A friend was asking buying advice for a netbook. I had recommended several brands, although she opened the conversation with the latest Lenovo IdeaPad being top of mind. This was a portable that I featured a couple of days ago. I shot her more options — that same Lenovo without the swivel / touch screen, the ACER Aspire One, the HP mini.
Curiously, I asked what her budget was and she told me that it was a maximum of PHP 30,000 to which I recommended a very healthy Sony VAIO M or to just forego the ultra portables and opt for a “traditional” laptop. These days, all brands sell decent laptops between PHP 24k-30k.
Then I realized how this little netbook and “ultra slim” market don’t seem to follow the standard laws of consumerism and instead follow trends in fashion, most common being that “less is more.” That two piece bikini is just as expensive as the pair of pants and shirt combined. The fashionably “torn up” jeans off the rack is more expensive than the pair of jeans you subject to natural wear and tear.
A mid-range laptop can actually be cheaper than an ultra light portable that doesn’t come with a DVD drive. “High end” netbooks are more expensive than laptops that have bigger screens, a bigger keyboard, an optical drive, and 3D graphics card. A DSLR with a mirror shutter is so much cheaper than a micro 4/3 that foregoes the mirror yet remains more or less the same in quality.
This is today’s world of computing. It may not make sense, but hey whatever makes computers more appealing to everyone right?
The following conversation takes place on the Monday after IMMAP.
Marketing Manager (MM): “Sir I’m back from IMMAP!”
CEO: “That’s good. What did you learn?”
MM: “That we should have conversations with our customers. They are our equals. That we should not be afraid to let them take control of our message. That we should be transparent and learn to take risks and reform our company to seeing Internet campaigns as a process, like building real relationships.”
CEO: “What?! We can’t do those. Regional will kill me. And besides we don’t have time. Let’s just do online ads.”
Definition of terms Netvertible [net-vur-tuh-buhl] - noun
- a netbook that transforms into a tablet
- a class of netbook that has touch screen functions and swivels Read more »
Apparently, a Libretto is only produced once every five years. And for 2010, which is also Toshiba’s 25th anniversary as a hardware manufacturer, the Libretto was designed to be a head turner. Sure, the execs did admit that the new W100 isn’t for everyone, but it does strike a sense of elegance into the corporate space.
Today is the global launch of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. If you pre-ordered, you’re assured a copy today. I got my hands on the standard edition for South East Asia. Interesting that the box does label the regional distribution as this has implications to the server.
Also got my dog tag and Starcraft II shirt.
You will need an Internet connection to install and authenticate Starcraft II. So for those living in the Paranaque area today, Skycable is undergoing a plant maintenance and thus all Internet and cable is down. I managed to connect to the Internet by turning my Samsung Galaxy S into a WiFi hotspot using the Mobile AP settings. Yay!
I’m installing Wings of Liberty for both the Mac and PC. While the install is happening, you will be required to sign up or login to a Battle.net account and link the game with your ID. Just like Steam, you can also opt to download the client in case you lose the DVD.
Oh the box comes with 2 guest passes for Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. Anyone want them? First two to comment, I can give you the keys and please do install the game and add me up on Battle.net. It also comes with 2 free keys to 10 days of WoW. Well if anyone wants that …
Who is this nobody ( I don’t even what to call him/her) who is charging companies money in exchange for people to attend their events?
This nobody is claiming that he/she is very influential in the online community that he/she can make them attend events. For a price of course – this nobody is charging companies and PR firms PhP 2,500.00 for each attendees.
The problem is some of the attendees are not even aware that their souls are being sold by this nobody, and some who are aware are not even charging that high.
So even attending events is now a business?
I really think that it must be said. That between the whispers of the blog community (I refer to the more visible community that attends events), it comes to no surprise that they’re aware of it already. Of course no one wants to speak up, but hey, where’s the fun in that?
It’s a different kind of sickness. I’m not even talking about envelopmental journalism. I’m talking about the basic notion of making money out of your friends. In subterfuge.
On a lighter note, I do take offense on the fact that I’m only valued at PHP 2,500.00 to show up in events.
Three months ago, there were reports of millions of sardines mysteriously appearing along the reef of Pescador Island in Moalboal, Cebu. There were mixed reports — some had said the sardines had been there for years while others say that this is a “now” phenomenon. Net of it all: recently, divers from all over the country made the journey to Moalboal to experience millions of sardines dancing and shimmering amidst the blue backdrop of the ocean. Read more »
Welcome to Pescador Island. Having dove the area the previous day we already were very much acquainted with the mysterious sardine run that appeared around the island. Locals discovered the sudden influx of millions of sardines. Two months prior, word got out to the dive community. Along with the sardines came predatory thresher sharks that would appear ’round the clock for feeding time. Today though, we were not prepared for what we were about to experience!
0:01 The plan was to descend to 60ft and wait in one of the coves. The cove would disperse the bubbles that we were making underwater so as not to scare the sharks away. Less bubbles, the better. Within one minute of waiting, our dive master pointed downwards, suddenly excited. Expecting threshers, we were in for a very special treat. A whale shark’s mouth suddenly became visible from 70ft and the fish was making its way up.
0:06 That’s me screaming “OH MY GOD!” in tandem with everyone else.
0:16 Still screaming, I decided to swim into the blue towards the fish. The whole body became visible at this point and the whale shark was around 20 ft.
0:25 Despite how “slow” the fish looks due to its nonchalant and graceful movements underwater, it is pretty damn fast.
0:32 Wowie had the same idea and swam after the shark as well. As you can see, he’s finning pretty damn hard to catch up as well.
0:39 That’s me laughing and catching my breath. “It’s too fast!”
0:51 Jan appears on my right. A stroke of luck — the whale shark decides to make for the surface and breach, which meant that we would be able to catch up. I swim faster to get a better view.
0:59 You can hear my dive computer beeping. It’s not just mine. Everyone was beeping. We were too excited and were rising fast. We stabilized at 40ft. Again, from the video it seems that the shark moves very slow but don’t be fooled by its graceful movements — it’s fast!
1:19 A small school of sardines swim by adding a bit of foreground to the already amazing sighting.
1:39 In full view (what an amazing sight!), the shark starts to dive again.
1:42 Holy #$%^ it’s getting closer. We’re at 80ft.
1:48 We make eye contact as it turns toward me. I have never experienced anything like this before. Adrenaline and fear were playing a game of tug of war with my wits.
1:53 I must point out that although I had video on the whole time I was barely looking at the camera. I’d glance once in a while to see if I still had the creature within my frame. The shark passes me. I was two meters away. I wanted to swim closer but doing so might have agitated the fish.
2:08 The shark makes its way to my dive buddies. You can see strobes going off. We had a “no strobes” policy for shooting the threshers and sardines because the former have very sensitive eyes. Nobody said anything about strobes off with a whale shark. HEH.
2:59 One of the girls screaming “Oh my god!” as it makes its way back towards us. WOW. Heck, everyone was screaming.
3:08 One last pass, but not as close as the previous one.
I had snorkeled with whale sharks before in Donsol but it has no comparison to actually diving with one. Moalboal was a big dive spot in the 90′s but because of dynamite fishing, the area degraded. Due to storms, Pescador Island’s white sand has now eroded into the rough cliffs. The mysterious arrival of the sardines has created a boom in local tourism. Who knows how long the fish will stay?
If you’re planning on going to Pescador Island to experience the sardine run, you have to go NOW.
When I saw the headline for the latest generation of the iPhone, I was brought back to a moment within a Nokia press conference. I had inquired about nomenclature (“how does Nokia name their phones?”). Notice that never in the history of Nokia has a phone been named with a number “4.” The scale goes up from 1100, 2100, 3650 … it skips 4 .. then moves on to 5530, 6310, etc. The same goes for several other tech brands such as Canon and Palm.
In Chinese numerology, the number “4″ signifies death. Nokia is a Finnish company with a wide penetration in Asia. That’s a big market. Several brands have taken this into account when naming products because it does affect sales. Did Apple miss this out, or are they intentionally doing this because they, frankly, don’t give a damn?
You know what I love about the press release they sent? This paragraph:
Now there’s no need to take scissors to a standard SIM card to make it fit into the iPad SIM card slot. Globe’s spanking-new Micro-SIM is small enough to fit the iPad 3G and hook you up to Globe’s wireless 3G network so you can seamlessly cyber-surf anywhere in the Philippines.
True enough, Globe is no stranger to the fact that 3rd party iPad resellers teach buyers how to cut out a micro-sim card from a regular sized one. Remember the first dual SIM phones? It’s the same banana (split).
Note that this data plan does not come with an iPad.
How to Use your Micro-SIM for Globe Unlimited Data Plan
After inserting the micro-SIM into the SIM tray/slot, follow these easy steps:
1. Go to “Settings”.
2. Press “Reset” then “Reset Network Settings”
3. Go to “Cellular Data”
4. Press “APN”
5. Change APN to
a. Postpaid: internet.globe.com.ph
b. Prepaid: http.globe.com.ph
6. Deactivate Wi-Fi to be able to browse using the SIM (click Wi-Fi menu, turn-off)
NOTE: Every time you remove your Micro-SIM and then re-insert it, you need to go through Steps 1-6 again.
A number of blog readers I meet in person have asked about my dive equipment. Here’s a quick rundown of my complete gear, acquired in the course of 14 months. Most of the critical gear was recommended by my instructor Jan Acosta, alongside my frequent “Sweet Divers” dive group. I left out the rash guards and swim trunks.
