Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Firefox 1.5 is OUT!


The latest & "safer" version of Firefox has been officially released. It boasts of faster browsing, live bookmarks, improved pop-up blocking, integrated search & improved security as some of the improvements done to it added to the ever-famous tabbed-browsing.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

The Philippine Podcasts

Just recently, the Philippines launched a group of podcasts made locally, most of it, podcast versions of magazines and tv shows. I downloaded a couple of them, the m-pH podcast and the T3 Philippines Podcast.

It's a start, but if the m-pH peeps continue with that kind of format, well, it's LAME. It goes the same with the T3 magazine podcast. I mean, you flaunt that these are Philippine podcasts for Filipinos and yet you discuss things that Filipinos CANNOT get. Yes we the 5th Gen iPod is already available locally, but to discuss about iTunes and the contents of iTunes is, well, not Filipino. Ok, maybe they could mention it but not totally make it your topic for the whole podcast. Heck, we can't even purchase from iTunes Music Store. Then they talked about the SONY rootkit fiasco, hehehe how many filipinos do you think has purchased these CDs and how many CDs do you think are for sale in the country? Oh and how many Filipinos do they think has a PC? I would agree that the PC penetration base is starting to grow, but it's not enough.

And the discussion is NOT DYNAMIC. Guys, use your ingeniuity! There are lots of topic to discuss which I think is worth talking about like the increasing shift from dial-up to broadband connection. The increasing trend in wireless networking at home and it's wide deployment in the urban centers. These things are local news and that's what you're supposed to be, local podcasts with local content.

A Fragmented User's Group

I know I could be labeled as biased in writing this assessment since I am an active member of another users group, but then again, I don't see any conflict of interest between my group and their as we cater to a different genre which can actually compliment one another.

Anyhow, my friends keep telling me how fragmented this group is for quite some time now, but I never believed them until about a month ago when I stumbled upon a thread in their group and I was shocked. I never realized that they have two "official" websites claiming they are the legitimate one and now a third one came out just a couple of weeks ago, but this 3rd one is more of a Blog than anything else, focused in exposing the bad sides of one of the "legit" sites.

I know some people in these groups, since some of them are members of my group too. They are infact some of the influential members in my group. I too have some "encounters" with these people but we are civil with each other. I am saddened by the fact that these people has lost control of their groups and that it has come to a point where name calling has become a norm.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

The Advent of Office Suite Alternatives

Is the end near for Microsoft's Office suite? I think so! Microsoft's own .Net initiative failed years ago because they were too early in the game. Well, some would rake in when they're early but with Bill Gates' situation, it's the other way around. What's .Net? Well, Microsoft planned it as the alternative to installing softwares in every PC but instead having to access these applications in a central server. But when they launched it, PC penetration in the market was too small, so as internet penetration. Now, Microsoft has re-launched .Net initiative into Live.com and OfficeLive.com (not yet operational). Well, Live.com is at the moment just like MyGoogle, it's bland and simple.

Speaking of Google, they are one of the reasons why Bill Gates is up in arms getting Live.com up and running ASAP. Google has recently teamed up with Sun Microsystems and the talk in the air is that they are in the planning stages of creating an online office alternative that will run on Google's servers. Then there are these two little domains which other than OpenOffice, is threatening Microsoft with their Live.com and OfficeLive.com, they are Writely and Numsum.

Writely is an online Word Document processor, it's simple and it let users share the documents, same with NumSum but is the Spreadsheet counterpart. One can even post the Writely document as a Blog!

The time is right for these on-line initiatives to start because more and more people are using broadband. With it, they will free more space in their hard drives and would create more space in their pockets because all these are FREE.

Portable AIDS testing Device


A team from Harvard Medical School has invented a small device capable of testing for the CD4 count of a patient. To test a sample, you drop some blood onto the chip and then place it into a reader which then tests for the blood CD4 count. Not completely portable—yet—but definitely a step in the right direction.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Drive + Play from Harman-Kardon


Ever since I got my iPod Nano, I've been interested in how to integrate it with my daily life. And part of my daily routing is driving. So it only follows that I get interested in news about how I could integrate my iPod Nano into my car. Presently I am using a casette deck adapter to play my songs from my iPod into the car stereo system. I have been checking the local Pod Users Group when I stumbled upon this.
The Harman-Kardon Drive+Play system. The Drive + Play consists of three components: A backlit LCD pivoting display, which is designed to be mounted where the driver can easily see the screen while keeping their eyes on the road; a five-button navigation control unit – the navigation wheel is similar to BMW’s iDrive wheel, but mimics the iPods controls; and the “Brain” – the unit that connects everything together. The brain of the system features a wireless FM modulator with five factory frequencies and one definable by the user. It also has a 3.5mm auxiliary output so you can connect it to any vehicle that has an auxiliary input jack. An auxiliary input allows the user to route other audio signals like satellite radio through the Drive + Play to the vehicle’s audio system.
The Drive + Play charges the iPod when connected and shuts off when the car turns off. The unit returns to the place in the song where you left off when the vehicle is turned on again. Well, I just hope this will see Philippine shores soon!

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

"Bionic" Eyes


Hope this is not a hoax, but then again, we can always dream right. Well, Isreal-based VisionCare has said they have invented an implantable device that might help people with Age-related Macualr Degeneration. The Implantable Miniature Telescope, which just finished its Phase II/III clinical trials, consists of two wide-angle glass microlenses that refocus incoming images away from the damaged macula and over to healthier parts of the eye. The IMT is surgically implanted into one cornea of an AMD sufferer in an outpatient procedure, and provides a 2.2x or 3x magnification to the affected eye, while the other eye is left to monitor peripheral vision. Nice one!