Wow, I didn't know that the Philippines was among the few countries where Facebook tested its Reactions - those emoticons that appear when you press on the "Like" button long enough- since October last year. But a few minutes ago, Facebook officially released the Reactions to everyone on their social network/
engadget.com
I actually enjoy using these emoticons because it gave me more flexibility in giving feedback to my friends's post. It was a bit constricting before when there was only the "Like" button. I mean how do you react to news about the passing of a friend's relative? "Like" doesn't do the job well, does it?
When they first released the Reactions last year, Facebook included a "Yay" button which was a smiling and blushing yellow orb. Too bad they dropped it after a few months. Maybe it didn't have enough users to make the Facebook guys to keep it.
Anyway, "Wow" is good enough for me. But I hope I wouldn't get to use that "Angry" button too often.
To add a reaction, hold down the Like button on mobile or hover over the Like button on desktop to see the reaction image options, then tap either Like, Love, Haha, Wow, Sad or Angry. For those looking for the "Dislike" button however, I don't think it will come anytime soon.
If you are someone like me who shops on Amazon,com and avails of their free shipping, you will now need to buy at least $45 worth of items before you can have your item shipped for free. Let me make it clear though that this offer is available only in the US of A or when you ship your items to a U.S. address.
Add at least $25 of books in your cart and all other eligible items in the order also ship free, An eligible item has a "FREE Shipping" messaging on the product detail page, that is fulfilled and shipped by Amazon and contributes to your free shipping order minimum. The site says the method takes about 5 to 8 business days but per my experience, most of my orders take only five days maximum.
The online retail giant did not offer any explanation for the increase but many suspect that it's a way to lure more customers to their Prime service. Amazon Prime offers a free two-day shipping for it's members. Aside from this, the $99 annual membership also comes with free music and video streaming. Be warned however that again, the free streaming is only available for customers who are in the U.S.
The big news this weekend in the tech world was the announcement of Amazon on its website for its new product, the Echo.
from amazon.com
The Echo is a cylindrical device that is basically a speaker that could fill an entire room with music. Just say the magic word, "Alexa" and the device wakes up to provide you with weather report, play music from your Amazon music library, and yes, go shopping with you on Amazon.
There are seven microphones on top of the Echo and it uses beam-forming technology to pinpoint your voice and make sure it can hear you no matter where you are in a room. It has an enhanced background noise cancellation so it can follow your commands and requests even when it is playing music.
The device is always connected to Amazon’s cloud-based web servers where most of the processing of data occurs. The more you use the better it understands your speech pattern and the more adept it becomes in identifying and responding to your commands over time. Let's just hope it won't be as buggy as Siri which took some time to recognize my speech pattern,
Music can be streamed through either WiFi or Bluetooth. That includes music from iTunes and even Spotify.
It also comes with a remote control with a built-in microphone, music playback and volume controls. There is also a companion app for iOS and Android gadgets and desktop PCs so you can further personalize your Echo experience.
from amazon.com
Right now, the Echo is available for US$199 (roughly PhP8,900 at US$1=PhP44.5) and for a limited time, it is available to Prime Members at US$99. Take note that getting the device is by invitation only and you may request it from the official site. There's no word yet if it will be made available internationally but the way I look at it, Amazon must be testing first if they have a market for this and whether the Echo will work in the real world. Maybe they were burned enough by the Fire Phone that they're being more cautious this time.
But being always on and with the capability to pick up one's voice where ever he is inside a room, will it be possible that someone could start listening to us 24/7 soon? Maybe not as long as you don't have anyone in your household named "Alexa".
I recently came across this funny comic strip fromNitrozac and Snoggy on the The Joy of Tech website and I'm sure you will also find it amusing. I belong to the generation that did not have Internet when we were younger and many of the things that today's generation find commonplace were not available to us.
We didn't have email, YouTube, Google or even MMPORPG. But we did have snail mail, TV, the library and outdoor games with which we spend most of our idle time. And as the comic underneath many of our activities involved thinking and physical exertion. Enjoy and for more tech related cartoon, visit joyoftech.com!
Hi everyone! I would like to share with you what I found on the Internet a while ago. Laura E. Kelly developed an infographic that shows classifications of book readers based on their habits and practices. It follows the Linnaean classification charts of living things, you know the domain, class, family, genus, species sort of thing for plants and animals. I had fun using it that's why I also want you to check out what species of book reader you really are. I am what she calls a "cross-species mutt."
Please include attribution to Laura E. Kelly with this graphic.(Click to view at original large size.)
I finally got my Starbucks card last week. It's a prepaid/loyalty card that you can use to purchase your favorite drink at Starbucks and earn points to get rewards. It was the last day of their promotion where you load PhP1,500 and you get an additional PhP300 load free. I have to thank the girl at the counter for convincing me to do so.
It took me awhile to get the card because I read a lot of rants online about how hard it was to register the card on their website, True enough, the girl at the counter told me to wait for a few days before I register my card because their website has been experiencing, ahem, technical difficulties. Oh yes, I told her, I read that your website crashed all the time,
I took her advice and registered my card just last night. It only took me some minutes to register since the website was still going crazy. I just wonder why a big company like this launched a promo without totally preparing their system. Like, didn't they know how many frequent customers they have that would want to avail of their card?
Anyway, after getting the confirmation for my registration I got the message that I am entitled to a free grande size of any handcrafted drink of my choice. All I need to do is show my Starbucks card to the cashier on my next visit.
I didn't waste time and went to my favorite Starbucks café this afternoon to redeem my gift. Guess what the cashier told me. The guy at the counter told me that their system was still a little loopy and I need to wait a few more days for my card to appear in their system.
I really showed on my face my disgust with his comment. Poor guy told me that he will still try to see if my card works. Wonder of wonders it did and I got my free grande size drink. I chose a hot café mocha and shared it with my tiny mustachioed friend below.
So I am off to a good start to get my first reward. I only need 11 more stars to receive a complimentary grande drink. Or I can buy 10 bags of Starbucks coffee beans using my card to receive a free bag of beans.
for more info visit starbuckscard.ph. This blog is not associated in anyway with Starbucks Philippines.
I just finished downloading the update of Instagram, the hugely popular photo sharing/social network app. The biggest update of course is video. Users can now post 15 seconds of video to share among their friends.
It's so easy to use. Open the app then tap on the camera icon. You will get to another screen with a video camera icon. Tap on it and you're ready to go. Press the record button and record anything you want: your new puppy running around the house, the kids playing basketball or even your partner cooking your favorite food. You don't have to shoot everything in one take. Lift your finger and the recorder automatically stops.
You don't need to worry about camera shake since Instagram incorporated an image stabilizer feature they named Cinema. For now, it only works with iPhone 4s and higher. Don't worry Android fans, it's coming to you soon.
Instagram also created 13 new filters exclusively for the video feature. You can choose one of these filter and instantly preview its effect during play before sharing you post the video. Sound is instantly on and all posts are in square format, just like the photos. Also when you post a video you can chose a scene as a “cover shot” which will be displayed while the rest of your video plays.
I just noticed this afternoon that my Flickr account looked different. The photos that used to be arranged neatly in columns are now filling the pages. No more empty white spaces, just photos in different sizes. Then I opened my mail and discovered that Flickr has just introduced innovation to my favorite online photo sharing site.
Flickr has a new design that puts photos at the heart of its users' Flickr experience. The homepage is now a gateway for everything the site has to offer. A new Activity Feed combines recent uploads with activity of photos of the users and their friends. There is also a slideshow mode to allow users to flip through photos hands-free.
The biggest change of course is the amount of space allotted for the users to store their photos. Flickr just gave each one of us a whopping 1 terabyte of space for free. This is to encourage users to upload their photos in high resolution. Here's what Flickr has to say:
At Flickr, we believe you should share all your images in full resolution, so life’s moments can be relived in their original quality. No limited pixels, no cramped formats, no memories that fall flat. We’re giving your photos room to breathe, and you the space to upload a dizzying number of photos and videos, for free. Just how big is a terabyte? Well, you could take a photo every hour for forty years without filling one.
And yep, you heard us. It’s free.
Aside from more spaces for photographs, Flickr is now supporting up to a full 3 minutes per video of 1080p HD quality.
And there's another major change, a little kink for me. Flickr Pro is not being offered anymore and in its place, the site introduced the Ad-Free and the Doublr accounts which basically have the same benefits as the free account except that subscribers can browse ad-free. Doublr account holders also have up to 2 terabytes of space for their photos. Ads-free accounts come at US$49.99 per year while the Doublr is offered at US$499.99 annually.
By the way, if you have a pro account you can still renew it at US$24.99 per year and still have an ads-free and unlimited browsing experience. However, the "pro" badge in your profile and buddy icon will not be there anymore.
Anyway, that's 1 terabyte of free space plus ALL your photos and videos are available for your visitors to see and watch. Not bad for a free account. I just hope it stays that way.
It's not as if it is not available in the country yet but YouTube recently launched a localized version of the biggest online video sharing site here in the Philippines. It is the first one in the Southeast Asia region.
The company noted that number of video uploads by Filipinos is one of the highest in the region. A number of our countrymen have also been using YouTube to make a name for themselves across the globe. Charice was discovered through the site by Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey. Rock band Journey chose Filipino singer-songwriter Arnel Pineda to be their new vocalist after seeing videos of him belting out their hits on YouTube. And of course, the well choreographed dance routines for Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” of the uniformed inmates of Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center made them popular the world over.
The localized service will also allow for monetization of video views in the Philippines. The YouTube Partner Program will enable regular video content creators in the country to become content partners with YouTube and monetize their work on the site through advertising.
I have posted several videos of my travels on YouTube although none has gone viral yet. But who knows.
Facebook, the largest online social network was in the local news last week when a 13-year old boy shot a 16-year old boy inside a mall in a fit of jealousy. The name of the site was dragged into the case because allegedly, the young gunman wrote on his page his intent to do harm to his lover.
This is not the first time that Facebook has been blamed for a crime committed here. A few months back, a young woman was killed after meeting with a Facebook contact in her apartment. After that, a celebrity was seriously wounded after a tryst with a contact from the same social networking site. Both victims have never met their contacts before and they only knew them through the site.
from google.com
I am just surprised that in each case, authorities dragged Facebook in the case like it's its fault that these crimes happened. Instead at looking at the behavior of the perpetrators and their victims, they quickly turn the site into a scapegoat.
I use Facebook and other social networking sites like Twitter, Plurk, Multiply, etc. The only thing that I can say to fellow users is to treat these virtual communities as different as possible to the real world. One can easily create a profile on these sites and that's where the danger lies: your friend may not be who and what he claims to be, So exercise caution.
There was a time when Internet browsing meant waiting for a long time before the website I am visiting fully loads. With the advent of PLDT DSL, the entire Internet experience changed with webpages loading faster than saying, well, Internet.
Now, PLDT myDSL is set to take an extra ordinary transformation for their users through PLDT myDSL Internet to Sawa starting this month. Plan 3000 subscribers will get a free and unlimited speed boost of up to 5Mbps from their previous 3Mbps. Everyone can now surf, stream, download and play games online up to sawa!
To complement this new online experience, PLDT myDSL subscribers will also get free WatchPad with more exclusive content plus one year of free PLDT to PLDT NDD calls. If doesn't transform your life, I don't what will!
It's like my transformation from just another blogger to a Nuffnanger. While I used to be limited to writing about everyday stuff, after joining Nuffnang I got more stuff to write about. What more, I get to meet lots of interesting fellow bloggers who share the same passion to share things to the world.
If you want to transform your online life and surf all you want at awesome speeds, head over to and visit www.myworldmydsl.com for more information or call 171 to confirm your subscripstion today!
The biggest story among Apple fans last week was the report by two researchers that the iPhone could track the movements of its user through a secret file embedded within it. The file, according to the researchers named Peter Warden and Allasdair Allen, is unencrypted and gives a detailed account of the comings and goings of the user.
The initial reaction was fear and then indignation at the possible breach of security among iPhone users. There was a lawsuit filed against Apple because of this.
After the initial outburst, however, people realized that the report was nothing new and is not something to lose sleep on. One analyst even went to as far as using the same application that the researchers used and found its readings a bit off. Steve Jobs, when asked through email by an iPhone owner, said in his usual brief reply that "... The info circulating around is false."
Just this afternoon, someone gave me a link to an official statement from Apple that finally addresses the issue. The statement is in Q and A form and on whether the iPhone and other iOS this is what the company has to say:
"Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so."
By the way, just as the dust on this issue starts to settle, Apple updated its site to announce that the White iPhone 4 is coming out today.
The Pinoy blogosphere is currently abuzz with the proposal for a national organization of Filipino bloggers. A friend pointed me to an online version of the manifesto which was prepared by the proponents of the said organization. I perused it several times before deciding to dive into the widening ocean of approving and dissenting voices.
The manifesto contains six objectives of the organization, mostly aimed at promoting the welfare of Filipino bloggers here and abroad. It also stated what it wants to be as an organization, which is to be a democratic, voluntary and non-profit organization.
I have come up with the following comments and questions regarding the objectives:
Promote and defend the right to free speech and to free expression Isn't the Internet the bastion of free speech and expression? Besides, these are supposed to be protected by the Constitution, unless there is a curtailment of these rights of which I do not know.
Promote and develop blogging, vlogging, photoblogging, microblogging and other online creative and expressive forms in all their diverse categories, topics and types Okay, this one I like but then again, how many blogs are already out there? I'd say 100 million or more. Obviously blogging has developed a life of its own and it is growing still. But why should we promote it in the first place? As an alternative livelihood? As a hobby?
Gather and share Philippine blogging’s best practices that reflect our contributions to ourselves and our online communities, media, causes, organizations and businesses, government, the nation and the world. My mind went blank on this one.
Draft and adopt a code of ethics that underscore the members’ and organization’s sense of responsibility and maturity. In my opinion, this one raises a lot of questions about the very nature of this organization. When you come up with a code of ethics, naturally someone will have to monitor for compliance of members. Then any breach of this code will have consequences. Who or what will enforce this code? Will this organization be regulatory like the KBP before? Will it regulate what we can post on our blogs and then punish those who violate such regulations? Also, what if my view does not jibe with that of the organization, will I still be able to blog about it or do I really need to toe the line?
Discuss issues and concerns that confront our members.This of course is expected from an organization. But what do we do after discussing the issues? Do we make representation to concerned authorities to bring to their attention these concerns?
Campaign and work for more affordable, reliable and better internet access in the country It's about time that someone should stand up and demand for this. Hopefully, the telcos would sit and listen if the consumers of their services have banded together and speak in a collective voice.
But we still haven't answered the basic question whether there is really a need for a national organization for Filipino bloggers.
There are already local and regional organization of bloggers in the country. Here in Bulacan, I know one that is based in Baliwag although I am not yet a member. Will the national organization act as an umbrella organization. a federation of all these groups? Instead of dealing with individual members, they will just deal with the leaders of these smaller organizations. If not, what will happen to these local groups?
Naturally, there are some resistance to this proposal but the proponents have opened venues for discussion of all these issues. Hopefully they would be able to clear all the issues and let everyone understand what the national organization is really all about. Begin by answering the question: Why?
Personally, I am not yet convinced we need one because I still believe that blogging is a personal experience and activity. It should not be encumbered by everyday rules which may defeat its purpose.
Last night while sitting in the darkness during Earth Hour 2011, I suddenly remembered a segment on Sesame Street that I saw as a child (see bottom). It featured Kermit the Frog as a newsman and he was reporting Humpty Dumpty's fall and the efforts of the king's men and horses to put him back together.
Then it struck me. Why is it that illustrations accompanying the nursery rhyme show Humpty Dumpty as an egg? My first step was to check the rhyme and see what it says about Humpty Dumpty. It goes
from picturebook.com
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.
No where in the rhyme can we find that Humpty Dumpty was an egg. One can only deduce that he was one because all the king's men and horses could not put him back together after he fell from the wall. Therefore he was fragile and easily broken. What could be more fragile than an egg?
Since I couldn't stop wondering what Humpty Dumpty really was, I tried to do some research online. (As an aside, I find it really strange to do this after telling you not to believe everything that is on the Internet.)
I found several theories being put forward as to what Humpty Dumpty really was. One of these is that "Humpty Dumpty" was an old English slang for an obese person or a clumsy person who is prone to falling down. Another theory said that the rhyme started out as a riddle in the the early 1800s. Over time, everyone got the answer correctly (an egg) and the riddle was not asked anymore but became a popular children's rhyme.
I also came upon a site which says that Humpty Dumpty was actually a powerful cannon used to defend a walled city called Colchester. The cannon was placed on a wall adjacent to St. Mary's Church. When the city was laid to siege, the wall was destroyed by a mortar and sent Humpty Dumpty falling to the ground. The cannon broke into pieces and all the king's men (infantry) and horses (cavalry) tried to fix it in vain.
The most famous depiction of Humpty Dumpty was an illustration in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass. The picture, drawn by John Tenniel in 1871, shows Alice meeting Humpty Dumpty for the first time. In the story, Alice found Humpty Dumpty sitting on a wall with his legs crossed. The girl wondered how the egg could keep his balance. Humpty Dumpty engaged Alice in a conversation about words and their meanings which left the girl more confused than enlightened.
In the Sesame Street segment, Humpty Dumpty was put together again. An overjoyed Kermit the Frog gave him a rather strong pat on the back that sent him falling off the wall again. The king's men and horses went back to work on fixing him, blaming the frog for the unfortunate incident.
So was Humpty Dumpty an egg, a cannon or a clumsy obese man? Let's see what he has to say about it. In Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass", when Alice asked him what his name means, the cranky egg replied :
`My name means the shape I am -- and a good handsome shape it is, too. With a name like your, you might be any shape, almost.'
Equally baffling is why an egg would want to sit on a wall. That is, however, another good topic for discussion later.
This picture circulated in almost all social networks on the Internet this afternoon. It's supposed to be a sign at an entrance of an upscale mall at the central business district in Makati, Metro Manila. It clearly said that no poor people are allowed inside the mall, perhaps to protect their patrons from having a not so pleasant stay in their mall because of the visible "disturbing realities."
It was also a bad joke. A prank by someone or a group of people who have so much time in their hands. A dead give away was the name of the "Corporation". There is no such entity as "Ayala Land Corporation". It is "Ayala Land Inc" or ALI. Also, the one managing the malls is Ayala Malls and not ALI.
What surprised me was the swiftness some people online passed judgement on the mall. Without even verifying from authorities whether the poster was true or not, some Filipino netizens posted angry words on sites like Twitter and Facebook. Some celebrities even joined in the fray, tweeting how they were offended by the poster.
I called the people I know who work with ALI and told them about the photo. An explanation from the company came out later and also posted in the Internet.
This incident should be a lesson for many of us. Although the Internet is a rich source of information, we should not believe everything we find there. We should always be discerning of whatever we pick up from the web.
I recently joined a social network with a purpose. It's a project from the World Food Program that aims to fight hunger in a revolutionary way.
It's called WeFeedBack, an innovative global initiative using the power of our favorite food - French fries, burgers, chicken, chocolate cake (we all have a favorite) - to provide meals to hungry schoolchildren worldwide, helping them grow strong minds and bodies.
So how does the program work? First, you use the Feedback Calculator. Enter your favorite food, estimate the cost, and you’ll instantly see how many children will receive a hot meal if you donate it or ”feedback”! For example, I entered my favorite pansit Malabon which I estimated at PhP45 or $1. I entered it in my feedback calculator and found out that it could feed 4 kids. The next step is to donate the same amount (which I haven't done yet, sorry) and then we could see its impact.
You may want to join my network and let's help feed the hungry children. You may track our "network impact" or how many children we are feeding and what we're giving them.
WeFeedback is an innovative, global campaign building on the premise that if we all do a little, we can achieve a lot. To put it in a nutshell, it’s about sharing food and changing lives.
It was a scene straight from a disaster movie. A massive tsunami strikes and engulfs a city. It washes everything in its path, cars, farmhouses, silos and even trucks. Only this one is for real.
Japan was struck by a powerful earthquake earlier today, measuring at 8.9 magnitude. It caused heavy damages in the cities affected. It also triggered a massive 10 meter tsunami that brought even more damage to the country's coastline.
So powerful was the tsunami that it sent thousands of people across the Pacific Rim to evacuate. Here in the Philippines, a tsunami alert warning was issued minutes after the quake struck. Residents along the coastline of the North Luzon region were asked to go to higher grounds. Concerns were also raised for loved ones who are living in areas in the Pacific. I have a sister in Hawaii where a tsunami warning was also declared.
Thankfully, the waves that reached our shores were not even a meter high so there were no damages reported in those areas.
But the images we see online were scary and troubling. It's proof that when it comes to natural disasters, there's little, or nothing, that we can do. It also brought up the question on how well our government is prepared to address such calamities.
We cannot predict when it will be our turn to get hit by an earthquake that's a massive as the one that hit Japan. The last real devastating tremor we had was 20 years ago. Since we share the same area with Japan, it really pays that we all should be alert at all times.
Smart Bro recently launched its Pocket WiFi, a 3G+WiFi router that allows up to 5 persons to connect at one time. This is Smart's answer to Globe's MyFi which was released in July.
This new service is available on postpaid for now at PhP495 for 50 hours per month. Add another PhP150 for the device for the 24 months lock-in period. So that means you should fork out a total of PhP645 for 24 months and should you exceed the 50 hour limit, you will be charged Php10 for every 30 minutes.
Smart promises a connection speed of up to 2Mbps and a nationwide coverage, unlike the SmartBro Share-It which is area specific. That means, you can create your own hotspot wherever you are in the country.
I'm a SmartBro user whenever I go out of town but I use the USB dongle. I could easily connect wherever there is a Smart cellular coverage and the speed is good enough. In fact I used it during my trips to Pagudpud and Bohol and I couldn't complain with the connection I got on both occasions . If the same is true with this service, then it's worth trying. The only thing that's holding me back is the 50 hour limit per month. Yes, it's handy when I am out of town on a short period of time but when I am on vacation or something, I could easily use that up within a week. Why Smart did not offer an unlimited plan is a mystery. A little birdie told me though that Smart may have placed the time limit because this new service might compete directly with their other products, like Smart Share It which has a Plan999 unlimited connection.
A 22-year old mother in Florida pleaded guilty last Wednesday to murder for shaking her three month old son to death after his crying interrupted her Farmville game.
The young woman told investigators that she was annoyed when her son started crying while she was playing the game. She then shook her baby, "smoked a cigarette to compose her self", and shook her baby again. She added that the baby might have hit his head somewhere during the shaking.
At first, I thought this was one of those bogus stories circulating the Web recently. But then even reputable news sites started reporting on it and the story took on a tragic, sad note. Imagine a baby killed by his own mother because he needed her care and attention, but mom cannot be disturbed because she's busy plowing her virtual fields.
I also play Farmville on Facebook. It's a game which allows anyone to become a farmer online and use his network of Facebook friends to grow crops, raise animals and manufacture farm goods. If one has a lot of time to spare, it's a good game to while away a lazy weekend. The game does not involve killing anything, not even insects or pests, that's why it is so disturbing to read news about a mother shaking her own kid to death while she's playing the game.
The news articles are not clear on the state of mind of the mother though. Is she suffering from post partum depression like Andrea Yates? Maybe she's a single parent since the articles didn't say anything about the kid's father. Or maybe she's just a down and out individual who considers harvesting bushels of carrots and wheat a major accomplishment. I am not trying to defend her but any of these things could have contributed for her to commit the crime or to her "addiction" to Farmville.
Before we put the blame on Farmville or its producer Zynga or even the Internet for their involvement in the crime, let us remember that a player can always stand up and leave his computer anytime he wanted to. All he needs to do is shut down his computer and forget about his farm. Losing a field full of ripe blueberries is not the end of everything.
SM City Baliwag is now an official hotspot here in Bulacan as it launched its free Wi-Fi service this afternoon.
Upon arrival at the food court where the event was held, I immediately tried the free Wi-Fi service and I am happy to say that the connection is fast. I checked my this site and I was satisfied with the fast time that the entire page was opened. By the way, part of this post was written, and saved in draft right at the food court using the Internet connection at the mall.
I also tried using my other wi-fi capable devices using the service. I had no problem connecting with my Blackberry although there was a slight delay in downloading this site.
I missed the opening program since I came late. I was able to catch one of the two bloggers' events, the food blogging contest. The establishments in the food court provided some of their food for the bloggers to try. I tried the takoyaki balls from Takoyaki along with the goto from Pinoy Lugaw.
There was also an appearance by Super Mario, Bumblebee and Optimus Prime as part of the Cosplay event that coincided with the launch. The kids in the mall were all excited to see their favorite comic characters in person. But I noticed that there more adults than kids who were more than eager to have their pictures taken with the said characters.
It's good that I went to this event because I was able to meet Dave and his wife, who organize events for bloggers who are based in Baliwag and nearby towns of Bulacan. The event ended with the awarding of prizes for the bloggers who wrote the best blogs for the food event and the earlier movie event. Special thanks to Ms. Bev Cruz of SM Baliwag for the invitation and I hope to get invited to other events of the mall in the future.
