Category: Guides

Hi guys! I have decided to set up a set of pages that gives guides and recommendations to help you with something – whether if it’s about travels, planning for your next convention visit, discounts for lodging, or perhaps you are looking for things I recommend (and soon, endorse?).

I also have my 2020 Calendar of Anime and Cosplay Events to help fans check the next event they would want to visit.

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Online Shopping Experiences: From Groceries to Non-Food Items Delivery

Long time no post! Prior to the release of Podcast #98 this Friday (I’m sure I’m going to post the show notes here late), I’ve done my online shopping as well, getting my groceries and some non-food items in one sitting.

In fact, due to the virus scare (running for 2 years now), I rarely go out. When I go out of the building, I just make sure I don’t go beyond the 3-kilometer radius. That said, I do my grocery shopping online.

On this post, allow me to share my experiences with different shopping platforms, and I hope these can help you decide which platform suits you best. For the record, I’m a ride away from the middle of EDSA.

The SM Store / SM Markets

SM has a LOT of platforms to choose from, and it can be quite confusing for first-timers. Thankfully, you can still count these services by hand. I’ve experienced ShopSM, Call-to-Deliver (via Viber) and SM Markets.

ShopSM.com

Online Shopping - ShopSM

Of all the SM online shopping services I’ve experienced, ShopSM.com is the one I’m frustrated with. It’s like Lazada dressed as your local department store, and I will never recommend you to use this service if you are in a hurry for something, since the item you need will be routed from ShopSM’s main HQ to the branch nearest you within 2 to 3 days. I will instead recommend you to…

Call-to-Deliver

Online Shopping - SM Store

In a desperate move to secure an item for a get-together last year, I joined the Call-to-Deliver group on Viber, connected with them, and they patched me up with a personal shopper who called me after a while. The item – a coffee maker – was secured in half a day, and that includes them testing the item for you via video call.

What about payments? As with The SM Store, Call-to-Deliver has PayMaya and GCash as payment options. As for deliveries, they will get you a GrabExpress rider to send in your item at your cost. I asked for a gift wrap and they happily included it without a cent.

SM Markets

Grocery Shopping - SM Markets

I mentioned earlier that I’ve just processed my grocery shopping for the week, and I tried SM Markets this time. You can shop as usual, and they will deliver to your place (with a fee) as long as you are within their 5km radius.

I have yet to receive my groceries so I’ll have to update this post soon. The problem is, I forgot the eggs.

Metromart

Grocery Shopping - Metromart

Metromart is good if you need a variety. They are tied to a lot of stores, but I chose to shop at a Robinsons Supermarket near me. No problems on my end so far, it’s just that I need to do my grocery shopping in advance.

PureGo

Grocery Shopping - PureGo

PureGo is a partnership between Puregold and GCash. This is convenient, because (1) I can pay with GCash and (2) they’re included in the GCash app’s GLife section. The best part is, I was able to secure my groceries within the same day, which is important for me as I want to cook Japanese curry.

Here’s the detail: I ordered groceries during lunch, and I got a call during the afternoon confirming my order. They delivered it in a big box hours after, just in time for my dinner curry fix.

Foodpanda and Foodpanda Shops

Food Delivery - Foodpanda

Despite valid criticism, Foodpanda is still a great food delivery option for people who are in a rush. Aside from cooked food, they are also tied to some shops so you can also do grocery shopping there.

The thing is, Foodpanda Shops are different from Foodpanda, which should be fine for all of us, except that I do want to have a single transaction sometimes. To be fair, Foodpanda DOES allow multiple transactions.

GrabExpress and GrabFood

Food Delivery - GrabFood

GrabFood is another great option for food delivery, which works best if you have the super app installed on your phone. They do have a website counterpart, which also serves its purpose. The downside with the website is you have only two options for paying: GrabPay and Cash on Delivery.

Cashless payment is my policy whenever applicable, so I have to transfer cash from my GCash to my GrabPay (and thank goodness I can bookmark my payment details through GCash so I am a few taps away).

If you also compare GrabFood with Foodpanda, most restaurants stick to GrabFood because of its better relations with them. GrabFood retains its user base as they have restaurants exclusive to GrabFood. That’s where I got my sushi, and the wait was worth it. I have yet to try GrabMart though, maybe soon.

I remember one time when I secured a box of Immunpro from a nearby Mercury Drug, I asked the assistance of GrabExpress to bring it to my place since I couldn’t get out of the building at that time. All’s fine and good – and I shouldered the delivery fee, as per standards.

Angkas Pabili

During HoyoFest last year, I ordered a meal set to celebrate the debut of KoMETA Virtual Live‘s talents. Moon Rabbit Cafe, the Philippine host for HoyoFest, recommends that I get someone to deliver the food as this is a custom order. I was thinking, “if I did order via GrabFood, I may not be able to get the HoyoFest freebies because it can be treated as an order from someone who is not a fan.”

Angkas Pabili popped out as an option to me. I already have Angkas on the phone, so I filled in the details. Like GrabExpress, Angkas Pabili will pay first your items then you will pay them back. Make sure you have your cash ready (though I’m not sure if the riders will allow GCash too, since Angkas riders have that app as well; you got to ask them).

Shopee and Lazada

I’ve frequented Shopee and Lazada for God knows how long. Their monthly singles sales (11.11 and so on) get everyone to shop. They started this “retail therapy” madness after all.

Both platforms are good, both have their online Malls, and both of them require you to be wiser in your online shopping by looking at product reviews. Putting your items on sale at Lazada and Shopee are of a different story, but I believe Shopee made it easier for merchants to sell on the platform compared to Lazada.

Lazada has partners with brands such as ToyCon PH (ToyConnection) and Big Bad Wolf Book Sale (a big plus for the book sale itself, which learned lessons from their logistics brouhaha), which I consider as a plus for them.

IKEA

Ikea Website

I’ve visited IKEA just before I entered Cosplay Mini Matsuri last year, and I am so ecstatic to see what a maze it was. You’d rather shop at IKEA physically because they don’t deliver food items. At all.

They only have non-food items there. You also need to order in advance, definitely. The upside is that you can pay via GCash. Well, another good thing about IKEA is that it stands on its own.

Thank you for reading all the way through the end of this post. I hope my experiences set proper expectations for you as you go along your life with limited mobility due to the pandemic. I have been reminded through and through to disinfect goods as much as possible, and I would like to relay that reminder as well to you, my readers, along with the minimum health standards we have to follow. Stay safe, everyone!

Banner Photo by Pickawood on Unsplash, Logos from their respective owners

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How to Secure your Discord Account

Over 150 million people use Discord, based on a Quartz report from July (unfortunately, the report’s paywalled). Imagine tapping into that 150 million people, stealing their data and using it for malicious purposes.

Just today, VTuber Kitsui Akira had her Discord account stolen without her noticing. Taking into account that she doesn’t click on anything malicious and all, her account’s still stolen.

In just a matter of mere minutes, you can get logged out of Discord and then have your account stolen. This IS dangerous.

Just how do we secure our Discord accounts?

According to Discord’s Safety page, there are Four Steps to a Super Safe Account:

  1. Secure your account by choosing a secure password and enabling two-factor authentication (I’ll add some extra tips to this at the end of this post).
  2. Set your privacy & safety settings so that Discord an automatically scan and delete every direct message you receive that contain explicit media content.
  3. Follow safe account practices by continuing to not click on suspicious links without knowing it’s safe; by reporting any accounts who claim to be Discord staff to its Trust & Safety Team, and by never giving any account information that can identify you and your account which makes you much prone to socially-engineered theft.
  4. Block other users when needed, especially at the first sight of their phishing DMs.

Nuclear Option: Just don’t let anyone send you anything

Nuclear Option: Just don't let anyone send you anything

As an added bonus for fellow paranoids like me, I am adjusting my privacy settings so that I won’t receive any message from any server ever. I’ve received unsolicited DMs from bots I don’t know, with malicious links on it, which leads me to choose the nuclear option.

I’m also setting my Discord account’s privacy settings to only allow me to add friends. By this, I mean your friends can’t send you friend requests. This will make you more accountable on the Discord friends you add on your list.

Scroll over these privacy settings on your Discord, and if you want to take one step further, just disable all options there.

I suggest keeping these settings for now, especially in these times where rampant coordinated socially-engineered phishing cybercrimes committed by computer crackers are the talk of the town.

Discord can’t do this on their own: It takes two to tango, and as users we are accountable to do our reps ourselves.

Now, if you’re that paranoid and these options don’t work, tell your trusted friends that you will no longer use Discord. I don’t kid you, you’ll probably need another messaging app, as Discord is meant to be IRC on steroids (as described by a Redittor).

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Quick Virtual YouTuber Super Chat Guide using GCash/PayMaya

I’m having a great time watching Virtual YouTubers do their way in entertaining us especially in the time where we’re expected to always stay home.

VTubers have been my refuge – it’s like watching a raw episode of an anime live. I’ve been watching more VTubers than anime episodes nowadays.

As part of its support system, VTubers harness YouTube’s super chats function to keep themselves afloat as they work hard and continue to entertain us.

Here’s a Quick Virtual YouTuber Superchat Guide using GCash or PayMaya so you can simp support your favorite Virtual YouTubers.

Step 1: Get your Mobile Wallet and add cash

SIGN UP for GCASH

SIGN UP for PayMaya

Signing up for a mobile wallet should not take an hour or so, just a few minutes. Have your government-issued ID ready.

After signing up, there are many ways to add cash into your mobile wallet – linking your bank account to the eWallet, online bank transfers, or loading it through supermarkets, convenience stores, or payment centers.

Top up your GCash Wallet

SIGN UP for PayMaya

I strongly recommend using the bank transfer method, as you will only use your registered GCash mobile number and name as your account number and name whichever banking app you use.

GCash and PayMaya are payment options for Google Pay in the Philippines, and you can link your GCash to Google Pay through the Google Play app or the Google Play Store website.

Aside from paying for superchats, you can use GCash or PayMaya to pay for purchases in the Google Play Store. Please do keep this in mind.

Step 3: Watch your favorite VTuber on YouTube Live

Get to the live stream of your favorite VTuber, interact in the chat and find the right time to send super chats. This is usually during the start of the stream, or before the stream is expected to close.

Sometimes, VTubers have their own Q&A sessions, which you can take full advantage of.

Step 4: Find the Superchat Icon

If the channel you’re subscribed to is eligible for super chats, you should see a gray dollar button beside the chat field.

Please take note that super chats are available on select live streams only, and it’s the VTubers or their agencies who will apply for monetization upon reaching set milestones, so please do keep supporting your favorite VTubers.

Here’s YouTube’s guide on Super chats for more information.

Step 5: Pick your Superchat

You can donate as small as Php25 (without text) or Php50 (with text). The more you pay for a single super chat, the longer the message you can send and the longer it will stay in the top of the chat area.

Profit

As per records posted on Playboard, Kiryu Coco has earned a total gross of Php37,852,312.07 (or around USD 771,361.23) in super chats. For every super chat, YouTube takes around 30-40% of it depending on the country and/or its existing laws, based on a Reddit comment one year ago:

Comment
by from discussion
inyoutubegaming

For your convenience, financial stability and online safety

  • Only send the cash you need to spend. I whip up a super chat whenever I feel like it, but I only limit my superchat to just one. Everyone’s support is counted, and having just one Php25 or Php50 superchat under your name is as valuable as others. Do not risk having debts by keeping your spending habits to a minimum.
  • Budget your vtuber simping Set a budget for superchats accordingly. I usually spend Php50, and I make it a point to post it at the right time and the right place.
  • Monitor your transactions carefully. In each successful super chat, YouTube sends emails and your mobile wallet sends text messages. Track your spending accordingly.
  • You can use GCash on Google Pay to even buy Facebook Stars. I just tried this with Sir WheatBread’s first night of streaming.
  • Verify your GCash account to apply for an American Express Virtual Pay card so you can give money to any Streamlabs donation page through PayPal. Important: Additional charges apply.
  • Upgrade your PayMaya account to make use of its Virtual Card feature.
  • Secure your Mobile PIN and don’t share it to anyone. The “P” in PIN does not mean “Public.”
  • Don’t save your login details in your phone. Remember your login details by mind and by heart.
  • Lastly, it’s absolutely your responsibility to take care of your online accounts. With proper care for your smartphone, online and eWallet accounts, you can rest assured that you won’t get your cash and your logins stolen.

While I promote GCash at my accord, it’s best to note that they do have their downtimes, and their Help Center is ready to accept complaints.

Let me know your questions in the comments below using your Facebook account or on Twitter and I’ll answer to the best of my knowledge (or refer you to some specific help center articles).

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Crowdsourced Store Finder for your needs this Quarantine Period

As you probably know by this time, Luzon is under an Enhanced Community Quarantine Period due to COVID-19. That means we have to stay home so that we either not get the virus or spread it around. This also means that we have lots of time to either relax or be productive.

But sometimes, we have to stock up on supplies. That’s where Home Quarantine Passes are given. Now for the next set of questions: Where do we stock up on our food (or medicine) this season? How do we send or receive cash?

I got a tip from a friend that a group of volunteers called Good Vibes Digital has organized a website to crowd-source info on which supermarkets, banks and drugstores are open – the CrowdStoreFinder.

I’ll let the team discuss what this crowdsourced store finder does:

Called ‘Crowd Store Finder’, the website works like Waze or Google Maps that scans through the user’s neighborhood to find stores, banks, pharmacies, and remittance centers that remain operational.

Under government guidelines, only establishments selling basic commodities are allowed to open during the quarantine period. This is to prevent people from staying outdoors that increases their risk of catching COVID-19. 

Aside from knowing the open establishments, users can also chat with their neighbors who are currently using the website to ask questions and seek further assistance.  

‘Crowd Store Finder’ relies on information shared by volunteers from Good Vibes Digital PH, a group organized by Trinmar Boado, winner of the Clash of Codes competition at Multisys Technologies in 2019.

Boado, who works at  the Department of Science and Technology’s Metals Industry Research and Development Center (DOST-MIRDC), said more than 100 volunteers are coordinating safely from their own homes. 

“This technology reminds us that sharing of info does not just save the time of other people but also their lives,” shared the IT expert.To use the website, visit bit.ly/CrowdStoreFinder on any mobile, tablet or computer devices. Follow Crowd Store Finder on Facebook at fb.com/storefinder.ph.

This way, we can help others find their way at the same time spend our time being productive.

I’m going to include my data on this website (and you can too – just log in to bit.ly/CrowdStoreFinder using your Google or Facebook account and you can point out which stores or banks are open, until what time they are open, and more.

Go to CrowdStoreFinder

CrowdStoreFinder on Facebook

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What can we do with Bootleg Fan Art?

What can fan artists do when their art is bootlegged? What can merchants do if they get called out for selling what is actually bootleg stuff?

The fan art area (Artist Alley) at ARCHcon Cebu 2019

A few days ago, I was directed to an experiment on Twitter by Roku where she posts a photo of a design she wants to be printed on a shirt:

In just a few days, Twitter users replied the same interest until someone from an online store tweet a link to the actual product, ready to be bought and shipped. This is a mild one – others tweet odd designs, some with vindicative statements.

Prior to this, incidents of art theft are everywhere, even in our local conventions. You can easily read stories from fan artists and visitors first on Twitter, then on Facebook.

What can fan artists do if their art is bootlegged? On the other side of the coin, what can vendors do if they found out what they are selling is actually bootleg stuff?

Let’s talk about this in a local context, as I met the Young Lawyers Association of Cebu (YLAC) at the Hobby Lobby of ARCHcon 2019 on its second day.

YLAC hosted a discussion on Intellectual Property which I believe is helpful especially at these times. This will be a lot, but please bear with me.

For Fan Art Merchants

This section will contain most parts of the Intellectual Property discussion that was held at ARCHcon.

Ok, so you get called out for actually selling keychains, trinkets and the like which are using bootlegged fan art. At this point, your only choice is to stop selling it, as a courtesy to the complainant (either the artist/s or their fans).

Those trinkets do cost you money to import or even produce yourself – after all, you are doing business, which is normal. Businesses are not evil, to begin with; it only becomes evil when mixed with ill, malicious intent.

In the case of one merchant who attended the discussion, they ordered the imported goods online.

Now, the artist wants to confiscate the items. It might be an act of goodwill to surrender the items to its original creator, but is this legal?

YLAC member Atty. Zeus Mabanag, a copyright lawyer, explained his opinion in detail: If the artist is just creating out of an original work of somebody else’s, then the artist is basically infringing.

The artist does not have the copyright, so he/she does not have the right to mass-produce or reproduce it and sell it. Therefore, the artist cannot stop anyone from doing the same thing as he/she did.

tl;dr: The artists can’t take justice into their own hands and confiscate the items. Official artists or any party thereof should be represented by a lawyer in filing legal cases against infringers.

You can insist on returning the items from the one who produced these for a refund as one merchant will be doing.

For Fan Art Creators

This section will then focus on my personal opinion and observation on this matter, with the help of my understanding of the aforementioned discussion with the lawyers.

Apply a watermark that cannot be erased easily

As a fan artist, you worked yourself off creating cute, beautiful; and that should be appreciated nevertheless. You post it online, and then the bots scrape content and claim it as if it was theirs all along. What can you do about it?

It’s easy to post artworks online, and it’s much easy to steal it if it does not have a proper watermark. Here’s a good example of watermarking:

You also have a choice to watermark your art like this:

We all have a love-hate relationship with watermarks (I do as well), but my opinion over them has changed over and over again as needed. You can read my past pointers on when to watermark your photos.

So far, what I am learning is that illustrations need some sort of watermark that can’t be easily removed by any means before posting it online. Another option is to post a small snippet of it online. The third option is to post it as a small-resolution photo.

Prohibit anyone from taking photos of your individual art

If you see the banner photo above, I prefer to take photos of art booths from a wider perspective. This way, I can tell people how artist alleys went well. At the same time, those who take photos show art that is available for selling without giving an opportunity for thieves to steal it.

As long as the art is not captured as a whole, it should be fine. May I also suggest that you ready your “No Photography” signs too.

Do actual partnerships with local manufacturers

Prior to posting this guide, I showed the case to a local artist who then advised me to conduct business only with local manufacturers to lessen the risk of unauthorized reproduction.

There’s this joke that goes like this: “God made Heaven and Earth, and the rest is made in China.” I can’t even find the proper source to attribute this anonymous quote, as there’s a LOT of these messages online.

I would like to address an example: Some time ago, Ozine partnered with fan artists to put their artwork into the tarpaulins they hang inside the halls.

These signs then get auctioned. (I am confident that proceeds of the auction go back to the fan artists themselves.) Prior to this, Ozine gets flak for auctioning tarpaulins with art taken from other sources without permission.

So yeah, please work with local partners to lessen the risk of getting pirated. At least here, you can sort things out with your local partners, unlike when it’s overseas where suddenly you need to be represented by a lawyer.

For Event Organizers

Any kind of exhibition has its event manager/s, and Atty. Mabanag suggested that a committee can be formed to mediate concerns regarding intellectual property.

If I understood correctly, this committee can be composed of a legal expert and a member of the organizing team. This committee will answer to the needs of complainants regarding stolen art.

Mitigating art theft, especially in the local context, has a long way to go, and I hope the information I learned can be of good use to all of us. For more information about the discussion we had with the YLAC laywers, kindly refer to this 40+ minute-long video:

Special thanks to our Cebu Partner Gary Montejo, ARCHcon 2019 and the Young Lawyers Association of Cebu for the assistance. keepsakes. is a media partner for ARCHcon Cebu 2019.

Also, a disclaimer: This is a guide and should not be considered as a piece of complete legal advice. For more information, please refer to your Intellectual Property lawyer.