Palm Treo 680 has a SRP of P28,900
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 29th, 2006
I just got back from the Philippine Palm Treo 680 launch. Having known the SRP for quite a while I was a bit turned off since expectations for the PH market would more or less equal the price of Treos abroad. They said that about $400 would do it and this was very believable for the following reasons:
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A Bugged Life Mascot Found!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 28th, 2006I conducted an offline hunt for a site mascot. I figured that I was best known for my first name in the online web space which meant that I had to take the “other” route in promoting this site – which meant going the McDonald’s route and find me a mascot.
So after searching far and wide for the JayveeBug (thanks Dez for the recommendation) I was able to find an eager bug who would let me use its face as this site’s “poster boybug.”
Not to preempt anything but I’d like to give thanks to the people involved as soon as everything gets sorted out.
My Johnny English Pose
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 28th, 2006
When I was in college a lot of people often teased me that I looked like Mr. Bean. So I decided to cut my hair (alas it didn’t work). Instead of looking like Mr. Bean, I now resembled Johnny English. Damn you Rowan Atkinson for coming out with that movie!
Later on I built on this semblance by imitating Bean’s voice and swagger and now I can pass for his double in children’s parties.
P.S. That’s Markku’s f2.8 L lens I attached to my 350D. That helluva lens costs more than a MacBook. My golly, the feel of cold metal on my 350D … what a lens!
Why bloggers are like golfers
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 27th, 2006In our office we get a mix of personalities visiting the editorial area .. from chefs and food stylists for our food magazine, to gadget geeks to musicians for Burn and golfers for Golf Digest Philippines.
It’s the golfers that are the most animated as they can all relate about how challenging hole number 6 was or how there’s this new technique for getting gigil with the club and ball, to the politics … the list goes on. Unlike gadget talk, golf talk can go on non-stop. When you’re finished talking about the equipment, you start talking about the clubhouses. Then you start talking about the caddies. Then you start talking about the tournaments. Then you start talking about the swing (the longest topic ever). It never ends! And worst of all, no one else in the room can relate.
And then it made me realize how a lot of professional bloggers suffer the same fate: like how we talk about blog politics as if we knew the people involved personally (the same manner how we all talk about how Jennifer Anniston shouldn’t have left Brad Pitt because he was such a nice guy — like we really knew him), how we talk about SEO techniques and page views vs unique visits, about ad placements .. and yes — the people, the bloggers themselves are pretty colorful.
I mean, I haven’t been to a single blog meet where the name Mike Abundo doesn’t get brought up (see Mike, you’re famous!).
So there. Blogging is like golf because we take two simple concepts to the NEXT LEVEL – hitting a ball into a hole in the woods and writing a journal entry. It’s pretty absurd, but don’t we find the greatest joy in the most useless of things?
Blogger needed for A Feed is Born
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 26th, 2006I’m serving as the b5media interim technology channel editor as Aaron and the founders are busy rolling out several surprises to eradicate world hunger and poverty.
But seriously now we are looking for a blogger for A Feed is Born, a cute blog about RSS Feeds. Interesting, am I right? If you are interested in applying, please send me an email at jayvee at b5media dot com.
Congratulations Marc and Gail!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 26th, 2006
I just attended a blogger wedding. So what makes a blogger wedding different from other weddings? The answer is … nothing! Bloggers have a life, too.
Look at Gail’s million dollar smile with her new set of teeth. Cute! Congrats guys and may your children be as countless as the stars!
Photo Project: Concert Photography
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 25th, 2006
I was asked to shoot the Burn Baby Burn Concert together with Elber. This was truly a crash course in concert photography (I learned a crapload of stuff on the spot) as two huge elements are ever changing – your subject and the stage lighting.
Here are some shots of Johnny Allegre, Up Dharma Down, Bamboo, Sino Sikat? and umm .. this guy covering his face. I got a lot of tips from Elber. When shooting concerts, make sure you use your widest lens. In this case, the prime lens was the best choice (and most often recommended) for concert photographs. I had my ISO set at 800 most of the time but this guy recommends that you should be shooting at 400.
What sucked? Well, I didn’t have an external flash. That would have made a huge difference with the blurred subjects. I was interchanging between the prime lens and Jed’s 3.5-6.3 18-200mm Sigma lens.
I’m no expert photographer but I hope you liked some of the pictures. I’d love to talk about different techniques in concert photography too since I am still a young padawan photographer.
Museum Cafe May Offer Free WiFi
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 25th, 2006I had a shoot at M Cafe (I think that’s the “in” name, not to be confused with McCafe) and met the store owner, Andre and his PR consultant Gwen Carino. After talking about their famous Chocnut Martini (the only drink I ever order there), their Hainanese Chicken dish and the muy delicioso Creme Brule dessert, we talked about how wireless Internet can perk up their business. By default, since Museum Cafe is within the Ayala Mall, they are locked to GlobeQuest’s service.
I also learned something new that day about WiFi contracts in establishments. What I found interesting is that restaurant owners have the option to either sell cards / have a subscription based wireless access with Globe OR open the wireless hot spot to the general public. Of course, the former is encouraged but if you think about it, M Cafe is located away from the cluster of restaurants that offer paid wireless services. Which means that if they open up their WiFi to the public, this will encourage the afternoon business crowd to have business meets there instead of other places. I managed to convince them that free WiFi is the way to go and hopefully they will push through with this scheme.
Andre also assured me that they will allow customers to plug in their laptops in the resto sockets until supply of sockets last.
Flickr MiniCards by Moo this Christmas?
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 23rd, 2006
After placing an order for 200 pieces of MiniCards, the package finally arrived on my doorstep after ten days. The total costing of the cards was $20.00 for 100 pieces and $4.00 for shipping. That amounts to about P1,200.00 for the service fee when you convert in pesos. I’ve laid some out on the photo on top of my moleskine. I hope you like them.
The Moo cards make for a very attractive business card solution. You can upload photos from your Flickr page and crop them to fit the ultra small business card size. The package comes with a very attractive box that can also serve as a desk business card holder because of its good build quality.
If you want to order your own set of cards, proceed here to make the necessary arrangements.
Angel Locsin is Mobile’s Gadget Babe for Nov-Dec ’06
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 22nd, 2006
So guys, what do you think of the purple and white cover? For this month we gave Angel Locsin a call to grace the cover of this fabulous issue.
In this issue I reviewed the Nokia 6233, the cheapest 3G phone available in the market. I also believe that two bloggers made their debut reviews here. Markku reviews a Creative MuVo flash player while Abraham reviews the Oakley thump.
This is also the first magazine to feature a TMS tag prominently on the front cover. Is this the advent of physical world connectivity in the Philippines? The era of the QR code has begun!
The Garden that Blogging Landscaped
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 21st, 2006
Our garden took one for the team when “billboard destroyer” Milenyo came a couple of weeks ago. Our 30 year old mango tree was uprooted and fell onto our sala. Our huge chestnut cookers which we use as goldfish bowls were also knocked over. The garden has looked liked a mess for the longest time and my mom was horribly worried that she could not fix it in time for when her sisters came back from the USA this Christmas. Both my parents are happily retired so a sudden expense like this would be a huge blow on their pockets.
The total damage was $300.00 ++ (PHP 15,000 ++) for the entire landscape project. Because the number one girl in my life is still my mom (aww), I decided to buy her an early Christmas gift and made a huge contribution to her garden revival fund. Note I didn’t pay for the whole thing but I advanced slightly more than 2/3 of the fund.
I may be really far away from the house that blogging bought and even the car that blogging bought, but I’m proud to say that blogging did help me landscape a garden. One day, it will pay for my future home’s down payment and wedding!
Up next: the Christmas gifts that blogging bought! I’m starting to get that warm, fuzzy feeling …
