I've been up to a lot lately, but two things in particular excite me profoundly; this blog, and the new tech segment I'm doing for News on Q on QTV Channel 11.

As a long-time producer of independent content for the Internet (blog/podcasts) it is a dream come true to have mainstream media as a platform. I get to do the same things but have a much wider reach.

Having said that, I look forward to years of creative tech writing on this blog.

But before I dive in, I thought a little introduction would be appropriate. So allow me to crank back my history button all the way back to my first baby steps online.

Humble Beginnings

I launched my first website all the way back in July of 1998. Hosted on the Geocities' Cyber Park, it was like any other "home page" of the day with some writing, photos, a calendar, and other personals. The site moved around a bit in the years that followed until I settled into my own domain in 2001.

I started off as a web designer. Learning HTML and CSS on my own from books, dissecting other people's source code, online forums, and through hours and hours of practice. Was into graphic design too. Jakob Nielsen got me into web usability, and I gravitated towards designs that were clean, crisp, uncluttered, and user-friendly.

Blogging/Web Writing

In 2001, I read the book, Taking Your Talent to the Web and was inspired to do just that. MichaelJosh.com became a repository of my ideas, poetry, and articles. I also began journaling. At that time the blog concept was relatively new.

I didn't know it then, but according to this listing I was one of the first few documented bloggers in the country. There were very few local online communities back then, and the net circles that I maintained were all foreign.

Podcasting/Videocasting

In late 2004, shortly after switching over to a Mac (thanks to the Halo Effect) I began to fill my iPod with this new thing called podcasts - audio programs distributed via RSS feeds. I especially loved Sound Seeing Tours done by Pod Father Adam Curry and wanted to do some of my own.

With my background in broadcast, I decided to follow suit coming up with the Michael Josh Show on March 21, 2005, which along with my sister and a friend was recorded around my PowerBook using the laptop's internal microphone. It was the second home grown podcast coming out of the Philippines during that time, according to the History of Pinoy Podcasts. I was so crazy about this new trend and saw a lot of potential in it that I soon began giving a few lectures here and there to try to promote podcasting locally – but I felt it was not yet time. Our audience was basically composed of Pinoys living abroad and I was astounded by how many were interested in tuning into a couple of guys talking about random things. And yes I did get to do a couple of sound seeing tours, my favorite is a 30-minute walkthrough of the Muse de Louvre during a trip to Paris.

The next logical step for me was to do a video podcast. This however was unchartered territory and very few had gone before, but we bit the bullet. What started off as a joke inside the car grew into a great concept. Two of my siblings and I produced the first video podcast in Asia - "HIT Weekly" which stands for Hot Interesting Topics. Because there were only 15 of us in the whole world at that time it was easy to promote the show and get the numbers we desired. During our first month we had about a thousand people subscribe to our feed and were struggling to keep up with the bandwidth requirements. Not long after this we were featured on CommandN - a video podcast out of Canada. The mention pushed us over our bandwidth allotment and pulled our site down for almost a week. Many people wanted to help pay for costs but there were no facilities to accept cash donations at that time. PayPal Philippines was a non-entity back then. When we got back online, we had been selected as a featured video podcast on the iTunes Music Store. Local press started noticing too a couple of magazine mentions followed. But alas it wasn't easy to produce a show with limited time on a limited budget especially if you also had to write, shoot, host, and edit all at the same time. Because of this we decided to put the show on an indefinite hiatus until further notice.

Slowing Down

I don't know about you but I often find that there's too much going on in the world around me and not being able to catch up frustrates me immensely. Admittedly, I’ve slowed down a bit, I've got a full time job and a ministry to think off first, but I still remain a true blue techie. I still spend most of my time online, blow away most of my money on gadgets, and have integrated technology even into seemingly "non-tech" activities like reading and running.

The other week I sat in at the local iBlog Summit and was thrilled to see how the local community has flourished. You can no longer count Filipino bloggers and podcasters. They are just too many (in a good way). Everyone also seems to be on Twitter these days too (which is way cool). Funny how I blazed the trail of a few paths but was never around when the highways were in place. I regret never getting around to cultivate any relationships locally, except for my connections with the Philippine Macintosh User Group. Recently my friend Ederic Eder has been my guide to the local tech scene introducing me to key players - and setting me up as the tech guy of News On Q.

New Beginnings

But it's never too late to start. Which is in a way why I'm glad to be doing this blog. I can't wait to make new acquaintances from among all of you as well as to get to know the sights and sounds of this thriving tech community.

There are several reasons why I want these two projects to do well. First is because I live and breathe tech so much so that I want to be able to plant the seeds of interest in as much of you as possible.

Secondly, I want to be able to bridge the divide between techies and technophobes with posts that are both informative and easy to to understand. Without alienating the guys who know pretty much "everything" already.

And finally I want to interact with you, I want to create discussions on issues and talk about the latest trends. I want to learn from you knowing that you have a lot to bring to the table, so much more than we probably give ourselves credit for.

So dive in with me. Together let's take the plunge.