New Home!

Check out my new home online! Visit it now at www.jonasdelosreyes.com! :)

Remithome vs. Remit2home

What's in a domain name? Well, online it's almost everything (that's why Kevin Ham is what he is right now) and lately, more and more business have become very particular and protective of their online addresses. Which is why it didn't come as a surprise to me when one of Yehey!'s partners, remithome.com, a US-based remittance company, sent me a PR letter which stated in detail how they have won a court case versus Times of Money Ltd., an Indian company that owns and maintains the domains remit2home.com and remit2home1.com.

As the article stated, "The National Arbitration Forum of the United States affirms the trademark and domain name rights of remithome, a U.S. to Philippines online remittance service serving the remittance needs of Filipinos in the United States. The domain names remit2home.com and remit2home1.com are ordered transferred to remithome." For the complete article, check it out at Yehey! Finance.

The funny thing is, Times of Money Ltd. actually came to us before proposing a co-marketing deal, and they're one of Yehey!'s paying ad clients. When we mentioned this to remithome they actually expressed concern back then on the possible confusion the names can create. No wonder they decided to bring it court. Thankfully it's good news for them because the courts affirmed the registration and use in bad faith by Times of Money for the domains remit2home.com and remit2home1.com. And lesson learned for Times of Money, it's always best to build your own unique online identity rather than riding on another's popularity.

LinkedIn Gets A Makeover

One of the most important and useful social networking websites you should have an account with is LinkedIn. It's very different from Friendster, MySpace or Facebook in that its a social network meant specifically for professionals.

LinkedIn lets you create an online resume which then enables you to find and be found by former colleagues, clients, partners and basically anyone in the same school, company or industry where you were or currently in.

Given the nature of the service, it's a very "serious" network compared to the other social websites, but they have been continuously enhancing it like adding an "Answers" section. But the good news now is that LinkedIn recently got a makeover, and it's a very pretty one.

With the redesign, a personal photos section has been added, there's a customizable widgets panel, and a status section has been added. All in all, it's a very clear and clean re-design with everything re-organized for your convenience.

I personally love it and to anyone who doesn't have a LinkedIn account yet, I suggest you start signing up for one now. And of course, feel free to add me. :) Check out my LinkedIn page.

Yahoo! Buzz Now Abuzz

This just in, Yahoo!'s new social news website called Yahoo! Buzz was just launched today, confirming rumors just a few days ago of this Yahoo website that's set to compete with Digg.

Much like Digg, users click on the "buzz" button to vote on stories and push them up the top of the front page of the website. The good news for online publishers out there is that certain top stories in Yahoo! Buzz will also be featured in the Yahoo! home page.

Still in beta, right now only "accredited" web publishers in Yahoo! Buzz can submit content. What we can do is basically vote for that content on Yahoo! Buzz, or on the publishers’ own websites. We'll see in a few months how well this will do, considering how Digg is way ahead in the social news arena, plus the existence of Mixx.com which some are saying is slowly gaining traction, and of course, the lessons learned when Netscape was relaunched as a social news site but eventually had to close shop.

Send Your Love This Valentines!

Valentine's is just 6 days away and with all the hustle and bustle that this season brings, it's always refreshing to know that nowadays, you don't have to get caught unprepared because you can always go online to send your love to your one and only. :)

The most highly recommended is Islandrose.net. Sending flowers is so easy with the different types and arrangements of rose bouquets to choose from, it offers free shipping and by clicking on the link, you can get a 5% discount by typing the code YEHEY-083024 upon checkout.

If you head over to PHGifts.com, you get to choose from different Valentine gifts (check out the teddy bears) and flower arrangements for that special someone. Again, if you type the discount code YEHEY upon every purchase, you get 5% off!

For more gift choices, check out Filgifts.com which offers (aside from flowers) cakes, jewelry, and even mobile phones (for the techie lover, hehehe).

Finally, if you're feeling generous this Valentines, you might want to give your girlfriend or wife aside from the standard bouquet of roses a pair of Melissa shoes. Go to Melissa Philippines' online store and discover the stylish designs from Grendene S.A., Brazil’s fashionable footwear giant. A pair of Melissa shoes will surely make your love one's Valentines day this year!

Spread the good news this Valentines and enjoy a truly happy hearts day with your one and only!

Happy Slip Fans Day (or the Happy Slip Meet and Greet Part 2)

As mentioned in a previous post, Christine "Happy Slip" Gambito was so kind enough to have another event today for her fans who didn't make it to the Meet and Greet yesterday. I was able to drop by for a few minutes and again, I saw firsthand how Christine gladly spent time with her fans and spend a few happy moments with them. I heard that Christine will be returning to the US this coming Monday, February 11 after spending 18 (?) days here in the country. I hope that she, her cousin Josh, and everyone with her will have a safe trip and may she continues to make people smile and laugh and inspire them through her video blog. :) Many thanks Christine! God bless!

A Happy Time with Happy Slip

Everybody had a happy time yesterday when more than 100 fans, bloggers and media people got a chance to meet the famous Fil-Am YouTube sensation Christine "Happy Slip" Gambito in her Meet and Greet event at Mag:net Cafe, Bonifacio High Street. Again, many thanks to the Department of Tourism in partnership with Yehey! for organizing the event.

Meeting Christine was almost like watching one of her videos, she was fun, perky and funny and really, really kind and sweet to everyone. She spent almost 4 hours answering questions from the media and the fans, signing autographs and having pictures and videos taken with her.

No wonder Christine is so famous (she had one Malaysian fan based in Japan who flew to Manila just to see her!), not only is she very talented and very funny, she understands how new media (in this case, video sharing) can enable anyone to connect in a personal manner to basically everyone with access to the Internet. And, even though she's a certified Internet celebrity, she doesn't have that star mentality in dealing with the fans. She was very accommodating and friendly to everyone, and it was definitely good news to everyone who attended yesterday's event.