Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay Website Hacked!

I seldom visit this website, but yeah – the official online portal of the Office of the Vice President of the Philippines has been hacked.



If you visit www.ovp.gov.ph, the homepage is completely blank (as of this writing) except for the Facebook logo in the upper left which will bring you to the FB fan page of the Vice President. It’s quite hard to believe though that the fan page only got a small number of fans for a government official like Binay, so I’m thinking it’s not really legit.

Cache homepage of the Philippine VP's website (click to enlarge)

The blank homepage leaves no clear explanation as to why the website is compromised; however, out of curiosity by checking cache pages of www.ovp.gov.ph, it appears most of its internal links redirect to an online gaming website, AmigoGames.com. Now this leads me to suspect two things: it could be a ridiculous website promotion by the gaming portal, or somebody just wants to screw the VP’s website while setting up AmigoGames.com.



Anyway, let’s just wait until we got the official statement from the Office of the Vice President regarding this incident. Any thoughts?

To receive latest technology updates, you can subscribe either by E-mail or by RSS Feeds. Follow me also on Twitter.

Vatican News Website, Officially Live on June 29th

Catholic faithfuls, in 3 days, you can have the latest updates straight from Vatican.



The Holy See is all set to launch its news website, The Vatican Today, on June 29th. The URL is already live though at www.news.va, with the sneak preview of the site contents.

Leveraging Web 2.0, the site is expected to feature rich audio-visual media, with social interactions through Facebook, Twitter, and other networking sites. The site preview also highlights YouTube video channel, photo stream through Flickr, Vatican Radio, Vatican Television Center (CTV), Events, and Daily Bulletin.



To be among the firsts to visit the site, bookmark www.news.va, and fire up your web browser once again come Wednesday.



Update: The Vatican Today is now live.

To receive latest technology updates, you can subscribe either by E-mail or by RSS Feeds. Follow me also on Twitter.

Online Loan Application in the Philippines Even Made Easier with Raining Pesos

Taking out a loan from banks or financial institutions can be such a headache, and getting information on the different loan products being provided can prove to be very time consuming and confusing at the same time.



Moving from bank branch to the next or opening multiple websites definitely takes a huge amount of time out of your day which could be used for other more productive means. This is where the team from Raining Pesos comes in. They have found a solution to this ever growing problem and complaint by a majority of loan applicants.

According to Robert Tan, Vice President for business development, although this concept is not new abroad, it is definitely a first to hit Philippine soil. He says, before Raining Pesos came to be, they found that many Filipinos had problems and were finding it hard to connect to the right bank or financial institution for their loan needs and found the whole process to be highly time consuming. This became the entry point for the idea to find the solution to this problem. Tan say, the timing is just right as there are now over 30 million Filipinos using the internet.



Raining Pesos aim to bridge the gap between banks and applicants to make the loan process as friendly, quick, and simple. Tan adds that alongside with their vision to make the loan process experience quick and simple, they are also pushing for an online paperless loan application process as part of their goal to help the environment. Everything is done digitally from start to finish.



Raining Pesos has partnered with several banks and financial institutions that provide different loan products such as auto loan, housing loans, personal loans, and business loans as well as other types of more specific loans for Filipinos here and abroad. Now, applicants can go to one website and get all the information they need depending on the type of loan that best fits their need, pick their bank or financial institution, apply digitally and upload their required documents at the comfort of their own home, office or favorite Wi-Fi hang out. Raining Pesos is powered by a secured e-Commerce website using SSL certificates from VeriSign, SureSeal.ph, and RapidSSL.



For more information or if you are shopping around for a loan you can visit the Raining Pesos website at www.rainingpesos.com.ph.

To receive latest technology updates, you can subscribe either by E-mail or by RSS Feeds. Follow me also on Twitter.

Selling Gadgets in AyosDito.ph is as easy as Uploading Photos in Facebook

Think about it. You have a gadget (a phone, a gaming console, a laptop, and etc.) you’re about to sell, because it has of no use for you anymore; probably because you got a new and upgraded model or perhaps you just really need an extra cash.



Now you realized it’s extremely awful selling the gadget somewhere in the internet, like in some buy and sell forums, bombarded by mixed and unorganized categories. The scenario even become worst that your ad posting is not visible in the threads anymore because it has been pushed down to the last page by non-stop bumps from competitors. Your last resort then would be a dedicated buy and sell marketplace in which you can sell your gadget easily and fast.

I got a Flip Mino HD last year, a cool portable HD camcorder which I used to record videos mostly in unexpected moments. Such gadget was incredibly cool that it won’t require you to use 3rd party video editing software due to its good quality when you upload it to your computer. But time comes I realized I don’t need it anymore, though I really valued its worth since it was a gift from a friend. Nonetheless, I decided to sell it online anyway through AyosDito.ph – just another player in the country for online classified ads.

Here in the Philippines, AyosDito.ph is not a new name anymore, proven by its wide audience (both seller and buyer) as well as its traffic rank in the country. And as an internet-savvy kiddo, there’s no reason I wouldn’t try selling items through the site.

I posted my own ad for Flip Mino HD using a single detailed photo of the gadget, plus the details required in the 1-2-3 ad posting process. Of course I left a contact number for a faster transaction, and guess what – hours after I confirmed the auto-generated verification link sent to my email after posting the ad, I got an SMS message from a potential buyer of the Flip. Interesting!

If you’ll ask me why or that would make sense if you’ll ask how- it’s because I only posted the ad targeting potential buyers in the Central Visayas region. Basically, a buyer will find the latest “for sale” items on his vicinity, be it an expensive computer accessories, cheap laptops, or any gadgets of his interest. Because of how the ad listing is organized and categorized, your ads definitely have a potential of being sold in no time. Plus, there’s the social feature on every ad listing that will gain your ad more exposure to social networking sites.



Based on experience, I’m actually thinking selling gadgets online through AyosDito.ph is as easy as uploading photos to Facebook. But I’d prefer the first one, perhaps you already knew why. Don’t you? And oh, by the way, don’t search for the Flip Mino HD in the site – it had been sold already. Thanks to the functionality built into the site that will allow users to delete posted ad when the item is already sold.



How about you, have you tried selling items through AyosDito.ph? How about buying? Please do share your views.

To receive latest technology updates, you can subscribe either by E-mail or by RSS Feeds. Follow me also on Twitter.