The portal—ePLUS.ph---will serve as a local resource for SM Cinema movie tickets, Mall of Asia Arena events, nationwide deals and lifestyle articles. The site will also be a ground-breaking resource for consumers to find high-value tickets to movies, concerts, sports, theater, arts, and live events, while serving as a timely and effective way for customers to get updated with lifestyle perks, deals and informative articles. The launch is planned in time for mid-year sale season.
With unprecedented access to a consolidated network of nationwide events from the Philippines’ ticketing leader, movies schedules from the county’s largest cinema chain, and unbeatable prices from the country’s largest mall network, ePLUS.ph will be the destination for exclusive SM Lifestyle deals.
ePLUS.ph works with SM to further deliver its commitment to offer amazing local experiences to its members.
ePLUS.ph represents a new channel to drive value for e-PLUS card members, while helping a broader market stay informed with every interesting facet of the platform. From movie and event schedule, exclusive discounts to university bulletins, and community driven forums.
The ePLUS.ph portal is just the beginning of a platform that enables Filipinos to share, and enjoy an ePLUS lifestyle. Visit www.eplus.ph and http://youtu.be/RhpXDpEfCmg
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) is beginning a three (3)-year program aimed at generating growth for the country’s agribusiness trade, directly benefitting workers in the agricultural and fisheries sectors across the country, in line with President Benigno S. Aquino III’s push for inclusive growth.
Last Wednesday (May 8, 2013) the Department of Transportation and Communication (DOTC) secured the cooperation of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) on a program to pursue reforms various policy and regulatory reforms in the Philippine shipping sector in order to improve our farmers’ market access and integration by reducing the cost of domestic shipping over the next three years.
From L-R: (seated) DOTC Undersecretary for Planning Rene K. Limcaoco, DOTC Secretary Joseph Emilio Aguinaldo Abaya, IFC Resident Representative Jesse Ang; (standing) Narcisa Rivera of CIDA, MARINA Director Myrna Clemeno, PPA official Amy Aquino, and IFC Senior Program Manager Hans Schrader.
The project will involve a diagnostic review by the IFC to identify areas where pro-competitive practices will help meet these goals. The DOTC will work together with its frontline agencies, the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA) and the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), in reviewing the results of the study and implementing the recommendations of the IFC from 2013 to 2016.
“This partnership with the IFC is a very welcome development. It will have a major impact on our economy, especially for farmers and fisherfolk who stand to realize the most gains from our policy reforms,” said the Transport Department.
The DOTC explained further that, by reducing domestic shipping costs, the prices of commodities will also go down. According to a study prepared by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in 2005, 24.2% to 43.8% of the wholesale price of food products is on account of transport and logistics costs.
“By making it cheaper to move agricultural goods from farms to markets, the prices of these commodities will also be reduced, making them more affordable to consumers,” remarked the DOTC. “These benefits are the reason why the DOTC, MARINA, and PPA – all of whom share the President’s vision of inclusive growth – look forward to this project.”
This effort is partly funded by the Canadian International Cooperation Agency (CIDA), and will require no cost on the part of the Philippine government. It is also part of the IFC’s Philippine Agribusiness Trade Logistics program.
According to IFC Resident Representative Jesse Ang, this agreement demonstrates the IFC’s confidence in the DOTC, MARINA, and PPA’s efforts to undertake shipping and port reforms.
Fast & Furious 6 is the sixth installment in the Fast and the Furious film series. The film stars Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Dwayne Johnson, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Michelle Rodriguez, Sung Kang, Chris Bridges, Luke Evans, Gina Carano, and John Ortiz.
SM Cinema, the country’s home of premiere nights, will host the upcoming Fast and Furious 6 premiere which will be held at SM Mall of Asia on May 15, 2013.
The film’s lead action star, Vin Diesel, along with fellow stars Michelle Rodriguez, Gina Carano and Luke Evans, producer Neal H. Moritz, and director Justin Lin will be coming to the Philippines to be part of this exciting movie event.
Fast & Furious 6 continues in the tradition of thrilling fast‐paced car chases, action, and suspense that has made the movie franchise a worldwide sensation. Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson lead the returning cast of all‐stars as the global blockbuster franchise built on speed races to its next continent.
Fast & Furious 6 follows a professional criminal gang led by Dominic Toretto (Diesel) who have retired following their successful heist in Fast Five (2011), but remain wanted fugitives. U.S. Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agent Luke Hobbs (Johnson) offers to clear the group's criminal records and allow them to return home in exchange for helping him to take down a skilled mercenary organization led by Owen Shaw (Evans) and his second in command, Dominic's presumed-dead lover Letty Ortiz (Rodriguez).
The only way to stop the criminal outfit is to outmatch them at street level, so Hobbs asks Dom to assemble his elite team in London. Payment? Full pardons for all of them so they can return home and make their families whole again.
The Fast and the Furious 6 (alternatively known as Fast Six) characters.
Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto: A street racer and fugitive
Paul Walker as Brian O'Conner: A former FBI agent turned criminal. He is in a relationship with Mia Toretto
Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs: A Diplomatic Security Service agent
Jordana Brewster as Mia Toretto: Dominic's sister and the girlfriend of Brian O'Conner
Tyrese Gibson as Roman Pearce: Brian's childhood friend
Michelle Rodriguez as Letty Ortiz: Dominic's former girlfriend who was believed to be dead
Sung Kang as Han Seoul-Oh: A street racer and member of Dominic's crew
Chris Bridges as Tej Parker: Brian's and Roman's friend
Luke Evans as Owen Shaw: A former SAS Major now leading a heist gang
Gina Carano as Riley: A member of Hobbs' team
Gal Gadot as Gisele Yashar: A former Mossad agent turned professional criminal
Joe Taslim as Jah: A cold blooded killer who fights using martial arts and parkour
Clara Paget as Vegh: The character is described as a gun-slinging action woman
Elsa Pataky as Elena Neves
Rita Ora portrays the head girl of a London racing crew
Jin Au-Yeung as Jimmy
Fast & Furious 6 is a United International Pictures Release through Solar Entertainment Corporation. The film will be released in theaters across the Philippines on May 24, 2013.
WD® and SanDisk team up to crate innovative solid state hybrid drives. SanDisk Brings Fast Flash Memory Technology to the World’s Thinnest 2.5-inch Solid State Hybrid Drives from WD
WD®, a Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) company, and SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, today announced that the two companies are collaborating to introduce hybrid storage devices that feature best-in-class flash memory technology from SanDisk and best-in-class hard drive technology from WD.
SanDisk is supplying a SanDisk iSSD™ storage device for the WD Black™ solid state hybrid drive (SSHD), the world’s thinnest 2.5-inch SSHD solution, which utilizes both WD proprietary hybrid technology and industry standard SATA IO technology. The SanDisk iSSD brings an elegant balance of performance, low power consumption, cost, reliability, and a compact form factor to this SSHD, which will offer ample storage to meet consumers’ growing appetite for digital content as well as flash-enabled speed, data throughput and responsiveness – all within ultra-slim form factors.
“I am delighted for SanDisk to team up with WD on these exciting new hybrid products,” said Kevin Conley, senior vice president and general manager of client storage solutions at SanDisk. “By combining SanDisk’s unparalleled flash memory expertise and technology with the hard drive know-how of WD, WD Black SSHDs offer outstanding hard drive-like capacity, and the slim form factor and the level of performance that you will only get with flash memory solutions.”
“Working with SanDisk, WD realized our vision for products that combine the best of both technologies,” said Matt Rutledge, vice president of client computing at WD. “WD’s SSHDs are a significant achievement in the continuing SSHD/flash storage revolution.”
About WD Black Solid State Hybrid Drives
WD Black SSHDs use WD hybrid technology that blends responsive, intelligent flash memory technology from SanDisk with high capacity hard drives from WD. This powerful combination greatly improves the PC user experience, enabling both high capacity and a higher level of performance than traditional hard disk drives, including increased speed, instant-on and faster application launching.
With device volume being a key concern for PC manufacturers who want to design slimmer devices, the WD Black SSHDs are designed to accommodate integration into the market’s thinnest notebooks. The WD Black 5mm SSHD offers 500GB of capacity, while utilizing almost 50 percent less volume than current standard notebook hard drives (which are approximately 9.5mm). The low-profile of the solid state hybrid drive is complemented by the extremely small form factor of the SanDisk iSSD, which is built on 19 nanometer (nm) process technology, the world's smallest and most advanced semiconductor manufacturing process. The WD Black 5mm SSHDs are shipping to OEMs. WD is also currently shipping to OEMs ultra-slim, 7mm and 9.5mm SSHDs for portable devices.
About WD
WD, a Western Digital company, is a long-time innovator and storage industry leader. As a storage technology pacesetter, the company produces reliable, high-performance hard disk drives and solid state drives. These drives are deployed by OEMs and integrators in desktop and mobile computers, enterprise computing systems, embedded systems and consumer electronics applications, as well as by the company in providing its own storage products. WD’s leading storage devices and systems, networking products, media players and software solutions empower people around the world to easily save, store, protect, share and experience their content on multiple devices. WD was established in 1970 and is headquartered in Irvine, Calif. For more information, please visit the company’s website at www.wd.com.
Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), Irvine, Calif., is a global provider of products and services that empower people to create, manage, experience and preserve digital content. Its companies design and manufacture storage devices, networking equipment and home entertainment products under the WD, HGST and G-Technology brands. Visit the Investor section of the company's website (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.
About SanDisk
SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) is a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, from research and development, product design and manufacturing to branding and distribution for commercial and retail channels. Since 1988, SanDisk's innovations in flash memory and storage system technologies have provided customers with new and transformational digital experiences. SanDisk's diverse product portfolio includes flash memory cards and embedded solutions used in smart phones, tablets, digital cameras, camcorders, digital media players and other consumer electronic devices, as well as USB flash drives and solid state drives (SSD) for the computing market. SanDisk's products are used by consumers and enterprise customers around the world.
SanDisk is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 and Fortune 500 company, with more than half its sales outside the United States. For more information, visit www.sandisk.com.
