HP 2133 Mini Note PC First Impressions (with photos!): Kills the ASUS eee 900?
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 31st, 2008
The ultra-light phenomenon has just tipped once again. With ASUS releasing the eee and eee 900, other manufacturers have gone light (see ACER’s Aspire One product feature) and now the market has definitely tipped. HP has just released the Mini Note PC to the Philippine market last night and I was lucky to have taken home a demo unit from the event. I think this was because I won the wackiest pose on the HP wall — I balanced the Mini Note on my head.
Here’s a short size comparison between the HP Mini Note PC, my 13 inch MacBook and a standard sized Samsung F400 (Bang and Olufsen) mobile phone:
HP desktops and laptops have always had that reputation of being good but *cough* expensive. Their direct competitor would be Toshiba in terms of pricing and “status.” But I was floored to see something that night that made me realize how companies are now trying to -reinvent themselves to the new market. The HP Mini Note PC is the cheapest full functioning ultra light PC I have ever encountered. I can’t believe how much style and features were packed into this thing, with an array of choices for the operating system and a ridiculously low price, it isn’t funny.
Let’s check out the full package, specs and pricing:
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I *Can* Touch This!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 28th, 2008
Thanks, MC Hammer for being awesome! The baggy pants rocked back then.
Acer Summer Power Fest 2008: Cagayan de Oro
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 27th, 2008Recovering from the flu, I bravely joined Acer’s 2008 Media Power Fest in Cagayan de Oro. While last year had an army obstacle course to offer, this year was an amazing race around the city capped with a white water rafting race – we paddled for 2 hours!
This video was made by one of our teammates, Kit Joaquin.
And of course, the winning shot ….
No presscon. No product briefings. Just pure, unadulterated adrenaline for 2 whole days!
Pepper Lunch at Rockwell Kills the No Rice Diet
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 23rd, 2008
Met up with Fran, Didi, and Sophie for dinner. We had previously come from an event with Juned and AJ and made our way to Rockwell for dinner. The Pepper Lunch craze has really hit town (I even updated their Wikipedia entry to say they’re already in Manila). When we heard that Chuvaness was opening Pepper Lunch in Manila.
As of this writing, I’ve eaten at Pepper Lunch three times (it only opened last week!). I really try to stay away from rice whenever possible, and if I do eat, I only finish 1/4th to 1/2 cup of rice. But it’s really different. My no-rice diet is now a pseudo-rice diet courtesy of their Beef Pepper Rice. It costs about P140.00 for an extra cup of their special rice with crushed peppercorns and the secret butter they add to the middle.
I’m not much of a food reviewer so you can check out the entries of Phoebe, AJ, Sophie and Fran. I did take photos, but probably brought the wrong lens. I took the macro out to see if I could get the steak in detail but realized how hard it was to shoot with smoke coming from all directions. What’s the best way to shoot food that’s inevitably spewing smoke? Items from grills and hot plates are hard to shoot as is!
All I really have to say is that if you’ve had a really crappy day at work, Pepper Lunch at Rockwell can really save what’s left of it. Congratulations, Chuvaness 
How does uMobile work? Here’s a video I made :)
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 22nd, 2008Hi folks, looks like umobile is catching the interest of the general public, and why shouldn’t it? I have an account with them (but no SIM yet) and for those who are curious to know what’s in their dashboard, here’s a virtual tour I made last night. Some points of interest:
a. the unlimited ability to change your mobile phone number for P50.00 anytime (stalker fodder?)
b. invite-only scheme to apply
c. the ads
Anyway, pardon the coughing in the video. It’s that season for the colds.
U Mobile (ümobile): Country’s 5th Telco is the Free, Advertising Based Service
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 20th, 2008EDIT: Erratum on the free load and how it works
EDIT II: Apparently the referral system is now up. I’ll be referring people who want a umobile number. The application requires me to input your name, email and a current cellphone number so if you’re comfy with giving that out to me, send me an email. All info you provide will be held in strict confidence.
EDIT III: Short video walkthrough here
SMART Telecommunications, Globe Telecommunications, SUN Cellular, Bayan Telecommunications. And now there’s room for one more.
There’s a new number in town and that number is “+63999.” Word is out that a telco called CURE which was bought by SMART has been launched for the public, and their name is U Mobile or ümobile, the country’s first free advertising-driven telco. It’s sort of like Inquirer Libre which we get to pick up on the train station free of charge — because everything is subsidized by advertising.
ümobile is a brand owned by Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprise, Inc. CURE belongs to the family of the 2 leading telecommunication giantsPLDT and SMART. We maintain our independence as far as strategic business decisions and day-to-day operations are concerned. SMART supports us in our needs especially on network complement. [FAQ]
Is this the telco for the masses? Well no. Not really. Not yet. Currently, applications are by invite only and I heard that people who have been invited to the service (those who went to the launch party a few hours ago) will be able to refer friends who can join up and avail of the free service. I heard as well that there is an allocation of P350 worth of credit per month for users P100 a month for the first 6 months for free. The P350 is the maximum amount of load you can receive by participating in the ad program that is sent to your mobile. We were blown away and I really have so many questions to ask. But as of the moment, that’s all I know.
Commenting on the worldwide telecommunications scene, this is something Google wanted to do – buy their own spectrum and launch their own telco free of charge, driven entirely by advertising. The Philippines is the first in Asia to have an Ad Driven telco and yeah, this is huge. Freakin’ huge. The telco has been in operations for more than a year now undercover and have now launched officially with several partner establishments to deliver advertising directly to the mobile phone.
Ads are purely contextual and users will have to answer a thorough survey which is updated every year in case interests changes. So yes, “contextual” is dependent on the survey as far as I was informed.
Cool beans. Freakin’ cool beans. This is big.
P.S. I won an LG KU380 Phone from the raffle — well I think everyone went home with one! Marketing is surely aggressive. Open bar. Piss drunk. Wheeee!
34 Seconds of LOL
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 20th, 2008I live by the premise that everyone is entitled to their 30 seconds of fame. Well, here’s mine. It aired as a slot for Convergence on Net 25 for Acer’s outreach program for OFWs.
Please LOL all you want
Stages to Becoming Mainstream
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 18th, 2008Over the weekend, I was having a discussion with one of my cousins in the ad business and we were talking about the airsoft phenomenon in the Philippines and how it has transformed a small enthusiast group into a mainstream public endeavor. He lists down the following stages that transforms a niche hobby into an industry and I realized how these stages can be applicable to almost any hobby:
Stage 1 An enthusiast group with no other benefit than the game itself
Stage 2 Community takes root in the form of dinners and activities outside the sport
Stage 3 Community evolves into a series of institutions
Stage 4 Mainstream media features
Stage 5 Injection of Celebrities
It is at this point — at STAGE 5 when a hobby turns mainstream. It is also under this thought that a BUSINESS MODEL simply because there is a traditional revenue model to back it up, which is entertainment (yeah, the celebs).
It is through these five stages that an INDUSTRY is born. This is why we now have regular sponsored Airsoft tournaments with hundreds of players converging to play (capturing the opposing celebrity faction leader), eat, drink and see the Viva Hot Babes in the flesh.
My question is, what stage is blogging in the Philippines at?
Verzio Envii at P29,900 in Manila
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 17th, 2008“Love looks through a telescope; Envii, through a microscope.” - Josh Billings
Hey folks, I’m back and posting between the sniffles. My seasonal flu is spot on with the weather change. Because of this I haven’t really had the time to fiddle with something that came through the mail – the Verzio Envii, which is Verzio’s first Windows Mobile 6 handheld. First saw this little thing at the Verzio store in Bonifacio High Street and lookie here – there’s finally one in the mail.
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New Media is all about conversation. Spam NEVER talks back.
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 13th, 2008I recommend Stowe Boyd’s post on PR Spam. In the Philippine context, what he’s saying is that PR practitioners should engage bloggers and journalists through social tools like Twitter or Facebook, and not through the email inbox. That way, it looks more like an invitation to join in on the conversation, with our time well spent in listening to a pitch. Stowe wants PR practitioners to stop spamming inboxes:
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A Short Essay on the Family Dogs, Whilst Injecting Mothers Day in Non-Sequitur Nonchalance
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 10th, 2008Today, my parents celebrated their 33rd wedding anniversary. We had lunch at the Bellevue in Alabang.
I did the math and since I’m turning 28 this year, being the eldest means that I came into the picture five years into their married life. Apparently in those five years my parents thrived with a lot of dogs, in the absence of children, to the extent that it was part of their home’s blueprint to have a cemented kennel to house our two German Shepherds beside the wet kitchen (today it serves the purpose of a stock room). The pugs and German Shepherds gave way to a single beagle which was then replaced in modern day by Hondo, our family dog and third pillow in bed.
We practically grew up with dogs. Here’s a photo of my brother with our first beagle which was stylized from the Joe Cool “Snoopy” franchise (Snoopy is Charlie Brown’s beagle):
In all its entirety – taking my parents’ wedding anniversary and mothers day celebration tomorrow, it is thus that I declare how I seem to attract and pacify animals, namely dogs, stray cats and some breeds of freshwater fish.
Wala lang.
Happy Mothers Day
