f

BSP finalizing framework for clearing switch operations

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is finalizing a regulatory framework to ensure the efficiency of clearing switch operations within the national payment system, particularly the automated clearing houses under the National Retail Payment System.




f

Philippine Airlines Q3 profit: P789M (down 82% y/y)

Philippine Airlines posted a Q3 net income of P789 million, down 82% y/y from its Q3/23 net income of P4,278 million, and down 70% q/q from its Q2/24 net income of P2,590 million.




f

Jollibee Q3 profit: P3.0B (up 18% y/y)

Jollibee posted a Q3 net income of P2.98 billion, up 18% y/y from its Q3/23 net income of P2.53 billion, and down 6% q/q from its Q2/24 net income of P3.19 billion.




f

Airbus forecasts Asia-Pacific will require 19,500 new aircraft by 2043

Asia-Pacific will require 19,500 new aircraft by 2043, Airbus announced on Wednesday, November 13 at a regional aviation summit.




f

Mental health issues a concern for Marcos

Mental health problems in the country are on the rise.




f

EDITORIAL - Life-threatening

Pastor Apollo Quiboloy spent six months in hiding with no report that he ever required hospital confinement for any affliction. But perhaps arrest and detention without bail, in accommodations that a man wealthy enough to tool around in a private jet may not be used to, can trigger a “life-threatening” affliction.




f

Following orders

This is the cost of following orders, whether blindly or knowingly, in the Philippine National Police: 214 cops faced 352 criminal charges, with 20 still in detention, for carrying out the war on drugs during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte. Another 195 cops were sacked while 398 face possible dismissal from the PNP over administrative cases.




f

A call out to China for distorting the truth

It is often said that China is the world’s foremost peddler of fake news and distorted truths. The recent incident in the Taiwan Strait exemplifies this assertion.




f

IMSI ‘spoofing’ gadgets

“Spoofing” is when someone disguises an email address, sender name, phone number or website URL, or uniform resource locator.




f

Philippines, Australia to join key military drills for the first time in 2025

Philippine troops will join Australia's largest military exercise for the first time next year, while the Australian Defense Force will make their debut in Philippine-led war games, both countries' defense chiefs announced Wednesday, November 13.




f

Zendaya, Tom Holland in cast for Christopher Nolan's next movie

Celebrity couple Tom Holland and Zendaya are the highlight names in the cast for Academy Award-winning director Christopher Nolan's next movie.




f

Signal No. 2 raised in more areas as ‘Ofel’ barrels toward Northern Luzon

The state weather bureau has placed several areas under Signal No. 2 as Typhoon Ofel makes its way to Northern Luzon.




f

No contempt citations for ex-president Duterte as he refrains from swearing at House drug war probe

The House of Representatives saw quite a toned-down but more gutsy version of former President Rodrigo Duterte as he refrained from swearing at the House probe into his bloody anti-narcotics campaign.




f

Former Manila auxiliary Bishop Teodoro Buhain, 87

Buhain was one of the two auxiliary bishops of Manila during the tenure of the late Jaime Cardinal Sin. He served alongside former Bishop Socrates Villegas, who was Sin’s spokesperson and is now the Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan.




f

Rock 'n' Roll Series Manila back for 3rd year

The ASICS Rock 'n' Roll Running Series Manila, presented by AIA Vitality, returns on November 23-24 for its third year, bigger and bolder than ever.




f

Antetokounmpo to Nets for Simmons, plethora of picks? Expert brings up possibility

Australian NBA star Ben Simmons’ expiring salary was floated by veteran sports journalist Bill Simmons of The Ringer as one of the trade chips for the Brooklyn Nets in the potential Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes.




f

Quezon, Batangas collide in do-or-die Game 3 for MPBL South title

Given a life extension, the Quezon Huskers hope to complete their recovery when they tackle the Batangas City Tanduay Rum Masters in a Game 3 decider for the South Division crown at 7 p.m. Thursday




f

Fortuna rallies for joint 8th in Party Golfers Ladies Open

Unable to get untracked in a backside start, Mikha Fortuna unleashed a strong finishing kick, birdying the last two holes to post a three-under 69 and trail Thai PK Kongkraphan by four at the start of the Party Golfers Ladies Open.




f

Quiambao confirmed to play for Gilas in FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers

La Salle star Kevin Quiambao will play for Gilas Pilipinas in the second window of the 2025 FIBA Asia Cup Qualifiers despite his ongoing UAAP Season 87 stint.




f

Sotto, Edu doubtful for Gilas in FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers

Gilas Pilipinas may be without two key big men for the November window of the FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.




f

How to write totally misleading headlines for social media

Or how to seriously annoy intelligent people by telling deliberate lies. A story about renewable energy has been doing the rounds within my social media circles,  and especially on FaceBook. It is an article from The Independent newspaper that has been eagerly shared by those with an interest in the subject.  The headline reads “Britain … Continue reading How to write totally misleading headlines for social media




f

New Creative Commons image search – back to the drawing board I’m afraid

Locating images that can be re-used, modified and incorporated into commercial or non-commercial projects is always a hot topic on my search workshops.  As soon as we start looking at tools that identify Creative Commons and public domain images the delegates start scribbling. Yes, Google and Bing both have tools that allow you to specify … Continue reading New Creative Commons image search – back to the drawing board I’m afraid




f

Another example of Google’s Knowledge Graph getting it wrong

Voting in the UK election has finished and the results are in, but the dust has most definitely not settled. It looks as we in the UK are in for interesting times ahead. It would help those of us researching the various political parties and policies if Google could at least get the basics right, … Continue reading Another example of Google’s Knowledge Graph getting it wrong




f

RIP OFFSTATS

I’m back at work from an extended break only to find that my favourite statistics  portal OFFSTATS is no more ???? https://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/about-us/collections/decommissioned-databases I received an email from them explaining that they no longer have the resourcing available to maintain and develop the database. Also, as much of the content can now be discovered through other … Continue reading RIP OFFSTATS




f

Google makes it harder to change location for country specific research

Google has made a major change to search and it does not bode well. Results are now based on your current location. So what’s new?  Google has always looked at your location, even down to city/town level, and changed the results accordingly. That is fine if you are travelling and want to find the nearest … Continue reading Google makes it harder to change location for country specific research




f

Brexit – sources of information

Please note: a regularly updated version of this posting is now on the main website at http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/brexit.htm  Those of us living and working in the UK are constantly bombarded with news and information of varying quality on Brexit. I regularly run workshops on sources of business information and,  inevitably, these now include a section on … Continue reading Brexit – sources of information




f

SmugMug buys Flickr – should we stay or should we go?

So the wait is over. When it was announced that Verizon was to buy Yahoo! there was concern as to what was going to happen to Flickr. Yahoo! never did much in terms of developing Flickr and what it did do was rubbish. Trying to add the location of your photo is an interesting experience … Continue reading SmugMug buys Flickr – should we stay or should we go?




f

Somebody, please put Google News out of its misery

I didn’t think Google News (http://news.google.co.uk/) could get any worse but I was wrong. The previous revamp was bad enough: no more advanced search, useless and irrelevant personalisation options, and don’t even think about trying to set up sensible alerts. Alerts were never that good at the best of times but were not improved one iota … Continue reading Somebody, please put Google News out of its misery




f

Presentation: free search tools for research information

Edited highlights from my recent workshop on search tools for research information are now available. Please note that not all of the services, search tools, examples or issues covered in the workshop are included in this version. Slides can be viewed on Slideshare  or authorSTREAM. 




f

Google offers to include missing search terms – sometimes

Google has been omitting terms from searches for several years.  For me, the matter came to a head wayback  in November 2011 (see Dear Google, stop messing with my search).  Many of has had noticed it happening for a while but what suddenly made it more frustrating was that one could no longer prefix a term … Continue reading Google offers to include missing search terms – sometimes




f

Random Photo: The Fast Lane

Random Photo: The Fast Lane




f

Random Photo: Caturday Friends

Random Photo: Caturday Friends




f

Folder2ISO 1.4.0

Folder2ISO lets you effortlessly create an ISO image from any folder on your computer. Folder2ISO is lightweight and requires no setup, making it versatile for quick ISO image creation. For convenience, it can be integrated into the Windows context menu, allowing you to access it by right-clicking on any folder in Windows Explorer. [License: Freeware | Requires: 11|10|8|7|Vista|XP | Size: 308 KB ]




f

Intel Arc Graphics Driver for Windows 11 & 10 - 32.0.101.6297

Intel Arc Graphics Driver for Windows is a driver specifically for Windows 10 and 11 with support for the 12th Gen Intel Core processor family and Intel Arc A-Series Graphics.... [License: Freeware | Requires: 11|10 | Size: 1 GB ]




f

CCleaner Professional Plus 6.30.11385

CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy, and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. Install, uninstall, and toolbar included. [License: Shareware $39.95 | Requires: 11|10|8|7|macOS | Size: 75 MB ]




f

Fake News Debunker for Chrome 0.83

Fake News Debunker for Chrome is a Social Media tool that verifies videos and images for anyone who wants to be more efficient in fact-checking and debunking things on social networks. [License: Freeware | Requires: 11|10|8|7|Linux|macOS | Size: 4 MB ]




f

TerraMaster F2-424 NAS in test and more @ NT Compatible

...




f

ASRock Phantom Gaming X870E NOVA WiFi Review and more @ NT Compatible

...




f

Alphacool Apex Pro Skeleton Carbon Case Featured Build and more @ NT Compatible

...




f

SilverStone FARA 514X High Air Flow Case Review and more @ NT Compatible

...




f

Corel Kicks Off Black Friday Early with Savings of Up to $125 on Select Products

...




f

Do You Need to Defragment an SSD? Understanding TRIM and SSD, NVME Optimization

...




f

Desktop Slideshow Customization: How To Keep Your Backgrounds Fresh

...




f

Veterans Day - Land of the Free Because of the Brave

Veterans Day - Land of the Free Because of the Brave




f

Nobara 40 2024-11-10 gaming optimized Linux distribution based on Fedora released

...




f

Norton 360 Standard (2 Device) w/ LifeLock Identity Advisor – Includes Antivirus, VPN, and Identity Theft Restoration Support - $29.99

...




f

Why Small Developer Tools Get Flagged as Malware and How to Safely Use Them

...




f

Manifest V3, Ad Blockers, Extensions and What You Should Know

...




f

Skip the Ads: A Clever Trick to Watch Youtube Ad Free

...




f

Random Photo: Fred D!

Random Photo: Fred D!