Year Ender 2014

Year Ender 2014

We, Team 8layer,  are composed of young and dynamic individuals, who are dedicated in creating game changer softwares for Filipinos using open source platforms and stacks. This year, we opted to have some sort of a tour to unwind our minds as well as to have an 8lien vacation as part of our 2014 year ender activity. Where? ILOCOS!

Some of the places that we visited are the ff:

1. Vigan-Which is now one of New 7 Wonder Cities
Vigan Cathedral
Plaza Burgos
Empanadahan-Vigan Empanada
2. The Pagburnayan of Vigan City
3. Baluarte, Vigan, Ilocos Sur
4. Marcos Museum and Mausoleum
5. Paoay Church
6. Paoay Sand Dunes
7. Ferdinand Edralin Marcos' Birthplace Museum, Sarrat Ilocos Norte
8. Malacañang of the North
9. Kapurpurawan Rock Formation
10. Bangui Wind Farm
11. Blue Lagoon - Pagudpud

The team stayed at Supertramp Lodge at Solsona, Ilocos Norte, where we had some chitchats about 8layer changelleges, expansion and how we want it to grow old.

We would like to thank our driver, Kuya Den as he took care of us during the long trip.

2015 will be an exciting year for us. That's why we want to give thanks to all of you, our supporters, mentors and partners. Rest assured that we will always do our best to serve you better!

Implementing SSMTP to send email via command line

SSMTP is a program which delivers email from a local computer to a configured mailhost (mailhub). It is not a mail server (like feature-rich mail server sendmail) and it does not receive mail, expand aliases or manage a queue. One of its primary uses is for forwarding automated email (like system alerts) off your machine and to an external email address. Check https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/SSMTP for more information.


1. Remove sees and postfix (if it is currently installed on your system)

pacman -Rnd sees postfix

2. Install ssmtp

pacman -S ssmtp

3. Configure ssmtp

vim /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf

#
# /etc/ssmtp.conf -- a config file for sSMTP sendmail.
#
# The person who gets all mail for userids < 1000
root=postmaster
mailhub=smtp.gmail.com:587
rewriteDomain=gmail.com
hostname=localhost
UseTLS=Yes
UseSTARTTLS=Yes
# Username/Password
AuthUser=meric.mara@gmail.com
AuthPass=
FromLineOverride=yes


4. Check permission
chmod 640 /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf
chown root:mail /etc/ssmtp/ssmtp.conf

5. Users who can send mail
gpasswd -a mmara mail

6. Check your Google Less secure apps settings
https://www.google.com/settings/security/lesssecureapps

7. Send test mail

echo test | mail -v -s "HELLO WORLD" tousername@somedomain.com

That's it!

Merry Christmas

Installing Zeal on my Arch/KahelOS Linux

What is Zeal? Zeal is a simple offline API documentation browser inspired by Dash (OS X app), available for Linux and Windows (check this for more information http://zealdocs.org/).
Download page can be seen on this site http://zealdocs.org/download.html 

Installation 
1.cd /usr/local/src
2.wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ze/zeal-git/zeal-git.tar.gz
3.sudo tar zxvf zeal-git.tar.gz
4.cd zeal-git
5.sudo makepkg -s
6.sudo pacman -U *.pkg.tar.xz

 Run Zeal application

 Loading DocSet

Click Edit-->Options-->DocSets

That's it! Enjoy!

Ripple Labs: Building the Internet of Money

Cryptocurrency , Borderless Possibilities

The Experience

I remember in 2013 during the Software Freedom Day at Boracay, we had a good discussion with some of my colleagues about BITCOIN. We tagged this technology as a NEW MASTERPIECE in the digital world that will provide Freedom in Payment. It was technically perfect and this can be a big thing for Filipinos here and abroad. Two weeks ago (first week of December 2014), I had a good discussion about BITCOIN, Stellar and Ripple with one of my close friends and mentors, Mr. B Bulatao at St. Patricks Square and we agreed that this technology brings "THE INTERNET OF VALUE". We know that it will surely create BUZZ and WOW in this new age.

We even had a film showing at our "Open Source Museum" about the Rise and Rise of Bitcoin and invited some friends and members of open source community here in the Philippines so that we can all have a good understanding about it. This also gave us a chance to meet new friends in the IT industry.

It seems that there are lots of beautiful things about this technology that you can call decentralized global ledgers. But for me, at the onset, what gives more excitement in the digital currency world is the fact that it has no central operator, thus creating borderless possibilities we can only imagine. I believe that this will lead to global adoption. These past few months, we've been busy doing hackathons, playing and doing gateway that is based on litecoin, bitcoin and ripple (altcoin). The experience gave us more information on how cryptocurrency works in the real world. We are amazed that the information is very transparent and it only requires very low fees for the users.

Believe in Cryptocurrency 

I remember that I have done some talks in  school about Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency. I shared things to students about Math based currency, Mining, Control and Security,  Proof of Work and of course, the BLOCKCHAIN. *I know that some of the students still can't grasp most of the things that I'm saying. But for some, I believe that we have triggered a good interest. Some basic questions popped-up during the seminars and knowledge sharing. Such as:

-How can we get Bitcoin?
-What is Ripple?
-How can we start Bitcoin/Can we also do the mining?
-What is the best cryptocurrency as of the moment?
-Etc...

There are lots of notion that no one will adopt this as this is used for Drugs, Money Laundering and illegal activities. What more can I say? Read more and be more! Just like cars and fiat currency and others, we cannot be sure that these things will not be used for negative purposes. What we should focus more on is to identify  how this new technology can help the humankind and the next generation and how this can be an instrument in making things as simple as possible.


This is why awareness,  technical meetup and discussion should be more frequent especially in schools. Students, government and other professionals should be educated about this technology. *THERE ARE LOTS OF THINGS that can be developed and created on top of  this platform. Hopefully, the believers  will  increase the soonest time possible.

Circulation and Awareness Issue

One of the greatest problems that all of the cryptocurrency players encounter is the "circulation" How can users understand and adopt it to be part of their daily lives? As of this moment, I'm still in that stage too, thinking and creatively creating an ecosystem so that adoption will be very fast. This will be a very good challenge especially in the Philippines as many of us here don't even have good internet connection.

I would like to share some simple tips on how we can engage ourselves on this technology.:

1. Creating a wallet and understand how it really works can be a good start for this.
2. Going to meetups to hear insights about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency platforms.
3. Building a gateway and integrate it to other gateways. (This one is for the technical guys)
4. Start using the technology. (Buy-n-Sell can be a good choice for this)
5. Start sharing experiences to others. (schools, communities, etc.)
6. Do some partnerships and collaborations.

Slowly, I believe that we Filipinos are moving on to this arena. Hopefully, there should be good cryptocurrency providers that will emerge too. I can't wait to see all of us paying our bills using this technologies in the near future.

At the end of the day, I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Satoshi Nakamoto for opening us to this new world and Thank you cryptocurrency communities for evolving the idea and trying to make these things possible for everyone.

Conclusion

*Engaging in this new radar of softwares/technologies can be a good start and will spark your interest on this arena. Borderless possibilities are just waiting to happen. People should start solving and creating roadmap on how to solve circulation issues and make this platform standard. There should be a good adoption strategy and collaboration among developers and end-users.

https://bitcoin.org/en/
http://bitcoindoc.com/
https://litecoin.org/
https://www.stellar.org/
https://ripple.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptocurrency
https://ripple.com/tag/math-based-currency/

Firefox OS & Cherry Mobile ACE- The First PH Firefox OS Smartphone

I just bought a phone not because of the hardware but because of FirefoxOS  Sorry Cherry Mobile! =)

But I reallly like their Christmas P999 promo, http://www.cherrymobile.com.ph/products/smart-social/ace

Very cheap and my notion here is that more developers will buy this phone as a toy or dev phone.

Here are my views on this phone:

1.I believe that this is worth exploring. Will check these coming days how we can hack this OS. Hopefully, we can develop some small apps in the near future.

Note that this one is built upon open web standards like HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. This is really cool.

2. I personally find the default UI very user friendly and easy to navigate. ie. Adaptive App Search 

3. I guess the experience using this will definitely change the developers' view to web and mobile platform. check WebIDE 

Kudos to my FIrefox/Mozillian friends for doing a good job! We hope that this product will get a good market share.

Oh! If you are looking for a good gift this Christmas, I guess this one is the BEST.

Visit https://www.facebook.com/CherryMobileACE for more update and info about this ACE Phone.

More FirefoxOS & Cherry Mobile

http://www.cherrymobile.com.ph/products/smart-social/ace

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/WebIDE

https://www.facebook.com/groups/cmacefirefoxos/

http://www.cherrymobile.com.ph/

8layer@BFAR

Team 8layer would like to thank DA-BFAR for giving us the opportunity to share our FOSS experience to their IT team here at Oasis Hotel, Angeles City. The sharing is fun and full of open source activities. Until next time!

Philippine Open Source-Poster

Internet of Vaue

blockchain.

/mbm

Installing Yaourt at My Arch Arm Pi

I want to install Chromium on my arch arm pi, but it requires me to install yaourt.

Here are the basic steps that I did to make yaourt possible on my Arch Arm Pi.

1.Install the ff: packages:

$sudo pacman -S gcc wget make

2.Install Package Query First

$wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/pa/package-query/package-query.tar.gz

$tar -xvzf package-query.tar.gz

$cd package-query

$makepkg -s

$sudo pacman -U *.pkg.tar.xz

Then install yaourt packages:

$wget https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ya/yaourt/yaourt.tar.gz

$tar -xvzf yaourt.tar.gz

$cd yaourt

$makepkg -s

$sudo pacman -U *.pkg.tar.xz

That's it and enjoy Yaourt!

Happy Birthday Bitcoin!

It was more than six years ago when it all started and it' still worth reading and remembering. 
http://www.metzdowd.com/pipermail/cryptography/2008-October/014810.html

To those who are interested to know more about it, I STRONGLY Advise that you read  “Bitcoin and the Future of Money” and watch the film “The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin”. This will give you new doors in technology.

There's also a good video at Khan Academy about bitcoin.

Please visit  https://www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/core-finance/money-and-banking/bitcoin/v/bitcoin-overview

Install chromium-pepper-flash

I need to play flash video on Facebook but I'm getting this error.

Upon checkng this link,  https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/chromium#Flash_Player_plugin, chromium-pepper is the solution.

Chromium-pepper-flash is a Google Chrome's Pepper Flash plugin for Chromium (stable version).

Installation:
1.sudo yaourt -S chromium-pepper-flash
2.Restart the System

Now, the player is working. =)

The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin

I already have a copy of the rise and rise of bitcoin. http://bitcoindoc.com/

I already talked to my colleages to set a film showing here in our office next week. Open Source Communities who are interested in bitcoin is welcome to join us.

Will post the invitation early next week. https://www.facebook.com/my8layer. Please stand by. =)

Happy Bitcoin everyone!

ShellShock

If you read this link CVE-2014-6271 , This will give you a glimpse on the shellshock bug.

You can simply test if your system is vulnerable by running

x="() { :; }; echo x" bash -c :

If your terminal output is “x“, then your system is vulnerable. 

Solution: it is highly recommended that you upgrade your bash.

That's it!

8layer Open Source Museum is Now Open!

We at 8layer Technologies love Open source. That's why we have this initiative to open the first ever Open Source Museum in the Philippines.

The project is still ongoing and we believe that there are lots of things to do.
We are inviting other open source individuals and communities to donate and share with us their innovation so that students and visitors can see it.  Like we always say, "Iba ang Pinoy" and we have still rooms and corners for all our ingenious works.
What better way to celebrate the month of Museums and Galleries this October than by joining us? See you at the Open Source Museum!

Software Freedom Day 2014

Every year, we make it a point to celebrate Software Freedom Day and make sure that we go to a different island in the Philippines.

We do this advocacy with passion. Rain or Shine! Nothing can stop us!
-mbm

Be Notty, Be Heard.

Installation- motion application on RPi

I always use motion program to demo to the students the power of rpi and video monitoring. Here is how I installed and configured the application.

1. motion installation

#pacman -Sy
#pacman -S motion



 2. Edit configuration

$sudo vi /etc/motion/motion.conf

daemon on

# The mini-http server listens to this port for requests (default: 0 = disabled) webcam_port 8081 As we want to use a high quality surveillance video, we've set the resolution to 1280x720:

width 1280
height 720

#Enable access to the live stream from anywhere
webcam_localhost off

 3. Access the camera http://YOUR_IP_ADDRESS:8081 

 That's it!

Bitcoin:Overview

Bitcoin: Overview: An introduction to the mechanics of bitcoins and an overview of how transactions take place.

We are 8layer

To know more about our company and how we can serve you, please call us at 4001905 or email us at info@8layertech.com.
It it our honor and pleasure to serve you.

Kasosyo Apps Suite Mobile

Download your New Kasosyo Apps Suite Mobile at https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kasosyo.main

What's New
1. Latest version with Data encryption.
2. Live And Demo account user login.
3. Adjusted Graph data with zero sales display.
4. Supported device for sw360dp
5. Username and Password checkbox save.

Try Kasosyo Apps Suite now!

If you're interested, please call 4001905 and look for Ms. Rosa Tsang or Mr. Lawrz Libo-on. You may also email us at info@8layertech.com.

MERIC MARA: Making Open Source Technology Pinoy-Friendly

MERIC MARA: Making Open Source Technology Pinoy-Friendly 

Picture by: Marlo Favila

KaSosyo Point-Of-Sale (POS)

8layer Technologies, Inc. proudly presents Kasosyo POS. 

Kasosyo POS is a responsive web-based Point-Of-Sale (POS) solution designed for the retail industry.  It comes with the ff. hardware components:
* EPSON Web POS T88vi/T70i which is both the printer and the Kasosyo app suite w/POS.
* Monitor
* Cash Register
* Bar Code Scanner

Resellership is NOW OPEN! 

If you're interested, please call 4001905 and look for Ms. Rosa Tsang or Mr. Lawrz Libo-on. You may also email us at info@8layertech.com.

Geekineers on VIGATTIN Radio.

Geekineers headed by our CEO Mr. Meric Mara with Opensource Evangelist Ms. Mitch Tabirao and Mr. Albert Yumol of UNPLUG promoted and shared Opensource at Vigattin. The radio guesting highlighted the trilogy of events namely Lunux Day, Software Freedom Day & the First Philippine Opensource Challenge.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/49570612

Thank you to the staff of Vigatiin Radio for this opportunity.

For more information about the events, please call 4001905 and look for Ms. Mitch Tabirao, Kates Yu or Mr. Lawrz Libo-on. You may also email us at info@8layertech.com.

Entrust- Loan Management System

If you need a Loan Management System, look no further. Entrust can be your partner and will be there for all your loan management requirements. For more information, call 4001905 and look for Ms. Rosa Tsang or email us at info@8layertech.com.

Notty: Your #1 SMS companion

An SMS notifier that allows you to send/receive messages to your list of contacts through a smart and easy-to-navigate web-based interface system.

My position on mbtc.ph

To friends asking me about mbtc.ph, I'm no longer connected to the project. You can contact their website for more inquiry about bitcoin and their projects. We wish their success and we hope that there are more bitcoin players to come, especially here in the Philippines. Thank you!

Kannel [gwlib/log.o] Error 1

When compiling kannel to my Raspberry pi, I got this error during my "make" command.

Error:
Makefile:229: recipe for target 'gwlib/log.o' failed
make: *** [gwlib/log.o] Error 1

Solution: 

1.Edit log.c file /usr/local/src/gateway-1.4.3/gwlib

gwlib/log.c:434
     if (arg == NULL)   //orig
     if (&args == NULL) {  //corrected

2.Then recompile kannel from source

That's it!

What The Hack 2014

Team 8liens supports "What The Hack 2014" event happening now at SMX Convention Center in SM Aura. Our very own Lawrz Libo-on will be talking about Rpi & Teamchat software. 

If you find the talk very useful for your organization, LET'S TALK and call us at 4001905 or email us at info-at-8layertech-dot-com

Happy 9th Birthday 8layer!

PLM Com Eng Students visit 8Layer HQ

March 12, 2014 - Geekineers of 8Layer welcome 5th year Com Eng students from Pamantasan ng Lungsod of Maynila (PLM) on their field trip to experience IT companies in action and to learn about latest trends in technology.

Geekineer Meric Mara, 8Layer's CEO started with a brief talk about 8Layer as a company, its culture and the people behind its success.

He was followed by Geekineer Nick delos Santos, who went from being a trainee to a trainer, on android history and development. 

Lastly, Lawrz Liboon and Noel Umandap of AltoCirrus+ gave a background about Altocirrus+ and its cloud solutions; a demo of raspberry Pi; an introduction to virtual currency or more popularly known as Bitcoin.

As Open Source advocates, both 8Layer and AltoCirrus+ are happy to have shared their knowledge to these PLM students and hope that they had a great experience.

Geekineering

Focusing with great attention to detail, on the creation, organization and management of a working software that is robust, efficient and very useful for everyone

8Layer conducts 2 week Android Bootcamp

As the year of the horse sets in, 8Layer Technologies is already moving in great strides by offering Android Bootcamps to aspiring developers. Accordingly, it had successfully conducted the first one last January 20-30. Attended by 6 participants from Comnet Management Inc., the bootcamp was a jump-start for novice developers to know the basics of android programming.

The 10-day training started with a brief background about Android given by Mr. Nick delos Santos. It was followed by a more technical discussion and hand-on activities conducted by Mr. Melchor Abcede, 8Layer's Android/mobile programmer. Trainees listened eagerly and asked questions as Mr. Abcede went on to more technical topics such as the Android libraries, Eclipse, SQLite, JSON, and the like. They were also able to create simple applications like Student Management Application and a calculator.

To conclude, not only did the trainees gained knowledge and learn Android programming, but they've also had fun while learning. Big appreciation to Kimlawrence P. Cruz, Don M. Montecillo, Orbith G. Baco, Jessa M. Cahilig, Lanz Rowin J. Laqui, Joseph I. Argosino for being good students to Mr. Abcede. 

2014 Adventure: Team 8liens conquers Mt. Batolusong

After the Education Freedom Day Team, 8liens went directly to Tanay Rizal to conquer Mt. Batolusong. Although there were strong winds, NO ONE CAN STOP the 8liens' way of doing their bonding, eating, laughing, their Hu Yu Y u
and knowledge sharing. In summary, it was indeed a fun and meaningful climb!




On the next day, the Team proceeded to Kay-ibon Falls for their Sidetrip before going back to Manila.



As Team 8liens always say, "Tsudooo!" Always follow them here at FB & Twitter and catch them on their next adventure.

8layer joins WCST on their Education Freedom Day

8layer CEO Mr. Meric Mara talked about the importance of Gamification and Free Educational Resource that should be shared freely to everyone so that they all can learn from it, improve it then use it for their needs.

  

The seminar became a memorable event when Mr. Mara gave the audience games where every student participated. This added a fun flavor to the seminar.

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