LG Renoir KC910 in the Philippines will retail for P25,500
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 31st, 2009
The new LG Renoir is impressive. It may not be an Apple iPhone or a Nokia, but it represents a lot of hope into the future of LG as a phone manufacturer. The KC910 is a full touch screen phone with no keypad whatsoever. It resembles much of an iPhone front, more so with the haptic touch feel. It isn’t quite at par with the iPhone’s because of the noticeable lag, but if you’ve held a Samsung Pixon before, the experience is similar.
Full feature after the jump.
Facebook bans Filipino for using his real name
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 31st, 2009UPDATE: Yay, his account has been re-activated!
So my friend got banned from Facebook. The reason? Because Facebook thinks that my friend’s first and last name on his profile isn’t his real name. So one morning he logs into his profile page only to discover that his account has been locked. I can’t even find him in my friends list and all the tags on the photos we took have disappeared as well.
Naturally, he did what any good Internet citizen should do and appealed through the support email. There is a support email — disabled@facebook.com. And, this is what he sent:
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Nokia E75 in the Philippines: Photos and Hands On
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 29th, 2009
After previewing the Nokia N97, I was given an extra treat with the new E75, Nokia’s latest enterprise phone. Let’s say you had a Nokia E71 — stretch the keyboard to a full QWERTY and tuck it behind the E66. That’s probably the best way to describe the new E75.
A full preview after the jump.
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Nokia N97 Hands On II: Camera, Home Screen, Verdict
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 26th, 2009
Hi! Welcome to Part II of the Nokia N97 hands on for the Philippine market. For the first part of the review covering the phone’s real estate, check this post. In this post we will look at the camera, home screen, attachment UI and wrap up with our verdict for “Nokia’s most advanced phone.”
Click below for the second part of our feature.
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Nokia 97 Photos and Hands On: Here in the Philippines!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 26th, 2009
The Nokia N97 will be available in the Philippines in the second half of 2009.
Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the Nokia N97, dubbed by the Finns as their most advanced phone in their stable. And it’s here in the Philippines but sadly, not available publicly yet. I did ask, but Nokia still does not have a SRP for the Philippine market.
Let’s do this! Photo overload follows!
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Samsung UltraTOUCH S8300 Hands On (SRP P23,990)
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 26th, 2009
Announced early this year in MWC 2009, the Samsung Ultra Touch (UltraTOUCH) is now here in the Philippines. Although the official launch is still set for tomorrow, I was able to steal a demo unit from their office. My first impressions cover a whole day of usage.
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Unboxing Lachi’s Sans Rival from Davao City (PHP 285)
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 22nd, 2009
I’m no food reviewer, but it doesn’t take an expert to know if something’s good — like REALLY GOOD. I recently came from a Davao Food Tour organized by good friends from the Mindanao blogging contingent. I hand carried one whole Sans Rival from a nice little place called Lachi’s. Some of the foodies who went coined Lachi’s as the “Conti’s of Davao.” That’s actually very close to the truth, in my humble opinion as someone who is barely exposed to the rudiments of gastronomy.
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Behold Blizzard’s Battle.net 2.0: Manage WoW and Grab Starcraft II Beta
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 21st, 2009
Note: If you’re having problems logging in to the new Battle.net, I found a solution! Add a “www” to the “https://” address. Thus it will look like this:
https://www.battle.net/account/index.xml
Now, on to it!
It’s finally here! Blizzard is taking the Steam route and merging World of Warcraft accounts into Battle.net. If you aren’t familiar with the company’s free online gaming servers it’s probably because you grew up buying pirated versions of Diablo, Warcraft and Starcraft — you never got to enjoy the awesomeness that was Battle.net. It was way ahead of its time — owners of Starcraft and Warcraft II and III could compete in online ladder matches while Diablo II players could go for Hardcore mode where your toons are submitted to the virtual graveyard when you die — permanently!
So I just did what any Blizzard fan should do and merged my World of Warcraft account with the new Battle.net ID.
The biggest benefit to signing up with Battle.net is it’s beta program — this is how Blizzard will be distributing their limited beta keys for Starcraft II. The new Battle.net will also be the portal for online store purchases and account management for all their games. What are you waiting for? Create a Battle.net account now in time for Diablo III and Starcraft II!
Just arrived: DrinkBot Decanter, Robot Box Shots, Charooba Mug
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 20th, 2009
Drinking is fun with the TikiBar TV DrinkBot Decanter, Robot Box Shot Glasses and the Official Charooba Mug. 
Who wants to review these with me?
Applied Learnings from Metaphysics
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 20th, 2009
OK so I cheated. This is actually a repost of something I did about a year ago for Qwantz. I was so engrossed in it, that I submitted two panels to Ryan. This is what you get when you graduate from two years worth of Metaphysics classes from PAREF Southridge School for Boys and the University of Asia and the Pacific.
In these two panels, I explain the “act of being.”
Click on the images to view the full size so you can read the text better.
Blog Tips for EXTRA Credibility in Sponsored Manila Events
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 18th, 2009Sucked into the “blogging thing” and now attending blog events? Read on.
You’ve seen medicine bottles having labels such as “fast acting” and “long lasting.” Some even have “extra” for “extra strength.” Sure, you know deep down it’s just marketing boohoo but you still end up buying that bottle. You know what? Maybe the same can be said for blogging, especially when we attend events. In this post, I will elaborate more on blog events and engaging with PR agencies, independent publicists, and marketing managers as a blogger in Manila.
Here are some thoughts to guide you through attending events. There’s nothing wrong with doing so — in fact we’re probably the only country that engages bloggers as a relevant part of the “media” through face to face engagements.
Let’s do this!
The truth is, a lot of PR practitioners do not read your blog. Sad right? But it’s true! They only do when you email them the post you proudly wrote. The most obvious sign that they don’t read is when they tell you after an event “hey can you email me when your post is up?” As a blogger who’s probably new to PR engagements, you aim to please. As a glossy journo for tech, that is one of the biggest insults ever known to someone in the publishing industry (You’re attending events right? You’re getting press kits right? So yes you’re now part of the industry). It’s the publicist’s job to collate media values (including those posts in your blog) — not you. In fact they aren’t even supposed to pester you to ask if you’ve written about them.
Let’s go to the “extra” i was talking about in the first paragraph. You can’t buy credibility. In fact, credibility is all you’ve got as a blogger. So let’s assume that you are fairly credible – you write fairly well, you know some optimization tricks, you take decent photos … but wait — why does your blog template suck?. First impressions last, especially in this industry. Go for EXTRA credibility. Ask yourself this question — do you think that out of the hundreds of thousands of free templates, there is one that actually says “this is me.” I’m not saying that you should spend an arm and a leg for a new template (mine is from Gisele — check out her amazing portfolio). Differentiate yourself with a layout that truly identifies you as you. If you don’t know how to design, get help. We are a community after all. The last thing you want is a template that vaguely resembles someone else’. There is no excuse. You are after all, part of the “industry” now (I can’t stop highlighting this!). Oh maybe buy your own domain while you’re at it.
If you want to be known, be known for only one or two things, and make sure you do these well. To the SEO and blogging industry, having many blogs is absolutely normal. But when you start to engage marketers, you don’t say “hello, I write for twenty blogs.” They won’t see you as a brand. They’ll see you as a production house. You’ll know this when they give you a sheepish grin. Trust me, I’ve seen it before.
But what about those really good writers who’ve made names for themselves and don’t really have a professional looking blog? See, that’s the thing – they’ve already made a name for themselves. Or .. their popularity has exceeded the need for them to dress up. Again, I’m just talking about getting the “extra.”
You know if you’re going to take home something from all of this, it would be a call to action to let there be some sort of harmony with your online brand and yourself, since you are seen every week! You can’t separate it — even if you wanted to.
