Unboxing: HP iPAQ 512 Voice Messenger

I have a new toy, and it's in the form of the HP iPAQ 512 Voice Messenger. It's a Smartphone. Powered by Windows Mobile 6 with some HP additives.

I usually change phones in one or two year's time. I am also a solid Sony Ericsson fan (my very first Ericsson phone was an A1018). So why get a non-SE phone?

My current, er, "previous" phone sa a Sony Ericsson M600i, has UIQ for it's platform, white (goes with my iBook) and slim with of course the rocker thumboard. I had it for 6 months and I might say, I am well contented with it. Problem is, it doesn't have two functions that I want, a camera and WLAN (WiFi).

Then came the Sony Ericsson P1i. Of course, there's also the Nokia E61i, but I am not really a fan of Nokias (for the same reason that I don't like Windows Mobile, they're both SLOW and BUGGY!). Anyways, the P1i is still too expensive for my taste. I still have to convince myself to buy a phone worth more than a generic desktop PC or half a Flat Panel LCD 32" TV. Plus the fact that I'm looking for an OS (smartphone) that will accommodate my profession's applications (at the moment, only Palm has fulfilled that need).

Some will say, why not get a Treo or the latest Centro. Well, I've entertained both, then again, Palm handhelds still lack wireless (wifi) capabilities. I will grab a Palm phone right away (even if the OS is aging) once they have included WiFi capabilities on any of their products.

Now, why the iPaq line? Well, what really caught me was the price point. It's mid-range, with a very nice feature-set (I'm the type who wants to get the most out of a gadget). I also like how it looks like. The built (for having it for three days already) is solid. Although I'm afraid the paint will eventually erode as use becomes more frequent, especially the logos at the backside. The keys have good tactile feel, but coming from a thumboard, I had a difficult time re-adjusting to the one hand texting. Also, even if I don't have quite a big set of fingers, I often mis-press the adjacent keys.

The OS. Ok it's Windows Mobile 6. It looks good...on the Home Screen. But when you dig deep into the OS, it's a boring flat, no eye candy what so ever. Responsiveness? Nada! It's down there. Once I started to use multiple applications, the response is crawling. That's even after I closed all of the applications from the Task Manager. Also, multitasking, although available (since it's Windows Mobile), will definitely screw everything up. If for example, an application is open and a text message comes in, the processes will stop to almost to a hanging state. Heck this is the cause of most hangs with this phone.

The manual is not very helpful. It's more of a generalized user guide than a detailed one.

Let's go to the WiFi connectivity. It's supposed to be easy, but for some reason, I have a hard time connecting it to my network. It takes some time for it to get it's IP address. I also got a couple of errors with regards to DHCP. But once connected, everything is doing good. I have yet to try VOIP services on this phone. I used GIZMO settings.

Bluetooth? It has it, no problem with pairing with my Jabra headset. Though I experienced some problems with transferring contacts from my SE M600i in bulk to this phone. It did not accept it. Still on the process of test if file transfers (i.e. pictures, music, etc) from the iPaq 512 to another device.

Camera is so, so. Being it only a 1.5 MP shooter. It's mediocre. But it will do. I now am having a hard time looking for a FREE blogging client that will let me post the pictures I've taken to my blogger account.

The screen is ok, but not impressive. There will be some pixelations, but overall, it's ok.

So far, I have not experienced any problems with ActiveSync. It works! That's the surprising fact.

It did not come with a real charger, but instead, it has an USB adapter which is plugged into an electric socket and a USB cable is used to attach and charge the phone.

Voice Messenger:
This phone is being touted as a Voice Messenger. Meaning, a lot of functions can be started/used just by using voice. And what's nice about it is, it does not need any training. If I want to call Rob in my contacts, all I have to do is say "CALL Rob at MOBILE" then it will ask you to confirm. Pretty neat! I can also read back text messages (but with how Filipinos text, a simple message can take a long time to read out).

UPDATE: email set-up is a breeze in this phone. Email is integrated with the messaging client, together with the text messaging. Setting up an email through the built-in wizard was so easy that I was getting emails from my Gmail, Hotmail and believe it or not, Yahoo! Mail in less than a minute of entering the required data.

I have a rough time configuring my email client on my SE M600i a while back. Though I got it to work on the Sony Ericsson phone, configuration is not as easy as this one. Also, what's so surprising is that, I am now able to get Yahoo! Mail on this phone, even if my Yahoo! account does not have POP3 access.

The first thing I did was to enter my email address, then the second part was the wizard auto-checking for available configurations for the email, then it asked for, of course the log in details and the frequency of pulling email from the servers. And that's it! Email on the go.

Overall: I think I will still use the phone, but majority of the reason relies on the presence of Wireless access. But I don't think this will last me a year before I get a new phone. Oh and did I tell you that this is my very first WINDOWS MOBILE device. Yes it is.

Safari on Windows Faster than Firefox but...

Safari on Windows is really fast in loading wedpages than Firefox but, initial load of websites (right after opening Safari) is longer, way too longer than Firefox. After everything has loaded up and I go to other pages, it's a snap.

New Yahoo Mail Out of Beta, now with Text Messaging

Yahoo! has brought the new mail interface out of beta and it now includes the capability to send SMS (text) messages to mobile phones. At present, only four countries are included to have text messaging included in their Yahoo! mail, Philippines, US, India (I think) and Canada (or is it Australia). Will update if I have my facts straight already hehehe.

Globelines Down

Yesterday, when I got home, I wasn't able to connect to the internet. When I checked my modem (PROLINK Hurricane 9300G) the internet light was not on. So I did the routing on-off cycle to no avail. Then I decided to call Globelines. The guy told me that the modem is syncing with their servers, and that the problem is on my end, meaning the modem. He said he will send someone to look at the problem today. While awake I desperately tried to do the cycle but that LED internet light did not light up. So I accepted the fact that they might replace the modem.

This morning, it's more of a withdrawal symptom than anything else, I turned on the modem hoping the internet LED would light up, lo and behold, it did!

I'm wondering, perhaps the problem was not on my side, but there really was a problem with the Globelines network and the guy that I talked to did know it yet. Perhaps I'm one of the lucky ones that get good service from the company, although I think there are more dissatisfied customers with PLDT.

Nonetheless, I did not report that my internet is ok now, it's better for their people to check on the devices.

What's the use of PIM applications on the Desktop?

There are instances that one will need a PIM (Personal Information Manager) application in his/her lifetime and there are lots of them out there. In fact, there's one in every phone that comes out today, and perhaps there's one in your desktop or notebook installed.

Outlook is one of the most commonly used, especially in the enterprise arena. But there are people that use it even at home to help them organize schedules and events.

Nonetheless, with the advent of broadband connections and the widening coverage. The penetration to homes has increased, and the point is, it is the time to look at web-based applications, this time web-based PIMs. One advantage is that, it does not occupy a big space in the hard drive, and being on a remote server, it does not need that much processing power, meaning, the processing power can now be used for some other work.

Instead of opening multiple applications at the same time (e.g. web browser and PIM application), one has to do is to open only one, the browser. And with the popularity of tabbed-browsing it is not hard to shuffle thru different websites.

Try for example what Google has to offer. It has Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Photos. All under one account.

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!

iPod Shuffle Cannot Sync Because Drive cannot be found

After a fews of not being able to sync an iPod Shuffle (2nd Gen), when I tried it today, my computer sees it, then drops it. Now, iTunes won't sync. I tried some "fixes" from some forums in the net, until I downloaded the Shuffle reseter program and then that was it.

Now my Shuffle is working and is syncing.

Palm Centro

Better and clearer picture of the "rumored" Palm Centro, details still sketchy, will definitely have a touchscreen, obviously with a QWERTY thumboard and most likely still running Palm OS Garnet.

Forum Attitude? Respect? Rude?

I am a member of at least 4 major tech forums in the country. I have been a part of the tech community even before the they all switched to the "forum" mode from the ever reliable Yahoo! Groups.

Although there seems to be progress in moving from an email list to a "forum-specific" website, there's seems to be less progress in the attitude of most posters.

There are "moderated" forums, and there are public forums, and there are moderated-public forums. Yeah I know, it's confusing. Try going into some of these forums and you'll see what I mean. An innocent post can become an insulting discussion which can span several pages which can equate to several hours to days to months of unending exchange of righteousness.

What puzzles me, just like the "conversation" in this thread from a local user's group, some posters would "virtually" insult (but most of them will just tell you that they're just being "frank" and "straightforward") the initial poster. I would say, rather than calling it "straightforward", more like, RUDE!

Claiming they want "quality" postings, why then can't they reply or answer politely. But with AIRHEADS who think they know everything just because he/she has some "authority" in the forum, I guess that's too difficult to do.

What do you think?

LOCKED POWER POINT DOCUMENTS

I borrowed a set of powerpoint documents from a friend and stored it in my iBook. I was surprised to see a lock icon at the lower right corner of the main icon. At first I thought it was harmless and that it merely makes the document read-only.

Then I tried deleting the file, I got an error message saying that the document cannot be deleted because it's locked. Whatever I do, drag the icon in the trash bin, or right click it, the same error message appears. Then I tried hiding it, I dragged it into another folder, only to find out that it will instead, make a new file making the files double.

This frustrated me knowing at I have redundant files in my notebook and the obsessive compulsive in me just can't get over it. So I played around with the settings, finally I went into the "get info" component, one by one, I opened it, until I unchecked a "lock" tick box.

That is when I was able to delete the file.

LG's KU990

This is the LG KU990, with the following specs: 5.1 megapixel camera with Schneider-Kreuznach lens, image stabilization (likely digital), auto focus, 120fps video, and ISO 800 sensitivity. Sure, the camera is nice and all, but this pup is packing a 3-inch, 240 x 400 touchscreen riding on 3G HSDPA data.

This toy will be very much at home with the Philippines with HSDPA dominating our network market. Though it doesn't have the ooohh and ahhhh of the iPhone, this baby still has something on it.

Michael Bay Doesn't Want to make Transformers 2 --YEHEY!

When Paramount abandoned Blue-Ray (High Definition DVD format) for HD-DVD, Michael Bay threatened not to make Transformers 2.

In a forum post titled "Paramount pisses me off!", he states, "I want people to see my movies in the best formats possible. For them to deny people who have Blu-ray sucks! They were progressive by having two formats. No Transformers 2 for me!" -- Engadget

Well, that's good news to my ears. I never liked how he did the movie in the first place.

Pownce

If you are the type who wants to blog something but there's really not much to say about it, then you can try mini-blogging. Yup, it's much like Twitter and Jaiku, but now, there's a new mini-blogging app and it's Pownce.

Created by Digg founder Kevin Rose, Pownce is a way to send messages, files, links, and events to your friends. You'll create a network of the people you know  and then you can share stuff with all of them, just a few of them, or even just one other person really fast.

So what are you waiting for, come on and let's Pownce! Visit me at my own Pownce here.

Chikka 2.0

There's a new web 2.0 app and it's not from an American software company, it's local. Chikka the pioneer in internet to SMS communication has released a new version of their SMS application in Web 2.0 style. Before, one either has to download their application or use their Java applet to be able to use their service. Problems? Well, the application is for Windows only, and if you're using a Mac you're left with using their Java applet which takes time to load and respond. Now, anyone, with an internet connection can use their service with ease.

The web 2.0 app is still in alpha stage (meaning it's super buggy). Much like Meebo, it's now an all-in-one messaging application, where users can log on, not only with their chikka accounts but also with Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, Google Talk and ICQ.

Nokia Recalls Battery from Panasonic

It's the first time I've heard of a recall coming to the shores of our little Islands of the Philippines. Nokia is in full blast to recall BL-5C batteries. But take note, it's not going to be easy. One has to go to their website and input the serial numbers of the battery for confirmation if indeed the battery is part of the recall. It does not end their, after which, if proven valid, he/she will be forwarded to another website and will be asked to fill out an electronic form. Talk about paranoia, well, I guess we can't blame Nokia for being such, considering mobile phone batteries are "abundant" in our part of the world, and it all comes cheap!

I wonder though, it's a new battery if proven genuine, but how about those who does not know how to get into the interweb or have no money to call the Nokia hotlines? Well, by the looks of the options left, he/she is force to go to the nearest Nokia Business Center. Works for me!

Newspaper Fingerprints

I like reading the news. It keeps me updated with current events. Every morning, while having milk and before breakfast and doing anything at all, I fire up my computer and read all the local Net versions of the major broadsheets. It's the same reason why I don't subscribe to newspapers anymore. What for? I'm getting the same news articles and the added bonus of the Breaking news from the monthly bill that I get from my ISP. But whenever I have the chance, even though I already know 80% of the contents, I still read the physical broadsheets. My reason is simple, there are stuff on the physical newspaper that is not on the digital version, and those are the ads! Hahahaha I know, shallow reason, but still it's a reason.

Now, I get all too fussed up whenever I get to read these newspapers then use my notebook afterwards, I get fingerprints all over the thing. You see, I have an iBook, and it comes only in white.

Undeniably Slow or Lazy?

When ever I am challenged by something or someone, I would make sure that I won't make the mistake the 2nd time. I don't know if it's the present generation or me, but there's this class of mine who seem not too interested in passing the subject. I gave them a practical exam today and their scores were uhm, undesireable. Take note, these are a series of tests, only a few minutes apart. They consistently getting the same score, very few improvements. I wish them lots of luck though, because by the looks of it, most of them aren't going to make it.

FINALLY! Gmail on my phone

It's been months since I got my phone but since then I haven't had the fortune to figure out how to make Gmail work with the phone's email client. Tonight, while surfing, saw this blogsite that gave another twist in the settings that I have been trying before. Lo and behold, IT WORKED!

Now, the next thing that I'm going to worry is, how much will this cost me in data rates. Perhaps I would experiment on the always on PUSH EMAIL (technically it's pull email), if it's going to burn a hole in my pocket then maybe I'll just use it for important matters such as blogging! nyahahahaha

WiFi Hotspot in a school

Technology is imminent thus, what ever we do, it will come and will force itself to us. Why not just embrace it right? Well, I consider myself as an early adapter. I love technology. I am also a "pasaway"! Put one beside another and you have WONDERFUL CHAOS!

Well, anyways, I have a Linksys Compact Wireless Router lying at home (I only use it, when I go for long trips and make my own wireless hotspot in my destination), I decided to install it in one of the schools that I teach (well, this same router was installed in the other school before, the faculty was enjoying it, but it seems that they were relying on me for it, and decided not to get one for themselves, which prompted me to pull it out), anyways, here I am at the library, wirelessly connected to the interweb.

Of course there's a password, so not everyone can enjoy it, besides, I said earlier that this is made possible by a "pasaway" faculty hehehehe, it purely means that the higher ups doesn't know about it.

Now I don't have to stay at the back most of the library to get that open signal from one of the buildings close to ours. Although I'm thankful for him/her for keeping his network open for me to use. He/she need not worry, I'm not going to hijack his/her signal, I am just "sharing" their wireless network.

Enjoy!

TRANSFORMERS The Movie -- Disappointing

DISAPPOINTING! Yup, that's what I felt when I saw the movie, I don't care if it was directed by Michael Bay, well, he didn't give the movie much effort, if you're going to ask me.

I love the TRANSFORMERS! I love how they transform and of course, I love hearing that iconic transformation sound. Unfortunately, in the movie, that sound was not often heard of.

But not all was disappointing. Having to see my favorite robots interact with real human is a blast, and of course to hear OPTIMUS PRIME'S voice after missing it all these years is definitely EXCITING to the EXTREME!

Speaking of OPTIMUS PRIME, why the hell did they put lips on him?! That RESONATING voice is there because of the FACE PLATE! It's just not OPTIMUS PRIME with his lips moving!

And the transformation? Heck I can't figure out how the hell these robots transform! The kids then (that includes me), were so amazed at the cartoon series then because they (us) were able to figure out how the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS transform into robots and vice versa. Now, I can't even follow how BUMBLEBEE and OPTIMUS PRIME transform, considering they're two of the easiest way to figure out. Jazz (the original Porsche) together with RATCHET and IRONHIDE are a bit tricky even in the original series.

And what's with the PROTOFORM? Heck, if they can just choose what form they want when they get to earth, then why do they have to stick with one form? I don't get it!

Oh and the names, why not just stick to the original names and their original forms? If they have to make up a new character, why not give it a new name instead of using older names that is not match with the original ones. I'm talking about, DEVASTATOR, hey, that's the CONSTRUCTICONS merged together, he's NOT A TANK! FRENZY I would understand because he's originally a robot tape of SOUNDWAVE (who I read somewhere will be in the next movie).

MEGATRON is ok, since he really has been changing shape in different generations. And how about BUMBLEBEE, he's a VOLKSWAGEN BEETLE for crying out load, that's him. According to Michael Bay, he would be compared to HERBIE, NOT! Nothing can be compared to HERBIE! But BUMBLEBEE is a robot that transforms into a BEETLE! That's it!

Oh and where is the "...AUTOBOTS, TRANSFORM AND ROLL OUT!"

Whew, what a disappointment! Although, I will surely get a DVD copy, why? Well, just for the sake of having the live action TRANSFORMERS movie!

Safari Browser for Windows

Apple's Safari Browser is now on Windows (now, that's another browser for me). Although I might say that I am not a Safari fan on the Mac OS (I frequently use the Camino Browser from the Mozilla Foundation). Anyways, there's no harm in trying it out, I would like the check out what Steve Jobs is boasting in the WWDC 07 held a couple of days ago and that is the speed. 

I did not run any sophisticated benchmarking software, but by comparing it with Firefox on my WinBox, I can definitely say that Safari is indeed faster. And the speed is noticeable too! Check it out yourselves.

There goes my Digital Camera

I love my digital camera, it's a SONY Cybershot that pumps out 5.1 megapixel images. It has been with me for I think more than 4 years. I also love my mobile phones, I'm a SonyEricsson fan and has a handful of mobile phones in the closet, still functional and still in prestine conditions. When the Cybershot phones came out, I refused to be pulled into the foray, for I have not seen a perfect convergent device, that is perhaps until now.

SonyEricsson released a set of new mobiles and one of them is the K850i, it's the latest iteration of their Cybershot phones, what's good about it is, well, it's got a 5MP camera at the back. Damn! I was eyeing the P1 for my next phone, but this thing is irresistable. It's got a Xenon flash to boot, not those LED faux-flash on other phones, this one really works.

Well, I'll be checking out the other sites to check for early reviews, and perhaps, I will be one of those who can get my hands on the first versions of the phone in the country. Well, I did it with the K700 and the K610 so why not with the K850i.

The fuss with the Foleo

Since Palm announced it's new product line, the Foleo, a big fuss around the tech community of it's purpose? What for? What is it?

Looks like those people who are skeptic of this device are starting to have 2nd thoughts. Why would I want one when I already have a notebook PC that is more powerful than that? Then again, my notebook maybe powerful but is too big and bulky and heavy at that.

Ok then let's try to compare a laptop with the Foleo, in the real world. This means that average notebook PC users are those that use it mostly for Email, Document editing, Presentation and surfing the web (which includes watching videos in YouTube).

Email: Foleo - yes; notebook PC - yes
Document Editing: Foleo - yes; notebook PC - yes
Presentation (Powerpoint): Foleo - yes; notebook PC - yes
Internet: Foleo - yes; notebook PC - yes

By the looks of it, it's a tie! Maybe, but let's see, a typical notebook PC (windows) will have an approximately 10-20 secs to boot up after a hibernate (most windows notebook users out there doesn't even know that their laptops are capable of hibernating, they would just turn their machine on and off per session), but the Foleo has in instant on and off feature, that means, no waiting time. Apple users will argue that most macs are instant on as well, well, yeah, ok. Then there's the seamless synchronization with your smartphone, no one notebook at the present time can do this.

Whatever the argument would be, I think Palm is not trying to push the notebook computer out of the scene. This is the same reason they gave before with the Palm Pilot device, people thought that it's the laptop replacement, and eventually it made it to the top in it's category for some time. I think the Foleo is being groomed as another device (not even an accessory), that's why they called it as another "product-line".

People have been very disappointed with this device, but still it made more people think twice. Do we need to bring the notebook when we will not be using most of it's power, so why not bring the Foleo?

Perhaps it's still difficult to gauge what the device's impact until it is released to the market. We also for that matter don't know what Palm is trying to prove at this moment. But I have this feeling that there's still more to this device than meets the eye.

Foleo -- the Next Palm Pilot

We may all be fussing over the fact that the name comes with a tag line, "Smartphone companion". Yes, as the name implies, it's a device that will complement a smartphone's productivity, but it can also function as a standalone device.

If I understand the device's details clearly, then it is being positioned for mobile workers. In my profession for example, not all needs the full weight of a notebook computer, in fact majority of physicians, both young and old, uses their notebooks only for a few tasks, such as: Presentations, Word document creation/editing, some Spreadsheet work and of course checking emails and surfing the net. Heck most of us does not even use an email client, but instead uses only the available famous web-based emails ( i.e. Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail).

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but all these can be done by the Foleo. Many of you might say, the notebook computer can do that and much more! That's my point, the "much more" is seldom utilized. I always make myself as an example. Considering that I'm more technology savy than other physicians. I have a yearold iBook, at first yeah, it was exciting to use a mac, but after a while, the hype fades out and is left only with some aesthetic reasons. Some of the reasons I like about the iBook is that it turns on almost instantly (although it's more of putting itself to sleep), now this feature I like very much, I don't have to wait for the thing to boot up, if I want to show someone something from within the notebook, we don't have to have coffee first before veiwing the document. Take note, one of the features offered by the Foleo. Then I use my iBook to lecture (of course, I get a lot of ooohs and ahhhs on my Keynote presentations, but all those begins after I bring out my iBook from the bag) but then again, I can always do that in Powerpoint right? And once in a while edit word and excel files, and browse the web and that's it.

How about the "much more" in my notebook? Well, I seldom (and it really means SELDOM) use it. iTunes? nope! I have iTunes on my Windows desktop PC (this is where I do most of the work), and I listen to my music when I'm out of the house on my iPod. Hmmm what else, movie editing -- desktop! Then there's the size and weight, every mobile professional knows that size and weight counts a lot. Plus the fact that one has to bring the power brick almost always. I guess that's about it.

So, if I'm someone who will not be using most of the "much more" on the notebook computers, then I would, by all means, get myself a Foleo, smartphone or not. Besides, with our country's "wireless broadband" speed yet to be desireable, I would rather look for a WiFi hotspot and do my computing there. And don't mention the charges. Paying 2T on my DSL at home then another 2T for mobile internet? Now that's another story hehehe

Increased Gmail Attachment Size

If you're the type of person who loves sending large files as attachments to your emails, and feels restricted by the usual 5MB limit, then fret no more, Gmail, Google's email service, has increased it's attachment size to, guess what, yes, 20MB!

I'm thinking that is one way Gmail is getting a step ahead of Yahoo! who is planning to go unlimited on it's email storage quota. Which is a way is upping up from what Google has at the moment which is an increasing storage capacity everyday (presently at around 2.8GB).

So what are you waiting for, sign up now! Gmail previously is only available on invitation only, but has since modified the sign-up process and anyone can now get their own Gmail account just by visiting Gmail.com

FREE WIFI AT ROBINSONS ERMITA...NOT!!!

It was one of those days that I get to go to Ermita these days, some of the few reasons are the traffic, no interesting place to go to and I'm not a Robinsons guy.

Anyways, I'm here because I don't have to go to and I still don't want to go home (come on, it's a friday!). I told myself that this will be the best time to try out the FREE Wireless Internet connection (WiFi) that Robinsons Malls are trying to use to entice shoppers.

I went to the TASTE BUDS, Robinsons version of the Food court. This is where the "FREE" WiFi is. I'm so excited, I can't wait to get online. I ordered a Strawberry shake and a clubhouse sandwich from San Francisco Coffee and fired up my notebook.

The first access point that was detected was that of AIRBORNE ACCESS, I'm pretty sure this wasn't it, so I asked the BARISTA and he pointed me to those things on the table that they use to advertise their products, a small paper is stuck to it with instructions on how to log on the "free" WiFi. Of course, I followed the instructions but I kept on getting rejected (I hate that feeling! Well, who does in the first place?).

I sent an SMS to the hotline on the paper, but up until I had finished typing this article, I am just getting the AIRBORNE ACCESS SSID. Goodluck to me :(

The Dreaded Globelines Broadband Erratic Connection is Here!

I have been reading quite some complaints about Globelines' erratic behavior, the way it will disconnect and re-connect after a few minutes of being logged-in. All the while I thought that this was area-related, since all the years I've been using Globelines broadband, I have never encountered the said incidence. But since a couple of days ago, whenever I use Yahoo! Messenger, I noticed that the line was acting differently, I know that get disconnected because, every time I get logged on into my Yahoo! Messenger SMS. This should only happen if I log off from YM, but in a single session, my phone keeps on getting the notice that I have been logged on into YM SMS.

Couple this with uTorrent as the download speed goes to zero every once in a while, then goes back up to it's normal speed after a few minutes. I also checked my modem/router's configuration page and much as I expected it, there are lots of errors and disconnections. I have emailed Globelines' customer support and I am still clueless as to what their explanation would be.

No more Ad-Aware on Google Pack

As I recently went back to Windows XP from Windows Vista, I one by one downloaded the applications "essential" for a Windows desktop to work, and one of these software is an Anti-spyware program. Before my short-lived migration to Vista, I was using Lavasoft's Ad-Aware, which was also part of Google Pack. On Windows Vista, I was using Microsoft's own Windows Defender. Now that I'm back to XP, I was surprised to see that Ad-Aware has been replaced in Google Pack with SpyDoctor.

As a standalone application, SpyDoctor is not free. But if you download it from Google Pack, one gets a starter edition, that almost has the same properties as the paid version. Maybe I'm going to try it out for a while, and if I'm not satisfied, I might try out, AVG's Free Anti-spyware program. Now, if you're going to ask why it seems that I have confidence on AVG's software, well, that's just for the fact that I am an avid AVG Free Anti-virus user (who isn't) and that I am very well satisfied with it's performance, never had a viral infection in my desktop ever since.

Back to Windows XP

I've reinstalled Windows XP the other day. My desktop was running Windows Vista for sometime, since Microsoft released Vista Beta to RC1 to RC2. But after the notice that all pre-release softwares will "expire" on May 18, I decided to revert back to XP. I am still contemplating on really "upgrading" to Vista, but not yet. Perhaps I will wait for a year to a year and a half before totally dumping Windows XP.

Can't Use Email on my New SE M600i

I got myself a spanking new Sony Ericsson M600i, a UIQ 3 device. Got almost everything up and running with a few exceptions.
- Email (can't get it to work with Gmail and my local ISP)
- Agile Messenger (can't log in to network)
- Gmail app (can't see the connection)

Other than these, it's working fine and wonderful. Only thing I'm missing from my old SE phone (K600) is the HID Bluetooth Remote.

Rumor: Dell to Buy Palm

Here's another rumor on the mill. Dell, after shelving it's PDA Axim line, is rumored to acquire Palm as it thinks that the future is toward smartphones.

New M600 firmware

All you SE M600i owners (including me of course), Sony Ericsson has updated the firmware and can be downloaded thru SE Update Service. It fixed some bugs and made the system a bit faster. Here are most of the changes seen:

• Faster
  
• WMA supoprt!
  
• Transitions option found in control panel, device. Default is OFF
  
• Updated build of opera which seems more stable
  
• Louder through speaker
  
• 20.8mb free ram

Sony Ericsson PC Suite 1.3.11 is out

Sony Ericsson has just updated their PC Suite for Smartphones and is now version 1.3.11

Treo 750 with Windows Mobile 5 (huh?)

Recently, Palm Singapore together with Microwarehouse the Philippine Palm distributor launched the Palm Treo 750 Windows Mobile 5 thru a sassy event at the Embassy bar at the Fort Taguig city. It was attended by the Philippine Palm Users Group (MaPalad) mostly, and at some point members of the Pinoy Windows Mobile and the Philippine Mac Users Group (PhilMUG). The place was jam packed with members and was overflowing with drinks.

Palm gave the Windows Mobile platform some tweaks to "Treo-rized" it. Comparing it with other Windows Mobile Smartphones, the Treo 750 can find a contact directly from it's Today screen as compared to others which will need at least 4 steps. Overall the Treo 750 is a very nice addition to the Treo line, but the problem that I see with it here in the Philippines is in the OS itself. Microsoft just launched Windows Mobile 6, a snazzy eye-candy OS that is comparable to Vista in the desktop arena. It's usually offered as an upgrade by Networks in the US or UK to it's subscriber, but locally, I have not heard of OS upgrades from our major networks Globe and Smart. Thus, if one buys the Treo 750 today, in less than a couple of months, that OS will be old and basically the phone too. Unless Palm would offer them upgrade packages which I highly doubt.

Blogging with Flock doesn't work!

Flock is a web browser from the innards of Mozilla that has some social networking thingies working inside it's gut. One of the features being boasted by Flock is the easy blogging of sites. No more cut and paste and memorizing those kilometer long URL's. I used Flock before, but that was before Google migrated my account to the "new" Blogger engine, now blogging with Flock simply does not work. When I set up my account, it just stays at the "just double checking if your account is set up correctly" uhm hellooooo, I'm blogging right now, so I guess it's working?

It's unfortunate that it doesn't work anymore, it's been really very easy and simple to blog thru Flock, but now I guess I have to go back to the old, blogger website or email blogger for my blogs.

The CRUMPLER Launch Part

Last night, computer accessories king of the Philippines Charlie Paw together is his brother Howard "Bogs" Paw launched their first CRUMPLER store in the country at the Fort. CRUMPLER is a brand of computer and camera bag accessory. Lots of people came with three of the most prestigious user's group in the country as the major attendees, MaPalad (Philippine Palm User's Group), PodCentral (iPod User's Group Philippines) and PhilMUG (Philippine Mac User's Group). Food and drinks were overflowing and games was so excitiing, prizes where of course CRUMPLER bags. Three of CRUMPLER founders where present including their mascot, PINEAPPLE JUJU.

Yahoo! Messenger for VISTA

Under development, this is one cool interface worthy of the shiny AERO interface of Windows Vista. You can sign up to be one of the first few to be notified when it's ready for download here.

Here are some of the supposed features:

Built from the ground up specifically for Microsoft Windows Vista, this all-new version combines the reliable and easy-to-use features you've always loved from Yahoo! Messenger with the cutting-edge experience of this new operating system.

• Instant message, voice, webcam video, and more
• Use the integrated Yahoo! Messenger Sidebar gadget to keep up with the friends that matter most
• Also add Windows Live™ Messenger friends to your contact list to see when they're online and IM them
• Keep conversations organized by dragging and dropping them into one tabbed window
• Brand new emoticons, program icons and alert sounds
• Instantly change the look and feel of your Yahoo! Messenger interface
• Automatic groups are created in your contact list based on your Yahoo! interests (i.e. Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football league)

Yahoo! Widgets 4.0

Yahoo! Widgets 4.0 is now ready for download at http://widgets.yahoo.com. With the following new features:

• Speedier than ever

  • We heard you, and we've made big improvements in performance
  • Uses up less of your system memory compared to past versions

• Live, at-a-glance view

  • Mini Widgets bring updates and live info to you in a compact package
  • Keep your widgets neatly organized with the new Widget Dock

• New Widgets by Yahoo!

  • Gallery Widget: Browse the Widget Gallery without opening a web browser
  • Flickr Widget: Hooray! Upload, tag, and display Flickr photos.

• And, some things are the same as ever...

  • The most Widgets available anywhere online... over 4,000 and still growing!
  • Works on both Macs and Windows PCs

The unreachable 2Mbps of Globelines

Today, someone from Globelines came over my place to act on the complaint regarding my unreachable subscribed speed. I am currently under their 2Mbps plan and for some time now (being the pessimist that I am), I patiently waited until that incident in Taiwan has totally been fixed. But then, I noticed that I don't reach even 50% of my supposed subscribed speed.

Anyways, this guy came over and tested my speed, and for sure I was only getting around 4xxkbps to a maximum of 9xxkbps from my supposed 2Mbps, that should be around 2xxxkbps. So he checked my modem configuration (a Globelines supplied PROLINK 9300G wireless modem/router) and just as I observed before, that my line was capped at 1.5Mbps down and 512kbps up. He called up their Network Operations Center (NOC) and asked to change my settings to 2Mbps up and 1Mbps down (now this thing baffled me, supposedly, in their system, I should be, by default under the 2Mbps up and 1Mbps down setting already, for more than 3 mos. to be exact, and they're just setting it now?). Restarted the modem, and checked if it will sync with their servers, which it did NOT! So my settings were brought back to the old 1.5Mbps up and 512kbps down, which as expected synced. Now this baffled the technician more and called up other numbers and talked to a couple more peeeps. He then gave up and told me that he'd just go back tomorrow to check on the speed and told me to monitor the speed.

After he left, I checked my speed and for around 30 minutes, I was hitting 1.5Mbps! Yehey! But that was short lived since there was a brief power failure and since that time, I am now getting (again) my old 3xxkbps to 8kbps speeds. Now I know that it's not my wiring here at home and that the problem is on their side. I am just hoping that they would figure it out fast. It's not that I am not getting fast speed, heck, I'm really ok with the speed that I'm getting at the moment. But I am paying for a 2Mbps speed and just like them when they demand immediate payment for their services, then I should demand the appropriate speed that I am paying for. It's just a GIVE AND TAKE relationship, I do my part and they do theirs.

Globe Handyphone's "Loyalty" Program?

Recently, Globe (Handyphone) launched a silent "Loyalty" "Rewards" Program as a form of retention for their customers. This is not an announced promo and a subscriber has to call Globe's Customer Hotline and "inquire" for the said program. So, being a long-time Globe subscriber, I called their hotline, but to my dismay, I was told that since I did not get any call from their "Retention Team" then most likely that I did not "qualify" for the "criteria" set for the promo.

I wonder what "criteria" Globe is talking about and it looks like they don't give a shit if subscribers will leave them and shift carriers. In fact, SMART offers loyalty rewards to their subscribers on a yearly basis, and the rewards seems to be as what it is, rewards. The phones that SMART is giving away are will really be appreciated by their subscribers. Let me think hmmmm I guess will prepare changing numbers.

ADVANCES IN BUS TICKETING IN THE PHILIPPINES

It's been quite sometime since I used public transport to go to places. I got to try it again today and what a surprise. The bus conductor gave me a ticket that came from a portable printer attached to a Palm Zire 22! Forgive me if I sound really surprised because I never have thought that our local bus companies would adapt such technology.

The NEW SonyEricsson Phones

Here it goes again, new phones from Sony Ericsson, tsk tsk, everytime SE launches new phones, I get excited.

The SE W610 and entry level Walkman phone , it's quad-band with EDGE, an RDS FM Radio, an LED light for your pictures, A2DP stereo Bluetooth audio, a 2 megapixel camera, and that full suite of music management software, ships with a 512MB M2 card.

The SE K550 entry level Cybershot phone, has a 2.0 megapixel cam and LED photo light and is thin at 14-mm form factor, uses the Memory Stick M2 form factor. It is a quad-band EDGE device.

The high end K810 Cybershot phone, a feature rich 17-mm thin baby with a 3.2 megapixel camera with auto focus and Xenon flash in it's heart. It has a second cam up front for video calls and goes UMTS 2100 and GSM 900/1800/1900. The K810 uses the same Memory Stick M2 that the K550 uses.

And there's the super thin Walkman phone, the SE W880, at 9.4-millimeters thin, it's SE's slimmest Walkman phone yet and packs a 1.8" QVGA 262k TFT display and 2 megapixel camera with a 1GB Memory Stick Micro (M2) card included in the box. It also comes pre-loaded with Walkman Player 2.0, Disc2Phone music management, and the TrackID music recognition applications. It also features a Flight Mode for use on the airplane and battery capable of up to 20-hours of music playback or up to 6 hours 30 mins of talk time. UMTS 2100 and GSM 900/1800/1900

So go ahead and drool people!!!!

UNLIMITED TEXTING AND AGING

With the advent of new technologies, it is imperative that society be able to adapt to these changes or suffer alienation. I am one of those people who tries and successfully cope up with this problem. But I guess, it will only be up to a certain point before things get out of hand.

A classic example is texting or internationally known as SMS. When this thing started, I had a Panasonic G-series phone (which doesn't have a caller ID that tells you the sender's name, just the number). I was using Globe Telecoms network (although I'm still using Globe up to now), and all one had to do was to pay the initial P200 fee and you're off to an unlimited texting spree, perhaps until one dies (that was then), and things change. A lot of promos and cellphones and cellphone technology after, we go to the present where everybody is complaining that Globe suddenly changed it's rules with regards to it's UNLIMITED texting promo. Well, it's hard to discuss about the repercussions of the change in the promo, but what I can say is, a lot of people has been enticed by the said add-on by these telecommunication companies, but for someone like me, a 32 year old father, this is not important anymore. I seldom text unless someone sends me one or it's really important to send a text message. Ever since these UNLIMITED texting promos, people now start to send and forward almost all spam or forwarded messages that they've received, unknowingly irritating those that receives them.

Perhaps there's a silver lining in the changing of the UNLIMITED texting scheme, and that is, less of those annoying, un-important SMSs. Happy texting everyone!

Vista Prices in the Philippines Outrageous!!!

Windows Vista will be launched officially tomorrow here in the Philippines at the SM Mall of Asia. Lots of extravaganza, but it all boils down if consumers will buy it or not. Looking at the Local Launch Website, the price of all the versions is Outrageous! No wonder majority of people would rather buy it from their "friendly neighborhood" pirates. Even the local Mac Users Group ( PhilMUG) laughs at the SRP of the rivals operating system. A few more bucks and you can buy a Mac Mini bundled with Mac OS X and iLife for the price of the Vista Ultimate edition. Although, in deference to Microsoft, Windows OS change comes every 5 years and every small upgrade comes free, while with the Mac OS, it may come out as cheap compared to the Windows version but the Mac OS charges for every incremental upgrade that they do. Good luck Microsoft!

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"!)

Chaos in the internet from the Taiwan Quake

Today is the 2nd day since my internet connection has been unstable. At first I thought there was something wrong with my ISP (Globelines Broadband), but after trying (in futility) calling their "hotline" which even after 30 min no one answered, I was able to connect to PhilMUG website, it was there that I found out what happened. And from that time onwards my connection was sloooooooow and intermittent, even if my modem says otherwise.

It has been just now that I am able to connect to Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, my only source of information online for the past 2 days was Inq7.net and the local users groups (which at times becomes intermittent). In a few minutes I will try to log into Yahoo messenger, hoping that it will connect to servers.

So far, Google is still not loading on my side and Yahoo mail is still dragging. Though Engadget has been loading since the beginning of this crisis.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2006

Merry Christmas to all of you!!! May we have a Wonderful Holidays!

Microsoft Redesigned Website

Software giant has redesigned their website to look and feel like it's up and coming operating system that will replace Windows XP, the sleek looking, and long been delayed Windows VISTA.

Changing Wireless Keyboard

I changed my wireless keyboard from an A4tech Wireless Mini-desktop Keyboard and Mouse set to a Logitech Cordless Desktop EX110. Some may say that it's impractical since my A4tech keyboard and mouse combo is still working, but it's a mini-keyboard and it's giving me a hard time to type and use it. Thus, the reason to change units. Now this is a wonderful keyboard and mouse because it's full-sized and no more adapting when using other normal sized keyboards and mouse.

Also, the multi-media keys are working fine on VISTA (all the while I thought I will have some problems with the software side) but when I tried to use the special keys and it all worked. So far I'm enjoying the new toy.

BitTorrent acquires uTorrent

BitTorrent has bought popular torrent client uTorrent, here's there post to the uTorrent forum:

This is Bram Cohen, the creator of the BitTorrent protocol, and Ludvig (Ludde) Strigeus, the writer of µTorrent.

Together, we are pleased to announce that BitTorrent, Inc. and µTorrent AB have decided to join forces. BitTorrent has acquired µTorrent as it recognized the merits of µTorrent's exceptionally well-written codebase and robust user community. Bringing together µTorrent's efficient implementation and compelling UI with BitTorrent's expertise in networking protocols will significantly benefit the community with what we envision will be the best BitTorrent client.

What does this mean for the µTorrent community? Not much, at least not at first. The intention is to maintain the website as it is, and keep the forums and community active. Moving forward behind the scenes, we will continue to develop µTorrent and will be using the codebase in other applications, especially ones where a fast, lightweight implementation is more suitable, such as embedded systems on TVs, cell phones, and other non-PC platforms.

The existent µTorrent and BitTorrent communities are immensely valuable to us, which is why we are announcing this here first to make sure you're all the first to know about the news. The plan is to continue to foster the health and growth of the community that has been critical to the success of µTorrent. Thank you in advance for your support.

Bram and Ludde

Palm licenses Palm OS Garnet Source Code -- So that's why!

ACCESS has announced it has entered into a non-exclusive agreement with Palm, Inc., that gives Palm a perpetual license for the Palm OS Garnet source code. ACCESS and Palm have also agreed to an expansion of the two companies’ existing patent license. Palm will pay ACCESS a total of $44 million (USD). Under terms of the agreement, ACCESS has granted Palm specific rights to modify the code base of Palm OS Garnet for use in its devices such as the Palm Treo smartphone family and the company’s other handheld computers. The agreement also grants Palm the right to use Palm OS Garnet in whole, or in part, in any product from Palm and together with any other system technologies. -- Palminfocenter

So this is the reason why! Me and my friends at MaPalad (The Philippine Palm Users Group) has been wondering why, Palm Inc. the hardware company has placed Palm OS Powered by ACCESS in their website for their handhelds.

Well, it only strengthens the theory that Palm is not dumping the Palm OS for Windows. But, it also tells us that Palm OS Garnet (Palm OS 5) is here to stay and the supposed Palm OS Cobalt and the ALP (Access Linux Platform) which I'm convinced, will be renamed as the next Palm OS 6, is still far away.

I hate my new MODEM/ROUTER

Lat week, I had upgraded my DSL plan to something like, 2Mbps. Globelines changed the Alcatel Speedtouch 511e to a PROLINK H9300G, a wireless modem/router. I guess the change is because they are now into ADSL2+. Although I don't have anything against the router/modem, it hasn't failed me yet since it was installed. The only thing that I hate about it is it's looks. Though plastic is plastic, and most routers have plastic casings, the one that PROLINK uses is the cheap looking one. I don't know, for me, the router looks like it's un-reliable (again, I'm just ranting because I don't like how it looks). What it replaced (unofficially) is a Speedtouch 580i, a wireless modem/router as well but the type of plastic used was more on the firm and stable side. I just don't like how the PROLINK looks, IT LOOKS CHEAP!!!!

Mobile Broadband or Fixed landline Broadband?

Globe's latest offering of their HSDPA mobile broadband service is very tempting, for P2000.00 one can have broadband anywhere he/she goes. That is, if they have a notebook and enough power to last for whenever.

My dilemma is that, I am a subscriber of Globelines Broadband (with a landline phone) and Globe Handyphone, so basically, I'm a Globe "subscriber". I'm shelling out almost P3000.00 for both the MSF of the landline and the DSL connection, which gives me unlimited "2Mbps" internet connection 24/7. But whenever I go out, say go to work, I still have to either get a WIZ password from my Globe Handyphone (this is built in anyway) or pray that I still have enough credits for the month from my Globe WorldPass account (which is incidentally P250.00/month - consumable).

But with Globe's Mobile Broadband service, I can have around "1.7Mbps" wherever I go (as long as there is a 3G signal) and other services as well like:

Unlimited mobile access via HSDPA, 3G, EDGE, GPRS

Unlimited Wi-Fi* and Dial-up

A Mobile browsing data card*** + data SIM for FREE!

I'm wondering now if it would be best to get another subscription (that's another P2000.00 on top of the P3000.00 that I'm shelling out monthly for the DSL subscription) of Globe Visibility or stick with WorldPass .

The New Treo 680 -- Not so Affordable after all

Looks like the new Treo 680 won't be as affordable as everybody had expected. It's debut in the Philippines has it at P29,800 (from the Philippine Palm website). A few more bucks and you've got the Treo 650 Black Tie edition already. It's approximately P10,000 more than what the US Palm Website is offering.

Others are arguing that it's just in the right price range, considering the software available in the Palm libraries, then perhaps it's worth it. But others say that it's short-changing the consumers. With only a VGA camera in a time where megapixel cameras are all over the place. No WiFi, in almost the same price range the SonyEricsson P990 has WiFi and a megapixel camera at that. Then of course, the aging operating system. This has not been updated for years and Palm has just been tweaking it for survival.

I guess the antennae is worth P6000.00 huh? Because other than moving some of the buttons and slots around, slapping in a little bit more RAM, and chopping off the antenna, it's just the Treo 650 in disguise.

Opera Mini 3.0 Released

For those Opera fans out there. Opera Mini, the versatile web browser that can be installed in any mobile phone that is JAVA capable, has released version 3. Now RSS feeds can be easily added and Photo blogging has been made easy. 
To download, just point your WAP browser to http://operamini.com

RP approves cervical cancer vaccine

RP approves cervical cancer vaccine
By Oliver Teves
Associated Press
Last updated 07:35pm (Mla time) 11/29/2006

THE Bureau of Food and Drugs has approved a vaccine to combat the virus that causes cervical cancer and related diseases, an official of the company that distributes the drug said Wednesday.

The vaccine, Gardasil, is designed to prevent diseases caused by four strains of the human papillomavirus -- HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18 -- with HPV 16 and 18 accounting for about 70 percent of cervical cancer cases, said Dr. Cesar Recto II, medical director for Merck Sharp & Dohme.

The vaccine also prevents genital warts and low-grade cervical lesions in girls and women ages 9 to 26, Recto said, adding that an ongoing study is aimed at expanding the coverage of the vaccine to benefit "mid-adult" women.

The Philippine Cancer Society says 7,277 cases of cervical cancer were diagnosed in 2005, when 3,807 deaths were recorded from the disease.

In June, the U.S. government approved Gardasil, which needs to be administered over a six-month period, costing US$360 per course of treatment.

A spokeswoman for Merck Sharp & Dohme said the vaccine will be available in the Philippines for about P15,000 (US$306) but will be dispensed only by doctors and will not be available over the counter.

US-based drug company Merck & Co., which developed the vaccine, is known as Merck Sharp & Dohme outside the US.

Democracy Player -- my Favorite of the Month

I just downloaded and installed Democracy Player after some time of contemplating. I usually use VLC Media Player and has been satisfied with it. But, I also watch Video Podcasts from iTunes, which, after installing the latest iTunes version 7, has not been quite an enjoyment. Then I found out about Democracy. After installing it, and viewed a stored TV series in my HDD, it immediately took me away.

With VLC on Windows Vista, every time I would open an .avi file, Vista would change the display settings which should really not be bothersome had it not take a lot of RAM space. With Democracy Player, the Vista video settings remains untouched, meaning, it keeps the Aero interface.

With regards to iTunes comparison, Democracy Player would download and play Video Podcasts and plays it seamlessly. iTunes 7 is the buggiest iTunes so far and whenever I play podcasts on it, my RAM usage shoots beyond the meters on my PC.

Hopefully thought, Democracy will not fail me.

ANC using Globelines Broadband

The other day I was watching the ANC channel, it's a Business update and a reporter was at the Philippine Stock Exchange giving updates on the financial market, when at the bottom of the screen, it says that they are using Globelines Broadband to transmit that report to the station. I wonder why ABS-CBN is not using their sister company's (Bayantel) network to transmit their signal. I guess the telecom industry is a bit confusing.

Blogged with Flock

I don't see see point of their argument

    AFTER public discussions on the House bill on free and open source software (FOSS), the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) urged lawmakers to “step back” and rethink its position, the organization’s leader said.“As the representative organization of the Philippine software industry, the Philippine Software Industry Association (PSIA) strongly opposes House Bill 5769, the Free Open Source Software Act of 2006, as sponsored by House Representative Teodoro Casiño,” PSIA president Fermin Taruc said in an e-mail to INQ7.net.
   
“Government has no business or expertise mandating the use of one technology platform over the other. Are they crazy!!!! What do they mean that the Government doesn't have any business mandating the use of Open Source software? This just show how GREEDY these software companies are. They say that the Government must not force people to use Open Source software and yet, they BULLY and DICTATE the progress of each and every company that uses their software.

"Government’s role is to partner with the private sector in providing the environment and business framework in which innovation, creativity and freedom of informed choice can thrive, especially in the area of technology which is characterized by dynamism and disruptive change,” he said in behalf of the PSIA.Taruc said mandating the use of open source software in government is nothing but “myopic” and “a disservice to both users and developers of software -- as well as to the Filipino people. -- I don't think it's the Government that is being Myopic here. This is a lot of bullshit, are these people undermining the capabilities of Open Source software programmers? Using Open Source software will definitely save the Government a lot of money than using their software. Open Source softwares are more stable and offers the same functionality as the paid ones.

”PSIA fears that the bill will “compromise” the local software industry's target to generate revenues and employment for the country by 2010.

“By limiting government agencies to a technology platform, government prevents a level playing field in which various technology providers can compete and establish an experience and revenue base in the domestic market," it said.
"In this context, imposing restrictions on what kind of training can be offered defies all logic and reason," the group said.

RP software association opposes open source bill - INQ7.net

Blogged with Flock

Skype 3.0 Beta for Windows

Skype 3.0 Beta for Windows is out! Now has some major upgrades to the user interface and added nifty features that will be very helpful for users.

Skype now has browser extensions for Internet Explorer and Firefox. You can choose at install time if you want to install these or not. They automatically convert phone numbers on web pages into Skype links. You can simply click them and Skype starts a SkypeOut call to that number.

Introducing Skype 3.0 Beta for Windows - Skype Blogs

Blogged with Flock

Firefox 2.0 Spell Checker

Ever since Firefox has been launched, it has become my primary browser of choice. Before, not because of anything else, but simply because of it's very neat feature, the tabbed browsing. This keeps my desktop neat and uncluttered. Now, it's on version 2.0 and still retains (of course) it's tabbed browsing feature, but this time, it has added a feature that has caught my attention, Spell Checker. Before, I only see this feature on Word processors such as MS Word and OpenOffice, but now, with the advent of online office suites and blogs, spell checker within a browser has become a very useful tool. Although this feature may have been present in some other application that I have been using for a while, with Firefox's spell checker, I don't have to dig into the menus to find it. It's just there and it works. One good reason to download Firefox 2.0. Enjoy!

DivX Suite NOT working on VISTA RC2

Last night, I downloaded DivX Pro 6.4 to see if it will really shrink the file size of my home movies (which incidentally is taking up too much space in my HD), today I decided to try it out. I choose a small file ( around 650MB ) to convert, you know, just to get the feel of it and would give me an approximate time of conversion. But after maybe a couple of minutes of converting, VISTA suddenly reports an error and that DivX converter is not functioning properly. I re-tried it a couple more times and just like the first one, it stops and gives me that error report. Well, I guess I just have to wait until these programs are VISTA compatible.

Vista Sidebar OUT!!!!

It's been almost a month since I've installed Windows VISTA on my WinBox and it's been the same time I've resisted installing Yahoo! Widgets (Konfabulator), but after a while I decided to turn Windows Vista Sidebar off and stay with Yahoo! Widgets. Though it's basically the same, I like Yahoo! Widgets better in appearance and variety. I've more choices with Yahoo! Widgets than with Sidebar. Oh and Widgets hug less memory than Sidebar.

2nd Windows Vista update in 2 days

What's this? It's early in the morning and it's just a few hours after the first update I had after installing VISTA in my WinBox and the Windows Update icon is present again on the taskbar and is downloading update files. I wonder what could these updates be. 

iTunes updates itself to 7.0.2

iTunes has an available update which offers support for the new iPod Shuffle and fixes some bugs that still lurk within the music program.

iTunes 7 is the buggiest of all iTunes released.

AVG Free will not be FREE anymore

STAY PROTECTED: Your AVG Anti-Virus Free 7.1 will be discontinued on 15. January 2007!

This is what is posted in the AVG website. Looks like they've caved in and is very typical of these usual FREE offerings in the internet.

AVG is a very capable anti-virus software, ever since I used it, virus has been inexistent in my PC. But with this turn of events, it looks like PC users will now have only AVAST and KASPERSKY for their FREE anti-virus needs.

The reason why I don't use the very famous NORTON anti-virus is because of the simple reason that it's a memory hog and has a very big footprint. Besides, there are free alternatives that are as effective as NORTON.

UPDATE: MY BAD -- looks like I didn't read the notice that clearly, but thanks to Mgee (reader), who pointed out that only version 7.1 will be removed from the FREE option and would instead be replaced with version 7.5.

AVG Anti Virus: Stay protected with AVG 7.5

Blogged with Flock

Google acquires JotSpot

Wiki editor JotSpot is now part of the Google empire. When I opened my local internet news, I read that JotSpot, the wiki editor which offers Office suite online, was acquired by Google. Then when I opened my email, there was an email from JotSpot, informing me of the acquisition (being a registered user of JotSpot).

Before the Google acquisitions, there JotSpot was one of the companies that offer collaboration softwares like spreadsheets and word processors in the form of wikis. The other company that offer the same form of collaborative application was Writely, which are now both been acquired by Google.

If one will closely look at these actions of Google, it is very obvious that the big G is planning to monopolize all of the online office applications to directly face Microsoft's Office suite. Now this is competition.

Blogged with Flock