Monthly Archives: April 2008

14
Apr

MSI Wind out in Q2

Posted by | Categories Byte | Tagged ,

MSI‘s answer to Asus eee pc, the Wind, is set to be released by the end of the 2nd quarter of this year, with price range of US$ 470 to 1099, depending on the specs. That includes 8.9- or 10-in screen (1024×768 resolution), hard disk or solid state drive, Intel Atom processor (conjecture; Intel will ship Atom by June) in 1- to 1.6GHz speeds, and probably 1 GB of memory.

It is a bit expensive comparing to 1st gen eee, but competitive in terms of the 2nd generation eee. I think I like it, but it pays to wait again he he.

(Image from Trusted Reviews, via Engadget.)

11
Apr

Expressing hate in Wikipedia

Posted by | Categories Journal | Tagged

I was busy browsing Wikipedia (reading on World War II leaders, then on British monarchs), and I found a picture that I had not seen in most WWII-related books. So I clicked on the picture, and I was surprised when I saw this:

That person must really hate everyone to post his hate message in Wikipedia, though he is coward enough to hide it in the bowels of an image page.

11
Apr

For a do-not-call law

Posted by | Categories Byte | Tagged

We really need a do-not-call law here in the Philippines.

This do-not-call law covers unsolicited commercial phone calls, text messages, and email messages on personal or work phones, mobile phones, or email addresses. There shall be a national database of phone numbers and email addresses, to be maintained by the Department of Trade, and accessible by businesses so that they will not call, text, or email the said numbers and addresses.

The telecommunications carriers shall be required to issue phones with caller ID capabilities (and if possible, recording capabilities as well). This is to make sure that call recipients can take note of calls, specially when the call is unsolicited and commercial in nature.

Unsolicited calls/text/email refer to calls made by an entity to a person to offer loans, credit cards, jobs, or other promotions that are not sought for by that person; asking for donations and other forms of charity are also included. Calls made for verification purposes (like for valid credit card and loan applications) are considered solicited and as such should not be covered by this proposed law.

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Heaven knows how many man-minutes, electricity charges, and bandwidth are wasted by these unsolicited calls. They can also be annoying. Aside from that, these unsolicited calls are violations of privacy.

And oh, selling databases of contact details should be outlawed, too – violation of privacy.

I had a post about my annoyance with these unsolicited calls. Have you received unsolicited calls before? Do you think we should have a do-not-call law?

10
Apr

Sony Ericsson P5?

Posted by | Categories Byte | Tagged

Here’s another picture of the alleged successor to Sony Ericsson P1i:

Codenamed Paris, this is supposed to be the P5, which allegedly sports the latest version of Symbian UIQ, and a slider with the same rocker keypad (two letters at each end of the button) that P1 and m600i have. It seems that the button is half-white, half-black.

To be honest, with EXPERIA X1 in the horizon, I do not see the value of P5 being released within the same period (unless you are not a fan of Windows Mobile). Sony Ericsson should have released this months ago (P1i is already 6 months old).

I’m no fan of sliders, though I did own a Nokia 7110. And there is nothing compelling with Paris for me to want it. X1 remains my phone of choice (if I could afford it, of course), unless a 3G Apple iPhone that is not exclusively locked to a single carrier manages to grace these islands.

(Photo from Unofficial Sony Ericsson Blog, via Just AMP.)

10
Apr

Nokia Tube

Posted by | Categories Byte | Tagged

Nokia was in the touchscreen phone business four years ago, with Nokia 7710 as the flagship of sorts running Symbian OS on Series 90 interface. I got this phone December 2005 till I got Sony Ericsson m600i. Nokia 7710 was a bulky phone, and being the only one in the series meant less software. It died a natural death.

There is also Nokia 6708 (said to be the first touchscreen phone for Nokia). While Nokia 7710 is dead, 6708 seems to live on. But to date, no Nokia touchscreen phone has been released.

The Apple iPhone is an eye-opener for Nokia, and is now trying to catch up. There was a demo of the s60 Touch UI months ago, and now there seems to be a device in existence.

Here is the Nokia Tube.

Too bad. Nokia had the vision right four years ago, but it fumbled and gave up. Now they play catch-up. Will it be the iPhone killer? Too early to tell, but if that’s their goal, well it is wrong. Nokia should just release a good phone with an intuitive interface, that’s all. Nokia 7710’s UI is good though the phone is slow and heavy.

(Photos from Symbian Freak and NokiaPort.de, via Just AMP)

UPDATE:

NokiaPort.de has listed the purported specs for this device:

Display:
– 3.2 inch touchscreen
– Tactile Feedback
– 640×360
– 16 million colors

Camera:
– 3.2 mega pixel
– autofocus

Networks:
– Quad Band GSM (850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 Mhz)
– EDGE
– UMTS
– HSDPA

Connectivity:
– Bluetooth 2.0
– Wifi
– GPS
– 3.5 mm jack
– TV out

Other:
– 140 MB of internal memory
– measures 111x52x14.5 mm
– weighs 104 grams

(Update via Just AMP.)

9
Apr

The 2008 Philippine rice crisis?

Posted by | Categories Ink | Tagged , ,

The current issue about rice is troubling.

My mom usually buys about 10 kilos of rice every week (feeding six, five of them boys, excluding visitors; add one if my older brother comes home;). A month ago, she got this variety of rice for Php 26 a kilo. The same variety now costs Php 34 per kilo. The price keeps on increasing by a peso per week, she told me last night.

Simple law of supply and demand tells us that there will be a price increase when demand is high and supply is low. The Arroyo administration claims that there is no supply problem, that there is ample supply of rice. Yet, a month ago, the Secretary of Agriculture, Arthur Yap told restaurants and fastfood chains to serve rice in half of the usual serving. Why serve half-rice if the supply is sufficient?

After several months of dilly-dallying on whether there is a rice crisis or not, the Arroyo regime began a crackdown on alleged rice hoarders. Despite these high-profile raids, the price of commercial rice continues to shoot up, and there is no end in sight for such increases. And legitimate rice traders are threatening to go on a rice holiday if the raids (that they consider as indiscriminate) continue.

The regime has yet to define its parameters for raiding rice warehouses. I mean, how many cavans of rice must a warehouse contain to consider it hoarding?

Also, the rice being sold by the National Food Authority is a bestseller nowadays. Let’s face it: life is hard nowadays, and even some of the middle class buy NFA rice to save.

The administration must show why are these things happening right now. If there is ample supply, the price increase should be not that substantial. But its actions betray the problem: asking Vietnam for assurances of supply, importing from the US, asking restaurants for half-rice servings.

If things come to an explosion, this regime has no one to blame but itself. Too bad transparency has never been one of its virtues.

Do you think there is a rice crisis?

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This is a DigitalFilipino.com Club sponsored post for resume maker.

9
Apr

An Echiverri Kingdom

Posted by | Categories Ink | Tagged

Caloocan City is fast becoming an Echiverri Kingdom, with an Echiverri dynasty in the offing.

Its current mayor, Enrico “Recom” Echiverri, has a predilection for posting his face and name in every nook and cranny of the city (to be fair, most politicians share the same narcissism, Lito Atienza and Bayani Fernando to name a few). But he is not content with that.

When his son, Ricojudge Janvier “RJ” Echiverri won as national president of the Liga ng mga Barangay (a joyous occasion, indeed), a lot of streamers and tarpaulins appeared on city roads, including EDSA congratulating him. One extravagant example is hanging on the ENTIRE MMDA foot bridge at EDSA, in front of the Manila Central University. The tarpaulin is attributed to the City Assessor’s Office. I hope no public funds were used for that? Even so, it was an awful waste of money.

And then there are the barangay cabs carrying Recom’s and RJ’s name. RJ’s name is written as “Con. RJ Echiverri.” Note the Con. He is supposed to be head of the local Liga, and as such he sits in the City Council, making him a councilor, abbreviated as Coun. But why Con. in the cabs? It is not a typo – all of the cabs carry those. Your guess is as good as mine.

And now, there’s more.

Another son, Juan Crisostomo “Juris”, recently passed the bar exams. Immediately after that, tarpaulins congratulating him mushroomed along the city streets.

Note that RJ ran for congressman of 1st district in 2007 elections, but lost to Oscar Malapitan. Is it safe to say that Juris will run in 2010?

Echiverri should be wary of establishing a dynasty. His predecessor, Rey Malonzo, attempted to do that in 2004 – he, his common-law wife, and son ran, and all of them lost. It could happen to him and his family.

(Image from the Caloocan City Web site.)

8
Apr

Neverwinter Nights Diamond

Posted by | Categories Byte | Tagged

Last Friday, I saw Neverwinter Nights:Diamond at Datablitz in SM Megamall. The edition includes the original game, the expansion packs Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark, Kingmaker, Bioware’s easy module creation tool Aurora Toolset, all in one DVD.

I bought one at Php 695, which I think is a good buy, since this is US$ 18.99 at Amazon, not including shipping. The price translates to Php 779 at exchange rate of US$1 to Php 41.

The game’s system requirements are low by today’s standards:

Operating System: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
CPU: Pentium III 800 Mhz (Pentium 4 1.3GHz or higher recommended)
RAM: 128 MB (256 MB recommended) 256 MB for Windows XP (512 MB recommended)
Disc Drive: 8X DVD ROM Drive
Hard Drive: 3.85 GB free hard disk space
Video Card: 32 MB with Hardware T&L Support (64 MB recommended)
Sound Card: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP-compatible sound card
Input Devices: Mouse, keyboard

Have you played this game? Did you like it?

8
Apr

HP’s eee competitor HP 2133 Mini-Note now out

Posted by | Categories Byte | Tagged , ,

HP has released today its competing product to Asus eee PC. Called the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC, it weighs 5.3 pounds, screen size of 8.9 inch, full QWERTY keyboard, touch pad with unusual mouse button layout (left and right of the touchpad), and in a casing and style that looks better than eee, I think. I just don’t like the price.

Amazon lists the following specs:

* Procesor: VIA C7-M, 1.2GHz
* Memory: 1024 MB (1GB) 667MHZ DDR2
* Video: VIA Chrome 9 UMA
* Hard disk: 1205 GB 5400 RPM
* WiFi: Broadcom 802.11 a/b/g
* Ethernet LAN
* SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop

A 4GB flash drive-version is also listed at Amazon.

HP Press release here.

(Image from PC Magazine.)

4
Apr

Even the devil can quote the Scriptures

Posted by | Categories Ink | Tagged ,

My reaction this news report is this: even the devil can quote the Scriptures.

From Luke 4:1-13:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.”‘

Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. And the devil said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”‘

Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you”, and “On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.”‘

Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”‘ When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.

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Incidentally, you may want to watch Repertory Philippines’ production of Altar Boyz. Read my impressions here. Guaranteed laugh, I tell you.