Pinoy ME Organization

Money remittance is the main concern of all Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the world. They want to make sure that the money they earn will go straight to the hands of their love ones in the shortest time possible. With this as an objective, the Philippine National Bank (PNB), one of the most stable banks in the archipelago and Xoom.com, one of the most trusted corporations in online money transfer industry, entered into a partnership in 2008.

“PNB is always on the lookout for strategic alliances with partners that will further improve our banking services to OFWs. Xoom’s revolutionary online remittance service assures seamless cash transfer to their beneficiaries’ PNB bank accounts”, said PNB President and CEO Omar Byron T. Mier.

How to transfer money from PNB account with Xoom.com?

1. Simply visit www.xoom.com/philippines
2. Enter sender information, the recipient’s PNB account details and the amount to be remitted.
3. Then choose a payment method – bank account, credit/debit card or PayPal – and click “send”.

*The money will be available in the recipient’s PNB account usually in minutes. It is also easy on the budget – transfer money for as little as $3.50* and send $300 to $2,500 denominations for an incredibly affordable rate of $7.99 when paying with US bank accounts.

“The usual inconveniences associated with long queues and limited hours of operation of traditional remittance outlets will be completely wiped out through this service”, remarked Gene Gutierrez, Xoom.com Regional Vice-President for the Philippines. “Efficiency and convenience is thus assured.”

It is another innovation worth trying today.

Every time I read the news, turn on the television, or open any business magazine, I always see and hear about the world’s dwindling economy – how all the businesses in the world lay-off employees to cut costs, how salaries are going down while prices and expenses are going up, and how day by day thousands upon thousands of people end-up in the “Bum” list of jobless folks. This may be the primary reason why former company workhorses now turn to the internet to work at home and earn a living online. If you try and look at most of the job openings for online bloggers, you will see that most of blog freelancers are paid by the “number of articles submitted” – rare would you see job openings that would pay you monthly or with a fixed retainer. And as a typical paid-blogger, you should always bear in mind to write fast so you could finish a lot of jobs at the least possible time.

Here are some tips to write quality blogs with the least possible time.
A writer should:

1. Spend a good deal of time to read up on the topic at hand – A writer should internalize the subject of the article which is in my opinion should comprise at least 50% of the job allottment. He or she should also read related blogs about the topic in order to see the “flow” of the topic.
2. Create a deadline or timetable for the completion of the project – in my experience, posing deadlines will often make your mind more active. Writers tend to get lazy and get more distracted if deadlines are not present to act as guides.
3. Smile – Smiling often boosts a writer’s morale and gives him or her positive outlooks. Feeling sad or having problems makes your mind wander and keeps you agitated enough to bring your thinking to a sense of confusion.
4. Write in a well-lit room – A dark room makes you feel sleepy and tends to “render you unconscious” sometimes.
5. Remember your homekeys – a refresher course of “Typing 101″ will go great lengths and will enable you to upgrade your typing skills to its fullest potential.
6. Always keep a glass of fresh drinking water by your side – water keeps your brain Oxygenated allowing it think faster and work quicker. Yes, Coffee keeps you awake and on your toes, however it agitates your brain cells too much that most of brain’s neurons get a large increase in electronic impulses which could cause confusion, tension, and stress.
7. Last but not least – Think of the Blog, Not the Money earned in selling it – always keep in mind that you are writing articles; works of art read by millions of people around the globe. Write fast but always maintain the qualities of your articles. Writing fast could earn you lots of dollars, but hey, Leonardo Da Vinci did not finish the “Mona Lisa” in an hour.

We constantly see people holding their cellular phones and sending quick messages to another person’s phone. SMS (Short Message Service) or text messaging has revolutionized the use of cellular phones in the Philippines and other countries in the world. Welcome to the “thumb generation”.

The local and international promos of telecommunication companies such as Smart, Globe and Sun Cellular, make communication easier and affordable. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have benefitted a lot in these offers. They could exchange greetings with their loved ones more often and yet save money, time and effort compared to a phone call.

With the popularity and vital role of text messaging in everyone’s lives, advertisers are making their way to improve SMS more. Chikka and Yahoo Messenger are the best examples of free text messaging from your Internet-connected PC. This may seem too good to be true but these services are beneficial both ways. The users get to enjoy the freebies, while these companies earn more.

Here are some of the advantages of Free SMS online:

1. As the name implies, it is free and you never have to pay anything.
2. It allows quick composition of text messages to recipient because it is faster to type using a keyboard than a tiny keypad.
3. It is useful when one needs to send out massive text messages to many people, either for propaganda or other announcements.

On the other hand, here are some of the disadvantages:

1. If you look closely, some of these services are not actually free. Some free texting service providers charge some fees to the recipients.
2. Almost all free SMS texting providers require you to become a member first before you can use their services. Once you become a member by registering your own mobile phone number and the mobile phone numbers of your family, you will receive spammed SMS messages regularly.
3. Free SMS texting sites, are often overloaded so your messages don’t get delivered or experience some delays.

Given the benefits and drawbacks of free SMS online, the decision whether to avail these services or not lies upon you. Just be careful in giving out cellular numbers and personal information to suspicious sites and services. Also, this may not work for others but it may work for you.

GSM Sandwich ©, recently the best GSM forum now in the Philippines. Owned by a Filipino-Chinese, Steven Chan, who is a businessman located at Quiapo, Manila catering to cellphones and technicians. He sells mobile gadgets, accessories, etc. and he developed GSM Sandwich to provide support to his entire clientele.

Before, he hosted the forum only from his personal computer and the maximum member who visited his site is 22. He tried to edit it to 50 but after several months he restores it again. His site is growing too fast, so he decided to move to a dedicated server. Look at him now, his most users ever online was 708 and they call themselves, “ka-tinapay” or “Co-Sandwich” in English.

His forum consists of 5 kinds of leaders definitely refered to as Admins(7), lady moderators(2), moderators(19), super moderators(7) and Chapter Leaders(27).

Last March 20, 2009, the site celebrated its 3rd-year anniversary wherein almost 400 members attended the gathering. I think it is the most successful, coolest and biggest party ever to happen in GSM Sandwich. i feel so sad because I never had the chance to be there personally.

Picture this: you already have your bags stuffed with all your clothes, sun block, personal effects, and important documents. The airport taxi is beeping its horn at your garage because he has been waiting for you there for already fifteen minutes. You cram your way to leave your house’s status intact; you’ve paid the bills in advance for two months. You’ve left your dog to the neighbor and left him instructions on his daily diet. You call the Nanny; instruct her to clean the house once a week for you’ll be gone for 3 months. You rapidly clutch your bags, stuff them in the trunk, enter the taxi, and the driver rapidly speeds the car to the airport. You rush to the check in area, and as you enter the terminal, the signs read that your flight is leaving… in one minute! You rush to the counter. A friendly airline staff greets you and asks for your ticket and passport. The staff member frowns, looks at your documents, at you, and then back to the documents again. Then you realize… Your passport just expired… yesterday. This happens rarely, but according to various airline statistics, almost 25% of canceled flight tickets are due to expired passports. It has been known since the dawn of time that prevention is better than cure. So why wait for your passport to expire, when you can efficiently and securely renew them on time, and in the convenience of your own home and office?

Passport direct helps make renewing Filipino passports easy and efficient. No more long and winding application queue lines in the Department of foreign affairs. No more hot days and perspiring seatmates. Passport direct offers online Filipino passport renewal and application. Although passport direct doesn’t eliminate the personal appearance factor at the DFA, it helps in facilitating an easier way to renew. Although you have to visit the office for documents signing and thumb printing, Passport direct picks up your old passport, and delivers the new one in the address you have specified in the online application. Another remarkable feature of the service is you can change or effect alterations in your personal appearance, so you are in complete control of when you want to visit the Department of Foreign affairs – No fuss, no muss.

One of the problems experienced by passport applicants and OFW’s nowadays is the amount of waiting involved for you to be served in the main office. With passport direct clients, the Department of Foreign Affairs reserves a special priority lane for these online customers. However, this efficiency comes with a price. From the regular Php 500 renewal fee, passport direct charges an additional 800 pesos, which is in my opinion a suitable price because the service picks up and delivers the passports right at your doorstep. Most of the additional charges also go to the special VIP treatment that you get whenever you avail of this service. And thinking renewing your passport only happens after 5-6 years, this service is truly something to experience.

The website is easy to use. All the necessary tabs and buttons are there. In the website you can check the requirements you need to facilitate the renewal or application. There is a check status page for you to check how your application is progressing. And a contacts page wherein you can call their 24 hour customer support for inquiries and assistance. Overall, Passport Direct is one of the web services you can avail that really will save you a lot on time. The application is easy, just fill up the necessary fields and click submit. Passport direct is one of the sites that continue to show that the Filipino thinks of different motivations to help each other whether here, or in abroad.

Do you know what Uzzap is? Uzzap is another all-in-one messenger service for your Mobile and Computer with unlimited chat, unlimited e-mail and also with free text. Another promo of Smart Telecom that you can chat/text to your family for free and more inexpensive price.

You don’t need computer to log-in to your messenger account. You can just only use your cellphone. Just make sure that your GPRS or WAP settings are already in set.

I just found it to my friends who also use Uzzap. And because of my curiosity, I attempted to subscribe and use it also to my family. It is the most inexpensive, affordable price and easy to use messenger that I used.

If you are in abroad, particularly in a country with cheap GPRS / WAP like the Middle East, it’s easier to talk to your friends and family. But if you have computer and internet connection, just use its messenger which you can download in their site. And if you are in Philippines, you can enjoy your P25 to a 1 day of chatting and 100 free SMS using your mobile.

This is one of the very helpful messengers to all OFW. My next article is the another gimmicks of Smart Telecom.

You can now send SMS to any mobile anywhere corners of the world using Chikka. It is still the best way to send free SMS to mobile phones from your computer. With this help, you don’t have to worry to communicate with them. It’s also an instant messager that can be use in chatting and send pictures or MMS to your love ones. All you have to do is to register in their website and download its client and run to your computer. Of course you need internet connection to log-in your account.

They have three free SMS per reply of your buddies and 20 free messages per day. It is a big help to those Filipinos who are in abroad because you can save money instead of reloading your Sims. You can also win their weekly promos by inviting your friends to subscribe to their site. So keep chatting and texting with all your buddies on your Chikka List.

The All Pinoy GSM forum, one of the pioneer Filipino-based GSM Community forum in the Philippines. Created by Edgar Mejia also known as ed2k, last June 2002. He developed this forum to enhance awareness of every Filipino and other foreign Forumers in Mobile Phones Technologies, as well as interact and develop solidarity among other Forum members.

The forum is composed of various sections created for the benefit of all at different interest of GSM endeavors. Here, you can use tagalog, english or taglish to communicate more effectively to all members but strictly prohibited in sms posting. And after three months, TAPGSM hits the top 10 list of most visited sites in Pinoy Top Sites.

After seven years the group has remained strong. Many people lost with its reasons, but the blood of being TAPGSM are still in our hearts. Continuous and resistant single forum with proper self-discipline.