Alden Richards goes personal in debut album

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Alden Richards, GMA young leading man, admits that his debut album under Universal Records speaks a lot about him.

The album, which includes his cover of memorable hits – Shamrock’s Haplos, Rey Valera’s Naaalala Ka, Itwchyworm’s Akin Ka Na Lang, among others, is a testament to Alden’s young romantic side.

During the album was launched at the Trinoma Activity Center,  his fans tropped and proved that indeed Alden is one of the most bankable stars of the Kapuso Network.

“I really am very thankful that people went out to support me,” says the Kapuso star. 

“I have given everything I have for this project.”

Thankfully, Alden’s album zoomed to the top of the Astrovision/Astroplus music charts after only a week after its release.

Alden expressed gratitude towards Universal Records bosses for the opportunity – General Manager Kathleen Dy-Go, Operations Director Peter Chan, and producer Ito Rapadas, who made sure that Alden’s voice in tip-top shape for the recording.

The album’s debut single Haplos instantly rose to the top of the MyMusicStore charts and is now a part of the series Mundo Mo’y Akin as its love theme.

Alden also has an original song in the album – the romantic Sa Aking Tabi by Vince Katindoy, composer of Ngiti.

Alden Richards album is now available at all record bars nationwide.

Track List:

1.     Haplos

2.     Naalala Ka

3.     Cant Find The Reason

4.     ‘Di Na Mababawi

5.     Sa Aking Tabi

6.     Akin Ka Na Lang

7.     Everytime I See you  

Julia Barretto shares a touching family story in "MMK" this Saturday

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Julia Barretto shares a touching story of a daughter in conflict this Saturday in her episode for ABS-CBN's longest-running drama anthology "Maalaala Mo Kaya."

Julia Barretto makes ‘MMK’ debut this episode. Rising Kapamilya teen star Julia Barretto‘s dream to appear in “Maalaala Mo Kaya” comes true this Saturday (June 15).

The rising Kapamilya teen star will give life to the character of Alex, a young teenage girl who grew up in a complete and happy family.

Her life reaches a turning point when her mother leaves them for another man because of her father’s drug addiction.

Before her family gets even more broken, Alex eventually decides to forgive her father. She works hard to prove to her mother that their family will still be happy without her.

Will Alex find it in her heart to forgive her mother for abandoning them?

Together with Julia in this episode are Ara Mina, James Blanco, Jacob Dionisio, Tommy Abuel, Manuel Chua, Kristoff Meneses, Marikit Morales, and Yda Yaneza.

Gladly to talk with her last Thursday, June 13 at the Star Cinema office, Abs-Cbn. Julia shared that she did not think twice about accepting the role when it was offered to her.

“I immediately said yes because I have always wanted to do episode for the show. I am really nervous because it is a huge responsibility and honor for me to be entrusted with an ‘MMK’ story.” Even that there are pressure, Julia said that she is ready to prove herself to everyone. 

“I am very nervous because I might not meet the expectations of other people and I am afraid that I might disappoint them. Sometimes I try not to think about it because I just want to focus on how to improve my acting skills and show everybody that I can do this,” she said.

This episode was researched by Akeep Jordan del Rosario, written by Mark Angos, and directed by Dado Lumibao. Don’t miss Julia’s first-ever “MMK” episode this Saturday after “Wansapanataym” on ABS-CBN.

Don’t miss Julia’s first-ever “MMK” episode this Saturday after “Wansapanataym” on ABS-CBN. For more updates, log on to www.mmk.abs-cbn.com, and follow @MMKOfficial on Twitter and visit the official Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MMKOfficial.

Live Well , Work Well! National Wellness Day is on June 21

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Live Well, Work Well! 

The People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) will hold a nationwide event called National Wellness Day that is envisioned to be participated by various companies in the country, both PMAP and non-PMAP members, on June 21, 2013.

PMAP is advocating health and wellness in the workplace as one of the most important issues that companies need to address today.

PMAP President Evelyn Grace C. Sorongon said that through the years, the organization have organized employee activities like sports fests, family day events and the likes for its member companies. 

"This time, we want to come up with an activity that will help promote awareness among employers and employees about the importance of being physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy," Sorongon shared during a media roundtable interview recently.

PMAP led by (starting 4^th from left) PR and Publicity Committee Director-in-Charge Jesse Francis N. Rebustillo, Fellowship Committee Director-in-Charge Michelle G. Guce and and President Evelyn Grace C. Sorongon invited members of the press for a media roundtable event to promote the upcoming National Wellness Day on June 21, 2013.

PMAP also presented a suggested program format that companies can use as a guide for a half-day event that they can organize in their respective workplaces. It includes company-sponsored healthy lunch and snack; learning sessions on work-life balance, holistic and spirituality; and the 7-Minute PMAP Wellness Moment, a quick wellness activity that involves stretching and meditation to be done simultaneously across the nation by employees at exactly 3:00 pm on June 21.

The wellness moment involves the following activities: (a) 2-minute stretching/ self-massage, (b) 2-minute of silence (to pray or meditate), (c) minute dance/ jog in place/ jump or hop and (d) 1-minute clapping/ laughing or handshakes with colleagues.

Companies who will join in the event are encouraged to document their participation through videos and/ or photos and send a copy to the PMAP Secretariat to be included in the list of companies who will be recognized with a workplace wellness certificate during a PMAP event.

Furthermore, on October 2013, PMAP will hold a fun run at CCP Grounds, Pasay City as the culminating event of the organization’s efforts in promoting workplace wellness this year. Aside from targeting more than 1,500 participants in the fun run, the event also aims to provide a venue for different organizations to showcase their respective wellness initiatives.

“We encourage all our members to participate in this worthy activity likewise to discuss to your employees our advocacy on how to stay fit and become more productive members of our society,” Sorongon added.

For queries regarding the event, interested parties can contact Ms. Agnes Junio of PMAP through tel. no. 726-1532 loc. 306 or email agnes.junio@pmap.org,ph. 

Details are also posted on www.pmap.org.ph.

WD® Designs First Enterprise-Class Hard Drives for Exploding Scale-Out DataCenter Market

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Cost-Effective, High Capacity, Low Power Drive Validated in WD’s Real-World Hadoop® Environment; also Ideal for SMB and Mid-Sized NAS Deployments

WD®, a Western Digital (NASDAQ: WDC) company and world leader for storage deployed in datacenters, today announced availability of its innovative WD Se™ line of hard drives, the first designed for scale-out datacenter deployments. Built on an enterprise-grade platform for reliable 24x7x365 datacenter operation, WD Se is tailored to deliver the right combination of performance, reliability and robustness for large-scale replicated environments, mid-sized network attached storage (NAS) deployment, and backup/archiving applications. 

WD Se is a true enterprise-class drive with the right blend of affordability and capabilities to address the massive growth of semi-structured data, which is accelerating the scale-out of datacenters of all sizes. Now shipping in capacities up to 4 TB, the new WD Se hard drives enables customers to balance their data growth challenges in multi-drive enclosures without compromising enterprise-class features.

“Today’s cloud datacenter installations require a cost-effective way to build large-scale storage systems, while maintaining the 24x7 reliability necessary to minimize total cost of ownership,” said Richard E. Rutledge, senior vice president of WD’s datacenter storage business unit. “WD’s utilization of vast amounts of manufacturing and engineering data has forced us – like many other companies – to use map-reduce methodologies to effectively analyze our data. The WD Se hard drives are used in our own big datacenter, where we have gained real-world experience with Apache™ Hadoop®.”

WD Se drives also address the fast-growing SMB to mid-range network-attached storage (NAS) market. The robust enterprise-class design and higher workload capabilities for SMB-focused 6-bay-plus table-top NAS units and rack-mount multi-tenant NAS solutions with up to 24 bays, provide NAS integrators a complement to WD Red™ hard drives, which are for small NAS systems. WD’s other datacenter hard drives – WD Xe™ and WD Re™ – round out the high-end of the NAS market, offering higher durability and performance for large-scale rack-based NAS systems. Together, WD Se, WD Xe, WD Re and WD Red™ provide a total portfolio of robust storage devices to match every size and scale of NAS deployment. 

In addition to undergoing at least 5,000,000 hours of functional and thermal testing and over 20,000,000 hours of additional testing under actual workloads in server and storage systems, WD’s Se hard drives feature: 

A dual processor for twice the processing power to maximize performance; 

Enhanced Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward (RAFF™) technology that includes sophisticated electronics to monitor the drive and correct both linear and rotational vibration in real time; 

Dual actuator technology improves head positional accuracy over the data track(s); 

StableTrac™ whereby the motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking during read and write operations delivering a consistent level of performance for applications; 

Multi-axis shock sensor automatically detects the subtlest shock events and compensates to protect the data; 

RAID-specific, time-limited error recovery (TLER) prevents drive fallout caused by the extended hard drive error-recovery processes common to desktop drives, and; 

Dynamic fly height technology where each read-write head’s fly height is adjusted in real time for optimum reliability. 

Price and Availability

WD’s Se hard drives, shipping in capacities from 2 TB to 4 TB, (models: WD2000F9YZ, WD3000F9YZ, and WD4000F9YZ) are available through select distributors and resellers. Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the WD Se hard drives range from PHP 7990 to PHP 14, 990. WD’s Se drives are covered by a five-year limited warranty. More information about WD’s Se enterprise hard drives may be found on the company's website at http://www.wd.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=1050.

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, California. 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.

Makati Celebrates 115 Years of Philippine Independence with Philippine Bamboo Flag Museum

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The first Philippine Bamboo Flag Museum was launched yesterday, June 11, at the Ayala Triangle in Makati as part of the city's celebration of the 115th Philippine Independence Day.

Led by Ayala Land under its Make It Makati: Make It Happen campaign. Makati 2013 Independence Celebration is a three-tiered event that is all in the same breath experiential, educational, and entertaining. Makati celebrates Philippine Independence with Philippine Bamboo Flag Museum - with bamboo, a sturdy and versatile material that is also uniquely Pinoy as its main instrument.

(From left)Ayala Land vice president Meann Dy, Ayala Land President Tony Aquino, Makati Representative Monique Lagdameo and National Historical Commission of the Philippines Chair Maria Serena Diokno led the unveiling of the first Philippine Bamboo Flag Museum June 11 at the Ayala Triangle, Makati City

Makati takes the lead in mounting a grand event to celebrate 115 remarkable years of Philippine Independence being one of its signature events. The country’s leading city highlights the admirable spirit of resiliency and optimism of the Filipinos and how we were able to rise from all challenges and adversities.

The Makati populace and even visitors from neighboring cities should look forward to a new art expression of the flag with the unveiling of the country’s first ever Philippine Bamboo Flag Museum. It is a structure that showcases images and vignettes from our nation’s rich history through a gallery exhibit entitled “Grass: Routes of a Nation.” QR codes could also be found on some of the exhibit panels that provide visitors an interactive way to know more trivia about bamboo not to mention the actual bamboo music instruments that are available inside, which kids and adults alike will surely enjoy.

Standing 5 ft tall and covering 50sqm area, the Philippine Bamboo Flag Museum is open to everyone and will be on display from June 11 until July 31.

The celebration also featured Filipino artistry at its finest entertaining the community with a variety of Philippine Cultural Shows by the Palihang Hagonoy, a dynamic organization committed to the propagation of Philippine art and culture. Young talented performers sang Lawiswis Kawayan, a famous Waray folk song and displayed their dancing prowess with Tinikling, Singkil, and Palo Sebo dance numbers. Guests were also treated with the traditional Balagtasan (Filipino poetry) that intrigued the audience on which is more beneficial, the Bamboo or the Coconut Tree? 

The likewise musically gifted Banda Kawayan from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines graced the occasion and awed the audience with their one-of-a-kind musical performances using bamboo instruments. 

Indeed, there is no denying that the Philippines is a country with rich history and admirable values. It is a nation that has been dealt with the most harrowing catastrophes and misfortunes, beset with social malady, and reeks with a long history of colonization, and yet the Philippines has overcome all of these to stand proud, free, and resilient.

For more fun and excitement, on June 15, to add to the grandness of the celebration, families, kids, and friends especially art enthusiasts can participate in the Independence Sketchfest activity, an on-the-spot sketching competition where exciting cash prizes and consolation prizes await the winners. To also promote Filipino sportsmanship and celebrate our being world-class, people should look forward to a giant chess installation at the lawn area of Ayala Triangle Gardens that will also be available to the public from June 11 to end of July. Exhibition games are slated for various universities where they will be joined by world renowned Filipino Chess Master himself, Eugene Torre.

Just as the Philippines is fast gaining momentum as an emerging leader in Asia, Makati has consistently asserted and solidified its reputation as the country’s leading city that makes it all happen, the perfect venue for a one-of-a-kind Independence Day celebration. 

The Independence Day celebration in Makati was made possible by Make It Makati, MasterCard, Philippine Star, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila Bulletin, Business Mirror, AXN, Banapple Pies and Cheesecakes, and Canon.

Enjoy the Wonderful World of Ayala Triangle Makati City. Make It Happen, Make It Makati! 

For more information, visit www.makeitmakati.com

or check out facebook.com/makeitmakati

and twitter.com/makeitmakati.