style and performance”, because it is THE GTI.

And after the successful introduction of the Polo Hatchback on February 16, VW Philippines continues to create landmarks with the launch of the Golf GTI-a car that perfectly embodies the confidence of a true leader.

The launch was held at their Bonifacio Global City showroom with members of the media given opportunities to test-drive the Golf GTI last February 26, 2015.

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Filipinos love to eat. This is probably why there's a lot of restaurateurs setting up their own food business here in Manila. Both local and foreign brands have proliferated as fast as our backyard mushrooms. It seems in every corner of an area, there's a restaurant coming into scene. We see a lot of popular international restaurant franchises now setting foot in the Philippines.

Thus, it is not surprising that a food-related event will be very successful as everyone seems to be eyeing to be a chef nowadays. Everyone wants to be a culinary expert so they can be called "chef" with the utmost qualifications and credentials. Setting up a restaurant is always easy, but you need to provide great tasting food with superior presentation so it will please all the senses that Filipinos will adore.

Madrid Fusión, one of the most globally anticipated annual gastronomic affairs, is set to seize the Manila summer with three exciting events—the International Gastronomy Congress, Trade Exhibition and Flavors of the Philippines Festival. A grand launch was held at Fairmont Hotel in Makati last March 2, 2015 led by Department of Tourism (DOT) Secretary Mon Jimenez.

This will be an interesting event to be part of this coming April. I can't wait for April. But never worry, time flies so fast especially when you're having lots of fun eating your way towards the said date. More restaurant reviews soon along the way as we get near Madrid Fusion Manila.

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STAR Magic talents painstakingly defeated the best players of Philippine collegiate basketball at the Celebrity Slam Jam held last March 1 at the Cuneta Astrodome.

The STAR Magic roster braved the intimidating height and skills of the UAAP’s and NCAA’s best to land a defying win for their fans in the Celebrity Slam Jam, a charity basketball tournament held for Philippine basketball legend Samboy “Skywalker” Lim.

Despite the apparent disadvantage, STAR Magic was able to get the upper hand at the start of the game, with Xian Lim quickly garnering six points before De La Salle’s Jason Perkins finally gave the college all-stars their first point at the third minute.

While the young basketball veterans were still heating up, the surprisingly nimble Matt Evans and Young JV where able to sidestep a seemingly dazed all-star defense and built up quick leads for STAR Magic.

STAR Magic’s time soon came, as the all-stars began to get their offense together. University of the East’s Roi Sumang kicked off the collegiate effort with the game’s first three-pointer, with Ateneo’s Kiefer Ravena slowly bridging the gap with daring shots inside STAR Magic’s defense.

Despite their effort, the all-stars lost the first quarter to STAR Magic thanks to Jose Sarasola’s amazing offensives and Gerald Anderson’s surprising three-pointer, ending with a score of 20-23.

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Ahoy, Mateys!

We are pleased to announce that the community of Department of Advertising and Public Relations (ADPR) in PUP Manila is taking a giant leap forward and having an official reunion for its 50th year anniversary that will happen at the Plenary Hall of Marikina Hotel, Marikina City on March 22, 2015. The festivity dubbed as ALL ABOARD: THE GOLDEN VOYAGE, 50 YEARS OF SAILING will begin exactly at 4:00 in the afternoon.

Established in 1954, ADPR continues to produce dedicated expertly trained, technology- proficient, socially responsible and values-oriented, and globally competitive future advertising practitioners and entrepreneurs. Some of ADPR’s notable alumni are Jonathan Manalo (Director-Star Records), Marcelo Santos III (Author of “Para sa Broken Hearted”), Francis Homo (Art Director-IdeasXMachina, Jolo Moreno (Account Executive-Abracadbra Productions).

This nautical dinner and cocktail party will be filled with fun and exciting activities such as talks from different personalities from the field of advertising and public relations, performances from the members of ADPR department, raffles and games—and with only a few days until show time, our team has kicked into full gear. Project head Lowie Eniceo along with his independent events agency, GANAP Design and Events, are committed in making this big production one that goes down in history.