Miss Brenda

Electronic Arts, Inc. (EA) (NASDAQ: EA) is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers responsible for its games. It is one of the largest video game publishers in the world.

Originally, EA was a home computing game publisher. In the late 1980s, the company began developing games in-house and supported consoles by the early 1990s. EA later grew via acquisition of several successful developers. By the early 2000s, EA had become one of the world’s largest third-party publishers. On May 4, 2011, EA reported $3.8 billion in revenues for the fiscal year ending March 2011, and on January 13, 2012, EA announced that it had exceeded $1 billion in digital revenue during the previous calendar year. In a note to employees, EA CEO John Riccitiello called this “an incredibly important milestone” for the company. EA began to move toward direct distribution of digital games and services with the acquisition of the popular online gaming site Pogo.com in 2001. In 2009, EA acquired the London-based social gaming startup Playfish, and in June 2011, EA launched Origin, an online service to sell downloadable games directly to consumers. In July 2011, EA announced that it had acquired PopCap Games, the company behind hits such as Plants vs. Zombies and Bejeweled.

EA continued its shift toward digital goods in 2012, folding its mobile-focused EA Interactive (EAi) division “into other organizations throughout the company, specifically those divisions led by EA Labels president Frank Gibeau, COO Peter Moore, and CTO Rajat Taneja, and EVP of digital Kristian Segerstrale.” EA is currently the No. 1 publisher in Western markets with a 16% segment share, and the second-largest social games company on Facebook. EA’s rankings have been propped up by the launch of The Sims Social, which is currently the fastest-growing game on Facebook.

On May 4, 2011, EA reported $3.8 billion in revenues for the fiscal year ending March 2011. On July 27, 2011, EA reported fiscal first-quarter profits had more than doubled on brisk sales of “highly-anticipated sports and shooter games”. EA earned $221 million, or 66 cents a share, in the three months that ended June 30. “That’s up from earnings of $96 million, or 29 cents a share, in the same period a year earlier. Revenue rose 23 percent to $999 million from $815 million.”

EA’s earnings are marked by an ongoing difference between non-GAAP and GAAP accounting – which, for example, mandates deferrals of revenue related to services provided for online-enabled packaged goods and digital content. Consequently, EA’s quarterly reports reflect hundreds of millions of dollars which, under GAAP accounting, are deferred for a period of months – then appear in the earnings over multiple quarters subsequent to the original sale. Other companies with significant online revenues face similar issues. This can make it extremely difficult to understand the company’s GAAP profitability.

In February 1982, Trip Hawkins arranged a meeting with Don Valentine of Sequoia Capital^[17] to discuss financing his new venture, Amazin’ Software. Valentine encouraged Hawkins to leave Apple Inc., in which Hawkins served as Director of Product Marketing, and allowed Hawkins use of Sequoia Capital’s spare office space to start the company. On May 28, 1982, Trip Hawkins incorporated and established the company with a personal investment of an estimated US$200,000. Seven months later in December 1982, Hawkins secured US$2 million of venture capital from Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and Sevin Rosen Funds.

For more than seven months, Hawkins refined his Electronic Arts business plan. With aid from his first employee (with whom he worked in marketing at Apple), Rich Melmon, the original plan was written, mostly by Hawkins, on an Apple II in Sequoia Capital’s office in August 1982. During that time, Hawkins also employed two of his former staff from Apple, Dave Evans and Pat Marriott, as producers, and a Stanford MBA classmate, Jeff Burton from Atari for international business development. The business plan was again refined in September and reissued on October 8, 1982. Between September and November, employee headcount rose to 11, including Tim Mott, Bing Gordon, David Maynard, and Steve Hayes.^{[citation needed]} Having outgrown the office space provided by Sequoia Capital, the company relocated to a San Mateo office that overlooked the San Francisco Airport landing path. Headcount rose rapidly in 1983, including Don Daglow, Richard Hilleman, Stewart Bonn, David Gardner, and Nancy Fong.

Hawkins was determined to sell directly to buyers. Combined with the fact that Hawkins was pioneering new game brands, this made sales growth more challenging. Retailers wanted to buy known brands from existing distribution partners. Despite this, revenue was US$5 million in the first year and US$11 million the next. After yet more flyers were handed out, former CEO Larry Probst arrived as VP of Sales in late 1984 and helped the company sustain growth into US$18 million in its third full year. Handing out yet more flyers and teaming with the existing sales staff that included Nancy Smith, David Klein, and David Gardner, Probst built the largest sales force of any American game publisher. This policy of dealing directly with retailers gave EA higher margins and better market awareness, key advantages the company would leverage to leapfrog its early competitors.

In December 1986, David Gardner and Mark Lewis moved to the UK to open a European headquarters. Up until that point publishing of Electronic Arts Games, and the conversion of many of their games to compact cassette versions in Europe was handled by Ariolasoft. A small company in Wales was already called Electronic Arts, and until 1997 Electronic Arts in the UK was known legally as EOA, a name derived from its square/circle/triangle logo. The Welsh company ceased trading in 1997 and Electronic Arts acquired the rights to the name.

Most of the early employees of the company disliked the Amazin’ Software name that Hawkins had originally chosen when he incorporated the company. While at Apple, Hawkins had enjoyed company offsite meetings at Pajaro Dunes and organized such a planning offsite for EA in October 1982. Following a long business day at the offsite, the dozen employees and advisers who were present agreed that they would stay up that night and see if they could agree unanimously on a new name for the company.

Hawkins had developed the ideas of treating software as an art form and calling the developers, “software artists”. Hence, the latest version of the business plan had suggested the name “SoftArt”. However, Hawkins and Melmon knew the founders of Software Arts, the creators of VisiCalc, and thought their permission should be obtained. Dan Bricklin did not want the name used because it sounded too similar (perhaps “confusingly similar”) to Software Arts. However, the name concept was liked by all the attendees. Hawkins had also recently read a best-selling book about the film studio, United Artists, and liked the reputation that company had created. Early advisers Andy Berlin, Jeff Goodby, and Rich Silverstein (who would soon form their own ad agency Goodby, Silverstein & Partners) were also fans of that approach, and the discussion was led by Hawkins and Berlin. Hawkins said everyone had a vote but they would lose it if they went to sleep.

Hawkins liked the word “electronic”, and various employees had considered the phrases “Electronic Artists” and “Electronic Arts”. Other candidates included Gordon’s suggestion of “Blue Light”, a reference from the Disney film TronWhen Gordon and others pushed for “Electronic Artists”, in tribute to the film company United Artists, Steve Hayes opposed, saying, “We’re not the artists, they are…” meaning that the developers whose games EA would publish were the artists. This statement from Hayes immediately tilted sentiment towards Electronic Arts and the name was unanimously endorsed.

A novel approach to giving credit to its developers was one of EA’s trademarks in its early days. This characterization was even further reinforced with EA’s packaging of most of their games in the “album cover” pioneered by EA because Hawkins thought that a record album style would both save costs and convey an artistic feeling. EA routinely referred to their developers as “artists” and gave them photo credits in their games and numerous full-page magazine ads. EA also shared lavish profits with their developers, which added to their industry appeal. Because of this novel treatment, EA was able to easily attract the best developers. The square “album cover” boxes (such as the covers for 1983’s M.U.L.E. and Pinball Construction Set) were a popular packaging concept by Electronic Arts, which wanted to represent their developers as “rock stars”. After a very successful run on home computers, Electronic Arts later branched out and produced console games as well. Eventually, Trip Hawkins left EA to found the now defunct 3DO Company.

After Sega’s ESPN NFL 2K5 successfully grabbed market share away from EA’s dominant Madden NFL series during the 2004 holiday season, EA responded by making several large sports licensing deals which include an exclusive agreement with the NFL, and in January 2005, a 15-year deal with ESPN. The ESPN deal gave EA exclusive first rights to all ESPN content for sports simulation games. On April 11, 2005, EA announced a similar, 6-year licensing deal with the Collegiate Licensing Company (CLC) for exclusive rights to college football content.

Much of EA’s success, both in terms of sales and with regards to its stock market valuation, is due to its strategy of platform-agnostic development and the creation of strong multi-year franchises. EA was the first publisher to release yearly updates of its sports franchises—Madden, FIFA, NHL, NBA Live, Tiger Woods, etc.—with updated player rosters and small graphical and gameplay tweaks. Recognizing the risk of franchise fatigue among consumers, EA announced in 2006 that it would concentrate more of its effort on creating new original intellectual property.

In September 2006, Nokia and EA announced a partnership in which EA becomes an exclusive major supplier of mobile games to Nokia mobile devices through the Nokia Content Discoverer. In the beginning Nokia customers will be able to download seven EA titles, Tetris, Tetris Mania, The Sims 2, Doom, FIFA 06, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 and FIFA Streets 2 the holiday season in 2006. Rick Simonson is the executive vice president and director of Nokia and starting from 2006 is affiliated with John Riccitiello and are partners.

In February 2007, Probst stepped down from the CEO job while remaining on the Board of Directors. His handpicked successor is John Riccitiello, who had worked at EA for several years previously, departed for a while, and then returned. Riccitiello previously worked for Elevation Partners, Sara Lee and Pepsico. In June 2007, new CEO John Riccitiello announced that EA would reorganize itself into four labels, each with responsibility for its own product development and publishing (the city-state model). The goal of the reorganization was to empower the labels to operate more autonomously, streamline decision-making, increase creativity and quality, and get games into the market faster. This reorganization came after years of consolidation and acquisition by EA of smaller studios, which some in the industry blamed for a decrease in quality of EA titles. In 2008, at the DICE Summit, Riccitiello called the earlier approach of “buy and assimilate” a mistake, often stripping smaller studios of its creative talent. Riccitiello said that the city-state model allows independent developers to remain autonomous to a large extent, and cited Maxis and BioWare as examples of studios thriving under the new structure.

In October 2007, EA purchased Super Computer International, a long standing industry provider of game server hosting for development studios, who were currently developing the new Playlinc software. A week later they then purchased VG Holding Corp, the parent company of BioWare and Pandemic Studios.

It was revealed in February 2008 that Electronic Arts had made a takeover bid for rival game company Take-Two Interactive. After its initial offer of US$25 per share, all cash stock transaction offer was rejected by the Take-Two board, EA revised it to US$26 per share, a 64% premium over the previous day’s closing price and made the offer known to the public. Rumours had been floating around the Internet prior to the offer about Take-Two possibly being bought over by a bigger company, albeit with Viacom as the potential bidder. In May 2008, EA announced that it will purchase the assets of Hands-On Mobile Korea, a South Korean mobile game developer and publisher. The company will become EA Mobile Korea. In September 2008, EA dropped its buyout offer of Take-Two. No reason was given.

As of Nov 6, 2008 it was confirmed that Electronic Arts is closing their Casual Label & merging it with their Hasbro partnership with The Sims Label. EA also confirmed the departure of Kathy Vrabeck, who was given the position as former president of the EA Casual Division in May 2007. EA made this statement about the merger: “We’ve learned a lot about casual entertainment in the past two years, and found that casual gaming defies a single genre and demographic. With the retirement and departure of Kathy Vrabeck, EA is reorganizing to integrate casual games—development and marketing—into other divisions of our business. We are merging our Casual Studios, Hasbro partnership, and Casual marketing organization with The Sims Label to be a new Sims and Casual Label, where there is a deep compatibility in the product design, marketing and demographics. […] In the days and weeks ahead, we will make further announcements on the reporting structure for the other businesses in the Casual Label including EA Mobile, Pogo, Media Sales and Online Casual Initiatives. Those businesses remain growth priorities for EA and deserve strong support in a group that will compliment their objectives.” This statement comes a week after EA announced it was laying off 6% about 600 of their staff positions & had a US$310 million net loss for the quarter.

Due to the 2008 Economic Crisis, Electronic Arts had a poorer than expected 2008 holiday season, moving it in February 2009 to cut approximately 1100 jobs, which it said represented about 11% of its workforce. It will also close 12 facilities, yet to be identified. Riccitiello, in a conference call with reporters, stated that their poor performance in the fourth quarter was not due entirely to the poor economy, but also to the fact that they did not release any blockbuster titles in the quarter. In the quarter ending December 31, 2008, the company lost US$641 million. As of early May 2009, the subsidiary studio EA Redwood Shores was known as Visceral Games. On June 24, 2009, EA announced it will merge two of its development studios, BioWare and Mythic into one single role-playing video game and MMO development powerhouse. The move will actually place Mythic under control of BioWare as Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk will be in direct control of the new entity. The actual impact of this merger remains to be seen.

On November 9, 2009, EA announced its acquisition of social casual games developer Playfish for US$275 million. On the same day, the company announced layoffs of 1500 employees, representing 17% of its workforce, across a number of studios including EA Tiburon, Visceral Games, Mythic and EA Black Box. Also affected were “projects and support activities” that, according to Chief Financial Officer Eric Brown “don’t make economic sense”, resulting in the shutdown of popular communities such as Battlefield News and the EA Community Team. These layoffs also led to the complete shutdown of Pandemic Studios.

In October 2010, EA announced the acquisition of UK based iPhone and iPad games publisher ‘Chillingo’ for US$20 million in cash. While Chillingo publishes the popular Angry Birds and Cut the Ropegames, the deal did not include those properties.

(Image)Give PEACE (and MUSIC and LITERATURE) a CHANCE

Steve + Steve = an APPLE (Steve Wozniak and Apple’s PR Strategies)

Stephen Gary ”Woz” Wozniak (born August 11, 1950) is a Ukrainian-American computer engineer and programmer who founded Apple Computer, Co. (now Apple Inc.) with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne. Wozniak helped create the Apple I and Apple II computers in the mid-1970s, which contributed significantly to the microcomputer revolution of that era.

Nicknames

In addition to being popularly nicknamed ”Woz,” “The Wizard of Woz,” or “The Woz,” Wozniak is also sometimes referred to as the “Wonderful Wizard of Woz” and “iWoz” (a reference to the naming scheme for many Apple products). “WoZ” (short for “Wheels of Zeus”) is also the name of a company Wozniak founded. He is sometimes known as the “Other Steve” of Apple Computer, the better known Steve being the late co-founder, Steve Jobs.

Apple Computer

Origins of Apple

Wozniak met Steve Jobs when fellow Homestead High School student, Bill Fernandez, introduced them to each other. In 1970, they became friends when Jobs worked for the summer at Hewlett-Packard, where Wozniak was working on a mainframe computer. According to Wozniak’s autobiography, iWoz, Jobs had the idea to sell a computer as a fully assembled printed circuit board. Wozniak, at first skeptical, was later convinced by Jobs that even if they were not successful they could at least say to their grandkids they had had their own company. Together they sold some of their possessions (such as Wozniak’s HP scientific calculator and Jobs’s Volkswagen van), raised USD $1,300, and assembled the first prototypes in Jobs’s bedroom and later (when there was no space left) in Jobs’ garage. Wozniak’s apartment in San Jose was filled with monitors, electronic devices, and some computer games Wozniak had developed, similar to SuperPong but with voice overs to the blips on the screen.

By 1971, one year after enrolling, Wozniak withdrew from the University of California, Berkeley and developed the computer that eventually made him famous. By himself he designed the hardware, circuit board designs, and operating system for the Apple I. With the Apple I design, he and Jobs were largely working to impress other members of the Palo Alto-based Homebrew Computer Club, a local group of electronics hobbyists very interested in computing, one of several key centers which established the home hobbyist era, essentially creating the microcomputer industry over several years. Unlike other Home Brew competitors, the Apple had an easy-to-achieve video capability that immediately created buzz and drew a crowd when it was unveiled.

On April 1, 1976, Jobs and Wozniak formed Apple Computer. Wozniak quit his job at Hewlett-Packard and became the vice president in charge of research and development at Apple. Their first product, the Apple I computer, was similar to the Altair 8800, the first commercially available microcomputer, except it had no provision for internal expansion cards. With the addition of these cards, the Altair could be attached to a computer terminal and could be programmed in BASIC. The Apple I was purely a hobbyist machine, a $25 microprocessor (MOS 6502) on a single-circuit board with 256 bytes of ROM, 4K or 8K bytes of RAM and a 40-character by 24-row display controller. It lacked a case, power supply, keyboard, or display, which had to be provided by the user. The Apple I was priced at $666. (Wozniak later said he had no idea about the relation between the number and the mark of the beast, and “I came up with [it] because I like repeating digits.” It was $500 plus a 1/3 markup, which is actually $666.67, rounding up to the nearest penny.) Jobs and Wozniak sold their first fifty system boards to Paul Terrell, who was starting a new computer shop, called the Byte Shop, in Mountain View, California.

Airplane crash

In February 1981, Wozniak was injured in a private plane crash taking off from the Santa Cruz Sky Park. The cause of the crash was determined to be premature liftoff. He was unable to recall details of the crash and, for many weeks after being released from the hospital, did not realize he had been in a crash at all. He says he wandered around in a haze and did not report to work, thinking every day was a weekend day. He did not remember one day to the next and needed to be told how to get to places familiar to him. After questioning his wife, he finally began to figure out what had happened, after which his memory began operating correctly again.

Employment with Apple

Wozniak did not immediately return to Apple after having recovered from the crash. Instead, he married Candice Clark and returned to UC Berkeley under the name “Rocky Clark” (Rocky Raccoon was his dog’s name and Clark his wife’s maiden name), finally earning his undergraduate degree in electrical engineering & computer sciences (EECS) in 1986. In May 1982 and 1983, Wozniak also sponsored two US Festivals to celebrate evolving technologies; they ended up as a technology exposition and a rock festival as a combination of music, computers, television and people.

In 1983 he returned to Apple product development, desiring no more of a role than that of an engineer and a motivational factor for the Apple workforce.

Wozniak permanently ended his full-time employment with Apple on February 6, 1987, 12 years after having created the company. He still remains an employee and receives a small token paycheck. He is also an Apple shareholder.[11] He also maintained connections with Steve Jobs until Jobs’ death in October 2011, although in 2006 Wozniak stated that he and Jobs were not close friends.

Post-Apple career

Wozniak founded a new venture called CL 9, which developed and brought the first programmable universal remote control to market in 1987.[6] Wozniak also taught fifth-grade students.

In 2001, Wozniak co-founded Wheels of Zeus (WoZ), to create wireless GPS technology to “help everyday people find everyday things.” In 2002, he joined the Board of Directors of Ripcord Networks, Inc., joining Ellen Hancock, Gil Amelio, Mike Connor, and Wheels of Zeus co-founder Alex Fielding, all Apple alumni, in a new telecommunications venture. Later the same year he joined the Board of Directors of Danger, Inc., the maker of the Hip Top (a.k.a. Side Kick from T-Mobile).

In 2006, Wheels of Zeus was closed, and Wozniak founded Acquicor Technology, a holding company for acquiring technology companies and developing them, with Apple alumni Ellen Hancock and Gil Amelio.

In September 2006, Wozniak published his autobiography, iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It. It was co-authored by writer Gina Smith.

In March 2006, Wozniak attended the FIRST National Competition in Atlanta to show off Lego robots. In 2010, he attended another FIRST event, a regional event in downtown Phoenix Arizona at theArizona State Fairgrounds.

In February 2009, Steve Wozniak joined Fusion-io, a data storage and server company, in Salt Lake City, Utah as their chief scientist.

On November 18, 2010, Steve Wozniak gave a speech at the Science & Technology Summit at the World Forum Convention Center in The Hague in which he predicted that Android would be dominant over the iPhone market-wise but the iPhone would retain the quality edge.

On June 9, 2011, Wozniak joined members of Fusion-io’s management team to celebrate the company’s first day of trading on the NYSE by ringing The Opening Bell.

On October 20, 2011, Wozniak delivered a keynote presentation entitled “Today’s Science Fiction, Tomorrow’s Science Fact” at IP EXPO, a Computer expo which takes place at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London.

On November 14, 2011, Steve Wozniak was the keynote speaker at “Rutgers Entrepreneurship Day” at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Philanthropy

Since leaving Apple, Wozniak has provided all the money, as well as a good amount of on-site technical support, for the technology program in his local school district. Un.U.Son. (Unite Us In Song), an organization Wozniak formed to organize the two US Festivals, is now primarily tasked with supporting his educational and philanthropic projects. In 1986, Wozniak lent his name to the Stephen G. Wozniak Achievement Awards (referred to asWozzie Awards), which he presented to six Bay Area high school and college students for their innovative use of computers in the fields of business, art and music.

Honors and awards

In 1979, Wozniak was awarded the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award. In 1985, Wozniak received the National Medal of Technology (with Steve Jobs) from US President Ronald Reagan. In December 1989, he received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he studied in the late sixties. Later he donated funds to create the “Woz Lab” at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In 1997, he was named a Fellow of the Computer History Museum. Wozniak was a key contributor and benefactor to the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose; the street in front of the museum has been renamed Woz Way in his honor.

In September 2000, Wozniak was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame, and in 2001 he was awarded the 7th Annual Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment. The American Humanist Association awarded him the Isaac Asimov Science Award in 2011.

In December 2005, Wozniak was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Kettering University. He also received honorary degrees from North Carolina State University and Nova Southeastern University, and the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology. In May 2011, Wozniak received an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Michigan State University.

He was awarded the Global Award of the President of Armenia for Outstanding Contribution to Humanity Through IT in 2011.

Steve Wozniak’s Honorary Doctor of Engineering degrees

University of Colorado at Boulder - 1989

Kettering University - 2005

North Carolina State University - 2005

Nova Southeastern University - 2005

ESPOL University in Ecuador - 2008

Michigan State University - 2011

Concordia University in Montreal Canada - June 22, 2011

State Engineering University of Armenia - November 11, 2011

Patents

Wozniak is listed as the sole inventor on the following patents:

US Patent No. 4,136,359 - “Microcomputer for use with video display” - for which he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

US Patent No. 4,210,959 - “Controller for magnetic disc, recorder, or the like”

US Patent No. 4,217,604 - “Apparatus for digitally controlling PAL color display”

US Patent No. 4,278,972 - “Digitally-controlled color signal generation means for use with display”

Television appearances

After seeing her stand-up performance in Saratoga, California, Wozniak began dating comedian Kathy Griffin. Together, they attended the 2007 Emmy Awards,[31] and he subsequently made many appearances on the fourth season of her show Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List. Woz is on the show as her date for the Producers Guild of America award show. However, on a June 19, 2008 appearance on The Howard Stern Show, Griffin confirmed that they were no longer dating and decided to remain friends.

Wozniak portrays a parody of himself in the first episode of the television series Code Monkeys; he plays the owner of Gameavision before selling it to help fund Apple. He later appears again in the twelfth episode when he is in Las Vegas at the annual Video Game Convention and sees Dave and Jerry. He also appears in a parody of the “Get a Mac” ads featured in the final episode of Code Monkeys’ second season. Wozniak is also interviewed and featured in the documentary Hackers Wanted and on BBC.

Wozniak competed on Season 8 of Dancing with the Stars in 2009 where he danced with Karina Smirnoff. Despite Wozniak and Smirnoff receiving 10 combined points from the three judges out of 30, the lowest score of the evening, he remained in the competition. He later posted on a social networking site that he felt that the vote count was not legitimate and suggested that the Dancing with the Stars judges had lied about the vote count to keep him on the show. After being briefed on the method of judging and vote counting, he retracted and apologized for his statements. Despite suffering a pulled hamstring and a fracture in his foot, Wozniak continued to compete, but was eliminated from the competition on March 31, with a score of 12 out of 30 for an Argentine Tango.

On September 30, 2010, he appeared as himself on The Big Bang Theory Season 4 Episode 2 Titled “The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification”. While dining in The Cheesecake Factory where Penny works and is approached by a robot Sheldon, Leonard tries to explain to Penny who Steve is, but she says she knows him from Dancing with the Stars.

Personal life

His father, a Ukrainian, born in Bukovina Ukraine, other sources born in the Ukrainian lands that once belonged to Poland. Family mother moved fromGermany. Wozniak lives in Los Gatos, California. He is a member of a Segway Polo team, the Silicon Valley Aftershocks. In 2006, they were challenged to a game by the newly formed New Zealand Pole Blacks (the Woz Challenge Cup); the match ended in a 2-2 tie, with the Woz Challenge Cup staying in Auckland. In 2007, the Silicon Valley Aftershocks avenged the tie by defeating the Pole Blacks 5-0 in the Woz Challenge Cup finals. The 2008 Woz Challenge Cup was held at the SegwayFesT 2008 in Indianapolis, Indiana, on August 8–10, 2008 (polo events ran August 7–9).

Sept 30 through October 2, 2011, Woz played Segway Polo in the Zurich Cup in Berchtesgaden, Germany. He played for the Funky Move Turtles team which placed 7th in the tournament.

His favorite video game is Tetris. In the 1990s he submitted so many high scores for the game to Nintendo Power that they would no longer print his scores, so he started sending them in under the alphabetically reversed “Evets Kainzow”.

He is also a member of the Freemasons. Wozniak describes his impetus for joining the Freemasons as being able to spend more time with his wife at the time, Alice. Alice belonged to the Order of the Eastern Star, associated with the Masons. He has said that although he took the necessary oaths and is a lifetime Freemason, he doesn’t actually put a whole lot of stock in the mystical and religious overtones of the oath or the order. He has remarked that he joined the Freemasons for one specific purpose, but he is very unlike the other members of the order. Wozniak has said that he quickly rose to a third degree Freemason because, whatever he does, he tries to do well. He was initiated in 1980 at Charity Lodge No. 362 in Campbell, California.

He is married to Janet Hill. According to his ex-girlfriend Kathy Griffin, “He met someone very quickly and then they [got] engaged. I have had dinner with them, and she’s a thousand times more appropriate!”

APPLE’S CURRENT PR STRATEGY

Apple just announced that its App Store has blown past three billion app downloads, which is impressive. But the timing is curious, as are the swirling rumors about the upcoming Apple Tablet. Is Apple trying to out-PR CES and Google?

Apple’s press release , coming with words from the man Steve Jobs himself, broke just now. And the fact that three billion downloads have been achieved is frankly astonishing—the two billion figure was only reached at the end of September, and as the guys at AppleInsider note that means over 10 million apps per day have been downloaded over the last 99 days. It demonstrates that the App Store is an accelerating success (since the April-July download rate was something like 7 million per day) and that Apple’s mobile products are continuing to sell well. Even Jobs notes that this phenomenon is “like nothing we’ve ever seen before” before going on to smear his competitors with the line: “we see no signs of the competition catching up anytime soon.”

That little attack raised the hairs on the back of my neck though, especially after reading an opinion piece by MG Siegler over at TechCrunch this morning. Siegler’s main argument centers on the recent flurry of news coming from The Wall Street Journal concerning the upcoming—but still entirely vaporware--Apple Tablet. He expresses his curiosity that the WSJseems to have so much concrete data on what is an incredibly secret-shrouded device, that the data is different to everyone elses, and the recent story even appears to have been edited to adjust how the information might be perceived. Frankly Siegler suspects Apple is gently leaking out data on the tablet, to both stir press and public excitement, and damage-control perceptions about its price.

And the timing of this supposed leak coincides roughly with today’s press release. Which is about Apple’s successful paradigm-defining iPhone—the same day Google’s due to reveal its hotly-tipped Nexus One smartphone iPhone clone/competitor/killer. And it’s just a few days before the Consumer Electronics Show 2010 kicks off, where a hoard of iPhone competitors (and tablet maker wannabes) will be showing off their wares. Apple won’t be attending CES, as usual.

So is this all evidence of some extremely clever Apple PR shenanigans? I’d say almost certainly yes. The App Store press release is pretty unashamedly aimed at stealing some of the limelight from Google, and it’s completely believable that Apple is gently steering tiny leaks about the iTablet in order to either defuse some of the over-hyped excitement about the device, or prepare the PR ground for its arrival. Given that Apple’s pulled out of both CES and MacWorld in order to present device launches in its own style with a timing the company itself chooses, attempts to subvert the news coming from competitors still attending them would seem extremely logical. After all, all’s fair in love and consumer electronics.

[Via AppleInsider ]

IPad PR

Apple launched its iPad this week and made the media across the world go into a tizzy. The buzz that followed the launch was any PR professional’s dream come true – every one had something to say about the new Apple product.

7000 Apple tweets per minute during iPad announcement .

Thousands of technology journalists and bloggers across the World hooked to every word Steve Jobs had to say about his latest offering and a front page headline on most publications across the World.

A quick search on Google – is enough to showcase the media frenzy Apple unleashed with its recent product launch.

Over 6 Million coverages for its iPad is currently visible on the search engine of which more than 330,000 are mentions in blogs from all over…

Am I then surprised to hear a fellow tweeter tweet – “I would love to join the PR team of Apple – it is the easiest job on Earth.”

Looking at all the eyeballs Apple manages to get and all the tongues it sets rolling, I feel like agreeing with my tweet buddy. iPod, iPhone and now the iPad each outdid the other in terms of media coverage.

As a company Apple has always been tight lipped, which has worked for it in many ways. Speculations about its tablet PC were rife in the market, videos of its tablet PC were available on YouTube for over a month before the launch, yet it could not diminish the curiosity of the technology buffs and managed to take all by surprise.

While I would like to believe all this interest in Apple and its products is because of the great work and efforts put in by their marketing and communications team – in truth it’s not their doing, at least not ‘just’ their doing.

The real credit goes to the people behind the products Apple launches. They have managed to establish themselves as the creators of the most desirable products in the World – known for their cutting edge technology and exclusiveness, which every time manages to change the course of future technology.

Very rarely do you see the pride of owning a branded gadget like that among the Apple users.

Cynics can debate that despite the technology they were down in the dumps and almost on the verge of closure before they re-created themselves with the iPod, and yes there is truth in that – but then iPod was a success because of its technology and the way it managed to capture the imagination of music lovers all over.

Public Relations as a profession is a lot about creating that feel good fluff around your clients and their products, but for it to really make a mark it is important that the product in itself is good, of high quality and one which finds favor among its users.

At the end of the day, if the user experience is compromised, then how much ever good you write about it – the truth will finally find its way out.

I wouldn’t like to undermine the role PR professionals can play in creating the hype and building a company’s brand reputation – after all it’s my bread and butter.

But the truth is even if I were the best PR person in the World, with the best of media relations I would not be able to build the hype and keep it going if, the end product I was promoting was not good enough.

That is where Apple makes a mark. Its products and their users speak on its behalf. Apple believes in making – the ownership of an Apple product an experience. From the way Steve Jobs launches a product to the way Apple stores market it – everything is about experience.

UTalkMarketing Editor, Clark Turner quotes, “Tim Greenhalgh, a PR consultant at Liberate Media in his post, “No one does desire like Apple, and no one presents desire as well as Steve Jobs.”

Good or bad, every time Apple launches its products – it creates something that is desirable by millions around the planet. And when millions want information on something – there will be thousands who would seek to provide them.

Source: http://merlinfrancis.wordpress.com/tag/public-relations-strategy/

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Japan VS Canada (Comparison on Media Systems)

The communications media of Japan include numerous television and radio networks as well as newspapers and magazines in Japan. For the most part, television networks were established based on the capital contribution from existing radio networks at that time. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the capital relationship between the media (such as the relationship between newspaper, radio and TV networks).

For the most part, variety shows, serial dramas, and news constitute a large percentage of Japanese evening shows. Western movies are also shown, many with a subchannel for English.

There are all-English television channels on cable and satellite (with Japanese subtitles).

The key stations make news shows and entertainment programs, and wholesale them to local broadcasting stations through the networks. Although local broadcasting stations also manufacture programs, the usage of the key stations is very large, and 55.7% of the TV program total sales in the 2002 fiscal year (April 2002 to March 2003) were sold by the key stations. Furthermore, the networks are strongly connected with newspaper publishing companies, and they influence the media very strongly. For this reason, they are often criticized.

In addition, there is CS broadcasting and Internet distribution by the subsidiaries of the key stations. The definition of key station has changed a little in recent years.

In Japan, every broadcasting company (except NHK and Radio Nikkei) which performs terrestrial television broadcasts has an appointed broadcast region. In Article 2 of the Japanese Broadcasting Law (放送法), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications defines the fixed zone where the broadcast of the same program for every classification of broadcast is simultaneously receivable. So, the broadcasting company constructs a network with other regions, and with this network establishes the exchange of news or programs. The broadcasting companies which send out many programs to these networks are called key stations.

Presently the broadcasting stations located in Tokyo send out the programs for the whole country. However, although TOKYO MX is in the Tokyo region, it is only an Tokyo region UHF independent station.

Broadcasting stations in Nagoya and other areas are older than those in Tokyo. However, in order to meet the large costs of making programs key stations were established in Tokyo to sell programs nationwide. Some local stations have a higher profit ratio since they can merely buy programs from the networks.

Since the broadcasting stations which assign the head offices in Kansai region (especially in Osaka) have a program supply frame at prime time etc. and sent out many programs subsequently to kī kyoku, they are called jun kī kyoku (準キー局,sub-key stations).

Canada has a well-developed media sector, but its cultural output — particularly in English films, television shows, and magazines — is often overshadowed by imports from the United States. Television, magazines, and newspapers are primarily for-profit corporations based on advertising, subscription, and other sales-related revenues. Nevertheless, both the television broadcasting and publications sectors require a number of government interventions to remain profitable, ranging from regulation that bars foreign companies in the broadcasting industry to tax laws that limit foreign competition in magazine advertising.

In the broadcasting sector, Canada has a government-funded broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada, which operates radio and TV networks in English and French. As well, some provincial governments offer their own public educational TV broadcast services as well, such as Ontario’sTVOntario and Quebec’s Télé-Québec. Given Canada’s small market and its position next to the dominant producer of feature films, the Canadian film industry receives substantial assistance from the government. In the 2000s, about half of the budget of a typical Canadian film came from various federal and provincial government sources.

Canadian Reginald Aubrey Fessenden, the “Father of Radio Broadcasting”, was the first person ever to broadcast a voice by radio waves that were heard by another person. On December 23, 1900, from a site on Cobb Island in the middle of the Potomac River near Washington, D.C., Fessenden said “one - two - three - four, is it snowing where you are Mr. Thiessen? If it is, would you telegraph back to me?” Mr. Thiessen, one mile away, confirmed, and radio broadcasting was born.

Fessenden presented radio’s first program on Christmas Eve 1906. With the assistance of his wife Helen, her friend and an assistant, he broadcast from Boston. Wireless operators on ships in the harbour heard the inventor play “O Holy Night” on his violin and Helen and her friend sing Christmas carols.^[1]

The history of Canadian media performers goes back to the first days of radio. In the 1940s an association was formed called the Radio Artists of Toronto Society - RATS. Radio performers in Montreal,Winnipeg and Vancouver also organized to fight for artists’ rights, working conditions and better fees. In 1943, the Association of Canadian Radio Artists (ACRA) was formed as a loose national coalition of actors’ groups. Over the years, ACRA evolved to become the Association of Canadian Radio and Television Artists, the Canadian Council of Authors and Artists, the Association of Canadian Television and Radio Artists and, in 1984, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists.^[2]

The Canadian Broadcasting Act, historically and in its modern conception, is based on the fact that since the start of the 20th century, it was important for broadcasters to ensure that information flowed freely and reflected the diversity of Canadian points of view, as opposed to the classic approach, which gives media owners more freedom to express their views. “The Canadian broadcasting system as we know it today would probably not exist if we had allowed the marketplace to regulate ownership rights.” ^[3]

The Canadian television broadcasting industry is split between public and private ownership. Canada currently has 130 originating television stations, which broadcast on 1,456 transmitters across the country, on both the VHF and UHF bands.

In addition to the public Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada, which operates both English and French television networks, there are four major private TV networks. CTV andGlobal broadcast in English, and are available throughout the country. TVA and V broadcast in French and are available over the air only in Quebec (and some communities in Ontario and New Brunswick which are near the Quebec border), although TVA is available across Canada on cable. Radio-Canada (the French division of the CBC), TVA and V function in the particular cultural context ofQuebec television. Most network stations are owned and operated by the networks themselves, although all networks have some affiliates with different ownership.

Several provinces maintain provincial public broadcasting networks in addition to the CBC:

Unlike in the United States, where a statewide public network is usually the state’s primary PBS member station, the provincially-owned public systems in Canada are not CBC affiliates, but distinct networks which offer entirely different programming schedules.

Only CBC/Radio-Canada, TVA and APTN are officially considered national networks by the CRTC, while V is a provincial network in Quebec. CTV and Global are legally considered “television services” even though they operate as networks for all practical purposes.

As well, there are a few independent stations, including CFTU in Montreal, CJON in St. John’s and CJIL in Lethbridge. However, most of these are not general entertainment stations like independent stations in the United States, but are instead specialty community channels or educational services. CJON is the only independent commercial station currently operating in Canada, although CJON sublicenses a mix of programming from Global, CTV and other sources rather than purchasing program rights independently.

TV station callsigns in Canada are usually made up of four letters, although two stations have three call letters (CKX in Brandon and CKY in Winnipeg) and some (primarily CBC-owned Radio-Canada stations) have five. The first call letter is always C, and callsigns of privately owned television stations start with the two-letter combinations of CF, CH, CI, CJ, or CK. The combinations CG, CY, CZ and several combinations beginning with V and X are also assigned to Canada, but to date no Canadian television station has ever been licensed to take a call sign within those ranges.

CBC-owned stations use call letters beginning with the combination CB (through a special agreement with the government of Chile); private affiliates of the CBC use the same combinations as other private stations. The CBC has also sometimes directly acquired former private affiliate stations; these usually (although not always) retain their historic call sign rather than changing to a CB call.

While Canadian TV stations are technically required to identify themselves over the air by their call letters, the rule is rarely enforced by the CRTC. As a result, many TV stations never use their call letters for any purpose other than official CRTC business, and are instead identified by a brand such as CTV Northern Ontario, OMNI.1 or Global BC.

There is no clear rule for the call letters of rebroadcasters—some are labelled by the call-letters of the originating station, followed by a number, while others have their own distinct call letters. Low-power repeater transmitters (LPRTs) have their own unique callsign format, which consists of the letters CH followed by four numbers. Some rebroadcast transmitters are licensed as semi-satellites, which are licensed to air separate commercials (and, on rarer occasions, a limited amount of distinct programming) targeted to their community of license.

Canada also has a large number of cable channels. For a more extensive list of Canadian TV broadcast outlets, see List of Canadian television channels.

Although all broadcast networks in Canada are required to produce and air some Canadian content, only the English and French networks of the CBC run predominantly Canadian-produced schedules. (The English network does run some imported programming, such as Coronation Street, Doctor Who and Emmerdale, the game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, and strip reruns of The Simpsons and Arrested Development.) Both CTV and Global have at times faced criticism over their level of commitment to producing and airing Canadian programming. Both networks often find it easier to purchase rights to hit American series than to invest in Canadian productions, which are often prohibitively costly for the comparatively small size of the Canadian market. The French-language networks traditionally have had less difficulty meeting their Canadian content obligations, as the language difference makes Francophone audiences much more readily receptive to home-grown programming than to dubbed American imports.

Digital television is an emerging technology in Canada. Although some TV stations have begun broadcasting digital signals in addition to their regular VHF or UHF broadcasts, this is not yet as widespread as in the United States. Although most markets have digital channel assignments already in place, to date digital broadcasts have only launched in the largest metropolitan areas. Digital television sets are available in Canadian stores, but are not widely owned by consumers at this time.

Several broadcasters, including the CBC, have argued that there is no viable business case for a comprehensive digital conversion strategy in Canada. At CRTC hearings in 2007 on the future direction of regulatory policy for television, broadcasters proposed a number of strategies, including funding digital conversion by eliminating restrictions on the amount of advertising that television broadcasters are permitted to air, allowing terrestrial broadcasters to charge cable viewers a subscription fee similar to that already charged by cable specialty channels, permitting license fees similar to those which fund the BBC in the United Kingdom, or eliminating terrestrial television broadcasting entirely and moving to an exclusively cable-based distribution model.

In May 2007, the CRTC set August 31, 2011 as the deadline for digital conversion in Canada. This is approximately two years later than the cutoff date in the United States. The CRTC ultimately decided to relax restrictions on advertising as the funding mechanism. However, a CRTC statement issued in June 2008 indicated that as of that date, only 22 digital transmitters had been fully installed across the entire country,^[4] and expressed the regulator’s concern that Canada’s television broadcasters were not adequately preparing for the shift to digital broadcasting.

Cable television is a very common method of television programming delivery in Canada. Many Canadian cities have cable penetration rates of 90 per cent or more of television households.

There are currently 739 licensed cable distributors in Canada. This significant decline from over 2000 just a few years ago is attributable both to major cable companies acquiring smaller distributors and to a recent change in CRTC rules by which independent cable operators with fewer than 2,000 subscribers are no longer required to operate under full CRTC licenses. (However, the CRTC does retain some regulatory authority over these operators. This is an exemption granted by the CRTC to previously licensed companies that continue to meet certain conditions, and does not mean that anybody can simply set up their own small cable company without CRTC approval.)

Major Canadian cable companies include Rogers, Shaw, Cogeco, Vidéotron and EastLink/Persona. Most Canadian cities are served by only one cable company per market; in the few cities that are served by more than one cable company, each company is restricted to a specific geographical division within the market. For instance, in Hamilton, Cogeco Cable, Mountain Cablevision and Source Cable are all licensed operators, but each has a monopoly in a specific area of the city.

However, two major companies offer direct broadcast satellite delivery as an alternative to cable: Bell TV, which is a division of BCE Inc., and Shaw Direct, which is a division of Shaw Cable. Grey market DBS dishes can also be obtained from American services such as DirecTV and Dish Network, but as these are not licensed Canadian providers, stores that sell those packages—and users who buy them—are at risk of criminal charges.

In some remote communities in the Territories (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), cable delivery is prohibitively costly, so similar services are offered through MMDS technology.

A further set of Canadian and American special interest channels are offered as extended cable packages, which are available for additional fees. In the past, cable companies have engaged in the controversial practice of negative option billing, in which a subscriber is automatically given and billed for the new services unless he or she specifically declines them, but this is now illegal.

As well, a package of pay TV channels is also available for further fees, including movie networks such as The Movie Network, Movie Central, Super Channel and Super Écran, and Americansuperstations such as WSBK, WPIX, WGN and KTLA (which are often CW or MyNetworkTV affiliates.) These services, however, require a descrambler box.

Cable companies now offer digital cable packages in most Canadian cities, including a number of channels which have been licensed exclusively for digital package distribution. Digital cable also typically includes a range of audio broadcast services such as Galaxie and Max Trax. In some markets, digital cable service may also include local radio stations; where this is offered, it has largelyreplaced the availability of cable FM service. Digital cable, however, is provided only if a customer chooses to subscribe to that package.

Although this is sometimes controversial, Canadian cable companies are required by the CRTC to practice simultaneous substitution when a Canadian channel and a non-Canadian channel (which is usually American) are airing the same program at the same time. Programming on an American service may also be blocked if it has significant bearing on a Canadian legal matter (one episode of Law & Order, inspired by the trials of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, was blocked in Canada) or if it interferes with a Canadian channel’s broadcast rights (such as James Bond movies airing on Spike TV; the Canadian broadcast rights are held by Bell Globemedia.)

Television Critic

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There are two ways that we can define our worth: externally or internally. As long as your worth is defined by your looks or your performance, aging will create stress. Telling yourself that you are in control of how you feel about yourself is not going to change the fact that you are defining your worth externally.

Many women are going to be more attracted regarding their ENERGY than looks. A woman who is put off by aging is a woman who is also defining herself externally - likely by how her boyfriend looks. And as long as she is not defining her worth by inner qualities, such as kindness, caring, compassion, creativity, sense of humor, integrity, reliability, and so on, she may run into women who will reject due to being aged or ugly.

Everything changes energetically when YOU define worth by your internal, intrinsic qualities. It is this that creates the sense of personal power along with the gentleness that many women love and are very attracted to.

Do you really want a woman who cares more about how much wrinkles she has on her face than who she is? If this woman bases her attraction to you on her looks, what happens as her age even more? That would be a question after all.

The challenge here is to learn to define your own worth, which cannot happen through your programmed mind. Your left-brain ego wounded mind has been deeply programmed to define worth in terms of looks and performance.

Defining your Worth Internally

In order to see and value who you really are, separate from your looks and performance, you need to be able to see yourself from a place of truth. Your programmed ego mind is not able to access truth, so telling yourself from this place, your wounded self, that you are in control of how you feel about yourself isn’t going to make you feel any better at all.

However, when you open to learning about who you REALLY are, and you ask your spiritual Guidance - whatever this is for you (your higher self, higher power, God/Goddess, Spirit, Universal truth, the Light, and so on) - you can begin to access the truth of your soul essence, the spark of the Divine that is within you. It is only through the eyes of love and truth that you can heal the fear of your wounded self that you will never find the right woman because of a lack of initial attraction on her part.

The more you learn to value who you are really are, the more you will attract a woman who also values herself for who she is. This woman will be far more interested in your energy of caring, kindness, and personal power than in your hair! When you truly value yourself for who you really are, there is no doubt that you will find the right woman.

Luckily, women are given the choice on how they will make themselves beautiful in such products that is proven and tested.

These days, getting the right face care can seem daunting. The good news is beautiful skin doesn’t have to be hard, involving hefty price tags, empty promises, or complicated, time-consuming routines. Beautiful skin can be easy to achieve, and affordable.

Since 1846, POND’S has been known for simple, effective skin care products that work. That’s why generations of women have trusted POND’S to leave skin looking and feeling simply beautiful.

With today’s women busy balancing work, family and everything else that comes their way, POND’S wants to help simplify life by simplifying skin care, with beautiful results every time.

Our product formulas are time-tested and convenient to use. Our Cold Cream has been a classic beauty essential for over 100 years - combining gentle deep cleansing with moisture that stays locked in. Our Original All Day Clean Towelettes were the first to make removing dirt, make-up and impurities as easy as one simple swipe. Dry Skin Cream is an extra-rich moisturizer that is quickly absorbed into the skin and is nourishing enough for day or night.

Are you fearful that signs of aging are going to turn off the right person? Discover what to do about this in this article.

I received the following email from someone who had read one of my articles:

One topic that I feel that I haven’t seen covered much is the issue of body-image related stress, anxiety, and insecurity, and how to fight it. We all age. Personally, I am 27 years old, and rapidly going from a handsome full-headed young man to a completely bald individual in a very looks-dependent society. This process has been devastating to my mental well being in the last 3 years. However much I tell myself that I am in control of how I feel about myself, I cannot rid myself of the fear of never finding the right woman because of a lack of initial attraction on their part.”

- For flawless skin choose a cleanser and moisturizer appropriate for your skin type that you can use a.m. and p.m., and then supplement it weekly with a purifying face mask. You should also consider using a nightly skin treatment that exfoliates dead skin cells.

- Large pores are caused by two things: genetics and age. Want to shrink them? Go to a dermatologist or a spa to get microdermabrasion treatments, a type of facial that gently sloughs off the dead surface layer of skin.

Incorporating one new product at a time. And, since most active ingredients take effect over time, don’t give up if you don’t see immediate results.

- For daytime moisturizing, think layering: Use an antioxidant serum under a face cream, topped off with a sunblock. To stave off flaking, consider light exfoliation once a week. Moisturizing without exfoliating first can result in breakouts and dull skin.

- To avoid “sleep lines,” opt for silk or satin pillowcases and pile on the anti-aging products.

- The first step to looking refreshed is moisturizer. Use an intense moisturizer in the morning, and then continue to apply a lighter cream throughout the day.

Using products of your choice enhances the God-given beauty everyone has. To maintain it, we should take care of ourselves by having healthy lifestyle.

Mar 09

Keep on Tuning Over the RADIO

RADIO is an entertainment medium that provides an alternative way of spending time worthwhile. With the advent of television to its peak of widely-used entertainment value, radio is also progressing in terms of information dissemination, playing the best music intended for any age, most demanding anchor and DJs as well as programs and promos to captivate the listeners to keep on tuning. Radio is also accessible and handy for it can be portable and integrated on mobile phones.

AM stations are recognized to provide on air news and updates over the radio. Sceptics say that the radio industry cannot survive this age of internet, ipods, and podcasts where news and information is just a click away. But DZMM Radyo Patrol 630 proved them all wrong! Ironically, thanks to these new and emerging technologies, the seemingly outdated AM radio arrived to its rebirth in this iPod generation.

As its dictum states, “Una sa Balita, Una sa Public Service”, the station stays true to its promise of serving Filipinos worldwide by providing news, commentaries, entertainment and public service every day, any hour, every time-on-air (DZMM 630), online (DZMM.com.ph), on-TV (DZMM TeleRadyo) and on-site through its special projects!

DZMM features public service programs such as “Aksyon Ngayon Global Patrol”, “All Aboard Pinoy Abroad”, “SikaPinoy”, and “Usapang de Campanilla”.

For entertainment programs includes; “Chismax”; “Dr. Love”; “Laugh Out Loud”; “Light Moments with Fr. Gerry Orbos”; “Love Notes”; “Lovelines”; “Maalaala Mo Kaya sa DZMM”; “Mismo”; “Music and Memories”; “Pinoy Vibes”; “Private Nights”; “Salitang Buhay”; “Showbiz Extra”; “Usapang Kapatid”, and; “Yesterday”.

To provide the best and mind-feeding information DZMM has programs such as; “Bago Yan Ah!”; “Dra. Bles At Your Serbis”; “Innermind Radio”; “Konsyumer ATBP.”; “Ma-Beauty Po Naman”; “Magandang Gabi Dok”; “radio Negosyo”; “sa Kabukiran”; “Sports Talk”; “Todo-Todo Walang Preno”, and; “Trabaho Panalo”.

Radios are information liable, DZMM’s News and Current Affairs includes; “Dos Por Dos”; “Failon Ngayon sa DZMM”; “Gising Pilipinas”; “Ito ang Radyo Patrol”; “Kabayan”; “Magandang Morning with Julius and Nina”; “Magpayo nga Kayo”; “Pasada Sais Trenta”; “Pintig Balita”; “Radyo Patrol Balita”; “Rated Korina”; ”S.R.O.”; “SOCO sa DZMM”; “TV Patrol”, and; “Tandem: Lima at Oro”.

Furthermore, FM or Frequency Modulation Stations are recognized to provide the music of all times. My most loved FM Station is 96.3 Easy Rock, “Just the rite rock”.

DWRK Easy Rock is owned and operated by Cebu Broadcasting Company a subsidiary owned by Manila Broadcasting Company. Well known as Easy Rock at the frequency of 96.3 megahertz in the FM band reaches worldwide listeners through live audio webcast.

The first time I tuned in to the stations keeps me tuning on and on. And what’s more captivating is their theme songs that sounds romantic. Also, DJs are well-known to speak fluently in English. I just so love their way of communicating with the sweetness of their voice.

On the 8^th day of March I was able to listen to the station for almost the whole day. Their program of the day is repeatedly aired from Mondays to Thursdays and Saturdays. Friday is allotted for Friday classics from 6am to 6pm.

Moreover, to the program All Day easy, DJ Samantha wakes us up in the morning from 6am to 10am; DJ Chloe joined us on lunch time from 10am to 2pm, and; DJ Justin Taylor give us good siesta music from 2pm to 6pm. While resting our tired body, DJ Denise serenades us through her program Lite All Nite from 6pm to 10pm. Lastly, Sundays are allotted for Sunday Difference from 6am to 6pm.

To add spices to the programs, Easy Rock has cute segments such as HOT LITES that features the latest releases from local and international artists, POP-UP TUNES which allows listeners to savour rare cuts and old favourites you thought you’d never hear again, and CELEBRITY 360 livens up your Saturdays through bare-all interviews with today’s hottest artists.

Mar 08

Media Literacy Experiential Report

During Saturday classes on Media Literacy subject I had recalled most of the topic and lessons that I almost forget from past lessons I had since first year of my college years. Honestly, it made me ashamed of myself for not reviewing. The funny thing is, it’s not me alone, and most of us in the class are admitted of not remembering most of the lessons. The first day meeting with Sir Mart is truly unforgettable. He almost laughed at us with a little disappointment. No one is raising hand to recite until a clue is given and then we suddenly recall, and it happens again and again and then everybody will laugh too.

The cute thing about Saturday classes is the fact the apart from few students, Saturdays are boring days. We go to school to attend our 3-hours class from 12-3pm which is indeed a siesta time then tambay na with friends afterwards. Sometimes, we didn’t really consume that 3 hours with that teaching-learning thing, we just talk and share stories. On our last year as a student, we don’t really feel like a student at all. Sounds cruel but cool! That’s the reality of being a senior. We want to hurry the time. But when classes over, we don’t see students hanging around the college, and then we’ll just go to the mall to hang out. Sometimes, I’ll just go home early. Boring. Not exciting. Dull.

Graduation is yet to come and our mind and body is excited to rest and be free from paper works and early morning school. That’s what we want but Media Lit subject didn’t allow us. Sir mart didn’t allow us.

Assignments, groupings, research works and exams are awaiting us every meeting. Cruel but cool! It made me feel somehow of being a student again; rushing numerous paper and online assignment to meet the deadliest deadline on weekends, take note of the 1000 words to be posted on my first ever blog site on tumbler; reviewing past lessons from hand outs given by the reporter of the day; preparing for exams that doesn’t allow cheaters for the exam itself won’t let you cheat; signing for attendance that won’t last after 30 minutes that made me twist my face when I was late for 5 minutes only; listening to the reporter while he/she is just reading his/her report; me too had my very own report for the last time! hahah..; cheating? I don’t know it’s hard to cheat on Media Lit class; as a final requirement to the subject, we had campaign in one of the High School in Quezon City; at times, smiling at the professor while one hand is texting, and; the art of chatting to a friend I’ve miss for a week.

Media Lit is the last subject I’m taking on my fourth year in the College of Communication, Bachelor in Broadcast Communication. For the third time I would say that Media Literacy subject is cruel but cool! Thanks Sir Mart for making us students again for the last time.

Be friends with Friendster!

Back in High School, Friendster is the most popular social networking site I’ve ever known. It was the first to introduced me to be socialized through the web. As facebook dominates Friendster, Friendster is no longer the mass’ favorite. Until Friendster decided to change its look, now it is a gaming site.

Friendster is the social gaming destination of choice. Connect and play with your friends & share your progress with your network as it promises. Now, how to use the new Friendster is what this blog is all about. I got the information from the site itself:

- Go to www.friendster.com
- Enter your email address under “Play FREE online games on Friendster”
- Click “Join Friendster Now”

Do I need to sign-up again if I already have an existing Friendster account?

If you have an existing and valid account in Friendster then you do not need to sign-up again in the new site. We actually encouraged you to log-in to the same account (i.e. use the same username and password from your existing Friendster). Not only will it be for your convenience, this is also necessary for you to save your wallet and game accounts.

Why should I join the new Friendster?

Whether you are first-timer or an existing user, there’s plenty to look forward to in the new Friendster!

- Create unique online identities that are different from your real-life ones!
- Play immersive games anywhere and discover playmates!
- Socialize by having different Avatars for different online occasions!
- Complement your activities and interactions in other social media networks!
- Enjoy promotions/rewards while you’re having fun!

Why do I need to confirm my email?

When you sign up for an account, you’ll need to confirm your email address first so that we can make sure we’re sending information about your account to the right place. Â You will not be able to complete the sign-up process without confirming your email.

To confirm your email, you have to login to the inbox of the email you registered and open/read the message from Friendster. Â Inside that message is a link that you need to click to complete the confirmation process.

Reminder: In some cases the confirmation email gets filtered to either the spam or junk folder. Â Make sure you check these folders if you don’t see the confirmation email in the inbox.

How to confirm my email?

Reminder: In some cases the confirmation email gets filtered to either the spam or junk folder. Â Make sure you check these folders if you don’t see the confirmation email in the inbox.

I’m not getting my sign-up confirmation email

1. Check your email’s Spam settings - If you’re running a spam filter, try looking in the spam/junk folder first. If you find it there, please mark it as “not spam”.
2. Make sure that the email address you are trying to register is valid - A valid email address is simply one that you can send emails to. Do not use fake/bogus emails.
3. Check your email domain - A common mistake is when a user registers with the wrong email domain (domain.com is different from domain.com.ph).
4. Make sure you are logged in to the email that you trying to register with - It is not unusual for a person to have multiple emails, so make sure that you are logged in to the right email.
5. Check your spelling - Typos are common user mistakes. Make sure you spell your email correctly.

If you still need help after following the above tips, please submit a request (upper right corner of this window) to our Customer Service Team.

What’s the minimum age requirement to join Friendster?

What to do if I misspelled my email during sign-up?

The easiest solution to this situation is to just sign up again with the correct email address.

The registration for the misspelled email address is incomplete anyways. Â No need to worry about that since its as if the registration never pushed through.

I get an error using the link in the sign-up confirmation email

If you get an error when you use the confirmation link, try to copy the URL and then paste it on the address bar of your browser. Make sure the link is complete, with no spaces.

If you still can’t make the link work, please forward the email with the link to help@friendster.com.

I received an email that I created a new account, even though I didn’t sign up

If you receive a Friendster account confirmation email and you are sure that you did not register with us, it’s likely that someone has attempted to register using your email address. Â Do not worry though. As long as you do not click the link contained in the email, this account will remain unconfirmed. An unconfirmed account is inaccessible.

If you feel that someone has created an account to purposely impersonate or imitate you, please submit a request (upper right corner of this page) or email us at help@friendster.com so that we can review your case and take the appropriate action.

On the upper part of the Friendster windows are categories of GAMES and community which includes forums and blogs.

Mar 06

Yahoo Experience!

Recalling the first time I used the computer was the time I only knew playing Sims and making power point presentation. That time, I was only on my second grade in Elementary. The first time I used the internet was when I’m on my first year in High School when my sister let me open her yahoo account. I was excited to chat with her chat mates, and really, I was proud of myself of pretending to be knowledgeable of using it. From then onwards, I started learning to explore the internet. It was nice and thrilling and worth spending time and money, I guess.

Of course, as a beginner that time, some instances happened without me expecting it to happen. An experience I had using the internet. This is how the story goes… One morning back in my first year in High School, I was excited about making my assignment because it requires me to use the internet. My mom asked me to bring my 9-years-younger sister to the computer shop because she has to go to some places that I can’t remember where. And it’s fine with me since I love my sister and I’m sure she will not disturb me while happily exploring the wonder of the internet. At the internet shop, my sister seated beside me, watching. I was searching for some words written on my notebook. I was actually rushing to finish it so I can open my Friendster account and my Ate’s Yahoo account because that time I don’t know how to open a new tab so I have to do it one at a time. After doing my research I started chatting on Yahoo..suddenly, while typing on the search bar another window opens…..Oh my! Hala ano ‘to!? A blonde guy is doing something on his you-know-what, that I don’t know why and I don’t know what to do! My sister is watching and I was also obliged to look at the window because I was searching for escape on that site. It was sickening! Imagine the experience of having no intention of seeing a naked body. What I did? Because of too much nervous and panic I turned off the computer. Hehehe.

But the experience didn’t stop me from exploring the wonders of the internet. I’ll just make sure to be careful the next time.

Well, honestly I was never fascinated to computer until Friendster and Facebook arrived. I just used the computer or the internet for assignments and research works then. I was reasonable of using internet/computer; Firstly, we don’t have computer at home since typhoon Ondoy destroys ours; Secondly, computer rental is expensive, and; Lastly, to communicate with friends, I would rather load my mobile phone and text them.

Luckily, computer and internet is very accessible to me, I could borrow to my friends and relatives. Today, I’m a little addicted to facebook and a little in internet surfing. Checking my notification is a hobby every day. Likewise, internet is more interesting to use nowadays because of the numerous sites to visit and explore.

Feb 10

“Dinig Sana Kita”

Indeed, what we see is what we get. What others would and could do unto us might have difference in meaning. Its meaning to us depends on how a person would act towards a situation, what is our relationship to them, our past experiences with them and other things that affects their or our actions. So literal eh?

It is so cute to see people expressing their love in a mysterious and exceptional way like “Dinig Sana Kita”. An Indie film with a touching love story between a deaf dancer played by newcomer Romalito Mallari and a rocker girl played by 16-years old Zoe Sandejas who became close to each other while staying in a Baguio camp. The two are living in different world; one is silence and the other in wild and noisy setting.

This indie film “Dinig Sana Kita” (If I Knew What You Said) directed by Michael E. Sandejas, won the Audience Choice Award among the ten full-length Cinemalaya 2009 finalists. It was prospected to have showing abroad through a couple of international film festivals, one in Toronto, Canada and another one, at the Brussels International Filmfest. Of course that was thanks-to-google information J

“Dinig Sana Kita” is the first Filipino film to have a deaf actor in a lead role. Romalito Mallari is a deaf performer that has played several stage productions as an actor and/or dancer. He is a scholar taking up a course leading to a Bachelor in Applied Deaf Studies degree, with special training in Multimedia Arts, at the De La Salle-College of St. Benilde (DLS-CSB). In the film, his role “Kiko” was the most significant one for me. Living in the beauty of stillness is a normal situation of a deaf person. I rarely encounter people like a deaf. I’m sure they live comfortably because they are used to it. But because I could hear, imagining myself without hearing is such a curse!

The leading lady, Niña played by the director’s daughter Zoe Sandejas, the troubled teenage rocker that is used to have a deafening type of living, she rule her world. She is described as troublemaker, clumsy and outgoing. I love her character in the movie because it is an extraordinary situation that a rocker fell in love with a calm guy. Who would think that it would happen in real life? I mean the same set-up.

Both characters, the girl and the guy, are out of the ordinary thing. It is so cute to spell love differently. The usual story of a boy-meets-girl or a girl-meets-boy thing is portrayed surprisingly that who would not be moved by the build up of personalities in the story. Honestly in real life, despite his capabilities I will feel sorry to know a good looking guy like Rome. He could be gifted with normal hearing because he deserves it. There are people who didn’t use their hearing well, so pathetic.

However, the director intelligently chose both leading characters and he thinks out of the box from normal love story that we see on the big screen. To know that there is a so-called Deaf Film is amazing.
Even without the ability to hear, the Deaf have the special capacity to understand aside from reading the film’s subtitles. They comprehend through the heart. I read from google that Deaf people can excel in the art of dancing by feeling the vibrations of the music, counting and special cues.

The film is an eye-opener to see the unforeseen, to appreciate the capabilities of the Deaf people, to understand their situation and to know that love exist despite the odds and difference. The more we get exposed to Deaf films I’m sure there’ll be more to come. If Deaf people could act, maybe one day, there could be films directed by the Deaf and it could be far better than films directed by the normal and ‘hearing’ directors. Isn’t it amazing? That was an achievement for the Deaf, also for the other incompetence. They would be recognized by the world and they could be an inspiration for others to improve and develop their capabilities. The world is such a big place for changes and development. Great to have Filipino films like “Dinig Sana Kita”.

Learning of the Indie Film “Dinig Sana Kita” reminds me of the film “Paano ko Sasabihin” starring Enchong Dee and Erich Gonzales. Also a nakaka-kilig love story with the same concept of including Deaf’s way of communication and sign language in the story. Both films help me understand the world of the deaf even a little. But above it all, the love story is more striking.

It is of course, appropriate that they gave music as an important element and prominent for Kiko’s scenes because his silence is nothing without a little music that would add effect and set the mood of the viewers. He doesn’t say any words, therefore the actions and the music speaks for him. In contrary, Niña ‘creates’ music for herself because she loves loud music and herself is a loud person.

Overall, the Indie films, which I assess as the best films far better than those that are being shown in the big screen, filmed nationally by big networks with big stars, are more interesting for me. Indie films are more conventional, are eye-opener that showcase the situation in the real life, realistic, and really made for mainstream viewers. With little limitation, indie films could express and show what would have been shown. I assess as best directors those who direct indie films.

I would like to congratulate Filipino Indie films for developing such great stories and creating films out of the ordinary. Filipinos are excellent in film-making. Proudly made Pinoy films like “Dinig Sana Kita” deserves to have an exposure internationally. Also, we must pay tribute to the Deaf community. More to produce and more lives to touch.

Above anything else, we should give thanks and pay gratitude to God for his love and goodness, for creating us uniquely with different abilities and capabilities. We are all the same in His eyes and so we are to others. J