Microsoft, DOT, TPB Launch Windows 8 Tourism Apps

(L-R) TPB head Domingo Enerio III, Microsoft Philippines Managing Director
Karrie Ilagan, and Tourism Undersecretary Daniel Corpuz showed the new
More Fun tourism app series. Ross Del Rosario

Microsoft Philippines (Microsoft), the Department of Tourism (DOT) and the Tourism Promotions Board (TPB) launched the More Fun tourism app series for Windows 8.

The More Fun Series is a group of apps which aims to highlight the country’s 25 key tourist destinations including their interesting overview, exciting activities, famous sites, and itinerary builder among other features. Furthermore, these free apps feature commercial information coming from the official website of DOT including but not limited to accredited restaurants, spas, and souvenir shops to complete the travel experience of every tourist.

“At Microsoft Philippines, we aim to constantly bring innovation and make technology accessible to more Filipinos to help them improve their lives and businesses,” underlined Karrie Ilagan, Managing Director of Microsoft Philippines. “We are honored that the Department of Tourism and the Tourism Promotions Board partnered with us in empowering tourism in the country through Windows 8. The More Fun Series apps are designed to promote our country’s amazing travel destinations worldwide, which means more opportunities for our local entrepreneurs and businesses to reach an even wider audience.”

“As more and more people rely on quick information through smart phones and tablets, the demand for mobile apps is likely to rise in the next decades. This new mobile app, sporting the IMFITP look and feel, will surely bring our marketing messages closer to the consumers,” added Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez Jr.

Tourism Promotions Board Chief Operating Officer Domingo Ramon Enerio III also said, “We are always very optimistic in all our campaign strategies and digital advertising obviously plays a huge part in this. Through the Windows 8 mobile App ‘More Fun’, our marketing campaign will be able to reach global tourists. The itinerary builder, one of the special features, allows potential visitors customize their tour plans. We are happy that Microsoft is a generous and avid partner in helping us in our goal to connect with intended markets as well as create new ones. More importantly, our ultimate goal is getting them all excited and making it easy for them to convert.”

Ten tourism apps are now made available for Windows 8 users, the More Fun Beach BORACAY Philippines, More Fun Destination BOHOL Philippines, More Fun Destination DAVAO Philippines, More Fun Destination CAGAYAN DE ORO Philippines, More Fun Destination PUERTO PRINCESA Philippines, More Fun Destination BAGUIO Philippines, More Fun Region BICOL Philippines, More Fun Diving CEBU Philippines, More Fun Region ILOCOS Philippines, and More Fun City MANILA Philippines.

SM Launches New Lifestyle Portal

With E-Plus, you can now check the latest events in no time.

An all new lifestyle portal is introduced today. 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 shall work 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.

For more, check out the video below.

SM Cinema to Host the Philippine Premiere of Fast & Furious 6

SM Mall of Asia is ready to go fast and furious.

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. Reuniting for their most high‐stakes adventure yet, fan favorites Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Sung Kang, John Ortiz, Gal Gadot, and Elsa Pataky are joined by badass series newcomers Luke Evans and Gina Carano.

Fast & Furious 6 is a United International Pictures Release through Solar Entertainment Corporation. The film will be released in theatres across the Philippines on May 24, 2013.

Prive Cooks Up Grand End of Summer Party

The summer fever reaches its climax as Prive Luxury Club culminates the Babewatch Summer Party series with a bang tomorrow.

Come in your best beach attire and party all night with the Superfly DJ's. The girls in bikinis will get free booze for the entire party night, so come on over to Prive Luxury Club along The Fort Strip in Taguig.

This is one way for you to end your summer season on a high note.

Sarah Jessica Parker to Grace the SM Store Aura Opening

Guess who's coming to SM Aura.

There’s been a lot of buzz about the SM Aura Premier opening this May. And it has just been confirmed that international screen and stage actress–and style icon-Sarah Jessica Parker will be gracing the launching of the mall’s SM Store.

Parker, who played Carrie Bradshaw on the HBO television series Sex and the City (1998-2004), has won four Golden Globe Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Emmy Awards. She served as a producer and reprised her role in the screen adaptation of the hit series with the theatrical release of Sex and the City and Sex and the City 2.

Her Carrie character –who has been described as someone who lives for fashion - as well as her own incredible personal style make Parker the perfect guest for the store opening, which Manila’s stylish set is looking forward to.

In the fall of 2013, Parker will return to the stage in the world premiere of The Commons of Pensacola by Amanda Peet opposite Blythe Danner.

Past film credits include: I Don’t Know How She Does It, Did You Hear About the Morgans?, Smart People, Failure to Launch, The Family Stone, State and Main, Mars Attacks!, Ed Wood, The First Wives Club, Miami Rhapsody, Honeymoon in Vegas, and Footloose.

Parker also lends her time to charitable causes.  She currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the New York City Ballet and is a UNICEF ambassador.  In November 2009, the Obama administration elected her to be a member of President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.  In April 2012, she adopted the Martin Luther King, Jr. School in Portland Oregon for the Turnaround Arts Initiative.

Sarah Jessica Parker at the opening of The SM Store at SM Aura Premier - now that’s great fashion news. Spread the word! Share, repost, and retweet!

For more promos and updates, join The SM Store online community: 

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheSMStore 

Twitter: http://twitter.com/thesmstore 

Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/thesmstore 

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheSMStore

Tech Summit Kicks Off Future ICT Plans for Calamba

The latest in information and communication technology hits an uncharted territory as Soft Micro Enterprises successfully staged the 2013 ICT Converge at the Party Place of Jollibee Calamba Crossing in Calamba City.

Jun Barrun kicked off the whole-day event with the discussion on the latest news on Mozilla. He discussed the latest features of the Firefox browser and the Thunderbird email portal as well as the human resource programs of the said internet organization.

John Rara of Microsoft Philippines showed how Windows 8 works. Ross Del Rosario

John Rara then discussed the basics of the latest Microsoft operating system, the Windows 8. He said that Windows 8 works best in touch screen gadgets like tablets.

Arnie Locsin was the third to speak, and he taught the audience the use of cloud computing, followed by Randy Cabredo's talk on making information technology environment-friendly.

Patricia Celis started the afternoon session with some introduction on the use of the Bitdefender and DeepFreeze anti-virus softwares.

Philip Tan then shared an enlightening talk about the internet, while Nikko Almazar introduced the Microsoft Office 365. Paul Pajo culminated the activity by sharing the latest trends in communication.

"Our purpose here is to promote the latest developments in IT in places which lag behind in the awareness about these developments," said Mark Wagan, the head of Soft Micro and the organizer of the event. "Seeing the need, we might stage another ICT Converge in August."

Sun iMessenger: Chat with your loved ones via SMS!

Gone are the days when you had to spend a fortune in phone bills or on mobile internet fees to keep in touch with friends and family around the world.  There is now a single service that integrates all the popular web chat platforms and makes it a snap to send messages and chat on any phone model worldwide.

Launched in 2006 and now wildly popular, Sun iMessenger is a breakthrough service that makes it possible to communicate with anyone from anywhere in the world, as long as they’re a Sun mobile subscriber. To do this, SunIM uses the text messaging feature of a phone, translating mobile chat into text messages seamlessly, and giving regular cellular phone users access to a service that would usually only be available to people with smart phones.

The service also allows you to send messages using your laptop, smart phone, or computer.  It integrates several platforms: Yahoo Messenger, Facebook chat, MSN, AIM, ICQ, and, just recently, Gmail chat, making all your accounts available to you on one sign-in page. It is, to date, the only platform to do so.

Getting SUNiM service on your phone cannot be simpler. There’s nothing that you need to download and install, and there are no complicated codes to punch in. All a user has to do is to text SUNiM to 2746 from a phone using a Sun Cellular simcard. After a few minutes, you will receive clear, step-by-step instructions to help you get started.  

SUNiMis also very affordable.  To celebrate thefirst day of your SUNiM subscription, the first 24 hours will be completely free of charge.  To top it off, if you invite your friends to use Sun iMessenger, you can also get free internet hours.  For regular text replies, Sun iM only charges P 0.50, even less than a regular text message.  But if you’d like to stay connected all day, there’s an option that gives you unlimited access for 24 hours, for only P20!  Other payment options are P100 for seven days and P300 for a month. There are no hidden charges or extra fees, as users are charged only for messages that they reply to or for the time that they buy.  Because of this, Sun iM is currently the most cost-effective chat mobile service available.

With Sun iM, you don’t have to wait in front of a computer to catch messages, or spend so much to send and receive them. It’s easy to use, very affordable, and best of all, it allows you to be reached anytime of the day, anywhere you are, through your choice of platform. It’s the ultimate way to get in touch with your loved ones.

For more details, Text SUNIM to 2746 or visit www.sim.ph