Pioneering techpreneur creates 'angel fund'

MYLA VILLANUEVA may not have invented the thinnest computer, the smallest smartphone, or a faster way to transmit data over the Internet, but among her peers she is considered every inch tech royalty.

After having successfully sold the idea of networking computers via an Internet protocol in the late ’80s, a time when most companies still relied on clunky mainframe computers for data storage, she is now on her fifth startup and focused on mass-marketing technology. (She calls herself a “serial entrepreneur.”)

As co-founder and managing director of Novare Technologies, she is developing products, software and architecture for local and foreign mobile operators in the field of “Fixed-Mobile-Internet convergence.”

Basically these are mobile applications and solutions for clients which include Globe Telecom, GSM Association, Meralco, PLDT, Philippine Savings Bank, RCBC, Smart, Standard Chartered Bank, Sun Cellular, and Norway’s Telenor, to name a few. Among Novare’s partners are IBM, Oracle, Research in Motion, Sybase, Tata Consultancy, etc.

She is now setting her sights on expanding Novare’s footprint in Southeast Asia and China.

“Our next goal as a group of companies is to hit China and other southeast Asian countries, which is made possible through partnerships with telcos and Internet companies localized and establishing there.... I feel this is a wave bigger than that of the last two decades of the Internet’s exponential influence and growth.”

Ever on the forefront of tech breakthroughs, Villanueva has launched what could be described as her best innovation to date.

Last January 11, she announced her personal advocacy called “Wireless Wings”, a P111-million angel fund which aims to support deserving information technology ideas from colleges and universities nationwide.

“I am trying to ignite a culture that I think is very ‘thin’ right now. I want to encourage people to innovate. I want them not to be just builders. I want them to build their own companies, craft their own models and be successful.”

Aside from funding ideas, Villanueva says her team will also provide beneficiaries with mentoring sessions from seasoned IT executives, as well as link them up with multinational companies and major players in the IT industry.

This way, “we will be able to expose them to the corporate setting, and to the type of thinking that businessmen have, because it has always been my dream to find emerging innovations that we can send outside the country.”

She adds: “We want them to think forward and realize that their ideas and products could also be used in Asia, in Indonesia and China.”

Villanueva also invites “other companies who have the same advocacy” to contribute to the angel fund to be able to boost the chances of these new techpreneurs in the international market.

It’s easy to understand why she has chosen this particular advocacy, having once grappled with the challenges of breaking into new markets dominated by the big boys of technology.

Flushed with idealism and inspired by the tech boom in Silicon Valley where she had studied and was living (and no less inspired by Apple’s Steve Jobs’s success), Villanueva, then just 21, came home to the Philippines in 1988, set up MDI Group Holdings, and introduced the idea of networking computers via Internet protocol.

Back then, most government agencies and the top Philippine firms shared and stored data using those clunky mainframe computers.

“It is so old tech today, but I cannot understate the challenges that came along, starting a new company to sell this concept, and competing against the IBMs and Digital Equipments of the world, in a male-dominated industry which was then very conservative and comfortable with the status quo,” Villanueva now recalls. But she pressed on, knowing that computer networking would soon be the norm.

Her very first deal was with the Social Security System which saw the value in decentralizing its members’ contributions system. This was soon followed by projects with Meralco, ABS-CBN Corp., PLDT and other private firms.

More pioneering efforts in the local tech sector followed.

With her husband Jun, she introduced consumer electronics equipment, gadgets and design software to a mass market via Microwarehouse (1995); created Wolfpac (2000), a mobile applications and content provider which was subsequently sold to Smart Communications; then set up Meridian Telekoms (2003), the first wireless broadband firm in the country (later sold for $50 million to Smart and now rebranded as SmartBro). All these breakthroughs earned her the first Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award (2003) under Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year program.

At the GSM Association, where she is a member of the executive management committee, Villanueva had pushed for the globalization of Mobile Money Transfers. It now benefits millions of migrant workers, especially Filipinos, who easily send money home to their families just using their cell phones.

Looking back on her very first networking project, and her subsequent achievements, Villanueva says the key to her success is that she has “never been afraid of hiring people who are much better than me.” Also, she is able to spot the major trends in her field because she has a voracious reading appetite and a constant curiosity about everything around her.

When she isn’t thinking up more ways to break ground in yet another tech field or indulge in her advocacies, Villanueva, now 45, loves chilling with her husband and their two kids: Blanca, 17, and Luis, 10. Usually they are out sailing and discovering the Philippines via their catamaran, the TutuTango. “We also love to travel the world anytime we can. I guess we are a family of gypsies.”

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday at the Life section of the BusinessMirror. This piece was published on Jan. 27, 2012. Photo courtesy Myla Villanueva.)

Making the case for a tech detox

ONE of the most interesting stories I’ve read in the past week was about a family that tried to reconnect with each other by minimizing their use of technology.

In the piece, “Your BlackBerry or Your Wife” in the Wall Street Journal, Elizabeth Bernstein writes about the Broadnax family and their struggle with renewing their familial interactions after the mother, Diane Broadnax, a 50-year-old clinical trial researcher from Mount Airy, Maryland, banned computerized forms of entertainment in their household for a week.

“According to Bernstein, Ms. Broadnax had become “fed up with the way her family dispersed to separate computers each evening. Anika, 4, would watch Dora the Explorer on a laptop in the kitchen, while Jasmine, 12, would play with her virtual pets online. Ms. Broadnax’s husband, Lonnie Broadnax, 50, went to his home office to watch a sci-fi DVD, and she would make dinner—while checking her e-mail. Many nights, each person would eat in front of his or her respective screen. ‘Days were going by and we weren’t talking,’ Ms. Broadnax says.”

I can imagine how difficult it must have been for this family to fill in the empty silences once forced to just sit at the dinner table, and communicate with each other directly.

But this phenomenon of “disconnect” has become more prevalent than you know it. Once, when I was logged on Facebook, I found it amusing that some of my friends—a husband and wife—communicated through the social-networking site.

The situation was just begging to be poked at, and I did jokingly ask the couple one time, on Facebook as well, if they no longer lived in the same house. Both of them answered that they were in different parts of the house, which made me think that their home must be so huge, it was difficult for each of them to make that “long” trek to talk directly to where the other person was located. Hahaha.

But no matter how “enriching” the experience of being on social-networking sites may be, or how various electronic devices and cell-phone/computer applications enable us to keep in touch with our loved ones even if they’re thousands of miles away, there’s still nothing like face-to-face interactions to strengthen our affections for them.

For instance, it’s still much more entertaining to personally see and hear my young friend Kurdapya make her amusing commentaries about government officials and general issues of the day. Her eyes roll up, her mouth turns up in a knowing smirk, and her arms are all over the place. The same joke tweeted, for instance, does not make the same smashing impact as when you see her say it up close. To paraphrase a film title, something is lost in transmission when blurted via a computer or through SMS.

Seriously, if like Ms. Broadnax you already feel alienated from your own family because everyone is tethered to his/her cell phone, computer or TV, then maybe it’s time to take control of your family’s tech life.

Here are few suggestions to bring everyone back from the virtual world to the present:

For one, ban all cell phones from the dining table. Everyone who has eaten at my home know how I don’t like cell phones around when everyone’s eating. Even my nieces and nephew are not spared from this. They automatically check their messages before sitting with my Mama and I at the dining table, and then ditch their cell phones in their bags or on some nearby shelf.

Take away the TV sets from everyone’s bedrooms and just assign a family room where the TV should be. My sister has successfully done this, which is why there were no distractions for her kids when they were still studying. And even when everyone is glued to the TV in the family room, there is still a whole lot of interaction between her and her kids or her husband—comments about whatever show is on, catching up on whatever happened to each of them during the day, etc. Even when it’s all just silliness, the important thing is, there is conversation going around.

If you can take away the TVs, maybe you can take away the personal computers as well and put them in the family room or a home-office space. This way, there will be some amount of communication among family members even if everyone is doing their thing at their workstations. Such a setup also opens opportunities for parents to help children in their homework.

Related to this, manage your kids and your own computer/TV use. Allot a time period for kids to use the computer and do their assignments. Kids are supposed to play out in the yard with the pets, with you and your spouse, or the neighbors’ kids. They shouldn’t be stuck at home playing Wii or Ragnarok, or some computer game where the other player is a million miles away. Similarly, you shouldn’t be spending your free time watering your Farmville plants, or building imaginary restaurants. Try to do something as a family and away from the computer or TV.

Postpone giving cell phones to your children as long as you can. While it’s true these devices help you monitor your kids’ activities, and you can easily trace their whereabouts, the truth is, your kids can always lie about where they are (unless you’ve been tracking them via GPS, that is). Besides, I usually see kids use their cell phones just to call their driver to pick them up “now na!” (whatever happened to setting an appointed pickup time and good old-fashioned waiting?), or text frenziedly their friends (even during Mass!). Lucky for you parents if they actually call you to tell you how their school day went.

So maybe, you can loan your child a cell phone while he is out of the house, but when he is at home, confiscate the gadget so he can focus on studies instead. If your kids need to talk with their friends or classmates about homework (a likely excuse), they can always use the landline—remember that old-fashioned phone?

Related to managing computer/TV usage, set up an “unplug” day. Those who’ve been following this column know that I started doing this two years ago. I switch off all cell phones and my computer—so no SMS, Facebook, Twitter and other mindless surfing. This is the only day I usually pick up a hard-copy newspaper, when normally I go through online news web sites during weekdays.

Believe me, it’s given me more peace of mind and enabled me to finish up chores that had long been unattended. I’ve even managed to catch up on my book-reading backlog. I usually do this every Sunday, and most of my friends know that the only way they can get in touch with me is to call me on my landline if it’s really important.

You can do this as well. Unplug on Sundays, stay at home and play games, which will help sharpen your kids’ socializing skills and prepare them for future “competitions”. I remember when my entire family, including my Pop, would play all sorts of board games as we were growing up—Snakes & Ladders, Old Maid, Lucky 8, eventually graduating to Scrabble, Games of the Generals, MasterMind, etc. It was fun and even if my parents were not affluent, we kids were kept entertained.

Technology can help us accomplish much at work, and keep us in touch with our loved ones. But sometimes it can also ruin our relationships. Know when to stop the tech craziness and bring everyone back to the basics.

(My column, Something Like Life, is published every Friday in the Life section of the BusinessMirror.)

Plug gaps or nix poll automation

'Before the next automated election, all the loopholes in the PCOS and the automated election process should be firmly plugged by either the current provider or by another more assiduous supplier. If not, a reversion to manual elections with heightened vigilance by organizations like the PPCRV and NAMFREL would probably yield more credible and accurate results. Comelec Director Jose Tolentino is right. The problem is not automation but the people running the automation, which is to say, the same people whose perennial and persistent misconduct of manual elections prompted the conversion to automation in the first place. Guns really don’t shoot people, people shoot people. Machines don’t cheat, people do. Unfortunately, the same people are still running Comelec despite periodic changes of Commissioners over the years and the leadership of well-meaning chairmen such as the incumbent.' (Rep. Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., Chairman's Report on the Alleged Fraud and Precinct Count Optical Scan (PCOS) Machine Manipulation in the May 10, 2010 Automated Elections, June 28, 2010)

Observations, Conclusions and Recommendations on the alleged fraud in the May 2010 elections (Rep. Teodoro...

The full report here.

How to use an iPad

JUST when we've all but dismissed the iPad as just another frivolous gadget we don't need...



...here comes a Chinese concert pianist giving it a spin at the end of his concert! Hilarious! (Thanks Alberto for posting.)

Buyer beware!

So, how did I go from an $829 iPad to a $1,170 tab? In a word: Accessories.

Knowing I'll want to do some serious typing on the iPad, I sprung for the $69 keyboard dock (ka-ching!). To protect my iPad (and prop it up on any flat surface), I went for the $39 case (ka-ching!). I added the $29 USB power adaptor because I will want to charge my iPad in multiple locations, and the $29 VGA adapter so that I can view it on any display I own (double ka-ching!).

Oh, and I took the $99 AppleCare Protection Plan, which extends the 90 days of tech support and 1 year warranty (including the battery) to two years. (Big ka-ching!) Shipping was free, but sales tax added another $76.58 to the tab (ka-ching! to the State of New Jersey). (Click How My $499 iPad Purchase Became a $1,170 Credit Card Bill.)

HERE's my earlier take on the iPad. Will definitely wait a year or so until all the bugs and apps are fixed before considering to buy one.

This'll brighten up your morning

Back to the drawing board Steve.

Manang, pabili ng iPad, with wings

OKAY, so who's salivating over Apple's new iPad? Raise your hands.

If you're an Apple nut like I am (although I don't own an iPhone because I think it sucks), you were also probably on the edge of your seats early this morning monitoring the presentation of chief Appleseed Steve Jobs of the company's latest creation, the iPad.

To PC users, I could probably describe the iPad as a cross bet. a netbook, a Kindle, and iPhone – all that in a 9.6"x7.5" sized tablet no thicker than 0.5". No doubt about it, it's gorgeous. Its graphics display look very crisp and vibrant, making it supposedly a joy to watch videos/films, look at photos, and play games on it. Having the same multi-touch technology as the iPhone, it looks easy to navigate, much like an iPhone.


(Joketime!)

It has wi-fi and 3G capability so you can use it to surf the net seamlessly and call, just like an ordinary cellphone (only bigger). Problem w/ the latter though, it only uses a microSIM, instead of the usual-sized SIM cards most of us have in our cellphones. Some sites suggest that despite it being an open line device, its use of the microSIM ensures that only U.S. buyers will subscribe to AT&T w/c has an exclusivity deal w/ Apple. I dunno if Apple intends to release an iPad w/c accommodates the regular-sized SIM for Europe and Asia, esp. since the latter is one of its fastest growing markets. (Maybe we can ask Smart or Globe if they're considering switching to the microSIM anytime soon.)

One of its selling points, I'd say, is its Kindle-like feature, because it uses the new app iBook. Apple has closed numerous deals w/ various publishers, making available thousands and thousands of books for downloading. All an iPad user has to do is click the device's built-in iBookstore and download the book she wants (for a price of course). Will this be available in the Philippines? I don't know. Remember when the iTunes store first opened and it didn't allow purchases made from Asia? (I don't buy stuff from iTunes, so I'm not sure if that situation still exists.) Hopefully, the Philippines will be able to access iBookstore.

While it looked easy for Steve Jobs to type on the iPad, I'm not quite sure how our bodies will deal with this smaller device. I imagine a lot of cricks in the neck and sore shoulders from trying to schooch down and type on its keyboard, and yes, even if you use an external keyboard and hitch the iPad to its dock. Btw, you would have to buy the external keyboard, the wireless variety.



With that much advanced technology and apps available, it's amazing that the iPad is reasonably-priced starting at $499 for the 16GB model. The price goes up depending on the memory and the additional specs like 3G (plus $130).

This being a new device, I would wait for at least a year until all the bugs are fixed and the design is finalized. Apple critics hail the iPad as definitely packing a WOW factor, but still falls short in some areas. Of course, with competitive prices like Apple has for this device, its understandable that the company wouldn't pack it w/ features that say, the Macbook has. Don't think of it as a smaller Macbook. Think of it as a bigger iPhone. (Or as my friend quipped on his FB status, "***** Is content with the thought his old iPhone is the new iPad nano.")

Still, I would consider buying it bec. as a journalist, I find that it'll make my coverage of events easier and more portable. Right now, I lug around my Macbook when I cover an event and it is still pretty bulky to carry around. I've been toying around the idea of buying a netbook but didn't like the fact that it uses the Windows platform.

Unfortunately, the iPad doesn't have a webcam so you can't video chat, nor does it use flash technology w/c many websites now use, nor does it have a USB port to connect your devices like cameras and printers. You need to buy a camera connection kit, for instance, to enable you to transfer your photos from your camera, as the iPad also doesn't have a card reader. Still, I'm salivating for it, but will probably wait a year to see how things develop.

Oh yes, it does play music too, like an iPod. Now here's the real video on the iPad:



Also, a story from NYT about this "revolutionary" product.