Dear friends, 

When I began Technobiography in 2004, I just wanted to write about technology and how it affects my life. 

So much has changed since 2004. And it’s time for me to make a change and take this blog to the next level. I have decided to tighten the theme of my blog around the niche of How to Make Money with Mobile. 

Mobile Millionaire - Make Money with Mobile

I reached this decision at the Maven Secrets Program by Anton Diaz, especially with the inspiration of Kid blogger Carl Ocab (Make Money Online with a 13 year old kid blogger). When I met Carl, I half kidding when I declared “When I grow up, I want to become like Carl Ocab”.  :-) 

Thus, begins my transition from Technobiography to www.MobileMillionaire.Net . 

Mobile Millionaire – Make Money with Mobile 

Mobile Millionaire about helping people Make Money with Mobile. I’ll be writing about many ways of using the mobile phone to earn money, including 

• selling airtime load
• mobile advertising
• having a cellphone service
• creating an application or game
• mobile commerce
• or even doing business with the help of mobile.

Many of these topics are not new to me. For instance, I’ve been writing a lot about mobile commerce in the past 5 years. There are so mechanisms for making money with mobile. I’d like to help my readers discover the many ways to make money with mobile.   

But more than making money, I also want to talk about Creating Wealth with Mobile. 

True wealth goes beyond money. In a seminar called PSI (People Synergistically Involved), I learned that True Wealth is what we have that cannot be destroyed nor diminished without our permission. True wealth includes our knowledge, our skills, our talents, our network of friends and much more that we have inside of us. 

Creating Wealth with Mobile means enhancing our knowledge, our skills, our talents or maintaining our connection with our network of friends. Thus, I will also be talking about how to use the mobile to 

• gain knowledge, skills or talents through mobile ebooks, audio books, applications or the mobile web
• nurture connections with our friends through mobile web or a plethora of applications

Through articles on this blog Mobile Millionaire, I aim to help my readers Make Money with Mobile and Create Wealth with Mobile. 

Help me help you . Let’s make this world a better place. 

ka edong
Mobile Millionaire

Amidst the celebration of Pacquiao’s fight, I am even more exhilarated by a 1 minute video I first saw during the fight.

Quick info:

How to join AKO MISMO:
Visit the website at www.akomismo.org and make your pledge. Ako Mismo Links:

• About
• FAQs
• Contact
• Who is Behind Ako Mismo?
• Terms & Conditions
• Privacy Policy
• Commitment Wall (as of May 7, login required) publicly viewable, May 7, 1:16pm

Where to get AKO MISMO dogtags:
Update (May 7): FAQs say dogtags will be available in “next few weeks”.
Update (May 30): The Dog Tags are coming (< — this page requires login) (Thanks mel for info)
Update (June 14):  AKO MISMO Dog Tag Day Posters; AKO MISMO Dog Tag Day Videos

• First public launch of Dog Tags:
  AKO MISMO DOG TAG DAY on June 12 at the Fort concert grounds in Taguig.
• “By July, dog tags will be made available in 400 Mail & More outlets nationwide for P40. Again, proceeds will go towards socio-civic and charity works that AKO MISMO is supporting. We will publish the amounts raised for each of our charities on this website.” – www.akomismo.org

How can I help?
Many ways to help in nation-building.

First, here’s the clip. Second (after the clip), let me tell you how I feel and what I think about this whole campaign.

What is AKO MISMO?

From what I’ve seen and read, AKO MISMO is a campaign.

It’s a campaign for Filipinos to take action towards helping the Philippines rise and move forward.

It’s a campaign to help instill the awareness in Pinoys to take action instead of complain or blame.

We each have a role in making our country great! Not just somebody else’s role.

It’s MY role! It’s OUR role to make the Philippines a great country!

(read what the www.akomismo.org website says about the campaign).

AKO MISMO – my own thoughts, my own words.

JM and I share the same feeling about seeing this video. Nakaka-pangilabot!

Frankly, the first time I saw the ad, I was half-expecting to see an endorsement for another politician.

Pero dehins, men!

This ad was about us Filipinos taking-charge!

This campaign is about us Filipinos taking responsibility for our beloved country and doing our share, each in our own way.

In an exchange of messages via Facebook, JM and I reminisced about our NAMFREL volunteer days.

That role of helping our country, that’s the feeling I’m feeling now!

And it’s so exciting finding out that hundreds of thousands of Filipinos are taking a stand and making a commitment to help our country.

All star cast

Ely Buendia, Charise Pempengco, Maxine Magalona (and truly and strongly I feel Francis M is in there too!), Mon Fernandez, Efren (Kuya F, behind a kariton school ), Luis Manzano, a priest, a muslim lady, a medical technician, Angel Locsin, Arnel Pineda, a women’s rights advocate, a Pinoy Hollywood director, and more …

These are the people who captured and communicated, in this video, the commitment for our country! Ang galing! Ang galing!

The www.akomismo.org website

I visited the website just an hour ago. And I am overwhelmed! In a span of 7 hours, they’ve gathered 14,000 commitments on the wall of commitments from thousands of Filipinos.

My first commitment was to write about www.akomismo.org . And I’m doing it right now!

My excitement


Why am excited about all this?

I feel it’s the unity of EDSA revolution
on an individual level,
and with the common awareness of each other’s commitment,
and the awareness that we’re in this together!.

Let me just write in bullets.

• It’s about time! It’s about time we Filipinos band together and take action in making our country rise!
• The timing was perfect! At a time when Manny Pacquiao takes to the ring and makes the Filipino proud and united – perfect time for the Filipinos to take this to the next level.
• Nakaka-pangilabot! I watched the video again and again and I know this is big.
• I pray to the good Lord that this campaign will touch the hearts of millions of Filipinos the way it has touched me!
• Is this a tipping point for the Philippines?
• Where’s Gang Badoy and Rock.Ed Philippines? Are they involved? Get them involved! This is a campaign that Rock.Ed Philippines has been doing for many years. “No more excuses, Philippines!” “Tama na reklamo, kumilos nalang tayo!”  They have much to contribute in helping in this campaign. Include http://www.onetama.com/ as well!
• I see there are thousands of commitments already on the commitment wall. I see people committing to be a better Filipino, to committing to not litter, committing to pray for the Philippines, committing to join volunteer work, committing to make a video for Filipinos etc.
• This wall of commitments is powerful! It sends a powerful message that “I will do my part” to help our country and thousands more are doing their part! Powerful!
• I see that some of these commitments come from people who didn’t understand what they were writing (e.g. “ako mismo ang mag-search”, “ako mismo kakain na ako”, “ako mismo web developer”, “ako mismo sign up”)  — these obviously came from people who didn’t understand that what they were writing was going to be published in the form of a commitment on the commitment wall. The website must help people understand better what committments we are looking for.
• What I fear is that people might start vandalizing the commitment wall with kalokohan. I’ve already seen some bordering on kalokohan. The web-administrator of www.akomismo.org better be ready for attacks like that. We can’t avoid that there will be people who will try to ruin a good thing.

• Where can I get the Ako Mismo dog tags!? I want to wear it, and I will wear it proud!

Now what!?


My action steps:

• Commitment #1: write about www.akomismo.org — done
• tell my friends about it — done
• get an ako mismo dog tag – done (june 12)
  
• sign-up for more commitments — ako mismo ang gagawa ng sarili kong commitments! — done ; But wait, there’s more!

Bloggers unite! Link-lovin for this AkoMismo campaign …

• Carlo Ople – New Media, doubts and concerns, deconstructing
• Karla Redor – Rocker’s World
• Ka Edong – Technobiography
• Joey Alarilla at CNET Asia (Yey!) , Life as a Catalyst
• PinoyBlog ni Boyet
• Martin Perez – Web Activism or Sugar High
• renn.poshqueen.us
• Bikoy.net (a dissenting opinion)
• Doc Angelo – Beyond Toxicity
• Juned – Baratilyo.net
• Anton Diaz – Our Awesome Planet
• The Coffee Chic
• Starmometer – Kapuso and Kapamilya Stars Unite in ‘Ako Mismo’ Advocacy
• Flickr Discussion by Dirthman
• Bob Ong – BobOng PinoY
• Tristan Cafe
• Tropang Spider
• MineBurst
• Buzz Express
• Ramon Fernandez on Multiply
• alteredaura – Free Radicals
• Maver – Gossip Gehl
• Jhay Rocas – The Four Eyed Journal
• Otep – Libre lang mangarap
• Purpose Driven Paul
• Arnold Gamboa – Resurgenc 2.0
• Gang Badoy – abashet
• faintless
• Super Bong – The Philippines and Beyond
• Bry  – Constant Random Change
• Jolly Life
• Inquirer.net Blogs
• Da Brighter Side
• Judd Sta Maria
• Noemi Dado – About My Recovery
• Lawrence Villegas – A Practical Magician’s Post
• Reyjr – Born on a Syzygy

comment below or send me an email and I’ll add your link to this list: ka_edong at edwinsoriano.com

Microblogs / Forums / Discussions

• Plurk
• Twitter
• PhilMUG
• CandyMag.com
• TipidPC.com
• The Digital Pinoy
• PEP
• Tsikot

Find more blogs about Ako Mismo:

• pledges to “blog” on Ako Mismo commitment wall
• More “Ako Mismo” blogs via Google Search
• TopBlogs’ “Ako Mismo” roundup

Related links:

• Similar campaign: OneTama http://www.onetama.com/ — I like how they track “doing action” and “completed”! Galing!
• Edu Manzano announced this pala last month: Edu Spearheads “Ako Mismo” (April 23, 2009 on PEP).
• Article on ABS-CBN News Online – PLDT Chairman denies he’s running in 2010
• Inquirer: Smart denies owning patriotism campaign site
• ABS-CBN News: ‘Ako Mismo’ campaign questioned over privacy

ka edong
ako mismo ang kikilos para sa bayan

Disclosure here. Past life here, present here.

My First Sony Experience is with my brother’s Sony Walkman DJ-ing and carolling.
(Read all the way to the end, I have an early Christmas gift for you!)

Christmas 1980 – The Sony Walkman Walks into our lives

It was Christmas, around 1981 which places me at around 6 years old in Baguio, in flannel pajamas waking up all aglow with the gifts under the Christmas tree! My parents had come back from the US after attending a conference there. They had lots of pasalubongs for us, but they reserved the best gifts for Christmas!

In the morning, when me and my siblings woke up, we each had a gift from, uhm… Santa Claus … right, that was his name!

My sister got a desk clock,  my eldest brother got a radio, and my brother KEric got a Sony Walkman! Wahoo!!!!

(Should I even mention at all that what I got was a huge stuffed toy which my mom probably won at a theme park? We named him Hotdog, and Hotdog was NOT made by Sony).

Of course back then the walkman was the talk of the town! The silver walkman came with a leather casing that had a firm button (as in a silver button just like on our jackets) that was meant to be a quick release to let lose the casette playing beneath. The walkman had earphones that squeezed unto my tiny ears just right.

Back then, I think Kuya was playing some of the popular bands like the Air Supply. I remember “Various Artists” (akala ko nuon, band yun!) and I remember “The eye of the tiger!”.

Radio Edwin is in da howz!

We enjoyed playing with the walkman. At one point, my eldest brother KElm (who was studying in Manila that time) brought home a pair of speakers that he had assembled himself. It was made from speakers bought at Raon, with a box made out of … karton and painted black. The pair of speakers were the size of a half-gallon of icecream. We connected the speakers to the Sony Walkman and pretended to be DJ’s at the local radio station.

I would have fun during the afternoons alone at home. I would line up a series of songs in casettes (including “can you read my mind” — theme from superman) . Then, when I’m ready to play DJ using the Sony walkman and my brother’s home-made speakers, I would make a random telphone call. It was a heavy (heavy!) green rotary telephone back then.

When the other party answered the other telephone line, I would announce (with a 6-year-old kid’s dj voice, modulated as best as he can) that this was Edwin Radio and will be playing some songs for the lucky listener!

I’d play the music, change casettes in a split second and play more music. This would go on for around three songs afterwhich I would announce that Edwin Radio is signing off. If I were lucky, the person on the other telephone line would still be there, listening to this little boy playing songs on his walkman for a random person’s amusement … not to mention my extreme amusement at what I was doing.

Ah, fun times!

A Christmas Carol from my childhood captured in tape

My dad kept a copy of a tape that was recorded over (accidentally?!?! I doubt!) by yours truly.

Here’s a Christmas carol from me (the 6-year old me) to you (the 2008 you). (Go ahead, play it )

Permanent link to wav file: we wish you… .

Despite the old technology of 3 decades ago, despite the background noise, despite the years that have passed, I’m very thankful for my dad for having kept this little memorabilia of my childhood mischief — well, consider it traces of the tech-usiyosero in my childhood. Thanks to the technology that was that captured my childhood voice.

My brother’s Sony Walkman definitely gave significance in my early life as a Christmas caroller and the lives of my “Edwin Radio” listeners just like the Sony’s World’s First Noise Cancelling technology.

More First Sony Experiences:

• Ka Edong
• Rybaxs
• Aeirin
• Chuvaness
• LJDiaz
• Earthlingorgeous
• Aimz
• Edz
• Ambo
• Reyna Elena

ka edong
remembering fun times in a kid’s world

Abangan!

Stories:

• T Harv Eker’s affirmation: “I am a money magnet!”
• The Money Magnet works – G
• The Money Magnet in my wallet
• It’s a state of mind
• Spread the magnetism … abangan!

Comment nalang muna …

There’s so much to discover about your friends through Friendster. I remember our high school reunion last year. One of our friends was sooooo updated with the whereabout, whatabouts, howabouts and whyabouts of our old classmates. And do you know how he stays up-to-date? Through Friendster, of course!

I’m not much of a Friendster person. But I’ve come up with something that we just might be able to SELL to Friendster. Mwahahaha!

Create your own Friendster Status!

We all know the current Friendster Statuses (Stati?):

• Single
• In a Relationship
• Domestic Partner
• Married
• It’s complicated ^TM

It was interesting how Friendster trademarked the “It’s complicated” phrase. Could they really get a trademark for that?

Well, I have a friend, Lanie, who could not place herself in any of the above statuses.

Here’s what Lanie would use if she could create her own Friendster status:

• In Denial ^TM

Isn’t that sooooo true! So many people walk this earth and they are In Denial ^TM

Question: If YOU could create your own Friendster Status, what would it be?

ka edong
Soaring High ^TM

It started with SM. They invited people to bring their recyclables to the SM parking lot on a specific saturday of the month. Recyclables were collected, some of the trash was converted into cash. And this was happening in all SM malls all around the country.

Then Ayala launched their Recyclables Fair also. Ayala’s Fair happens at different Ayala malls on different days.

Great Green Program

I can’t help but think that there’s a person or group that deliberately brought the idea to the biggest malls in the country. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Robinson’s chain of malls starts doing this too.

Win-win

Everybody turns out a winner here. To start, the awareness campaign raised by the malls helps people think about all the junk that they’ve accumulated in their homes. That’s a huge step already as I’m sure there are millions of Filipinos who keep stuff that are no longer used.

Patrons who bring their recyclables to the malls get to unclutter their home, put good things to good use (that blanket you’ve been keeping for 10 years — it could have been used by another family to protect them from the cold) and earn some money at the same time.

The recyclers who collect and buy the recyclables – they now have a massive boost in their collection of recyclables with the “marketing” and logistic support of the malls.

The malls, on the other hand, have turned their idle parking lots (idle in the mornings) into revenue generating assets. Of course the malls aren’t directly paid for the use of their parking lot. But take a look at the dynamics. What will patrons do after they sell, say 1,000 pesos worth of recyclables? They will spend it, of course. And guess where they will spend it? At the mall! Yes, the malls earn from hosting these recycling fairs.

The environment is a big winner too! Yes the big Mommah Earth wins here. More materials re-used and recycled means less trash and better use of resources.

Kariton mag-bobote losing business?

How about the neighborhood mag-bo-bote? Aren’t they adversely affected by the Green Malls? Don’t the malls eat up the “market” of the kariton magbobote?

I think not. I think that the awareness campaign of the malls will ultimately put more recyclable materials out into the open. When convenient, people will bring their recyclables to the mall. But when it’s too inconvenient, people will rather give (or sell) the recyclables to the mag-bobote.

Imagine being dressed up ready to go to the mall and bringing along your old airconditioning unit. I think in this case, the aircon unit will be sold to the magbobote instead of the mall.

At the end of it all, the mere awareness of recycling will bring out more recyclables and will ultimately benefit everybody.

Win win! Yahoo!

Trash to Cash Recycling Market at SM Supermalls

• Every 1st Saturday of the month, 8am to 2pm at the open parking of ALL SM Supermalls
• Scrap paper and cardboard
• empty ink and toner cartridge
• plastic bottles and plastic scraps
• used lead batteries (from cars, UPS/Voltage regulators)
• Aluminum, tin cans, busted rechargeable lamps
• Polysterene, styrofoam, junk cellphone, cellphone batteries (not for recycling/buying)
• Website: www.smprime.com

Ayala Recyclables Fair

• 4th Friday of the Month, 8am-3pm – Trinoma, North Open Parking
• 2nd Friday of the month – Glorietta, Goldcrest parking, Makati
• 3rd Friday of the month – Alabang Town Center, Mntinlupa
• Used lead-acid batteries, e-waste (electronics, appliances, obsolete computers), paper waste, plastic and metal waste (VHS and betamax tapes, cassette tapes, bottles etc.), Printer cartridges.
• For proper disposal only: Tarpaulin streamers, household batteries, polystyrene packaging, mobile phones, batteries, chargers.
• For more info, contact 901-3000 (Trinoma Concierge) or 752-1084 (Ayala Foundation);
• Website: www.ayalamalls.com.ph

Related Links:

• Search Google: “Trash to Cash SM Supermalls” , “Ayala Recyclables Fair“
• Recycling, Recyclables

Recycling at the malls according to blogs:

• Trash into cash – SM Supermalls’ Waste Market
• Trash To Cash: Recycling Market at SM Supermalls
• Ayala Recyclables Fair – a good way to get rid of clutter
• Random ramblings: From Trash to Cash
• Trash to Cash at Shoemart | Pinoy Tech Blog
• Byte Sized Bits » Trash To Cash At SM

ka edong
recycled mind

Yesterday and Today, L and I have been working on an idea we hope to profit from.

But first, we create value.

• Came up with a brilliant idea for a book
• I wrote down a quick book concept, wrote down the summary and immediately identified some of the first next steps
• I’ve accomplished a few of the next steps
• engaged L, mom, dad and T in adding to the work
• been writing down on my cellphone, on paper, on the laptop the ideas that we come up with

I’ll be contacting good friend and book publisher R and will ask him how to put together this book. Have also a couple of friends from whom I’ll need some help too.

It’s a good first book project. Will it fly? I believe it will! It shall fly as long as I make it fly!

Wahoo!

Yesterday, I experienced for the first time a full pabasa. It had the works. Santos all dressed up at an altar, Pasyon books with the verses that to be sang, a CD with a recorded accompaniment of the pabasa and of course the readers, family, friends, visitors and the food!

I was wondering, isn’t there a videoke version of the Pabasa? I’m sure some people have thought of this already. This is what I have in mind:

• A CD that can be installed in the traditional Pinoy videoke machine that we find in every corner around the archipelago, wherever there’s a piyesta or inuman.
• It will have the lyrics of the defunct standard Pasyon.
• You can select the page number of the Pasyon book as if you were choosing a song number on the videoke.
• The images of the videoke will reflect images of the Passion of Christ
• Users can choose from among a dozen different tunes of the Pasyon from traditional, regional to modern (ocho-ocho or Papaya pasyon)
• And here’s the clincher! After more than 12 hours (or, for some, 24 hours) of the pasyon, the familiar concluding tune will play: “tatantan tan tan tan taaaaaaaaaan!!!!” and a score will display how well you sang your e-pasyon!

ka edong
pasyonate

We’ve got FREE WiFi at the Araneta Center!

WiFi is available at Araneta Coliseum, Gateway mall, Shopwise (not available within the supermarket area) and Ali Mall (restaurant row only).

Reminds me of Free hotspots in Singapore Malls. Just sniff for WiFi and you’ll find a free and open hotspot.

Someday, the Philippines will have enough Internet wireless connectivity that people will no longer limit or “horde” their Internet access and will start to share without asking for anything in return. Someday, no scarcity.

ka edong
agape

Hi there this is Edong and I’m going to talk about radio browsing in this episode of Ka-Edong’s podcast.

Radio browsing; let me first have an intro about perception of the internet for people who have not used the internet. So let me describe this through a story.

I was assigned in Cuyo Palawan for one year. In Cuyo Palawan in the island where I was, we did not have electricity. We had a generator which provided a few households with electricity for around two hours in the evening. And back then, in 1998 our contact with the outside world was the transistor radio- of course we were looking in to AM programs. And in some of the news items there were news about the internet. So this is how rural folks-some rural folks hear about the internet and the wonder of the internet.

The thing is when you hear about the internet on the news, it’s usually bad news. For example, internet fraud-that makes the news, when there was news about the Franc Swiss scam-that made the news. And people who are not familiar with the internet they would say: “oh ok that’s what the internet is about, it’s about fraud, it’s about people stealing money from other people.” Other news items would include pornography, how a starlet has sued an internet service for publishing nude pictures of her which were edited and things like these.

And when people, who are not familiar with the internet-hear some things like these- They have a negative perception of the internet. So that is how my foster parents in Cuyo Palawan learned about the internet and I told them that this is just one aspect of the internet and there are many other interesting things about the internet things that are useful. So that’s just me talking to my foster parents about the internet. But there’s a better of improving the image of the internet and the World Wide Web to a greater population. To the population which does not have access to the internet-the people who are in the mountains, many of our fisher folks, the poor, people who listen to programs like the program of the late Ernie Baron, people who listen to the AM radio…who listen to DZMM. These are people who may have very limited access to the internet and have a limited perception of the internet.

This is where radio browsing comes in.

What is radio browsing? Radio browsing is a program where the DJ goes on the internet and goes on air on FM or AM radio. And then for 30 minutes or one hour on the radio program he surfs the internet and then via the radio he describes to his audience what he sees on the internet, what website he is visiting, what services are available       etc.

A radio browsing program could start off with explaining the concept of the internet and then having a few examples like search engines, travel, how to find friends, how to find information, how to find interesting facts, or how to find information on the weather. Anything that is appropriate for the audience for, the locale, for the current events, things that are happening. This program-radio browsing program is there to help its audience, the listeners to have a better understanding of the internet. Although the audience does not see the PC, does not see the browser, they are able to listen to the kind of information that is available, the kind of services that are available in the internet.

When I heard about this program being done in Bangladesh or in India, the DJ the, technology guy-the DJ who is doing the program described how he would talk on air about the web service that he is surfing at the moment. But the thing is, with them, he did not have a feedback mechanism, he did not know what his audience was thinking, what kind of questions they had.

Radio Browsing for the Philippines 

I got to thinking, in the Philippines there is a feedback mechanism-that is SMS. So in the Philippines, if there is a radio browsing program it could be a question and answer, something similar to Ernie Baron’s ‘Knowledge Power’. So there is a better interaction between the DJ doing the radio browsing and his audience. So for example, the DJ can go to a government service like sss.com.ph and then he could describe what kind of information they have in sss.com.ph he can describe the kinds of forms that can be downloaded form website, he can describe how to contact SSS, where the branches are, he could describe the kinds of online services available on the sss.com.ph website. These increase the awareness of the audience and make them realize that yes indeed that the internet does have some services available-good services available that people can use.

And then here comes the interaction between the audience and the radio browsing DJ. The audience can send asking questions about the service-about the website being featured for that day. And then and there can answer-“yes that service is available all you need to do is click this and that, visit this and that…etc”

That is radio browsing. Radio browsing in the Philippines can be done to improve the awareness of the people about the internet. This can be used to promote government services or non-government services, this can be use to promote local government services available to the citizens. And then this can be used to increase participation in online services.

That’s radio browsing. That’s a tool that Filipinos can use to further increase the awareness of our countrymen about the internet-not the negative side of the internet but maybe both the positive and negative side of the internet.

That’s radio browsing for you.

podcast permalink: Radio browsing 

EdXcribe

04 September 2007
Technobiography