Journalism.org: The Year in News 2011 | Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ)

U.S.-based Journalism.org has released its list of top U.S. news makers of 2011. From culled news in print, radio, television to the Internet, some of the biggest reasons why we are tuned in to our mass media appliances are due to the news about the the bad economy, BP oil spill, Chilean miners, health care, Afghanistan same-sex marriage, and even more. Check the list here:

The Year in News 2011 | Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ)

Good Magazine, meanwhile, has translated these biggest news drawers through a data visualization, as you can see below:

UI Overhaul Face-off: Twitter vs. Facebook

These days, Facebook and Twitter look like new chefs blushing in red as they await the reactions of their users after serving their most recent dishes, at least in terms of the services they offer in the techlandia. Their dishes, are not literally food, but the two giant's most recent attempts at revising the user interface (UI) of their websites, which most of their official statements declare are designed to give the best user experience to their users, in terms of feel and ease of use. Again.

But which of the two came up with the better food, er... UI or user interface revamp?

To the uninitiated, UI or user interface refers to the design or arrangement of elements in a particular space (i.e., web space) with which an online user may interact and "how an application program or a Web site invites interaction and responds to it." In layman's term, UI is the layout or arrangement of elements in a webpage.

First in line is Facebook, which introduced its much-discussed and now most debated new profile page called Timeline. This UI overhaul is an attempt to give users bigger view of what else but - timeline or history of all data that a user indicated on his online space via the Facebook universe. Many complained, including me, that the new UI looks crammed, chaotic and set to give the most dizzying experience and headache to everyone for tiring the eyes when you scroll left and right, up and down.

All these are made at the expense of seeing your page that sports the bigger you in terms of bigger pictures, and bigger status fonts, and more. You may check my Facebook Timelined page to see how this whole Timeline works.

Twitter, the popular micro-blogging website meanwhile, is also touted to release its major overhaul of its interface soon.

It is a revamp with no fancy name or identifier to brand this change. The amazing thing here is how the new Twitter UI was simplified (not to complicate because sometimes some simplifications do), but to give a better experience.  The four elements of the new interface are Home, Connect, Discover and Me. The arrangement of the elements are not eye-straining and the links, including how the elements would appear when clicked, are easy to learn.

Here is an online video from Twitter to check what they are rolling out soon:

Based on most online discussions and Facebook comments about these two recent developments, Twitter appears to be the runaway winner.

On my scorecard: its 93% for Twitter. 83% for Facebook.

Another year is ending. Another one is coming. But always thankful.

For the rest of us who will witness another year ending, technology has been a handy friend. It has always kept us updated and posted on what's happening and what's unfolding even from afar and beyond our eyes' reach. Just see the video below from Google Zeitgeist and you will see my point.

It's amazing to notice that while we have only learned of the bigger news and happenings through the newspapers, radio and television in the past, it is different today.  With the help of modern technology, we can be aware of the bits and smaller scale moments (at least in our perspective) that our friends, neighbors and even people from far away places have experienced and shared through Youtube.

Who are not aware of this very very popular viral Youtube clip of two toddlers that brings millions of smiles and laughter plastered in the face of the globe? But television programs will not actually show this in their regular programmings, thinking that the audience will not benefit from this. Today, the modern audience are different and will remain so ... unpredictable. Because what may be perceived as not entertaining may actually become one the next day or what may not be newsworthy yesterday, can be one that is seeing the headlines tomorrow. Sometimes, what becomes significant or relevant will be based on how many people have expressed their appreciation or likes to an uploaded media or video.

 
More true today because all have probably become instant participants in the evolving and shaping of what should see print or hit the radio and television airwaves.

Even more significant, the year that is about to end begs to be noticed by making one feel reflective about some deeds and things done in the last 360+ days. What am I regretful for? What do I liked the most? cherish? appreciated? hated? and most of all, thankful for to God?

For so many reasons, whether good or bad, am thankful to God. Countless reasons, in fact. Here are some of them:

Good health. For the very reason that even though I am not rich and not one among the less than 10% of the population's affluent few in my country (plus am not even in the middle ranges) I believe deep in my heart that am blessed with good health. I was not hospitalized the whole year. I am not suffering from very grave illness and not spending riches to pay hefty hospital bills.

Supportive family. We are always like this. We are not very vocal in expressing 'i love yous' to one another but I can feel and know that they do and they care. Truly. And I know, since I can remember, they have been supportive of me. My decisions in life, my plans, my life choices.

Best friends. I have been showered with some of the kindhearted and sincere folks though of course it's not always smooth sailing. And I feel lucky for having them and I believe they are here with me for a reason for my good. For better or worse, even though we now have different paths in life, I believe our friendship will stay stronger. (Iva, Dexter, Oneng, Maribel, Cynthia, Chester, I know you know who you are.)

The best teachers. They are the best reasons why I think I have learned the Truth and that I have a clear direction in life, the God's way. More than a teacher, they made me feel what it feels like to be part of a very very big family and like a father and a big brother, they are not there to pamper me with lies just to make me feel better. It is always God and His words above what I will feel. They are supportive and helpful in so many ways in shaping my spiritual growth. As an inspiration, they are relentless in showing it through words and deeds. All these and more are the very reason am thankful to God. To Bro Eli Soriano and Kuya Daniel Razon, I thank God because of you!  


How about you? What are you thankful for?

Gadget-wise, it pays to be Wise

Two giant networks - Smart and Globe are in an intense competition these days. Since Globe is no longer the exclusive network who can sell Apple's latest reboot of its iPhone4 product, now with a humble virtual assistant called Siri - the iPhone4s, the consumers must be happy they have a choice now.

Just as these are exciting developments to follow, it is even more a wish to be there in advance where this competition is leading us. But more than the price, consumers expect secure and reliable broadband connection. For a smart take on this, see Unbox.ph's showdown series: [1] [2] [3] For a countdown today, here's techie.com.ph's article for that.

 But buying an iPhone4s is not what usually preoccupies every consumer's gadget shopping time. It is just the hottest buzz nowadays. There's more.

When the months of November and December creep in, some consumers are usually very predictable that they didn't notice it, particularly when buying gadgets and digital accessories. It seems that these two months have been declared the default season to change one's old car, digital camera or mobile phone into something more savvy and more expensive.

Spending year-end bonuses to buy and spend for a brand new laptop or a mobile phone may seem justified. However, the decision should be more dictated by thorough evaluation of specifications, affordability and relevance to one's work or productivity needs (especially to those who are really after the worth of money spent on products).

Because when January comes - another default month, least to say, it's blaming season when regrets pour in.

Of course, most consumer companies selling their services and goods have earned their doctorate degrees in understanding consumer behavior and buying preferences. They are motivated more by profitability than giving you, the consumer, the penultimate and absolute gadget or digital devices that you need. Marketing also plays a key role in creating buzz, hype and madness when there are promos, contests and sale. 

Anyway, apart from the iPhone4s, which many of you (like me) may be wishing someday of owning, there are other gadgets and digital devices that you might want to check out. Again, as a tip, look for what you feel will be there for you for a long time and give you the best use.

From most magazine and tech websites, the most common picks are the following:

• Apple's Macbook Air (Summer 2011 Refresh), iMac (Spring 2011), iPhone4 and iPhone4s, and iPad2
• Amazon's Kindle Fire and Kindle Touch
• Nook Tablet
• Nokia Lumia 800, Microsoft Windows 7, 
• Asus EEE Pad Transformer Prime

• Samsung's Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II, Galaxy Nexus, and Galaxy Tab 7.7 and 10.1 tablets

HTC Titan 

• Lenovo IdeaPad U300/U400 ultrabooks


The gadgets in my list are not all cheap, you may or may not need any of those, but they are worth comparing with other gadgets out there. Price is relative, even preference for gadgets. So again, just think wisely.

 

From around the web, here are some popular magazines and tech sites that already gave their selections of the year's best gadgets:

• Farhad Manjoo of Slate.com list of the year's best gadgets

• Popular Mechanics Magazine's Top 19 Gadgets at CES 2011

• Gizmodo's Best Gadgets of 2011 here - [1] [2] [3]

• SmartCompany.com.au's Top 10 Gadgets for 2011 

• The Atlantic Magazine's Steve Kovach list of 20 Best gadgets for 2011

• TechRadar.com's Rob Mead-Green list of top 10 best gadgets at IFA 2011

Enjoy!

You just won an iPad2! An iPhone4! Only It's a Dream.

You know the feeling of talking to yourself and saying, "Why not?"

It's like a jolt of fresh lightning electricity that hit your irrational mind out to blurt out and imagine things differently. You convince yourself to pull the plug and try it too. In that alter universe, you picture yourself entering this and that room and scenario and you are the happiest human being.

Friends are pouring out: "How come?," "What was it that you just did?," and "How lucky of you to get that!"  Instantly you are the star, now the lights are showering you the beam.

Only, you are excited not because of something like you and your friends will embark on a Bohol adventure or you will write your next novel to beat Haruki Murakami for that coveted Nobel Prize.

Because your excitement is for winning a contest! An iPhone4s! An iPad2! A Samsung Galaxy! The Universe! Ha! So it brought your hands busy searching and searching for contest and promos to join.

This actually happened to me after learning that my friend just won a brand new iPhone4 from an online contest and promo. So I was like, let's find more contests out there and wait for destiny to unfold! (There must be a psychological explanation for this, I just thought.)

But another part of me was saying that just because out of the hundreds or thousands of entries that my friend was picked the winner of that highly-coveted gizmo, the same luck will transfer to me. So I thought.

But it was still motivating, at most encouraging, to try.  And I was already even imagining that my prize will be shipped in front of our house's door soon. Crazy!

After one, two, three hours of searching and looking for contests on Facebook, Twitter or friends' walls, it finally dawned on me that this experience is worth pondering.

And more lessons rained on me that I realized it may be best to blog about them here.

• Think of online promos and contests as marketing and advertising campaigns. This can either be positive or negative. Contests and promos are there for a reason, and the most basic is spelled B-U-S-I-N-E-S-S. The more that emails are collected or gathered from interested participants to raffles, contests and promos, the more that promoting companies earn from website traffic and other publicity benefits. Emails are expensive, especially if they are legitimate or if emails are owned by a human being.  So if one or two participants will find a "You won a new iPad2!" in his or her email, the rest of us will be in a sorry, try again next time mode. But don't blame yourself for giving away your email, just make sure that you join legitimate contests and not spamming sites' fake contests.

• Second, while it is fun and enjoyable clicking likes and sharing through Twitter and Facebook the pages of the promoting companies' contest pages, one should be ready to face the consequences. One is your friends' reactions for flooding their Facebook walls with your likes of pages and contests shared. Don't be surprised if you find your friends sneer or laugh at you for thinking that you are desperately seeking an iPad or iPhone. But if you know your reasons fully well on why you are joining (e.g., you want to save the world by developing the next app through an iPad2 that you are looking at winning), just don't mind or ignore the naysayers. But again, be ready to face the consequences, but be sure to keep your promise (of saving the world when you win!).

But of course, there are still more to realize from all this. That contest of whatever kind has the tendency to bring the very best and worst of human behavior. So it is  really important to bring along the most handy moral - being contented. This being happy also means that, even if the winning person is not you but your close friends, you are glad it is them who won.

Again, just enjoy and don't expect too much.

P.S.

I just entered in this contest, while there is still time, you might want to join CNN Go's Win an Iphone4s contest

May the best answer wins!

Survey Says Facebook Rules in the Philippines! Hooray!? or Boo!?

I don't know what to feel now that 24/7 Wall St concluded that the Philippines is the country to beat in terms of the dominance of Facebook in the online landscape, even topping the home of the social networking site itself: the U.S.  Today, there are 600 million Facebook members worldwide.

In the said report, the Philippines is joined by Israel, Turkey, Chile and Argentina as the top five nations where Facebook has whopping dominance of the online market.  Malaysia, Indonesia, Columbia, Peru and Venezuela round up the next five.
Here are the exact words from the article

1. Philippines
> Facebook: 93.9%
> Twitter: 16.1%
> LinkedIn: 1.9%
> Internet Use: 29.7%

Social network penetration is incredibly high in the Philippines, reaching 95%.  Facebook is the country’s most popular website, more so than Google, and has a penetration rate of 93.9%.  The Philippines is also the eighth most popular country for Twitter use on a global scale, with a penetration rate of 16.1%.  The popularity of photo sharing has increased by 46% in the country in one year, largely due to Facebook.  Social networking is so popular among Filipinos, the country has been nicknamed “The Social Networking Capital of the World.”

What does this mean? Here are some thoughts:

• TV commercials. TV being the dominant media in the country is one platform where the social networking site is massively promoted. Everywhere you see spread out like eagle's wings these commercials that carry the Facebook Fan pages of brands. You usually see these commercials at prime time where shows like telenovelas, koreanovelas, game shows, and more are being shown.  Hence, Facebook is being promoted free and Mark Zucherberg has a lot to thank the country's businessmen for having these ads without having to pay Philippine television networks a single cent.

• Filipinos are fond of "lists".  We are a curious race.  Last time, we are racing to set a record with the most number of circumcised teens in the world.  Then once upon a time, the Philippines was reportedly the third largest nation with the most number of English-speaking people, then the "Texting Capital of the World," and am not a bit surprised if we will again top this one. But yes we did! Another title? Yes, "The Social Networking Capital of the World." Did we ask for this? Definitely not, but it appears very natural for us Filipinos. Isn't it that the once glorious Friendster.com was the king of the internet landscape in the country here? And now that Facebook or FB is the king, we are quick to jump ship.  And it also looks like it is embedded in us to look for something that will make our country stand out among the rest. And even not economically perhaps, we can at least become the first to beat the U.S. and the G8.

• Cheap Internet Cafe Rates. For one peso, one can use the Internet and surf Facebook for as little as one minute! I am not kidding, this only happens in the Philippines. What can one do with one (1) minute? Just check notifications and generously spread "Likes," perhaps?  

• Consumption of time. Some would rather open Facebook and shout to the world that someone has completed the folding of 1,000 pieces of baby wipes in 10 seconds, mopped the lobby, post photos that charted the person's whole lifespan on earth, entered a mental hospital and shook hands with a parrot. These are considered more productive way of spending one's time than the more important things like devoting full eight hours to work, helping a son or daughter do assignments, and visiting charities and volunteering for causes.

• Narcissism. Sadly, could this also be telling us how much we love ourselves more than the others? There are already numerous studies about why social networking sites are growing more and more popular among children and adults, while some knows how to use the site for good, others don't. And others never will.

• And more.

Facebook is obviously here to stay. It will continue to grow or something new will emerge along the way. But what will be the same is that Filipinos will surely be among the first to appreciate these things before any nation in the world. We have proofs to back this up.

However, it is just my hope that somewhere along the way we would pick up the good over the bad: the use of technology wisely and intelligently not just for the self but for others.

Sitting and Dying (Softly)

Why sitting all day long is not good for your health? Take a look at this infographics below that I spotted at Mashable.com with the title, Just How Dangerous Is Sitting All Day?.

Via: Medical Billing And Coding