And the Crocs go wild!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 20th, 2006
I’m jealous of lifestyle journalists. This is because they get invited to soft openings of retail stores that can afford to give away something to everyone, as compared to tech journalists who need to go through a raffle to being home something really nice. I guess this is because lifestyle products are generally cheaper – clothes, shoes, accessories, CDs … as compared to tech products – laptops, mobile phones, a legitimate copy of Windows Vista …
Lifestyle events = everyone takes home something
Tech events = raffle off one really nice prize
Top 5 reasons why the Nintendo Wii is worth it
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 19th, 2006
I’ve finally come to the conclusion that the Nintendo Wii is the ultimate gaming console of choice compared to the XBOX 360 and PS3 – in lieu of my tastes with video games. Here are the reasons:
- The Wii complements / replaces your gym membership. After playing tennis, bowling and baseball for more than 40 minutes, I was literally tired from swinging the controller simulating the real thing.
- You won’t have a hard time selling the idea of a console to non-gamers in the family. A living room with 4 controllers makes for a good game of doubles in tennis. A game of bowling has never been more fun in your very own living room. You can simulate the entire experience of being in a real bowling alley with chips, drinks, music and gab while waiting for the next guy’s turn to bowl.
- The roll out for the online store, additional information channels (news, weather, etc) is still in the works and they look promising. There is also a virtual “Mii” world as well as a SD/MC card reader for viewing and editing pictures.
- You can play Nintendo Gamecube games on the Wii, as well as attach the old skool Gamecube controllers if you are after the “traditional way” of playing games.
- It is so darn cheap at $250.00. Controllers cost $60.00 a piece ($40 for Wiimote and $20 for nunchuck). Games are $50.00 a pop. Nintendo supposedly includes a one year international warranty also.
Update: The Wii is now cheaper at only $200.00 and will come in a variety of colors. The Wiimote strap can also be replaced to something sturdier. Just call Nintendo customer service. Eat your heart out PS3!
An Affair to Remember
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 18th, 2006So December 15 2006 marked my last day as the “online guy” at Hinge-Inquirer Publications. The month of transition was spent, for the most part, looking for someone who was good enough to take over the challenging task of managing the online efforts of the Inquirer’s magazine arm.
After several emails and heart to heart talks, I finally found my replacement, with the blessing of Poch our publisher as well as Adel Gabot, our group editor.
The funny thing about online publications is that you tend to be a bit more open with who’s replacing who, and who’s doing what. I guess its because these things require a sense of transparency (then again, what doesn’t?) to readers in front of the computer.
It gives me great pleasure to introduce to you the new head of HIP’s online endeavors, Kevin “Kiven” Codamon, who is 2006′s blogger rookie of the year (top 10 in PTB in 4 months? whoa!). I’ve gotten to know Kiven as a hardworking writer from the early days of Game! Magazine and he also dutifuly took up a blogging project that I offered him several months ago at Cellphone News.
I will still remain as editor at large for Mobile Philippines and continue writing for the HIP tech publications which include GAME! and PC Magazine Philippines.
As for “my legacy” — it was a great honor to have helped start the very first corporate blog network in the Philippines (thanks Poch and Adel for believing in this vision). To the readers — if you don’t know what I’m talking about, bookmark our homepage at http://hip.ph and watch our blogs grow within the next few months.
So what will I be doing now on a more regular basis?
Let’s wait till the announcement is made 
Problems viewing comments
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 17th, 2006I’m encountering a small technicality in comment approving. Please bear with me as we try to figure it out. Moderated comments will have to stay moderated, but if you are part of a “trusted list” of commenters, then everything should be fine.
Wii Wish Me a Merry Christmas?
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 15th, 2006
You know, the sad thing is, it isn’t mine.
My high school bud brought home a Nintendo Wii for the holidays. Four controllers, a neat bag (sold separately) and the unit itself. We’re off to his sister’s wedding which consists of a two night stay at a resort (Villa Escudero). The Wiimote and nunchuck are so ergonomic and comfy, it is scary.
I’m thinking of having one ordered from the States but I’m worried about warranty issues. I know that the Wii is also available here but an extremely insane price of $600.00. I’d love to get advice from people who have already bought one and live here.
Help?
Nostalgic Memories of the South
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 14th, 2006Thanks to Friendster, I was led to this blog with a lot of great content. Several weeks ago Rico and I wanted to start a BF Homes Binge Blog that talked about the food and beverage scene in BF Homes in Paranaque, which by far is the biggest subdivision in Asia stretching across three cities.
We scrapped that idea due to lack of time. Thankfully, someone else thought of the same thing. Though it is still new, the blog has a heapload of content about the BF Homes nostalgia of the 80′s, the current bar scene as well features of the other fun stuff you can do in the South of Manila, Philippines.
Say hello to Southbound.ph!
A Bugged Life Cupcakes by Art Cakes
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 12th, 2006Since it is the season, I decided to have these cute cupcakes made as Christmas gifts for my friends. Thing is, I have to give these out in five days to the first people I see because the shelf life isn’t very long.
I’ve been exploring other nontraditional ways of getting more pageviews into ABL. It turns out that these nontraditional methods are actually traditional ways of promoting your own businesses. Like these cupcakes.
The logo was designed by Marc and Gail Villanueva and the pastries were made by Art Cakes. If you want to have your own custom cakes made, do send an SMS to their company phone at +63922-5070269.
If you read my mobile phone blog at Cellphone9, you may also want to check out these cute cellphone cookies:
Aren’t they cute? These last for about a month, also made by Art Cakes. The text says “Cellphone9.com by b5media.”
Mobile Philippines Portal Sneak Peek
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 12th, 2006
This isn’t really a sneak peek. The site is actually live, and has been for the past several weeks. As soon as the Inquirer technicians inserted the RSS feeds from our blog, it has been deemed presentable to the public. What you will see here are the following:
- RSS feeds from the Mobile Philippines blog
- A lot of ads (hehe)
- Archives of previous issues of Mobile Philippines Magazine
You can view the site at http://technology.inquirer.net/mph
Do you want to guest blog for Mobile Philippines? If you are a blogger, we may not be able to pay you cash, but we know that money is worth nothing compared to trickle traffic from INQ7 right?
Hitting the “1,000 readers a day” mark!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 11th, 2006I’m finally hitting the monumental 1,000+ unique readers per day mark. In the olden days, ancient bloggers used to commemorate this breakthrough by sacrificing a vestal virgin to the AdSense god. With the advent of civilized practices and the humane society, all we do now is post about it.
One thousand unique readers isn’t a lot if you consider how much traffic other local bloggers get. But it has gone a long way from my 50+ readers / day back in 2004.
This breakthrough isn’t on a consistent basis yet, but my weekend stats (usually the lowest in the week) have me at over 1,000 unique visitors. It may even be amazing to know that A Bugged Life’s multiplier is much higher (around 3.92 pages per visit) than that of Cellphone9. Does this mean that there’s a lot more juicy stuff here? Thank you to all my readers that keep on coming back at least 3.92 times a day. I actually don’t know what it is that incites you to read my thoughts, but thanks anyway!
I should really start that “blind item blog…”
Blog Tip: Sometimes it is good to spell wrong
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 10th, 2006A few months ago I had written about the Motorola KRZR on my mobile phone blog. That thread dominated my top post lists for more than 60 days. A few weeks later, I get a comment from MobileBurn’s Brad Kellet saying that I had spelled KRZR wrong – I checked my post and tadah – the “Motorola KRAZR” had me in a bad spot with a wrong product name. I had forgotten that the “A” in KRZR was silent.
But if you do a search for “Motorola KRAZR” in Google, I’m number one! What does this mean? If you have weirdly spelled product names, it may be cute to spell it like the way it sounds so that the masses get the more search-friendly term!
And that my friends, is my original SEO tip for you!
Christmas Shopping Survey
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at December 8th, 2006My gosh, I’m finally ALMOST done with my Christmas shopping. I just need to get a few more things as well as the wrappers to decorate and label my gifts. What about you?
On the blogging front, the new Democracy poll system is out, allowing you to insert polls within posts. Check it out here.
