Saying goodbye to 2010

Only a day left before the world says goodbye to 2010 -- a year that for some people should have gone on its way much faster than it did for most of the past 12 months. The past 364 days have shown us in an in-your-face manner how vulnerable we humans are, how brittle the ramparts we have built around us to protect our lives and livelihood from nature's unpredictable ways, from the things that other, more evil people and countries can do, and from ourselves.

Here, on these islands, the year has never been less unforgiving than it was for other lands and peoples. In fact, few would disagree with one who would say that the past 12 months were more unkind to Filipinos than they were to other nations.

Man-made and natural disasters we had more than our fair share. Too much rain one moment; too much sun the next -- mountains fall upon our villages and farms and a little later on, our fishponds and ricefields dry up faster than you could say, "disaster unpreparedness."

Our rural places are ruled by roaming bandits and self-declared saviors. Our cities stink like ill-maintained urinals and outhouses. We kill each other for power. We kill and maim each other for money. Sometimes, we kill, maim, and blast each other for no reason at all.

Most of us are poor. We have been this way for as long as we can recall. The microscopic minority that call themselves rich do not give a damn about how the rest of us fare. We survive or perish, they never give the slightest care.

For the foreseeable future and beyond, we are most likely going to continue our dismal and pathetic existence. And, hence, it does not make any sense at all, why most of us are brightly optimistically looking forward to whatever the next year brings us.

Our own pitiful way of compensating for the harshest of realities we find ourselves in? Or are we engaging in a social, mutual feeding of false hopes and collaboratively putting on each other's blinders?

What the heck. I am putting on my own, too.

Goodbye to you, 2010. And good riddance.

Hello, 2011. Here we go again.

Smartphones for budget-smart people

Without a doubt they’re all smart. But without any doubt too, only the superrich or non-smart people can afford them.

Smartphones may indeed enhance your ability to take charge of personal information. These mobile tools are supposedly designed to help you become more organized, more efficient than before you purchased these phones. However, these phones cost so much, they can drive you to the poorhouse.

The Smart from HTC, one of the most affordable smartphones in the market

Coming with prices that range between Php25,000 and Php45,000, these smartphones also would require budget-draining monthly fees that you have to pay for you to enjoy their full range of smarty features.

Optimus Android One Sale by LG Mobile Philippines a Success,Too Successful for Some

Judging from the number of people who formed huge crowds before LG Mobile Philippines' concept stores nationwide, the Korean mobile vendor's November 13 50-percent discounted sale for the Optimus One Android smartphone proved to be a huge success. Apparently, Nokia's surprise (and announced-without-warning) 60-percent-off sale of its C6 phone failed to rain too much on LG Mobile's parade.

As this photo (which I "stole" from LG Mobile Philippines) shows.

Hundreds of consumers and smartphone enthusiasts did not mind the long lines, and some people's "inability to stay in line" just to get their hands on one of those Optimus One Android smartphones on sale at 50% discount. 

There were reports of lack of discipline among some consumers who could not wait in line. This prompted some smartphone enthusiasts to post their complaints on Facebook, the most popular networking site in the country.

Without a doubt, however, this one-day, one-hour event created lots of noise (mostly positive) (mostly negative, unfortunately) for the Korean mobile phone vendor.

P.S. We were told recently that both the LG and Nokia sales became case studies on how not to do sales promotions. Unfortunately (or was that fortunately?), I was not able to cover the event. I met an accident at home the week before the sales.

So, for Nokia and LG (and for their frustrated customers): better sale next time; and next time, can we do it properly?

LG Optimus One Android Phone at Half the Price

LG Mobile Philippines will sell the LG Optimus One Android smartphone at 50% discount on Saturday, November 13. The sale will last for an hour only, from 2:00pm to 3:00pm, at the Korean electronics company's concept stores in these shopping malls – SM Megamall, SM North EDSA Annex, SM Cebu, and Gaisano Davao.

The LG Optimus One, LG Electronics' Android 2.2-powered smartphone

ASUS-Lamborghini Eee PC VX6: Supercar masquerading as a netbook

Mobile phones with built-in cameras are no longer a novelty; and so are mobile phones with Internet, radio receiver, television, and refrigerators (OK, the last one would still make our jaws drop, halfway).

IT vendors are finding ways to up the ante further. Some have forged partnerships with famous brands from other industries, such as the automobile and fashion segments. It has become commonplace too to see computers sporting brands of supercars; and mobile phones bandying about fashionable brands.

For consumers willing and able to pay extra dollars (or pesos, or stones), there is no shortage of Ferrari phones and laptops, or Prada mobile phones.


The Lamborghini Eee PC VX6 netbook from Asus



Asus, the Taiwanese IT vendor that virtually brought us the netbook, recently introduced the Asus-Lamborghini Eee PC VX6 netbook. Not your usual, humble netbook, the VX6 comes with features and capabilities that make it worthy of carrying that Lamborghini badge. Not to mention that it has a supercar-inspired design itself.

LG Mobile: A Secret revived

About six months earlier, my two-year-old LG Secret phone conked out. For some sentimental reasons, however, I decided to have the semi-smartphone repaired instead of sending it for recycling or straight to the landfill. The past several months that passed saw me too pressed for time to bring it to LG Electronics Philippines’ service center. Located in Pasig, one of the Metro’s eastern cities, the service center is quite out of the way of my usual home-to-office-and-to-home routes.

LG Mobile's service center at the SM Megamall. No need to go all the way to Pasig City to have your troubled LG phones fixed.

Lexma Life Set 8310R: Keyboard-and-mouse combo minus the wires

About a couple of weeks ago, I inadvertently left my laptop’s mouse at home. Not wishing to dwell on it as a sign of imminent dementia, I promptly went out of the office to go and find a retail outlet selling computer peripherals.

The Life Set 8310R wireless keyboard-and-mouse combo from Lexma

A circuitous trek around Makati’s Salcedo Village finally led me to an Office Warehouse branch. The office supplies store carries several brands of aftermarket computer supplies including dozens of computer mice. After agonizing over which brand and type of mouse, I narrowed down my list to a pair of wireless mice.

iPod, iPhone, BlackBerry, Alienware desktops, and all those other shiny tech toys and gadgets

Every day, I spend at least eight hours, most of my working hours, in front of a computer. Those hours, which pass by like a speeding train, are spent checking my office email, responding to those pesky instant messages, surfing the Internet, and reviewing work manuals. Of course, the biggest portion goes to doing my job, which is editing works by industry analysts.

The Alienware Area 51 desktop (photo courtesy of Dell)

An hour after getting home, when those who were with me in the train or bus that brought me home are getting ready for bed, it would be my home PC’s turn to have my full attention. I then spend a couple or so hours more, working on my weekly column and articles that my other employer, a newspaper publisher, expects me to submit as promptly as possible.

Sony NWZ-B152F MP3 player: Gets out of my wish list, gets into my life

Last week, I finally gave in to my desires (at least, one of them anyway). I bought a Sony NWZ-B152F Walkman MP3 player, which happened to be on my gadgets wish list. Nope. I did not have a sudden and uncontrollable urge to splurge. I don’t have that much dinero to splurge with, in the first place.

The NWZ-B152F as it appears on Sony Philippines' Web site

While my original plan was to buy the Sony MP3 player sometime after Christmas, I found myself with no recourse but do so after my editor told me to do a story on a local television program that highlights how technology can help improve the lives of Filipinos. He told me to interview the talk show host.

Nikon Coolpix L22: Compact and budget, almost perfect

Last week, I bought myself a compact, budget-friendly camera at the SM Megamall's appliance center. After browsing the store's collections of digital cameras, and those of the other retail outlets located in the EDSA shopping mall that used to be the country's largest, I finally settled on the Nikon Coolpix L22.

The Nikon Coolpix L22 is a highly capable compact digicam.

Priced at Php7,200, the compact camera comes bundled with a 4GB SD card, two rechargeable batteries and a charger, and a camera pouch. It was also supposed to come with a pair of disposable AA batteries, but when I checked the whole package after I got home, the disposables were nowhere to be found. Not that I actually minded at all.

After all, for quite some time now, I have never liked using those landfill-bound batteries.

The omnipresent phone: TerraStar Genus smart/satellite handset

When I think of satellite phones, I always think of the movie "Jurrasic Park 3." Those scenes involving a yellow satellite phone -- on the plane that eventually crashed, of the protagonists sifting through a mound of dino-crap and looking for the same satellite phone -- somehow convinced me that having a satellite phone means having a constant access to a dependable means of communication. (Although, it could also mean potential bad luck for whoever is holding the phone.)


TerraStar Genus smart/satellite phone

Now come media reports that a relatively unknown tech company has convinced a major U.S. mobile service provider to sell its satellite phone that moonlights as a smartphone (or is it a smartphone doing part-time work as a satellite phone?).

Symantec releases Norton Antivirus 2011 and Norton Internet Security 2011

Symatec says that up to 65 percent of Internet users worldwide fall victim to cybercrime. For Filipino users, however, the rate is much worse at 87 percent. So, the next time you and your family and friends surf the Internet, it won't hurt if you'd keep in mind that you could be just a click away from becoming a cybercrime victim.

The Norton AntiVirus 2011 comes with an antispyware tool.

It's a good thing that computer security technology providers are working tirelessly to develop tools and applications designed to protect us and our computers from these cybercriminals and their shenanigans.

NWZ-B152F (B Series): Gadgets on my wish list, part 4.

What costs less than Php2,500 and offers up to 18 hours of music playback?

The NWZ-B152F: A portable MP3 player to die for?

The NWZ-B152F, despite its unwieldy name, is one highly mobile MP3 (and WMA) player from Sony's Walkman series of portable music players. It comes with 2GB of built-in storage, which is enough to hold up to more than 30 hours of music files.

iPod Touch 4G: Gadgets on my wish list, part 3

People say the iPad is just a blownup iPod Touch. For me, however, I think the iPod Touch is an iPad at just about the right size. I have never been a big fan of the iPod, and I have always been a Walkman guy. In fact, my first portable music player was a Sony, way back when listening to music on the go meant being mobile with a Sony Walkman.

The iPod Touch 4G: at the top of my gadget wish list.

From the very first time I saw the iPod Touch, however, I have always dreamed of owning one someday. But because I had a Samsung MP3 player and a Philips portable media player then, I could not bring myself to blowing some 10K pesos for a new MP3 and video player. Even though it's a media player dubbed by the popular media as one of the coolest.

Samsung Galaxy Tab: Gadgets on my wish list, part 2

As each day passes, more and more of my friends and family are giving in to their desire for an iPad, Apple's wildly popular tablet computer. This despite the fact that the iPad has still yet to be launched (officially) in the Philippines. As of today, those hundreds of iPads you see being bandied about by their owners around the metropolis -- they're all gray-market iPads.

Can hardly wait until Samsung's Galaxy Pad rocks my world.

I never would turn down an opportunity to buy myself an iPad, too. But I just cannot bring myself to spend a considerable part of my annual income on something that almost everyone I know says is the coolest thing to own. I never appreciate being told by almost everybody else what is cool and what is not.

I'd rather be the judge for myself of what is cool and what should be avoided at all cost. That is why, I am waiting for Samsung's Galaxy Tab to reach these local shores.

Gadgets on my wish list

Christmas is barely a couple of months away, and this early, people are getting ready with their lists -- of the people (family, friends, and coworkers) they would give gifts to and of the goodies they would buy for them. This happens every year.

And on these islands, the effects seem more pronounced than they are overseas. Somehow, whenever the "Ber" months come, people transform into clones of Santa Claus and his helpers, combined. Manufacturers and sellers, meanwhile, are crossing their fingers too. After all, the holiday season accounts for a large portion of their annual sales.

Asus Eee PC 1015PE: Still sexy, still hot netbooks are

Asus,  the generally acknowledged creator of the superportable-computer category, recently introduced the Eee PC 1015PE, a midrange 10.1-inch netbook. Part of the Seashell product line, the thin and light 1015PE combines aesthetics with mobility, making it one of the slightly better looking portable computers in the market today.

The Eee PC 1015PE in its usual black incarnation.

Compared with some of its siblings, the 1015PE is thicker and a couple or so rungs lower in the aesthetics ladder, putting it near the level occupied by most other netbooks in the market.

Coming with a year of free Asus WebStorage (up to 500GB) online data storage service, the Asus netbook offers some respite from storage-related headaches -- for users who would overshoot the unit's built-in 250GB hard drive.

Acer Aspire One D260: One more reason for sticking with netbooks

The wife and I were looking for a portable and reasonably powerful computing platform that she could bring with her back to the U.S. Of course, wiser counsel would have told us she could save some money by buying her next notebook there. But, she said, she wanted to be able to communicate with us, her family in Manila, right from the very moment she would enter the airport premises.

My wife's first choice, the purple D260. Tough luck, the store was out of stock.

She also wanted the following: it should be portable and light enough to bring wherever her job as a social worker would take her, but powerful enough to perform the usual computing tasks she does with her desktop PC.

Lenovo unveils the IdeaCentre B300 all-in-one desktop computer

Yesterday, mangyantech witnessed the Philippine launch of Lenovo's IdeaCentre B300 all-in-one desktop computer. Held at the Conti's restaurant in Greenbelt 2, Makati City, the product launch was a relatively intimate event, which in a way highlighted the AIO PC and its features more.
 

The B300, which can be configured to be powered by up to Intel Core 2 Duo processor E7600, runs Windows 7 Home Premium and comes with the Lenovo Enhanced Experience for Windows 7.

Apple's App Store lets users try apps first before buying them

Here's something you'd wish a certain kind of establishments on Quezon and Makati avenues would readily adopt. Apple created a new section of App Store, the company's online applications store.

The Try Before You Buy section allows buyers to play with or use a limited version of the apps, then purchase those apps if they find them to their liking.

Lack of iPhone 4: Apple's pleasant problem that hurts nevertheless

I know many electronics vendors would love trading places with Apple right now. After all, who would not want this scenario: thousands of consumers lining up at your retail outlets, eagerly awaiting their turn for the chance to part with their hard-earned money in order to lay their hands on your latest product.

Hell, I know several people who would sell their own mothers for the remotest opportunity to land in the vicinity of that scenario.

Darth Vader Strikes Bank

Puns and wisecracks aside, this one most people (especially, the sci-fi fans) would love to hear about. A man dressed as Darth Vader robbed a New York bank recently. According to a New York Daily News story, bank customers thought the dark Jedi-costumed robber was joking. The Force-challenged suspect, however, promptly showed them he was serious.

Instead of a light saber, however, the sci-fi-inspired criminal was packing a pistol.

India's 35-dollar slate PC

Seeking to enhance Indian college students' education and IT skills, which the Indian government believes will boost the country's economic development, India has developed a dirt-cheap slate computer. The 35-dollar touchscreen tablet PC is set for release in 2011 and is seen as reinforcing India's IT leadership.

Developed by the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science, the gadget is part of the Indian government's efforts to improve the country's education system. With a literacy rate of about 60%, India lags other Third-World countries, such as China, which has 94%.

Apple to recall iPhone 4?

A story that appeared in the online edition of the U.K. newspaper Daily Mail said that Apple CEO Steve Jobs might have no choice but to recall the iPhone 4, the latest edition of the Cupertino company's smart phone. Apparently, consumer concern about the diminishing radio signal quality of the handset, and the uncharacteristic mishandling of initial customer complaints by Jobs and company might have painted the normally cool company into a corner.

Seven Windows 7 per second

Brandon LeBlanc, Microsoft's in-house Windows blogger, in one of his recent posts, disclosed that his employer has sold 150 million Windows 7 licenses. And while Apple made some noise with its iPhone 4 and iPad sales announcements, including selling 3 iPads per second, Microsoft clearly stole some thunder with its "seven Windows 7 per second" announcement.

Another alien has landed!

(Alienware M11x)

I had a chance to get up close and personal with the Alienware M11x notebook from Dell when the computer company opened its latest Metro Manila outlet last week.

Nokia fights for smart-phone turf with the N8

(Nokia's N8 smart phone)

Nokia has got news for all smart-phone enthusiasts out there. The Finnish mobile phone vendor wishes to remind you all, it is the number 1, numero uno, the big boss, in the smart-phone arena. And Nokia might have a soft voice right now, it is nevertheless holding a very big stick -- the N8.

Cherry Mobile's Eclipse smart phone

(Cherry Mobile Eclipse)

Local mobile phone company Cherry Mobile is raring to enter the smart phone market by launching its MS Windows Mobile-powered Cherry Mobile Eclipse.

Acer makes presentations highly mobile

(Acer K11)

Acer recently introduced its K11 portable projector (see picture above). Weighing a mere 0.61 kilogram, the K11 comes with 200 ANSI lumens of brightness, making sure that despite its puny size it offers users and audiences well-defined images and presentations.

Jobs has something against bloggers?

Please feel free to kick my behind if I was guilty of taking Apple CEO Steve Jobs' declaration, "I don't want to see us descend into a nation of bloggers," out of context. If I did, maybe because it was not the hardest thing to do. Anyway, here is a link to Jobs' interview with the Wall Street Journal.

Windows MIA in the tablet PC wars?

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer can say whatever he wants about the tablet computer market's future, but all signs indicate that Windows most likely would never be a significant factor, at least for the very near future. Most industry observers concur that Windows does not figure much in the tablet PC scene.

It must be a rather painful and embarrassing situation to be in. Imagine, everybody is talking about the future of computing and nobody is saying anything about Microsoft and its flagship platform, Windows. Hey, even PC vendors who have had long history with Windows are turning out tablet PCs running on Android, Google's mobile operating system.

Many tablet PCs to battle with the iPad

Apple said it has sold more than two million iPad tablet PCs as of May 31. This has prompted some industry analysts to predict that the Cupertino company will sell at least 10 million iPads before the year ends. Watching IT could find no strong reasons to disagree with these market observers.

A pair of tablet PCs from Asus

(Eee Pad)

While Taiwanese IT vendor ASUS (http://www.asus.com/) claims its pro-cloud computing philosophy has prompted it to come up with the Eee Pad and Eee Tablet slate computers, I cannot help but see something of a poetic justice at work. Please humor me by recalling with me that Steve Jobs and company have berated the netbook on several occasions.

iPad mania hits U.S. media

American media outlets were all agog over the iPad, the tablet PC from Apple. Some media commentators who were deemed worthy by the Cupertino company to receive an advanced copy of the tablet PC were obviously smitten with what they now dub as the latest bestselling device from Apple.

Honda's videogame-like driving simulator

Honda began selling in Japan its all-new driving simulation system, developed to promote road and driving safety. The simulator includes features designed to help drivers recognize and understand potential safety risks that drivers commonly face while driving.

The simulator comes with a 2-axis motion system to help approximate a real-life driving experience and LCD display systems to present a realistic "driving experience."

I do not doubt that this simulator from Honda will help driver trainees and even seasoned drivers enhance their driving safety skills. And it doesn't hurt either that the simulator looks like (and most probably, feels like) an automobile driving-inspired video game system.

Certainly, this is something nice to have.