Categories
Mostly Everything

Google Nexus 7 Tablet vs Kindle Fire in the Pinoy context

(Ed’s Note: This piece is a work in progress)

Google Nexus 7 Tablet. Yay!

So if you live in the Philippines, the announcement of the Google’s new Nexus 7″ “reading device” by ASUS should bring good news of great joy. Here’s the context: my father in law owns a Kindle Fire (apart from the more traditional Kindle) and if its one thing that it can’t do locally, it’s really almost everything. The Fire makes use of the Kindle sign in credentials and not your Google account which means you’re pretty much screwed if you’re going to avail of the cloud services and app downloads. No international support. This is odd because everything works fine on a “regular” Kindle.

Enter Google’s Nexus 7 tablet. The video says it all. I’m impressed by the tech, but really the one thing that’s got me excited is the fact that I’ll be able to do everything the Kindle Fire does but using Google’s sign in process. In short: It’s international and won’t be a $199.00 brick when it arrives in the Philippines.

The Google I/O conference will focus on the content you can access with the new affordable Nexus 7 by ASUS.

Categories
Mostly Everything

Gaming Library Board Game Anniversary Sale!

There are more than two dozen board game titles on sale at Gaming Library’s “All aBOARD” anniversary meetup. The cardboard loving community has definitely gotten more interesting throughout the months as more and more Filipinos are looking for alternate ways to socialize. Board game nights are definitely epic.

CLICK HERE FOR SALE ITEMS.

Off the top of my head the good deals here include Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer for PHP 800.00 (read my interview with Justin Gary, creator of the Ascension IP), Star Trek (because it’s hella cheap), Ora et Labora because of the price cut, and Nightfall: Blood Country because of its low price for an expansion to the Nightfall deck builder. Remember, sale is up to June 30 2012, no reservations.

Facebook: Gaming Library Page
Twitter: @Gaminglibrary99
Contact: 0917-856-5226 / 0922-894-0804

They accept PayPal / BPI for online orders with delivery. Details here.

Related: if you’re up for a quick history lesson on how the USA sees our country, do check out 10 board games set in the Philippines. It’s eye-opening, board games as war propaganda.

Categories
Mostly Everything

10 Board Games set in the Philippines

I’m a huge fan of board games. Some of you may already know this as I tend to write about some of my favorites once in a while. All of these games are imports from the US which I either order online and have friends bring home or grab from one of the many branches of Neutral Grounds (Glorietta + Alabang Town Center). All of these games are mostly fantasy, sci-fi or Euro themed so that got me thinking: Are there any board games revolve around a setting in the Philippines? Guess what? I found some. And they’re quite interesting.

Continue reading “10 Board Games set in the Philippines”
Categories
Underwater

Underwater Prenup Photo Shoot

My friend and dive instructor, Jan Acosta, recently got married to his long time dive buddy + girlfriend Jules. And what better way to prepare for taking the plunge into marriage than actually taking a real plunge into an underwater prenup shoot for their wedding!

The bride and the groom are seasoned divers but we had to take double the precautions to make sure nothing went wrong. The shoot took weeks to prepare and a whole weekend to shoot:

Jan & Jules Take the Plunge from Jan Acosta on Vimeo.

  • Jan and Jules had two safety divers each from our regular dive group, who made sure that there was always a tank of air nearby. Underwater, the bride and the groom would take deep breaths from the regulator, remove the mask and hand these over to the safety divers and pose for the camera.
  • The shoot was done in the house reef of Dive and Trek Resort in Bauan, Batangas. For those unfamiliar, this dive site is known to most divers as “The Classroom” as it is usually the first point of entry of most divers into the world of SCUBA diving. We wanted to do the shoot in a place that was very familiar to all of us but had to be deep enough (around 30 feet) so that Wowie and Marie (the photographers) could play around more, especially with the props. I was one of the videographers.
  • As you’re more buoyant in salt water, (yes this was done in open water and not in a pool as you can see from the reef fish and corals) we had to weigh them both down with weights fastened into their clothes so that they sink.
  • I have no idea how Jules’ make up and hair were done but it took her hours to get everything fastened into place so that her hair behaved when she jumped into the water. I think there’s some sort of art to putting on make up for saltwater but I didn’t really try to understand how that’s done. EDIT: From Jules — My hair was actually done by Chie Clemente-Fernandez who braided some parts of my hair for the first and second shoots I think. The other shoots, I tried wearing a a headband, but there’s really no taming the waters–once you’re down there, you just have to position your face and body for the camera in such a way that the hair does not get in the way. Now, for make-up, Marie Lat was the expert! She brought her water proof sets, but I still got to retouch every dive. It was hardwork all around for every one, and the result was one heck of a great job, thanks guys!
  • The reef fish definitely played a part in the whole shoot as you can see from some of the shots. But it was funny how they would partake in the whole production as these fish are so used to being with people already.

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If you’re interested in getting an important milestone done in this wet and wild fashion, check out STUDIO H20 on Facebook, a different kind of photography service for the water freaks.

Categories
Mostly Everything

Lenovo A65 is Dual SIM, Android 2.3, bigger steal at P5,499

EDIT: If you’re after a more powerful device in the PHP 10,xxx range, check out the Lenovo P700 that runs on Ice Cream Sandwich, has a bigger 4″ screen and a larger battery life. It’s also dual SIM.

Met up with John Rojo, the new Business Unit Head of Lenovo Mobile (Open COmmunications) and he showed me a bunch of new tech they have coming. One of these was the new Lenovo A65 which is their exciting follow up to the A60 released in October of last year.

Well guess what? I forgot to take photos. Because I was took busy making chika. You know. So instead, here’s a photo of the A60, because the A65 looks very similar and the differences are really in the internals.

For one, the new A65 comes with the latest firmware update that is a MUST. If you were an early adopter, the old issues had a recurring problem with SMS getting disabled. Fortunately Lenovo addressed this with a firmware update that fixed this one and only issue.

The new A65 is near-perfect given its price point of below PHP 6,000. It levels up the competition with the Samsung Galaxy Y and the Alcatel Blaze / Alcatel Glory because it sports a bigger 3.5″ screen and a faster 800Mhz processor (the A60 had a 650mhz processor).

So, really. Reasonably fast user interface, Android 2.3 OS (you don’t need ICS for this), dual SIM, huge 3.5″ screen. Then factor in a price point of only PHP 5,499.00 and it’s really a steal. A bigger steal than its precursor which retailed for above PHP 7,xxx.xx

Verdict: Highly recommended. I wouldn’t call it a budget phone because ‘budget’ connotes sacrificing functionality. But it doesn’t. I’m still wow-ed by the impressive price-point.

Follow Lenovo Mobile on Twitter and Facebook.