Globe at Home gives families a weekend of fun activities and free movies at #StreamFest

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Globe At Home launches its new GoBIG plans that come with free additional 100GB access to YouTube 

Online video content selections​ ​are​ growing so quickly that families can now ​spend an entire weekend just watching the latest movies, TV shows, and viral clips. To showcase how streaming can be a fun bonding pursuit for families, Globe at Home is holding #StreamFest, a weekend of free movies, snacks, and loads of fun activities!

Families can enjoy ​free ​screenings of popular Netflix titles like, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Designated Survivor. HOOQ will also be streaming movies like Amazing Spiderman 1 and 2, and kids will definitely enjoy the ​new Tangled series​ through the Disney Channel Apps. 

#StreamFest will also have activities hosted by top local YouTube creators such as beauty Vlogger Anne Clutz, Cosplayer Chris Cantada, and travel Vlogger Patrice Averilla of AVELOVINIT. 

#StreamFest is our way of bringing together the best in entertainment so that more families can experience it first hand. Through the streaming activities, we are able to showcase how much their connected life can be better when they are able to watch their favorite content all together. This is also our way of ​introducing our new GoBIG plans that is part of our mission to connect two million homes around the country with leading edge network technology,” says Senior Vice President of Globe At Home Martha Sazon.

Globe at Home’s #StreamFest kicked off in Cebu last July 1 and 2, and families in Manila can experience the fun at the Bonifacio High Street Activity Center in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig and at UP Town Center in Quezon City.

Every family can continue their ​#StreamFest at home​ by availing of the new Globe at Home GoBIG plans, which come with bigger data allocations at affordable rates, and fast and reliable speeds. For Plan 1299, customers can enjoy 300GB of data allocation per month with speeds of up to 5Mbps. Those who want to stream more can avail of Plan 1599, which has a data allowance of 400GB and speeds of up to 10Mbps, or Plan 1899, which has 500GB of data and speeds of up to 50Mbps.

All plans come with 100 GB of data exclusive for YouTube, so families can enjoy content from music videos to recipes, DIY clips, and more.

Customers also get​ six months free access to Netflix and Disney Channel apps for award-winning original content and children’s shows, and a two month subscription to HOOQ for a diverse selection of local and foreign titles.

To check the availability of Globe At Home GoBIG plans in your area, visit https://checkavailability.globe.com.ph. 

For more information on the new Globe at Home plans, visit the website at https://shop.globe.com.ph/broadband, call the Globe hotline at 730-1010, or visit any Globe Store.

Boy Abunda Speech Wows World-Class Speakers

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He is not called The King of Talk for nothing.

But with a foreign audience composed of the best and the brightest in public speaking in attendance, the applause - and the standing ovation - was a moment to remember even for talk show host par excellence Boy Abunda.

Simply put, Boy took the spotlight during his scheduled speech at the Asia Professional Speakers Convention held in Singapore last month. He owned the moment, seizing it like a hungry man at an all-you-can-eat convention.

The theme of his talk, Don’t Just Be A Speaker, Be A Star, provided him the perfect platform to share his thoughts on his decades of experience and wisdom as a talent agent, star maker, and television personality. It was a moment of perfect timing - the time, the place, the topic, and the speaker came together to create a fitting debut for Boy‘s public speaking career.

Dubbed “The Fab Sermon: Don't Just Be A Speaker, Be A Star", the hour-long speech turned out to be an engaging showcase of insight and inspiration delivered with truthfulness and impact.

Right off the bat Boy grabbed the audience attention with his short introduction of himself: 

 “I am not a professional speaker. I am a talk show host, an interviewer, and like you I use the same fundamental tools, "my words, my heart, and my truth.”

And he stole the show right from there!

Ethel Odilao, a certified John Maxwell speaker, observed of Boy, “He was outstanding. He exudes confidence facing an audience of global topnotch speakers.”

Fredrik Haren, a world-class speaker himself who spoke in 23 countries last year, invited Boy to the engagement believing that delegates would want to hear him talk about the said topic.

Boy spoke before a crowd of 200 guests, several of whom were globally acknowledged speakers that regularly got paid upwards of 20 thousand dollars per engagement . By the end of his talk, Boy was rewarded with a ten-minute standing ovation. 

“It is difficult to dance ballet with the best ballerinas around,” Boy shared, “So to prepare, I went to the ballroom the night before, walked around the stage, introduced myself to the stage, measured how far I should be from the tables. That was the first time in my career that I ever did that kind of preparation. I was that unsure.”

Boy had only bullet points. No written speech. He had some power point presentation. And then he prayed. 

Never shy of expressing truth within him, Boy recalled, “In Singapore I went on stage proud of my story. I said I’m Boy Abunda. I believe in God. I love my mother. I’m proudly gay. I have a partner for life. I’m a talk show host. I’m an interviewer. I’m a teacher, a student. I am proudly Filipino. Everything else is a footnote.”

The speech was a memorable experience for Boy who wasn’t expecting to get the audience’s nod. He said he’s extremely happy to have done well, and probably for the first time in his career of great talk, he and his team humbly thought he was actually good.

A voracious reader who keeps himself informed and inspired by famous speakers, from Martin Luther King to Bill Clinton, Boy admits that he also wants to become a professional speaker like the people in the audience who gave him that ovation. He also revealed that he is in the process of organizing and aligning Filipino speakers to the international speakers association.

His team is likewise solidifying a TED talk-like concept to bear his name, as well as meeting up with foreign speakers interested to connect with his advocacies.

For Boy who has taken masters in communications and a doctoral degree in social development, Singapore talk is just tip of the iceberg.

In sharing her amazement at Boy, Odilao added, “His expertise as a star builder is exemplified in his speech as he enumerates his own version of Speakers Beatitudes and his guide list of What Makes A Star A Star.”

For that said list, Boy counted 13 Things that include charisma, presence, network, and the “immutable law” that nothing lasts forever. 

There is no slowing down for Boy Abunda. Like what he has done all throughout his storied career, he will come up with innovations, much like his never-ending ideas for slogans like Usap Tayo, Susunod, Abangan, etc. 

“The familiar is not as exciting as the unknown. I’m running after anything that is not within my realm of control.”

During his well-lauded speech he rousingly ended it by advising “don’t forget to get paid; if not at least get laid," to the delight of his audience.

Epson holds number one position for large format signage printer amongst ASEAN countries in Q3 of 2016 to Q1 of 2017

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Epson’s flagship digital textile printer is number one large format printer for dye-sublimation inks in Vietnam

Epson, a leader in professional printing, has achieved the number one position in the graphics market for large format signage printers amongst ASEAN countries in the 3rd quarter period of 2016 to 1st quarter period of 2017. The most recent findings from IDC reveal that Epson has taken the top spot in this segment with a market share of 19.9%. The achievement demonstrates the company’s market leadership in the region and its pioneering innovation in large format graphics printing.

Epson professional printers combine high volume and high speed production printing with quality print output along with affordability, which has helped its growth in the region. The company has continued to lead in the commercial and industrial printer markets for photo graphics, signage, textile and label printing amongst printing providers, retail stores and the like, expanding in the Southeast Asia region.

At the core of Epson’s professional printers is its PrecisionCore printhead technology consisting of the Thin-Film Piezo print chip built using precision MEMS manufacturing technology for high performance printing. Using no heat, the PrecisionCore print chips enable the development of superior Epson ink formulations that can print across a variety of media ranging from posters and signage banners and other creative installations. Multi-size dot control delivers precision printing for high-volume and high-speed printing applications.

Alongside this achievement, Epson has continued to expand its digital textile printing business in the region, with its flagship digital textile printer model, the SureColor SC-F9270 emerging as the number one large format printer in the graphics market in Vietnam for dye-sublimation inks in 2016.

There continues to be growing demand for large format printing globally. According to IDC, large format printer (LFP) shipments and revenue grew by more than 4% year over year in 2016. And in the digital textile printing industry, Smithers Pira forecasts 17.5% annual growth for digital textile print, with a revenue growth forecast at an annual average of 12.3% for 2016 to 2021. 

“The signage, textiles and label industries are high growth markets, and we aim to continue to drive growth in the region. Especially in the textiles industry, we aim to accelerate the industry shift to digital to support the demand for short-run print jobs. We will continue to leverage our strengths in our core technologies to introduce new innovations that will help our customers to strengthen their business and lower their overall total cost of production,” said Shuji Hamaguchi, Regional General Manager (SE Asia), Professional Printing Division, Epson Singapore.

Experience the thrill of Spider-man: Homecoming with OPPO

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Get a chance to win movie tickets and watch the latest movie with OPPO F3 Black Edition

Catch the web-shooting action of Spider-man: Homecoming with OPPO F3 Black Edition. O-Fans can get a chance to win two (2) movie tickets to watch the much-awaited movie by simply joining OPPO’s giveaway contest. Participants will simply visit the OPPO Philippines Facebook fan page to join and follow the simple instructions to earn raffle entries.

Experience as well the OPPO F3 Black Edition’s sleek metal and gorgeous matte black body, along with its dual selfie camera that lets you capture wide selfies to a larger area. The 16MP front camera with beautification 4.0 allows the best natural looking selfies even at night thanks to its screen flash feature. All these on a 5.5” Full HD JDI screen, 4GB of RAM for multitasking and ample 64GB storage for heavy data users.

Movie ticket giveaway

Fans of OPPO Philippines Facebook page simply needs to visit http://bit.ly/OPPOSpidey to enter the contest to earn raffle entries. Participants can join until 11:59PM of July 11, 2017 and winners will be announced by the following day, July 12, 2017. A total of 150 winners will win two (2) movie tickets to watch Spider-man: Homecoming with a friend.

About Spiderman: Homecoming

A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his new found identity as the web-slinging superhero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.

The OPPO F3 Black Edition is available nationwide in any OPPO concept and dealers stores for a special discounted price of Php15,990, under the Back-to-School Promo until July 31, 2017. All unit comes with a pre-installed screen protector and soft transparent case for added value and protection.

For more details about the OPPO F3, please visit https://www.facebook.com/OPPOPH/ or log on to http://www.oppo.com/ph/index.html.

In farming, millions start with one quality seed

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Philippines is primarily an agricultural country. The popular folk song "Magtanim ay 'Di Biro" (Planting rice is never fun) tells about the difficulties of the life of the farmers, bent over the entire day, to plant.

Farmers are the 2nd poorest work force in the country next to fishermen, reason for which the current generation shies away from pursuing a career in agriculture thinking that it is a difficult and unrewarding profession.

However, farming is a field where there are endless opportunities. In fact, vegetable farming could help you get out of poverty. Recently, I had the chance to experience to be a farming in one day. I joined the East-West Seed “Great Journey” listening tour in Bulacan to meet and greet farmer nominees in the Search for 35 Farmer Heroes, as part of East-West Seed’s 35th anniversary celebration. East-West Seed is an integrated vegetable seed company and one of the 10 largest seed companies in the world. The winners of the search will serve as ambassadors and role models in the vegetable farming industry.

East-West Seed hopes to be able to influence more people to get into vegetable production. 

Two of the Farmers Heroes nominees shared their interesting and profitable vegetable farming journey:

Johnny Gatuz, 55, a former OFW, shared with us how he now makes more money by growing papaya and other high-value crops in Brgy. Kaingin, San Rafael, Bulacan than when he was an Overseas Filipino Worker ( OFW ) in Saudi Arabia.

His father was a traditional farmer and they hardly made ends meet. This prompted Johnny to seek for the proverbial greener pastures and worked as a construction worker in Saudi Arabia where he worked for five years as a construction worker. While there, he realized that the life of an OFW is not easy at all coupled by the fact that he was not also earning significantly. He flew back home, fell in love, got married and fell in love anew with farm life.

He started by renting out a one-hectare farm land which he planted with pumpkin, okra and sitaw.

As a newbie farmer, he wasn’t earning enough. His breakthrough came when he discovered East-West Seed and started using their seeds in his farm. His yields doubled and the quality and consistency of his crops were so much better.

Johnny now owns several hectares of farm land, farm machinery, a tractor, his own motorcycle for transporting his crops to the market. He also has sufficient savings for his family.

To pay it forward, Johnny hires his neighbors to help him during planting and harvest seasons. He is also very generous in training other would-be-farmers and is, in fact, responsible for converting a jobless, “tambay” neighbor into a successful vegetable farmer.

Rowena Manalo, 41, of San Ildefonso, Bulacan was also raised in a family of farmers.

At a young age, she and her siblings were already trained how to do farm work. As she reached adulthood. She worked as “biyahera” of the vegetable harvests. As a “biyahera,” she transports the bundled produce from the farm to the market, specifically the “bagsakan” which is the Balintawak Market in Quezon City.

Such was her simple life until she fell in love and married Jun, also a farmer, when they were both 21.

Inspired by the success of other farmers, Rowena and Jun decided to have their own piece of land where they could also plant vegetables as their means of livelihood.

As other start-up farmers, the young couple rented out a half-hectare farmland and with a very small capital of P5,000 which they borrowed, they bought ampalaya and sitaw seeds and went straight ahead with planting these I their small farm lot.

But their journey was not easy.

“Lagi kaming umiiyak noon. Kasi tuwing dumadaan kami sa mga taniman, nilalait, iniinsulto at pinagtatawanan kami ng mga beterano ng magsasaka at sinasabi nila na ano ba ang alam naming sa pagsasaka. Hindi sila naniniwala na kaya naming palaguin ang aming sakahan,” Rowena said as she started to tear up.

“Bayaan mo, pagdating ng araw, atin lahat ang lupang ito,” her husband Jun would always tell her.

Her husband’s word proved to be prophetic as the couple now owns seven hectares of land, two tractors for rent, a grocery, agri store, a water refilling station and their own lovely house.

Rowena attributes their success to three things: their faith in God, the love in their marriage that never wavered and their love for the farm and hard work.

“Nagsimula kami sa binhi ng EWS na sitaw at ampalaya at nagulat kami dahil mas nagging mabunga at maganda ang quality ng aming mga ani. Sinundan naming tio ng talong at mais,” Rowena said, recalling their “breakthrough” moment.

Last 2015, Rowena shared that they hit their first million through an abundant yield high-quality mais grande.

There is something so humbling about seeing these farmers working hard to give us the most basic of our needs. Johnny and Rowena, with East-West Seed show us vegetable farming is a very profitable business and it is an industry that continues to grow.