REPOST: About the Good ol' Days

Reposting something from Facebook which I can identify with... :)

When I was a kid, I didn't have a laptop, iPod, Blackberry, PS3 or iPad. I played outside with friends, bruised my knees, made up adventurous fantasies and played hide and seek. I ate what my mom made and Jollibee was a treat. I would think twice before I said "no" to my parents. Life wasn't hard, it was great and I survived. Kids these days are spoiled. Re-post this if you appreciate the way you were raised. I think we were happier kids :)
Kids these days lost something - Appreciation

Cheers! =)

originally posted by jv.

Latest promos for just about everyone on the Web

I don't usually blog about any ads that I ran into, but at least one of the current advertising campaigns right now should appeal to some on the net. So, I'm just doing my part in spreading the good promos out there right now.

This picture pretty much sums up the campaigns. We have something for SingTel and AMPed users, Lady Gaga Fans, Marigold brand patrons, logo designers and artists, anyone who uses makeup, bloggers, Facebook, Twitter and other social media buffs. And did I mention, also anyone who wants to win an iPad 2 or XBox Kinect? :))

Disney Junior preview Loot!

Finally, the most important part of the Disney Junior preview is here: the freebies! :)

 

So we got from the preview:

• Disney Junior paperbag
• Mickey Mouse stuffed toy
• Disney Junior notebook
• Disney Junior USB drive
• Disney Junior folder with fact sheets (not really a loot, but hey, it's free!)

 

My IT Show 2011 Loot - Printer Inks

IT Shows are always a good place to get good deals for printers. Whether buying a new printer or buying supplies such as print cartridges and photo papers.

We have a Canon Pixma MP640 printer which has 5 separate print cartridges: 1 for b&w document printing and 4 for colored printing (CMY + black; yep that's two black inks).

It just so happens that they are still selling the set of print cartridge (code 821) for SGD 88 per set. You also get SGD 10 voucher for NTUC Fairprice. Not a bad deal.. So I bought two sets. :)

Checking out iOS 4.0 for iPhone 3G

Note: These are my observations for iOS 4.0 on iPhone 3G only. Many features are only supported in iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4.0, most likely due to the hardware limitations.

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Supported Features:

Folders
You can now organize apps further by placing them into custom folders. While in "wiggle" mode, simply drag one app on top of another. This will automatically create a new folder.

At least for the 3G, each folder can only contain up to 12 applications. And you cannot create subfolders within each folder (we tried, no luck). Although a bit limited, it is a great additional feature that should help clear up the clutter.

And if you're not comfortable setting up Folders on your iPhone, you can set up Folders within iTunes instead.


New Mail Features
The biggest new feature for Mail is that now you have the option to view your mails in all of your email accounts into a single unified mailbox.

You can reply, reply all, forward, and download images. You can even move mail from one account to the other.

In addition, by default emails are organized by threads. You can enable/disable this on Settings > Mails, Contacts, Calendars and slide on/off Organize By Thread.


iBooks
New addition, though frankly, this came in a little too late. There are already too many eBook readers online. Still, you do have the option to browse and buy books online, so if you are into that kind of thing, having the iBooks would be a blast for you.


Create Playlists
My personal favorite new feature!

Before, the only playlist you can edit is the "On The Go" playlist; you had to connect to iTunes to create and edit playlists. Also, if your existing "On The Go" playlist, if different from the previously synced "On The Go", will be updated to "On The Go-1", and so on. Quite irritating.

Now, you can now do this on the fly. Not just the On The Go. You can now create multiple playlists on your iPhone. On top of that, you can also edit any of your existing custom playlists.

All in all, a great improvement.


Photo Sharing and Copying
In Photos, you can now only Share or Copy at most 5 images at a time. The five-image limit prevents the memory leak issue experienced before when one tried to share/copy unlimited number of photos at a time.

When sharing large images (via email), you will be prompted that you can reduce the message size by scaling images down to Small, Medium, or Large. Or course, you can stick to the Actual Size if you wanted.

In case you wanted to send more than five images, simply Copy five images at a time then Paste them to your email.


Photo Places
Photos with geo-location data are now organized in the Places feature under Photos. You will be presented with a map (c/o Google). The locations where your photos are taken are marked with pushpins ala-Google Maps.


Location Services
Prior to iOS 4.0, Location Services can only be configured globally. Now, it can be configured on a per-App basis. That is, you can opt to enable it for Camera, and turn it off for everything else.


Safari Search Engine
The default search engine is Google. If you're tired of it, you can select Yahoo! or Bing instead.


More Secure Passcode Lock
The Passcode Lock can now be alphanumeric, providing even more security.

In case you still wish to stick to the simple 4-digit passcode lock, you can select that instead as well.

All of these can be set in Settings > General > Passcode Lock


Gifting Apps
The new Gift This App option is now available in App Store. After some experimenting, I noted that this option is only available in iTunes for applications which are (1) paid apps and (2) currently installed on your iPhone.

I haven't actually tried gifting an app yet. Anyone already tried this one out? :D


Expanded Spotlight Screen
The search feature of the iPhone now includes searching the Web (via Safari) as well as Wikipedia.


Other Features:
Messaging Character Count - now configurable on/off
Hiding Calendars (in case you sync your iPhone on multiple machines)
Cellular Data - now configurable on/off
Lyrics and Podcast Iinfo - now configurable on/off

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Unsupported Features:

And now, we come to the more heartbreaking part -- the unsupported iOS 4.0 features in iPhone 3G:

Multitasking
The greatest and perhaps most hyped feature of iOS 4.0 is NOT supported in 3G. Oh well, that's it for the 3G then.


Orientation Lock
You can now lock the iPhone to portrait view. That is, it longer changes to the landscape view the moment you shift your iPhone a little to the side. This is a feature that is part of the Multitasking controls, so obviously this was a no-go as well. It would have been a great addition, though.


Customizable Homescreen Background
Just to clarify, there used to be only one wallpaper -- for the Lock screen. Now, there is the Lock Screen wallpaper, and there's the Homescreen wallpaper -- the background behind your apps -- and you can assign a different one for each page, as I understand.


Spell Check
The typical word processing application feature is not available in 3G -- or at least I haven't been able to make it work yet. Supposedly, when using any application, say, Notes, any misspelled words will have the familiar red zigzag lines under the words. So far, I've not seen it yet.


Digital Zoom
The Camera app still does not have the digital zoom. This is easily remedied by using third-party apps though, although quality... well, it's best left to the user.


Zoom while Shooting Video
Well, iPhone 3G is not capable of shooting video in the first place, so no surprise, zooming while shooting is another no-go.


Video Playback in Page
Supposedly, in iOS 4, videos will now play right on the page, instead of launching the video player. Still a no-go for iPhone 3G.

Daddy-to-Be's Long Reprieve

And it's another one of those times when I'm so no blogging for a long while. Not that I don't want to.I simply put it (blogging) off because I'm busy with something else. You know, important things that requires my utmost attention... sort of. :)

So what the hell have I been up to?

Birthday May
My birthday. My birth month. Yey! Yipee! Nothing unusual. Same old, same old celebration at the house with my wife. TV. Cake. Food. Never gets old! :)

Then towards the end of the month, we returned to good ol' Philippines -- way after the May 2010 elections. Our last visit was way back August 2009. Those were painful times for us... So at least now, it's good to look back at our last visit as a more pleasant one.

Unfortunately, the last visit was not without casualties. The touchscreen of Che's Nintendo DS Lite is broken. Well, not broken broken. Just that it can't detect the stylus accurately anymore. It's like there's always a stylus pointed at the upper left region of the screen, so when you're not doing anything, you will see the pointer always on that location. Oh well, I guess it's time to move on. I'm actually eyeing that new Nintendo DS XL. Not sure if the R4DS works on that as well though; haven't had the time to look into it yet...

Then there's this nagging cold and flu. I had this since before our flight home, but I thought I could get by with just Tempra Forte. Guess not. And the weather did not help at all. Raining slightly for ten minutes followed by intense sunlight everyday really did a number on me. Good thing I still get to drive the car... Wow, I missed driving!


Raining June
Yep, rain, rain, rain, and more rain. Good to know that by the time we left, it already started raining again in Manila... At least for the first few days, that is.

So we had the usual cleanup-after-returning-from-a-trip. A bit harder that usual since we're also rearranging stuff for the baby. :) We finally decided to get a Trends portable aircon for the master bedroom. And yes, we're living in a flat without an aircon for the last two years. So installing the portable aircon was a welcome change. It was fun installing the exhaust for the portable aircon; removing the dusty old roman curtain, covering the exhaust cover with printed foil cover (heh), and moving things around so we can place the aircon as close to the window as possible.

Then there's two events that keeps Singapore busy these days: the annual IT Show in Suntec City and, of course, the Great Singapore Sale (GSS). Things just got a bit busier. :)

We already planned this way back... The next big thing that we will buy is a videocam. And so, after much comparison, and weighing of the pros and cons, we finally decided on buying a shiny blue Sony HDR-CX150E. It's within our slightly tightening budget, lightweight, has an internal 16GB harddisk, supports both the Sony memory stick and the SD card, touchscreen, 3.1 Megapixels, 25x Optical zoom, Full HD (1080). And since it's the IT Show, we got a lot of freebies - extra batt, video frame, tripod, etc. And so there you have it. A good buy to suit our needs.

And the very first thing we shot: Che's ultrasound. After three previous sessions of failing to determine our baby's gender, we finally got a confirmation: IT'S A BOY! Hehehe :) And we got it all on tape -- or disk, whatever. :)

Then the ongoing GSS also got us busy. Preparing the baby stuff, choosing the crib and stroller, and more. All these considerations is sometimes abit hard to swallow... Oh well, part of being a new dad. :)

Then on top of these all, there's one other thing we are having a hard time with: what will be the baby's name? We've narrowed down it down to about ten combinations -- we decided that baby should have two first names, so as to avoid the problem I had with NBI Clearance: if your name is too common, chances are, somewhere around the country, there is another person with the same name. :)

So there you have it. The things that got me all riled up. :) Hopefully I can get to post something more often. I do have some opinions about what's happening around. I'm still deciding whether I should publish it or not, though. :)

Good day!

Our USB Numpad

No doubt the USB has given rise to whole new array of buyables in your local IT shop. We have bought alot of USB stuff; some are necessary -- like the mouse -- while some are, well, let's just say they are novel ideas like mini-electric fans.

The USB numpad is by far my favorite and I find most useful.


For one, I'm used to a "full" desktop PC keyboard which has a built-in numpad. Useful for many things... Most especially when playing Marvel Ultimate Alliance :))

- via BlogPress in iPhone

EDSA Anniversary Phone and Wristwatch

It's been 24 years since the EDSA revolution. And by that, I mean the REAL EDSA revolution. Not the mockery of that which placed the incumbent president in power for almost a decade.

Anyway, early morning, while watching TFC, the new Cory phone was introduced by local Pinoy phone brand MyPhone.





Nice!

Aso introduced were Cory-themed wristwatches. Forgot what it's officialy called though.

Can't wait to see the news for tonight... Pretty sure politicians will be taking advantage of this event...

- via BlogPress in iPhone

Many events this Saturday!

This is a great day for me for many reasons.

First, it's my dad's birthday! He's ty-eight years old. (Hehehe. Guess how old he is? It's between twenty and sixty! :)) ) I called to greet him early this morning. :) They said the entire clan is going to Alabang to dinner to celebrate. Wish we could have been there, but... well.... that's how life is. I'm just glad that he would finally be getting out of Sucat for once. :)

Today is also the wedding day of our friends, Tin and Jason. Just too bad for me because I'm in the office. Tin and Jason. Congratulations! Have a great and meaningful married life!

This day also serves as a reunion of sorts. Neil, Cel and the family are here again after about three months vacation in the Philippines. Nice to see everyone here again.

Lastly, Che finally gave me my birthday gift. A brand new iPhone!!! Whoopeee! I'm having a blast right now. I'm just trying to download the free stuff from the App Store. I'm still thinking of the other apps which I may need for it. Any suggestions?

The only thing preventing me from fully enjoying this day? Well, work. :) Hehehe... Oh well. After today, I'm up for two night shifts... hopefully the iPhone can help me get through them just fine. :)

Back in Manila March '09 - Day Five

March 29, 2009: Che's family in Pasay welcomed another daughter to the world. Today is the baby's baptism. :) And for me, it is today's main event. I need to make it to Pasay before 11:00 AM. Good thing, I was able to wake up before 8AM. Gave me more than enough time to prepare and commute to Pasay.

Yeah, I normally would drive there. But during the previous nightout with my family, I was clobbered by all of the concerns about how I should not be driving without a valid license that it psyched me out and I dared not drive until I do get a license. It's better to drive without any worries than to drive very anxiously because you're concerned one of those *ahem* buwayas are out there waiting and biding their time. :))

So off I go, and, with the ever-reliable bus transit I mentioned, I got there in no time. Here are some pictures during and after the baptism.






Another task I was to do is to look at the Lenovo S10 that the guys have and see if there's anything that I can do to make it work again. They said one time they turned it on, they saw the message No OS can be found, or something like that. The next time they turned it on, they can't see anything. The screen is blank and does not appear to be loading anything.

Haven't really done troubleshooting a laptop before, so I'm not sure where to start. Che and my gut tells me to check the battery since the battery LED was orange. Well, I guess the prospect of going to SM Mall of Asia was too much -- there is a Lenovo Service Center in SM MOA, in 2F Main Mall -- that I dodn't really bother looking at it much other than finding the receipt and going to MOA. Tagging along are our nieces who wanted to go there as well for Timezone. :))

So we went there and explained to the Lenovo service crew about the problem. It was actually quite simple really -- remove then replace the battery. That's it. Everything's peachy after that. I'm actually quite ashamed when I walked out since it was too simple. :)) Anyway, at the very least I was able to confirm one of the doubts that I had for quite some time now...

That S10 was bought in Singapore. Lenovo said it has international warranty and that we only need to show the receipt -- no warranty forms needed, which is quite unusual for me, since most of the appliances and gadgets that we have so far have either written or online warranty forms. Well, this trip to the Lenovo service center MOA has confirmed a few things

• The warranty is actually a "REGIONAL" warranty, that is applicable to ASEAN countries


• Yes, only the official receipt is required. That is the only thing required by Lenovo service centers; once that is checked, they can now troubleshoot the thing.


• Lenovo S10 has some problems with batteries. So the first thing you need to know when owning an S10, how to remove and replace batteries.

After that we went to Timezone. Not really much to see there, except for the games and tons of people. It was a weeekend and it is vacation time for most kids. No surprises there.

It was a long day and shortly, I went home back in Sucat. There, I picked up a few things and preparing for my trip this coming Friday.

Damn, it's already the 29th. So little time, so much to do. I almost want to break out into song... Hehehe :)) It was a productive day and I still had so much fun. It's nice seeing Kiang-Kiang and the others again. :)

Our new camera - D60!

Well, in case you haven't heard the IT Show 2009 was held last Thursday until last Sunday -- that's March 12 to 15. So we simply wouldn't let it go by without buying anything! :)

Despite me having work during those four days, we still managed to get there -- twice -- and were able to get some stuff that we wanted to buy...

And guess what... We finally bought that one thing we needed for this new hobby that we've been itching to do... We now have our very first DSLR! We went for the Nikon D60. It's a bit pricey, but I think it suits our needs just fine.

Anyway, we are still in the getting-to-know-your-new-camera stage. Basically, we setup everything first -- plugged in the lens and the lens filter, recharged a couple of batteries, strapped on the, uhm, leather strap, loaded the memory stick, and placed everything in a Lowepro bag.

After that, we point and shoot. Played around with the settings a bit, determining which one would be best to capture moving objects like that big spinning industrial ceiling fan on top our heads.

It's a little difficult practicing out since it's been raining most of the time. For the meantime, I'd settled with taking candid pictures of one another, as well as taking pictures of some stuff here at home, like those Bumblebees and Optimus Prime set up on that bookshelf by the corner. :)

I just wished we had that earlier so that I could have captured (1) that big fat black-white cat sleeping on top of a mattress hanging on top of some bamboo poles on the back area of our neighbors in the next building, and (2) that grey squirrel that was literally hanging around the trunk of a tree nearby -- we don't usually see squirrels here in the city often.

Oh well, I hope we can get those strange moments on this cam...

Next, maybe we'l; take up some photography classes or something :) If I can take a half-decent picture like the ones in Dan's page (see my blogroll), I'd be happy. :)

Wish us luck!

Our new Lenovo S10 Ideapad

Well, our trip to the Sitex a couple of weeks ago netted us a new laptop, the Lenovo S10 Ideapad. Safe to say, it's exactly what we've been looking for in a second laptop. Although, IMHO, it is not necessarily for everyone out there...

First let's get down to the basic specs:

Processor: Intel Atom N270 1600
Video Card: Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950
Display: 10.2", 1024x600 pixels (Max)
Dimensions: 9.8" x 7.3" x 0.9"
Weight: approx. 2.2 kg
Battery Life: approx. 2 hrs.

Memory can be upgraded to 2GB; same with the hard drive, up to about 160GB. Great amount of space for something so little. Ideal for massive transfers while not giving up mobility. You know, something that I government spy will find useful.

The packaged OS is Windows XP SP3, although according to the manual, it should be able to support Windows Vista as well. However, knowing how much Vista tends to hog all the resources, I think it is much more prudent to go for WinXP.

Under WinXP, the S10 boots up really fast and can run many memory and CPU-intensive intensive applications -- that is, games, hehehe -- very smoothly. Not bad if you ask me. Top notch performance in one really small package.

The feature software is the OneKey Rescue System, supposedly for backup and recovery. I haven't exactly seen this at work, since I haven't been in the situation in which the laptop crashed that I needed to recover it. Anyway, at the very least, its good to have that feature.

BTW, take note that the maximum resolution is only 1024 x 600. You might have some problems with some applications. In our case, we tried installing our old-time favorite Age of Mythology -- a fairly old Microsoft Game, so you would not expect any problem when installing it in a Windows OS, right? Well, when we tried to run it, we got an Initialization Failed error. Turns out, it has a problem with the resolution; tried running the "Safe Video" version of the game, then everything is running smoothly after that.

Portability is no sweat, thanks to its small dimensions. You can carry it literally like an actual writing notebook; it's smaller than an A4 paper. :)) BTW, it comes with a reversible slim case, which you can easily place inside your bag. Not sure if there were other available colors though; the one that came in with ours was gray one side, and pink on the reverse... not really the ideal colors that I can be proud of.

Of course, because of the size, the keyboard is a little cramped up than what I am used to. Also the touchpad is only about half the size of those in other laptops. Then again, I'm not really a touchpad person, that's why I almost buy a separate optical USB mouse.

That brings me to the other issue I have with it: it has only two USB ports; one on the right -- which is where I usually attach my mouse -- and one on the right. I would have preferred if there were at least one more USB port. IMHO, three USB ports would be ideal, especially now since tons of USB devices are out in the market. Then again, all I have to do is attach a USB port on the right USB port, then problem solved. :)

People also have some issues with the battery life being limited to only about 2 hours, depending on the applications running. Personally, I'd prefer the laptop to be plugged in anyway, so not an issue for me there. But others should take note of it.

Aside from that, it has the most usual features like the built-in webcam and microphone, built-in bluetooth and wireless, plus an ExpressCard for WWAN. :)

Lastly, this laptop does not heat up as much as the other laptops out there. I can have it sit on my lap and I barely felt it. You can place it comfortably on your lap and really call it a laptop.

So would I recommend it? Hell, yeah! Just think about some of the tiny little caveats I have here as well as in other reviews. I think its strengths are its portability and performance. For the most part, if you're looking for a really light yet relatively powerful laptop, you should really consider Lenovo S10 Ideapad.