I really just have to get this out: Star Trek / Dr Who Crossover by IDW
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 17th, 2012
My geeky brain is exploding (like right now) because I can’t contain the excitement! This isn’t the first time Star Trek had a crossover series. But Dr. Who.. well that’s something else!
And they’re both English. 
March 2012.
My (Growing) iOS Board Game Collection
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 17th, 2012
Last week, I met up with my staple group of high school friends who play board games semi-regularly. And one of them was really surprised to see me with an iPhone 4s when I swore by my Android-powered Galaxy S II last year (LOL!).
Well I still have my S II and would never trade it off. I feel that for PIM and multitasking, it’s hands-down Android. They have better means to help you stay productive on the cloud. Despite Apple’s iCloud, I don’t feel it as much (unless if you probably own several iDevices). But because Android is powered by Google and Google has just become so ubiquitous, you can’t go wrong.
There is ONE thing that Android doesn’t have though. And it’s a huge collection of board game ports into iOS. I’m not referring to Monopoly or Scrabble. Or Words with Friends. I’m talking about the geekier ones you can find on Board Game Geek which are so hard to come by locally. On iOS, a huge chunk of these titles are readily available for a fraction of the price. With multiplayer online support via GameCenter.
Here’s a roster of some of my growing collection above:
Hive Online – A hex based strategy game where you need to surround your opponent’s Queen Bee.It’s kinda like Chess.
Carcassone – A classic tile-based kingdom builder that has become one of the pillars of Euro-themed board games.
Ticket to Ride – Another classic. It’s fairly simple to play: each team has to build the longest railway system. You get points for completing train routes. It was free for some time.
Bang! The Bullet HD – This is one of my all-time favorite card games (featured back in 2010). One sheriff, two deputies, one renegade, and three outlaws. The twist is that the roles are hidden from all players except the identity of the sheriff. Game ends when the sheriff and his deputies kill the outlaws or vice versa. The “renegade” wild card wins if he’s the last man standing.
Kard Kombat – From Richard Garfield, the creator of Magic: The Gathering. It’s Mortal Kombat .. with cards. Sort of.
Ascension – One of the world’s most popular deck building games similar to Dominion and Thunderstone.
Caylus – A popular Kingdom builder Euro-themed game, Caylus is a race to build and expand King Philip the Fair’s castle and make France strong!
Puerto Rico HD – Puerto Rico is still newly discovered and it’s your job to dominate the island. This is a popular role-playing board game that’s also kingdom-builder themed.
Neuroshima Hex – A hex based sci-fi combat game that’s honestly a lot more fun than Hive Online.
7 Wonders Scorer – This is a scoring app for 7 Wonders, a board game that is coming soon to iOS!
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Are any of you guys fond of board games? The experience of playing with cardboard vs digital is very different, but one thing’s for sure — the digital version beats cleaning up afterwards!
Any other games to recommend?
Outbreak Manila: A 5k run I would join
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 16th, 2012Similar to the US-based Run for Your Lives 5k zombie infested obstacle course, Outbreak Manila is a 5k thematic race where you can either role play as a survivor or a zombie. The race has goals: survivors will have 3 red flags attached onto their person. In turn, zombies must grab the flags. Once a runner has run out of flags, his brains are eaten. Figuratively of course.
The race will be held in Nuvali. For more details, check out:
Facebook: Outbreak Manila
Twitter: @OutbreakManila
Website: www.outbreakmanila.com
P50.00 a day can get you a Netbook and Home Internet
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 14th, 2012Yesterday we asked you how far your P50.00 a day could go. We mostly talked about apps you can download from the iTunes store but really, an app is an app … is an app! So the word’s out today. The PLDT-Smart group have released a new home office promo which sounds mighty attractive: for PHP 50.00 a day you can get WiMax in your home plus a Neo Netbook.
Here are the plans:
PHP 999 Canopy / Wimax + PHP 500 = Php 1,499 / mo for a Neo Netbook
PHP 999 Canopy / Wimax + PHP 800 = Php 1,799 / mo for an Acer Netbook
For more details you can follow @PLDThome on Twitter and check out their unlimited Internet + Netbook bundle.
This is a steal if you’re really on a budget but need to get a home workstation going as soon as possible. We have no word about the exact model of the netbooks but I will surmise that it is probably one of these. I have had the opportunity to review Neo-branded netbooks and generally speaking, they perform at par with other brands. You also get that added patriotic flag for choosing Pinoy-made!
Do yourself a favor: if you think this this promo is epic, do inquire first about the signal strength in your area. At everything constant, the 2Mbps signal is pretty stable and enough to get you through all your Internet needs.
N.B. PLDT is an advertiser on this blog.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 14th, 2012
To the younger readers, you probably may not remember this but back in the days when the Sony Walkman was the portable music player to have, it had one particular feature that trumped any other portable device. Yes even the iPod. At that time, carrying around a Walkman enabled you to “share music” but in a way different from how we share music today.
You see, the original Walkman came with two mini headphone jacks, allowing you and a friend to listen to the same music, out of the box. Of course, nowadays you can always buy a third party splitter for your 3.5mm headphone jack, but I was quite glad to find this feature being brought back with the set of Fanny Wang’s sitting on my desk. Aside from being epic noise-canceling over ears, it comes with a splitter so you can share your music with another person sitting beside you. Romantic!
Isn’t that such a romantic thing? You and a special someone can listen to the same music without getting all awkward with a single set of headphones.
Happy Valentine’s Day, dear readers! Full review soon!
Geeky things you can buy for P50.00
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 13th, 2012When Apple revamped the music industry with single track purchases for less than P50.00 per track, that changed the way people sold applications and in-app purchases. It’s essentially the “tingi” method turned into a digital business. Now there’s a huge product launch tomorrow but all we can say is that it has something to do with the power of P50.00.
In the digital age, there are surprisingly a lot of things you can buy with fifty pesos. Here are some examples:
2,500 Coins in Temple Run
A definite chart topper on iOS devices, I still have no idea how people can score over 3,000,000 points in a single run. But I do know this — if you’re really frustrated and want to earn those coins without any effort, you can always drop $0.99 for 2,500 coins to help you buy upgrades for your brave explorer.
“GRAND UPPERCUT!!”
Streets of Rage 2
Streets of Rage 2 has my childhood written all over it. It’s become one of the defining games of its genre, released way back in the 90′s for the SEGA Genesis. And guess what? It’s here for iOS for less than fifty pesos. That’s totally awesome. I’m reliving an epic two-player side scrolling beat ‘em up experience with Axel, Blaze, Skate and Max as they take on Shiva and Mr. X. Streets of Rage 2 is a complete port to iOS. It even includes multiplayer support via wireless connectivity.
Two Games of Half Life 2: Survivor
I now have a new reason to head over to Resorts World and it has nothing to do with the casino. The new “Gamezoo” arcade is a two-storey haven for a lot of coin-op arcade machines that are practically hard to find. Case in point: Half Life 2: Survivor. This arcade series was never released in the USA and quite frankly I’m baffled as to how Gamezoo even knew that this game existed. It’s out and it’s in Resort’s World. A single game costs P20.00. Half Life 2: Survivor is a marriage between Team Fortress 2 and the Half Life franchise allowing up to 8 players to battle simultaneously in a single arena.
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These are just three cheap (and geeky) thrills you can get with PHP 50.00. What about you? What are your most favorite apps that retail for less than a dollar?
Ticket to Ride (Pocket) is FREE today. Get it, quick!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 9th, 2012
If you’re a big fan of board games and own an iOS device, I highly suggest you download Ticket to Ride Pocket (that’s the iPhone version) because it’s free. Ticket to Ride is one of the best selling board games in recent history and the port to the iOS is just plain amazing. You know it’s a good game when you consistently see 5-star ratings in the comments section.
If you’re not into board games, I still suggest you pick it up because it’s not at all pretentious and rather easy to pick up for the family.
Ticket to Ride [FREE DOWNLOAD]
Bump up your Dropbox space to 5GB for free
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 6th, 2012
Despite being hooked to the iCloud environment (we have a 4s and an iPad 2), I’m still a believer in Dropbox. Whereas I was forced to use iCloud, I chose to still sign up for a Dropbox account because it really makes document sharing more efficient while being platform-agnostic. The only problem with it is outside the 3GB of free space on my account (acquired from referrals) you need to pay for space, which is quite understandable given their “freemium” business model. So when I found out that they were bumping up their free space to up to 5GB if you participated in a beta program, I immediately got started.
Dropbox recently launched a new photo sync service that copies files directly from your digital camera to the cloud. For every 500MB of space you upload, they give you 500MB of cloud space. That would mean if you’re gunning for 2GB of space to reach 5GB, you will need to upload 2GB worth of photos or video from your camera. Note that merely transferring photos from your HD will not work. You will need to plug in your camera and Dropbox will automatically detect it and prompt you to start transferring. It doesn’t work with a plugged in iPhone.
DOWNLOAD THE DROPBOX DESKTOP BETA HERE. It is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux x86_64 / Linux x86.
If you own an Android device, you will also be able to upload photos wirelessly and this counts as well.
Fine Dining: A Short Film by Lance Katigbak
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 4th, 2012 “I wanted to be able to show that poverty doesn’t have to be a hindrance to be able to do loving acts. Even if you are materially poor, if you have the dedication and if you refuse to lose your human dignity, it’s still possible for you to help others, (…)”
- Lance Katigbak
Lance is a fellow Southridge alumnus. Found out we were both EIC’s of our school paper. Go Lance!
The DOT linked back to my ‘It’s More Fun’ Tutorial!
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at January 31st, 2012
Got home to a big surprise! The Department of Tourism has linked my “It’s More Fun” meme tutorial onto their front page under Fun Stuff! I’m really happy that the blog has been recognized in this way.
The site also links back to other amazing works from fellow netizens as well as official “It’s More Fun” wallpapers, social network avatars, and animated logos. Great work!
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Last week I got a glimpse of the new DOT tourism video while at an IMMAP function. Sec. Mon Jimenez was the guest of honor and showed us the 90% completed ‘It’s More Fun’ PH tourism video. All I have to say is that it’s really amazing and something we can be very proud of. The video managed to portray an accurate as well as positive image of our country’s diversity in people and natural resources. It’s so good, people were too engaged to even snap it with their cameras.
It’s definitely more fun in the Philippines! Thanks for the heads up, Corey!=)
Pinspire vs Pinterest
Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at January 30th, 2012
So Pinterest came first. Pinspire followed next, albeit rather quickly. Pinterest needs no introduction. But if it did, I’d say: If Path is the hot new social network of 2012, Pinterest is “new Tumblr of 2012.” Developed by the Samwer Brothers of Rocket Internet, Pinsire is a fascinating copy of the former.
So what gives? Rocket Internet’s strategy is to take concepts on beta and replicate them into their huge global network. The end result is well, something close to the original but scaled for regions that it otherwise would not be able to reach. End of the day, we can go on and on about copying a site and its features (in this case, copying most of it) but you will notice that the communities are both very different.
In any case, no harm in trying out both. We have a small offer for you though — and it’s for Pinspire, because they wanted some ad space on this little blog. If you want to win some great Apple products, courtesy of these guys, just follow these steps:
STEP 1
Sign up on Pinspire using this link and add some original pins.
STEP 2
Put the pin link in the comments section. Like this:
http://www.pinspire.com/board/show/267972 < — That’s my underwater album.
STEP 3
Promote it like crazy!
The most popular board wins an 8GB iPod Touch.
The top succeeding 10 boards win a 2GB iPod Shuffle each.
The popularity will be aggregately determined by the number of board followers, likes and comments. The winners will be announced on February 29, 2012. Deadline of entries is on midnight of February 25, 2012
N.B. Pinspire is an advertiser on this blog.
