By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 18:21:00 01/29/2008
MANILA, Philippines — Paypal has announced new bank withdrawal features to Philippines-based users, an eBay.ph customer announcement said.

Paypal is a service that allows payments and money transfers through the Internet. It is emerging as an alternative way to traditional means of payment such as checks and money order. It is currently used to process payments for online vendors and auction sites like eBay. This e-commerce service in turn charges a fee.

In an announcement sent to its eBay.ph customers, Paypal now allows both Philippines-based users of the service to withdraw their Paypal earnings from a list of banks.

A list of banks where Philippines-based users can withdraw their Paypal money is available online.

This withdrawal service is available through the profile page of Paypal users in the Philippines.

Local users are asked to provide the 9-digit bank code, account name and account number. Then they are required to follow online instructions in transferring their Paypal money to the designated bank.

Withdrawals amounting to P7,000 or more will have no transactional fees. A P50 fee is charged for withdrawals below P7,000.

To take advantage of the online service, Paypal requires that members should be verified. The verification process will take three to four business days. It also takes five to seven days for money transferred from PayPal to become available in a local bank, eBay.ph said.

By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 22:09:00 01/22/2008

MANILA, Philippines — The National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) has issued a newer set of draft rules for voice over Internet Prototocl (VoIP) services to promote more competition in the country.

The latest draft rules, a copy of which was obtained by INQUIRER.net, outlined additional policies that were set to “clarify and supplement” previous rules on access charges.

VoIP providers are still required to enter interconnection agreements with at least one public switched telephone networks (PSTN), which in turn, will take care of routing calls to and from other networks, the new draft rules said.

The VoIP providers are also required to pay so-called “transmit charges” of not more than P0.25 per minute. The same transmit charges apply to VoIP providers accessing mobile phone networks, the rules said.

The new rules, however, stressed that access charges for VoIP calls originating from or terminating to a telephone network will not exceed the cost of regular national long distance calls.

Access charges from or those terminating to a PSTN will not exceed P1.00 per minute, while those originating to and terminating from a mobile network will not go beyond P1.50 per minute.

VoIP providers using existing broadband Internet networks will not be required to enter commercial agreements with any network provider, the rules said.

The NTC is set to hold a public hearing on the new draft rules soon, NTC Deputy Commissioner Jorge Sarmiento said.

Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20080122-114098/NTC-issues-latest-draft-rules-on-VoIP

Agence France-Presse
First Posted 02:16pm (Mla time) 01/21/2008

BANGALORE, India–India’s major software firms say a US economic slowdown may bring more customers seeking cost savings, but analysts warn that the once red-hot sector faces tough times in 2008.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys Technologies and Wipro, whose latest earnings were hit by a sharp gain in the rupee against the dollar and the US credit crunch, expect clients to send more work to low-cost India even as they pare overall technology budgets.

Wipro, which reported fiscal third-quarter earnings on Friday, said most clients had prepared their 2008 budgets this month and that some had cut information-technology spending.

“But that does not automatically mean their outsourcing and off-shoring budgets are going to slow down,” said Girish Paranjpe, the executive who deals with Wipro’s financial services customers, its most lucrative clientele. Read more…

Utilities hold less appeal on tighter regulation By Jeffrey Hodgson
Reuters
First Posted 10:57:00 01/17/2008

HONG KONG — Telecoms, infrastructure and toll road companies are among the best defensive stocks for Asian investors who fear that the downturn since the start of the year is shaping up to be a full-blown bear market.

Strategists and fund managers said utilities, traditionally seen as a low-growth safe haven in troubled markets, hold less appeal than in the past because of less favorable regulation and rising input costs.

“The sectors I would be focusing on would be telcos, pretty much across the space, and some infrastructure stocks, particularly the Chinese ones,” said Tim Rocks, equity strategist with Macquarie Securities.

The Hong Kong-based strategist said investors should favor infrastructure plays, particularly in China, including toll road operators Shenzhen Expressway and Zhejiang Expressway, and be wary of utilities.

“Regulatory regimes are generally tougher, so that companies aren’t being allowed to pass some price increases because countries are worried about inflation,” Rocks said.

“Even though they’re defensive in that their revenue line may not move that much, the problem is their costs are going up, so they may not be as defensive as it would initially seem.” Read more…

By MA. ELISA P. OSORIO - The Philippine Star

Major telecommunication firms Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), Globe Telecom and Bayan Telecommunications will participate in a government-sponsored exhibit at the Mall of Asia aimed at promoting the country’s business process outsourcing (BPO) industry.

The e-Services Global Sourcing Conference and Exhibition 2008 is a leading trade event showcasing global BPO buyers and suppliers as well as centers of excellence and emerging locations in BPO and ICT (information and communications technology).

It offers an international platform for knowledge sharing on current industry trends, networking and investment opportunities in outsourcing and offshoring (O&O).

Leading the event is the Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), the trade promotion arm of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

During the two-day conference slated in February, innovations on ICT and BPO will be presented in over 150 booths representing software companies and next-wave BPO cities like Cordillera-Ilocos, Central Luzon, Western Visayas, Central Visayas and Davao-GenSan.

Also to be presented at the exhibit are IT-enablers (technology vendors, IT parks, real estate), and companies engaged in animation, health information management, software development and creative e-services like games development and engineering design.

“At e-services, you meet new business contacts, network with them and at the same time work with government officials and educational institutions. This is also important because you get a feel of what’s happening in the industry and how you can help make your industry’s common goal a reality,” said Jeremiah Chow, business development manager of games development firm Anino Mobile.

Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=104547

MANILA, Philippines–LISTED conglomerate Ayala Corp. is spending bulk of its capital expenditures this year on its telecommunications arm Globe Telecom Inc. and property unit Ayala Land Inc.Ayala chief finance officer Rufino Luis Manotok said that while the company has yet to consolidate its capital expenditures for 2008, the Ayala group was expected to spend more this year.

For one, the Ayala Group is setting aside P16 billion for capital spending on ALI this year.

Ayala Land chief finance officer Jaime Ysmael said the company was likely to spend more than P16 billion this year, mainly for its residential projects, with some going to shopping centers and office buildings catering to business process outsourcing firms and the building of the merged stock trading floors at the Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig City.

Early last year, Ayala president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala said the Ayala group has allocated P47 billion in capital expenditures in 2007, higher than the P42 billion spent in 2006.

Elizabeth Sanchez-Lacson

Source: http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=112099

Nokia Philippines has been alarmed with the increase in the number of cloned phones recently. It’s not only the popular Nokla phones from China but all other variations as well. While a number of consumers tend to buy the cheaper fake versions, others are not really aware that what they are buying are total knock-offs.Nokia sent us these tips to share with our readers.

Top 3 Things to Take Note to Know if your Nokia Phone is legit or not:

1. Warranty

Nokia mobile phones bought in the Nokia Store or from its authorized dealers have a blue 12-month limited warranty sticker from Nokia Care slapped on the top or side parts of the phone’s box. Read more…

Intel to change processor naming for Montevina platform

Intel will change its naming scheme for mobile CPUs arriving with the Montevina notebook platform later this year. Montevina is the replacement for the current Santa Rosa platform. In addition to the T series processors, a P series and an S series will be added which will have lower TDP ratings. The T series will have a TDP rating of 30-39W, while the P will have a lesser TDP of 20-29W. The S series will be comprised of three segments: the SP, SL, and SU, which have TDPs of 20-29W, 12-19W, and less than or equal to 11.9W respectively. They will have a smaller package size to fit in smaller designs.
In Q3 2008, Intel is planning to launch a quad-core notebook processor.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)

Gateway P-16831FX with 8800M-GTS impressions posted

Forum member bwhxeon managed to snag a Gateway P-16831FX gaming notebook earlier than the laptop’s planned release date. It features a 17″ widescreen display, Core 2 Duo processor, and a powerful Nvidia GeForce 8800M-GTS graphics card. The notebook retails for a relatively low $1,349.99 at Best Buy. Please see the full impressions thread in the forum for more benchmarks and pictures.

Read More (forum.notebookreview.com)

OLPC spin-out company to create $75 laptop

A new venture formed by former CTO of OLPC, Mary Lou Jepsen, plans to create a $75 laptop. Jepsen left OLPC to commercialize technologies she developed with OLPC. She is quoted as saying, “Spinning out from OLPC enables the development of a new machine, beyond the XO [laptop], while leveraging a larger market for new technologies.” The company will work with OLPC and will be for-profit.

Read full article here ->

If you have a smartphone with a high-speed data connection, wouldn’t it be nice to be able to use that connection with your laptop? PDANet from June Fabrics Technology is an application for Palm OS and Windows Mobile phones that lets you do just that.I have a Dell Latitude D630 with a built-in broadband card as well as a Motorola Q smartphone with a dedicated data plan. In short, I’m always connected. That said, the D630 is bulky and I don’t like traveling with it. That’s why I bought an Asus Eee PC and installed Windows XP on it. The problem? The Eee PC doesn’t have a built-in broadband card and I didn’t want to spend another $80 or more on a broadband USB adapter (and possibly another monthly data plan).

PDANet is an application that lets you tether your notebook to your smartphone via USB or bluetooth and use your smartphone’s data plan to browse the web. I field tested this application at CES 2008 and I have to say I was quite impressed.

Asus Eee PC 4G using Motorola Q for wireless broadband.

Installation? What installation?

If you’ve ever tried to tether your notebook to a smartphone then you know how painful the process can be. In fact, just run a Google search for the word “tethering” and you’ll find an overwhelming collection of how-to articles outlining painstakingly detailed step-by-step instructions on how to connect a laptop and a cell phone. It isn’t easy … until now. Read more…

SEORoundTable writes that Gmail has bumped up it’s capacity to 6 Gb.

Google’s Gmail actually set the bar (and killed a few web based email services while they were are it) by being the first to offer 1Gb of mail storage a few years back. At that time access to Gmail was by invitation only.

Yahoo! Mail, which had about 10Mb at that time also followed suit. Last May Yahoo even started offering unlimited email space.

Along with that December feature upgrade, Gmail also added colored filtering tags which can make mail sorting a whole lot easier. And if you have friends at AIM chat, you can now chat with them via Gmail. Plus a sling of keyboard shortcuts to make your emailing experience more productive.

Source: Pinoy Tech Blog