June 24, 2010

A year on Twitter

It has already been a year after I started using Twitter. I signed up for my account on June 22, 2009.

I have been using Twitter almost daily to tweet and read other's tweets. I have been following friends, officemates, IT professionals and open-source projects and individuals. It has been my source of real-time information, news, and even jokes.

Usually, I use twitter.com but I have also used other ways to connect to Twitter. Twitter is one of the few sites I browse using my mobile phone. Sometimes before, I have also tried using Ping.FM and gladlyCast to tweet. I have used the auto-post-to-Twitter feature of Plurk. There are a lot of other apps built on the Twitter platform and famous Twitter clients. I have used and tried a few Twitter apps but I still haven't used third-party Twitter clients yet.

What I just don't like about Twitter is the frequent fail whales.

June 14, 2010

A year of blogging

I started blogging on May 12, 2009, a few days after being employed at Orange and Bronze Sofware Labs, Inc. Blogging doesn't really attract me that time. Part of the reason why I finally wanted to blog is just to have a chance to write again because I am already missing writing (I have been a campus journalist in college). Although the medium is different, I still feel satisfied after posting a new blog entry.

What I blog before includes articles about me, my work and my experiences. Then I started blogging some things I learn at work. However, most of what I post now are about some local developer communities and events. This includes Google Technology User Group Philippines (GTUG Philippines) and the Association of Filipino Java Developers(PinoyJUG).

During free times, I am writing articles for my blog. I told myself that I will update this blog more often by posting articles at least once a month. After learning it's already a year since I first blogged, I visited the blog. There are already many posts but I noticed my inactivity for months. I have been working on various activities that I had almost forgotten about my blog. Aside from work and other work-related matters, the following are the things that keep me busy the past days:

  • I have been studying Android development. We decided to join the Globe Challenge for Android, an Android app competition sponsored by Globelabs. The deadline of submission of entry is on June 28, 2010 but as of now, we are still cramming in the development (I am praying we finish this on time). We are not really after the prize money but on what we will learn in developing using the Android platform.
  • I also have been reading various learning materials about various subjects and topics. This made me learn additional information but took away some of my time for blogging.
  • I have been watching more videos, movies and TV series on my free time. This includes Naruto, Chuck and other recent films.
  • There are some personal matters which bother me in the last weeks. These private issues kept my find busy.

I am hoping that I can now be more active on this blog and on the GTUG Philippines blog where I am a contributing blogger.