PhiliPOP 2018 30 Semi-Finalists Announced

Friday, August 03, 2018




After a long ardious process of auditions, mall tours and activations in cities across the country, PHILPOP 2018 is finally headway. Recently, they also announced the 30 Finalists who will pit against each other to vie for the best song this year.
Maestro Ryan Cayabyab says “We welcome you all, thank you to our sponsors, the MVP Group, Maynilad, Meralco. This season, this is the most exciting 30 finalists, they will be cut down to 10 and you will see that journey unfold over the next few weeks. We have some finalists who came all the way from Visayas and Mindanao. They only have passed with the merits of their compositions, we blindly listen to them because this is also voted by the public, students, composers and music aficionados. I am very optimistic but we have no prediction what song will be a hit. Now the system is democratized, every one has a fair chance but doing this will push for new ideas of young songwriters. Most of these guys are newbies and the people need to hear them all. We are finalizing the process how to choose the top 10 but it will all fall on the streaming of the songs, we will know on November who will be part of that. This is exciting!


Famed composer Junjee Marcelo took the stage then also announced the winners



AEIOU by Kenneth John Porres
Ako Ako Jericho Buenafe
Away Way Buwagay Bumbero by Michael Llave
Dikoman by Ferdinand Aragon
Ikaw ang aking pagibig by Mark Felipe
Isang Gabing Pagibig by Karlo Angelo David
Kariton by Philip Jarilla Sarah Bolahan
Kiliti by Carlo Zapala
Korde Kodigo by Jeremy Sarmiento
Laon Ako by Ermar John Bolano
LDR by Nars Cabico
Laging Ganito Ba Tayo by Kyle Pulido
Lilipad by Melvin and Agatha Morallos






This was chosen among a thousand entries, so just being included in this list is a great feat.


Yumi Laxamana (former winner) announced the second batch of winners.



Loco De Amor by Edgardo Miraflor
Mahirap Magselos by Paul Hildawa
Makisabay by Karlo Angelo David
Malilimutan Din Kita by Marvin Blue Corpuz
MMRA by Oliver Narag
Nanay Tatay by Teodoro Festejo III
Oca by Michael Angelo Aplacador
Perfectly Imperfect Human by Barry Villacarillo
Pilipit by John Rey Reodique and Sean Cedro
Promisory Note by Michael Angelo Aplacador
Pwede by Agatha and Melvin Morallos
Tama Na by Michael Rodriguez
Unang Adlaw Nga Wala Ka by Therese Villarante
Utang by Ignacio Roxas
Yun Tayo by Donnalyn Onilongo



Noel Cabangon says “We present to you the 30 finalists of PhilPOP, thirty songs, coming together to sing and entertain the Philippines. They will continue to encourage more Filipino music and every generation they have a story to tell. Thank you for supporting them. This coincides with the week of Filipino music and the thing we did in the OPM summit 2013. Now every last week of July will be celebrated with that. Filipino music is alive and this is a testament of that. There were a lot of good entries and choosing them was a rigorous process.

30 Semi Finalists for PhilPOP 2018



Architect Renee Bacani of Ortigas and Co. says “We want to discover more of you, we want to support the arts and meet all of you. We will have listening booths in our malls, here in Estancia and our other ones (Tiendesitas and Greenhills) in Metro Manila, thousands of people will listen to you and get to know you. I hope you continue to do what you love and share it with us.”


Soon they will also announce the top 10 finalists, but just the same these guys will already get needed exposure in Ortigas malls, airplay on some radio stations and streaming sites. Stay tuned because hopefully, we will also get to cover that come last quarter of this year.



For being just part of the 30, congratulations! I’ve heard snippets of some of the songs and I think they are all good contenders. Surely, POP is alive in the Philippines!


KUMAGCOW
Fresh Blogs Fast!

Meet The Linksys Velop Dual Band Mesh Wifi System

Thursday, August 02, 2018




Having wifi at your business and home seems to be more of a need now. Truth is, people who go to restaurants, coffee shops, any business establishment for that matter would probably ask about your wifi password so they don’t get nervous or agitated when they’re not online. These days, people who manage these establishments have little to no technical knowledge about setting up wifi adapters, routers, repeaters, access points, modems or gateways, or even have time for it. Hiring people to do the job even costs a lot, not to mention the grueling maintenance of it. I’ve had the privilege of doing that work for years so I know it’s not that easy. You also have to worry about protecting your own network, mind the importance of data security and balance it with the need of your customers convenience at any time of the day.

Linksys has been in the industry for years now, and what they have been able to do is to service small offices/home offices with some of the world’s greatest networking devices both when they were still under Cisco and now that they are under Belkin. The Velop Home Wifi Mesh systems for example made it easier to set up wifi networks so you the ordinary user can set up good ones without complicating things as they employ propreitary setup softwares, making each step of the connection and management of it an easy one. They even employ security, new standard technologies that include tri band and dual band mesh systems so you get excellent coverage no matter where you are in the office or at home.


These systems are seamless, use only one wifi name and can even help you conncect everything together via an app, tell you specifically where to choose a location for the other access points so you get latency, throughput or repeater related problems to not happen if you’re setting it up. This means there’s no guess work, plus you can manage guest access, security, parental control, even automated firmware upgrades so you don’t have to do it yourself. That means if there are firmware issues/bugs discovered on the device or new features added on the Linksys Velop Dual Band Mesh Wifi System, it would need less maintenance (which is a great deal if you’re managing a business).


3 nodes you can place in different spots, making sure you have proper coverage inside your home/office.



The 2.4GHz and 5GHz band would be also useful for your devices who work in that frequency. This can also work with B, G, N and AC IEEE wireless standard devices, tri band or dual band can also connect with each other, so those old ones can work with new ones in the same network - without any hitches.



Good thing is, this works fine with ISP supplied modem/gateways. If you are also iffy about wireless connection for your other gadgets, the nodes have 2 ethernet ports each so go ahead if you want to. It also self selects the clearest channel for your devices, if you’re very OC like me, I’d be very satisfied with its performance. They also took time designing this with simple clean lines, white profile so it doesn’t look ugly at all.



Visit linksys.com and their social media channels if you want to know more about it. I’ll have it in my home very soon, you should consider these in yours too.

Michelle Vito,Jon Lucas, Akihiro Blanco for "Dito Lang Ako"


Early morning blog conference today with the stars of new romance movie "Dito Lang Ako" with Michelle Vito, Jon Lucas and Akihiro Blanco.



Aside from the three good looking lads, the film also includes Ms. Boots Anson Road, Freddie Webb, Rey PJ Abellana, DJ Durano, , Garie Conception, Senpai Kazu, Road fill of Moymoy Palaboy with the special guest appearance of James Deakin.


Just like you, I was dumbfounded why BLADE a car accessory center suddenly went into movie production. Talking to Blade’s Founder and CEO Robertson Sy Tan he says “This was all planned as content for our social media channels but after shooting it, the budget grew, the stars aligned and we followed the same Hollywood formula. This love story will encompass generations, young, old, LGTBTQ, and everything in between so you really would have something for everyone. We thought if this was just for our social media content, it would have been a waste. So we decided it was good to actually put these episodes together and use the content as a film. With the way the first people who watched it reacted, they saw something good and apt for cinema. This is how “Dito Lang Ako” happened. James Deakin is very influential, he became our friend and we just asked him to be involved in the project and he inmediately said Yes, he didn’t hesitate to help us.”





Akihiro says “I play the role of Victor, son of the owner of the Blade store where she works. That’s also the place where she’s working, it’s where I fell in love with her. We all helped each other, we took time to make things work. They have been so good to me, Jon and Michelle are so chill in and out of the set. Romance and effort, respect, it was all present in that age so you’ll learn from that.”



Michelle Vito sas “I play the role of Nelia, an employee at Blade. I was so happy to do this but nervous at the same time. I hope people would like the film. I had to take strides doing shots because sometimes I had to think every shot is critical, we had to do it fast and precise in every scene. The 70’s is different, we had to speak differently, dress differently, and we had to do it consistently. They need to watch this so they could learn what was good during that time. Some kids are so rough today so this may serve as a little reminder on how we should do things. I hope people understand that in everything, we need to do good, treat people with respect. They can fall in love with that. Ms. Boots will be me in the present sense, Mr. Freddie Webb will be Jon. It’s a fun project and we can’t wait for you to see that.”


Jon Lucas adds “I play Delfin, the first person to fall in love with her. A little crazy but he’s a good man. I was a little pressured to do this. This one is challenging because in a sense it is a period film. The clothing, the way we speak, it was all set in the 70’s. We are also a romance - drama genre, I am glad to work with our director because he made all things easy for us to do. Millennials need to watch this, they need to see how courtship was done during this era. People will realise that breakups are not solutions to relationships, both have to work on it. When I went out with my baby, I had really good feedback, they appreciated that I said the truth. I learned to be a responsible parent, I think that counts.”


This film is directed by Roderick Lindayag and is produced by Blade Entertainment. This will be shown on August 8 in cinemas nationwide, premier night on August 6. Visit ditolangako.com for more details about the film.



KUMAGCOW
Fresh Blogs Fast!

Which is better, gasoline or diesel?

Wednesday, August 01, 2018




Motorheads have various opinions on which is better to have: a gasoline-powered or a diesel-propelled vehicle. Some would say the former has a lot more benefits than the other, and others, vice versa. So we listed down some points to consider if you’ll be getting either a diesel or a gasoline-fed vehicle.


MILEAGE


This would be the biggest consideration for many. Since everyone—and we do mean everyone—experiences long hours in traffic jams, getting a motor vehicle that would not guzzle up its fuel should be a priority. While there are lots of gasoline-powered vehicles in the market now that claim they have a high fuel-efficiency rating, most of the time, it’s the diesel-engined vehicles that take the cake. Carmudi reported that diesel engines are more fuel-efficient than its gasoline counterparts: some 25-30 percent more if based on figures. On an average, vehicles will be driven at about 48,000 kilometers in a span of three years. Based on Carmudi’s calculation two years ago, at an average price back then of P30 per liter on diesel and P40 on gas, one would have spent some P213,999 on petrol versus the P120,000 only on diesel.


PERFORMANCE


Diesel engines nowadays—thanks to its common-rail direct injection and turbocharging features—can provide more power and torque even at low RPMs, so there is no need to push the gas pedal harder to get that little more oomph. Gasoline-fed motors can provide equally-powerful figures in terms of power and torque, but unlike the diesel engines, it needs higher RPM to put out such numbers.


RESALE VALUE

We all know that all vehicles depreciate in value in time, that is why many owners tend to sell their vehicle after a few years. If you are that type of person,, then diesel engine is good for you. Go to both our new cars and used cars’ page and you will see that the prices of diesel-powered vehicles are usually higher compared to those propelled by gasoline. However, if buying price would be of consideration, petrol engines are much cheaper, meaning, they’re much easier to acquire compared to diesels.


CLEANER EMISSIONS


Without a doubt, gasoline trumps diesel engines on this. Usually, gasoline is more refined than diesel. Over time, smoke coming from diesel engines tend to be darker, especially when using low-grade diesel; CRDi are especially very sensitive to fuel quality. This is the reason diesel fuels need special additives and lubricants to maintain its healthy state. Gasoline, on the other hand, is easier to maintain and leaves lesser carbon footprints.

CONCLUSION


Truth is, it all depends on your preference. Getting a vehicle that fits your lifestyle, where you will be using it without undermining your financial capability, should dictate the vehicle that you will be having. Scout and get your preferred vehicle here.