The newspapers and world leaders reacted, Twitter exploded with messages expressing deep sadness from millions of Apple fans, the whole tech community mourned. We realized that we lost a rare gem today.

While it’s unfortunate that I haven’t personally experienced any Apple product due to my economic circumstances when I was still in the Philippines, I’ve witnessed for years from my direct friends and tech correspondents how they strongly admired Apple products and how they became Apple loyalists. I’ve also witnessed friends who became total Apple converts after they experienced their products.

We at Tech Conclave have always been there to report whenever Apple releases new products.
These consistent observations led me to a conclusion some time ago: that many if not all of the Apple products redefined the way people live their lives, that they are really great, and really awesome – and the man behind them is Steve Jobs.

Steve Jobs has changed our lives through the devices he conceived and gave us inspiration to do something new, to produce something great, while keeping things simple. While sometimes there are divisions in the tech community, we at Tech Conclave believe that we all admire Steve Jobs’ ingenuity. We recognize that he is one of the greatest inventors of our time and a creative genius that will make this generation to continue to think differently.

We believe that his ideas will continue to dwell in our hearts and minds. His leadership in the tech industry and innovation underlines why we all feel great and proud to be geeks and technology enthusiasts. We share his mindset to do great things for the world through technology. The tech world will be never be the same again without him.
On behalf of the Tech Conclave community, this is John Raul, your tech correspondent in Chinatown, Singapore.

It’s good to be a geek.

This video is the second part of Tech Conclave’s special episodes entitled First Encounter.

On November 1, 2010, Tech Conclave Tech Correspondent Michael Bowie of Brisbane, Australia, made history when he met John Raul Joven II, the founder of Tech Conclave, in the city of Davao, Philippines.

Their encounter is Tech Conclave’s first encounter between two or more tech correspondents from different nations.

Here is the outline of events that took place during Michael’s second week stay in Davao.

On November 1, 2010, Tech Conclave Tech Correspondent Michael Bowie of Brisbane, Australia, made history when he met John Raul Joven II, the founder of Tech Conclave, in the city of Davao, Philippines.

Their encounter is Tech Conclave’s first encounter between two or more tech correspondents from different nations.

This episode/part shows the events that took place in Michael’s first seven days stay with John Raul in Davao City.

Here is the outline of events that took place during Michael’s first week stay in Davao.

DAY ONE – TRANSIT

- Airport
- caught a taxi to Aldevinco, money exchange
- SM City Davao, lunch at Jollibee
- cab to the bus terminal and spent an hour to reach my village in Lasang
- Michael notices the difference of lifestyle and culture and blogs them
- Chinese food in our Dinner that day in a mall in the city next to my village
- Michael then spent his night in my place and that’s how the first day ended

DAY TWO – ARRIVAL

- Michael and I traveled from Lasang back to Lanang, in the city proper of Davao
- Went to a mall and bought toiletries, snacks, and airbeds
- setup our apartment, turned it from a boring room into a geek’s den.
- Put a small Aussie flag on the wall
- we stayed in a nice apartment close to where the action is
- Michael had his haircut
- He continued to enjoy the different things happening around him

DAY THREE – WESTERN CULTURE COMFORTS

- We paid our apartment rent
- Michael and I went to massage parlor called Body Bliss
- brunch at Jollibee where we had Regular Yum burgers, spaghetti, and fresh pineapple juice
- Looked for a sunscreen, but was a bit of a challenge because many of the sunblocks and lotions in the Philippines have whitening agents
- Michael is white enough
- Then we ride a jeep to SM and there Michael had a shopping spree in a clothing store named Mental
- Cheap for Michael, bought plenty of clothes
- Had our dinner in a Spanish restaurant where I had my first taste of Greek Salad and Pumpkin Soup
- Later that night I had a balut to show to Michael what it’s like.

DAY FOUR – COSTA MARINA

- Costa Marina Beach Resort, in the Island Garden City of Samal
- Samal is a collection of smaller islands beyond the coasts of Davao City, and is a popular tourist destination
- Along with us were our landlady named Jane and some her relatives
- In the afternoon, we went back to our apartment and headed to a mall
- We decided to look for a laundymat but it led us to Gaisano Mall where we ended up having up dinner at Pizza Hut
- We had some yummy pizza and ceasar salad
- After dinner we decided to go to People’s Park where Michael encountered a bunch of kids who wanted to take photos with him
- We walked through the innner streets of Davao and reached a place called Some Place Else Shisha Bar and Restaurant where we had drinks and shisha
- That night I had my first ever taste of Corona beer in a Mexican bar called Dos Amigos. Very fitting for me and Michael.

DAY FIVE – SHOPPING

- felt appropriate to relax and recharge a bit after all the actions
- Michael continued to observe the things around him and blogging them
- He observed the stray animals in the village
- The construction people who listened to an FM radio and randomly bursted into singing while they were working
- Went to Aldevinco shopping center, which is pretty much the souvenir items center in Davao
- Bought clothes there for himself and did some Christmas shopping for his family back in Australia
- After that Michael had another shopping spree at SM City Davao mall
- Michael bought some business clothings and he also bought me one for Tech Conclave
- we returned to the Mental shop and got lucky enough to get an interview of the store manager
- We had our dinner at Mang Inasal with unlimited rice and pork barbecue combined with soy sauce and chili
- He was literally laughing at every bite of the barbeque

DAY SIX – EXOTIC FOODS

- Michael had his first taste of Durian fruit, which is regarded in Davao as the King of all Fruits
- Why? Aside from the fruits sharp spikes, the durian fruit is locally known for its very powerful smell but tasty fruit
- We went to a public park called Magsaysay and we enjoyed watching kids jumping and swimming in the sea
- When the night came, Michael made a new record by having his first taste of the dreaded balut egg

DAY SEVEN – JOLLIBEE AND TRISIKAD

- Michael and I decided to try the flagship burger called Champ of the local fastfood chain Jollibee, which is a competitor to McDonalds
- He loved the burger and became lucky enough to meet a Jollibee mascot which he enjoyed so much
- Later in the afternoon, we decided to travel away from the city to minimize our expenses
- We went back to my village Lasang and there, Michael made a new record by becoming a trisikad driver lol
- Trisikad is one of the Philippines’ fancy mode of transportation for masses
- It’s bicycle turned cab.
- Had dinner with my family, bought a roasted chicken and durian-flavored ice cream

Today we release our first advertisement to promote Tech Conclave and evaluate what people think about our show so far. Our Geeks of the Week in the past episodes have something to say about that.

Watch our video and embed it to all your social networks and help spread the word about Tech Conclave.

It’s good to be a geek.

• LENOVO IDEAPAD S12: FIRST NVIDIA ION NOTEBOOK
  Reported by Gerardo Velasco
• KIDO’Z, THE CHILD-FRIENDLY WEB BROWSER
  Report by John Raul Joven II
• HIGH FIVE AT EPISODE 5: CONTEST WINNERS
  Reported by John Raul Joven II

Here are the five lucky winners of Episode 5′s contest with Top Hosting Center’s Speedy hosting plan with domain names valid for 12 months as prizes.

And the names of the winners are:

• Jonatan Escobar of Florida, USA
• Steven de Filippis of Toronto, Canada
• Jessa Escoton of Davao, Philippines
• Kirsty O’ Sullivan of Brisbane, Australia
• Arianne Aquino of Panabo, Philippines

Congratulations!

• FACEBOOK PHISHING SCAMS CONTINUE DESPITE SECURITY BOOST
  Reported by Dylan Combs
• BIOSHOCK 2 TO BE RELEASED IN NOVEMBER 2009
  Reported by John Raul Joven II
• GEEK OF THE WEEK: STEVEN DE FILIPPIS
  Reported by Demitri Aleksejev

Good news to everyone, my podcast co-host Brad of Tech Webcast announced that he’s going to sponsor Tech Conclave a new microphone. On May 23rd, he posted the good condenser microphone and it’s presently on its way from Melbourne to Davao. I’d like to personally thank Brad for this and hopefully our show will have better audio quality when it arrives.

If you questions, suggestions or comments, email me at techconclave (at) gmail (dot) com or visit our website and chat with me live through our live chat page.

Thank for watching this episode and thanks for those who participate the recent contest sponsored by Top Hosting Center. Catch you all next episode.

And always remember, it’s good to be geek.

• FACEBOOK STREAMS THREATEN TWITTER
  Reported by Gerardo Velasco
• MICROSOFT INTEGRATES WINDOWS XP ON WINDOWS 7
  Reported by John Raul Joven II
• NETBOOKS DON’T DESERVE APPLE LOGO
  Reported by Richard Crake
• FIND BARGAIN NETBOOKS AT EBAY
  Reported by Tom Maxwell
• GEEK OF THE WEEK: NEIL PERRIN OF GEEKWITHGLASSES.NET
  Reported by Beau Sinclair

If you have questions, suggestions or comments, email us at techconclave (at) gmail (dot) com or you can also direct them, along with your tech questions, to our new community forum which can be accessed at www.techconclave.com/forum

On episode 5 we will launch a contest with web hosting packages bundled with domain names as prizes. For more information, register and participate in our community forum. The contest rules and regulations will be first announced there.

Also, visit my website at www.johnraul.com, it is powered by Top Hosting Center and the Tech Conclave website is powered by Host Color.

Thank you for watching this episode. I’ll catch you again next time. Please subscribe and always remember, it’s good to be a geek.