Considering that he services a few hundred clients all at the same time, Abe a.k.a. Yuga is a very busy person indeed and it is quite amazing how he manages to update his blog almost everyday. Readers who would like to know about the goings-on in the tech scene and the World Wide Web will surely find his site a joy to visit. It is a rich repository of materials on gadgets, technology, and all the programming geek talk. Sometimes he takes a break and talks about more mundane concerns like photography, the bliss of eating chicken inasal and the hazards of dealing with credit card companies. We find that Abe’s homepage is what a blog should be - concise, direct to the point, full of interesting stuff, regularly posted, with a good mix of texts and visuals. In between his grueling 48-hour work shift, the great Mr. Olandres managed to answer the questions sent in by Blog-o-Rama and here it goes:

Q. Please tell us the history of your blogs, and how your present blog 

came to be.

A. My actual blog was borne out of Blogger on Oct. 2001 (yuga.blogspot.com). A year later, I registered Yugatech.com and PinoyBlog.com. YugaTech.com was then a half folio site and an online journal, while PinoyBlog was a resource site for my blogging scripts and a forum for Pinoy bloggers. In August of 2004, PinoyBlog re-launched the “Philippines According to Blogs” project in collaboration with Connie, aka The Sassy Lawyer at houseonahill.net. Yugatech.com  is now a techblog and a photoblog, my new found hobby.

Q. Having been the resource speaker on Blogging 101 in the recent 1st Philippine Blogging Summit, what are the things a person should keep in mind when starting/maintaining a blog?

Blogging is all about self-expression. Writing is just half the fun in blogging; one should also give focus on the other aspects of your blog 

like its presentation (design & layout) and the facility to interact with your readers. 

Having said this, what do you think are the essential components of a blog?

There are three basic components of a blog – one is content, which can also be in the form of photos or other media; second is the comment system, where 

you and your readers can interact; and third are the links, to give credit where credit is due.

Can you tell us the different uses of a blog? Do you think it can help in a person's professional/academic advancement?

One reason I started blogging was because I wanted to practice my vocabulary and writing skills. I suppose a lot of other bloggers have the same reasons as well. To date, my blog has gotten me dozens of projects, a couple of job offers, two VC (venture capital) bids and several blog advertising sales.

Blogging has evolved so dramatically in the past years that it has found its usefullness as a tool for communication in many fields and 

practices from PR campaigns, brand awareness, advertising, software development, academic experiments, and politics. The recent U.S. presidential elections was somehow significantly affected by blogging from cause-oriented groups and political parties to the presidentiables themselves.

Q. Can you describe your tech blog? Where do you usually get your sources for all the tech news?

A. I blog mostly about technical stuff I am interested about especially newly- released gadgets. They mostly cover relevant internet news, and other things related to open source, Wordpress, Google, search engine 

optimization, design and development, photography, and netreprenurial issues.

A lot of these topics I get from Google News as well as other tech news sites, some from all the tech forums I visit, while others from blogs I 

visit everyday. RSS feeds are a good way to get them simple and fast.

Q. What are the tech blogs you often visit?

A. Simplebits.com, ProBlogger.net, TheAppleBlog.com, Leoville.com, Boingboing.net, PhotoMatt.net, and XBlog (www.xplane.com/xblog/). They're all tech caffeine to me.

Q. Is it really possible for a blogger to earn money from blogging? Any tips on increasing readership and such?

A. The most common way of earning from blogs is by signing up with Google AdSense. I know several local bloggers earning from $20 to $500 a month so it's something to really consider about. There's also BlogAds.com but have not gotten any really good feedback about it. Other opportunities would be local microadvertising which we offer now through PinoyBlog. 

Increasing readership means you need to regularly update your blog with fresh, interesting and relevant content. That's on top of the list and 

once you've done that, GoogleBot is your best friend.

Q. Being a netrepreneur, what do you think are the advantages of having your own webhost as opposed to just availing of a free service like 

blogger? 

A. There are a lot of things to consider when choosing between a free host from a paid webhost. First is control over what you can and cannot do with your blog. Most free hosting have lots of restrictions with what applications you can install, scripts you can use, types of files you can upload. Another thing would be technical support and backup -- you don't get that from free hosting services. With paid hosting, you can always bug your provider to install a module for moblogging at maybe add a shoutcast server for audio/video streaming.

Q. Ploghost, your webhosting service, recently offered a WP Switcher Special. What are the advantages of  WordPress? What features 

does it have that other blogging systems don't have?

A. First of all, WordPress is free. It is supported by thousands of independent developers creating plugins and themes for everyone to use. It runs on PHP + mySQL so it's scalable and flexible. It allows you to 

easily tinker with it even if you don't know how to program. It installs in 5 minutes and is dead easy to upgrade. It has categorization, subcategorization, with support for multiple authors and an integrated bloggrolling feature. It has a plugin feature to backup your entire blog on demand. It also allows you to post future dates, via email and is fully web standards compliant. It will teach you how to design with CSS. Oh, I could go on with this all day.

Q. What's your assessment of the present blogging climate in the Philippines? Blogging trends as you see it....?

A. In less than a year that we re-launched PinoyBlog.com, we already have in excess of 1,500 Pinoylog members and their numbers grow every day. 

It is now catching on with many professionals and even Pinoy kababayans in other countries getting the sense of how blogging extends their 

social interaction into the online community.

What can you say about the tech scene in RP? How do you propose to advocate tech literacy in the country?

A. Filipinos in general are very quick in catching on tech trends. It's only the availability of these technologies that really hinder us from 

being more acquainted with them. However, this should not prevent us from striving to advocate tech literacy. Nevertheless, we've always been able to manage with what we have so I'm still very optimistic about it.

Q. Please tell us about...

..your "digital wish list”

My Digital Wish List is a run-down of gadgets I'd like to own or if someone is kind enough, send it in as a gift. Topping the list is a Mac 

Mini, which should be crossed out as "taken" within the year. The odd item in my wish list would be the RoboSapien, a cute toy robot.

..favorite plug-ins.

WordPress plugins makes blogging simple and more enjoyable. These are tweaks and functionalities that add flare and feature to your blog. I 

have dozens installed but my favorites are the PhotoPress, Gravatars, MiniBlog,   WP-ShortStat and WP Mobile Edition.

..who among the IT figures do you admire? For example if you were to meet Bill Gates (or this IT figure) in person, what will you tell him/her?

I used to work for Bill Gates and the closest I got to him was an email or two. I never did really admire him that much. Steve Jobs (CEO of 

Apple and Pixar) is the one I look up to. He really thinks out of the box.

(For comments and inquiries, email annalyn.jusay@gmail.com)