Categories
Underwater

7 Most Memorable Underwater Shots from 2013

2013 was an awesome year for SCUBA Diving. And I don’t use the word awesome loosely. For one, I got to finally compete in an underwater photo shoot out in Cebu, flying there twice in a span of two weeks. Out of the several “memory card full” warnings, here are the 7 most memorable shots from last year. By memorable, I don’t necessarily mean the best — these are just the shots that left a lasting impression on my hobby.

All photos were taken using a trusty Canon 350D. Wide angle shots taken using a Tokina 10-17mm lens and macro shots were done with a 60mm Canon macro lens. I shoot with two YS-110 alpha strobes from Sea&Sea.

Categories
Press

Make Money on the Go: Three Key Questions to Ask before Transitioning to a Mobile POS

One study projects that within the next two years, the industry of mobile payments will reach well over $1 trillion around the world, according to Heavy Reading Networks Insider. More than 60 percent of consumers in the US actually believe that making payments on mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, will inevitably replace traditional credit card payments that are made at terminals within stores, according to a Harris Interactive Poll.

Categories
Digressions

To my son

jayvee and javi

[12.22.2013]

Dear son,

One day you will wonder
At the state of affairs of this world —
In wonder as to how it was when you first saw the light of this earth.

It is suffice to say that
You were born at an exciting time.
“What kind of time?” you asked me.
And I replied, “It was a time of great change:

When music was no longer divided by era,
With every song in the world playing at your fingertips
And every culture a niche
With every niche a subculture in itself.

When Culture — all the world’s Culture
Was no longer a one way street found in some book (the pages of which you had to turn)
And can be experienced, if not understood deeply through
the words
the sounds
the songs
All from the screen in front of you.

It was a time when people stopped looking forward
And all decided to look up;
Rather than launch a man up to the moon and back
We decided to head for Mars
And mine asteroids (among stars!) instead of the Earth.

javi fernandez

Today if you had asked me what path I would have put you through,
Know this:
That the stars are much closer than a dream
And the Unknown, a religion you can follow fervently.”

My son, you were born at an exciting time
When cars were only beginning to drive themselves
When we wore computers on our hats
And toys we could print from home.

It was in these conditions that you were born
And as your entrusted steward I have prepared you for a life that looks beyond the horizon
Whether it is the exploration above or below the Earth.

Happy birthday.

javi fernandez scuba diver

Categories
Press

Starmobile makes a pahabol announcement: 8-core Diamond X1 available January 2014

This is Elijah Mendoza’s Facebook message earlier this week:

We’re happy to share with you the awesome news that Starmobile will be the first local brand to launch an Octaphone in the Philippines this January 2014!

Image is attached and will be a 6” phablet with the same Starmobile build quality, optics, and imaging features. Being a phablet, this will be under the Diamond series and will be called the Diamond X1.

Essentially, the Octaphone is an Android phablet with an 8-core processor. They are the first local brand to be launching such as device under the premium Diamond Line.

starmobile  8 core

Phone in question: What’s the fuss with the faster processor? At some point, doesn’t speed give you diminishing returns when it comes to mobile phones? How fast do you really need it to be?

Answer: When Apple announced their 64-bit chip architecture, it caused a stir in the mobile phone industry. They were the first to adopt this kind of tech into a mobile phone and Android had nothing to offer in return. The 8-core architecture may be the answer to this. As for practical uses, it is really up to the industry — software developers and consumers to predict the actual use for such things. Nobody knew we would be using GPS on our phones. But look at us today!

Categories
Digressions

The Geisha — PHP 700 for coffee. Why not?

Two Geishas. The G Flight, if I may. Two distinct profiles.

On the left is a layered cake. If there was such as thing as nursing a chocolate cake, this would be the same thing, in liquid form. There is a distinct bitterness, one that I am normally not fond of, that is mitigated by dark chocolate. And as the coffee cools, the chocolate gets darker and darker. What a profile — smooth, clean and chocolate-y. I could drink this everyday.