Philippine Daily Inquirer
MANILA, Philippines–A soft-spoken Filipina in her early twenties was recently named project leader of one of many open source community projects run by the Apache Software Foundation.
Maria Odea “Deng” Ching, 25, became the first Filipino vice president and project management committee chairperson of the Apache Archiva Project of the foundation, a non-profit organization that supports numerous open source projects around the world.
In an interview, Ching said she is also one of two women members of the Apache Archiva Project project management committee, which is composed of 15 members.
A graduate of Bachelor Science in Computer Studies from the De La Salle University in Manila, Ching is currently working for software development firm Exist Global, which holds office in Ortigas Center in Pasig City.
A programmer by training, Ching said that “hard work” and active participation in the open source community has led her to being voted chairperson of the project.
The Apache Archiva Project is a top-level open source project that provides global software developers with a repository for components needed to build software applications.
As part of her responsibility in Exist Global, Ching said she has been actively contributing to the project–begun in March 2008–until she assumed her current position.
There are about 1,000 developers involved in the Apache Software Foundation, which is currently doing more than 60 projects.
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The Philippine Star
The Filipino inventor of rent-a-coffin is back with another creation: a coffin with multimedia capability wherein Filipinos abroad can express their condolences in real-time to those who lost their loved ones back home.
Antonio Andes yesterday said one of the features of his newest invention is a multi-function display panel and through the use of the Internet, it can provide video stream of messages from relatives who can’t make it to the wake.
“During the wake period, we usually witness strips of ribbon where names of the family members of the deceased are written and with the aid of a safety pin, it is pasted at the inner cover of the coffin. A single picture frame of the deceased may be displayed atop the full glass cover of the coffin,” said the 42-year-old Filipino inventor.
Andes said the multi function display panel is “detachable or fixed on the inner or outer coffin cover that will provide a pre-edited presentation of pictures, videos and memoirs of the deceased with his family and friends taken during those happy days when he was still alive.”
The multi-function display panel can also be used to show videos of the deceased’s last wishes and other screen text messages about the interment schedule, family tree and place of burial, he said.
The invention also provides entertainment in form of music or video being played during the wake.
Andes said the rental for the flat screen monitor is P5,000 and above for five days of wake, adding the price depends on the length of time and type of presentation the relatives want.
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Good News Pilipinas
Filipino IT executive Joselito “Jojo” Añonuevo is the new senior director of business development of Internet giant Yahoo!, overseeing the firm’s activities in Southeast Asia.
Añonuevo, who was previously the president of online gaming company Digital Media Exchange (dme), is the highest ranked Filipino in the company in the region.
Prior to dme, Añonuevo was also one of the first to work for Oracle Philippines, becoming its marketing and sales director.
In an official statement, Añonuevo said he hopes to provide more to Yahoo!’s presence in Southeast Asia.
“Having the Philippines as part of my remit is also a great opportunity to address the benefits of the Internet for my fellow Pinoys. Yahoo! has adopted a Filipino-centric business approach in my native country and I will look to help Yahoo! expand on that vision,” Añonuevo said.
Yahoo! Southeast Asia said Añonuevo’s presence in the company would help lead it to regional partners such as content providers, advertisers, publishers and resellers in the region.
The company has been aggressively marketing its services in the Philippines, as well as in other Southeast Asian countries, targeting about 500 million potential users. Yahoo! is also the second most visited website in the Philippines after Friendster.com, according to statistics from Alexa.com.
It has already launched several mobile phone-based services, particularly Yahoo! Go, to draw people into using their phones for Internet services.
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Good News Pilipinas
Philippine game development firm Anino Games bagged runner-up honors in the casual games category at the International Indie Games Developers Showcase.
Anino is also the only developer from an Asian country to win in the casual games category.
They will win digital security products from Indie Game sponsor ECD systems.
Anino’s game Word Archery bested dozens of other entries from game developers worldwide. Over 100 companies joined the competition, which pits independent developers to develop innovative games for the PC and mobile segment.
The announcement was made on the Indie Games website, though the contest itself was conducted during the Austin Game Developers Conference earlier this month.
A total of 10 finalists were announced for the casual games category and another 10 for the general category.
Fizzball, a game developed by Canadian firm Grubby Games, won the top prize in the casual games category. Other runners-up were Stunt Bike Island by ForgeFX and Baseball Mogul 2008 by Sports Mogul Inc.
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ABS-CBN News
Three Filipinos have joined a contest sponsored by laptop computer maker to become expatriate torchbearers in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
The three are CNN Beijing bureau chief Jaime Flor Cruz, his daughter, Michelle, and Philippine vice-consul Noel Novicio.
They joined the search for eight lucky expatriates who will be bearers in the upcoming torch-relay for the Beijing Olympics.
Flor Cruz said the voting period is until the end of the month. After that, votes will be counted to choose the eight expatriates from among the 232 contenders.
Votes for Flor Cruz can be posted here.
Those in favor of his daughter, meanwhile, can be vote here.
For Novicio, the votes can be posted here.
Aside from computer company Lenovo, the contest is sponsored by the Internet version of China Daily, China’s leading newspaper.
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Good News Pilipinas
Hong Kong-based Novare Technologies says it is making applications for Apple’s hugely popular iPhone device through its team of Filipino developers.
Novare is headquartered in Hong Kong, but its applications development unit is located in the Philippines.
Ernie Imperial, Novare’s business development director, said the iPhone applications would probably be for sales force automation and CRM (customer relationship management).
Some consumer-oriented applications may also be developed to take advantage of the iPhone’s multimedia features, he added.
Novare has already developed and deployed enterprise solutions running on Blackberry and Windows Mobile handhelds for local clients, he said.
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