Local Network War brought to the World Wide Web

It's Channel 2 against Channel 7 all over again (when did ever stop anyway). This time, it's in the interweb. Although ABS-CBN got a very wide lead, GMA is starting to catch up (or is it)? Last year, I noticed that the Inq7.net portal started to have 2 different banner stories, one from Inquirer.net (the online version of the local maverick newspaper The Philippine Daily Inquirer) and one from the news portal of GMA News GMAnews.tv. Then finally it happened, when I went to Inq7.net, it's become just a page that will give you a choice to be redirected to either GMA's site or to Inquirers.

With regards to the news layout, ABS-CBN wins hands down as the top stories are easy to see, while GMA's page is somewhat confusing (although, again, ABS-CBN had a head start, so I think I'm just used to their layout). With regards to the content, most of ABS-CBN stories are derived from Inq7.net (by the looks of it). GMA has more original story lines but updates are not as often as ABS-CBN's.

So for this one, I guess abs-cbnnews.com wins this battle (for the moment).

Note: From where I am right now, the post-Taiwan earthquake scenario, using a Globelines Broadband connection, connecting to ABS-CBN site is easier (would resolve faster) than with GMA's which most of the times, will not resolve.

Apple and the iPhone

After all the rumors and blogs, Apple has finally released the iPhone, the touchscreen iPod and the tablet OS X. Oh wait, the iPhone is a registered trademark of Cisco right? Well, it's confusing to be right. iPhone has been registered for Cisco but Apple Computer Inc., which is by the way now has been re-named to Apple Inc., is in talks with licensing the iPhone name from Cisco. Now that that's out of the way, let's go back to the iPod, errr iPhone. Yup, the iPhone and the touchscreen iPod is one and the same. It's a GSM/EDGE phone with an iPod connector at the bottom (where it's supposed to be in an iPod), it's an internet device because it's got safari and WiFi and it's a tablet PC err Mac because it operates on Mac OS X with a 2 MegaPixel Camera on the side.

So it's a phone, and it doesn't have any keypad/thumboard, but it has a touchscreen that Job's says is revolutionary. No need for a stylus because it is so sensitive and intuitive that it will recognize your fingers as the input device. SMS/text messages could be sent using a soft QWERTY keypad, and it's got PUSH Yahoo! Mail (so where's Gmail?), don't worry, Google wasn't left out because it's got Google Maps built-in. Though, just to make it clear, it's NOT a Smartphone, why? Because, as of the moment, you cannot install 3rd party applications in it. Though it's got Notepad if you want to jot down notes.

It's an iPod, with 4GB and 8GB capacity, will sync with iTunes (of course) and I know this because it's part of the UI and it's got that very recognizable iPod connector at the bottom. It will now show Album Art and will automatically shift the display to landscape when playing movies. It will do what a typical iPod can without the click wheel of course (again).

It's a handheld computer, just for the fact that it runs on Mac OS X. Though no Dock, it's got Widgets (as of the moment it's just Stocks and Weather) but it will come! It's got Safari and tabbed browsing, now the Nokia 800 will definitely have a competition and this time, the web pages are not cropped, but is shown as is though there are some zoom functions for those of you with nerdy glasses.

And, what's a phone without it's camera. A 2 megapixel camera that is at par or a little bit ahead than the others. And the small things such as a Proximity sensor that will deactivate the touchscreen when you put it close to your face/ear when using it as a phone. This way, no accidental touches on the screen, oh and it dims the backlight as well.

My opinion? Well, it's a heck of a design, though no 3G, but WiFi is very much welcome. The lack of expansion cards is a bit disappointing but can be irrelevant considering the capacity. Hopefully 3rd party applications can be develop and installed to maximize it's use of OS X. And, if time and funds permit, I WILL DEFINITELY GET ONE!!!!

Note: This is the 2nd post I've made after the Dec. 26 Taiwan earthquake and I'm doing this thru Gmail. I'm praying together with all the internet users in Asia that our "normal" broadband speeds would go back to normal. This is the reason why there's no pic attached to this article, hopefully, I will be able to post a pic (that is, if and if Blogger will open in my browser) in a weeks time (that's when they say that everything will be back to "normal"!)