Two pieces of legislation are currently making its way in the US House of Representatives and the Senate. The Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, and the Personal Information Protection Act, or PIPA, will potentially change the way users exchange and facilitate information in the Internet.

The SOPA and PIPA will work together to oblige internet service providers to block websites that posts or links to copyrighted content. Search engines like Google and Yahoo! likewise cannot display results from websites that violate the proposed law.

The effect, obviously, will be felt not only in US but in pretty much the whole international arena. Even Canadian websites will be affected by the proposed law, as long as it’s a website that ends in .com, .net., or .org. These websites, despite being used and managed by people elsewhere, can be blocked by US courts.

The Department of Justice, in fact, has already conducted a “major operation” which included, among others, the shutdown of MegaUpload. MegaUpload is accused of causing an estimate of $500 million in damages for violating intellectual property rights.

The government has also issued as many as 20 search warrants in around 18 foreign countries. Around $10 million dollar worth of assets have also been seized.

In protest of this legislation, Wikipedia has already shut down its website for 24 hours last Wednesday. This gave a lot of Internet users a preview of how life would be without filesharing and blocking Internet sites because of copyrighted content—which is difficult to determine in the first place.

The release of last Harry Potter movie was, for many people, the end of a 10-year journey that started with the first Harry Potter movie. Its worldwide screening was a milestone in itself–breaking record sales, spawning thousands of joyful and sentimental tweets, and getting some of the best reviews for a Harry Potter film yet.

But now that the Harry Potter movie series is officially over (or is it?), fans and perennial viewers are asking themselves: what’s next?

JK Rowlin herself answered that question when she gave a series of clues in secretstreetview.com, the answer to which are letters that form the word POTTERMORE.

A quick visit to Pottermore will indicate that its doors will open for everyone this October. In the meantime, you can register with your email, and you’ll get special updates.

Rumors have been thrown around as regards what Pottermore will be about. One thing’s clear though: it is not a new Harry Potter book. It is, however,  dubbed by The Leaky Cauldron, as “one of the most amazing, engaging and breathtaking additions to this fandom imaginable”.

Whatever Pottermore is bound to offer, it definitely will revolutionize the way readers enjoy their books, officially taking literature to an entirely new platform of social media and the Internet.

So… what do you think will Pottermore be?

You can also read this post here.

Google has decided to pull the plug on its two products, Google Health and Google PowerMeter. When Google Health was announced, its goal was to consolidate people’s personal health information and allow them to integrate it with other health domains, such as Drugs.com, DiabetesHealth, and American Heart Association among many others. The service allows such information to be available not only to the user but also to his friends, relatives, and even doctors.

Another innovative Google product, the PowerMeter is aimed at letting people understand the energy usage of their household or their mobile lives. With the information, it can help a consumer reduce his energy consumption by as much as 15%.

In its blog, Google proudly touted both projects a success. The PowerMeter has paved the way for smart meters and energy-saving devices, where states are finally taking energy conservation seriously. Google Health, on the other hand, has become a popular and powerful tool among health buffs, dieticians, and nutrition experts.

Despite the breakthroughs of both services though, Google says that they weren’t able to achieve the results they wanted and create the impact they were aiming for. Although both products were respectable and successful in their own ways, its progress was quite slow that Google has decided to discontinue them.

PowerMeter can be accessed until September 16, 2011.  Google Health, on the other hand, can be downloaded on January 1, 2012. Until January 1, 2013 though, users have the option of downloading their information.

Several Google Health fans have expressed their dismay over this disappointing news. Google Health, according to Dr. Halamka, was crucial in unlocking a new facet in doctor-client relationships, without which many patients would keep on hiding vital health information from their doctors.

The shutdown of both products is indicative of the way Google works: that there’s no slowing down for a company that’s on its way to dominating the Internet. Products that couldn’t keep up, even the ones Google itself created, would be left behind and abandoned. Several social networking sites have been forced to shut down or re-invent its approach. This is simply how the Internet works: a service must either adapt or close down altogether if it’s unable to provide a unique experience to users.

This blog entry can also be read here.

New Features will make the Apple Device a lot easier to operate

Among the standout features of the iOS 5 is the Notification Center, Twitter integration, and “independence” from MAC and PC. The Notification Center contains all notifications across all your apps, texts, email messages, new friend requests and many more. They will no longer interrupt you while your working on an email or playing your favorite game.

The Newsstand is where all your subscriptions will automatically go. Once new issues of your favorite magazine or e-book has arrived, you won’t have to scramble through your apps to find your newspaper or magazine. As Twitter is integrated into the iOS 5, you can tweet from anywhere–your Photos, Safari, Youtube, and even the Maps.

Also for the first time, the iOS 5 is totally free of the PC or MAC. That means you can take the Apple Device right off the box and set it up wirelessly. Software updates can be downloaded through the device itself, and you can store your files in the iCloud.

iMessage to give telcos a run for their money

The most interesting feature, though, is the iMessage. The messaging service allows the owner to send unlimited text messages to anyone else with an iOS device, using Wi-Fi or 3G. The service allows unlimited exchange of photos and even videos. The new iMessage works like the Blackberry Messenger, working realtime for iOS devices. With this feature, there’s no virtually no reason for iPhone or iPad owners to keep their messaging plan. Looks like telcos have something to worry about.

Already, the web is buzzing with rumors and news on the new iOS. There have also been reports that the iOS 5 has been hacked.  And hours after the unveiling of the new iOS 5, it has still consistently been trending on Twitter.

Everybody has an opinion regarding the new Apple product. What’s yours?

This blog post can also be read at iMarkcomm’s Blog.

There’s no use crying over spilled milk. If you missed the Billboard Awards for whatever reason (such as you falling asleep or being totally ignorant that there’s such a thing as the Billboard Awards!), Billboard wants to assure that you can catch up. Thanks to the the social media accounts of Billboard.com in full swing, you can experience the Awards as completely and richly as if you were in the event itself.

A Quick Look at the Winners

A quick visit to the Billboard Awards 2011 spread will take you to a quick summary of what took place: among the winners in their respective categories are Eminem (Top Artist), Taio Cruz (Top Hot 100 Song), Justin Bieber (Best New Artist), Taylor Swift (Top Country Album), Mumford & Songs (Top Rock Album) and Justin Bieber (Top Social Artist).

Justin Bieber also won Fan Favorite. There are a lot of negative comments thrown against Justin Bieber, but his success in the recent years simply can’t go unnoticed. With sold out tickets in his world tour concerts, millions of followers in Twitter, and a 3d movie made about his success, it’s not surprising that he’s the Top Social Artist, yes? Check out the other winners and finalists in Billboard’s website.

Social Media Use at its Best

What makes this year’s Billboard Awards unique is not its winners and performances, but its maximization of social media as the awards show is going on. For some the stream of tweets and Facebook posts can be annoying, but for the many who simply can’t stay tuned to the awards, it’s a welcome innovation.

Not only do the Facebook and Twitter accounts give real time updates of who the winners are, they even post articles right as the awards are being doled out. They even posted a performance of Britney Spears and Rihanna right after it was aired on TV!

Britney and Rihanna performing in the Billboard Music Award 2011

Billboard.com is really stepping up their game. This is a refreshing move, as most players in the recording and music industry have simply given up. With companies like Billboard.com pulling all the stops, maybe the music industry is not about to crash down.

What did you think about Billboard.com’s social media efforts? Did you join the conversation?

This blog entry is also posted in the iMark blog.

Believe me, this is a lot more difficult than it sounds, and assuming that you’re two steps ahead of these sneaky scams might be the biggest mistake you’ll make. After all, behind these spams and scams are hackers whose preoccupation is to create ingenious ways of breaching Facebook’s admittedly flawed security system. I learned this the hard way myself, after being blindly lured into clicking a link on iPhone 5.

The advanced techniques used by these spam-generating accounts call for more information on how to stop spams and scams in Facebook. WhileMashable provides a quick guide to this, there’s simply more that could be said about the matter.

Do not click links from unquestionable sources.

Your News Feed probably abounds with links that reel you in. You can’t be blamed for wanting to click these links. Don’t you want to know who’s viewing your profile? Aren’t you the least bit interested in finding out what Osama Bin Laden was doing when he was shot? If you just stop and think carefully before clicking a random link, you’re going to realize that it’s spam all by yourself.

Another way to find out which links are spammy is by taking a quick look at how many people are posting the same links with lame, one-liner captions such as “amazing”, “this is cool” among other generic responses.

 Do not authorize random apps to access your profile. 

One of the best features that made Facebook so popular is its apps; virtually anyone can make an app and put it up in Facebook. But this is also the bane of the most popular social networking site, as most people have used this to create the most vicious and intrusive Facebook spams.

It’s not wrong to play a game or two in Facebook, ask for dating advice, or be a little too addicted to Facebook apps… but when you see this window, you should stop, breathe and ask yourself:  should I really permit this app to access my information?

This is why most accounts end up spamming other people. By allowing a potentially spam-generating app to access your account and post on other people’s walls, you become a spammer yourself.

The remedy isn’t all that complex: you should simply go to your Privacy Settings, click on Apps and Websites, and deny the app from accessing your profile any further.

The complete guide to eliminating Facebook spams is by no means complete–nor will it ever be. As long as hackers find new ways of getting into your account, you can’t ever be too sure that you won’t be a victim of Facebook spam. What do you do to eliminate spams in your Facebook?

This blog entry is also posted in the iMark blog.

It’s no big secret that journalism has taken a radical turn with the dawn of digital news. Until recently though, the statistics on how news sites are gaining readership compared to the more traditional newspapers hasn’t been clear. But with figures from Nielsen, the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence has conducted a research on the behavior of visitors of news sites.

Interestingly enough, the research focused on four key areas:

• How do users get to the top news sites?
• How long do users stay in a news site?
• How deep do they go when navigating a news site?
• What is the behavior of a user after navigating the news site?

The research shows that news sites like CNN.com and USAToday.com get their traffic mostly from referrals. Around 30% of the traffic of most sites come from Google, arguably the largest search engine in the Internet. Facebook is a pretty strong referral source, too, as websites like The Huffington Post and The New York Times derive 8% and 6% respectively of its traffic from the social network. Twitter? Well, not so much, as it only accounts for 3.53% of the traffic of most news sites.

Below is a detailed illustration of just how much Facebook affects the traffic of news sites:

As for how long users stay, the research shows that an average user stays for around one to five minutes in a news site. Either they only came to read the article they were referred to (and speed-read at that!) or they were bored out of their wits!

A small fraction the research would like to call “power users” go to their news site of choice at least 10 times a month, and stay for over an hour.

Really though, is it a big surprise that not a lot of people would go to news sites deliberately and type its URL? Perhaps you can speak for yourself that you don’t go to a CNN.com to browse news articles–there’s gotta be some breaking news that interests you and led you to go to the news site in the first place.

If anything, this research shows that news sites are stably gaining traffic, thanks to Google, Facebook and Twitter. By capitalizing on this research, news sites or any other site for that matter may want to invest on SEO and building a loyal customer base in order to get droves of traffic.

This blog can also be read in www.imarkblog.com

In the same class that made me start this blog, we were asked our opinions on whether or not the Internet would change the way the Philippine election is wired.

The Digits

If my memory serves me right, we came to a conclusion that no, there won’t be an Obama in the Philippines–he who won the elections partly through social media and, a year after clinching the position, just tried to woo the Americans back to him with the help of the trusty teleprompter…

The most recent stats states that not even a quarter of the Filipino population are online. With less than 50 million Filipinos registered for the elections, I don’t think the average number of Filipinos online can make a huge blow on the registered voters. Of course, out of that small number, you still have to discount the minors who are online to play games. And then there are the non-voters. And those who log in to check their social networking alones… you get the drift.

And let’s admit it: political awareness isn’t exactly the reason why any average Filipino would go online, nor am I saying that Americans go online for such. I’m saying that reaching Pinoys online to campaign for the elections will not be as effective as in Obama’s campaign. There are many Filipinos talking about the elections online, but let’s not forget, there are 90 million Filipinos out there who are mostly watching TVCs and just not that into intellectualizing the elections that much.

Consider this:

In fact, whenever I start thinking that the country is becoming more and more digital in favor of the elections, I stop, take a breathe, and confront cold hard reality: the few urban centers in the country are undoubtedly in touch with technology, you have bloggers like me to prove that. But everywhere else, it’s just poverty or rurality, and the plain truth is that many more Filipinos don’t even understand what the Internet is. Let alone understand how it can actually be of big help in deciding their vote.

Given that, is it safe to really say that Filipinos are intelligent voters now, thanks to the Internet? Or are we just fooling ourselves into thinking that the 21st century Filipinos now votes more on the basis of the politician’s platform than on the charisma alone?

Don’t get me wrong–I think we might be getting there and that the Internet’s great for decision-making. But we’re just not there yet. And the sooner we admit that fact, we can all stop being smug and start engaging absolutely everyone about the elections. So let’s not get carried away.

Underpaying Clients

To say that there are a lot of freelance job markets is an understatement. I’m not kidding; I think I’ve come across hundreds already.

What concerns me, though, is a growing trend across these sites: freelance writing services for a dirt cheap price. What do I mean? 400- to 500-word articles that are priced at usually 2$. If you’re even unluckier, you’d be given a dollar for an article!

I’d dismiss this as an effect of globalization–there’s an increasing supply of freelance writers from all over the world. Literally.

Holding Your Ground

However, I feel the need to caution others, even myself, that selling one’s writing services for that small a price should never be an option. These articles aren’t easy to create. They involve research, proofreading, and sometimes even a few cups of coffee, right?

I think a massive movement of freelance writers is in order. We shouldn’t allow ourselves to be sold short, considering the costs of offering freelance writing services. It’s not just about the electricity your laptop consumes; you’re also sacrificing your time for yourself, your friends, family, and–which is probably the clincher–your time.  And we all know those things can’t be taken back.

Credits to threeminds.organic.com

The Internet doesn’t just hand over information from senders; it also allows receivers to send their own messages as well. But you already know that: if you’re reading this, then you’re experiencing it. You’re a receiver and sender of messages in the Internet yourself!

With the overriding function of the Internet, just how is the print media managing to survive? While some argue that print will continue to live simply because ‘old habits die hard’, most foresee the impending death of print media a few decades, even years from now.

I’m not just about to join the debate on the perceived lifespan of print. Instead, I’m going to provide you with two case studies: two newspaper organizations that rely on print for profit. Or more for survival, actually.

1. Manila Collegian

Manila Collegian is the official student publication of the university I’m studying in: University of the Philippines Manila. Recently, it has taken concrete steps to reach students of UP Manila and interact–especially since the Collegian is written by students themselves.

So, the question is, how exactly does the Manila Collegian manage to reach students like me, if it reaches them at all?

2. Rogue

Google Rogue magazine and the first hit you’d get is the website of an intriguing magazine–Rogue.  Rogue magazine’s biggest challenge, so it seems, is how it could beat the already congested lifestyle magazine market. When magazines like FHM and Uno are more top-of-mind when it comes to men’s mags, how does Rogue manage to thrive?

The answer, you’ll see, is in the strategy of Rogue in  new media.

So, do you think the new media strategies employed by both organizations are effective enough? Do you think they reach its respective target audiences? Are there tactics they can just do away with?

Most importantly, will they belong to the unfortunate movement that gives truth to the notion that print media is dead?