A New Star Is Born: Shanne Gulle, Kumu’s Sing For The Stars First Grand Champion

A gentle-spoken young woman with a powerhouse singing voice launches into her music career in the aftermath of Kumu’s first virtual singing contest.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better word to describe Shanne’s hard-won victory than the word “Deserved”. Hailing all the way from General Santos City, in the southern part of the Philippine archipelago, Shanne sang her way to the finish. Winning was no easy feat, but she had what it takes: talent, dedication, and the courage to take a leap of faith. And let’s not forget the final piece of the puzzle: the technology to reach the farthest corners of the globe, which is where Kumu comes in handy.

The Trajectory To Victory 

If you want to reach the stars, you have to break the stratosphere, which is a need answered by having the best technology can offer. Kumu’s Sing For The Stars was the vehicle aspiring singers and musicians rode to see how high they can reach. Hundreds of aspirants joined the country’s first ever virtual singing contest and called upon their supporters to fuel the journey via the giving of virtual gifts. And much like an actual rocket launch with parts disengaging along the way, there were eliminations that narrowed down the contestant number from 100 down to 30, to 15, and finally, the top 3.

Paolo Sandejas’ Delightfully Sweet Single “HIDE & SEEK” Is About Finally Finding Your Special Soulmate

Following the successful release of “Different Shade of Blue” last January (WATCH OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO HERE), which has racked up over 491,000 streams on Spotify, rising singer-songwriter Paolo Sandejas is dropping yet another feel-good indie-pop single, “HIDE & SEEK” under Universal Records.

The summer’s intensity is now in full effect this April and so is Paolo’s streak of wonderful singles as he continues to heat up the OPM scene with new music.

“Hide & Seek” is a splendid track that shows off the young singer-songwriter’s intricate talent in crafting such a feel-good melody mixed with simple yet glamorous poetic lyrics.

Paolo says of the song: “’HIDE & SEEK’ is a song about fate. It’s about finding that person who makes all the heartbreaks and heartaches you’ve endured worth it. The ‘AHA’ moment of meeting someone who makes you go “where have you been all my life.”

Home Credit Philippines bags Gold Stevie® at the 2022 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards

The leading consumer finance company wins Innovative Use of Technology in Human Resources Category

The country's leading consumer finance company Home Credit Philippines was named Gold Stevie® awardee in the ninth annual Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards for the Innovative Use of Technology in Human Resources category. The award recognizes technology-driven human resource initiatives of Home Credit Philippines as "a way to connect, engage and transform people as they use technology to adapt to the future of human resource in the Philippines."

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, Home Credit Philippines has been focusing on creating initiatives driven by technology to connect and engage with its employees all over the country and help streamline the company's overall processes. 

Globe bags Opensignal’s Excellent and Core Consistent Quality awards

Independent global standard Opensignal has recognized Globe for delivering the most consistent mobile quality in the Philippines.  Globe bested its global peers in the Excellent and Core Consistent Quality categories of Opensignal’s Mobile Experience Awards*.

The digital solutions platform bagged the Excellent Consistent Quality award with 51.6 percent or 7.8 percentage points higher than the nearest competitor, according to Opensignal’s April 2022 Mobile Network Experience Report for the Philippines.  The report is based on data collected from Jan. 1 to March 31 this year.

“Globe is the outright winner of the Excellent Consistent Quality award, as the highest proportion of users’ tests met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls, and play games on its network,” Opensignal said.

Likewise, Globe topped in Core Consistent Quality with 74.6 percent, beating the nearest competitor by 12.8 percentage points. Core Consistent Quality uses thresholds for less demanding applications.

“Our measures of consistent quality quantify how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements,” Opensignal said.

Globe users also had the best experience when streaming video over 5G networks.  The company emerged as the winner of the 5G Video Experience Award with 71.2 points. 

Opensignal’s 5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video streamed when connected to 5G. It includes picture quality, video loading time, and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by the users.

As of February, Globe has over 1.62 million devices registered on its 5G network. In terms of 5G outdoor coverage, it now covers 96 percent of Metro Manila and 84 percent of key cities in Visayas and Mindanao.

“We are glad to be recognized by Opensignal for the consistency of our network performance.  Globe has been focusing on improving its overall quality of service, not only Internet speed.  Today we serve our customers a diverse range of digital services and content delivered through our network.  These are all designed to meet the evolving digital lifestyle of our customers and enrich their lives,” said Ernest Cu, Globe President and CEO.

The company continues to enhance its network by earmarking a large portion of the P89 billion for its capital expenditures this year.  It intends to build new cell sites, upgrade existing sites to 4G/LTE, accelerate the rollout of 5G connectivity, and ramp up the fiberization of Filipino homes nationwide.

To learn more about Globe, visit www.globe.com.ph.

*Opensignal Awards – Philippines: Mobile Network Experience Report April 2022, based on independent analysis of mobile measurements recorded during the period January 1 – March 31, 2022 © 2022 Opensignal Limited.

Warner Reveals First-Looks of "Don't Worry Darling" and "Barbie," Confirms "The Batman" Sequel

Vengeance is returning to Gotham.  Warner Bros. Pictures made that revelation plus a couple of first-look debuts during the studio’s presentation April 26 at CinemaCon, the annual convention of movie theater owners held this year in Las Vegas.

“The Batman” Sequel

Warner announced that director Matt Reeves has begun scripting a sequel to “The Batman,” which he and Dylan Clark would also return to produce.  The news comes on the heels of the current film passing the $750 million mark at the global box office.  The announcement was made  by Toby Emmerich, Chairman, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, and Reeves himself, who joined Emmerich onstage during his opening remarks.

Monster Gaming supports grassroots E-Sports, mounts all-star MLBB tourney with Good Game PH, Monster Energy, and PlayForce TV

Monster Gaming gives it full support to budding local content creators and aspiring Pro Gamers via an all-star Mobile Legends: Bang Bang tournament organized by online amusement-style platform, Good Game PH.

The GoodGame.PH all-star tournament promises a fun and exciting event that will showcase 20 teams of promising local content creators throughout the Philippines that will battle for the championship title plus prizes from sponsors Good Game PH (150,000 GoodGameGold), Monster Gaming (G-Knight X300S Headsets), and Monster Energy (E-Sports Jerseys).

Watch the Miss Universe Philippines 2022 coronation night LIVE on YouTube

It’s that time of the year again where the most beautiful Filipinas battle it out with their style, confidence, and wit to win the coveted Miss Universe Philippines title.

The Miss Universe Philippines 2022 coronation night will be held at the SM Mall of Asia Arena and Filipinos all over the world will be able to watch the event LIVE and for FREE on April 30 at 7:00PM (Manila time) on the YouTube channel of ABS-CBN Entertainment. ABS-CBN is the official digital streaming partner of the Miss Universe Philippines.

Miss Universe Philippines 2021 and top 5 Miss Universe finisher Beatrice Luigi Gomez will be crowning her successor at the event.

Meanwhile, Miss Universe 2015 Pia Wurtzbach, Miss Universe 2016 Iris Mittenaere, and Miss Universe 2017 Demi-Leigh Tebow will serve as the coronation night’s hosts.