Jayvee Fernandez is a tech enthusiast and sitting TechNology Editor for The Philippine STAR.
He is also an EAN certified SCUBA Diver and underwater photographer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. His photos and videos have appeared in various international and local publications including Random House Germany, Discovery Channel Canada, and CNN.
EDIT: August 2021— Apparently there’s a new thing in FB where you can still do it but you need to do it from a PAGE and not a Profile. Oh well.
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Actually, no. The link is just broken.
If you’re like me — someone who wants to create a custom Facebook profile photo frame but can’t seem to find where the feature is, you’re in luck.
Back then, you could easily create a Facebook Frame using Facebook Frame Studio. But every time you click on a link from the developer help pages you get led to another site — Spark AR.
Let me save you the trouble. The old link is still active, but for some reason it got hidden and you really can’t find it in any Google search. Luckily someone posted the link on the Spark AR community group.
It’s true that you sometimes have to spend money in order to make money. What if you have the opportunity to strengthen your company but there’s no cash on hand? One way to get the funding that you need is to look into options for instalment Smarter.Loans financing that fits your needs. Here are some examples of what you could do with the money from that instalment loan.
Reorganizing
Company Debt
A smart way to
restructure outstanding debt is to secure a loan with a rate of
interest that’s lower than the rates on all those individual debts.
Use the loan proceeds to pay off all of them. That leaves you with
one obligation to manage each month. Best of all, you save money
since the loan’s interest rate is lower. Go with a fixed rate as a
way to protect yourself from economic shifts. Along with simplifying
the debt and reducing what you’re paying in interest charges,
retiring those other debts will only help your business credit
rating.
Purchasing Raw
Materials
You have the chance
to accept a lucrative order. The only problem is that you need raw
materials to produce the volume of goods needed to fill that order.
How will you pay for such a high-volume purchase? Use the money from
the installment loan to cover the cost of the materials. Make the
goods and fill the order. Once your customer remits the payment, use
it to pay off the loan. There will still be net profit and your quick
turnaround increases the odds that the customer will be back with
another huge order. Guess where you will go to get more money for raw
materials?
Replacing Aging
Equipment
All good things must
come to an end. That includes equipment and machinery you’ve used
for years. While it was great at one time, you need to update in
order to remain competitive. The funds from an installment loan will
allow you to replace key pieces of equipment and increase your
operational efficiency.
Preparing for a
Slow Period
Some companies
experience a steady flow of orders all year long. Others have peak
periods followed by lulls of two or three months. Your business
happens to fall into the latter category.
Ensure that there’s
money to maintain the operation by taking out an installment loan.
You can use the funds to make up any temporary shortfalls in
collected revenue. Once your business volume picks up after the
seasonal lull, pay off the remainder of the loan.
Funding a New
Marketing Campaign
Building your brand
does take money. With the right sales and marketing approach, there’s
the opportunity to increase awareness and reach out to new customers.
You may even be able to use the campaign to penetrate new market
sectors and broaden your client base. With right approach, the
increased business volume will make it easy to pay off your loan
ahead of time.
Along with knowing how to use the loan proceeds to best advantage, it helps to spend time comparing what different business loan lenders offer in the way of terms and conditions. Look closely at what’s required of you by each lender. This will help you choose the offer that allows you to pursue the goal and reap greater benefits from the financing arrangement.
It
is a well known fact that you won’t require to be domain expert to
know that the internet is growing exponentially and with each and
every second somebody is registering
a domain somewhere around the world.
The internet provides a lot of information when it comes to finding out interesting and amazing facts about how to find a great domain name, but there are many little known facts. The .com domain is definitely the most popular choice for TLDs, but there are also many amazing about domain names that need mentioning:
1. The first .COM domain was registered in the year 1985
It was registered under the name of Symbolics.com on March 15 1985. The Symbolics Computer Corporation bought purchased the domain name for their new computer development association.
2.
Most domains cannot be larger than 63 characters
Domain
extensions can have different rules and regulations but many TLDs ask
that your domain name to have a maximum of 63 characters. This is
considered to be the standard number of characters.
3.
It still is possible to own a Soviet Union domain
Before
disappearing, the Soviet Union has had a huge involvement in the
dynamics of the internet therefore the .su domain names are still
present on the web. What is amazing is that the number of .su domains
registrations continues to grow fast even if the Soviet Union is no
more.
5.
Absolutely all of “A†.com domains are currently taken
This
is probably the strangest fact but it seems that after a small
research providers have noticed that absolutely all domain names
containing the letter A under the form of www.1-63 A’s.com are
taken so this means that nobody can own a domain name under the form
of www.AAAAA … times 63 .com.
6.
The world’s most expensive domain costs $35 million
In
the year 2007 the domain VacationRentals.com was purchased by Mr.
Brian Sharples for the price of $35 million USD for his online
vacation rental business.
There
have been some pretty amazing domain name prices but this is just top
of the list.
7.
Domain names usually have an average length of 11 characters
A
short web analysis reveals that almost all domains have an average
length of 11 characters and many of them begin with the letter S most
probable because many English words start with and S.
8.
At first it was supposed to be Googol.com
The
two main Google founders, Larry Page and Sean Anderson have announced
that they initially wanted to call Google “Googol†but because of
a small spelling error from “googol†they wrote Google and the
rest is already history.
9.
Most three-character names are taken
Across
the internet there are well over 50,000 possible character
combinations that someone can make for a three-character domain name
and all of them are already registered. Three-character domain
names are extremely good to own because extremely easy to remember.
10.
A person registered almost 15,000 domains in just one day
Mike
Mann has managed to set a new world record because he has managed to
purchase almost 14,962 domains in just the span of 24 hours. When
asked what was the purpose of it he simply replied that he is very
greedy person and wants to own the entire world.
Final
thought
In
conclusion across the globe there are over 149,153,371 registered
domains and the numbers are climbing very fast as a new domain is
created every 10 seconds.
It
is easy to say that the internet has many interesting and fascinating
sides to it from interesting domain names to some mistakes we can
easily say that this world is expanding fast.
I originally wrote this piece for an April / May 2019 issue of The Panorama
I am a parent who belongs to the last generation of kids who grew up at the same time technology was also growing. I was below 5 when I got to play with the Atari, 7 when I first played Mario Bros on the NES and listened to my music on vinyl, to tape and then CD’s in my high school days. I grew up while technology was fun, but inconvenient and the promise of “instant gratification†was non-existent.
One random shower thought (thoughts that occur while taking a shower) was that raising kids on YouTube today was like raising kids before on canned goods, processed food and sweetened breakfast cereal. I bet our parents had no idea what the long term effects were back then, but boy were these convenient. A can of vienna sausage or a box of frosted flakes made meals so much easier back in the day. If my child who refuses to sit still and eat can do so with a phone in front of him during meal time (and finish an adult plate), then isn’t that convenient?
There are emerging studies that state the perils of smartphones and attention deficiency, but at the same time where do you draw the line knowing that your child is the first batch of digital natives? This is the same batch of kids who will lobby for faster Internet, the same batch of kids who will apply for jobs that still don’t exist today, the same batch of kids that will break down even more real world borders with a matured Internet.
As a parent, I’m worried, excited, confused. I have no idea what world I am bringing my child into. I have no idea what challenges will exist when traditional boundaries have been made permeable. Back then, the dynamics of the village playground was relatively easy to navigate – “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.†And yet today, the Internet is nothing but words. How do you raise a child where the playground is the rest of the world at a very young age?
Even among fellow parents there’s judgement – from triggered parenting Facebook groups to anti-vaxxers the respite is brief, the compass non-existent.
“But after all this, is there still hope,†you may ask? I believe that the beauty of being a parent is that from the point of view of our children, everything will be okay. I also believe that parenting is a process (in the same way that religion is not just a belief, but a process) and I’ve never had this much introspection into my life as a child, on how I was brought up, and plaster these memories side by side the decisions I am making as I am in my parents’ shoes now:
Let them watch. But not too much. Let them play. But not too much. Let them eat. But not too much. Everything in moderation. Even moderation.
This piece on the 2019 Singapore Cocktail Festival originally appeared in the May 16 issue of Manila Bulletin’s Lifestyle section.
rhdr
Singapore – South East Asia’s hot pot haven and cultural melting pot.If it’s regional, it’s probably in Singapore. So it’s really no surprise that the awarding for the 50 Best Bars in Asia was held here – with the Philippines nabbing three slots: The Curator in Palanca, OTO in Poblacion and newcomer Back Room Bar, a speakeasy inside the staff entrance of Ministry of Crab, Shangri-la The Fort.
For the public, the highlight of the festivities was the three-day long Singapore Cocktail Festival held at the Empress Lawn. Three days of pop ups of some of the best bars in Asia. Three days of bartender flair. Three days of tastings of some of the most exotic and exciting spirits you probably never heard of before. In this piece I chose to focus on the individual spirits.
Here are some of the highlights from the festival:
The Whiskeys
Just one: oh my lord, Amrut. Who knew that India make a fine craft whiskey? Do yourselves a favor: if you have friends coming home from India, have them bring you a bottle of Amrut Fusion. It’s tough to explain — but this is a perfect balance of peat, spice, and sweetness that doesn’t linger too much in the finish. It reminds me so much of a light Speyside dappled with spices.
The Gins
There was a bunch of stuff we see quite often in Manila – Hendricks, Roku, Four Pillars but a bunch of new stuff as well. Germany has Skin Gin, which caught our attention because of the packaging. It looks like a tiny leather flask made of snake skin. It goes down well as a sipping gin or with tonic water and is mint forward, but not too overpowering.
Apoteca Horseradish gin was also quite interesting — it tastes exactly how you would imagine it. Gin with wasabi / horseradish kicks you in a … rather delightful way.
The Impossible Burger is ninja meat!
The Rums
Two interesting rum highlights during the festival – with Diplomatico and Plantation sharing a booth and our very own Don Papa Rum from Negros taking prominent stage at the tasting area. With modern craft rum getting more and more complex, I was able to try an expression in the Diplomatico No 3, which is a pot still rum closer to whisky in taste than actual rum. For the sweet toothed who want to venture in the wonderful world of whiskey, this may be an excellent entry point as it is essentially rum (from sugar cane) but is matured in ex-bourbon barrels and made using a Copper Pot Still that was originally used for whiskey.
Then of course there’s Don Papa, the pride of Negros waving the Philippine flag. We are to be considered lucky that we have an easily available craft rum which I often recommend to younger friends who are in their “rum coke phase.†Don Papa’s sweetness is very Pinoy, and it shines taken neat or with soda water. No need for any additional sweetener.
Quite honestly I’m not really into liquor. I have a bottle of Cointreau and Frangelico in my home bar which I use to make cocktails, but in terms of bottle count that’s two versus the dozens of gin and whiskey bottles I have at home. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a rather new liquor from Italy – Italicus Rosilio di Bergamotto is based on a traditional liquor from Italy — the Rosolio (rose petals) mixed with a fragrant array of botanicals including chamomile, lemons, lavender, Melissa balm. It is super fragrant, but light with an overarching theme of citrus. It goes well by itself or with prosecco. Or gin and soda. It was the one bottle I brought home as Manila has no local distributor yet.
Last but not the least: the Impossible Burger!
I’ve been Googling for ‘Impossible Foods’ since I landed at Changi and there were a couple of restaurants serving a new kind of vegan meat – a vege-meat that bleeds when cooked and tastes exactly like meat, even meat lovers would love them. I was too scared to waste a meal around the city as restaurants in Marina Bay Sands and along Orchard Exchange served these up as pizzas, burgers and yes even child con carne. But seeing it displayed at the SGCF by Omakase Burgers was temptation succumbed (plus we were lightly tipsy already so why the hell not).
The verdict: The Impossible Burger has been making waves because when you serve it to a meat eater, they won’t be able to tell the difference. Meat eater me has to agree. The burger patty tasted exactly like a juicy meat patty, although the texture was slightly soggy — a negligible difference to be honest. If someone served this to me and did not say it was made of soy proteins and other vegetables, I would not have known the difference.
