All posts by Pol Pinoy

Government, Media, Politics, Social Media

Senator Grace Poe Walks Out Of Committee Hearing On Fake News

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B3EDAA17-621E-47B1-85F6-D39FBBE298CF.jpegMANILA, Philippines (The Adobo Chronicles, Manila Bureau) – Every Tom, Dick and Harry had already testified before Senator Grace Poe’s Senate committee investigating the proliferation of fake news on social media: Secretary Martin Andanar, Asec Mocha Uson, Thinking Pinoy, Jover Laurio, Maria Ressa, Ellen Tordesillas, and officials from Facebook and Google.  Yet, after the third hearing today, the committee has failed to come up with a definition of ‘fake news.’

Resource person after resource person either refused  or was hesitant to define fake news, or evaded the question altogether.

This has been a source of frustration for Poe, as she felt that all her efforts to  shed light on this hot and controversial issue have not gone anywhere.

So today, in a display of extreme disappointment and perhaps embarassment, Poe walked out of her own Senate hearing.

Will she be Senator Leila De Lima’s successor as the Walkout Queen of the Senate?

Business, Diversity, Entertainment, International, Technology

Amazon Announces Finalists For Filipino ‘Alexa’

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D8F7360D-F72A-4E2A-9786-4BB8EADC5478.jpegSILICON VALLEY, California (The Adobo Chronicles, San Jose Bureau) – Alexa is an intelligent personal assistant developed by Amazon, first used in the Amazon Echo and the Amazon Echo Dot devices developed by Amazon Lab126.

Like Apple’s Siri, it is capable of voice interaction, music playback, making to-do lists, setting alarms, streaming podcasts, playing audiobooks, and providing weather, traffic, and other real-time information, such as news.

Because Alexa has gained worldwide popularity, many consumers have been begging Amazon to create a multi-lingual version of the female assistant.

Today, Amazon announced the five finalists for the Filipino Alexa, following almost a year of intensive search for the voice that would do justice to the original.

Amazon’s strict criteria for the search included: standout personality, unique Filipino accent, pleasant and soothing voice and willingness to be at the command of Alexa consumers and owners.

Here are the five nominees. They are famous enough we don’t need to name them.  If this were subject to a vote, who would you choose to be the Filipino Alexa?

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Government, International, Politics

Donald Trump Congratulates Philippine President Duterte For Withdrawing From International Criminal Court

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IMG_0949WASHINGTON, D.C. (The Adobo Chronicles, Washington Bureau) – Just minutes after Rodrigo Duterte announced that the Philippines was withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC), U.S. President Donald Trump called the Philippine President to congratulate him.

In a 10-minute phone conversation, Trump expressed his admiration for Duterte for his courage in joining the Philippines’ former colonial master the United States in rejecting membership in the ICC.

Aside from the U.S., other countries that  are not members or have withdrawn membership in the ICC include China, India and Indonesia, among others.

Meanwhile, Senator Antonio Trillanes and Representative Gary Alejano have both  checked in at separate hospital emergency rooms, complaining about hypertension following Duterte’s announcement.

Trillanes and Alejano have traveled to the ICC headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands, to file a complaint against Duterte, accusing him of crimes against humanity in connection with the President’s war on drugs.

Well, all that is now moot and academic.