GNet, a Filipino owned company, introduces a new service called PinoyPhone. The service allows an unlimited call from Taiwan and Hong Kong to the Philippines. Any OFW in said places can call the Philippines without worrying about the cost as the charge is a monthly fixed payment.

PinoyPhone is able to provide such service by forging partnerships with Telcos here and abroad. PinoyPhone partnered with Bayantel, Nextel and Digitel to make the unlimited call service possible. Using a mobile phone in Taiwan or Hong Kong, users can call their landline number in the Philippines with unlimited talk time. "It works like a personal hotline to your family; just dial the number of the phone registered with the service and you can talk to your family in the Philippines without worrying about the high cost of communication," says Alejandro Pinsotes President of GNet. "It works like a personal hotline from Taiwan and Hong Kong to the Philippines. Initially the service is just one way but soon it will be two way; meaning the family of the OFW in the Philippines can also call them anytime," he added.

Mr. Ricardo Pinsotes, Vice President for Philippine Operations of GNet said that other services will be available soon. "Value Added Services like remittance, free and unlimited assistance for OFWs with problems like victims of abuses and emergency situations, unlimited SMS to the Philippines and payment of bills will be integrated in the next phase of this project."

PinoyPhone is initially available in Taiwan and Hong Kong only; it will soon be offered in other countries.

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Vista is finally here in the Philippines. Jojo Ayson of Microsoft explained that the data in Vista powered machines are more secure because of the new security features it offers. One of these is Bitlocker.

BitLocker Drive Encryption is a new security feature in the Windows Vista operating system that provides protection for the operating system on the computer and data stored in the operating system volume. BitLocker ensures that data stored in a computer running Windows Vista remains encrypted even if the computer is tampered with when the operating system is not running. This helps protect against "offline attacks," attacks made by disabling or circumventing the installed operating system, or made by physically removing the hard drive to attack the data separately.

Jojo Ayson however failed to mention that Bitlocker is only available in the Ultimate and Enterprise Editions of Vista. Vista has six versions and I’m sure ordinary mortals like you and me will settle for the "lesser" and more affordable versions; versions that have no Bitlocker. Even the Business version of Vista has no Bitlocker which I believe badly needs this security feature.

James DeBragga, Senior Director for Windows Product Marketing explained later that Vista is the most secure OS Microsoft has ever released. With improved user interface and new security tools he is sure that users will readily upgrade to this new version. He said that even without Bitlocker, other versions of Vista are still secure as it has other security features that will make computing a lot safer to home and business users. "Features like User Account Control, Windows Security Center, Windows Defender, Windows Firewall, IE 7 Protected Mode, Anti-phishing and other security features are all available in all versions of Vista" he added.

Not all PCs however will be able to run Vista. Microsoft recommends that computers have at least 512MB of RAM, an 800 MHz processor and 15GB of hard disk space.

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In a press conference held yesterday led by Mr. Tertius Vermeulen, President & CEO of Siemens Inc., Mr. Scott Martin, SVP for Siemens Business Services and Mr. Alex Langhans, VP and Head of Global Operations Service Desk, Siemens reaffirmed its commitment to bringing the best IT outsourcing business and the best in Filipino talents as they aim to double its number of employees for this year.

Siemens also announced the change of name for Siemens Business Service (SBS) to Siemens IT Solutions & Services or SIS. It offers IT solutions and IT outsourcing as well as integrated software solutions in conjunction with other Siemens groups.

The new Group is in a very promising position. No other IT provider has such close links with a global industrial corporation like Siemens and benefits from access to its customers and the excellent industry know-how of its Groups. Siemens IT Solutions and Services has a strong international setup and, thanks to the integration of the PSE sites in Eastern Europe and Asia as well as SISL in India, has a significant presence in low-wage locations.