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.