Year: 2007

Categories
Mostly Everything

iWork ’08: Now with Numbers

Apple has just released a free 30 day trial of iWork ’08. This version includes Pages, Keynote, and a new application called Numbers which is a replacement for Microsoft Excel. Hannibal from PhilMUG writes:

ladies and gentlemen, after fiddling with Numbers for about 30 minutes, i am so proud to announce that, i am leaving Microsoft Excel for Mac in favor of the new iWork ’08. All my current formulae have their equivalent in Numbers and my worksheets definitely look far better. For one, the cells with the infamous #DIV/0 are now replaced by just a red triangle symbol with an exclamation point inside. it may not be a big deal for some but it sure makes the sheets look neat.

i love the ease and convenience of using intelligent tables. the usual formulae such as sum, average, variance and standard deviation as well as financial like CAGR are all just drag and drop. spreadsheet work has never been this easy and FUN.

numbers.jpg

Installing the latest version of iWork ’08 will not overwrite your old iWork version. The application costs $79.00 for a solo copy and $99.00 for a family pack.

Categories
Mostly Everything

Going Rogue

rogue_magazine.jpg

There’s a new men’s magazine in town. From the guys who created Manifesto (Jose Mari Ugarte, Miguel Mari, and pals) under the C! group, Rogue is their new brainchild under a different publishing group. Here’s the Press Release and photo from Jim Ayson’s Philmusic:

ROGUE’s long-term mission is to accurately tell the story of our times, our people, and our culture one month at a time; and to capture the people, places, and ideas that define our modern culture. if anything, ROGUE will make a strong statement about who we are, what we do, and why we do it.

I wasn’t able to go to the grand launch at the Fort a few weeks back because I was sick. I’m sure it was a blast.

I used to love reading Manifesto as it was the closest we could get to a local version of GQ. Other magazines also came close, such as MANUAL when it was being handled by Adel Gabot a couple of years back – thus showing how an editor in chief is the true lifeblood of a magazine. MANUAL’s current EIC is RJ Ledesma, who bring a lot of his Men’s Room antics into the magazine. If Rogue is anything like Manifesto – and it should be – this is one good men’s title I’m looking forward to.

I have a piece in the upcoming issue of Rogue. Check the current issue in magazine stalls now.

Disclosure: I also contribute on occasion for MANUAL Magazine of MMPI.

Categories
Mostly Everything

Butch Dalisay’s Anti-Rant Rant

“Poetry, after all, is the opposite of suicide.”
– Anne Sexton

Butch Dalisay, better known as penmanila to the writing community in the Philippines has written a magnificent piece on the ranting culture on the Internet. A professed geek as most of us are at PhilMUG, he raises salient points on the rant culture we have today because of the Internet and many more factors:

Forgive me if I suspect that these are people—many of them in their surly mid-twenties—who’ve never been truly whacked by life over the head, who’ve never laid their lives on the line for a cause larger than themselves, who’ve never stared into the barrel of a gun, who’ve never spent a day in jail, and whose daily crises consist of having to choose between the mocha latte and the cappuccino. [full article here]

The discussion of the article can be found over at the PhilMUG forums.

Categories
Mostly Everything

Shedding Some Light on Disclosures

Before we start to get “disclosure happy,” here is a very good piece written by Read Write Web on when bloggers should disclose information. This was pointed out by Darren Rowse of ProBlogger. The article actually illustrates journalism ethics as well as the ethics behind the business models of traditional publishers (it is sometimes tricky to balance business with ethics especially in the realm of journalism).

Nothing new really, but the piece is a helpful all in one guide to how to treat our disclosures as well as see what level we are in to becoming more professional about our blogging.

You’ll notice that I don’t include a rule about disclosing when you were paid to write about a specific topic or company. The reason is that any blogger who wants to be taken seriously as a journalist cannot and will not accept money or gifts from a source (or vice versa). That said, it should also be noted that there is a big difference between accepting gifts in exchange for writing a story and accepting review copies of goods for free. [full article here]

In summary, the article says that disclosure should happen when in these situations:

  • Financial association (investment, ownership etc)
  • Employment with the company being written about
  • Writng about the Competition
  • Personal involvement
Categories
Mostly Everything

b5media Technology Channel Blog Openings Aug 2007

Here is a listing of blog openings for the b5media technology channel:

Office Tweaks
This is a blog that discusses GTD around the number of available office suites. From traditional suites such as MS Office to open source Open Office, as well as online applications like Google Apps. [link]

New Linux User
What more can I say? I’m looking for a new Linux blogger. Thanks to Kyle Pott who kept the seat warm these past months. [link]

If you would like to know more about b5media, you can read a comprehensive interview with Jeremy Wright on his personal blog. The interview discusses b5media through the years, its business model and direction.

To apply, head over to http://b5media.com/jobs.