If you’ve heard of the robot MAC, the anti-terrorism robot made by Mapua that is currently owned (being used?) by Makati PNP, then here’s an update about that high-tech bomb squad member. The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) shows interests on the project and is willing to fund it P1.7M.

The budget of course will be used to make the Philippine robot advanced. Based on Inquirer’s report, the developer John Judilla from Mapua said that upgrades on the robot will be made. The MAC robot will soon use lighter Lithium polymer batteries and fiber glass for body frame to make it lighter. They will also make adjustment to the robot to make it work underwater (in case some terrorist plants a bomb one of the yachts docked in Manila Bay).

The MAC anti-terrorism robot recently won the First World Cup of Computer-Implemented Inventions in Shanghai, China.

Looks like the government is finally realizing that the country needs to be high-tech.

The anti-terrorism and bomb disposal robot made by Mapua Institute of Technology won the top prize in the recently concluded First World Cup of Computer-Implemented Inventions in Shanghai, China.

It’s a bit weird though as the news from Inquirer says that it is the first World Cup of Computer-Implemented Inventions while my research yielded that there was a similar competition with a similar title held last year in Taipei. Anyway that is not the news here. Sources indicate that Philippines’ MAC won over 84 countries that joined the competition.

MAC is currently owned and used by the Makati City Police. Kudos to Mapua for bringing the country something we can all be proud of.

Ateneo de Manila University is now the leading tertiary school in the Philippines, topping University of the Phillipines on a “problematic survey” that the UP itself did not participate in. This is based on The Times Higher Education-Quacquarelli Symonds (THE-QS) World University Rankings 2008.

The ranking was based on criteria including peer and employer review, faculty-student ratio and citations of teaching staff (UP perhaps got low points on these categories: employer review, faculty-student ratio).

Ateneo Tops UP in World List on a “Problematic Survey” - Ateneo Official Seal

The survey revealed that the Jesuit-led Ateneo was leading the pack in the Philippines, followed by UP, De La Salle University or DLSU, and finally University of Santo Tomas or UST.

University of the Philippines (UP), ranked No. 2, falling from the top position in 2007. But the UP dismissed the results of THE-QS’s study saying the surveyor’s “methodology is problematic”.
Ateneo leaped from between 400th and 500th position last year into 254th place. Ateneo ranks between London’s School of Oriental and African Studies and the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain.

UP, the country’s premier state university fell 20 places short of Ateneo. It is now in 274th place, up from 398th last year. UP was placed between two German universities—the University of Hamburg and Ulm University.

DLSU and UST are both fresh entries and they ranked 415th and 470th, respectively. Both DLSU and UST were not in the top 500 last year.

Of course Ateneo was happy about the result. The Inquirer on the other hand reported that UP raised doubts on the survey’s validity, saying the university did not take part in this year’s survey.
University of the Philippines vice president for public affairs Cristina Pantoja Hidalgo said the state university did not join because the survey organizers refused to disclose where and how they got their data.

“Since it does not specify who are surveyed or what questions are asked, the methodology is problematic,” Hidalgo added.

For this year’s survey, UP was not invited to participate, she said.

Hidalgo said UP president Emerlinda Roman only received an e-mail message from QS Asia Pacific director, Mandy Mok, notifying her that UP had “gone up in the rankings.”

The QS e-mail also informed UP that it could advertise in the 2009 Top University Guide and join the university fair for a fee of $49,000, Hidalgo said.

“UP can hardly be expected to spend more than P2 million on publicity for itself involving a survey conducted by an organization that refuses to divulge where it obtains its data,” Hidalgo said.
Question, did Ateneo pay P2 million? How can you win a contest you didn’t even join?

In a rather intriguing turn of events, ABS-CBN suspended the very controversial The Buzz host and newspaper columnist Cristy Fermin for two months.

This was after Nadia Montenegro filed a petition on Movie and Television Review and Classification Board or MTCB against the host due to the so-called lies that the latter said on the October 5, 2008 episode of ‘The Buzz’.

ABS-CBN sent a statement to Inquirer saying that they suspended the host’s contract as anchorperson of the daily radio show “Showbiz Mismo” over dzMM and co-host of the equally controversial talk show “The Buzz” until December 31. Something tells me Cristy Fermin won’t have a very merry holiday.

ABS-CBN Suspends Cristy Fermin for 2 Months

The station’s statement also noted that Fermin violated certain provisions thereof in relation to her statements during the October 5, 2008 episode of ‘The Buzz’. This is where the part the host alleged that Nadia Montenegro secretly gave birth to a child out of matrimony two years ago.

“Fermin did not conduct herself with due regard to social conventions and public morals. Her statements went beyond the bounds of decency as they involved innocent children who are not party to their personal dispute. Ms. Fermin’s statements violated the highest standards of professionalism and journalistic integrity,” ABS-CBN said.

There’s a lot of lesson that should be learned from here.

Now who is bringing back the Eraserheads? First it was Philips/Marlboro, but the cigarette company’s quest to reunite Eraserheads for a one night concert ended with a legal issue. After that came Sony BMG, which according to my sources is giving media people a very hard time in coverage agreement.  Now I just learned that MTV Philippines is now in the picture. Parang circus lang ah!

According to Inquirer, TicketWorld’s site went down yesterday due to the supposed influx of ticket buyers. Well goodluck to them. Labo labo na talaga yata. With only two days before the concert, the price of the concert tickets appears to be unclear. Some say you can purchase ticket for P1,600 for VIP and P800 for back area and then I read a report saying that it is actually tagged at P2,060 for VIP and P1,030 for back area. So how much does one Eraserheads concert ticket really costs? Nevertheless, just beware of fixers.