virtually moving stuff around
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at August 2nd, 2006I didn’t realize it would take so much effort trying to move six websites from one server to another. In the span of one week I have supervised two server database moves and several DNS refreshes due to misunderstandings and other technical anomalies.
Thank God the people involved are technically adept to remedy the situation quickly. When this is all done, we’ll all have to celebrate!
Bubbles Paraiso
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 28th, 2006
Today we shot the cover for the next ish of Mobile Philippines. On the cover is Bubbles Paraiso.
What makes this particular shoot a little special for me is that Bubbles used to be my student when I taught NSTP for one semester back in UA&P.
Here’s a little teacher-student moment behind the scenes.
The finished product can be viewed over here. MPH, now known as Mobile Philippines is part of the Top 10 Technology Magazines in the Philippines according to a recent Synovate Survey.
GAME! Issue 3 coming soon
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 21st, 2006
We’ve been working hard to make issue 3 the tipping point for GAME! This means that the general look and feel should be apparent as the country’s online community magazine. More than 50% of the magazine is focused on local online gaming.
We have also added a small anime section. This is because of the FGD formula [gamers] = [watch anime].
This issue will be out in a few days.
Golf Digest Philippines Issue 1 is out!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 19th, 2006
It’s time for something that’s less tech but similarly geeky! GOLF DIGEST PHILIPPINES is out, ladies and gentle golfers!
The much-awaited Golf Digest Philippines is here with Philippine Open 2006 winner, Scott Strange on the cover.
Featured inside is a day-by-day account of the recently-concluded Philippine Open, the scenic course in Tagaytay Midlands, and the Ford National Team Shootout tournament. Golf Digest Philippines brings you the feature on the Bomb & Gouge theory and why the most recent crop of golfers choose to bomb it out there on the course.
Tiger Woods gives tips on power with less effort and John Elliott, Jr. gives shows you how to Break 100, 90, 80 in your next fairway round. More stories on the Beginners’ await the readers as well as a special on the prestigious Sta. Elena Cup Tournament.
Golf Digest Philippines brings you the best of golf all around the globe and around the country. Get your copy of the inaugural issue of the Philippine edition of the #1 Golf publication in the world. Available in newsstands now for only Php 150.
How To: Set up your own Internet Cafe
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 16th, 2006Together with Art Ilano of PC Magazine Philippines, we opened the first of a three-day tech event at the Megatrade Hall B with a primer on the emerging trends of net cafes in the country.
The event brings together Internet cafe owners and would-be owners under one Intel roof to participate in a series of seminars and booth demonstrations on the best proactices for Internet Cafe businesses.
What makes this event uniqe is that there are three model net cafe units situated inside the Megatrade. The first is the Business Hub. the second is the Gaming Zone, and the third model is the Multimedia Area. Each zone shows off the latest technologies for interactive communication and net cafe optimization.
I’ll be posting some pictures soon. Do drop by though. The event is free to all and lasts the whole weekend.
Our third year celebration!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 15th, 2006
New name. New look. More fun, geeky stuff inside. Welcome to transition phase one as we move on to leverage this magazine’s potential.
Holy cow it’s out! Wait, how come the name is different? Well technically it’s not. Part of our efforts to make the magazine more recognizable is to expand the name of m|PH to its full name which is Mobile Philippines. When we came out three years ago, a bunch of folks thought we were a car magazine, for obvious reasons. Three years later, we’re still that same mag on tech you can take with you – but this time more visible, wittier, and we’ve become the preferred read for the geek community. Thank you for three years of support and we sincerely hope that you’ll accompany us on our geeky journey for several more.
Rakion: It’s all in the timing
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at June 9th, 2006
Watch out for the 3rd issue of GAME! Magazine coming into stands soon!
I heard about Rakion a couple of weeks back, being an appealing combination of Devil May Cry with some loose elements of Soul Edge. So heck, whatever right? I fired up my browser and joined the open beta. Besides, the tagline “Philippines’ first fighting game” was just too in-yar-face! to ignore since being Pinoys and all, we love fighting for no apparent reason. And guess what? It turns out that’s what the game is all about – senseless pwnage! Oooh I like!
After downloading the 200MB installer and patching the damn thing, I immediately went into character creation screen. Okay so there’s the Swordsman, Archer, Blacksmith, Mage and Ninja. The Swordsman was too macho and the Mage was too cute. I had a feeling the Blacksmith would be too overpowered (and I confirmed this later on) and the Archer was the distance wuss. But Ninja – ah, yes the sneaky-sneaky! And, being a big fan of askaninja.com she was the perfect choice!
Not.
Geeky and Golfer wallpapers
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 11th, 2006
Our handsome web guy has uploaded a bunch of geeky wallpapers for m|PH as well as some golfer wallpapers for Golf Digest Philippines. It would be a shame to not advertise them here. Do check them out and download.
One thing I’ve wondered with the tech wallpapers is that we haven’t shown one with a guy model. Would that even be appealing to girls if we had a guy showing off a gadget or having the m|PH logo sprayed onto his abs or something..? (eww)
Golf Digest Philippines
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 9th, 2006
Recently, the publishing company I work for acquired the rights to publish the world’s best golf magazine, Golf Digest. In about a month’s time Golf Digest Philippines will be available in news stands.
In the meantime, we’ve launched the Golf Digest blog. Many thanks to Kiven for helping us out.
The blog is a more candid look at the magazine, supplementing material that will appear in the magazine itself. Tournament updates, Golfer-at-Large diaries by equipment guy Mike Besa, and bios of the GD staff can be found here.
Golf Digest Philippines replaces Swing as the golf lifestyle publication for HIP. Swing will be included as a section within GD Philippines.
a midsummer geek’s dream
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 26th, 2006
Well, it’s here! A few days shy of Labor Day and right on schedule, this issue of m|PH will be the most memorable one in our collection. That’s because something really interesting is happening next month in time for the magazine’s third year in the business.
So if you do get to grab a copy, try to grab an extra one – and laminate it or something. Maybe even turn it into bronze. Because by June, big things will come in small packages.
m|PH, the most visible home-grown magazine on mobile technology is now available in newsstands for the month of May. The jaw-dropping Kelly Misa graces the cover, making her every midsummer geek’s dream.
Travel photography is this month’s focus feature so whip out those cameras and learn a thing or two from the country’s most talented photographers – the young and restless Jake Verzora, the eccentric Andy Maluche, the fabulous Dominque James, and other talented shutterbugs like Kai Huang, Toto Labrador and Chad Samaniego. This month’s issue is also jam-packed with information on understanding the rudiments of operating your professional camera to making a do-it-yourself lens cleaning lab.
Because summer travel is in, m|PH takes a look at the WiFi scene in Cebu. Gadget reviews are abundant as the editors and team of writers showcase the new Motorola RAZR V3i, the 3G capable Nokia 6280, the powerhouse Nokia N80, and the travel-friendly Siemens ME75. There are a lot of notebooks in season this summer including the Fujitsu C1321 and the Sony VAIO TX27GP. Some cameras featured in this issue include the BenQ DC C500 and the Sony Cybershot DSC R1.
m|PH, which stands for Mobile Philippines, is a monthly publication geared towards the Filipino who is always on the go. Faithful readers have always described m|PH as the most informative and engaging among all the technology magazines because of its tongue-in-cheek humor and three years of credibility. m|PH is available at all news stands and technology hubs for just P80.00 per issue.
You can check out the mag’s content here.
m|PH is sizzling this April (and the thing about boobs)
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 21st, 2006
This is perhaps the most “daring” cover we did for the magazine featuring Phoem Baranda with a swimsuit. There’s an ongoing discussion in the advertising and magazine industry (mostly in the latter) of how putting sexy women on the cover becomes an effective marketing tool to sell. This comes from the notion that the largest demographic of mag readers are male.
Apparently, this formula seems to work because some statistics show that putting women in the cover of magazines contribute to better sales. The formula goes:
Increase in women’s cleavage = Increase in sales
The general question therefore is does sex really sell?
Though it may be a sweeping generalization, there actually may be a direct relationship between putting a an outrightly sensual image of a woman on the front cover of a magazine. However, my boss did once say that if this were the case, then why are the top five magazines in the world not sexy mags? Though there may be some differences, here are the top five mags according to the Chicago Tribune:
1. WIRED
2. Real Simple
3. The Economist
4. Cook’s Illustrated
5. Esquire (perhaps the “sexiest” you can get among the 5)
Other magazines that made it to the “top 5″ survey include Wytch (a children’s mag), Reader’s Digest, TIME, and Men’s Health. Where is FHM? Where is Playboy?
But consider this point:
Outside creative director Hannah McCaughey says artistic inspiration rather than newsstand calculation is responsible for her magazine’s recent spate of scantily clad covers.
“We always meant to shoot [Carlson] with the garden variety rock climbing clothes on but … I was worried I’d come back with super bland film,” McCaughey says. “For whatever reason it just felt so pedestrian and not like a cover should feel. Then the photographer tried some things with just her shirt off and it instantly became something beautiful and pure, just her skin and the texture of the rock made such a gorgeous contrast–the dopey spandex clothing seemed to interrupt all that.”
The best way to describe “wrong context covers” is to take the Boobs in Your Face approach (this may not be a good example because it uses Esquire. But for purposes of illustration … let it be so!).
“As a woman I find it so much more appealing and tastefully done than the boobs-in-your-face-stuff Esquire’s always doing,” McCaughey says. “I love it and think it’s just a normal part of us delivering surprises and beautiful photography to our readers.”
So when is it okay to put a “sexy” lady on the front cover? The guideline we live by, at least here where I work, is that everything should be in context. Phoem is wearing a sexy (but elegant) swimsuit because it’s summer. She’s holding an Olympus mju series camera, known to be an all-weather resistant model. Hence, she took it out to the beach.
So how does this all stack up? Well, as I’m writing this, Elbert Cuenca of PhilMUG arrived for our meeting. I showed him the issue and told him, “so what do you think of our first sexy cover?” And Elbert looks at the cover, brings it closer to his face and exclaims, “Uy, Olympus!”
Sex sells. Yes. But so do other things.
I rest my case.
* “Top 5 Magazines” argument actually came from my boss during a media presentation. I think it was a Wednesday.
