snage

How to Make Cake Without Oven - Update

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 06:02:00 +0000

How to Make Cake Without Oven

Chocolate Cake Recipe

Another insightful result when baking cake. Different result when the batter is cooked directly above the stove compared to another using water around a large pot.

Used the same recipe here: http://snageness.blogspot.com/2013/03/baking-cake-without-oven-homemade-baking.html

Made another cake without oven for our youngest sis bday. She even planned the cake design.

How to Make Cake Without Oven – Homemade Baking

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 07:59:00 +0000

Are you a fan of mouth-watering delicacies and want to try it by your own?

The only problem – well aside from searching and buying ingredients is having the vital piece of equipment necessary for baking. Yes, you got it right – an OVEN!

Me and my sisters are much eager to make cakes, brownies and cupcakes. We love watching cooking shows that features sweet treat, not to mention DC Cupcakes.

You gotta love the measuring, mixing and the vibrant colors of the frostings! But how can you make this happen when all baking instructions start with “Preheat the OVEN…”

A few days back, we agreed to do an experiment and tried baking a chocolate cake using our electric stove.

Here are the ingredients for an easy chocolate cake from JustEasyRecipes

Ingredients:

2 cups flour
¾ cups cocoa powder
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 cups sugar
½ cup oil
1 cup boiling water or hot coffee
2 eggs

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line two 23cm round cake pans, or one 23x33cm rectangular baking pan, with wax paper. Grease the paper and the sides of the pan well.
In a large bowl, sift the dry ingredients together.
Add the eggs, milk, oil and vanilla essence and beat with an electric mixer for about two minutes. Add the boiling water or coffee and mix until combined.
Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans and bake for 30-40 minutes.
To test if the cake is ready, insert a toothpick into the middle of the pan. If it comes out clean, the cake is ready. A single rectangular cake will take slightly longer to bake than two round layers.
Slide a knife around the edge of each cake to loosen it from the pan, turn the pan over onto a metal rack and peel off the paper.
Let the cake cool completely before covering with icing. For the icing recipes. I recommend a chocolate buttercream icing or ganache.

How to Make Cake Without Oven : Using Gas Stove

How to Make Cake Without Oven : Using Electric Stove

Try 1: Electric Stove – Mixing Bowl

Our plan was to put a baking pan inside a larger cooking pot. Unfortunately, we can’t find one. What we did instead is to put the mixing bowl inside the pot since it’s just the right size to fit. This proves to be a bad move. We didn’t realize that the mixing bowl is rather thick compared to the real baking pan. We end up baking the cake for almost 3 hours. Every time we open the pot to see if the cake’s volume has doubled, we’re disappointed and another toothpick down the trash.

We decided to take the mixing bowl and tried getting the cake out – but it won’t. The center was burned and the top was not completely cooked. So instead of having a wasted cake – (still tastes delicious) we scooped it out and put it in a plastic container to be molded. We set it aside since it’s late. The following morning I made a frosting called chocolate ganache.

Here’s the ingredient still from JustEasyRecipes

Frosting: Chocolate Ganache

Ganache refers to a variety of icing, fillings for pastries and glazes. It is typically made from chocolate and cream. The rich chocolate glaze is normally poured over cakes to create a glossy, beautiful finish.

Ingredients:

284ml cream
1 level tbsp syrup
200g coarsely chopped chocolate (use dark chocolate for the best results)

Method:

Pour the cream into a saucepan and bring to the boil.
Remove the saucepan once boiled.
Stir in the syrup.
Place the chopped chocolate into a mixing bowl.
Pour the heated mixture over the chocolate.
Mix until all the chocolate has melted.

Waiting customers, my youngest sis with Pop

Molded the cake in a plastic container since we can't get it out of the bowl

What happened? burnt cake (What an idiot, using a mixing bowl to cook - there's a reason why it's called mixing bowl!) ;>

That night, my bf got a taste of the cake. He asked me to bake him another one. This starts our second attempt using a different method.

Try 2: Gas Stove – Baking Pan

Since they got a very large pot – (the one which witches use or the one used by chefs when stir frying - wok.) - we’re lucky! The rectangular baking pan fits. We cooked it for an hour. The only problem is the uneven distribution of heat due to the shape of the pot. It has round-bottom, thus the baking pan was not entirely over the pot. The center portion was not cooked the same as the sides. However it was perfect. I love watching my boyfriends enjoying as he made the frosting (he also made the batter!) His parents and a cousin waited until it was finish (right about midnight) and we got thumbs up!

We didn't took photos for the methods of mixing since it's just the same as with what we did in the first try.

Putting the second layer. Thanks for goldilocks for sponsoring our cake holder .

JR putting some ganache frosting on top of the first layer of out cake

Me frosting the cake.

I read online that you can use stones to even out the woks round bottom. We’ll try it next time

When we are back in the city, I decided to bake a cake using our electric stove. The good thing about city shopping malls is that they got a wide selection of ingredients. I enjoyed browsing for ingredients to use. The Dutch cocoa was great for my cake. I forgot what brand (update next time). Also bought some cake decorations and nuts.

Try 3: Electric Stove –Baking Pan

This time, I got no one to help! But still enjoyed it as much. Using the same ingredients I put my batter in a baking pan and put it directly over the stove. I almost forgot, cover your pan with an aluminum foil. The baking process was not perfect since the center got slightly burned. I plan to buy a flat aluminum pan to use next time. I’ll put it over the stove before the baking pan.

Here are some photos from my chocolate cake without using an oven. Be creative on your decoration and no will know it's homemade!

Tips:

When frosting, let the cake cool first. You could also set the frosting mixture in the fridge for a couple minutes. You won't get the messy gooey frosting when applying it on the cake.

When baking, check the cake every now and then to see if all portions are cooked well. If not, adjust the pot or whatever you are using accordingly.

Maybe you can share how you baked your cake even without an OVEN. Did you try using coal or woods? Share it!

Crab-a-licious Night - Let's Crab Eat in Davao City

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 08:57:00 +0000

Just had a wonderful satisfying eat-all-you-can crab buffet at Let's Crab Eat! at Torres St., in Davao City. A simple celebration for heart's day and oh well to satisfy my intense crab-ing!

The restaurant offers different main course dish including the mouth-watering curry-like crab.At first I though it was cooked with curry powder because of its taste and aroma. Just before posting this, I research and found that there's a name for it and it's Szechuan Crab. Thanks Sir Blogie for the info. I'll also be featuring your images here since what we took last night was not giving the place enough credit they deserve.

A rather disorganize plate ;>

Appetizers and Dessert

After a delightful dinner

For the food, I think they serve 4-6 main dishes including crabs, beef, fish fillet, calamari, vegetable dish which I really love. They also have separate table for dessert and appetizers. The kids seem to love the fondue bar. The caesar salad was good but I didn't seem to recognize where the dressing was.

Mouthful of green salad

Dining area

Bloggers mentioned the baby back ribs but it wasn't on the menu when we went there, which was too bad. I also think they need to add up their dessert servings. Me and my bestfriend's family ate at one of Davao's crab buffet, Glamour's Crab Buffet located at J. Camus Street ext. and Padre Gomez Street and they serve more dessert.

Let's Crab Eat! As of the night of Feb. 14, 2013 : Php 449.00 per person excluding drinks, some says Php 398.00, maybe they raise it a bit because of the celebration.

Let's Crab Eat! D'CA Crab & Seafood Station (BUFFET)

Address: F. Torres St., Davao City

Tel. #: (082)282-CRAB(2722)

Fax#: (082)2264988 E-Mail: lonelylim@yahoo.com / angelosioson@yahoo.com Contact: Lonely Lim

HBO's "The Newsroom" - Getting the News right

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 04:11:00 +0000

I'm a fanatic when it comes to TV series. I am fascinated with stories in fiction, sci-fi and crime genres. Drama is a little bit off my radar. However, I constantly browse for new series that can grab my attention with the help of IMDB's discussion board. In the previous weeks, I was hooked with #SUITS.

"On the run from a drug deal gone bad, Mike Ross, a brilliant college-dropout, finds himself a job working with Harvey Specter, one of New York City's best lawyers." See complete Suits Plot Summary

After the first season of Suits, I was in the pursuit of finding a good series again. I was intrigued with "The Newsroom" so I gave it a try. Initially my first thought is that it would be boring. I mean who wants to see a room full of people discussing what news to deliver? right?People taking calls, writing notes, shouting to each other - a completely normal day in the stock market. And yet I was completely mistaken. And I mean GREATLY mistaken. Watching a few episodes gives you a different perspective of what news is. Gives respect to people who risks their personal interest for the profession. How television and media conforms to what the greater audience wants and left out the vital information that we should be sharing. Information that should be worth sharing - and must be discussed.

The Newsroom Plot
The Newsroom: The Complete First Season

A news anchor, Will McAvoy, returns from a forced vacation to find his staff have jumped ship for another show. He is forced to work with several new team members brought on board during his absence.
More on: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1870479/

The Newsroom is an American drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin, airing on HBO, that chronicles the behind-the-scenes events at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) channel.

I felt a little disappointed since I am among the people cultivating entertainment to be on top of everything on the news. It's like celebrity gossip is a trend no one can put down. What I learned from it is that as much as we love talking about the pretty faces in Hollywood, we should be civilized through real informative NEWS. HBO's "The Newsroom" would make you cry and feel proud. I highly recommend it.

Here's an excerpt on the first episode which is nothing but utterly breathtaking.

We Just Decided To [1.01]
Will: Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paycheck, but he gets to hit you with it any time he wants. It doesn't cost money, it costs votes; it costs airtime, column inches. You know why people don't like liberals? Because they lose. If liberals are so fucking smart, how come they lose so goddamn always?

Sharon: Hey!

Will: [to Lewis] And with a straight face, you're gonna tell students that America's so star-spangled awesome, that we're the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom. [laughs] So 207 sovereign states in the world, like a hundred and eighty of them have freedom.

Moderator: Alright–

Will: And yeah, you, sorority girl. Just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there's some things you should know, and one of them is, there's absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world. We're 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, 3rd in median household income, number 4 in labor force, and number 4 in exports. We lead the world in only 3 categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined. 25 of whom are allies. Now, none of this is the fault of a 20 year old college student. But you, nonetheless, are without a doubt a member of the worst period generation period ever period. So when you ask, "what makes us the greatest country in the world?" I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Yosemite? [Pause] We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reasons. We passed laws, struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors. We put our money where our mouths were. And we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and we cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, acted like men. We aspired to intelligence, we didn't belittle it, it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in our last election. And we didn't... we didn't scare so easy. We were able to be all these things, and to do all these things, because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. [Pause] Enough?
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Newsroom_(U.S._TV_series)

Festive Kasalang Bayan 2012 – A true BAYANIHAN spirit

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 00:14:00 +0000

Weddings would always be like a distant fantasy that every woman dreamt of having. Being on a white elegant dress, walking on the aisle and waiting on the end of it for the man you would spend your whole life with. However, with us on the 21^st century, ceremony of this kind is often forgotten. Most couples are now living together, creating a family without the formality of a wedding.

Last October, a small community in Bawing, Paligue, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur held a mass wedding. It was called “Kasalang Mansibado”, but I’m not so sure about this. I’m guessing this is a chance given by the Catholic Church for their coupled members who are already living together for some time and with a child.

Mrs. Josephine Almocera, mother of a friend which also happens to be a kagawad asked me if I could help in designing their small chapel for the event. Excited as I am, I began researching for DIY wedding decorations. A lot of good stuff can be found in arts & crafts blogs. What I focused on was having a center piece on the ceiling just outside the chapel. I looked online for easy to do designs. I decided on a fake capiz shell chandelier which was originally made from wax paper.

More wax paper capiz shell chandelier online:

http://pinterest.com/dollyhawks/shell-chandeliers/

Since I can’t get my hands on the material, I looked for less expensive alternatives. For the circular patters, I used 6-7 crepe papers, a roll of white yarn, glue and a front piece of an unused electric fan frame.

I made the chandelier patterns days before the event. As we head home on the weekend, we assembled it with the help of friends and relatives. The night before the wedding, I was able to convince my 2 sisters and mom to help. Happily, they agreed to – well they kinda have a knack for decorations too. My mom works as a dressmaker, so it was an advantage. I asked her to bring some red and white clothing that we can use to accent the place.

Everyone was quite busy with their corresponding task. Most of the mothers are already in the chapel discussing what to do. To my surprise, my mom was leading the pack! They used curtains to decorate the edge of the seat. My sister Vanezza was busy putting up the big white clothing on the ceiling. They also started making flower arrangements. I, on the other hand was busy cutting out materials, printing and walking back and forth. JR was assigned to set-up the chandelier. We added long red and white cuttings of crepe paper extending outside. It was quite a sight.

The day of the wedding began with chaos. There was still a lot to prepare. My mom and sister helped with preparing the flower girls for their hair and make-up. We were assigned to take video and pictures during the ceremony.

As the morning draws to an end, we were able to make a festive wedding like no other. We were proud of what we had done. The 7 couples, who were wed that day, their families as well as the GKK members expressed their heart-felt thank you. Yet, it wouldn't be possible if not for every helping hands on the community. From kids running around getting things to elders sweeping the floors – truly a bayanihan spirit we should practice more often.

Tres Marias

As for the event, everyone was beyond happy – same goes for me.

Free Work Online from Home - No Fee to Register

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:46:00 +0000

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My Little Planted Tank

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 20:26:00 +0000

Here are some pictures of my young aquarium. I’ve been meaning to change it to all tetras but Petsmart (Davao) in Sta. Ana doesn’t always have the stock. Got to wait though. Taking care of these plants is far more difficult compared to taking care of the fishes ;> Whoever has nice freshwater plants, I’m accepting gifts even it’s after the holidays!

A well planted tank with tiny fishes is an amazing sight. It’s nice to watch them glide and chase each other. Takes away the boredom of being alone.

If you have your own aquarium. Share it here! Happy Fish Keeping Davao

Davao Fish Lover

Davao Fish Enthusiast

Davao Aquarists

Davao Fish Aquarium

Crocodile Park Davao

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 08:42:00 +0000

Another enjoyable trip with the Almoceja Family and friends.

Crocodile Park Davao is among the popular places to have a nature adventure in Davao City. It is not a place only dedicated to crocs but also to a variety of animals (though they really made a spotlight for the crocs).

They have a lot of shows and you can check it in their website.

Here are some info for you to prepare for an amazing Crocodile Experience.

The Davao Crocodile Park will open Monday to Sunday
Monday to Thursday from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 AM to 7:00 PM

As of 2010 their Entrance fee is:

ADULT: P150.00
Inclusions
1. entry at Butterfly House
2. entry at Tribu K'Mindanawan
3. entry at Crocodile Park

KIDS (2-12 years old) P75.00
Inclusions
1. entry at Butterfly House
2. entry at Tribu K'Mindanawan
3. entry at Crocodile Park

Davao Crocodile Park showcase their animals by having great shows which includes the Crocodile Dancing, Crocodile Encounter, Crocodile Frenzy, Crocodile Feeding, Wildlife Encounter and the Tightrope Walking.

Davao Crocodile Park Complex
Riverfront, Corporate City, Diversion Highway
Ma-a, Davao City 8000 Philippines

Phone: (082) 286 8883 or 286 1054
Telefax: +63.082.221.4671

It’s expensive when you have a crowd. But truly it’s worth it.

EPOL Spring Trip

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 10:37:00 +0000

Epol Spring is located in Epol, Baganihan , Marilog Davao City. It is one of the attractions in Davao. My friends went there to unwind and celebrate an occasion. It wouldn’t take too long to be there. If you are a resident in Davao, you just have to go to the bus terminal and board a bus to Marilog. It would take approximately 85-105 pesos depending on how you ask the driver’s assistant. The drive is 2 hours. Be sure to look for the wooden sign saying “Epol Falls” since it looked ancient and may be hard to see due the fog. It is not always foggy on the road but when we went there, it was.

From the high way, my friends and I walk for about 20-30 minutes. It’s not really hard compared to the trail in Virgin and Tudaya Falls, which almost made me cry. The only obstacle that you can encounter is the slippery and muddy track. It so happen that two of my friends suffered with this and it’s so bad that we can’t hide the laughter that burst out from our mouth. So better wear appropriate clothing when going to this type of place. It’s not like you are going to some malls and flaunt all of your curves and fancy dresses. Try putting on comfortable shirts and shorts and sandals or shoes for trekking would be good.

The good part in the location of Epol Falls is that there are built houses ready to be rented by people who doesn’t have tents. Though the rent is a little bit expensive for me (well, its 50 pesos per night) the comfort is well serve. I think that they have 2-3 houses available. The one that we rented is fine-looking and have parts just like a typical house. It consists of a dining area which is also located in the main area; the kitchen is at the back, the sleeping area is upstairs with a small porch where you can put a “duyan” for relaxation. Just a reminder, due to changing temperature in the area, it would be best if you bring sleeping materials to relieve the coldness of the night.

The falls is simply amazing! The walk is short from the house, maybe 10 minutes or less. Though the length of the falls is 30 ft., it is not short in magnificence. Walking down, you can get past the top and see it. The water is cold, but so fun. Anyone can also climb from the lower portion of the falls to the upper side. My friends were able to go beyond the top and continued exploring but I decided to stay since I’m really frightened with slippery rocks.

So if you want to get out of the busy and noisy city, Epol Falls would be a great get-away! If you have no money to go home, you can hitch a ride anytime.

Snage's Top 10

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 04:09:00 +0000

I’m participating in the top 10 Emerging and Influential blogs for 2009. The following are my nominees for this prestigious writing project:

1. Patay Gutom
2. Muffie Shannen
3. Ax Realm
4. Lakwatsero
5. Flair Candy
6. Focal Glass
7. Millionaire Acts
8. Pickle Minded
9. Video Chops
10. Adaphobic

This writing project will not be possible without the support of sponsors such as Absolute Traders, My Brute Cheats, Business Summaries, Fitness Advantage Club, Events and Corporate Video, Events at Work, Dominguez Marketing Communications, Red Mobile, Budget hotel in Makati, and Blog4Reviews.com.

ICEAN 2009- Proposed Yearbook Covers

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 05:01:00 +0000

Guyz, just an update... the cover size is 9x12. Interested ICEAN's as well as aspiring designers why not take the challenge of our yearbook? Well, anyway hope to hear from you all soon.

I made changes from one of the designs.

These are just some proposed cover for the yearbook publication of the ICEAN 2009. Staffs, I’ll be sending your works sooner. Interested graphic artists are free to comment and send other files for development on the

cover.

For those who doesn’t know US. We are the proud graduates of the Institute of Computing 2009 (University of Southeastern Philippines)

AT&T Uverse- Overview (First BPO Experience)

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 04:03:00 +0000

From TV,HSIA and Voice Service, AT&T U-verse has it all cover up. The technology is really amazing since all of these developments runs through IP Technology. And since the month of June I’ve started troubleshooting some technical issues that the members are experiencing.

And to share how astonishing the products are click here https://uverse1.att.com/un/launchAMSS.do

Tidbit facts:

IPTV
Enjoy 100% digital picture and sound that means your digital TV transition is done. Also enjoy digital video recording (DVR), Video on Demand, access to over 105 High Definition channels*, and choice programming–all at a competitive price!

HSIA (High- Speed Internet Access)
Reliable high-speed Internet delivered on AT&T’s advanced digital network includes a wireless Internet router, wireless networking service4, and 11 email accounts with online photo storage and best-in-class security. Downstream speeds up to 18Mbps available.

Voice digital home phone service
Digital calling that works like your home phone. Only better! Use the home phones you already have. Plus, keep your number or get a new one. Powerful features that allow you to manage your home and Wireless from AT&T voice mail messages in one mailbox, accessible from any phone or PC, or broadcast voice mail messages to a group from your online address book that you can share and access from any PC, are included at no extra charge. Low international per-minute rates with no monthly fee!

I just think if the Philippines can have this kind of advancement, it would really be expensive!

ICEAN 2009 GRADUATES: Toil Finally Paid Off

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:21:00 +0000

This year is the most hectic schedule when talking about graduation ceremonies. How many relatives and friends graduated this year? That I cannot say. But let me inform you all of the happiest moments I felt these past days.

Starting with my closest cousins: Raychell and John Ray Galinato
My bestfriend: Ms. Irish Dianne Dalit, a Tourism Professional
My Sister: Ms Vanezza Galinato, having a Diploma in Information Technology
and Yours Truly: Ms. Agnes Galinato, an Information Technology Professional
and to all my friends and classmates! KUDOS!

Trek to Mt. APO: The greatest walk I ever had

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:04:00 +0000

As usual, I am again invited by my bestfriend Ms. Dianne Dalit to go with her in their trip to Mt. Apo. Knowing nothing but the simplicity of the fact that it is the highest point in the nation, I didn’t hesitate for a second. Well, the decision was a little bit not in the right track, but because of the exciting idea of climbing the highest peak in the Philippines, all doubts vanished. So let the journey begins!

April 11, 2009 First Stop: Digos City, Food Preparation Kapatagan, Davao del Sur... Start of the long walk Night: Stayed in a sub camp

April 12, 2009 Second Stop: Camp 1 from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm Third Stop: Camp 2 from 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm stayed for the night

April 13, 2009 Third Stop: Mt. Apo Peak but before the exciting though of it, I can’t imagine how I manage to be alive after all the horrifying stunts I ever did.... we went to visit the rocky path to the sulfur site of the mountain, now I know why there is a visible smoke present in the mountain.. (it creates a spoiled smell) the hard track was starting to get on my nerves, I was not used on climbing with so much difficulty. The only thing that I can hold was roots and stones, having faith in that stones were not so easy for me. It went on how several hours, and then the most terrifying sight I ever seen, There was no more green things on the scene I was looking up to, from bottom to the top of my sight. It was all big rocks, bare and dead! It took almost 5 hours to finish the boulders. I was on the verge of giving up that I was willing to be left behind and die behind those big rocks, I was numb all over and all my muscles aches and if they can only speak, they are cursing me to be on that spot. Yet, it was useless being left in that spot, so I went on with the help of my friend Chengy (Jake and Dianne were walking far passed us.) I thought, the boulders would be the shocking track, yet there I was, looking at a wall almost creating a straight line, yet in a vertical manner. When we started to climb, I was hopeful that we were almost there. Jakey was always talking about 87, I was then curios what it was, then I know it wasn’t a place but the degree of elevation of the wall. I was trying to absorb the thought of climbing an 87 degree wall, without any rope, foam bed at the bottom and the bothering load in our back. Up there, sticking to that wall and gripping to the stones with my life, I was crying. It was like I was to die any time. Looking at the bottom, I know I will be crushed into pieces. After almost 2 hours, we were finally in the crater. It was splendid. Another hour of walking that we finally arrived at the camp site. It was raining hard, yet we were able to pitch our tents. It was so cold, but because of the exhaustion, we slept like pigs.

April 14, 2009 In this day, we enjoyed the view, it was really awesome since I can see almost all the provinces in Mindanao (well, not really...hehehe) but I was able to identify, Digos City, Davao, Kidapawan, South Cotabato, Bukidnon and many others.

April 15, 2009 Time to go home, we walk for the whole day, from 8:00 am – 10 pm. (We were lost in our way, because the batteries went dead. I was crying because I need to go home for my graduation would be the following day. )

April 16, 2009 My graduation Day! But where I am? Thinking of how am I gonna be in my graduation since I am still in the mountainous place of Kapatagan. Yet, God is still good, for it came quite good. (I’m ALIVE and I went to Mt. APO)

Kaputian Detour

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:23:00 +0000

This post was supposed to be published earlier; still it’s worthwhile to read. How can you reject the request of your closest friends? Well, I can’t, and that’s why I came to experience this extraordinary escapade. Big thanks to the celebrant, Jake Caspi and my forever bestfriend, my “Ogre”. These friends of mine would just appear out of no where and say “Tara na!” During this time, I am very busy with my paper, since it’s less than a month for the submission yet I still didn’t have a concrete framework. Ogre, frowned and told me that it’s Papa Jake’s birthday. So, the four of us went to Kaputian, Samal to go swimming. Our baggage was enough to explain that my friends were staying not for just one day. Our journey began with a heavy rain, maybe the rain was a blessing for Papa Jake (seems a lot of blessings for just one birthday… hehehe.).

The following day, Papa Jake took us to a sea cliff to try rappelling. Honestly, I am afraid of heights, even the time when we had our falls hoping in Kapatagan, Davao del Sur. Yet, the experience was so exciting that I can’t let it pass by. So, I went first, but it took a lot of courage to look down and move my feet. I was so thrilled that even the weather jive in. It rained the time I went down and stopped when Chengy started. Samal Island is really a breath-taking paradise. You could clearly see the fishes and corals from the point where we were standing. The following days went by, we played Frisbee and one afternoon decided to go fishing and gather shells to be eaten for that night. The shells were easy, but fishing was a lot more difficult. It frustrated us that we spent all afternoon sitting and watching the fish ate our bait. The funny thing was, you can actually see the fishes below yet we didn’t catch even one. Still, the dinner was goo d.

We spent the following day evaluating our artistic side. Since Boracay was known for its huge sand castle, we are known for our sand marine creatures. Well, some of our creations were from fictions, but still reside in the water. We made, Papa Jake as a Tuna, both Chengy and Dianne as mermaids and lastly Papa Jake again as a Giant Octopus.

Some of our pictures during the trip.

Good luck for me, because after that outing. I was sleepless for almost a month. But still the reward came first, since I am a certified graduate of BSIT.

Mr. Jake Caspi also known as Papa Jake is an active naturalist here in Mindanao. Member of numerous groups for rescue, mountaineering events, cyclist and many other athletic sports. Among his favorite past time is to climb Mt. Apo. If anyone would like to arrange a tour as well as a complete guide for a trip in Mt. Apo, contact me in the information below.

Warning:
If it’s your first time, try to exercise a bit. Because I experience a whole body pain when we were falls hopping.

The birth of a new Journey

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:10:00 +0000

March 23, 2009, another year had been given to me to celebrate the life given from the grace of the Lord. Yes, I am a year older yet new things are coming to disagree with the maturity I am yearning for.

Still, I was very happy of many countless ways. Among these was the final verdict of my standing as a candidate for graduation. My research paper had been approved and graded, not to mention the misfortunes it undertook before the submission. Both my sisters went to Davao to see me. We stayed at my best friend’s house in Puan. What a ride! My friends surprised me with their gifts. I want to appreciate their unfading love and support. Thanks for those people who greeted me and took the time and money to give me something. My classmates and friends, thank you so much. Well, you are all my friends. (pero mas friend ang naa gift.. hehehe…)

Here are some pictures of the happenings during my birthday.

The submission of my research paper
- Kulitan with my friends (Ogre, Papa Jake and Ince) and sister
- Gifts I received
- First thing I ate…

The Olympiad 2009: Presentation of My Ongoing Research, Finally OVER!

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:58:00 +0000

It was indeed the most hectic and exhausting week of my school life. Two of my classmates were asked to present the Researches that we are working on. It was a bit ironic on my part knowing that I am still on the part of evaluating my methods, in short "I still don’t have a research!" Mr. Gamboa who is our adviser personally recommended the three of us to our Dean, Mr. Val Quimno to be the representatives of the school. Unable to protest, I accepted it, it was a challenge a personal gratification that someone believes that I am capable of this responsibility. We only had 5 days to finalize the points that we want to include in our presentation.

Monday: Made Sir Gamboa look at my new methodology
Assessment: "show me how this would be done, what are your tools?"- hmmnnn, another sleepless night.. (night on a net cafe...huhuhu)

Tuesday: AWS test, though sleepless, I was able to take the exam but not lucky enough to pass it. Regina made it though! GoGoGo.... (she has a long series of test to be able to pass...Good Luck!)

Wednesday: Still working on my Research, but a news somehow broke my heart. We were somehow not qualified since thesis and researches that are already finish are the only ones considered. My classmates were relieved, I was doubting the feeling I had at the moment, was it relief or regret? So words burst out of my mouth, "Sayanga Lord uie, chance na unta to!" (Still, I was doing my researches and spent the night in a net cafe)

Thursday: Morning, Sir Val, texted me that the presentation will proceed. The organizers considered our ongoing research since UPMin students are still on the process of finishing their works. So, the tension and anxiety intensified. I was thinking that the Lord heard what I said. He made a way for it to came into reality. So, the three of us were advise to go to school at 11:00 am. Feeling energized by the news, I decided to wait for the time regardless that I am sleepless the night before. Chengy and I went home, It was already 9 in the morn, looking at my bed, it tempted me to lay down. Chengy, feeling the same went to bed to. I was not able to wake up and was frantic about what our adviser and dean would say, ditching a meeting with these people is not so advisable!!! hehhe... it was 3:30 in the afternoon that I receive a call from Mr. Gamboa, asking for my presence it his office. It was after that call that I read the messages of my classmates saying that Mr. Gamboa want to see our presentation. Worried, I still went to school, I apologized for my behavior and was not able to show a presentation. Mr. Gamboa asked me if I can make it by tomorrow, full of hope, I said yes! I will do everything just to present something tomorrow.

The night came, Dianne, Papa Jake and Chengy were in full support, they accompanied me during the night, but I told them to sleep, I was infront of my PC the whole time, up to 7:40 in the morning.

Friday: The day finally came. I was even late for our meeting with Sir Gamboa that morning. I went to school just to find out that we can’t rehearse since Mr. Gamboa is busy in other matters. Relieve that I could sleep for a while, we went home to relax a bit. We had plan that Mr. Gamboa would be in school around 12:30 pm to get us, but the bad news came out that he won’t make it. Depressed by it, we contacted Mr. Val if there is any chance that he would come with us in the venue for the event. Well, even in the chaos for that day, we still are lucky. The event was held in the University of Mindanao Matina, it was designed that the event would have a parallel session, which means Regina was not in the same venue with me and Glayra. It was a dismaying scene, seeing students already in front and presenting their study, not to mention that we are the only ones wearing out uniforms. Again, the sad part is, we don’t have any supporters from school since the event requires a fee of PHP 50.00. It is a big amount considering the students in USEP (in short, kuripot cla, aw apil ko... hehehe). Big thanks to Chengy and Rhod that they never left us. Regina was accompanied by James in the other venue and went back as soon as she was finished.

Glayra and Me were the last presentors. She was nervous and all that they would asked questions since I asked the other students about their thesis. She was saying: "Dai, mag ask jud na sila kay mubalos sa imo... huhuhu", I just told her that everything will be fine. I operated her presentation and she with mine. After that, the forum made exciting feedbacks, questions were asked, and somehow we both pulled it off.

I know, Mr. Gamboa was proud of us. He was smiling all the time when we were in front. He congratulated us for making an interesting discussion. It was a happy feeling that we were able to prove that USEP can compete even with other schools.

Not to mention, simple lng amo mga research, though kapoy, sus kung ang mga programmers pato naa didto, unsa nlng kaya... hehehe....
Participants from other University were also good. Participant came from UIC, Ateneo de Davao, UPMin, AMA and of course USEP.

A Post Valentine Celebration

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:37:00 +0000

I never expected to celebrate valentines because of the hectic schedule in school. I was still so pressured in my Research. The very evening of the hearts day, I was visited by my Mom, (knowing she was going to have a date with someone! hahai). My experience was split in to two events.

1. Going to the Beach: Jones Beach
Thanks to Chengy that I enjoyed it, though it was late. Her friend ask her to joined them in a beach, I was hesitant since its already late (11:00 pm on Feb. 14, 2009) not to mention that the beach they were talking is in Talomo: The Jones Beach. To my amazement, the place was nice. I also enjoyed playing the Frisbee, I thought it was easy to play but took me a little while to learn how to shot it out in the air. We were awake the whole time, and in the morning, before finally going home, we took picture of the place and the nice spots.
Here are some of our pictures:

2. Kublai Art Craze: Ponce Unconventional Suite
My best friend Dianne (my sweet OGRE!) was a little melancholic during the valentines. And I felt guilty for not being there, so as a late gift for her, we decided to hop and visit one of Kublai’s properties. We went to Ponce’s Unconventional Suite located in Doña Vicenta fronting Victoria Mall. Dianne treated us to dinner before going there, we ate at Chowking just before going, (they made some naughty actions :> ) Papa Jake and Chengy were the one’s responsible for it... (Wala mi labot...)
Since Ponce is just a walking distance, we decided to stretch some muscles and enjoy the magnificence of that night. We enjoyed taking picture mostly with the gigantic statues, the sculptures were inspired from the natives of the Philippines. The inside of the mini hotel were full of his works and being there for a short time would not be able to go through every art and painting he ever made. I really enjoyed being with my friends, though my family can’t be with me, I am still blessed with the people who loves me.

USEP: Integration of Internet Apps to the University (System Proposal)

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 02:21:00 +0000

Since the rise of Internet, countless application and software had been developed to assist the needs of people as well as giving business a new definition of processing. Because of its fast growth, its accessibility does not limit only to those who can afford it but even to those. Almost all individuals in the world know what “Internet” means.

Because of these applications, systems today are now very flexible and efficient in doing works in every possible areas. But what makes a system proficient is its ability to integrate beneficial functions into one. When talking about a University, it contains many different tasks and individuals to consider with. This is a proposal of how USEP can integrate application, this is also in connection with the prior topic on USEP having an Intranet and Extranet System.

I am thinking of a complete system that could handle all the processing in the University. From the staff to the students, starting in the pre-enrollment procedure to the current accounts of students.

System Proposal: University Integrated System (UIS)

1. Data Processing :
This part constitute of any data transaction. Showing information about the school and the possible business or contract. Any user can view data about enrollment, curriculum, history, MVO and other issues. It also include the data centralization of departments within the University. With this one general database, errors and delay could be avoided. This unified storage will include the accounting and the finance division, which handles mostly with monetary funds. Students can also view the schedule available for a certain course.

Internet Application:

* it will include FTP or the File Transport Protocol, Multimedia application (flash and other apps), may also include video streaming for detailed information. E-mails for online submission of data.

2. Inter Department Link:
This will include the updates on every colleges in the University. It will include events, issues and topics that are reviewed or be taken later during the semester or school year.

Internet Application:

* HTML application that includes images and video (if possible). Data transfer will also be applicable.

3. University Staff:
This will include the initiative of the University members and staff. Their Proposal and Extension Programs, will be posted as well as the reviews on the previous events.

Internet Application:

* HTML application that includes images and video (if possible). Data transfer will also be applicable. E-mails and comment which is now gaining popularity in the net will be implemented to create dynamic audience within the University.

4. University Professor and Adviser:
Mostly configures the look and content of forums. Incorporated with events, schedule, timeline and news. With this, students will know the course of a certain professor.

Internet Application:

* HTML application that includes images and video (if possible). Data transfer is also employed. E-mails and chat box will also be helpful. Looks and content is in line with how forums look. To promote the University’s system and Institutional Competency, an organizational e-mail will be one of the ways. Proposed: having the extension of @usepobrero.edu
all staff and adviser should use this for transaction purposes.

5. Students Forum:
Includes and promote the voice of the students in the University. Contains interactive connection and communication. Links can also be added to personal blogs and other information (regarding schooling). Students can also encourage e-commerce within the university’s site. With this, students will be able to find resources that is available in the school.

Internet Application:

* blog and a forum environment. E-mails and other communication will be included. File transfer within students will also be prevalent. This page can be group into colleges. Files and documents can also be uploaded and downloaded here.
HTML application
Multi media presentation
just like E-bay processing and amazon.com

6. E- Learning and Online Test:
Contains some of the classes that could not be taken inside the classroom. Also comprise of quizzes and examinations.

Internet Application:

* real time updates, database and networking
HTML application
multi media presentation
Student conferencing, interactive communication

7. Outputs:
Here is where the students and other users can view important information, just like grades. Online Grading System was being proposed by many students and other staff but could not be fully implemented. Also contains the publication of the school, researches, articles and curriculum. All topics are also included for the articles and researches for better filtering.

Internet Application:

* HTML application
file transfer
multimedia presentation
communication via email and instant messaging
search engine optimization

USEP IC (Institute of Computing): Future Technology Presentation The Event which Every Future Tech Students Envisioned

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Finally, the event had been in its fruition yesterday Feb. 10, 2009. It was the event that fully shows how the IC students stands together to prove and shows their competency in the University’s intellectual minds. The presentation caters the showcase of different future technology that is visualized and designed by the Future Technology students. The whole class had been in charge to all areas of the event which made it not just successful but also remarkable to everyone in the class. They showed participation and cooperation that fully manifest their concerns to the individuals that somehow rely to the event as a stepping stone. A first triumph towards the achievement dreamt by every 4th year students, the occasion on April! Though the presentation have flaws and other technical problems, it was a success (hahaha.. bias daw ko….) We had guests and other visitors that supported us throughout the event. (Well, almost half of it is from IC also ;>). But still I want to announce and affirm that it was indeed the program we will all remember.

The event consists of group presentation. A video and a brief description of the diorama were introduced by the group members. The technology that was covered by the event were: VIDEO CONSOLE, WEARABLE COMPUTERS, VIRTUAL CHATTING, FARMING, MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY, CLOCK, WASTE MANAGEMENT, BOOK, TELEPHONY, AIRCRAFT, CHARGER TECHNOLOGY. These areas of possible developments were the focused of the Future Tech. students. To give credits to the people who work hard on the project, most of viewers think that the WASTE MANAGEMENT TECHNOLOGY was the most significant of all the technology presented, which I think is followed by the FARMING TECHNOLOGY. As expected, technology should focus on how we improve the society and our well being.

Like all events, ours went to a stressful process. Almost every part of the program has a fault.
1. No speakers
2. Not all diorama sketches were approved
3. Reservation on the Social Hall
4. Technical Support
5. Letters
6. etc. (end of thinking capacity!!!)

But still, we had proven somehow the bond we have, will be remembered. All we give thanks to our dear adviser RSG who never get weary of having sermons to us.
GO…… Research and IP nlng…
Godbless everyone, I’m so proud of us all.

Freeware: Are they really for Free?

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 09:55:00 +0000

Are there things still for free?

As far as I remember hearing software, hardware, adware, shareware and freeware seemed like the same concept. All of them have –ware in the last part, which I thought was a component of every computer related terms. I almost thought that tupperware is also among them.

Freeware form what I had understand it is some kind of distribution style with regards to software. The term is constantly associated with programs downloaded over the internet. From Wikipedia , there are numerous form or kind of distribution among these is : Abandonware • Adware • Beerware • Careware • Commercial software • Crippleware • Demoware • Donationware • Foistware • Freely redistributable software • Free software • Freeware • Nagware • Open source • Otherware • Postcardware • Registerware • Retail software • Shareware. Seeing from its wide scope, there are really different ways of sharing application or programs over the internet.

I myself, during my earliest years in the Computing World or in the Information Technology age, freeware is a big “NO, NO” for me. I was thinking that all that is given even if in its very lowest rate should be properly compensated. If I am a programmer that create programs would at least have something out of my work. But this perception was very way beyond my head. It was then that I realized, that not all programmers and developers are selfish and greedy enough to create such actions. Freeware as describe in Wikipedia “is computer software that is available for use with no cost or for an optional fee. Freeware allows authors to contribute something for the benefit of the community, while at the same time allowing them to retain control of the source code, future direction of development and preserve its business potential. Freeware is different from shareware, where the user is obliged to pay (e.g. after some trial period or for additional functionality)”. There are also software that are available for grabs without any monetary support. Which I think is a really great idea. The computing world or the virtual world can be seen as a living community where people should helped each other to prosper. Sharing freeware over the net is one of the actions for these cause. As I observed from the construction of some freeware, it is not really complete “free”. I have come up with these because some freeware are still connected to other software that should be included or an added-up. But of course not all freeware are into these construction. Nowadays, more and more freeware are raising into immense numbers, that almost all application have a corresponding freeware. Some of these application and programs are the following: KML Generator 1.24, which this utility can be used to analyze GPS log files containing NMEA string data and then generate Google Earth (TM) compatible KML files, Auslogics Disk Defrag (disk defragmentation) disk fragmentation leads to system slowdowns, PC crashes, slow startups and shutdowns. It is also designed for fast optimization of modern hard disks, Digital Clip Factory creates slide shows using the "Ken Burns" motion effects with, music and transitions. Burn your movies to DVD or publish them to the web. "Pictures say more..." True, if you use Digital Clip Factory application to create those "Ken-Burns" effects you like and export it to a compatible Windows Media File. There is also a freeware called LingoPad which is a Multilingual Dictionary. It contains a German ? English dictionary; other dictionaries (Spanish, Italian, French, Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, Kurdish, Norwegian or Arabic) can be downloaded as well. You can also import your own wordlists and use them parallel to the existing dictionaries. For each dictionary, a user dictionary can be defined to include additional wordlists. Having these kind of software available is a big help for those people who cannot afford to purchase expensive programs.

Some people mistakenly compare FREEWARE, SHAREWARE and Open Source. These three have different purposes as well as unlike definition. Freeware as stated is something that is downloadable without any monetary fund support, the user can create things on what the application is functional for without any expiration date. A criterion was also stated in Wikipedia where “the only criterion for being classified as freeware is that the software must be fully functional for an unlimited time with no cost, monetary or otherwise. The software license may impose restrictions on the type of use including personal use, individual use, non-profit use, non-commercial use, academic use, commercial use or any combination of these. For instance, the license may be "free for personal, non-commercial use". Everything created with the freeware programs can be distributed at no cost (for example graphics, documents, or sounds made by user). Shareware is different since the sharing is free but using it well cost you money. Its like posting an ad and when you contact them and buy from them, it is expected that you must pay. Open Source in the mean time, which I am aware of is also different from these two. Open Source are programs that are free but anyone can alter or modify the content of its source code for future development. It’s like a big project given to every developers in the world. Everyone can have the opportunity to examine the program and if any bugs or defects seen it can be changed. That is the advantage of open source software. There are also many people who can help whenever there is something wrong with the open source application since it is already being viewed by many experts.

So I can say that not all freeware are free. I think that it freeware is also concerned with its difficulty or use. If a freeware is in small packages and do not have any links to other application, then these things are fully free Another thing that may contribute to the distribution of these freeware is it availability. Any people can see different freeware almost everywhere. . But if freeware is given with an remarkable purpose, I think it is associated with other much bigger software which is not for free anymore. I think that all is business when it comes technology. It’s like a strategy to get attention of customers and users.

Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeware
http://www.freewarehome.com/
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-freeware.htm

Holiday Seasons

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 07:34:00 +0000

Parties are all over during the Christmas vacation. I had attended some of it and was so happy to get way out for the hectic schedule in school. First of is the SCHolaRs party. The New wineskin family had a very entertaining celebration that made our bonds more closely with each other. The party was also dedicated to the real celebrant of the holidays.Mr. Gamboa also made a little party for his E-commerce student. An advance present because of their holiday trip in Hong Kong (i don’t know if its Hong Kong or Singapore). Well, anyways, thanks again sir.

Another thing that made me happy during the season is when my sisters came over to buy some things for the holiday. We went out together and bought gifts for our parents and for Monique (our little sis). The vacation I had was a little exhausting instead of a relaxing one. Me and my friend had to look for my sister in the hospital due to high fever. Its just so untimely since its Christmas and were suppose to be celebrating. It was to tiring that during the Christmas I was also suffering from fever. At least the New Year’s a bit cheerful since all of us are sick-free and away from the hospital.

Well, the holidays over and welcome back again to the frustrating and exhausting year in college.

Design Characteristics which affect customer experience in using Organisational Website

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:05:00 +0000

“how to judge a website depends not how beautiful it is but the accessibility it provides”

E-commerce done within the enormous realm of Internet handles competition which is indeed tight. Businesses must have a striking yet informative way of handling the design of their websites to enable the success of their commerce. Yet, when we say striking it is not only the attractiveness of the site but there are also other terms to which sites are to be judge. There is a quote given by an author of an article about SEO which states “A beautiful Website that gets no traffic and makes no money might as well be an ugly Website. An ugly Website that has traffic and makes money gets more beautiful by the dollar.” Observing and analyzing the quotation, sites don’t necessarily have colored images covered all over its page, moving objects and images as well as audio and video attachments. Even simple websites can be said as beautiful if it is working to its fullest and acting to its suppose function. Business online is much the same with the offline industry where advertisement and the presentation of the product is very vital in the progress of the business. Though it is being done differently, yet the concept is the same. Mostly, we see and observe business outside our homes where it contains models that promote their merchandise, seeing huge billboards and flyers posted all over the walls. Somehow it is done slightly diverse when dealing with the online processes. Webmasters and developers have observed that novice developers often make mistakes in improving their websites. In a network, there is a huge difference between beautiful and pleasant to the eye with sites functional and user-friendly, which will have a better chance of success. The webmaster should always bear in mind two things: optimizing for visitors and for search engines. If the time the page will seek to infinity, and the search robots will not be able to index your site, it is immaterial whether he was handsome and informative. When talking about design, it doesn’t mean that it must contain images and other moving pictures to say that the site is indeed richly in designing. Design also covers the navigation capacity of the site as well as its user-friendly interface. The website need and must look professional and trustworthy for the reason to build connection and rapport with clients and consumers. Confidence is a great factor that must be included with all businesses either it be online or offline. The webmaster should be able to see that the site must relay its function to its buyer thus creating a consumer confidence. Having a poorly designed website will cost sales. Poor website design is often the primary reason for a website’s failure. This is because it fails to engage the user. Connection is indeed important between the user and the website.
Just as how businesses is done, there are also legal actions and other governmental laws that governs the proceedings in the online business industry. There are web standards that preside over these processes. Web standards refers to guidelines set out by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). These standards ensure websites look and feel consistent across a broad range of devices and platforms, as well as being accessible by internet users regardless of disability. Conformance with the WCAG 1.0 (and other W3C) guidelines will enhance the market share and audience reach of your Web site by increasing its general usability. Adoption of WCAG 1.0 recommendations also demonstrates the commitment to social responsibility and equity of access to information and services. In addition, many of the WCAG 1.0 checkpoints will directly improve the performance of certain Web services and reduce the maintenance effort required.
Because of the importance of design in the web developing, there are many points that I have researched and compiled through the observation and study of other developers through out there online business experiences. I have enumerated some of it.

1. Usability
- as researched users who can’t find their way around easily (usually between 5 and 30 seconds) will often leave your website. If the information contained on the website is difficult to read or poorly structured chances are users won’t be able to find what they were looking for.
Usability can be broken into the following categories:
1. Ease of learning (learnability) – where buyers and customers will have an easiness of learning the content of the site. What product it implies or what is it all about.
2. Efficiency of use (efficiency)- this means the effectiveness and the good organization of its content.
3. Memorability – these defines the quality of being worth remembering, websites must have an impact with its users that it can be remembered easily by the customers.
4. Error frequency and severity- also another indicator in the usability of a website, where the frequency of errors must be minimized to show usability of the site
5. Satisfaction- contentment of the user when visiting the site, this means that the reader of the site gets what they want out of a particular site.

2. Navigation and Navigational Bar
- As a general rule users should always be able to get back to the homepage of the particular site. Common practice is to make the website logo (usually in the top left hand side) link to the home page.
as describe in one of the articles about web designing states that the use of breadcrumbs provide an excellent navigation system and show exactly where a user is in relation to your entire website at any given time. This can be likened to a map at a shopping complex showing where you are and how you get everywhere else. The navigation bar is an important part of the web design. the webmaster will have to have a navigation bar place either at the top, or the side of the web page of the website. This is because the visitors to the site will be depending on these navigation bars to help them in their navigation of the site. Without an effective navigation bar, the visitors are bound to get frustrated with your website.

3. Keeping it clean and focused
- this means that when doing business, web developers don’t need to put every third party advertisements all over the page, since it can cause frustration and negative effects on the consumers. Don’t clutter the website with every widget or third party advertisement . Less is most definitely more where design is concerned, and two or three well-placed ads will attract much more attention than a host of flashing icons. Keeping the focused is also an necessity in having an effective website. In an article the author stated that developers must think about the purpose of the website design. What do they want people to do when they first visit? Browse the products? Subscribe to a newsletter? Download a catalogue? Enquire about a service? Whatever it is , make it obvious and incorporate a ‘call-to-action’ into the design.

4. Give the Website an Attractive 'Look and Feel'
design concerning fonts and images is still important in the site. There are some obvious question like :Why should a website look good? Why should it look professional? Because like the sign hanging over a store in the strip mall, the website reflects upon business. If the sign's lettering looks crude and homemade, people would tent to be judgmental.
Developers owe it to themselves to make their website look top-notch. To succeed, they’ll need some artistic flair, or perhaps hire a graphic designer's talents for the basic design and site graphics. If you are not comfortable with graphic designing or web designing, you will have to hire either a website designer or graphic designer to help you with the designing of your website. With the help of a professional designer, you will be able to create the perfect web design as they will be able to assess your internet needs.

They will be able to create a professional design for your website. Remember that these people have years of experience and skills backing them, making it all the more safer and better for you to approach them for advice on creating the right web design.
Besides seeking help from the professionals for the perfect web design, you have to also get a professional logo created by them for use on your website. With a logo, your business has a representation in public with which people will be able to remember you and your business better. With the right logo and web design, you will be able to set your business apart from other businesses and thus have a stepping stone to success.

5. Construct the Site to Be Search Engine Friendly
Each webpage construct needs to contain the following elements. Note the careful placement of keywords, the search words people would use to find this particular webpage.
Title -- provocative and descriptive, containing the most important keywords from that webpage, no more than 80 characters. This is what shows up hyperlinked in search engine results, so make people want to click on it.
Meta tags -- The description meta tag should include one or two sentences (up to about 250 characters) describing the contents of this particular webpage. Work into the sentence the most important keywords and keyphrases that occur on this page. Some search engines will display your description. I still include a meta keywords tag, since Yahoo currently uses it for indexing, though Google doesn't.
Headlines -- H1, H2, H3 in HTML parlance. Your headline and subheadings should include your important keyword at least once.
Body text -- The first paragraph of the content of your webpage article or text should contain the main keywords for that page.
Hyperlink text and filenames -- Search engines believe that the words contained in hyperlinks on your webpage (such as widget) are important, and thus rank them higher. If the filenames contained in the hyperlink URLs contain important keywords (such as widget.html for the filename of your widget order page), so much the better.

6. Increase Market Share and Audience Reach
another thing that would create a impact and importance to the consumers is the sites marketability and its capacity to reach vast audience. Increasing discovery, access and usability of the Web site for all visitors is a major benefit from applying many of the WCAG 1.0 checkpoints. Furthermore, the proportion of people with disabilities can range up to 20 percent in some populations. A significant portion of those people with disabilities - in some countries as many as 8% to 10% of the overall population - can benefit from Web sites' conforming with WCAG 1.0.

Clear and consistent navigation – this is still one of the most important part of a website. people often avoid a Web site after an initial visit because they encounter difficulties navigating complex collections of information or cannot find (or refind) the item they wanted. Applying the WCAG 1.0 recommendations for clear and consistent navigation will help reduce this problem. There are also terms to which websites will enhance their usability, among these are the following from the article entitled Auxiliary Benefits of Accessible Web Design:
Device independence because of situational usage - an increasing number of people use a variety of technologies to access the Web and the WCAG 1.0 techniques can expose critical content and facilitate interaction in all these situations.
o While the primary Web device for some may be a multimedia-capable desktop computer with a high-bandwidth connection, those same people, and others, may also choose to access the Web with personal digital assistants, mobile phone browsers, or other, less capable Web devices, possibly over lower-bandwidth connections.
o Some users may find themselves in noisy environments where audio content may not be easily heard; having a text-based alternative becomes critical.
o In some situations glare on a screen may make seeing video, or even text-based content, difficult so having content that can be rendered with a voice synthesizer can be beneficial.
o An increasing number of users will access the Web with hands-free/eyes-free devices.
Clear and understandable content - this will immediately increase the size and breadth of the audience that can benefit from your Web site.
Text alternatives
o "D" links and "longdesc" attribute - since the message you hope to convey with complex graphics such as photographs, graphs and diagrams may not be immediately obvious to (or even viewable by) some visitors a clear text description of what the image means or conveys can be a great boon to your audience.
o Text descriptions for multimedia files - for any number of reasons (and many are identified in this document) a significant number of users worldwide will not be able to access content contained in multimedia files. Providing alternative text-based content will significantly increase its availability.
o Captioning - audio content will not be accessible to all users. Providing alternative textual content will significantly increase the number of people who will "hear" your message.
Color contrast - contrasting colors for page background and text make for easier reading. Dark text on a light background is usually the best combination for non-visually impaired, but utilising style sheets for controlling text and background colors allows others to chose the best combination for their needs and current environment (in other words, they may choose one style sheet while at their desktop computer, and another while using their laptop or PDA at a meeting or on an airplane). Also be aware that 8% to 10% of the male population in many countries exhibit some form of color blindness.

References:
http://infopirate.org/_design-vs-functionality-what-important-your-business-project-network
http://www.davidairey.com/5-important-design-aspects-of-any-website-or-blog/
http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/12design.htm
http://www.roseindia.net/articles-directory/view-free-article/16095
http://www.dmreview.com/dmdirect/20041015/1011285-1.html
http://www.w3.org/WAI/bcase/benefits.html
http://www.selfseo.com/story-18143.php
http://www.topclickmedia.co.uk/web-design-important-success-business.htm
http://www.melbourneit.com.au/successbox/website-tips/good-website-design-why-its-important

Role of internet technologies in enabling an organisation to obtain competitive advantage through B2B e-commerce

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 14:03:00 +0000

Business now faces its new phrase by the use of Internet, where most of the customer and the producer are doing transaction only in the virtual realm. It is undeniably true that almost all businesses have its corresponding web site to advertise their business to the public. Most of the people also are creating their business already in the virtual world or in the virtual market. The internet gives greater advantage both in the consumer as well as in the producer’s side. There are many processes that are cut off because of the direct linked of businesses in the internet. Markets are globally competitive even if it only has small funds in the beginning, because trade in the internet doesn't require big requirements.

Ebay(r) Millionaire Reveals The Step-by-step Roadmap To Auction Riches

Companies are using exchange of information through the use of proprietary EDI systems. Although companies have been doing business electronically for many years using proprietary EDI systems, B2B commerce over the Internet remained in the early adopter stage at the start of the 2000s. The notion of an early adopter comes from a popular marketing theory which holds that buyers of a new product enter the market in several stages, starting with the early adopters who set the trends and ending with so-called laggards who purchase only after the vast majority has already bought. If B2B is still attracting mainly the early crowd, it suggests great potential for growth, as do the figures from the Census Bureau and private firms. However, another part of the theory suggests there is a gap, sometimes called a chasm that must be bridged between the early adopters and the early majority buyers; many products are believed to fail after doing well among early buyers but failing to catch on in the wider market. Whether B2B Internet commerce crosses the chasm remains to be seen. The same with the traditional way of marketing the internet doesn’t guarantee a 100 percent loyalty of customers. Businesses also have responsibility to maintain to be able to attract many customers not to mention the now growing competitiveness of companies regarding e-commerce. If anyone is having their customer a priority, they should have a flexible strategy that even in the change of trends can still cope up.
It was said that the economic slowdown that began in 2000 was expected to dampen the development of B2B e-commerce and decelerate the migration from proprietary EDI systems to the Internet. Because of this event in the industry many businesses was not able to easily transfer their means of information exchange to the internet. Starting to a new way could also mean a new investment a new capital, and because of the occurrence of striving within businesses it is not possible in the quickest way. All this came on top of the reality that corporate decision-makers were slow to adopt the benefits of B2B e-commerce, even though the technology was available. Some believe part of the problem has been that adopting B2B e-commerce could be challenging to the existing corporate culture. There are also a lot of barriers, ranging from a shortage of technology resources to competitive strategies.
Most and the often problem is interoperability between systems in companies. Often a prerequisite to certain types of B2B e-commerce is compatibility between a company's computer systems and the online exchanges or marketplaces where it seeks to conduct e-commerce. A survey by Computer Sciences Corp. found that in late 2000, less than 15 percent of North American businesses' Web sites had the ability to conduct business online. Other estimates of enterprises able to transact business online ranged up to 20 percent.
There are several reasons why businesses have remained on the sidelines of e-commerce. Small and mid-size suppliers appear to be waiting to see what kind of e-commerce initiatives their larger trading partners will undertake. Suppliers are faced with a choice of building their own Web site, selling over a public exchange, or joining the private exchanges of multiple trading partners. They may feel there is not enough demand from their customers to sell online. Also, many businesses do not have the internal information technology (IT) resources to enter into e-commerce. E-commerce operations typically require significant deployment costs and integration work, much more than simply offering a hosted Web site.
There are also many studies to which says that the first-generation B2B e-commerce Web sites were difficult for customers to use. Problems included too many Web pages to click through, distracting and unhelpful content, difficulty signing up for online service, and difficulty researching products. Next-generation B2B Web sites are expected to be more customer-friendly. They will incorporate such elements as personalization software that will reduce the number of click-throughs required. Other features will facilitate customer self-service, letting them check such things as inventory status on potential orders and track order shipping. Next-generation sites will reflect customer service as business's top priority, with companies leveraging the Internet to better serve their customers.

With the rapid growth of the Internet, organizations are increasingly using the Web to conduct business with greater speed, reach, and efficiency. This transformation is especially prevalent in business-to-business (B2B) commerce and trade. In many studies they had found out that many of the Fortune 500 companies have adopted e- procurement systems such as Ariba (see sidebar, “Ariba”), Commerce One, and mySAP. Many others participate as buyers in e-marketplaces, such as Commerce One MarketSet, Ariba Hosted Market Place, and IBM’s WebSphere Commerce Suite, Marketplace Edition (WCS MPE, or MPE for short), among others.

B2B buyers have diverse procurement systems, such as those offered by Ariba, Commerce One, and SAP, among others. Each of these procurement systems uses different B2B protocols for interaction with seller systems. Many of these protocols are proprietary and specific to the procurement system. Check attached example:
Ariba uses the punchout process between the Ariba Order Request Management System (ORMS) and seller systems using their Commerce XML (cXML, or Commerce Extensible Markup Language) specification for the messages. Commerce One uses XML Common Business Library (xCBL) as the format of messages, and mySAP uses the Open Catalog Interface (OCI; for a process similar to punchout) between buyer and seller systems.The following are some things that are being offered by the internet that enables competitive advantage in the B2B e-commerce:
Open Exchange of Information:
The internet present unlimited amount of information that no one could possibly limit it. Anyone can view the data of certain business and is able to compare it with others. Information also is not limited to time since the internet is open for the whole day, 24 hours a day, 7 day a week, thus everyone can view it.
Online Transaction: Online trust: security and privacy:
Having this advantage, business would not necessarily have many papers to fill up just to complete a transaction. In doing it in the web, one can easily done it without too much hassle. With the growing trust in the cyberspace, almost all transaction is now absolutely in good hands. Without consumer confidence in the safety, security, and privacy of information in cyberspace, there will be no e-commerce and no growth. Protecting information and communications on the Internet is an absolute prerequisite to the continued success of the Internet and the information economy.

Free and open international trade:
The web as it is defined is a linked to all connection in the whole wide world, thus the market in the cyberspace do not have any limits to its audience and customers. Closed markets and discriminatory treatment will stifle e-business. The Internet is a global medium, and the rules of the information economy must reflect that fact. Only in an open, free market will the Internet’s potential be realized.

Investing in an e-commerce technology infrastructure:
Because of the growing electronically driven business, government are also supporting and studying for ways to have a concrete structure in the internet. Supporting the physical infrastructure necessary to deliver digital content (primarily through telecommunications deregulation and government efforts to reduce the digital divide) is vital to spurring technological growth.

Speeding Things Up:
From an article in the E-commerce times , Martin Boyd, director of product marketing at Ariba (Nasdaq: ARBA) Latest News about Ariba, said the real-time aspect of future e-commerce technologies will allow users to engage in "threaded discussions" as they negotiate contracts and share data. The advantage of this is that all are able to see the latest updates and documents in the business.
Because of processes is being done over the internet, things are easily being done, things are speeding up to its high rate. That is why people are now engaged in doing business over the net.

Transactions are simplified:
The net is the home of all possible businesses around the world. From house equipment to the trendy gadget are all in the web. Even finding work is easily done in the internet. Doing the transaction is the internet is so easy to adopt and learn. One just simply have to fill up some information to transact, rather from the traditional ways that there are many needed papers and other documents to be filled and comply to be able to complete the transaction.

Reference:
http://www.business.com/directory/internet_and_online/ecommerce/b2b_markets/
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/businessline/iw/2000/05/28/stories/0728g101.htm
http://ecommerce.hostip.info/pages/141/Business-Business-B2B-E-Commerce.html
http://searchcio.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid182_gci214411,00.html
http://endeca.com/manufacturing/b2b-ecommerce.html

E-commerce: Trust through implementing security measures

noreply@blogger.com (snage) — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 13:58:00 +0000

It is true that trust is the greatest aspect in having transactions in the web. Trust is something that one could not easily be given to people that he doesn’t know completely. As I was being introduced to online transaction in my early years as an IT student, I am amazed to how people transact and some questions arises: Do the people have the assurance that the owner or developer of that site they are subscribing be truthful to their contracts? Why does people easily and fully trust these people? Do the government have any laws for these? Are they sure that the site is not a fraud or something? Something that only gets money and then disappear in an instant? These are just the few questions that came into my mind as e-commerce had been initiate to my understanding.
Trust is a major challenge to the consumer acceptance of e-commerce: the lack of trust is an important reason for the hesitant growth in e-commerce and for the reluctance of consumers to engage in online buying transactions. Communicating trustworthiness is therefore a major challenge, companies encounter.

Trust is a concept everybody understands at some personal level, but most people will have trouble enunciating a specific definition of the concept. Some people will have strict measures they use to evaluate their level of trust in a person or company, while others rely on a more subjective "feel" for determining whether to trust somebody.
There are many different ways to which department of the government act upon the need of security in terms of trust issues when it comes to transactions being done over the net. An example of this is in an article by Eric Enge, Search Engine Watch, He had spoken about this issue at length with Nigel Ravenhill, Director of Marketing Communications at ScanAlert, the people who offer the HackerSafe service. This service audits and certifies your Web site's e-commerce infrastructure as being secure. Putting their logo on your site assures the consumer (or your B2B customer) that the information they submit to your site will be protected from, well, hackers.
Some of the cues a user may look for while evaluating trustworthiness in a commerce site:

Is the site professional?
Have the designers taken care to create a coherent interface, or is the site the apparent product of somebody learning how to code HTML? Does the site have typos, grammatical errors, useless animation, or any of a slew of other problems that indicate that the designers or implementers don't know what they are doing? If they can't design a good site, why expect them to be able to handle commerce transactions and fulfillment? Personally, I won't deal with any site that uses the Comic Sans font face because it shouts "built by an amateur" to me.
Does the information architecture make sense?
If the organization of information doesn't appear to have been carefully designed, why expect the site designers to have thought much about fulfillment and payment systems?
Is the site easy to navigate?
Can I find the product I want to buy? Is it easy for me to browser the site looking for interesting things I might want to buy? If the designers can't make the site easy enough to navigate around, why would I trust them to have made a backend that works?
Is the site easy to use?
Can I access and use the site and its offered functionality? Can I search, browse, and purchase from the site? If I can't, because of my browser and preferred browser configuration, then the site designers are telling me that they don't want my business.
Are my questions answered?
If I'm concerned about security or privacy, can I find information that addresses these concerns without having to email a faceless answer-bot? If the designers didn't think about my possible needs before I made my purchase, why expect them to handle my needs after they have my money?
Do other people trust this site?
What's the word about this site? Have customers received their orders correctly?
Am I familiar with this company?
Have I had good experiences with this company before, on or off the web?
Are the prices reasonable?
Is the price realistic or just too cheap? Will they hit me with an outrageous shipping charge to balance the low price?

Ensuring Web Site Security

People do not usually trust some sites that present amazing offers. To ensure these information as well as that of the information of the consumer, servicers are being used. Among these are the following:

HackerSafe
has been subjected to A/B testing by a large number of retailers, where half of their visitors see the HackerSafe certification, and half do not. Visitors who saw the HackerSafe logo converted at a 14 percent higher rate on average. Pretty significant.

ScanAlert
has published additional research that provides further visibility into shopping behavior on the Web. What ScanAlert did was examine in detail the elapsed time between a user's first visit to an e-commerce Web site (measured by setting a cookie), and the visit in which they purchased something (latent conversion delay). To make this more interesting, they started measuring this back in May 2005, and have continued to measure it through May 2007, allowing to see how this behavior has changed over time. ScanAlert has participated in 480 tests by 470 organizations covering a wide range of e-commerce activities.

A few interesting points emerge immediately:

1. Purchases taking less than 1 hour dropped from 50 percent to 43 percent. These are the purchases that may have taken place on one visit.
2. Purchases taking longer than 3 hours grew from 40 percent to 44 percent. The majority of these purchases were probably multi-visit in nature.
3. 30 percent of all purchases took more than one day. So if they are an e-commerce site, know that there is a lot of money on the table when it comes to capturing people for multiple visits to your site.
4. People requiring more than three days went up 23 percent (from 21 percent to 26 percent).
5. 18 percent of purchases took more than one week, a 28 percent increase from 2005.

Arguably, most of e-commerce purchases are based on more than one visit to an e-commerce Web site. Why would this be? Most likely, it's because of comparison shopping in action. More and more consumers have the Web savvy to understand how to compare options, and they look at other places where they can buy the same goods.

The Importance of Trust and Safety

ScanAlert also did some additional tests of the impact of its HackerSafe service on these latent conversions. ScanAlert's data show that for those people requiring more than three days to buy (24 percent of all purchases measured), the HackerSafe logo resulted in a 34 percent lift in purchases, as compared to a 14 percent lift overall. What this suggests is that trust and safety are major factors in the behavior of these more hesitant shoppers. So price is not the only issue at hand.

This suggests online retailers should look at strategies for projecting trustworthinessWill it frighten users away or convince them that you are the real deal? Nigel also suggests that offering users an option to provide you with an email address is a smart idea. Users who are not ready to buy may be willing to hear what you have to say, and may well provide you with the opportunity to get back to them. Following up with an emailÂ containing a special offer is an excellent way to increase that latent conversion rate.

E-Commerce Security
When someone is shopping for something over the net, what assurance could they get to know that it is not a fraud? How do you know that the data you enter will be protected as it flies across the Internet?
The de facto mechanism for ensuring e-commerce security is the digital certificate.
In fact, the sole goal of digital certificates is to make sure online shoppers feel secure, by authenticating the legitimacy of the certificate owner and by protecting your sensitive data.
Digital certificates are issued by a third-party certificate authority. The certificate authority will only issue a digital certificate after they have thoroughly checked out a company.
Once you get a digital certificate, you can post a logo on your website. Presumably, customers who see a digital certificate logo prominently displayed on your site will trust you considerably more than if you didn't have the digital certificate. They know that you've gone through a vetting process and that the personal data they submit to your site will be encrypted.
This is one of the ways to which organization or individual customer have a strong and assured bind to the site they are purchasing to. A digital certificate to be able to check the reliability of the site and knowing that the information you have given them would not be used by others or be hacked.
Privacy in E-Commerce Transactions

There are also issues after the customer had done inputting their information. Does the merchant sell those information to others? What assurance does the customer have to know that their privacy are being protected?

E-commerce companies can show prospective customers that they take privacy seriously by applying for a displaying a TRUSTe privacy seal.

The TRUSTe seal tells customers that the company practices good privacy policies. In order to obtain the seal, the e-commerce site must have a privacy policy that complies with TRUSTe's privacy guidelines.

E-Commerce Reliability
If you've taken care of your e-commerce security issues and assured customers that you are a trustworthy partner who will protect their privacy, what's left to prove?
The last frontier of building e-commerce trust is conveying to customers that you are a company that delivers on its promises.
Surprisingly, there are e-commerce companies out there who have digital certificates and TRUSTe seals but who completely fail the reliability test. For example, maybe they promise an order will be delivered in a few days and then they take weeks to deliver instead.
If you believe your service levels are excellent and want to convey that to customers, check out these programs.
Here are also components of a commerce site that suggest trustworthiness from the article of Derek Sisson entitled A thoughtful approach to web site quality. ecommerce | Trust & Trustworthiness:

1. Seals of Approval -- Symbols, like VeriSign and Visa, designed to re-assure the visitor that security has been established. The companies that provide these seals of approval are referred to in this report as "security brands.
2. Brand -- The corporation's promise to deliver specific attributes and its credibility based on reputation and the visitor's possible previous experience.
3. Navigation -- The ease of finding what the visitor seeks. If the information architecture of your site doesn’t make sense, customers will doubt your ability to serve them. In the same way that cleanliness and layout affects a brick and mortar experience, problems such as poor navigation, broken links and broken images erode customer confidence in your brand.
4. Fulfillment -- Clearly indicates how orders will be processed, and provides information on how to seek recourse if there are problems.
5. Presentation -- Design attributes that connote quality and professionalism. Even if customers don’t have any artistic inclinations, they intuitively know if your website design sucks. Your website doesn’t have to do a fancy song and dance, it just needs a professional, clean design that instills confidence in your brand.
6. Technology -- State of the art connotes professionalism, even if it's difficult to use.

These are just steps to which customer can assure that the site they are buying to would meet their agreed transaction. Having a transaction online without seeing the one you are doing business to requires a great deal of trust. E-commerce also requires this kind of deal to its customers, steps should be followed by buyers to ensure that the site is not a fraud. E- commerce replacing the traditional way of purchasing should be taken seriously because of its impact in the society. Organization must have appropriate law or regulation to protect customers from hackers lurking in the depths of the internet waiting for someone to a victim of their nasty works.

Reference:
http://searchenginewatch.com/3626363
http://www.gaebler.com/Conveying-Trustworthiness-in-E-Commerce.htm
http://www.philosophe.com/commerce/trust.html
http://www.palmerwebmarketing.com/blog/helping-customers-trust-your-website/