The 2008 Beijing Olympics Now Spicing!

Author: Robby

9 Aug

PHOTO UPDATE:

Beijing welcomed the world to the Games of the 29th Olympiad on August 8 with an Opening Ceremony that began at 8:00 p.m. (12:00 GMT). A splendid fireworks display burst forth from the National Stadium and lit up the night sky with brilliant colors. Follow the welcome ceremony on the official website of the Game.

The 2008 Olympic Games got underway on schedule at 8 p.m. local Beijing time, capping years of preparation and months of protests.

World leaders including China’s President Hu Jintao, U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are attending the four-hour ceremony at Beijing’s emblematic Bird’s Nest Stadium, along with about 90,000 other spectators. Security is tight throughout Beijing, with personal and baggage scans at nearly all subway stations. Beijing’s Capital International Airport closed to air traffic at 7:59 p.m.

China Mobile’s wireless LAN service is being turned off at the Bird’s Nest during the opening ceremony, but will be available at other Olympic venues and at centers being used by the international media. “WLAN service will not be provided during the opening and closing ceremony of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. Thus Internet will not be accessible during the aforementioned ceremonies,” China Mobile’s service guide explained.

A representative from China Mobile’s Olympic helpdesk, who declined to give her name, said it was for capacity reasons, not security. Reporters and Olympic officials will have access to wireline broadband connections provided by China Netcom, also an Olympic partner for the Beijing games.

Football (soccer) competitions for men and women actually began on Aug. 6, with many sports getting their start on Saturday, Aug. 9.

An hour before the opening ceremony began, Reporters Sans Frontieres (Reporters Without Borders, RSF) staged an online protest alongside demonstrations in European and American cities, decrying the incarceration of bloggers, cyber-dissidents and journalists along with what it perceives as a lack of press freedom at the games.

By 7:15 p.m. Beijing time, RSF indicated that over 7,800 people were participating in the online demonstration. Waving in front of the virtual representation of the Bird’s Nest were placards reading “Yes to sport, no to repression” and “No Olympic Games without freedom.”

Although billed as a “High-tech Olympics,” few new technologies are getting playing time over the 16 days. However, China’s homegrown 3G (third generation telephony) standard, TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Multiple Access) is getting what appears to be a final trial with 15,000 Olympic officials, as part of a marketing push by China Mobile to launch commercial services later this year.

Official website of Olympic 2008 at -> http://en.beijing2008.cn

Guys enjoy the world’s greatest ceremony!

Courtesy: Rizan [riz_sydney], Migger, Australia

GO TEAM PHILIPPINES!

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Filed under: Around the World

22 Reasons to Plurk

Author: Robby

4 Aug

Plurk is a mini blogging social networking site, sort of like Twitter, but it’s more than that. All the posts of all the people you’re following can be found on your profile’s timeline. Photos and videos can be added to your posts and direct messages can be done too. Plurk is truly unique, and a great way to get to know other people online.

1. Mini Blogging
This, in my opinion, is a breakthrough in blogging. When I first heard about mini blogging I thought it was a waste of time, but after giving it a try I realized that it’s a lot more fun then writing long blog posts. It also makes it easier to make friends and keep up with a whole lot of blogs at once.

2. Easy to Come Up With Ideas
When you do mini blogging all you have to do is enter a sentence or two. It’s easier to come up with things to write when you don’t have to elaborate. As a matter of fact Plurk only allows you 140 per post.

3. Post About Anything
Post about anything you like. Post such at “I’m eating lunch now” or “just cleaned my house” are very common. Once you get to know someone though, you’ll notice more interesting posts too.

4. Timeline
This is my favorite thing about Plurk. The timeline keeps track of all the posts you’re following in a horizontal timeline. You’ll know exactly when something was posted because of the dates and times listed on the page. You can just keep reading and reading all the way back to the beginning of their Plurk time.

5. Responses (ie. Comments)
Along with every one of your posts is an area where people can add responses to your post. You can ask questions and get answers or just post and see what people have to say.

6. Karma
Every time you do something on Plurk you gain Karma. Karma is the points system that Plurk uses. Posting, responding and adding friends are examples of things that will add you Karma. Karma can be lost too, usually by not posting for awhile.

7. Mouseover Posts
Whenever you move your mouse over a post on the timeline the whole post opens up so you can read it. Posts are usually cut off on the timeline to save on space.

8. Says, Feels, Wishes
Instead of just posting, you have the option of adding an adverb to your post. Some of the things you can add before each post are: says, feels, wishes, loves, hates, wants, shares, wishes, has, and there are some more.

9. Smileys
When you start out on Plurk you’re given a small group of smileys that you can use in your posts. As you earn points you can earn more smileys. These give your mini posts that extra emotion that you can’t find in a regular blog post.

10. Friends and Fans
Add friends to your friend list on Plurk and follow almost anyone’s posts that you want to follow. A fan is someone who is following your posts but is not added to your friend list yet. Have as many friends as you want, as long as they want to be your friend too.

11. Privacy
There are privacy settings on Plurk so you can decide who can read your posts. Choose to let anyone see your posts if you want to, or make it so only people you add as friends can read your posts. You can even make it completely private so only you can read your posts if you want. There are also privacy settings as to who can find you in search.

12. All Plurk Filter
If you click on “Interesting Plurkers” at the top of the page you’ll be taken to a page where you can read stranger’s posts. If you click in the middle of that page you can filter out who’s posts your reading. The filter works by location, age, gender and language.

13. Search
Using the little magnifying glass on your Plurk page you can search posts or people. Search for people by clicking “Humans”. If you’re looking for posts about something specific you can choose to search only your friends or everyone’s Plurks.

14. Photos and Videos
Add photos and videos right into your Plurk posts. The photo or video must be online. Then you just add the page of the photo or video into the post and it shows up on your timeline. For YouTube videos just enter the embed code that YouTube provides. Photo links should end in .jpg.

15. Scroll
Scroll through your timeline. You can do this with the scroll bar on your mouse or by clicking on the arrows on either side of the page. Then you can read them as they happen, or scroll through the timeline to read them.

16. Alerts
Alerts tell you when you have a new friend request or when someone has accepted your request for friendship.

17. Customizable Profile
Change the colors of your profile. As you earn more Karma you gain more colors and layouts. Also add information about you on your profile so people will know who they’re reading about.

18. See New Responses
Plurk keeps track of which responses you’ve missed so you can make sure to read all of them and not miss a thing.

19. Mark All As Read
If you don’t have time to read them all, just click this button and all the responses get marked as already read.

20. Embed Widget
Add this widget to your other websites and blogs so your other friends can read your Plurk posts right from your website.

21. Waste Time
Bored, nothing to do? Plurk! Beware, it can become addicting.

22. I’m There
Come see me on Plurk!

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