UPDATE: The Multimedia section of the Glorietta Blast site is already up. Here’s a screenshot of the Flash interactive map that Justin Calingasan of our Tech team developed.

IT’S another tragedy, and sometimes it really gets disheartening to be the messenger who brings you the bad news. But it’s a job that somebody has to do.

Our Glorietta Blast Special Site is already up to give you all the latest developments on this tragedy.

You could also check out my Breaking News story on some of the bloggers who covered the Makati blast.

Here’s an interesting postscript: one of the bloggers I cited in my Blog Addicts entry and the Breaking News story apparently has been getting a lot of comments from visitors who stumbled upon his Multiply site via INQUIRER.net.

The blogger, whose nickname is Disney, gave INQUIRER.net permission to use his photos, some of which you can now see on our homepage as of this writing.

I believe you’ll see even more of this kind of convergence between mainstream media and bloggers/citizen journalists. Thanks again, Disney.

FORMER president Joseph Estrada was found not guilty of perjury, but has been found guilty of plunder. He has been sentenced to reclusion perpetua or a maximum of 40 years in prison.

His co-accused in the plunder case, his son Senator Jinggoy Estrada and lawyer Edward Serapio, have been found not guilty.

Visit INQUIRER.net Breaking News and The Estrada Trial special site for updates.

What do you think of the decision? Weigh in on the issue in our Vox Populi blog.

CONGRATULATIONS to all the winners in the 2007 MediaConnect Asia Technology Journalist Awards sponsored by Vignette.

We’ll post the video clips of the awards night as soon as they’re uploaded to iVDO We had a lot of fun during the awards night and throughout the Kickstart Asia 2007 conference itself.

Here’s the list of winners:

Best Business Technology Title — MIS Asia
Best Technology Industry Title — CommsDay ASEAN
Best Personal Technology Title — Straits Times’ Digital Life
Best Technology Website — CNET Asia
Best Technology Blog — The Loose Wire Blog by Jeremy Wagstaff
Best Technology Reviewer — Philip Wong (CNET Asia)
Best Technology Industry Journalist — Erna Mahyuni (PC.com)
Best Business Technology Journalist — Stefan Hammond (Computerworld Hong Kong)
Best Consumer Journalist — John Tanner (Charged)
Best Gaming Journalist — Leung Wai-Leng (Straits Times’ Digital Life)

INQUIRER.net was a finalist in four categories but unfortunately we didn’t bring home any award. But that’s OK — it was an honor to make it to the finals, and we’ll just hope for the best next year

BINTAN, Indonesia–We just arrived here at the Nirwana Gardens resort for the Kickstart Asia 2007 information technology forum on July 26 to 27.

I’m covering the event together with INQUIRER.net/hackenslash reporter Alex Villafania, David Dizon of ABS-CBN Interactive, Jenalyn Rubio of ComputerWorld Philippines, Billy Allardo of PC World Philippines, Michael David Tan of Enterprise, and John Nieves of Gadgets. Photo shows us at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport yesterday. From left to right, that’s Jenalyn, me, John, David and Billy. Alex took the pic.

We’re looking forward to the different sessions, with topics ranging from Web 2.0; the Internet; CIO issues; fixed and wireless communications; and enterprise/network security.

On Friday night, we’ll also attend the MediaConnect Asia Technology Journalist Awards sponsored by Vignette. INQUIRER.net is a finalist in four categories.

More updates soon, as we’ll be blogging this event apart from writing articles and taking video clips for iVDO, our online video channel in partnership with Yahoo!

JUST wanted to share the good news: INQUIRER.net has made it to the finals of four categories in the regional MediaConnect Asia Technology Journalists Awards, which is organized by Singapore-based MediaConnect Asia and sponsored by Vignette.

INQUIRER.net is a finalist in the Best Technology Website category for its Technology channel, which is edited by INQUIRER.net executive editor and VP for Content Development Leo Magno.

Meanwhile, this blog, @play, is a finalist in the Best Technology Blog category.

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