HONG KONG -- When Coroebus of Elis won the first Olympic sprint in 776 BC, the result was scratched on to parchment and read out in market places in the following days and weeks.

This year, the Olympic 100 meters champion will be announced immediately, to billions worldwide, via a click of the mouse or a curious buzzing in their pocket.

Thanks to new technology, the Beijing Olympics will be accessible to more people than ever before, and in increasingly diverse ways.

Since he first started blogging in 2003, Filipino singer and composer Jim Paredes can still recall the thrill of putting his thoughts in cyberspace and getting quick responses from people.

"It’s as if the Internet was my nervous system and cyberspace was my barangay," Paredes said as he described his feeling when he first started blogging.

Paredes, who migrated with his family to Australia in 2006, has been known for his music and compositions, his career on Philippine television, and his being a member of the APO Hiking Society, a singing group composed of Danny Javier, Boboy Garrovillo and himself.