By Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON–TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington announced Wednesday he is taking a break from writing for his influential technology blog after being spat on at a conference and getting death threats.

Writing on techcrunch.com, Arrington, 38, said an unidentified man “walked up to me and quite deliberately spat in my face” on Tuesday at the Digital, Life, Design conference he was attending in Munich, Germany.

“In the past I’ve been grabbed, pulled, shoved and otherwise abused at events, but never spat on,” Arrington said. “I think this is where I’m going to draw a line.

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By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net

REALIZING the power of blogging to disseminate information, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is tapping the Elections Education and Information Department (EID)’s blog to give updates on the ongoing voters’ registration.

“Now that we have the technology available and stable, the Comelec will use the bagongbotante.ph blog website to give voters here and abroad updates about the ongoing registration and at the same time, to gather feedback from voters, especially the youth,” said Comelec spokesperson James Jimenez.

Jimenez said the Comelec aims to educate the youth on how registration is being conducted in the National Capital Region and to encourage them to register as voters.

“Unlike before when technology is unavailable to us and blogging is a domain for hobbyists and experts, now is the right time–when we have access to technology and blog systems are more stable–to fully utilize the power of blogging to encourage Filipinos to register and exercise their rights of suffrage,” said Jimenez.

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This case about Quezon City Science High school students supposedly criticizing their school’s policies through their blogs brings to mind issues of freedom of expression and responsibility.

Based on earlier reports, these four students blogged about certain policies they deemed “unfair.” For that, they were suspended. As one student recalled:

“It’s not true that there was due process. We were asked to submit letters of apology and we thought that was it. Next thing we knew, we were suspended for ten days,” he added.

The school reportedly submitted a recommendation that the four students be suspended for 10 days, which was later approved by the Department of Education’s division. Later –or after news about the suspension of these students was picked up by media, the DepEd revoked the suspension and ordered an investigation.

When I was still in high school, it was unthinkable to criticize school policies. We do discuss about such things. But they were all done privately among us, students. Back then, there was no Internet to speak of. No blogs. No social networks.

Today, it’s quite different, as some teachers and college professors I have talked to attest. Yes, some teachers know that students blog and that they are now more vocal about their feelings about school policies, subjects, and even the teachers themselves. Some teachers may find this “inappropriate.” But others chose to tolerate it.

Question is: what can teachers/principals/school official tolerate?

Based on this report, the students claim they were not given due process when they were suspended. Also, they claim that the blogs were “private,” meaning only “friends” have access to it.

The report indicates that the students’ blogs were allegedly critical of the school principal, Dr. Zenaida Sadsad.

At this point, it’s hard to say whether or not the school was right in suspending these students. Students do have the right to express what they feel, but since they were done “privately” albeit through the Internet (think of discussions in a private mailing list that are posted in a public list), are they answerable to the school?

On the flipside, it is also apt to ask whether or not these students have gone beyond merely venting their feelings to the point of already maligning persons involved.

What do you think?

Agence France-Presse

VATICAN CITY–The Vatican will publish a report on Friday detailing the launch of Pope Benedict XVI’s own dedicated channel on YouTube, the Osservatore Romano newspaper said.

The deal with search engine giant Google, which owns the video sharing website, aims to “secure the Pope’s presence on the web,” the Vatican paper said Thursday, adding that Benedict has always had been “fond of new technologies.”

The report will be published when the German-born pontiff will officially launch his YouTube channel.

Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, head of the Vatican’s communications department, told the paper the pope hopes to reach out to “the digital generation.”

By Anna Valmero
INQUIRER.net

SOCIAL networking sites continue to evolve and now shape up for a new career: in the political arena. At Facebook’s News Feed menu, you can identify friends who are attending the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama online.

In the study “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship” by Danah M. Boyd and Nicole B. Ellison, one of the first recognizable social network site launched is SixDegrees.com (1997), as well as Classmates.com which started in 1995.

Today, social networking sites abound boasting different features, such as multimedia sharing, links, messaging and micro-blogging.

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As I’m writing this, I’m watching the unfolding of a historic event in American history over the Internet. Thanks to CNN.com and Facebook, I can now watch president-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration on the web–wirelessly, that is.

What makes this event interesting is I’m getting this supposed “live” stream from CNN over my wireless connection of 1.8Mbps. There are slight pauses. But so far, my connection is not giving up on me.

To make things more spicy, I can see people in my Facebook network logged on to this CNN Live streaming video in partnership with the popular social networking website. Now, I can chat with fellow Facebook addicts from the Philippines.

One Facebook user says this is going to change how Presidential inaugurations are covered. And the social network aspect of it is simply brilliant. Score one for CNN and Facebook. Another was wondering how many Filipinos are watching this live feed. Judging from the comments that are coming in by the minute (or seconds), a lot. I also found from fellow Facebook friends that this online video streaming service is different from what you see on cable TV!

It’s been a while since we invited readers to be featured in this space. If you’re interested to be part of “Blog Addicts,” you can answer the following questions below. Then we will publish them. (Disclaimer: Your submissions will be subject to some editing for form and content). So send away.

1. What prompted you to start blogging and why?
2. What’s your fondest memories of blogging?
3. Tell us something about you (keep it short, guys).

Send your answers to inquirerdotnetblogs[at]gmail[dot]com.

Agence France-Presse

MELBOURNE — Rafael Nadal reached out to his fans here by launching a blog at the Australian Open, taking questions on everything from what motivates him to whether he has sex during a tournament.

The Spanish world number one said he had always wanted to blog during the tournament, but admits it isn’t easy as his writing skills don’t match his tennis exploits.

“This is my first blog in Australia and I am very thankful to have been given this opportunity,” he said on the posts that appear in Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper.

“I am not going to lie to you, this is not easy for me since I am not a writer,” he said.
Rafa wants to get closer to his fans and feels answering their questions is one way to do that.

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By Marjorie Gorospe

“UNHAPPY the land that is in need of heroes.”

This is a notable quotation from German playwright Bertolt Brecht. It is now the core message of Mae Paner’s (a.k.a. Juana Change) latest video posted on YouTube.

Taking the role of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), Paner portrays a domestic helper who talks about how OFWs are often considered as “bagong bayani” or new heroes of the country due to sacrifices they make.

These new heroes work abroad, leaving their families behind to find jobs elsewhere.

“We do not need praises, we need money,” Juana Change says, as she tells a stranger on a plane about her feelings working abroad.

While more and more Filipinos work abroad as professionals, some end up doing jobs that are menial.

In the video, her character mocks government officials who go abroad to hide their ill-gotten wealth.

The video eventually ends with a familiar face: national hero Dr. Jose Rizal.

It was as if Paner was showing the two faces of heroes. Rizal sacrificed his life for the country; while OFWs continue to sacrifice comfort and dignity to support their family and eventually our economy.

But as Bretch’s saying goes, this country still needs more heroes who have the genuine interest to serve the country minus personal interest, desire for power and corruption.

Watch her video: