From strato887: <blockquote> Hi..gud pm! on-going na yung class namin for computer literacy project for out-of-school-youth, OOo ang gamit namin na office application in fact culmination na namin this september 10. then we organized the youth to form a local group that help promote and propagate open source systems...SATUX (San Antonio TUX) name ng group nila </blockquote>

Check out the announcement on a mailing list.

Most ads boil down to "Buy this so that you can be cool like us." Cigarette commercials overflow with handsome men and beautiful women. Alcohol ads boast sexy models on pristine beaches. Truth in advertising? Hah.

So when a company takes a personal interest in _you_ and ditches the "Here's why you should buy our product" spiel for a more intimate "We're interested in what you're interested in" thing, that's cool. Companies like Stormhoek are starting to recognize the word-of-mouth power of blogs and making it a part of their marketing strategy.

Stormhoek gave away free bottles of wine to people who would then blog about it. Great way to get astrophysicists to talk about your product.

You can't buy that kind of publicity for $10. Oh, wait, you can.

Geek Dinners is a well-attended geek get-together blog based in the UK. I want to set up something like that in the Philippines.

Yay! =)