Pandora Squared - Web and Business Architects, Consultants, Social Media Marketing, Software and Blogging hope not hype

To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.

- The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho

Someone told me year 2006 is a pivotal year for me.

A month ago, I wouldn’t have believed in it. But working with Pandora Squared, i’d say it indeed is.

So where the heck do I fit in with these bunch of passionate geeks who knows what they’re doing and what they know in life?

And how is Pandora Squared affecting my life? I am a single mom with three children. I was a high school scholar and got in in one of the toughest courses in the state university. Irresponsibility, however, and maybe a little of naivety as well, got me pregnant. And the usual thing happened, stopped going to school, got married, had children and got separated. I decided not to finish my studies anymore because I realized it really wasn’t my passion. Computers and internet were. But raising three small children didn’t provide me the luxury of choosing a job that I love. My career objectives were set aside and I lived my life one day at a time.

Then came web 2.0. As the internet evolved into a functional platform that everybody can use, web 2.0 and its applications also changed my life and rekindled my passion for the internet.

And meeting Pandora Squared opened the box and presented the last thing that was left in the box.

HOPE.

And that hope gave me the will to decide to go where my heart is and follow my destiny.

One of my first assignment for the company was to organize a training. And that training was a milestone for me and for the company as well. Working together as a team has provided us a glimpse of our inner self and has shown us the path to our destiny.

I want to touch lives the way technology or web 2.0 did mine.

I want to touch lives the way Pandora Squared touched mine.

And this personal vision is the same vision that Pandora Squared believes in passionately.

ENABLING, EMPOWERING AND ENRICHING LIVES.

Enablement through technology – Prometheus Fire.

Empowerment through training and education.

Enriching lives through Humanity 2.0.

Guided through the sea of digital information by the Navigator.

If you are passionate about your work, you will be determined to succeed in it. Skills or the lack of it does not matter. Skills are enhanced by one’s passion. And this is a continuous learning process for me. Sometimes my passion makes me impulsive. And I get the flak. But as they say, you learn your lessons from your mistakes.

And as long as you never forget that to realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.

Speaking very passionately last night at the Wifi Oyster Bar in Makati With Allan he drove home the two very things that burn so brightly in my chest.

1) Myspace and the other Big huge be everything to everyone YASN’s won’t and aren’t relevant to all individuals.

• We aim with the release of our next engine (code name Leviticus) to have a single digital ID across multiple sites.
• millions of markets of dozens not a dozen market of millions.

2) We need to get the tools we are building to market.

• We have nearly 450 builds of the Genesis Engine representing many man hours of work. We need to use this with more Passionate Communities.
• Our new engine (code name: Leviticus) needs to get out.
• Hunter has created Prometheus Fire our team of developers and innovators the sole purpose is to create and release these tools.
• Mybennu.com (a web 2.0 career and life management tool) development mashes we have the ability to create multiple log ins to multiple employment sites, so that a user can in effect search any job board in the world. Nothing too cool, we have had this for over 3 years now…its not the technology its the proper application.

Allan does what others talk about- he has his own web development team, they have built and delivered a complete set of tools, mashed with google maps for example letting property owners know where units are- (the other powerful tools that this can do are really mind blowing as we only see vast oceans of opportunity here)

Hunter is reading Good To Great, Hans is reading Execution The Discipline of Getting things done, I am rereading tipping point, and wisdom of crowds… anyway this trip has been one wrought with discovery, action, humility and crazy clarity.

what will next month bring…?

Today we are at Java in Manila Conference We checking out the latest happening in the Java world. The focus here is on innovation using Java and from the line up of speakers it is looking to be a great event. Held here at Kevin’s favourite Shangri-la (he ended up in Hospital with food poisoning last time he was here).

We have had the chance to meet with a few of the guys involved with Java education here. The JEDI group looks to be really pushing forward in education and training. There might be some joint training coming up in the future. (I secretly just want to join their group just so I can call myself a JEDI and maybe sneak in a few mind tricks and convert them to Ruby on Rails)

“Prometheus was a not a fool, why else would he rebel against Zeus? To steal fire from Zeus and empower man.”

Ideas are nothing without execution. Prometheus the god for foresight, gave man the most powerful of tools. With so much of the current Internet (and especially the so called Web2.0 companies) talking about the latest and greatest, we feel that it should be more than just talk. Thus Prometheus Fire exists. As an exclusive team to turn amazing ideas into reality. Not only as a think tank for the cutting edge but for the execution and delivery.

Too much focus is placed on technology. We are technology agnostic. Just as fire is purely a tool, our aim is to deliver the most suitable techology and tools but as Prometheus empowered man, at our core we focus on the most important part – the user. Delivering simple and effective user centric design along with a solid core of technology.

Fire has always been the enabler for human development, for life and for community. Prometheus Fire exists as the enabler. Our passion is to create the tools to enable and empower people in all aspects of their life.

Over the coming weeks we will be annoucing more about the exciting things coming with Prometheus Fire.

yup. we’re done.

pandora squared is done with talking about web 2.0.

we have now started on DOING things.

i guess as trainors, the greatest reward would be seeing our participants’ awesome ideas turn into a reality. and that is where our nurturing process continues. to see to it that their efforts will not just go to waste.

so what has the great web 2.0 have to offer to developing nations? we have started enabling and empowering some local developers and now comes the greatest challenge.

ENRICHING LIVES.

we have spent the past three days brainstorming on the company’s action plan and refining it to become relevant to our country’s current situation. as a company specializing in social softwares, our greatest challenge now is how to enrich the lives of individuals and/or societies.

digital information is already at its critical mass, or about to reach it, and somehow, social softwares must be able to integrate all these for it to become relevant and have an impact to an individual or a community.

as joel yuvienco puts it, it all boils down to knowledge management of folk knowledge. Understanding an individual’s or a society’s inner self will guide us in our path to creating a social software for enriching lives.

social development through social software.

reaching out to humanity as real people.

we’re not yahoo who claims to help new orleans’ residents rebuild their lives by making websites with yahoo buttons on it.

yes, yahoo. we stopped talking. we are doing things. things that are enabling, empowering and enriching the lives of people here in the philippines. a third world country.

funny thing is i commented on one of your articles about your efforts onnew orleans. and it doesnt get posted right away. so i followed it up with another one. is there censorship?

come on.

cut the crap.

why dont we just stop about earning money for a while and do what we really are passionate about? do you even know what your passion is? it seems like your passion is making money.

yeah… new orlean entrepreneurs make websites….

with yahoo buttons???

for once, be truthful about your intentions.

with the recently concluded web 2.0 training workshop, our company had to catch up on its internal operations and meet deadlines. we’ve had enough time to bond… not just as a business team but as a family… in fact, i think im still hungover from the team building activities we’ve had… :) whew!

but seriously, integrating human element into our virtual office and the relationship we have developed now is what enables our company to move ahead and getting things done, rather than just yakking on and on about web 2.0. so as nike would say it, JUST DO IT. there’s just too many yakkers out there. it’s time somebody DO something and bring forward the essence of web 2.0. and that is

ENABLING, EMPOWERING AND ENRICHING LIVES.

and for now, that mission has also started here in the philippines. we started with the web 2.0 training workshop.

the 2nd iBlog summit and davao city councilor peter lavina’s participatory governance shows that filipinos are starting to acknowledge the powers of blogging. several filipinos have also made social communities like luis buenaventura of www.gibbity.com, www.oks.ph, www.highfiber.org, and www.filmcrowd.com, jason banico’s funchain and if there’s somebody i missed please feel free to add to this…

all these simply shows the filipinos’ ability in adapting new technologies and if harnessed to its full potentials, the philippines, does indeed, have a shot at becoming the center for software development and training hub in asia.

one of the gaps identified that needs to be addressed to is the lack of capability building opportunities for our local IT people. and conducting this training provided an insight as to what our developers really need.

enablement.

through

education.

a little push will go a long way. after three days of interaction, i realized by enabling our local IT guys, the philippines will not only emerge as asia’s IT hub for software and training development but the world as well. these guys that attended the training have fantastic ideas that if nurtured, will scare the hell out of those nerds and so-called innovators at san francisco and silicon valley. and we will make sure the nurturing process continues.

after the training was the pinoy web 2.0 chikahan. and we met some guys who, until the chikahan, we have been communicating with online. guys that are quitely making their own mark in the industry. and talking to them in person reinforced what i realized at the training.

and our hope for the philippines emerging as a leader in IT development is not just a dream. it is becoming true. and this is just a start.

Our hotel here in Manila is across the way from the water. Near the water their is a big strip called Bay View; with Karaoke, lots of food, and live bands.

The problem is someone keeps singing “I’ll Survive” and this song has been getting me out of bed in the mornings.

“At first I was afraid, I was petrified

Kept thinkin’ I could never live without you by my side

Then I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong

And I grew strong

And I learned how to get along”

Sounds like the bonding that has been happening here in Manila with the Pandora Squared team finally together. We work 98% online via email, Instant messenger, and skype. But nothing can replace team members by your side and the fact that eye contact helps us grow stronger. PANDORA SQUARED WILL SURVIVE!! Hey hey.

Manila is full of things happening in the internet community. Blog conferences, Java conferences, web training and a great community all around.

Today we have been invited to the Adobe User Group – Philippines to give a talk on Web2.0, Search and Ruby on Rails. An exciting chance to speak to another group about our passions.

Google in other Languages

When traveling through from the U.S. to australia and now in Manila I find my search queries changing. Queries that use to work in San Jose, CA now do not. I have to be more specific and more relevant. I am also finding that Google Desktop has become a valuable tool while offline.

I have also noticed a small % of ads on the Philippine Google property compared to the U.S. properties. Where are the advertisers? What I see is cheap cheap space available….YOU CAN’T GET THIS IN THE U.S., grab it while you can. Do you advertisers think that only kids are online chatting and playing games? Have you done testing?

I want to see more Philippine publishers with AdSense generating revenue and more Philippine advertisers online.

It is allowed, people are doing it, and it does work when implemented correctly.