My Ebay Experience

My E-Bay Experience

            I dislike/fear online transactions.  I am old school like that.  Like our classmate Tito Romy, I prefer the touch and see scheme of things.  But since the theme of this whole course for me has been to explore unfamiliar territories (yes, technology is an unfamiliar territory for me) I thought of trying out an online transaction for a change.  Ebay was the first that came to mind. 

So I went on Ebay.ph and schemed through the page.  I managed to create an account and log in.  Then the fun part.  I glanced through the items being sold sticking with items of interest such as bags, jewelry and clothes.  I decided to stick with items being sold in the Philippines to make things more manageable.  I found a pre-owned Balenciaga motorcyle bag with a current bid of P2,041. The seller is doing some sort of garage sale of her stuff online.  And then there was a Paul and Joe dress being sold for P500!!!!  Whoa.   What a bargain I thought.  I decided to bid for the two items.  I placed my bid at P2,500 for the bag and P600 for the dress.  Two minutes later, another buyer made a bid for P2,600 and P620 for the dress.  Then another at P2,650 and then P650.  It was intense.  I figured that the bidder for the dress has no intention of losing.  The bidding reached to almost a thousand.  To think that the bids were in increments of 20!  So after raising the bid a few more pesos more, I gave in to the determined bidder.  On the other hand, the Balenciaga bag was up for bidding for 2 more days so I decided to continue my bid the next day when everyone is done placing their bids.  However, when I went back, the bidding was done and the bag was sold for P4, 120.  No hard feelings though.  It was beyond my decided budget anyways. 

But even if I lost and was not able to try paying online, it was still a fun experience all in all.  The bidding was exciting and finding good finds is just priceless.  Maybe next time I’ll get to win. :) 

Technology and the Environment

I have always wanted to be able to build a foundation or an organization to further a cause that I passionately believe in.  At the back of my head, I have always thought that after I graduate, one aspect of my life would be dedicated to this cause.   And for the longest time, I have always thought that my life cause would have to have something to do with education.  It has been my idealistic and sheltered opinion that good education is the panacea to all our problems.  But lately, the issue on our degrading environment has caught my attention.  It started with Al Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”  Then I got seated in one of my classes beside an evening student who is affiliated with Bantay Kalikasan.  And now there’s even Richard Gutierrez making environmental documentaries and planting trees with his celebrity friends.  The issue cannot be any more pronounced.  And I’m getting more convinced that I should take my part in helping to save the environment.

That having said and taking up this course now, it made me wonder on the role that technology can play to save our environment.  It has already been said many times that the Internet has changed everything.  But still, the revolutionary potential of information technology in helping environment is still yet to be fully explored.

In the past however, technology has taken the antagonistic role in the issue.  The development in technology has been blamed for the accelerated degradation of our environment.  Technology has been held as the culprit for pollution and other harmful emissions.  Arguably however, it is about time to do away with this belief.  It is about time to use this very same technology to create efficiency and minimize harm to the environment.  One of the more obvious roles of technology now is information dissemination.  Since the dot.com boom has made the world a smaller place, this can be utilized to spread and integrate environmental goals and policies.  Also, technology can be used to make data manageable, make it easier to spot environmental problems and assess their scope and seriousness.  It may also help in coming up with response strategies to these environmental dilemmas.

Indeed, technological advances and information-driven innovation present challenges as well as opportunities. Productivity advances and economic growth from digital technologies may fuel more consumption, resulting in more pollution.  But the same technology can also be utilized to solve the problems we face now.  To explore the technological promise on this aspect would be a rich field to explore.

Tagging and Radio Frequency Identification

Republic Act 4136 or "The Land Transportation and Traffic Code" requires both driver (operator) and the motor vehicle (operated) itself to be registered with the government.

It took me a whole day to renew my license the other day, the line was long and at every segment of the application there was another new thing to pay for. First I had to pay for a drug test which was really just an exercise in peeing in a bottle, they issued a certification after this, a piece of paper. Then came the medical exam in which I luckily remembered to wear contacts when required to read from the wall, another piece of paper was issued. Then I filled up a form with boxes for letters of my name which was quickly snatched by a person who was trying to "help" me, he asked me for 100 pesos. After waiting in line for three hours my picture was taken and I was asked for 20 pesos for a plastic sleeve to put my license in, I realized too late that these sleeve was not mandatory though it was sold at the picture-taking window, had I known I would have chosen a funkier color. The written exam came, and after this I was required to drive a brand new alto, I excitedly paid 270 pesos for its use then the person in charge handed me a slip which said that I drove well. All these forms were stapled together with my old driver's license. I waited for about two hours more when the lady from the releasing window asked me for 1100 pesos, I thought I was supposed to pay at the cashier. A receipt was issued for 810 pesos and I was handed my new license which details were entered into a computer by one person. It took less than five minutes for him to print my license.

The whole of the above paragraph could have been deleted should there have been just one line and one window, but I am no expert in management, so I promised myself that I would never let my license expire again.

As I was waiting in line, since this was Bulacan, conversations with strangers about the weather, politics and the government were common place. Then the discussion came to the issue of RFID.

I remembered a deliberation at the NTC about allowing such RFID, I also remember not knowing what the acronym stood for.

RFID is short for Radio Frequency IDentification, the deliberations were about allowing the use of such devices and issues on licensing and use of such device and which chunks of the air frequency these devices can use. The result of these deliberations is Memorandum Circular 03-08-2006 which can be found with this link: http://portal.ntc.gov.ph/wps/portal/!ut/p/_s.7_0_A/7_0_MA

Apparently according to my fellow persons in line, the LTO will be requiring RFID tags for every motor vehicle to be implemented by October. A fee will be charged for this which was 500 pesos according to them. These tags will be akin to the E-pass cards used with the expressways.

The use of these devices raise privacy and "big brother like" concerns, since with one scan, anyone with a RFID reader (the sale of which is regulated by the NTC) can see all the information stored in the RFID chip, such as vehicle make, color and should there be any violations.

There is safety in anonymity as I have learned in eight years of running around UP. Should this RFID system prove a success, using the same technology for driver's licenses may not be for off in the regulatory horizon, after all, as I learned form the written LTO test, driving is a privelege, not a right.

New technology means the disuse of the old technology, another useful survival knowhow I learned form running around UP is how to check for license plates presuming they be unobscured by a sticker, a plastic bag, suspicious dirt or alltogether removed. And this checking can be done with one text. Simply text:

LTO (space) Vehicle (space) and the plate number you want to verify.

And send to 2600

e.g. LTO Vehicle vbc116

The reply would state the make, model, year, color, last registration, and record of apprehension.

Being able to identify a vehicle is a valid regulation, this is the same reason license plates are issued in the first place. Installing RFID's on vehicles will make identification quicker, not all MMDA's after all, presumably have prepaid credits to text the LTO. The only question is how much information will be stored on such chips and who will be allowed access to this information.

And there's always the option of re-inputing the information on the chip to match another vehicle, which may or may not be of the same make, color or more importantly, owner.

Online Abortion

I read in the Sunday paper a week ago about a special documentary GMA 7 will be airing in one of its late night shows. The short article was actually a summary of what will be tackled in the documentary.

The article said that there are “doctors” who have “online clinics” which sell abortifacients and accept appointments for abortion. Prospective patients would select their preferred schedule, and then they will be told where to go. Usually, the patients will be instructed to go to an inconspicuous place, without any signage or any indication that would give it away as a clinic, let alone an abortion clinic. It added that services offered do not end there; there are sites which entertain questions on abortion procedure, and even sites which will actually assist in the abortion.

To buttress this claim, the article said the anchor who would present the documentary would be following a young couple, using a hidden camera to record the transaction. The article said that the couple made the appointment online, and afterwards they were told to go to a certain place somewhere in Tondo. The “building” located in the address given is run-down and is being occupied by several families. It was a squatter area. The article did not disclose, though, whether it followed the couple throughout the whole process (I think at this point law enforcement officers will be involved already). I wasn’t able to watch the documentary either.

The point is, the internet is not only being used to facilitate communication and business transactions, among other benefits, but is also being taken advantage of by others as a convenient means to commit something illegal (in the Philippines, at least).

I was initially aghast while reading the first few sentences of the article. But then I realized, the internet is a vast source of information; you can find almost anything you want and need. You just have to be good at looking for it.

THREE STRIKES LAW

The French National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, has recently passed a bill imposing fines up to 300,000 euros--- the equivalent of about P20,700,000--- as well as possible prison term for the illegal download of films or music. Families whose children download illegally are not exempt from the law, but face reduced penalties a month of no internet access and fines of 3,750 euros, or 258,750 pesos.
Internet piracy has become a serious concern to the producers, musicians, authors, and others who create content complaining that illegal downloading is essentially stealing their work. This is a major trade off of the booming digital industry. Though it has made easier to create content, but it also made it easier to copy it, thus, violating the intellectual property right of the creators. Under the terms of the new law, people caught illegally downloading files will receive a warning by email on their first offense, followed by a warning sent through registered mail on the second. On the third offense, the user's details will be sent to a judge, who will have the power to cut off internet access and impose fines or even jail terms. Thus, the law was also known as the “three strikes law” for its graduated response to internet piracy.

Is Tux a Male or Female Penguin?

I encountered this recent article from the Linux Insider. A question was posed: Is sexism rampant in FOSS? Apparently, it is the Open Source Community's dirty little secret. There are reports that female participants in the community have been unfairly treated by their male counterparts.

Isa lang ang masasabi ko jan: Just wait and see.

I can see an uncanny parallel.... *insert flashback soundtrack*

Once upon a time, more like eons ago... law was a male-dominated profession. Lawyers were male, judges were male, politicians were male, etc.

BUT NOW *insert heavy metal "music"* You can see women lawyers everywhere. Law schools are filled to the brim with them. Mah Gahd.

Now back to FOSS... like I said, just wait and see.

SOON Linux desktops, the boring bland things that they are, will become laden with colors of the rainbow. I admit, girls love color. We like decorating and if given a chance... we will add features that will make it all pur-tee but FUNCTIONAL. Case in point: "Five women from India contributed the shared-memory feature that made it more useful for PC clustering." I don't have a clue what the heck it means, but you go girls.

Just wait and see.

1, 2, 3, Fight!

A good fifteen years ago, there was a virtual slugfest between two conquerors of the relatively new realm that is cyberspace: Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Netscape’s Navigator. Much like the historical vessels which carried brave souls into uncharted territories, the two competing web browsers ferried the Internet’s modern-day explorers through miles and miles of the information highway. Netscape Navigator was the early entrant and the initial favorite but the fact that Internet Explorer literally sat on the shoulders of the giant that is Microsoft gave it unparalled advantage. Netscape’s market share dwindled through the years as Explorer users increased. Eventually, in 2007, Netscape development was halted and user support also ceased.

2009 has brought with it new players to the field. Internet Explorer still waves its flag proudly akin to a ship which had successfully circumnavigated the world. But other browsers have made their presence felt and now stake a claim in the market – Opera, Mozilla Firefox, Apple’s Safari and the latest youngster to join the batch, search engine king Google’s Chrome.

The new phase of the browser wars is, in many ways, more exciting. For starters, the arena is not populated by two gladiators. Second, one should also note the backers behind every browser being fielded in the competition. Internet Explorer has Microsoft whereas Safari has Apple. However the browser which is slowly and steadily nipping at Internet Explorer’s heels is a scion of a rising new breed in the world of cyberspace. Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer’s close runner-up, is free open-source software.

Just to see how the hotly contested virtual pie is apportioned among the competitors, Internet Explorer is still the leader with a share at 67.44% (according to Marketshare for browsers in http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx). Next in line, as previously mentioned is Firefox with 21.77% followed by Safari with 8.07%, Google Chrome with 1.15% and Opera with 0.71%. However it should be noted that Internet Explorer’s share has been on a steady drop since April of 2008 where it was noted to have a market share of 74.83%. Firefox, on the other hand, has been gaining a following as seen in a rise in its market share from 17.76% in April 2008. The other browsers in the race have also noted an increase in market share.

With more competitors in the field, web users are given more choices as to which browser to navigate cyberspace with. After all, choosing a web browser is, in one way or another, akin to shopping for shoes – it all depends on what the web user’s personality is and what he wants to do. Internet Explorer is the convenient choice since it comes bundled with the Windows OS. However the popularity of Internet Explorer has made it an easy target for the characters which make up the shady population of Internet users. As a matter of fact, Microsoft has been churning out security patches for Explorer like a conveyor belt that has led many users to realize how vulnerable they were before such patches were released. Thus security issues have often driven users to look for alternative browsers which they deem to be more stable and would give them more protection online. Firefox has been deemed to be a more stable alternative but then again, its perceived invincibility could be due to the fact that all heads are turned towards gunning down Internet Explorer so it is somewhat in a lull in terms of enemy attack.

However Firefox has been noted by users to be a more innovative browser. For instance, earlier versions of Firefox were the ones which featured tabbed browsing. It is a practice of some users to open several instances of a browser so as to further multitasking. With a handful of windows open, keeping track of them becomes difficult. With tabbed browsing, each new instance is opened within the window as a tab and thus makes a web surfer’s life less complicated. Firefox also has support for extensions or software add-ons to the browser, allowing the user to customize the browser according to his preferences. The Awesome Bar is another Firefox innovation which automatically shows a scrolldown box of previous sites visited by a user which matches the web URL typed in the address bar. Internet Explorer has seen how such features appealed to users that the Awesome Bar and tabbed browsing were integrated into Explorer’s latest version, IE8.