Geeks Invade Bohol at Geeks on a Beach 4 Tech Convention

Wazzup Pilipinas!

For the 4th time, Geeks on a Beach (GOAB) returns better and "awesomer" as the organizers once again gathered geeks to talk about investments, startups, tech and design. The event was held on August 25 to 26, 2016 at the Bellevue Resort located in Panglao, Bohol where the beach is just a few steps away from the pavilion where the convention took place.

I am delighted to be back for the second time and hoping to attend all the future events of GOAB not just to cover for this online publication but also to learn from these peeps who live and breathe innovation and technology. 

Since I am also in the field of technology being an Electronics and Communications Engineer whose career dabbled more into Information and Communication Technology, I take pleasure in hearing about the updates and developments in the ICT scene that is now penetrated as well by technopreneurs and startups with the vision to make a difference.

GOAB is organized by TechTalks.ph, co-organized by Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and co-presented by PLDT SME Nation, Ideaspace, SmartDevNet, PLDT Innolab, and Smart.

We arrived in Bohol via Tagbilaran a day early, August 24, so we could settle down, do an early registration at the venue, and attend Techstars sponsored dinner at Muro Ami Inn and Restaurant. There was a Techstars APAC Regional Summit private meeting held on Aug 22 to 24, and the dinner was their concluding activity.

Davao's Blue Posts Boiling Crabs and Shrimps Brings Finger-licking Feasts to Manila

Wazzup Pilipinas!

Davao's Blue Posts Boiling Crabs and Shrimps is finally here in Manila, and will soon be ready to serve customers sometime within the month of September. This phenomenal seafood restaurant has opened a branch at SM North EDSA and is truly well deserving to be among the fine restaurants that will eventually be a crowd favorite as well here in Manila just as it is in Davao. Their finger-licking feasts does not fall short of expectations. Get ready to be among the very first customers in Metro Manila to taste their gastronomically satisfying dishes.

This newest branch at the Block of North EDSA is their third but the owners and franchisees revealed during the grand media launch that there will soon be two more branches opening - a fourth one in Davao and a fifth one at SM Mall of Asia - and a few more branches within Metro Manila during the next coming years.

Wow! There seems to be nothing stopping this famous seafood restaurant from Davao in also conquering Metro Manila. We are looking forward in getting messy but savoring their delightful shrimps and crabs dishes, as well as their other offerings.

We've already shared videos including interviews with the owner and franchisees during the media launch at our official YouTube channel http://www.YouTube.com/user/wazzuppilipinas and lots of photos at our official Facebook fan page http://www.Facebook.com/wazzuppilipinas including GoPro video shots before we ultimately dig in to the messy but finger-linking fabulous feast. We were not able to take videos of our messy dining due to the account that both our hands were busy with the sumptuous crabs and shrimps. Lol!

Globe Goes Full Steam Ahead on LTE 700 MHz Deployment

Wazzup Pilipinas!

In line with commitment to improve internet services, Globe Telecom is in full steam ahead in its aggressive deployment of the 700 megahertz (MHz) band by rolling out recently more than 150 sites mostly in Metro Manila as part of its commitment to improve the mobile internet in the country.

Joel Agustin, Globe Senior Vice President for Program Governance, Network Technical Group revealed that Globe is fast-tracking the rollout of LTE service nationwide using the 700 MHz frequency under the co-use agreement approved by the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). "We are confident that more and more of our customers will experience improved services as adoption of LTE-capable devices increases and as we continue to deploy LTE 700 in more sites. This is consistent with our strategy of continuously improving internet services using the previously idle 700 MHz spectrum that the NTC now allowed us to co-use,” Agustin said.

According to Agustin, the LTE 700 sites cover major business districts and highly-urbanized and populated areas in the country, noting that customers using LTE 700 devices are steadily increasing in these areas. Citing Quezon City, where Globe activated the first LTE 700 site in the country, Agustin said the technology now covers a majority portion of the city after the LTE 700 sites activated by Globe increased four times from the initial rollout of just 11 sites.

The company plans to activate more than 500 LTE 700 sites across the country by the end 2016, Agustin said. He added that majority of these sites are located in Metro Manila, enabling Globe to deliver close to 100% coverage of LTE 700 for the entire metropolitan area. This is turn, is expected to substantially improve mobile internet experience of customers in the region.

Globe Telecom is maximizing the use of the 700 MHz band in fulfillment of its commitment in the co-use agreement with BellTel following the sellout of San Miguel’s telco assets. The company committed to deploy about 4,500 multiband, multimode software defined radio base station equipment to 95% of total municipalities and cities in the country. This will improve overall customer experience in terms of speed and reliability of mobile internet services.

Aside from the 700 MHz, the NTC-approved co-use agreement also provided Globe with access to additional allocation in the 1800 MHz, 2300 MHz, and 2600 MHz bands. This supports the capacity enhancement initiative launched by the company early this year amid growing customer requirement for bandwidth-intensive multi-media content. Globe also launched early this year an initiative of creating an internet superhighway by deploying fiber optic cables in 20,000 barangays all over the country to provide faster and more reliable Internet access in about 2 million homes nationwide.