Angel Lorraine Cantoba Healy

So tiny

Rowena, Angel and me

Angel’s Angel Nurses. They don’t muck around here

The proud Tatai (Dad in Tagalog)

Typhoon Parma, churned toward the country just a week after tropical storm Ketsana triggered the worst flooding in 40 years in and around Manila, leaving 300+ people dead.

This woman cries beside the coffin of her son who died during the flooding Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009 in suburban Quezon City, Manila.

Parma was packing gusts of up to 220 kilometres per hour on Friday. Great if your a kitesurfer. Very bad if you live and work in the lowlands here.

There is a relief centre setup here - www.savethechildren.org/emergencies/asia/philippines-floods/philippines-floodslp.html

Storm Ketsana dumped more than 16 inches of rain in 12 hours on Saturday, Sept. 26, and caused the worst flooding in four decades across a large swath of the main island, Luzon. Read the latest press release.

I live here so know what’s going on and working with the relief team. Give a hand.  These guys need it.

View the article here online.wsj.com/article/SB125446989922958965.html and the pics of damage and heartache here - online.wsj.com/article/SB125446989922958965.html#articleTabs%3Dslideshow

Simon

5 weeks has turned into 5 months and I’m now in the Southern Philippines, on a small island, in the middle of a big typhoon with no power and a flood roaring past the front door. I’ve got two broken ribs from a little surfing mishap on a big wave but otherwise in one piece and rolling. These things happen.

Every trip away I seem to learn some new tips and tricks of working remotely and efficiently. This one has been no exception. I’ve been having a crash course in global broadband internet, satellite phones and connectivity and it’s opened my eyes to different ways of connecting into international trade and business networks like never before.

Only a few days ago we broadcast a newsletter to our current clients and colleagues from a very remote island called Siargao in the Southern Philippines. The broadcast went out to over 100 businesses and institutions in 3 countries and resulted in 4 orders valued at over AUD$16,000.

Now sure, we had websites up and running with the services we offer tested and staff in place for support, but the simple fact of the matter was that with the assistance of a global broadband internet connection, a satellite phone and a Panasonic Toughbook (these notebook seriously are tough) we were able to run an online promotion that was highly successful with minimum of effort and cost.

We were even able to take and place calls to our clients for that extra personal touch with no problems at all. Most importantly we were pulling into a world class surf break called Rock Island roughly 2 hours after the broadcast and eating freshly caught fish over a huge BBQ that night. Awesome!!

Anyway next week I’m heading to the office in Cagayan De Oro in Northern Mindanao and then onto my new place where I’ll be based from in Boracay. My girlfriend is pregnant and expecting in December so time to get things organised.

PRESS RELEASE: 16th January 09:

In the urban regions of Manila’s metropolis, five young Filipinos have built the country’s first mobile, self-contained, wireless telecentre. The students are all graduates of the Philippines 1st telecenter, GLOW, which launched in 2000. They have designed a new and innovative approach of delivering ICT learning combined with a sustainable business model, to communities that typically have no access to the internet and IT training services.

For the latest Philippine news stories and videos, visit GMANews.TV

MobileTelecenters.com takes internet and telecommunications to Philippines schools and villages in self-contained, wireless enabled, mobile telecentres built on the famous national mode of transport - the three wheeled motorcycle called a tricycle or Trike which is the most common mode of local transport in The Philippines after the famous Jeepney.

Seed funded by social venture capital group www.YSEI.org, the eTrike is a fully self contained mobile, wireless telecentre which travels into urban communities in Manila and provides youth with access to participate in new digital ICT technologies, basic computer lessons using multimedia CD-ROM’s and live internet lessons. The eTrike mobile unit carries 3 laptop computers, a mobile cell phone repair unit, 1 digital camera, 3 cell phones and a printer. The Internet is provided via a wireless connection and electricity is provided from an onboard generator.

Schools are contacted by the Mobile Telecenters team to schedule a training which is carried out the on-campus usually lasting a full day. Charging institutions a small fee for the training service the eTrikes are also sustainable as they offer a variety of paid services such as cell phone repairs, SMS services, internet access, recharge services and more.

Once the pilot program has been completed over the 1st 6 months Mobile Telecenters have plans to expand their fleet of eTrikes into other needy areas of Manila and further afield in other provinces across the Philippines expanding to incorporate eJeepneys and eventually an eShip.

Christine Lopez (team leader) said “We envision, that through onsite training our student recipients will become competent and literate in the job and business opportunities which ICT’s represent. Our vision is to help empower Filipino youth to become independent and productive citizens of the Philippines.”

The eTrike project was formally launched on Friday 16th January 2009 at the Main Campus (Rosepack) of Francisco P. Felix Memorial National HIH School in Cainta, Rizal, Manila at 10.00AM.  View video here

For further contacts: www.MobileTelecenters.com -
Email: info@MobileTelecenters.com – simon@SolvePoverty.com
Phone:  +632-92 1975 6997

And it’s not just us. The jobs and contracts section of the Marketplace has been humming in November, and anecdotal conversations with other SEO firms tell me there’s quite a bit of business to be had for both in-house and external SEOs. Online sales, according to Paypal, were up 34% this year over last - another sign that web commerce is a safe haven for those in need of ROI. Why? What makes SEO more attractive in a down market? While I can’t say for certain, I’ll enumerate the most common explanations and motivations I’ve heard and perceived: More …..

Naturally being a site about buying real estate in Boracay

Boracay is fast becoming a world renown resort destination island, and with the famous White Beach being ranked in the top 10 beaches in the world for the last 15 years, the island is receiving more and more local and international tourists from every part of the globe every year.

As well as the long standing 4 and 5 star resorts plus with the recent addition of the Internationally accredited Shangri-La Hotel, Boracay is set to have Marriot International hotel by 2010, plus the Sheridan and talk of other famous branded hotels, all adding to the investment of the island and the Philippines.

Best of all we get to go to Boracay for our ‘conferences’ all the time.

For the last 8 years, Study in Australia (StudyinAustralia.com) has been the premium name for education sites in Australia. It has enjoyed front page rankings the whole period and continues to grow year after year being a magnet for International Students wishing to study in Australia. Well we’re now doing the same with StudyinNewZealand.com - our easy to remember, top level NZ domain.

We are not only showcasing the exceptional quality and high standards of the New Zealand Education sector, and promoting the many lifestyle benefits to overseas students of an education in New Zealand we’re also going to go nuts on adventure travel whilst we’re over there at the official launch in January 2009

We’re talking about heli skiing, snowboarding, mountain biking, paragliding, golf,  sky diving, tramping, mountaineering, kayaking,  white water rafting, shotover jet boating and of course surfing all in 10 days…..whew!!!! Its going to rock.

Are you an SEO Expert?

OK I took the SEOmoz SEO Expert Quizz tonight and did pretty well with a wopping 94%. I’m not sure if that qualifies me as an expert but I was pretty happy with the result. The thing I’ve found after over 9 years of working in SEO is that it’s about actually following the fundamental rules of optimisation in order to get your sites and your clients ranked well. The SEOmoz Quiz is designed to test your mettle with 75 action-packed questions covering all corners of the SEO universe from beginner knowledge, to sneaky tricks only true Dark Lords of the SERPs will know. I did this test in about 20 minutes and promise I didn’t cheat.

Test your SEO Expert knowledge to earn your knowledge level.

* 91% - 100% - SEO Deity
* 81% - 90% - SEO Master
* 71% - 80% - SEO Professional
* 61% - 70% - SEO Newbie
* 0% - 60% - SEO Novice

SEOmoz provides the web’s best community, tools and educational resources for people and companies engaged in Internet marketing and search engine optimization. We also provide expert and experienced consulting services to clients throughout the US, Canada & Europe. Our goal is to provide the highest level of service and education to businesses, individuals, non-profits and government organizations so they can leverage the unique reach of the Internet to increase visibility and achieve success.