Getting Ready for IOS 7

Well it's September folks and I've been scanning the web for a clear date of when iOS 7 will be release for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. So far rumors has it, its going to be on the 10th of September. Its also rumored that Apple's September 10th event will also debut their new iPhone 5s. Something that I am looking forward to.

I hope this new iOS release (which is available starting from iPad 2 and iPhone 4) will not be a big disappointment compared to when they released IOS 6 September last year. Hey, I didn't even notice it's already a year since they released iOS 6. :-)

To all my fellow Apple fans out there (iPhone 5 and iPad owners alike), September 10, 2013 is just around the corner so keep your devices close and get ready for those updates.

iOS 7, we're waiting for you! ;-)

Snorkeling...

I normally go for a swim after office hours three times a week minimum and usually alternate between days but for now I think I had enough of the swimming thing. I will let one week pass and then get back on the routine again.

I spent the last weekend whale watching with some friends south of Cebu and then swallow diving the next day at Shangrila Mactan. It was a worthwhile experience and I enjoyed it a lot.

The part I enjoyed the most was watching the school of small fish swimming around you and getting curious. You can literally touch them if you do slow movement. Then there was the typical clown fish going in and out of an anemone and when we got to close it was trying to ward us off as if it was trying to protect its territory or trying to protect something inside. That experience reminded me of the movie "Finding Nemo"... ;-)

I do swallow dives before but I never realized how nice it was and how much some areas have been well protected. I never imagined the beauty of watching live corals and watching schools of fish would be an awesome sight. It was like you're in a city of fish and everyone is busy getting around and doing stuffs. I should try to do this more often if time permits with friends and family. For me, it was just simply awesome...

Trade-off: Efficiency and Innovation

I forgot to tell you that the conference I attended last week which I mentioned in my previous entry in this blog was that in the afternoon there was a great debate whether there is a "trade-off" between innovation and efficiency. Before I begin, let us try to define what innovation and efficiency are.

By definition in Merriam-Webster dictionary, innovation is the introduction of something new and is synonymous to creation, invention and coinage to name a few. Efficiency on the other hand coming from the same source is the quality or degree of being efficient. There is not much there, don't you think? :-)

Now let's look at this on an organizational stand point. Innovation in my opinion is the ability of an organization to create something new, something that can affect or change an organization internally and externally. As an example, the creation of a new product like a new software application or a new service like offering text messaging services to followup on a particular document are considered as innovations.

Efficiency on the other hand in my opinion is maximizing the organizations resources and making things run smoothly. It is something measurable and is always tied to input versus output.

On the question if there is a trade-off in anyway? I say "YES". If you do innovation, then you will always risk affecting existing processes, policies and procedure to accommodate such an innovation. Over-all organizational efficiency will suffer. That is the greatest trade-off when you have innovation. Which goes to the next question on whether an organization should go for innovation. The answer depends on how ready the organization is for change. Depending on how flexible and mature an organization is for change will determine the success of an innovation being introduced. YES, we need to innovate. Innovation brings new blood, new life to an organization. If IBM remained as a company making typewriters, do you think they will still be here with the advent of new technologies available? The answer is too obvious.

In one famous case about a big industry before on ice cuting and on how none of the ice cutters eventually evolved into ice makers and eventually none of the ice maker evolved into companies that makes home freezers and refrigerators is a classic example of companies without innovation at all. Which brings me to the term organizational ambidexterity.

Organizational ambidexterity is the ability on an organization to efficiently manage change in the organization and be able to adapt to change in the business environment which affects its survival and growth. Meaning just like a person who is ambidextrous, one should be able to use the left and the right hand with the same level of efficiency. In my opinion, efficiency and innovation are both on the opposite ends of an organization's operation.

Innovation is exploratory in nature while efficiency is exploiting to the least. YES there will always be trade-offs between efficiency and innovation but if the organization is willing to take up the challenge and is ready, trade-offs can be contained or minimized. If an organization is flexible enough and is ready for the change then innovation should explored every time an opportunity comes.

Big Data and Business Intelligance

I was in an important government conference last week which was attended by key ICT Officers coming from both the National and Local Government Organization. I was one of the lead presenter to an Interactive Discussion Table (IDT) together with a former high ranking ICT Officer from the Australian Government. Our topic was on big data and the advantage of having to use Business Intelligence. Although it maybe something new to some, what most of them didn't realize was that in one way or another some have already started making some sort of analysis on information that has been collected for many years.

From simple analysis on gender and age demographics to as complex cross referencing of data across organizations related to spatial information, business analytics is slowly gaining a lot of attention lately. With budgets shrinking year on year and government service delivery exponentially growing due to an ever growing clientele which is very much tied to population by the way, business intelligence will play a key role in analyzing how to rationalize delivery of services to the public.

As a example, imagine being able to cross reference GIS information on road specification and condition to information on traffic, interactively. You will now have a new thought process on what to advise the public and on how to plan and design roads better in the future and what policies to implement and not by just simply guessing but making an intelligent decision backed by real live data. The whole concept on traffic management would be totally be different. Automated data collection coming from crowd sourcing will suddenly make sense and planning would even be more flexible and dynamic.

So going back to big data and business intelligence, of course one has to consider one very key important element here. A person who asks the right questions. Asking the right questions ultimately makes sense on why we collect such information and how we process such information. Until one person asks the right questions and see a clear direction where the organization is going and why, we could be collection petabytes and yottabytes of information with it ending in storage facilities inside the organization or on a cloud facility somewhere and not make sense at all. Well for one, the vendors would love that because the more you collect and store information the more money for them. I'm seeing business intelligence will be one hot topic that will come out from time to time and getting into the mainstream of our country's governance and will be here to stay...

Google Glass

I guess most of you wonder what this is all about but I sure most of you have already started seeing the video clips of a new thing called google glass.

I hope this product is as good as the video as in the real world. It seems too science fiction to me at the first. In my opinion this has a potential but its always very amazing how one company can do product hype.

For those who haven't seen the video here it is:

Voice recognition they say is the next thing and they have been doing this for quite some time now. Today most smart phones already made this as a standard feature. But so far in my opinion voice recognition still has a long way to go.

I mean, I tried Siri on my new iPhone 5 but it's decades away from being perfect compared to what was advertised on TV. It still has a difficulty recognizing voice commands and most of the time annoys me to a point the I would rather use search myself.

I hope this google glass would be different or this would be another very big disappointment. Will try to get one and try it myself soon and give you guys some product feedback.

Thats all for now. Until next time... ;-)

Learnings....

Six months into this current assignment is turning out to be one of the best so far and I would say not bad at all. I guess maybe I'm just this lucky I get the best assignments which I believe are difficult but very rewarding because it gives me a lot of opportunities for growth because of the new challenges and learnings. ;-)

I also earned new and better friends in the process and in the company of the old friends, I always get positive remarks and words of encouragement. New learnings, new channels, new opportunities. Despite my rigid personally, this is an eye-opener for me.

Time flies so fast and it is as if I was just reassigned recently to the center. I believe I have accomplished so much and have learned a lot about children and how to deal with them.

Yesterday, I learned humility and patience in handling one of the kids. He was having tantrums because he was being labeled by one of the kids. His violent nature surprised me a lot. It was as if he was ready to kill the other kid. With one swift and tight hug, I was abe to comfort him. He felt my love and I felt the connection between him and me and he calmed down realizing I was just there to care and love him. We had a long chat and I let him play my cellphone. A few minutes after, I called the other kid and told him to apologize and they we friends again. That was something priceless and that experience showed a lot.

These are just some of the few experiences that I have and that we as parents, biological or not, have the moral responsibility to love, care and understand their needs. It is our moral obligation not hurt them but to show them our love. And for the first time, I realized and was convinced that corporal punishment is totally wrong. We need to understand their needs, their wants, their challenges. We need to be patient and get pass through our biases and look into their hearts. We need to care more.

Love is simply not just a feeling but it is also a decision and I chose and decided to love these kids like they were my own. Let us end the cycle of violence and let us start with them, our future.

Simple Lives

Got a message last night, one kid at the center had fever and might be suspected of being stricken with Dengue. I went to the center early this morning to check on him.

I normally go on weekends but by the time I arrived they are already busy with a lot of interaction from visitors. When I arrived, what I saw were children playing in the open areas. I've never seen so much smiles on children's faces. Their laughter was mesmerizing. Left alone in their natural state, children will be children.

As we grow older, we've lost that one thing that made us happy... Simplicity. How I wish we can live simple lives just like what these children have. The simple made up toys, the chasing and running around. That feeling of excitement from play. We have forgotten what play is all about.

As one priest said, "Words are toys and play is language". I've never completely agreed with him until I saw them playing today. He was completely right. Today I again learned something new. And that happiness can be found in simple things.... :-)

The new Apple IOS 6

A few days ago I made a FB post that Apple will be releasing a new OS for its mobile devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod). Well was able to upgrade my iPad a day after the release date. Network traffic was a bit slow. I guess a lot of people were excited also to try the new operating system.

So far, not so impressed with the new features. The biggest change for me is the Maps. Yes, Apple just kicked google maps out of the iPad and replaced it with its own. The images are the same, the only big differences are the 3D and the route functions (This one has improved a lot!) but still not as good as Google in terms of map updates and information. I guess that will improve in time because I believe they are still trying to update a lot of spatial information on their maps.

I had the impression that they will be incorporating Siri on iPad but it's not there. The Siri is only available in iPhone (plus some enhancements they say) for now and I think it will remain in the iPhone platform. I'm still a Blackberry user and in my opinion, the iPhone still have so many areas of improvement when it come to apps on information collaboration and data interchange as compared to the Blackberry.

Another thing I've noticed in this new release is that the picture importation from the card reader is much slower than before. I bought an accessory card reader and it worked quite well before than now and both are supposed to be apple products.

Well now, I'm swamped with a lot of apps updates and still going. I guess it's going to be like this for a couple of weeks when all app makers will make their apps compatible to IOS 6. ;-)

The Big Zero...

For some, life begins at some point in life and many says "Life begins at Forty". For me, life begun several decades back but to be alive and healthy at this age with no major health issues is a big blessing and I say thank you to the big guy up there!

Exercise everyday, swim in the evenings and walk (not jog) for about an hour is for me enough exercise to keep my muscles moving and metabolism at its current pace.

A few days from now, I'm turning the big zero. So many things in my head. So many things to do, so little time. With some of my classmates gone already from this world at a very young age, I still believe that life would have been better with them around.

At one point in my life I wanted to live forever. And then I realized that immortality would be scary. Imagine you live life that long with all the people you love and cared for are gone at that point. Yes, immortality I realize is scary and lonely. If I get to live another forty years or more, I guess that would already be a life well lived. ;-)

Some say, I should have children of my own, others a family. If it comes, it comes. Besides, life is to short to live the expectations of others. What is important is that you are happy with what you have and who you are with. Life is full of uncertainties but that does not mean that you have to stop living.

Again, what is the most important thing is that YOU, yes the big "YOU" are happy. ;-)

Facade of Smiles...

In my last article I said, "Life is what we make it..." not imagining that there are others out there not strong enough to chart the course of their own destiny. The children of the marginalized sectors of our society are shocking resemblance of that reality. What's more shocking is the grueling realty of oppression not coming from the people who are better off than them but from people coming from the same stature in society. Seeing that cycle makes me want to question how come they can do such a thing.

I just turned one month this week into this new assignment and have realized how lucky I am indeed. Every time I see those smiling little faces, those forgotten children, those little angels, made me realized how ugly life was for them before the center. As I watched them play around the open ground areas, I can't help but see the faces of children robbed of their innocence and hiding their pain. They are better now.

Like that child on my first day at the center who approached me, embraced me and hugged me. I never realized that the embrace meant so much as a "please love me and hug me back and take me in". I almost cried as I lifted him up, carried him inside the office and let him sit on my lap. We talked the entire afternoon. And for the longest time in months, I suddenly found someone of more or less the same situation as I am. Who was rejected by peers have found acceptance from a small child. His case? He was almost hacked to death by his stepfather and that the task force had to rescue him and put him from harms way. His wounds have healed but the scars remains.

You can see in the eyes of some of these children how deep their hurts and how much of it is still full of defiance and revenge. I can not show these children pity, that would be wrong in so many way. These children do not need our pity, they need our love, care and attention...

Life is what we make it...

It doesn't mean that if one is educated in a public school one make statements that they were less fortunate. Nor one makes public statements that one who was educated in a private school all his life is lucky and has never tasted the hardships of life. I was educated in a private exclusive school from elementary to college but that doesn't mean I'm lucky or privileged. I worked hard for it also. Life is what we make it...

You control your own destiny. To hear a statement coming from someone segregating those who were educated in a public education system from the ones that have been educated in a private system is but appalling, discriminatory and shows arrogance in character. Again you control your own destiny. It has nothing to do with where you were educated and everything to do with one's character.

I have so much appreciation and respect for people who came from the public education system despite the hardships they endure. We should not blame the system for what it is and how thing are done there but rather we should strive to help improve it than criticize it. What we are today are fruits of our labor in the past.

My college education was never an easy one either. I had to send myself through college through a scholarship and had to make ends meet to finish. Taking jobs inbetween like being a graphic artist, computer encoder/programmer/technician and the most odd ones were fixing motorcycle/car engines and doing welding jobs for people. It was hard but very rewarding. I learned a lot from it. Its all in how you percieve thing. If you try and open your mind you will learn and become a better person.

Behind the scenes was my dad who was a great mentor. He always reminded me than you can view the situation positively or negatively. He said, you can either learn from the experience or whine and tell yourself it can't be done. His quest for knowledge, technical skill and resilience was what describes his character. He was never greedy in what knowledge he has acquired from an experience and would willingly give to anyone who would freely accept it. He never stops reading and experimenting despite the hardships of raising his family. I got most of those habits from him.

Mama can attest to his ingenuity when she tells him of a challenge and the comes out with a solution or even a product. They were perfect for each other despite the other challenges they endure even to his last days. We miss you dad and again thank you so much.

A new challenge has been presented to me. A reassignment that suddenly will make me a father figure of 55 kids and adults. And as i take in this new assignment, I can't help but wonder if I will be able to influence and make a difference and emulate what my father has done for me. These kids who have been less fortunate than others, abandoned, brutally and sexually abused, and under the influence. This kids who have never felt love from their parents. Kids who are in pain and rejected by society.

A new beginning... A new challenge to make a difference in the lives of others. A test of strength of character...

Cebu Green Economy Series II

Today we started a two-day workshop for the city on environment. We were expecting that the mayor would come and do the welcoming remarks but unfortunately he was unavailable due to his busy schedule. So the group gave the task to me to do the welcoming remarks for the activity. I would just like to share this because in my opinion it is addressed to everyone.

"Welcome: Cebu Green Economy Series II - Convergence of Communities for Sustainable Cities

Honored guest and friends of environment, Welcome.

Every moment you expose yourself to the environment it only takes a little of common sense to know that the environment has changed.

Our natural resources now are ever being threatened by ever grown human activity which contributes to a large portion to environmental degradation.

The ever changing landscape, disappearing forest, extinctions, changing biodiversity, pollution are just some of the concerns among countless others.

Even our children can no longer determine how genuine some of our trees are. Some of our children today do not even know how endemic trees like the Catmon, Tugas, Santol and countless others look like.

The environment has change but that does not mean its all about adaptation, but is it also about cultural and social biodiversity.

Human activity has change this landscape, but the question is how far do we want this change to go? How far will we say that enough change has been brought into the environment? How far do we go in terms of development?

Initiatives like these challenges the brilliant minds of our ever grown abundant human capital to make hard and painful decision to ensure our future, our survival.

Friends of environment, let this be a challenge to all of us to come into a full circle. To use less, to conserve more and to protect more.

With that, in behalf of the Cebu City Government, The Cebu City Environment and Natural Resources Office which I represent, I would like again to say Welcome to the 2nd Cebu Green Economy Series."

Alliances

Some alliances are just to good to be true. Others are shrouded in mystery and lies. Others are made in heaven and while others last even beyond our lifetime.

Same is true with all forms of emotions like love, happiness, joy, hate and still holds true with relationship and friendship. But the end of some alliances can foster also the beginning of new ones.

We always learn from our mistakes which has brought man this far. The strongest foundations on earth were built from the mistakes and learnings of the past. Only time can tell on how far we will go and how far civilization will take us into the future.

Again, I have always been telling people this, "Our greatest responsibility is to pass on the wisdom, knowledge, the skill and good experiences that we have to the next generation". We are just stewards of this earth and that what we pass on to the next generation is our greatest gift to them.

Environmental Program

Today I had a taste of my first radio interview. It went quite well. The program was one hour. The discussion were more on environmental programs of the city. When I was with ICT, I was just at the back burner. No media interview, no nothing. This time, I get to interact with the public more. ;-)

This new job seems to be getting more and more interesting everyday. And it's true, one does not have to be a scientist to be an environmentalist. You just have to have a lot of common sense.

I will be writing about other activities here in the coming days related to Environment and hot ICT an a tool can enable better efficiency in preventing loss of life and property. Being close to environment has its advantages. I have more articles to write about and discovery and learn new things. ;-)

On Organic Farming and Junior Foresters...

I never realize three weeks have passed since I last blogged and in just a few days we have done several major activities. I can't discuss all of them in one blog so I'll just mention two for now.

First we went to one of the mountain Barangays to do forums on organic farming with the local farmers in the area. The community organizers were very accommodating and hospitable.

When we arrived the pilot area, freshly cut coconuts fruits coupled with some steamed japanese sweet corn were already set at the table. The place was a bit far but accessible. Farm to market road where already built although some of it need immediate repairs due to constant soil erosion and earth movements in the area.

The program started with a prayer, then the national anthem and acknowledgement of guests. Then the Barangay Captain/Village Chief gave his brief welcome remarks. I meet an old friend, a former City Administrator of which he said this is the first time he has ever set foot there. Same with me. ;-)

One the main reasons why this place was chosen as pilot for organic farming was because the use of pesticides is rampant in the area. As the discussions and presentations continued so did the temper of the people present in the forum. Most of the farmers were not convinced with the method of farming presented by one of the resource speakers. One farmer even strongly opposed to the idea and made a mockery out of it. I never realized that it was this tense. Fortunately, we were able to diffuse the arguements and all went well. I just hope we would be able to set an actual pilot area so that we can have a prototype and prove that organic farming can be economically viable, feasible, efficient, earth friendly and productive.

Second activity was the awarding of 77 school children with school supplies. Prior to this, they were given school supplies. The objective of this program was to encourage children to grow their trees planted several months before. The children were very happy getting their school supplies. The school supplies was in cooperation with one major telco company. Children were reminded to protect their trees and was designated junior foresters. They all agree and were very receptive to the activity. We hope that this will encourage other children to participate in this new program to plant, protect and grow trees. ;-)

The Scare! Earthquakes and Fake Tsunami Alarms!

I can't imagine how scared most people were. A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the city around lunchtime sending people running out to the streets. I was outside walking towards the office when the earthquake struck. I did not feel anything. Maybe I was to close to the ground, to close to the environment. ;-)

I even did not know what was happening when I saw them running out of the building and asking what went wrong. At first I thought the building was on fire then I asked one fellow and he said it was a powerful earthquake. About 30 seconds they say.

I called Mariposa to check on her because she's in another neighboring island. The epicenter was on her island but she was safe. Called my mom and sisters and they too were ok. Then the lines went down. The communications network was flooded with numerous calls. I can't call anymore but the internet was still accessible.

I went back to the other office to get my things. Work was already suspended at time. Nobody was allowed to enter the building. I saw my friend and she offered to clean my nails of which I said, "ok ;-)". A few minutes after, text messages started coming in. There was a tsunami they say. People started running like crazy looking for higher ground. I on the other hand continued with my activity not knowing the mayhem happening outside. When we were done, I went to the plaza and saw some of my friends and asked, "Why is the plaza empty?". He said, "all of them have fled to higher grounds because there is a tsunami". The office by the way is near the shore, so I went out to the shore and checked. It was clear! It was a fake tsunami alarm. I was laughing then got upset a few minutes after with the thought on how people believe these stories.

First, you can not out run a tsunami if ever there was one. Second, the only thing that you can do is look for the nearest higher ground or hold on to something and pray. Funny thing is it's impossible to have tsunamis in our place because, first we are not facing a large body of water or an open ocean and second we are surrounded by other islands. Tsunamis also happens just a few minutes after an earthquake. They got the alarm a few hours after which I find oddly stupid.

It really is a big advantage if you know your environment well or you get to know the environment you live in. We are responsible for our own actions and we have to give people the right information, not take advantage of the panicky situation. With that you don't have to panic like most did. It did more harm than good. ;-)

Three Weeks... ;-) IT and Environment!

So far so good. The three weeks being environmental officer has been fruitful. Challenging and demanding at best but fruitful none the less. ;-) I guess I can still put this as another feather on my coat. We just finished our first major environmental activity for the year. Thanks to the KITA Environmental Cooperative and Dr. Kogi Takakura, the man and the mind behind the Takakura Composting Method. I'm not a subject matter expert on this but you can try searching for it on the net. There are plenty of resources online on how make one and the benefits of going into this composting method. Before I forget, Thanks to the Chairman or woman who I believe is the source of my inspiration right now for the Environment. Thanks Councilor Nida Cabrera! Thanks also to her very supportive staff and thanks also to the SWMB Secretariat Mai and Ryan. Thanks also to the one and only Environmental expert of the city, Engr. Maria Concepcion Encabo. Cheers guys and gals!

Next challenge? A new office which the City Administrator promised me. Well let's see if promises are not made to be broken. Crossing my fingers! A much bigger challenge though is the upcoming Environmental Summit. For a person with an IT background, I still have to probe further on what are the things IT can apply to help the environment. In my opinion initially, Information campaigns and research, research, research! ;-) Wish me luck on my next project! ;-)

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Gong Xi Fa Cai! (恭禧發財)

Welcome the Year of the Water Dragon!

My New Designation...

Every change in administration warrants internal change. I just didn't expect this to happen a bit sooner. ;-) Maybe I guess I'm just this good that starting today I will be OIC for the Environmental Office of the City. You heard it right! My new title is City Environmental Officer. An IT guy in an environmental office, that's something you don't hear happen everyday. ;-)

As what the Secretary to the Mayor said during our talk while she was ready to hand me the memorandum for my new assignment (in the presence of the "Assistant" Human Resource Head) said that the Mayor has seen that I have the potential to jump start and organize the office since for almost three years from the inception of the ordinance the office is still in limbo and that the Mayor believes that I was the "right person to the position" and one who is strong enough of organizing it. No offense to the one currently in-charge of handling it, those were not my words. ;-)

Funny thing was, I think the City Administrator and the Secretary to the Mayor were not talking to each other since they have different statements released to me and to the public. (You be the judge of that). True, honesty and politics never go hand in hand. I would have appreciated it very much if they were in sync as not to embarrass nor offend anyone as they have tried so hard not to offend me. But of course, the point here is to insult not to offend but I can take that since they actually did a great job of not offending nor insulting me but insulting themselves by showing how lame they can make an excuse and how disorganized are their thoughts.

Anyway, since this is a new post and I have a new office to setup and a new assignment, that doesn't mean that I can not talk about IT here anymore. IT is a tool and an enabler. I guess there is so much things interconnected to IT as well as so many other things interrelated to environment.

Wish me luck! :-)

Information Security and Management

Information security and information management is one very crucial thing nowadays. As the world gets more and more interconnected and information readily available, the need to secure and manage this information is growing.

Mobile devices are even making these even more challenging. Just a few days ago, a friend of mine lost a mobile device with it configured all information to mobile banking, social networking configuration and anything that has something to do with online.

How far would you tighten security or loosen it? Policies are very important then. Policies at all levels and how much information can be given freely or information to be secured is very important. The bigger challenge here is that more executives and middle managers think that it is solely the responsibility of Information Technology experts or worst the Information Technology Departments. Well think again.

Determining value and the importance of information can better be determined by data creators, owners and users. So, the next time you think about information security, it's not solely the responsibility of one department but rather it is an organizational responsibility to management and secure it.