Jul 18 2015

Ensogo Launches a New Android App

Posted on July 18, 2015 by olsk_mercado

I’m a big fan of shopping online and why wouldn’t I be? The convenience, the ease and he fact that it comes right to my door! One of the leading online shopping sites, Ensogo has launched an android app and now you can do your shopping on your phone.

I’m excited to try the app and here’s more information about it.

Ensogo Philippines officially announces the release of their newly developed mobile app for Android, ensuring that users can now have quick access to the best offers in the market for a more convenient mobile shopping experience.

Ensogo Philippines Managing Director Quentin Bouche said, “Our flash sales events offer exciting discounts for branded products in fashion, beauty and daily essentials. Best products usually sell out within hours. Now our customers will have the convenience of shopping wherever they are without the fear of missing out! In the next few weeks, the new iOS app will be released as well.”

Ensogo understands how important mobile is for today’s consumers’ lifestyle, and this is just one of the many developments the company has in store for this year, following the recent series of funding amounting to AU$55 million (PHP 1.8 billion).

Quentin believes that the recent investments from globally renowned names like Vipshop Holdings (NYSE: VIPS) will allow Ensogo to extend it’s leadership in flash sales in Southeast Asia. The Company aims to scale up its operations through investment in the areas of merchandising, marketing, and logistics.

To further bolster its growth, Ensogo Philippines now offers free nationwide delivery and is set to launch its’ biggest campaigns starting next week. “That’s an extra treat to our mobile app users”, Quentin adds.

Online shoppers can now download the app from Google Play for Android devices, where users can just perform a search for “Ensogo”, select the Ensogo app from the search results and install. Once installed, they can choose from the country locations where Ensogo is present.

For the launch, Ensogo gives its users P300 discounts for purchases P1,200 and above. The promo code is APP300, and is available for all brands and for nationwide delivery.

Apr 3 2015

Microsoft WeSpeakCode Minecraft Event

Posted on April 3, 2015 by olsk_mercado

My 2 boys are into Minecraft. I’ve seen plenty of homeschool activities for this game as well and I believe there is a learning benefit from playing this particular game.

I was excited to bring Jael to the Microsoft #WeSpeakCode Minecraft event because he loves the characters. Although, I knew he would be a bit young for the coding discussion it’s never too early to start introducing children to concepts.

wespeakcode microsoft coding event art of being a mom www.artofbeingamom.com 09

Microsoft is promoting the clear benefits of teaching coding in school as a core subject. Since our children are wholly exposed to the technology today it only seems fitting to provide them an educational way to learn the process of coding.

The #WeSpeakCode campaign derived from survey poll conducted in 8 countries across the Asia Pacific which expressed the desire towards including coding and programming into the current curriculum. According to the survey over 97% of students in the Philippines want to learn more about coding.

Clearly, there’s a beneficial reward to integrating this as a subject as today’s youth can be even more adept with the digital world we live in. This line of work is fast becoming one of the top careers.

With the start of Microsoft’s #WeSpeakCode campaign schools and educators will hopefully put ore attention to this and we’ll see it in our schools soon.

Coding seems to be a bit of a challenge to learn but for the kids of today it’ll be easy as pie. Already Jael knows how to work the computer and functions of a website. Kids seem more attentive and quick to learn because of this.

Although, I am all for kids enjoying their youth by playing outside like the “olden” days we have to use this current state of thinking to our advantage and get our kids learning. That would be the better alternative than them just playing unsupervised video games and the like.

At the #WeSpeakCode event kids were taught how to play a Minecraft based game which included constructing of bases or fortresses.

Children who attended were even given certificates for joining and got top take home a prize.

Jael was so happy with the event especially since he got to take home an action figure, Steve from Minecraft.

We were also taught how to build an app using the free Windows App Studio. You can easily create your own app and in this discussion they showed us how to make an app for our blog. It only takes 4 steps to do this. You can customize your content and choose themes.

I have yet to make an app for my blog but it’s definitely on my to do list.

Learn more about Microsoft WeSpeakCode here.

Jan 16 2015

Zomato Discover Great Places to Eat

Posted on January 16, 2015 by olsk_mercado

If you need a place where you can search, rate and share about food you’ve tried and restaurants you’ve visited then Zomato is the place for you. It’s a place where you can find honest reviews, drool worthy pictures and even food prices for places to eat. Menus are scanned and updated.

There are many websites you can visit to find food reviews but what makes Zomato unique is that when you have an account it’s universal. If you live in the Philippines but recently visited say Hong Kong and tried a restaurant there you can easily review that specific restaurant. I love that you can bookmark restaurants and include restauarnts visited to a Been There list. If you’re a foodie buff this is a great way to keep track of all the places you visited and it becomes your online food journal.

Photo by Joy Gurtiza

Currently, Zomato is already in 19 countries and counting. Everyday restaurants are being added and they make sure they add restaurants that have passed their own qualifiers making sure that users have a better experience.

When I want to check out places to eat I always go to Zomato because I’ll see the prices, actual food photos and opinions. Searching on Zomato is so much easier because you can specify locations and refine your search from Dine Out Restos to Fine Dining.

A definite must see on their site are their collections. They make it easy for you by presenting different collections per week such as Best Cupcakes or Kid Friendly. They also have a collection on food that are trending in their Trending This Week collection.

If you have any friends on Zomato you can follow each other and share reviews. I get a thrill seeing that so many people have read my reviews.