BlackBerry App World now available in the Philippines
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 26th, 2010
I got a bit of good news that arrived in the mail three days ago — BlackBerry App World is now available in the Philippines. RIM’s presence in Manila is sure paying off. We’re seeing great support for BlackBerry products and the rollout is happening quite fast. I was hesitant to buy into the BlackBerry experience after it took ages for my Pearl to be serviced (a 6 month wait turned to more than 2 years) but I think this time, it’s going to be harder to resist buying into the BlackBerry experience as the support mechanisms are rolled out.
You can visit their site (http://www.blackberry.com/appworld) to grab the app or download directly into your phone using this link: http://mobile.blackberry.com.
N.B. Downloading BlackBerry App World doesn’t mean that you could not download apps before. Unlike the iPhone, which NEEDS the iTunes Store as an exclusive conduit, BlackBerry users can download apps directly from a central hub with App World or directly from developer websites.
Panasonic GF1 Owners: Now you can bring your four thirds underwater
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 23rd, 2010
Jovic Santos from Splash Photography is selling casings for GF1′s that need to get wet! 10Bar seems to be the only “serious” case manufacturer for Panasonic as the Japanese brand doesn’t seem to carry stock housings for their cameras. It is a bit pricey (almost the cost of a regular housing for a DSLR) but if you really want to take great shots with a Leica lens underwater, this is how you’re going to get it done!
A sturdy aluminum housing for the Popular Micro Four Thirds camera Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1. A camera system that allows interchange of lenses with a DSLR image quality, Focusing speed and DSLR performance in a very compact design. Kindly see link for camera information:
10Bar housing allows the use of the popular lenses from Lumix such as 20mm, 45mm Macro, 14-45mm zoom and 7-14mm Wide zoom lenses.
Introductory price of Php 55,000 for orders placed on or before March 31, 2010. Normal price is Php 65,000.00
Splash Underwater Imaging is OPEN @ Shoppesville Arcade, Greenhills Shopping Center Level B, Store # 2003. Call us at +632 7249803 or +639175259639, email to sales@splashuwimaging.com or splashuwimaging@gmail.com www.splashuwimaging.com
A Note from Quark Henares
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 23rd, 2010
Quark (@quarklovesyou) is guest editor for UNO’s March ’10 issue (@unomag). Here’s his note. It’s a love letter to Cebu.
Fina-fuckin-lly.
I never purposely meant for it to happen, but I realize that in the past ten years I’ve written for almost every men’s magazine (except ones like Red, but they don’t really count do they?)– Manual circa 2004, then Maxim around 2006; Rogue 2007 and FHM 2008. The only one I haven’t written for is UNO.
Which is a shame, really. Right now, as a male magazine fan, I can say with absolute confidence that UNO is the best men’s mag we have. It’s young, it’s tuned in, it’s beautiful, the writing is exquisite, and it’s got Shawn Yao. Also, and I’m both ashamed and proud to admit this, my best friend Mikey once pointed out that every time he turns a page he knows at least one person featured or involved. Erwin joked that it’s the most expensive barkada newsletter around.
You’ll be able to update your PS3 firmware to enjoy 3D gaming on your BRAVIA
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 22nd, 2010
I’ve been piecing together what seems to be Sony’s grand plan for bringing a great consumer experience in Manila’s next generation entertainment: 3D.
Last month, I attended the side by side media launch of Sony’s new BRAVIA line that boasts a milieu of features in design. But what excited the industry the most is definitely the next step in visual entertainment, which is 3D television for the new line of Sony Bravias. Each Bravia comes with two sets of 3D glasses, and if you’re unaware you’d think Sony is in the market for making great looking shades. You’ll need to be within 7 feet in distance to enjoy the 3D experience as moving any further away distorts what you see on screen.
For the demo we were shown Killzone, Sony’s Gears of War competitor and the 3D effect looked as how you’d expect — gorgeous. I’m still not sure how gamers will adjust to hours and hours of gaming with three dimensions (eye strain?). But I see no reason why it would not make gaming, especially with shooters, more engaging!
Today, I got a media invitation for the official launch of Sony’s Playstation (LOL) which means, among other things, full support of Sony for the Philippine market. This is a first in a long decade and a half of console gaming as we all know that piracy cripples this aspect of the industry, especially in Manila where we thrive in 100 peso games from your local flea market. This isn’t so with Sony as Blu-ray hasn’t been pirated and access to PSN (Sony’s online gaming network) is free.
During the press conference for the Bravia, we were told that the road map for 3D technology will definitely extend to the Playstation 3. A mere firmware update will allow you to enjoy 3D gaming, as long as you also have a 3D television. Correct me if I’m wrong but apparently this part of the technology is hardware dependent and has little to do with the games themselves.
For more updates, add @SonyPSPh on Twitter.
Exciting.
How to score FREE Timbaland Tickets for this Saturday
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 22nd, 2010
Our little BlogBank group is doing a raffle. We’re giving away more than a dozen tickets to the Timbaland show this Saturday. Since I’ll be in Thailand for the next few days, I asked help from a few friends if they were willing to raffle off tickets (of varying worth) on their blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
I was kinda informed that Justin Timberlake will be performing about 8++ songs and he’s flying over Jessica Biel.
Some of the other bloggers raffling off tickets include:
Fritz, Benj, Boy Kuripot, Helga, and Azrael.
There’s nothing to lose, so if you want to score these tickets, I suggest hopping over to their blogs and entering their respective contests. If you do want to buy tickets, here are the details:
Ticketworld Pricing
VIP PhP 4,651.20
GOLD PhP 3,100.80
SILVER PhP 1,550.40
BRONZE PhP 310.08
Mosh pit or VVIP section for TIMBALAND concert PhP8,268.80.
Not available via website purchase. Call TicketWorld @ (+632) 891.9999
The show is almost sold out, so you better call quick!
A little something from Rachel Lobangco’s DRENCH Project
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 22nd, 2010Sharing with you three photos from the upcoming DRENCH Project by Rachel Lobangco. I was invited to pose in front of the camera and get wet. For charity! Bambi had asked me to bring either my wetsuit or a vintage pinstrip coat I had in the closet but since the latter belonged to my late grandfather, I opted for the apparel that would stand to be more resilient drenched in water. Note that I don’t think that the shots I’m posting here are the final edits for the actual exhibit. I think they got me as a tech blogger. In a wetsuit. Hrhrhr.
A few notes:
In one of the shots I’m holding the first QWERTY HP Pocket PC device, the HP iPAQ 4355 which I had broken many years ago while playing air hockey. So we drenched it as well.
In another shot I’m holding one of two AQUATEC underwater LED lights which I use for night and wreck diving. These things go as far as 100 meters deep at 100 lumens.
Oh and just to share with you the photo that made me want do this — I found it trippy how Chef Laudico was in on it with his chef knife.
Photos by Mike Yu
Make up by Bambi de la Cruz
All Out War
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 15th, 2010
CyberPress Official Statement: Being Unfair to Journalism
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 12th, 2010I am not a member of CyberPress. However, I have friends and colleagues within this organization. But more importantly, I think it is ethically wrong to fire an editor because he was doing his job. I want you to read between the lines and realize that as a corollary, this is also why blogging is tough. With publications, there is a “Church and State” demarkation between editorial and sales. For blogs, it is one and the same person, unless you have an ad network sell for you.
Anyway, read on.
The IT Journalists Association of the Philippines (CyberPress) denounces in the strongest terms, what the group sees as an unfair and arbitrary treatment of two CyberPress members who were penalized for doing their work — reporting IT industry news.
Last March 1, 2010, CyberPress members had reported the resignation of a country manager of a multinational IT company – a development actually confirmed by the company. The report also stated that the executive had thrice been bypassed for promotion to the top post, an issue denied by the company.
The company objected vehemently that the report was “wrong,” though it announced the official’s resignation later on. We believe that the report, in its totality, is true and correct.
We believe that the proper course of action that the IT company and/or the PR agency could have taken, was to raise the concern/issue directly with the publications’ section editor responsible for the page and/or the reporter who wrote the story. They failed to do so on both accounts. The veteran IT journalists involved have always kept an open line of communication to both IT company and PR agency but were never approached.
However, what the IT company chose to do and allegedly upon the persistent counsel of its PR agency, is highly anomalous if not downright dubious. In other words, a breakdown in basic business ethics and public relations practice.
In the eyes of CyberPress, the manner of how this ‘issue’ was handled is categorically unacceptable.
We believe that our members, if they did violate any protocol in the pursuit of their story, due process should have been followed. They deserve to be treated like any professional with respect and fairness.
Information Technology Journalists Association of the Philippines (CyberPress)
And … Thanks for All the Fish
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 5th, 2010
Found a great photo set for Tubbataha. I‘d like to share it with you. Breathtaking. Absolutely. And I’ll be here this weekend, and for the next 8 days.
Schedule:
Day 01 Embarkation at Batangas
Day 02 Dive Apo Reef
Day 03 Dive Cuyo Island
Day 04 Dive Tubbataha
Day 05 Dive Tubbataha
Day 06 Dive Tubbataha
Day 07 Dive Tubbataha
Day 08 Disembarkation at Puerto Princesa
Day 09 Underground River
Day 10 Honda Bay Island Hopping
Bay 11 Back to Manila
Bye bye!
George R. R. Martin’s ‘A Game of Thrones’ Card Game
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 5th, 2010
“When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground.” – Cersei Lannister
Well it’s one of the best works of fantasy ever written. It is also coming soon into an original HBO series. SO when I saw a starter box set of A Game of Thrones for sale at Neutral Grounds, I plopped PHP 1,800.00 for the deck.
The rules are overwhelming. You don’t need to be familiar with the series to play nor understand the mechanics, but the artwork and familiarity to the backstory add the much appreciated visualization to the land of Westeros. I won’t discuss the rules — let Board Game Geek do it. And the Wikipedia page.
As for me .. well, photos!
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TORQUE GD55 and G88: Cheapest Dual SIM Android Phones
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at March 1st, 2010
I was in the tail end of nursing a fever when the doorbell rang and a messenger dropped off two Torque phones. Usually, deliveries such as these would come with a lot of PR information but in this particular case, all it came with were the two units (not boxed, no accessories) and a sheet of paper with both IMEI numbers and units. Before turning these things on, I had a feeling what I was going to expect — I once told the guys from TORQUE that they should launch Android based phones soon and win the market share by sheer price. My guess was right when, upon turning on both phones, I was greeted with the Android logo.
Android phones are great — except that they’re a tad expensive. Ladies and gentlemen, these are the cheapest android phones in the market. These units are NOT YET AVAILABLE to the public and DO NOT HAVE a price attached as of late. These are prototypes so what I show you today may change in the next few weeks. What I write here is a fresh look on the two units, straight from my camera and initial tinkering.
Initial Observations:
The main differences between the GD55 and G88 is twofold. The G88 is a DUAL SIM Android phone with a 5MP camera. The GD55 comes with one SIM slot and a 3MP camera. Both units have Bluetooth and WiFi.
There’s a reason why it is priced lower than usual: the GD55 and G88 user interface isn’t as sleek and polished as other Android devices. You can tell from the UI lag. There doesn’t seem to be a way to drag the bottom menu upward as well. You will need to click on the “menu” icon to reveal the main menu. From here, you can drag applications out into the desktop screen.
UPDATE: After typing a few sentences, not once did I get a misspelled word. After using the device’s keypad for quite some time surfing the web, I realized that the keys towards the edges of the screen are cramped up, causing me to misspell some words. The only solution here is, apart from having really adept fingers, is to tilt the device to landscape view.
There is no Android Marketplace installed.
Charging and sync is via miniUSB. After plugging it into my Mac, I didn’t get a notification that I docked the device. I’ll try it with Windows later.
I will try to get more information with regards to the pricing and features (i.e. app store compatibility). TORQUE has a history of producing really good phones for the Philippine market. They have a rather impressive list of products including the F1 Imitation phone, the D100 that uses Nokia BLC batteries and the E72 clone. Now they’ve gone to bringing in more “valued” products with the launch of their Android line. This is Android for Everyone.
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