How USeP can help..

My dream job is to become a game developer in the near future. As I have described in my older post, what a game developer does, a game developer is the one who develop games, which will need a vast knowledge in programming, graphics design and a very wide imagination. While developing a game, you will be on a team, so good skills in communication and management is also needed. Another factor you should have is to have a very long patience, which may be equal to infinity or more than that, because developing a game is a never ending scheme. In the sense that once the game has been released, players or gamers will always find ways to cheat on the game, which is technically called bugs. This is another job for a game developer, to remove bugs and modify the game, which I find interesting and challenging.

So, how will the university help me reach this dream?

I still am currently studying at the University of Southeastern Philippines, which means my dream is still under construction. I find school as the foundation of the building I'm trying to pursue and build, thus a good school will be a good way to start a high and stable building.

The school has been a good help to me for the past two years, that may range from telling me what IT really means and what should IT graduates become in the future.

Honestly, when I graduated from high school, I have no idea what course to take.

First on the list was, nursing. That time Bachelor of Science in Nursing was very demanding, almost half of my high school classmates took up the course, but I was never really attracted to nursing. It's not because I don't like blood and flesh or something like that, its just that I don't like memorizing words and medical terms. I know I'm being foolish but it was really the true reason.

Second was, HRM (Hotel and Restaurant Management), simply because I'm a noob when it comes to cooking, so I would like to take up HRM major in culinary arts. But, I was not able to take the course, because I have to do some sacrificing for my older sister's studies (Oh! I'm such a loving sister).

Then, there came a friend of my father, one of our customer really, Gaga was studying in USeP. When she heard of the situation, she told my parents to send me to USeP and apply for a scholarship, so I would never have to stop my study. Well, thanks to her, I was able to continue studying. So, its time to choose my course, she has provided me list of offered courses. I didn't choose Engineering, because I find five years very long, not Education because I have low confidence, same reason for courses in College of Art and Sciences. So I have Institute of Computing (IC), nice name for a college department. There listed Computer Science and Information Technology, then my father suggested to take Information Technology. So there I go, I took up BSIT. While filling in a form, I remember her(Gaga) asking my mother, "Hawd man kaya siya'g math?"(Is she good in mathematics?). That confused me once, but I just ignored that.So when I passed the entrance exam, I have to pass another exam again, this time its oral, an one on one interview with a faculty member from IC (wah!!).

Outside the faculty room, there are two people there, I guess they're from IC, they asked what course I will take, then I answered IT. I was ,again, confused with their reaction (What's with IT?).

On the interview, I can only remember one question:

Interviewer: "Why took up Information Technology?"
Me: Because I want to be a Computer Programmer (wahaha).

Luckily, I passed the very last exam. So, I am an official USePian slash ICean now. Then, I've learned that the sum of the reasons why I didn't took up the other courses was in IT. IT in USeP might took you five or more years to finish it and I would have to let go of my low self-confidence, which I found good for me.

The teachers were good at there areas and I really have nothing against them. They taught well and when you passed their subjects you'll feel very deserving, because it's not easy to pass subject from teachers who doesn't like to teach on a crowded classroom (if you know what I mean). A high quality education that is. Press the students so that they will learn to take out their real potential.

The only thing that the university lacks, in my opinion, is its facilities. I mean, the university should provide us, students, a good learning environment and tools, which may be one or all of the following:

Classrooms please!! T.T
In IC, especially, the department has only two classrooms, which does not have a good ventilation, because of lack of electric fans, fans that won't even work. A very hot environment while studying is a bit hard for us, as students.

Water fountain please!! "o"
As from what we all know, water is the most essential mineral a human needs. The two rooms I'm telling was on the fifth floor, and when you reach that, you'll get very tired and thirsty, so why not provide another drinking fountain. I've also found out that there were only four water fountains, all in all, in the whole university.

Computers on the Lab
The computer lab was quite fine, there's air conditioner and some computers work but some don't. As a solution, some of my classmates will decide to bring their laptops or notebooks, so that they would never have to use one of the working computers so, other students can use it. Now, the problem is, the university prohibits the students to plug their portable computers on the universities power line.

WiFi passwords
I was quite surprised, when an engineering student asked me if I knew what's the password for the university's WiFi. Why password/s are secrets? A WiFi should be open for all of the university's student. If the university would just limit the people who access' the internet through WiFi, why establish a WiFi zone then? It's just a waste of money when only few are able to benifit from it.

I don't know what to call this last issue I have, so I better tell you the situation. I remember when I was still a first year student, I am sitting directly under a flourescent light, suddenly the flourescent started making noise, which sounds like strong voltage of electricity got into it. Then, it started making unnecessary light then it turns off. I felt safe when it didn't blow up. Another situation like this one is, smell of burning wires on the computer laboratory, particularly, Lab 1. There's no smoke but just smell of burning material, which I think is very dangerous.

So, thats all for my concerns about the university, on how will it be able to help me reach my dreams and be on top of it. It's all about facilities, good facilities and a good learning environment.

Risks Associated with Business and IS/IT Change

Hubport Interactive is an IT based company that enables a business to build an imperative subsistence in the online B2C (Business-to-Consumer) space. They empower their customers' websites to attain optimum function and revolutionizes business by creating online channels to effectively connect with existing clients and successfully tap new ones. Their accomplished E-Commerce Storefront encoders, Retail Shop Managers, and Online Marketing Consultants provide the technology backbone that launch prospering and profitable websites.(http://www.hubportinteractive.com/about-us.htm)

As the interviewee say, the company started only with eight people, which is composed of six(6) developers and two(2) designers. They don't really have an IS to keep track of their business' movement. They only use one(1) computer and basic softwares for their business. Records for the deadline is aided by pen and paper. From that very simple alliance they have evolve into something big that they even reached and surpassed the boundary of the Philippines. Now, they've been working with more or less one hundred and fifty(150) staffs. The speaker added that they started establishing and using IS for their growing business in the year late 2006, particularly on the month of November.

As he has discussed that the role of IS/IT in the business is, it is the core or the backbone of their business, in which these systems keep track of their customers, old and new, and their staffs. He define IT/IS very important, that is ranging from software, which is essential for website developing and it can identify errors and split them up much faster than usual, with manual; hardware on the other hand, acts as the server and it is necessary for the staffs to have at least one(1) computer each, these hardwares are connected to each other, which is technically called networking, particularly by WAN or wide-area network, they use WAN because the company is based from the main office, which is located at the United States of America or USA, through internet; peopleware as the speaker says, are the one who develops, secures and maintains hardware and software, thus software and hardware relies on the people ware. As he said, "Hardwares would just be there without peopleware". These three things work together to uphold the business thus, enabling them to reach the full functionality of their company so they can provide the very best solution they can give for their clients and customers.
The risk associated with Information System change in Hubport Interactive.

Hubport Interactive is the same organization or company we have visited for the first assignment, which is identifying their best practices regarding Information System. Now, I would have to tackle about the risks associated with IT change in the company.

As the IT Officer enumerated, the following are the risks they would have to take when changing IS:

* Data loss
Data loss may come in two reasons, first is, the data which is stored for quite sometime will be given up for the new data. Since system's memory is limited and coming in of new data is a continuous process, they would have to delete old data and will try to use the space for the new data; a secondary reason is, changing into new IS will tend to risk their data, especially when the new system has features that won't be compatible with the old system.

* Rejection of staffs
This may also come in to two situations. First, as from what we all know that there is always resistance between technology and people, meaning people tend to deny that IS/IT is a big help when it comes to maximizing time. Thus, when a new system is implemented, staffs will tend to reject it. The staffs will choose to use the old one other than the new one. It is maybe because, they find it hard or time consuming to learn the new system without knowing that they would have a better use of their time on the future if and only if they give time on learning the new system. The second reason may be hiring new personnel who knows best regarding the new IS, will push the company to ask the old IS personnel to resign, which is a very critical choice. It may be a bad move but that's business, the company will have to hire people or staffs who have a better understanding of what the position their trying to fill and reject those who are not needed.

Further problem with regards to rejection of staff/s may also give high risk regarding the cost of the new personnel. This may push the company to pay bigger amount than the older system and personnel.

Automation of 2010 Election

Smartmatic International Corp. (Smartmatic) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Smartmatic International Holding, BV, a company organized under the laws of The Netherlands. Smartmatic has organized elections using its electronic voting solutions in Latin America, the Carribean, the United States, and Asia.

Total Information Management Corporation (TIM) is a domestic corporation registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1981. The corporation is engaged in the business of information technology and service provider.

As of today, the conflict between Smartmatic International Corporation and TIM(Total Information Management Corporation) has not yet been ended. In an unknown reason MIT backed out on the said partnership thus, making the automated election on 2010 in risk. Now, the Commission on Elections is left with four choices, if ever Smartmatic won't make it up with TIM on July 10 this year. Choices would be:

1. A second bidding- in which the Comelec will find other corporation/s, other than the said corporations, which will take too much time as for the first bidding that took almost three months.(http://www.gmanews.tv/story/166531/2010-Elections-Poll-Automation-Timeline)

2. A negotiated contract-in which the Comelec would have to give the contract to another corporations without the second bidding, which will put the election in danger as for Smartmatic-TIM are the only partnership that has passed all of the Comelecs requirements.

3. Partial automation-the Comelec will only automate the election in selected areas instead of nationwide automation this is due to small amount of budget thus, resulting to inconsistency.

4. Revert to manual elections-which means we would have to go back to manual voting, manual tallying and the same old ways to buy and fly votes.

Speaking of the automated election, let us talk about what the automation of election will do. I hear or read people's opinions and reactions about the said election. Some people say that it would be easier to cheat on the election, it would be easy to hack the system etc. Well, This is what I say.

Automation on the 2010 elections would do good for our sake and for other Filipinos sake, particularly to those who doesn't know how to write or read.

Our native people are the ones who will benefit most, in which they will be able to choose their candidates and they will rest assured that it was the right candidate because they're the ones who will press them. I have seen on a documentary that our native people only uses stick in order to verify that the names written by their "trusted person"(that's with double-quotes) in their(native people's) ballots are the right candidate, whom they wanted to vote. Isn't this too unfair for them? They can't assure that it was the right candidate or name, because they can't tell and for people like us who knows how to read and write, it would be easy to make long names short or vise versa.

It was proven that numbers of voters increased at Autonomous Region Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) on August 13, 2008. An automated election was conducted at the said region for the election on the same year.(http://www.smartmatic.com/pressroom/article/article/smartmatic-sahis-voting-solution-delivers-first-ever-automated-election-in-philippines-autonomous-r/)

On the other hand, disabled Filipinos would be able to vote without the help of their trusted person. The Smartmatic can provide voters with disabilities with voting machines. Buttons with specific shapes and colors, sip-and-puff devices and special earphones are just some of the features of these machines thus, giving every voter an equal right.(http://www.smartmatic.com/solutions/automated-election-system/single-view/article/the-new-standard-of-modern-democracy/)

Tallying would be more secure because every vote passed to the server will be immediately counted. Therefore, counting the votes or the wait of announcing winning candidates will not be prolonged. With this automatic counting of votes and tallying there will be no involved manual tallying thus, decreasing our teachers worries, that their lives would be in danger during the tallying.

Someone, on the internet reacted,"What would be the use of automation if there are still printed ballots for verification?". I don't mean to be rude, but the said verification is not like there will still be manual tallying again like before. But I guess, the verification means that a ballot will be printed so that each of the voters can verify that the candidates they have voted on the screen are the same as the ones on the printed ballots. If they see something wrong, then they can always change their votes. If there would be a manual tallying that will happen on the 2010 elections, maybe its just for the first time, then on the succeeding elections there will be no manual tallying.

Well, for me I'll go with automated election. Because I can see so many reasons why Filipino fails to vote or even register to be a voter.

First, it is far too time consuming and tiring to register. As for me, it even took me a whole day, just on registering for my right. The very poor regulations on the Comelec is very unfair. You see, I have been falling in line for how many hours, then a woman with a baby, who just arrived was accommodated first rather than me, I'm not being selfish, but it is their responsibility to register when they just turned 18, at their time. I believe that new voters or transferees should be the ones, who needs to be accommodated first.

Second, every voters lives are in great danger when election comes. Looking for your name on your scheduled precinct number also takes so long and there are cases that your name was not on the list and yet you have verified that you are a voter.

Third, Filipinos are incapable of voting due to disability or uneducation. They can't see, hear, speak, read and write.

So, by automated elections, numbers of Filipino people will take steps forward so that their voices can be heard. They will have courage to vote despite their disabilities. So lets not be selfish, let our native people and co-Filipino vote and speak for their rights. Additional, we already know that candidates can cheat with manual voting, why not see for ourselves if they can also cheat with automated election.

An update about Smartmatic-TIM partnership, the automation of 2010 elections will be pusued. As for the latest news I've heard and read, The two corporations were able to heal the conflict and it has been cleared that the conflict was due to the control of funds. Thus, the Comelec said that numbers of cases will be filed on both camps if they will choose to break-up again.(http://www.gmanews.tv/story/166518/Comelec-Its-all-systems-go-for-2010-poll-automation)

Online Jobs-Earn Money at Home!!!

• Web Searchers

To do this work, Web Searchers first have to qualify by passing the online tests. Qualified searchers then have access to workrooms where they can join a small virtual team of other qualified searchers to look for relevant information on a particular question. When you find relevant information on the Web you submit details of the reference via online team room for a reviewer to decide whether or not to accept it. you will be paid per accepted reference, paying more for highly relevant material.http://www.clicknwork.com/opportunities/web/

• Online Juror

You are to review cases from Attorneys, who submitted their case information and questions for the jury on the OnlineVerdict.com website. Then, you’ll be alerted through an e-mail then all you have to do is respond immediately because there are only limited numbers of jurors. You’ll be asked to answer all the questions honestly. After you complete a case you will be paid for your time. Payments start at $20 per case and can go up to $60. Checks are mailed once a month to the address you have on file in your OnlineVerdict.com account. The number of cases you may be asked to review will also vary depending on the number of attorneys in your area who are using this service. http://www.onlineverdict.com/jurorshowitworks.php

• Medical Transcriptionist

This job needs good English skills and a good sense of hearing. This job involves listening to the dictates of healthcare or medical professionals then, transforming it as written documents. It is not that simple because you have to understand each words and also, check the grammar thus, decoding it the right way. The transcribed audio will be made into patient files and treatment history. It works online via the Internet, this way the client will send an audio file, which will be the one you’ll need to listen then transcribe..
http://www.topmedicaltranscriptionschools.com/medical-transcription-job-description.html

• Online Tutor

The duty of an online tutor is to provide quality online tutoring to all students thus, being familiar with all policies and procedures and to adhere with them. Reading and responding to all the assessments and being up to date with the newsletter and e-mail for any messages are also a duty. The salary will vary on how many hours the tutor spent on tutoring an online student. Payments are made out to you by check or electronically every 4th business day of the month.
http://www.tutor.com/apply/faq

• Tester

You will be asked by website owners to test their site. You will judge their site then, provide them ways on how to make their website good. They also provide you a software so that you could record a video about the site your testing, through this it will be more easier for them to understand what you mean. You will earn $10 with this online job.
http://www.usertesting.com/BeTester/index.aspx

Online Juror appears the best online job for me. A very simple job that gives you large extra income. I find the job nice because the only thing you need to do is simply read the Attorneys case informations and by giving or sharing your thoughts and opinions, you'll get an extra income and hence, you can choose what type of case you would like to review.

http://www.worldwideworkathome.com/work-at-home.html

Green Computing Campus

It has been three months past since March, when numbers of programs and marches were held to celebrate the earth day here in the Philippines. That one hour of darkness, that covers the houses of every participating household for the earth hour, which took place from 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm of the 28th day of March, 2009, was indeed a great deep breath for the earth. But, can’t we keep the earth from suffocating?

From smoking cigarettes to huge amount of carbon dioxide produced by factories, it is such a shame what we have done to earth. We have taken so much from the nature ranging from the lands where trees used to grow until stealing the wings of the birds. Thus, the pollution from sea to sky is now evident, that even a simple wind grows to destroy and murder numbers of household. The plague that we are experiencing right now and the rapid spread of sickness, isn’t it yet time to realize what we’ve done?

As an Information Technology student, I can say that the growth of Technology has pushed the nature to breathe in smokes. Since technology holds the biggest responsibility, let us make it as the best medium to spread the words to keep the earth from dying. As students, we can spread the words to our friends, classmates and suggest it to our schools or campuses. Here are some sites that may serve as a guide for your school:

• http://chronicle.com/free/2009/01/10296n.htm
• http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/news-by-subject/school-administration/index.cfm?i=53933
• http://www.brighthub.com/environment/green-computing/articles/14645.aspx

What would I become?

A good story line, nice graphics and characters, unique animation schemes and a bug-less programs is what a good game holds. The story of the games must reach the player’s mind as if it was somewhat real or life-like thus, making the game interesting. Graphics and the compilation of arts that moves through animation are the things that make it fun and a bug-less program is what keeps the player’s patience and makes them want to reach the goal of the game. Common game story line may involve strategic games, word games, dress up game and escape games, which is one of my favorites. Games enables player to be in control of the game thus, letting them act as the main character of the game. Through this gamers will be able to develop quick thinking to win the game.
Games, particularly computer games also called video games, were introduced as a new kind of entertainment on the year 1971. The growth of technology has made it more popular. As years pass, many kinds of computer games have been developed including LAN or local area network and online games. LAN games can be played on everyone’s desktop. Online games can be played with the aid of internet, this way a certain player can play with another player no matter how many miles they’re apart. These games have even reached the cell phones (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_video_games).

The ones who make and develop games are called games developer or games programmer. The job needs a vast and wide range of imagination thus, making it possible to create a unique story and characters. A good skill in arts and animation would make the things on the developers mind to come into life. The sound effects can make the game exciting. This also helps to catch the people’s eyes because a good graphics is a big impact on how the game will sell. Of course, the most important skill to have is knowledge with regards to programming language such as, C++, Java and any other programming language. A good skill in arithmetic will turn your program to become bug-less.

A game developer meets problems during and after producing the games, thus the most important attitude a developer can have is patience. This will enable him to find and correct bugs that are found during or after the game have been produced. The pressure of meeting deadline may be stressful but, this is just one thing a good developer should overcome because a simple bug on the game will destroy the game thus, making the game boring and unfair for those who doesn’t know the bug yet, which will push them to stop playing or choosing another game, which are better than the one you have just developed (http://www.prospects.ac.uk/p/types_of_job/games_developer_job_description.jsp).

I both love arts and anime so I guess a games developer would be the best job for me in the near future. I would love to be part of a team that creates a new kind of game. Since I am a type of person who doesn’t want to be exposed in unfamiliar crowd, a job like this would fit me best. Another thing is, I would be able to give out my talent and skills with teammates, whom I already know and comfortable with. With this kind of profession, I can also work alone and I’d be able to work at home then, just sell my developed game to those who are interested.

COMDDAP Expo Davao

COMDDAP or Computer Manufacturers, Distributors, and Dealers Association of the Philippines is an organization of corporations that provides IT solutions. they have been conducting expos all over Manila, Cebu and now Davao City.

The expo was held at the Apo View Hotel on the 2nd day of July, 2009. It is a three day expo (July 2-4, 2009) that showcases Information Technology (IT). In the hall, are numbers of companies were there to display their products in their respective booths. This event is not just a display of best and latest products offered by different businessmen that recognizes Information Technology as a need in fulfilling the full length of their business’ offers.

The very first session I joined was from Jupiter Systems, Inc. It is a 100% Filipino company, according to the speaker. He said that instead of importing systems or softwares from other countries, they export them instead. That means they are the ones who develop and export them for the use of other countries such as, Thailand, China, Hong Kong and United States of America. Their software, according to the speaker, follows a standard language system, which may include Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese.

After introducing himself (the speaker) and his company, he started discussing about a software for dealers, which is called ERIC Dealer Management System (DMS). It is a software that is being used by car dealers in order to keep track of sales, service transaction and other related. It is a twenty-four (24) year old software and now was fully developed by the said company. This software enables users to monitor their employees as well as their customers’ records. The software is enabled with accounting, manufacturing and inventory system. The system may offer records regarding supplies, sales monitoring and monitoring of the salesperson’s activities, through clock-in and clock out, which is known to us as log in and log out. The software also includes the monitoring of the owners car regular check-up thus, ensuring the safeties of their customers and even the brand of the dealers, who uses DMS.

Some of the car dealers, which have big names on the car market that uses DMS, as the speaker enumerate, are Mitsubishi, Honda and Mercedes Benz.
More on: http://www.jupitersystems.com.ph/

The second session introduces the HP Thin Clients. Thin Client, as the speaker says, is a computing device without the hard drive and fan. He also discussed the advantages of the said hardware. It has a very low power consumption that ranges about 11W to 20W, which is 80% lower than a desktop computer. The hardware was enabled with a higher data security in both hardware and software. It has no moving parts, meaning, every thing inside the hardware is attached to it securely and it will never budge no matter how hard you shake it and it is really is thin. Its height and length is half that of a normal system unit and its width is a quarter.

As I have mentioned earlier, the hard ware does not contain fan and hard drive. That means it would be much lighter and you wouldn’t worry about the temperature of the said hardware, that is because of its low power consumption thus, reaches only 40 degrees of the operations.
More on: http://www.hp.com/sbso/solutions/pc_expertise/article/thinclients_consider.html

Microsoft Dynamics retail Management System or simply called RMS, was the third session I attended. This is a software from Microsoft that mainly recognizes the hassle of stores or a food chains, both for the employee and customers.

The speaker started the session by telling us a situation that is common at the supermarkets. He said, “Have you ever tried being on a long line for paying what you brought, then the person before you, who is currently attended by the cashier, realizes that he/she has forgotten something, and getting that product is actually five (5) minutes away from the cashier?.”

Well, the long wait is over with this Retail Management System developed by Microsoft. This software offers the following for its users:

• Streamline Operations- lets the owner view and update the inventory and track the inventory while the user id offline, reserve shipments, purchase order and share reports.

• Improve Profit Margins-easily adjust pricing, identify best selling items, track the return of investment and is employee productivity.

• Build Customer Loyalty-customize receipts, flexible pricing structures, which mean it would be easy to adjust the price if the customer has a discount or any other related.

• Manage Business, Not Technology-easy install and training of employees will not take a huge amount of time. It can also access online help and managing different inventory types is not a problem.

• Have a life outside your business-it eliminates the hassle of always being onsite thus, enabling the user to check his business’ branches or establishments anywhere and anytime.

The following are the key features of the RMS:
• Inventory control and tracking
• Purchase order
• Pricing, sales and promotions
• Sales tracking
• Powerful, flexible reports
More on: www.microsoft.com/philippines/

The fourth and the last session was from Spinweb Production, Inc., which identifies themselves as the web development arm of the nexus group. The topic was all about Open Source for Business Application. I have learned the true meaning of open source and it was a very big help for me, because I have heard of the words “open source” with regards to the one of the most talked about issue here in the Philippines. The web and the news tell that the automation of the 2010 election is an open source and I was curious about this. Well, thanks to the last discussion I have a clear view of what open source is. According to the speaker, open source is not free and it has a license, just like the commercialized software. To clearly define open source, he shared us the four freedoms. He even started the number from zero (0) instead of one (1). Zero, you can always run it for any purpose. One, you can study and modify it, then share it to everyone. Two, you can always copy it. And Three, you can always improve it and share it to everyone. The speaker also included the difference between free software and open source, which is open source are mainly talking about the development methodology while free software is a movement methodology, which may mean the passing of the softwares from different users to other.
More on: www.spinweb.ph/

The last session was ended by giving away Snitch chocolate and that’s how the day ended too.