From seaweed vendor to global usability expert
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 13th, 2008“I was determined to break the cycle of poverty.”
- Ms. Myrna Padilla, Founder MYND Consulting
As this is an odd hour to blog for me, I leave you with bits of a very beautiful experience when I conducted the first of many workshops for Microsoft Tulay, a technology empowering series of seminars run by the Blas Ople Foundation and OWWA for OFW’s and their families. Last week, I conducted a “training the trainers” series for 17 instructors from different regions of the Philippines.
Although I’d rather write about my experience at another time, I leave you with an inspirational message from Ms. Myrna Padilla who was brought up pounding rice and diving for seaweed. Today she owns a global outsourcing software company called Mynd Consulting based in Davao that specializes in web development, usability, Web 2.0 solutions and many more. Her latest product is a Facebook application called OFW Watch, a news aggregator fine tuned for OFW’s.
Her inspirational opening remarks after the break.
Apple Online Store launches in the Philippines: What happens to local distributors?
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 12th, 2008It’s no secret that the Apple Online Store has been officially launched in the Philippines. I’m excited. Now I no longer have to leave the comfort of my home to buy Apple products. A move like this points to a great future for online purchasing and delivery in the Philippines. With orders above P3,000, delivery is free.
The online store has a set of coveted features, including the highly coveted iPod engraving for ultimate personalization.
The Apple Online Store brings something else on the table – competition. Now we have a benchmark as to how much an Apple product can cost vis a vis the other official and unoffical distributors (hehe).
I have a question though – and if you work for an exclusive Apple retailer or distributor (PowerMac, The A Store, Digital Hub, Mobile1, etc), you might want to chime in. How does this affect Apple’s relationship with their established gold distributors? Will they be bringing competition to the table, or do they have some sort of partnership in this online endeavor? And here’s an example — the benefits of ordering an iPod online (free engraving!!!) outweigh retailers’ benefits, that is if you can afford to pay 100% cash. It also works if you want to heavily customize* your Macs before you buy them.
At the end of the day, retailers will be forced to come up with better promos (and freebies!) which is all good for the consumers!
* Footnote: I’m a little disappointed that DELL didn’t see the potential of the online store in the Philippines and went 100% retail. The build before you buy feature for the DELL online store in the USA made it such a winner product. We don’t have that here. Oh well. You snooze, you lose.
Contest: Moleskine Giveaway from Avalon.PH
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 11th, 2008
Jasper Ong from Avalon was generous enough to sponsor this contest. It’s part of a blog marketing campaign being done by Avalon.PH. If you’re a fan of rare collectible books (signed by authors!) as well as used tomes and other gift items, Avalon’s online store is where it’s at.
Avalon is giving away a Moleskine Ruled Notebook for this raffle as the grand prize. I’m going to up the ante and give away a second prize – which is a spare set of three Moleskine Cahiers! Isn’t that cool?!
Contest Rules
1. This contest is open to Philippine based residents only.
2. To enter the contest, you need to leave a comment on this post with a valid email address
3. In the comment section you need to answer the question, “when are you most inspired to write?”
4. You can enter the raffle contest as many times as you want but you need to leave a different answer each time you join.
5. I will be drawing the winners when the contest closes using Luck of the Draw. The contest closes at 11:59 PM GMT+8 on November 18 2008.
Left 4 Dead
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 10th, 2008
The Zombie Apocalypse is best experienced with friends. November 18, 2008. I can’t wait!
Anyone else planning on getting this for the PC? We’re set to play Left 4 Dead online on Steam.
The Philippine National Anthem
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 8th, 2008
This is the most moving version of Lupang Hinirang, our Philippine National Anthem. It is a slower and more solemn version of our national anthem, originally meant to be sung with a marching cadence. Watching it may move you to tears with the simple message it is trying to convey.
This rendition of Lupang Hinirang is intended for reflection. It is not meant to replace the official anthem normally played as a march.
Recently a talented and nationally known film director, Mae Paner, crafted a new and moving version of our national anthem. This unusual audio visual presentation of “Lupang Hinirang”* has been shown many times in various events and has consistently touched the hearts and minds of viewers to the point of tears of awakening and gratefulness.
Because of its consistent positive impact, PAGASA and Ehem! have decided to make this version of “Lupang Hinirang” available nationwide as a reflection piece to trigger a deeper awareness of oneself in relation to the country and encourage the emergence of positive images of the Philippine future.[source and video link]
This is a very moving advocacy and it inspires a lot of hope for crippled yet endearing nation. I urge you to pass this video on through the internet.
How to: Sync your mobile phone with iSync
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 6th, 2008
Not all phones are created equal, especially when it comes to finding device drivers for the Macintosh. If you’re running a Sony Ericsson or Nokia phone you may have an easier time finding licensed plugins to sync your phone with Apple’s iSync app.
If you’re on a Nokia, all you need to do is head on over to their corporate website and download the appropriate device driver that unpacks to iSync depending on your phone’s brand. It’s really easy to install. If the phone isn’t listed, you will need to wait a few days. Nokia always releases a new update whenever a new phone is released.
However if you own other brands and want to use a third party sync tool, you can check out Mactomster. This iSync plugin also supports a number of S40 phones from Nokia. Here is a list of devices they support, taken from their site:
Nokia iSync-PlugIns for 10.4 Tiger & 10.5 Leopard
* N-Series: N75, N76, N77, N78, N81, N81 8GB, N82, N92, N93i, N95, N95 8GB, N96
* E-Series: E50, E51, E60, E61i, E65, E66, E70, E71, E90
* Series40: 2600 Classic, 2630, 2760, 3109 Classic, 3110 Classic, 3120 Classic, 3500 Classic, 5000, 5200, 5220 XpressMusic, 5300, 5310 XpressMusic, 5610 XpressMusic, 6085, 6125, 6151, 6233, 6234, 6263, 6288, 6300, 6300i, 6301, 6500 Classic, 6500 Slide, 6555, 6555d, 7280, 7373, 7390, 7500 Prism, 7710, 7900 Prism, 8600 Luna, 8800 Arte, 8800 Sapphire Arte
* Series60: 3250, 5320 XpressMusic, 5500, 5700, 6110 Navigator, 6120 classic, 6220 Classic, 6290
* Series80: 9300, 9500 Communicator
SonyEricsson iSync-PlugIns for 10.4 Tiger & 10.5 Leopard
* C-Series: C702, C902, C905
* F-Series: F305
* G-Series: G502
* K-Series: K320i, K330i, K510i, K530i, K550i, K630i, K660i, K770i, K810i, K850i
* P-Series: P1i
* S-Series: S302i, S500i
* T-Series: T650
* V-Series: V630i, V640i
* W-Series: W310i, W350i, W380i, W580i, W610i, W660i, W700i, W710i, W880i, W890i, W910i, W960i (!), W980i
* Z-Series: Z310i, Z550i, Z555i, Z710i, Z770i, Z780i
Samsung iSync-PlugIns 10.5 Leopard
* D-Serie: SGH-D520, SGH-D520, SGH-D800, SGH-D820, SGH-D830, SGH-D840, SGH-D880, SGH-D900i
* E-Serie: SGH-250, SGH-E390, SGH-E530, SGH-E620, SGH-E720, SGH-E730, SGH-E770, SGH-E900
* F-Serie: SGH-F300, SGH-F480, SGH-F490 (V)
* G-Serie: SGH-G800
* i-Serie: SGH-i520, SGH-i550, SGH-i560
* P-Serie: SGH-P300, SGH-P310
* U-Serie: SGH-U700, SGH-U900
* X-Serie: SGH-X700, SGH-X800 Serene, SGH-X828, SGH-X830
* Z-Serie: SGH-Z150, SGH-Z370, SGH-Z630
Windows 7 Taskbar “Superbar” brings Hope to Microsoft
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 6th, 2008
Obama inspired Hope to America, and a litttle bit of that Hope is rubbing off Microsoft’s new Windows 7. It’s no secret that PDC copies are already out for developers. Rafael Rivera and Ed Bott discussed about the new “super taskbar” that highlights Windows 7′s new GUI.
From what I’ve been hearing, the new Superbar draws a lot of inspiration from the Mac OS X dashboard launcher with a little bit of the Google Chrome shortcut icon feature. The new Taskbar isn’t just a launcher but serves the purpose of adding and remembering sub windows within applications. In other words, what used to take five clicks to get to now only takes two.
I’m excited for Windows 7. Id like to believe it’s a second wind for Microsoft.
[image credit taken from Ed's ZDNet blog]
Verzio Envii on Windows Mobile 6.1 Review
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 6th, 2008
So I recently got myself a SUN prepaid kit. I had to. Let’s just say that a number of factors led to me finally spending P70.00 for a new SIM by recommendation of Kenna — figures she works for SUN — I had to get one for my blog to make it easier for people to contact me, whom I didn’t know personally.
The two three motivators were a series of seminars to be conducted for a non-profit group this coming Friday, a small social experiment with Jonas Diego, Fritz, Marcelle, Jeff and a few more bloggers for Axe (yes! the deodorant!). It’s a viral campaign they’re doing and I’m pretty hyped about it – the schedule is fit for a rockstar: invading three bars from 9 PM to 4 AM on Friday. I hope I can keep up with THE Fritz. And yeah, I opted to get a second SIM for this purpose, more for security reasons. Hyuk! My number is here.
Oh and yeah, the last motivator is really to find a SIM for my spare review phones. For the past couple of months I’ve been using my uMobile SIM for spare units. I mean why not, right? It’s the proper way to review telecommunications products without the hassle of swapping my SMART SIM (I’m on a BlackBerry consumer plan but the BlackBerry Pearl is still somewhere in Canada for repairs).
Confession time: I lost my uMobile SIM. Yep. Misplaced. Got blown away by the wind. Got sucked by the vacuum cleaner. Oh well. So I’m on SUN again (used to have a SUN SIM back in 2006 and boy the service was bad). I think everyone deserves second chances, albeit first impressions were not that happy – there’s no signal in my room. Between Globe, SMART and SUN, the latter has the weakest signal – no signal at all! On the upside it allowed me to do something really geeky and connect my phone via Bluetooth to the desktop and use the desktop SMS function that wirelessly transmits the message to the phone outside the room. Really unnecessary. But geeky though.
I’m reposting the Verzio Envii review I wrote a couple of months ago for MANUAL. Credit goes to MANUAL Magazine, July 2008 Issue. And might I add, it’s silly that I’m running my secondary line on a more advanced phone! Review after the break.
Two new blog ideas that will make you famous
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 4th, 2008
Here are some blog ideas boiling about and I’d like to share them with you. I’d have wanted to do these myself but, well, I have a lot to eat with a full plate in front of me. Here they are:
Idea 1. Back in 2005 the company I worked for had already launched a consumer shopping magazine that specialized in doing honest to God product comparisons. Like we’d have 5 of the best sisig in town and compare them. Or six of the most packed burgers. Or they can be as mundane as comparing the total resistance of five brands of tissue paper or the chicken gravy from the top three fast foods.
That magazine was called The Reviewer and it would be cool if a group of people took off and did that again. It would be easier in the sense that you don’t need to have advertising to support you since it’s something you’d have to do by yourself to avoid any biases. The blog won’t review restaurants or establishments. It reviews products in contrast to other products and you’d need to be a very sensitive consumer to see through the marketing. It sounds easy but believe me, it isn’t.
Idea 2. Are you a photographer, talent manager or make up artist? It would be fun to produce a site showcasing the beauty industry with one catch: zero use of Photoshop or any photo manipulating tool (with the exception of crop and B&W conversion). Real photography. Real models. And I mean REAL MODELS. You know how anyone can be a model these days? Well, a blog like this will definitely showcase raw talent from photographers, make up artists, stylists – and yes, bringing back the super models! It’s easy to get shocked when browsing through a magazine and you find out that the model was not photoshopped – you tend to ask for the name of the model and photographer in the credits!
Again, I think this concept would look better as a glossy industry mag but a blog should work just fine.
Any takers? If you do borrow these ideas, tell me. I’d gladly help promote them! 
Ding! Level 28! Gratz!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 4th, 2008Congratulations! You have reached Rank 28!
You have gained Intelligence +1
You have gained Wisdom +2
You have gained Strength -1
You have gained Endurance -1
You have gained skill: “Receding Hairline Rank 2″
You will now take an additional 10% Fatigue from running
You have gained ability: “Peace of Mind” which can be used once per day
A rant to self:
You’re probably the most stubborn person I know, who can’t afford to glue himself to work in an office desk. You try your best to be calm and composed outside, but inside you are probably laughing, because you like to imagine people wearing clown suits (red nose, white make up) while they walk the streets or when they are talking to you. You are passionate and to a fault unbridled and it’s hard to predict what you’re going to do. You’re lazy. You’re not lazy. You get lost in what you do and when you finally come to your senses, you always wonder – hey, what did I just do? Thankfully you haven’t embarrassed yourself in public, at least not yet. Talk less. But make it count. Remember to always protect those close to you and never step on anybody if you want to succeed.
You need to play more guitar and drink less. Even though you claim to look like Joaquin Phoenix, you will still be Mr. Bean.
Belated happy birthday!
Megaton City Nuclear Explosion: Someone set us up the bomb
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 3rd, 2008
Fallout 3. Inside Megaton City is a dormant nuclear bomb that is both dreaded by the townsfolk and worshipped by religious cult known as the Church of Atom. The video clip above is easily one of the most defining moments of video game history, where the player (me!) wipes out an entire city from the face of the map with the push of a button.
