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More YouTube fame
Michael Alan Hamlin
Thriller is Time's #5 best video
The December 24 issue of TIME provides a series of Top 10 Bests. In the Web Video category, "Thriller," produced in a Cebu prison with genuine captive labor, comes in at number 5. Only a tearful defense of Britney Spears, Will Ferrel corrupting the youth, a mixed up Miss South Carolina, and a "dystopian" Hillary beat out Thriller, which has been viewed just short of 10 million times. That's, incidentally, close to the entire population of Manila.
And about the same number of people who were standing in that immigration line in front of Paul Bograd earlier...
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Posted
12/27/2007 5:50:49 PM |
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Numb in Manila
Michael Alan Hamlin
Immigration SNAFU
My erstwhile fellow blogger and buddy Paul Bograd called earlier. He was standing in an immigration line at the fast-deteriorating Terminal I in Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport, he said, that was backed up past the Duty Free counters. If you haven't been through Terminal I recently, you might assume that the long line is the result of a massive influx of visitors during the holiday season. But you'd be wrong, because the lines are pretty much always backed up.
Forcing arriving visitors to spend an hour or more in a slow-moving immigration queue in a poorly air conditioned terminal is disgraceful considering the efficiency with which immigration formalities are handled in neighboring countries, especially Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. On the other hand, the immigration SNAFU doesn't get much worse than the process in LAX for visitors; and the process at Narita is so bad I'm convinced that the Japanese use immigration to discourage tourists from ever returning again.
Oh, an update from Paul. One hour in line and he says he's no closer to the counter. That is bad. Manila's immigration authorities must have adapted the Narita strategy to get rid of those pesky travelers and their foreign exchange.
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Posted
12/27/2007 2:25:17 PM |
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Web 2.0
Michael Alan Hamlin
Will be a requisite to playing
A recent global survey conducted by McKinsey & Company found that the popularity of user-driven online services such as social networking sites like MySpace, collaborative publishing services like Wikipedia, and video-sharing sites like YouTube have drawn the interest of innovative corporations. These companies are expressing that interest in the form of investments in Web 2.0 technologies.
Web 2.0 is used to refer to Web services (communication between different systems), peer-to-peer networking (data sharing; VoIP), blogs (commentary, news), podcasts (audio and video commentary, news), and online social networks (networks of friends, colleagues, like-minded individuals) that rely on user collaboration for content. In the survey, only 13 percent of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with their investments, and over half expressed satisfaction. Most intend to maintain or increase their current level of investment in Web 2.0 tools.
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Posted
12/26/2007 5:21:16 PM |
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High visibility on YouTube
Michael Alan Hamlin
Another Asian brand breaks out
Ellen Degeneres says her staff discovered 15-year-old singing sensation Charice Pempengco on YouTube, and flew her to Los Angeles to performn on the show. Of course, it will be interesting to see if the talented Ms. Pempengco will successfully leverage her new visibility to create opportunities to sustain her celebrity. But her example is also interesting in the context of some of the comments her videos have elicted.
As is typical, Filipinos are justifiably proud of Ms. Pempengco's performance on the Ellen Degeneres show, and the acclaim she has received. Others, however, can't help but wonder why Filipinos are making such a fuss. One viewer, for example, noted that Americans don't use the celebrity of American performers as an indication of national worthiness. After all, many American and other performers also face daunting hurdles to achieving visibility and success. When they do, they are admired as individuals, not as examples of America's place in the world.
The implication is that Filipinos are so insecure in their national identity, that when a compatriot does achieve international visibility, their example is widely hyped to show that Filipinos can compete with the best, anywhere. The reality is that Filipinos working around the world in many challenging professionals achieve success. What they don't do is broadcast that success. And they probably should, for the national psyche, as well as to generate new opportunities for themselves personally.
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Posted
12/24/2007 12:36:11 PM |
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Celebrate
Michael Alan Hamlin
Don't forget the real victories
Sports writers and columnists, athletes, and fans seemed universally dismayed over the Philippines’ performance in the 24th Southeast Asian Games, which took place in Thailand last week. The Philippines was hoping to match or exceed its 2005 performance in Manila when it took 113 gold medals. But it was not to be, and Team Philippines settled for just 41 gold medals, “placing sixth.” Thailand took 183 gold medals, finishing first.
While sports stories should be the preserve of sports editors and sports journalists, there are lessons in the 24th SEA Games that apply to business. Let’s start with boxing. There’s a lot of murkiness surrounding the Philippine contingent and its performance. But what the world knows for certain is that amateur boxing president Manny Lopez refused to allow seven Filipino boxers who reached the finals to enter the ring.
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Posted
12/21/2007 5:44:07 PM |
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Wrapping up and gift wrapping in Japan
Orly Mercado
I am wrapping up my activities, and literally, my belongings, as I prepare to leave Japan for good. Three years is an ideal period to live in another country. Short enough to love it and not long enough to hate it, as the saying goes. Much has been written about how foreigners seldom feel welcome here. Although this week’s Time magazine notes the increase in the number of migrating Chinese to Japan, don’t start looking for a welcome mat at the immigration counter at the airport. In fact, visitors must expect to have their eyes photographed and fingerprints recorded. It’s all part of an upgrading of their data base.
On the whole, my stint here in Kobe can be considered ideal for an obsessive-compulsive like me. The biggest danger I ever faced was when a drunk, who obviously was going home, as most of us in the train were in our morning rush to work, puked. No one spoke, but we all quickly and methodically evacuated the car. It was disaster management at work.
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Posted
12/15/2007 9:27:48 PM |
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Software hub
Michael Alan Hamlin
The appreciating peso won't stop progress
Like Philippine exporters, Indian exporters have come under pressure as the result of a fast-strengthening local currency, another “victim” of the shrinking U.S. dollar. Dire predictions of reduced export growth and reports of frantic handwringing are common. And indeed, the market value of India’s offshore outsourcing sector - software companies, business process outsourcing (BPO) firms, and Internet portals - has plummeted this year.
Despite the downturn, the National Association of Software & Services Companies (NASSCOM) still expects the software industry to reach its export target of $60 billion by 2010. Most of the pain resulting from “too much rupee appreciation in too short a time,” according to NASSCOM president Kiran Karnik is being felt by small- and medium-size companies, notwithstanding the contraction in market value experienced by industry heavyweights.
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Posted
12/14/2007 3:50:47 PM |
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