Monthly Archives: March 2015

Government, Technology

YAWNS AND GIGGLES AS GOVERNMENT ROLLS OUT FREE WI-FI ACCESS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Leave a comment

wifi-philippines_1The Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is planning to roll out its free public Wi-Fi internet access project across the country beginning July of this year.

The One Billion-peso “Free Wi-Fi Internet Access in Public Places” project aims to provide free Wi-Fi Internet access in select public spaces in the country including parks and plazas, airports and seaports, public schools and hospitals, train stations and government offices.

Once fully deployed, the Project will serve 105,000 concurrent users with an average speed of 256 kbps (kilobytes) each. (Remember, the Philippines has a population of 100 Million.)

The DOST announcement was met with yawns and giggles by the Internet-savvy Filipinos, and here’s why:

256 kbps is equivalent to 2.048 Mbps (Megabits)

To put it in perspective, let’s take a look at the wi-fi speed in South Korea:

Capture

That’s 47.73 Mbps download and 48.99 Mbps upload speed in South Korea vs. 2.048 Mbps in the Philippines! And it is estimated that almost half of South Korea’s 50 Million population have access to high-speed Internet.

Any questions? Log on to the website of the DOST. That is, if you are able to get a connection, or have time for a little nap while waiting for your connection.

Perhaps, instead of building more high-rise condos and shopping malls, the Philippines should build a better Internet infrastructure. After all, isn’t the Philippines supposed to be the “New Asian Tiger?”

Or is it still the “Sick Man of Asia”  when it comes to Technology?

Film and TV, International, Music

X FACTOR NEW ZEALAND JUDGE NATALIE KILLS FIRED FOR BEING HYPOCRITICAL (VIDEO)

Leave a comment
English electrop singer Kills
English electrop singer Kills

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (The Adobo Chronicles) – Two judges on New Zealand’s X Factor have been fired for “bullying” a contestant live on air after a diatribe that makes Simon Cowell cringe in his judge’s chair.

Husband-and-wife duo Natalia Kills and Willy Moon were booted off the reality show for their “destructive tirade” on Sunday evening.

Kills criticized a 25-year-old contestant, Joe Irvine, on Sunday’s show for allegedly stealing her husband’s look “from the hair to the suit”. She called him “disgusting” and “creepy” and asked: “Do you not have any value or respect for originality?” She even declared that she was “ashamed to be here,” listening to Irvine’s rendition of “Cry Me A River.”

MediaWorks, the owner-operator of TV3, the network that airs X Factor New Zealand, however clarified that the Kills and husband were not fired for their critical comments.

“Kills was fired for her lack of originality when she appeared on the show made up like Cleopatra,” the network said. “We want our judges to be original, just as we expect our contestants to be so.”

The network added: “We want our judges to be critical, but not hypocritical.”

Kills is known for copying the looks of many other famous celebrities.

Here’s the video of Sunday’s segment:

Fashion, Film and TV

MISS PHILIPPINES PAGEANT HOST TONI GONZAGA: ‘I WAS DUPED!’

1 Comment
Pageant co-host Toni Gonzaga, right, and her enormous evening gown. (Photo credit: Rob Titular for ABQ)
Pageant co-host Toni Gonzaga, right, and her enormous evening gown. (Photo credit: Ron B. Titular for ABQ)

MANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles) – Forget all the controversy surrounding Sunday’s Binibining Pilipinas (Miss Philippines) pageant contestants and judges. There’s a bigger controversy brewing involving pageant host, singer-actress Toni Gonzaga.

Gonzaga co-hosted the televised pageant finals at the Araneta Coliseum with the very good-looking Xiam Lim.

The female host got mixed reviews about her hosting duties on Sunday.  Some described her emceeing style as a “breath of fresh air,” while many were critical of her off-the-cuff, often sarcastic remarks which made the beauty contestants (and the judges) more nervous and uneasy than they already were.

But that’s the least of Gonzaga’s concerns.

Today, she lambasted the Binibining Pilipinas Charities (BPC), organizer of the annual pageant, for tricking her to believe that she would be included in the evening gown competition.

“I had to scour the innermost stalls in Divisoria to look for the best evening gown I could find, hoping that I can be at par with the contestants’ designer gowns,” she said.

Gonzaga was visibly very upset when the name of the best in evening gown was announced. It wasn’t her.

After the show, Gonzaga confronted BPC chairwoman Stella Marquez Araneta who explained to her that she may have misunderstood the agreement as co-host. “What I said was that I hope you can wear an evening gown that would stand out amid all the designer dresses that the contestants will be wearing on pageant finals,” Araneta told her.  “I never said that you will be part of the evening gown competition.”

As a compromise, Mrs. Araneta promised to reimburse Gonzaga the full amount that she paid for her blue, flowing, extravagant gown which took quite a lot of space on stage.

The amount wasn’t much, really, since Gonzaga purchased it from Divisoria. And we’re not being sarcastic.