4GB lang? EeePC

4GB lang?! This is the top remark I get when I tell them about my new toy. "Ang liit naman ng capacity?" and "walang windows?". This makes me laugh.

Everytime someone asks me what a good notebook computer is, I always ask them back, "what you going to use it for?". Unfortunately, most of them would rather buy an expensive notebook pc, without considering the different factors. Most would be looking at the processor. They would like to have the "best" the "newest", "kailangan Core2Duo!", yeah right! "Tapos dapat Windows Vista" or "why not buy a MacBook?" oh ok! "You should get the one with the biggest hard drive capacity" said one, "oh and that wide screen is much better to look at" said another.

Ok so you bought that spanking new notebook PC with Core2Duo, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, Windows Vista Home Premium, glossy 15 inch screen. Ok what now? What are you going to use it for? Uhm, let me see, oh ok, update my Friendster and Multiply account, I have to blog my "new" notebook. Hehehehe HELLO! OK KA LANG! CORE2DUO and the first thing you'll be doing is to update your profile?! nyahahaha

Then what? "Oh and I have to install iTunes, I now have a laptop to sync my iPod with" ok, then? "Uhm, oh! I have a report on Thursday, I can show my classmates my new computer while I use PowerPoint for my presentation!" Yeah right! Hehehe I would bet that that Microsoft Office didn't come with your new notebook? Ha! Huli! hahaha

Ok then, let's say, let's meet up at Starbucks in Greenbelt, just to hang out, and did I mention that's a hotspot? Yeah, you can bring your laptop and we can talk and surf there. I'm ok with my ASUS EeePC, it fits in my backpack, heck, I can even bring it as it is, no bags, because it has it's own sleeve. How about you, will you bring your notebook as is, not inside a bag? You wish! Most notebook PCs at the moment are heavy, plus you have to carry around that very BIG power brick! Excuse me, my power brick is small and light, I'm using a MacBook. Yeah right again! The EeePCs power adapter is as small as a cellphone charger, beat that!

The point, most people consider the features a big factor in buying a laptop, and yet, they don't utilize the features at all. Most would just be using a web browser, powerpoint and document editor, oh and picture viewer and that's it! And yet they want the latest and most expensive notebooks out there. Just like what they do with mobile phones, they want the most expensive, but as them what they do with it, it boils down to texts and calls (that is kung may load! Nyahahaha nakakahiya, worth P35K ang phone mo tapos naka prepaid ka lang? SHYET! Smart Buddy pa! Nyahahaha what JOLOGS!) hehehe oh and taking pictures of me in the car with my teeth and tongue out! Hehehehe galing.

Notebooks are meant to be portable, mobile, easy to carry and light. The ASUS EeePC is all that. If you don't edit videos and pictures, why get an expensive laptop that will be obsolete in 6 months time (this reminds me of the early adapters of the MacBook, in less than 6 months, there gadgets became obsolete with the coming of the Core2Duos at the same price NYAHAHAHAHAAHA!).

These laptops, mostly has 13, 14, 15 inch screen size are HEAVY! Not too portable. Eh excuse me, I have a car so I don't worry about the weight, yeah right AGAIN, then what, most of the time you leave it in the car because it's heavy. With the EeePC, I can replace it in 6 months to one year, because it's not that expensive. Heck it's cheaper than my mobile phone.

So stop being a prick and drool over. If I'm a student, and laptops are not allowed in the library, I would just get this one and I can sneak it in and enjoy surfing and updating friendster and multiply inside the library. Take that hahaha

Modifying the OS of eeePC

This is very fun. Much fun than when I first tried UBUNTU. I now have modified the ASUS eeePC Easy Mode to the Advanced Mode (desktop).


The EASY Mode is the default screen of the ASUS eeePC. I understand ASUS for doing this, to stick to the gizmo's motto EASY to work, EASY to Learn, EASY to Play.
Anyone who has used a mobile phone will find the icon based user interface of the eeePC, very useful. But for serious users, this is a bit boring. They want more usability. Thus, being Linux the base architecture of this operating system, in just a few days, users now have figured out how to transform the icon-based EASY MODE to the typical desktop ADVANCED MODE. Much more, users can shift from one user interface to another.


I warn you though, it's not that simple and some newbies have "broken" their units (which was recovered simply by pressing and holding F9 after pressing the power button), doing the process. Although just like me, when the process is successful, there is joy felt all throughout (what a geek nyahahaha).

For detailed instructions on how to do it, just click here.

Wow! SRP for the EeePC Locally from ASUS

"Asus Philippines Sales Manager Peter Chua said the Eee PC will be targeted at extremely mobile executives, students and home users who have neither the space nor budget to have a notebook PC.

Chua said the Eee PC comes in 2 Gb, 4 Gb, and 8 Gb models. The 4 Gb model will be rolled out in the market in November and will be priced at 19,800 pesos. The other models will be introduced in early 2008." -- Inquirer.net

If this is the case, then I guess I got mine at a very good price. It's going to be a grand more than I got it. Hopefully PC Corner will not change their prices. It will still be a deal.

Resigned on Leopard

After convincing myself to upgrade my lowly iBook to Leopard (Mac OS
10.5), I never thought I was up for disappointment.

I always end up with an error saying that the "ESSENTIAL FILES" or
something like that cannot be found from the install disc. Which led
my iBook to loosing all it's data (good thing I did a back up before
the procedure), even my TIGER. Which means that I have to reinstall
TIGER after the series of failed LEOPARD UPGRADE.

Even the TIGER reinstall was tiresome. Because I had to re-install my
applications and the worst thing was the updates!

Then I found out that I was not alone (no thanks to the local very
"helpful" mac users group, all I saw was all praises for LEOPARD
without any hitch, YEAH RIGHT!), from apple forums around the world.
There were installs that led to bricked macs. The reason that they
are pointing to is the dual layer disc of LEOPARD, looks like, some
old mac (running PowerPC processors), it's optical drives, have some
issues accessing the 2nd layer of data from the DVDs.

Still, up to the present, APPLE has not issued any resolution on this
problem.

My New Toy: ASUS eeePC sub-notebook

Every since they announced this last summer, I was very eager to get one. What tempted me from getting this was the price point. Then, it was announced to be in the area of $200, that's just in the area of P15T with taxes in. At first, they said it's going to be released sometime August, then it was postponed a couple of months more. Of course, I was not expecting it to be available locally right away (it's not like Apple you know). What made the wait more exciting was the fact that a local PC store kept on teasing me (website), of it's pending release. Add the fact that I kept on reading from the interweb that a lot of users are getting their hands on with their new EeePC and they are all liking it (DAMN what a punishment!). Although all these while, the prices have shot up to more than Php15T. I don't mind, as long as it's portable, and within my price range, it's all ok. One of the top factors I consider in getting a portable computer is, of course, portability. That's why, even though made obsolete by the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros, I am not thinking of replacing my iBook, because it's portable, at 12" wide, that's a deal.

Anyways, PC Corner's website said that the ASUS EeePC will be released on the 5th of November. But when I called them at their Gilmore store, they said that it will commercially be available on the 8th at 6pm instead. Considering the distance of the store from my place and the time, I opted to call the next day. And was very excited to know that it's already available. But having stuff to do on that friday, I opted to go the first thing in the morning on the 10th that's a Saturday. On my way to the store, I was praying that there will still be a unit for me. Good enough I was able to get one. Actually, it is available from the PC Corner website, for delivery, which will take two days, but I'm the hands on person, I want to experience holding the unit right away (I know pretty geeky hehehe).

Just like a kid with a new toy, I was so excited to use it. And just like what I've expected, the booting up is fast, and I was able to use it (surfing) out of the box (of course, that was after I connected to my wireless network at home).

At of the moment, only the 4G Surf is available locally and in white. With the following configurations to follow suit.

	Intel® Celeron® M (256Mb) / 02Gb Media Flash Drive
	Intel® Celeron® M (512Mb) / 02Gb Media Flash Drive
	Intel® Celeron® M (512Mb) / 04Gb Media Flash Drive -- 4G Surf
	Intel® Celeron® M (1.0Gb) / 04Gb Media Flash Drive
	Intel® Pentium® M (512Mb) / 04Gb Media Flash Drive
	Intel® Pentium® M (512Mb) / 08Gb Media Flash Drive
	Intel® Pentium® M (512Mb) / 16Gb Media Flash Drive
	Intel® Pentium® M (1.0Gb) / 16Gb Media Flash Drive

This is the simplified specifications of what I got

Model Name	Eee PC 8G	Eee PC 4G	Eee PC 4G Surf	Eee PC 2G Surf
Display	7"	7"	7"	7"
Intel CPU & Chipset	●	●	●	●
Operating System	Linux Windows XP compatible	Linux Windows XP compatible	Linux Windows XP compatible	Linux Windows XP compatible
Ethernet Communication	●	●	●	●
WLAN	●	●	●	●
Memory	1G (DDR2)	512 MB (DDR2)	512 MB (DDR2)	256 MB (DDR2)
S.S.D. Storage (Solid-State Disk)	8G	4G	4G	2G
Camera	●	●	-	-
Audio	Hi-Definition audio Stereo speaker Microphone	Hi-Definition audio Stereo speaker Microphone	Hi-Definition audio Stereo speaker Microphone	Hi-Definition audio Stereo speaker Microphone
Battery	4 Cells: 5200 mAh, 3.5hrs*	4 Cells: 5200 mAh, 3.5hrs*	4 Cells: 4400 mAh, 2.8hrs*	4 Cells: 4400 mAh, 2.8hrs*
Weight	0.92 kg	0.92 kg	0.92 kg	0.92 kg
Launch Date	End of November	10/16 Global Launch	Mid of November	End of November
* Specificatioin changes are subject to different models * Actual battery life will depend on actual operations and other settings. * Product contains software under GPL license agreement

A little review of the unit after a few days of usage:
IN THE BOX:
- the unit (pearly white)
- charger (a little bigger than an ordinary mobile phone charger, smaller than my iBook power adapter)
- Printed user's guide
- DVD of Windows Drivers
- battery 5200 mAh
- soft case/sleeve (black)

THE UNIT
It has a 7 inch screen. At first I thought, based on what I've read, is small and now resolution at 800 pixels only, but I was wrong, when I pulled up images, it came up as crisp and clear, colors are vivid and comes out much better than the larger LCD screens, this is perhaps to the compressed pixels.

The body is quite sturdy, with the buttons firm on the touch and push. This is much better from the buttons I saw on those NEO laptops. I did not hear any squeaking sounds when I slightly twisted the unit. The latch that attaches the monitor to the body is not flimsy. No latch that will lock the lid when close (pretty much like the other notebook pc's out there). The design is well, not like what I've expected. Personally, I have never been a fan of ASUS laptop designs, but this one is nice.

There is a removable panel at the bottom, from what I've read, when opened, it will expose another RAM slot for upgrades, but unusually, there is a warranty sticker that is blocking one of the screws. ASUS made it clear that they are not positioning this as a laptop replacement (yeah!), so if one wants an upgrade, he/she has to purchase another unit with a higher hardware specs (as if that will stop us right?).

The back is bare, because it's occupied mostly by the battery pack. The left side contains an RJ45 port (LAN), supposedly there's an RJ11 port beside it (modem port), but in my unit, it's blocked by a rubber stopper. From what I've read, there is a port and connections, but the modem or one of it's component is missing. One USB 2.0 port and jacks for headphones and mic. There are four LED indicator lights in front. Power, Charging, SSD and WLAN indicators. On the right side, there is a VGA port, two USB 2.0 ports and a card reader that can handle SD, MMC, SDMC.

The keyboard is the catch. Well, I don't think it is. It's small. But I was able to write this article from it, so I guess I don't have a problem with it. Maybe those peeps with humongous fingers will. The response is good and tactile feedback is impressive. The touchpad is responsive as well, though I'm used to the a single button touchpad (because the iBook has only one button), it's on the hard to press side. The layout of the keyboard is the standard layout albeit the small size.

THE OPERATING SYSTEM and SOFTWARE
It's running an ASUS tweaked XANDROS distro of Linux. Others might be turned off upon hearing that it's running on Linux, but believe me, even a 5 year old kid could use this computer. Using it is a no brainer. The applications are arranged into tabs (much like the cellphone that you're using) and in each tab, there are lots of large icons, that even people with Presbyopia will appreciate.

I'm not too familiar with Linux applications, but I will mention those that, I think, people will be using the most.
- Firefox - web browsing
- OpenOffice - counterpart of the usual Microsoft Office suit (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) and the good thing is, it's compatible vice versa
- Pidgin - it's a unified instant messenger where the user can enroll all his/her IM accounts from Yahoo! Messenger, AOL, MSN, Google Talk
- Thunderbird - for those who would rather use an email client in the computer than use the web counterparts
- Acrobat Reader
- Skype

It also has a PIM application, a counterpart for Microsoft Outlook. On the FUN tab, it has a photo viewer, media player (which can detect and iPod), voice recorder and a video recorder from the on-board webcam.

Most of the icons are just shortcuts to websites. There are icons for popular webmails such as Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and AOL. You will see a lot of Google-ish here, as there is a dedicated icon for iGoogle (which will just open up Firefox and bring you to Google.com/ig.

It's not unusual too that they thought of kids when developing this product. As there are lots of kid-ish applications and links available.

OVERALL
I like the product because of it's size, it's functionality and the price. I got it for almost Php18T. Hey, my mobile phone is more expensive than this hehehehe. It's so portable that you don't need to buy a laptop bag and virtually telling the world, go ahead and mug me because I'm carrying a laptop. Also, it's not that heavy. Laptop users (especially windows laptops) will have the power adapters to add to the weight of the whole thing. With this one, it's just like having a communicator in your bag.

I have an iBook, and (i know I'll get flack from Mac users), I only use it for surfing the web, and making my lectures and presentations. I like my iBook because of it's instant on, but now, the EeePC is challenging that.

I think the sub-20K price is the sweet price point. Because for me, once you cross the 20K mark, better get a full-fledged notebook computer instead. Besides, for less than 20K, it's easy to get another one after a year. Hehehehe I guess I've exposed my intentions.

Reinterating why I like the Mac

Why i like my iBook or perhaps all Macs, maybe because of OS X, focuses only on one reason, the immediate boot up. It's not techinically booting up since is just waking up from sleep. But it helps a lot. If I want to do something right away, I don't have to wait for a minute or two for my laptop to wake up. Windows notebooks have the same feature, it's called Hibernate, but it's not as fast the Mac OS does. This is the main reason I stay with Mac but other factors considered, I wouldn't turn my back completely on Windows.

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!