A Doctor and a Technician in one

I love technology! I am a self-proclaimed techie, well, yeah! Anyways, though I can think mostly of advantages, there are some disadvantages in being the only one that knows the "know-hows".

I "coerced" my fellow faculty in one of the schools that I'm teaching at to get their own wireless router for the faculty room. Before, I lent my Linksys WRT54GC compact wireless router, to give them the feel of the comfort of having one. Then, just when they were raring to get on to the wireless bandwagon, I pulled the unit out and installed it in the other school that I'm teaching as well.

Anyways, this was part of the plan, now, I convinced those who have notebook pc's to get their own router. And true to form, we pitched-in and I got them a NETGEAR wireless router. And the number of users shot up! And today, I helped around 4 faculty member setting their computers up. Well, I guess, I will still be doing this stuff as "gratis" for still quite some time. I don't mind, I love being an evangelist of technology.

Microsoft Announces Office for Mac 2008

Microsoft just announced their upgrade to the Office suite. It's been almost a year before Microsoft committed to a launch date of their product. And Mac users will surely be happy for this. Apple's own version of Office, iWork is pretty but lacks most of the functionalities of the Microsoft counterpart (with the exception to Keynote, Apple's presentation software, where it overtakes PowerPoint in different areas).

There will be three packages for Office 2008 when it's finally released: Office 2008 for Mac, Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition, and Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student Edition. As expected, the core package of Office will include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage sporting both support for Automator and "full" Exchange support. This package will go for $399.95, the same price as the current Office suite ($239.95 for an upgrade license).

Special Media Edition will come with all of the above, plus Microsoft Expression Media—a digital asset management suite that will help media-crazed users import, annotate, organize, archive, search, and distribute their media files. Special Media Edition will retail for $499.95 ($299.95 upgrade), which the Mac BU says reflects a $200 savings compared to if you were to buy the parts separately.

Finally, Home and Student Edition is the same as the full version of Office 2008, except minus the Exchange and Automator support that comes with the regular version of Entourage (if you're truly using it at home, then you probably don't need that Exchange support anyway). It allows for three licenses for non-commercial use, and will retail for $149.95. 

Yahoo! Mail on my Phone

I was able to configure my Sony Ericsson M600i to get and send emails from my Yahoo! Mail account. This may sound a big deal because it is. I am not subscribed to Yahoo's Premium service where POP3 access is possible.

I used the IMAP configuration with the following settings:
incoming server: imap.mail.yahoo.com
outgoing server: smtp.mail.yahoo.com

MIME encoding is on and using TSL encryption with logon authentication checked.

I lost my iTunes songs!

Three iPods sync with the main PC at home. All my music files are on an external drive to keep it from being worn much like the internal hard drive of the PC. That means I made iTunes to get the files from that drive. No problem really except that, perhaps, one of the iPod users made a booboo or perhaps it's just the Windows "environment" (although I'm not sure if this could happen on a Mac), but after I plugged my iPod, I got the "not recognized, Your iPod is synced with another device, warning" and it took around 5 seconds before I realized that the iTunes is not showing any songs.

SHIT! There's really no problem because, as I have said, I store my songs in a separate drive for safe keeping. But what's really frustrating is the thought that I have to re-sync all my iPods (considering that some have playlists specifically for the device). Oh well, nothing else to do but to "comply"! Hehehehe

Opening uTorrent Port in Prolink 9300G

I have been using uTorrent from my torrent "needs", but ever since, I have never gotten over to really open up the ports for it. I always get the "exclamation point" sign at the bottom of the application. I tried Port Forwarding to no avail. I still get that exclamation point icon. then I stumbled upon a solution.

All I have to do is to enable UPnP in my router (PROLINK 9300G) and use the port specified and whala! The red icon is now green and I'm getting the speeds I'm supposed to get. Happy me!

Instructions:
1.) type 192.168.1.254 (original settings) on any web browser
2.) click CONFIGURATIONS
3.) click ADVANCE
4.) click UPnP and check ENABLE
5.) copy the port specified
6.) open uTorrent preferences
7.) CONNECTIONS and enter the port from the router
EXIT and ENJOY!

What "toys" can be bought with...

What can I buy with...

Php15,000

1.) add Php2000, a 1.5 hp split-type airconditioning unit
2.) an 8GB iPod touch
3.) add Php1000, an HP iPaq phone
4.) add Php2000, a SE K810
5.) PSP for Php9000
6.) add Php7000, an iPhone


Php50,000
1.) a 32" LCD TV
2.) a MacBook

Deceptive Button Labels

Today I was supposed to get an iPod integration for my car's stock radio. It's a Fujitsu Ten radio (stock) on a Toyota Revo 2000 GL model. All the while, I thought that there is a port at the back that I can use to attach to a Disc changer or for this matter, an iPod integration unit.

All the while, I was using the tape deck solution to get the music from my iPods to the stereo of the car. A crude solution yet, gives a much better sound reproduction that the famous FM radio transmitter option. Then from one of the local forums for iPod users, I read that there's now a "cheaper" and better way to get my music to my radio without the wires/cables hanging and potentially hazardous obstacles of driving.

So I went to the dealer/installer, MAXX-Energie so they could check if my stock radio is compatible with their solutions. After checking my headunit, the guy I talked to told me that it might be possible, considering that the radio has a CD button, which we presumed is CD changer capable.

Unfortunately, after dismantling the dashboard, and unscrewing the screws, we all found out that there's not available port to attach their solution to the radio.

Well, that's life. Now my options, either I change my headunit to something that will have an iPod integration or, just be satisfied with the tape deck solution. Decisions, decisions!

No Freeze Panes in iWork 08 Numbers

I use Excel for computing grades and the Freeze Pane feature has helped me a lot. Having more than 40 students in one class, more than 5 quizzes, three long quizzes, the major exams, two sets of grades (lecture and lab) and three grading period (prelims, midterms and finals), it's not easy scrolling left to right and vice versa so with scrolling up and down a spreadsheet.

When I saw Numbers in iWorks, I was very excited for it (Apple having know to release cool versions of boring applications), but when I tried it, I didn't find this important (for me) feature. Well, back to excel for me.

iPod touch, iPod classic and the "new" iPod Nano

This is the new iPhone! Actually, it's part of the new set of iPods. Featuring the iPod Touch. It's more like the iPhone than the iPod. It's got both, except for the phone part. Well, sort of.

You see, it's a brand new music and video player with a twist. It's got WiFi, meaning, you can surf the interweb (that is, if there is a WiFi signal around), and listen to your albums at the same time (now I wonder what will be the toll on the battery life, I don't usually believe the claims of the manufacturer when it comes to these deets). I like this part. I've been looking for a portable internet device. Lots of choices but have not found the right one for me. I guess, I'll check this out.

Am I going to get one? Let me see, well, I have a 2nd Gen iPod Shuffle, a 1st Gen iPod Nano and a 5th Gen iPod Video. I guess, I have one of each, hmmmm, maybe I will get one, but not this 1st Gen, I think it's a bit low on the storage side. 16GB flash is not big enough if I'm going to put videos on it (my iPod video is not much fun to watch at, considering the size of the screen, but it serves it's purpose).

I love watching video podcasts (DL.TV and Diggnation specifically) while driving alone. Keeps me awake. And the iPod Video fits snugly on my Dashboard meter cluster (not your ideal driving tips), I don't know with this iPod Touch, but I guess I can always make something up to accommodate the new "toy", but then again, it's still months away from the purchase.

Here are some details about this new gadget:

Multi-touch interface

Gorgeous 3.5-inch widescreen display.

Touch your music in Cover Flow and watch video on a stunning, widescreen display

Wi-Fi web browsing.

Browse the web with Safari and watch YouTube videos on the first-ever Wi-Fi iPod

Music downloads from iTunes.

Search, preview, and buy songs from the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store on iPod touch

Capacity

• 8GB or 16GB flash drive¹
• Holds up to 1,750 or 3,500 songs in 128-Kbps AAC format²
• Holds up to 10,000 or 20,000 iPod-viewable photos³
• Holds up to 10 hours or 20 hours of video⁴
• Stores data via USB flash drive

And the "new" iPod Nano!
Well, I don't think it's nice, not too pretty for me, I don't know for other people either.

With the following specifications:

Size and weight

• Height: 2.75 inches (69.8 mm)
• Width: 2.06 inches (52.3 mm)
• Depth: 0.26 inch (6.5 mm)
• Weight: 1.74 ounces (49.2 grams)

Display

• 2-inch (diagonal) liquid crystal display with blue-white LED backlight
• 320-by-240-pixel resolution at 204 pixels per inch

I don't think I will be very keen in watching videos in such a minute screen. But it sure is cute.

And of course there is the new iPod classic, having almost the same design as the typical iPod video, except that this time, the whole body is made of metal. No more white iPods too!