The Metro Manila Traffic Navigator, the Philippine’s first digitized traffic information system was officially launched last Monday, August 1st. Since I’m not in the Philippines, I wasn’t able to attend the media event but someone from the TV5 Corporate PR sent me a few press materials which I’m sharing with you today.

A joint project of the MMDA (Metro Manila Development Authority) and News5, the Metro Manila Traffic Navigator is an online system that provides users a live and up-to-date traffic status of different routes in the Metro Manila area. Having lived and commuted in Metro Manila for many years, I know how frustrating and time consuming it can be. With this information, motorists and commuters will be able to save time and avoid the hassle by avoiding these traffic jams.

Metro Manila Traffic Navigator Launch Video

Screenshots:
System View

Line View

Google Maps View

The Metro Manila Traffic Navigator system is user-friendly so it’s easy to use and understand. It offers different viewing options and filters, enabling the user to find specific traffic routes and its status. For now, the Metro Manila Traffic Navigator only provides traffic status for these major roads – EDSA, C5, Quezon Avenue, Espana, Roxas Boulevard and South Luzon Expressway (SLEx) but will include more roads/routes in the near future. Since its public beta launch last June 29th, an average of at least 6,000 drivers and commuters have been using the Metro Manila Traffic Navigator daily.

The Metro Manila Traffic Navigator can be accessed via the Internet through its official website – http://mmdatraffic.interaksyon.com/. It is optimized for viewing on any computer or mobile device. Users can share traffic status updates with friends via Twitter or Facebook.

Users can also choose to receive live traffic updates from MMDA via Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/MMDAPH) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/#!/MMDA).

Personally, I’m very happy about the launch of the Metro Manila Traffic Navigator. It shows that the country and the Philippine government is embracing technology and social media and putting it into good use. I hope to see more Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects like this that will benefit the Filipino people.

Anyone tried using the Metro Manila Traffic Navigator? How do you like it? Is it effective and useful? Has it helped you save time and avoid traffic? What other features and options would you like to see added to the Metro Manila Traffic Navigator? Please share your thoughts.

For me the most interesting computer language to learn is PHP but unfortunately, we only had a short period of time to learn it. Anyways, talking about computer languages or programming languages, let us go back down memory lane with an infographic created by the folks of Rackspace about the Evolution of Computer Languages. There are hundreds of computer languages or programming languages but this infographic features the ones that are the most popular and widely.

From the Rackspace blog:

All the cloud applications you use on the Internet today are written in a specific computer language. What you see as a nice icon on the front end looks like a bunch of code on the back end. It’s interesting to see where computer languages started and how they have evolved over time. There are now a series of computer languages to choose from and billions lines of code. Check out the infographic below to see the computer language timeline and read some fun facts about code along the way.

Evolution of Computer Languages Infographic

Any of you here who are Computer Science majors, self-taught computer programmers or like me, just took a few computer language/programming language classes? Which computer language or programming language do you like or hate the most? Please share your thoughts.

[via Rackspace Blog]

Many people are aware about the planned merger but because of the complexity of the issues, most people don’t know exactly what are the things involved or what the implications would be if such a merger would push through. Today, I’ll be sharing with you an infographic provided by TXTm8, a consumer advocacy group spearheaded by students of the University of the Philippines.

This infographic aims to inform the public (people who will be seriously affected by this merger) – a short history of the telecommunications industry in the Philippines and the benefits of competition, including TXTm8′s proposed win-win solution to this issue – to make the NTC (National Telecommunications Commission) implement its 2007 Competition Policy Document which shows us how countries like Singapore, Canada, U.S.A., Thailand, Malaysia and the European Union deal with telecom operators who have control of the market.

[click here to view a larger version of the image]

Aside from the infographic, TXTm8 has also provided a 4-page primer or FAQ that can answer your questions regarding this issue. As an additional resource, you can check out this post regarding Regulating Inter-Connection.

Even though I love the game Monopoly, as a consumer I always prefer to have competition over monopoly. Based on what has happened in the past and personal experience, competition allows consumers to get more and better products/services at an affordable price.

What are your thoughts on the proposed PLDT-Digital merger or share-swap agreement? Do you agree with this merger/share-swap agreement or not? What do you think of TXTm8′s proposed solution? Please share your thoughts.

This event was organized to further promote green technology, showcase the talent and skills of our youth and at the same time, bring pride and honor to our country in an international competition.

Event organizers have selected 8 schools to participate in this event.

• University of Mindanao
• Colegio de San Juan de Letran
• Don Bosco Technical College
• Technological Institute of the Philippines
• University of the Philippines
• Mapua Institute of Technology
• Rizal Technological University
• University of San Carolos

These schools listed above have been selected with the following considerations: School must have a competent technical and/or engineering curriculum and a department that can support their team in constructing the go-karts that will be used for the race.

All participating schools/teams will be provided funding for the materials and construction of the go-karts. All schools are also required to be represented by a cheer dance group that will compete in one of the activities during the day of the event – an inter-school cheer dance competition.

The winning school team will represent the Philippines and compete against other teams from China, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand in Beijing, China on September 2011.

The “Driving Innovation — Bosch Power Tools Asia Cordless Race 2011” will be held on May 15, 2011 at the Boomland Kart Circuit in Pasay City from 9 AM til 10 PM. Aside from the race and the cheer dance competition, there will also be a concert featuring Amber, General Luna and Parokya ni Edgar. The event will be hosted by Drew Arellano and Karen Ostrea.

For more inquiries you can contact these numbers: 703-42-39 and 09272050284 or you can visit the Bosch Power Tools Philippines website at http://www.bosch-pt.com.ph/

Everyone is invited to attend the event. You can go there and cheer for your school/alma mater’s team or go there and just cheer for all participants and have fun at the same time.

This is a guest post by Lloyd Burrell of Office Desk Reviews. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.

Do you hate clutter, or are you on a budget? Some of us love collecting objects, which then collect dust. Some of us like to spend as least time as possible dusting. Some of us need to save money in order to pay off student loans and can’t spend much on setting up the old home office, because setting up a home office will save us money, and if we spend too much on office equipment, it becomes a catch-22 situation.

I’ve dug some tips out from under my own pile of dust to help you set up a fantastic minimalist office which would make any architect, or your own mother, proud.

1. Go wireless for your printer needs, now there is so little difference in price between wireless and wired models you would be a fool not to. That’s the first piece of advice I can offer. In this instance you can put the cart before the horse and get yourself one of those wireless all-in-one printer/scanner/copier machines. There are also great bargains out there on laser units that use black toner only, and which work beautifully.
2. Set up a nice home network and avoid even more wires and cables. You can sit in the living room, watching your 3D Internet-enabled TV, while getting the scores from the latest games on your laptop or iPad 2, and then printing a sheet or two out in your home office, on your spiffy new networked and wireless all-in-one printer/scanner/copier machine. See how it ties together? Less clutter and less expense. Just make sure your WiFi router is properly secured.
3. If you simply must have some storage, then attach a few clean shelves to the wall above or behind your desk. Get the kind that are “floating” so there’s no ugly brackets sticking out. They serve no value in a minimalist’s office. Typically you will be looking for a modern home office desk with perhaps one or two storage drawers in it, which could accommodate a few file folders, if you are tight on space a small corner computer desk is a good choice if you have a bit more room to play with then an L-shaped office desk might make more sense. To be truly minimalist and higher tech, store your files on your computer. That’s where the scanner part of your all-in-one comes in handy. You can also purchase some good OCR software and cram even War & Peace onto your hard drive.
4. Computer wise, you can certainly ditch that old monitor which takes up all of the desk space you have, and get a nice all-in-one iMac (there are affordable Macs out there also), or a flat monitor with the PC hidden either under, or in, your desk. A wireless keyboard and wireless optical mouse are essentials in any minimalist’s office. Do make sure you get enough RAM and hard drive space in your new computer. They are well-equipped these days.
5. Finally, treat yourself to an ergonomically-designed and comfortable office chair. There are some new designs which can operate by remote control. In the least, they have high-tech fabrics available which can also cool you, or heat you up. Getting a renewable and very “green” flooring or carpet or rug onto your minimalist office floor may not be high tech to look at it, but many parts of our modern technology were used to manufacture a durable, renewable resourced, and attractive surface.

One final touch for your minimalist office — a simple and attractive live plant always adds a bit of nature to even the most high-tech and minimalist space. It can also give you someone to talk to or throw your ideas around with. Plants are very low key and fit right in with the minimalist office.

Over to you guys. What other types of technology do you use for your minimalist home office? Any other space or money saving tips or pieces of technology that you can suggest on creating a minimalist office space? Please share your thoughts.