Journalist Dana Batnag put out this question in a blog entry dated August 11.

She writes:

Where are the bloggers of Mindanao, the citizen journalists who we have hoped would keep us updated on the ARMM elections? The ARMM elections are the first automated elections in the country. If all goes well, the government hopes to also automate the 2010 national elections. I was expecting blogs on the elections — how the machines worked and how the people reacted to them, even pictures on the voting precincts and the voters. I was told there had been no posts as of lunchtime, but maybe that was because the voting wasn’t over yet at that time.

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BLOGCRITICS.ORG, an online blog community of bloggers providing news and reviews, announced that it has been acquired by blog search service Technorati.

Blogcritics joined the Technorati Media Network in June but there are no plans to merge the two properties, Blogcritics said.

In an e-mail newsletter to its subscribers and contributors, Blogcrritics said Technorati intends to grow the Blogcritics community, where more than 2,000 bloggers and authors contribute.

Blogcritics said it has been providing “bloggers with an entry point to publish their content to a much broader audience than their own blogs afford.”

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As a parent to growing kids, I found this helpful tips from Trend Micro on how to ensure the online safety of kids. Let’s admit it, kids are quite fond of social networks (more than their parents). My generation grew up watching television. Today, kids have the Internet and online social networks — not to mention online games. So it’s best that we parents should also understand how social networks work, for instance, so we could guide them.

Here’s one good example from Trend Micro’s website, which I think is very important:

Set reasonable expectations. Pulling the plug on your child’s favorite social site is like pulling the plug on their social life. This can shut down communication and send kids “underground” where they’re more at risk.

Here’s another one:

Try to get your kids to share their profiles and blogs with you. Also, use search engines and the search tools on social networking sites to search for your kids’ full names, phone numbers, and other identifying information. You’re not invading their privacy if they’re putting personal info in public places online.

Do you have any other practical tips you wish to share?

By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

Marcelle Fabie would better off be called a mentalist than just a mere magician. His style can be compared to a lot of street magicians but he adds a bit of theatrics. He can trick your eyes with the speed of his hands, mesmerize you with his predictions and even show you how to bend a metallic object as if it was paper. Incidentally, Fabie is also online.

The 24-year old Fabie is one of the few magicians who uses the Internet to draw crowds of people to his magic. His blogs at mistervader.blogspot.com and www.magikel.multiply.com contain a lot of his ramblings, not just about magic, after having been introduced to blogging and its uses several years back. He claims to be an “archivist” and fears eventually losing his memory so having a blog would remind him of the things that he used to do. One of the things he loves is wrestling and some of his entries are dedicated to his passion.

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By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

How do you create blog? What copyright rules should be followed? How can you earn from blogging?

Blogger and editor of Digital Filipino Janette Toral hopes to answer these questions in her latest book “Blogging from Home,” which she launched at the recent Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines Summit in Makati City.

Toral, who has been blogging for the last five years, said that she has been thinking of coming out with a book on blogging since 2006 but realized she needed to understand the blogging community more in particular its dynamics.

“I hope to share how [people] could make a presence in the blogosphere and perhaps earn a little, without having to be so gung ho,” Toral said in an interview.

Watch this video interview with Toral.

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MIKEE Cojuangco-Jaworski has revealed in this video interview with INQUIRER.net online videographer Janie Octia that all the Friendster accounts about her are fake.

Cojuangco-Jaworski, however, has a Multiply site, which features photos of her, her children, family, among others.

Watch her video interview.

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

SOCIAL networking is getting ever more confusing as new services are activated at breakneck speed. In the past, there was Friendster.com, then LinkedIn.com, MySpace.com, Flickr.com, and now Facebook.com. The growth phenomenon of social networking services is so fast people are just having a hard time monitoring their accounts one by one. So they have turned to social networking aggregators that make it easier to access all these networks.

Welcome 3GLifestore, a social networking aggregator created by Ericsson, a provider of telecommunications infrastructure. The company has been testing this online service for a year but has not opened it to the public. Only a select few Ericsson employees and business partners are able to access the site, which requires a username and password.

The company showcased 3GLifestore to some telecommunications providers in Manila.

Ericsson regional sales and business development manager Rahul Hukku gave a few reporters a glimpse of 3GLifestore.

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By Agence France-Presse

SINGAPORE - A US national said Tuesday he will be tried in Singapore next month for allegedly insulting two judges who had presided over cases involving an opposition leader.

Gopalan Nair, a former Singaporean lawyer who is now a US citizen, told Agence France-Presse he has not yet hired a lawyer to represent him in the trial from September 8 to 19.

“At this moment, I am representing myself,” he said.

Nair faces two charges of insulting judges on his blog. Each charge carries a jail term of up to one year, S$5,000 fine (US$3,676) or both.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

MAKATI City, Philippines — Senator Manuel Roxas III is taking his online presence further.

Aside from his official website, an e-forum and accounts in social networking sites, Roxas has finally opened his own blog and is setting up his own virtual rally to further promote his advocacies.

Roxas’ other websites include one that is about his official function as senator. He also has entries in Facebook.com, Friendster.com and MySpace.com.

Roxas who uses the handle “misterpalengke” launched his official blog last August 1, after meeting up with bloggers in Quezon City. It appears, however, that he made his first posting on July 27.

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