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!
When 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?
Ed’s Note: Want to see the Samsung Galaxy Note underwater? Check it out!
As a guys who likes to take photos underwater, I tend to keep my choice of camera brands within the confines of the “1-Way Test” … which simply begs the question “Can I take it underwater?” So I’m more inclined to invest in photography equipment which you can wet. The geeky appeal of it all is trying to figure out how to keep electronics from staying dry at 100 ft below the surface and the concept is challenging. Well, we did it for an iPod, so what’s stopping us from taking the iPhone down?!
But the question is, can you take the iPhone 4s down to recreational SCUBA depths of 60-120ft? Well, Patima’s new casing exclusively for the iPhone 4s allows you to do so. Not just into recreational depths … but up to 300 meters folks.
Exclusive for camera or video functions of the iPhone 4S
– Rated to 300meters, anti-moisture and anti-dust purposes
– Simple operation with 4 buttons
– Compact Size and light weight
– Material – CNC milled Aluminium Acetal, Stainless Steel
– Finishing – Anodized after Barrel, Sanding and coating
– Color – Silver
– Size: 185 x 70 x 40mm
– Weight – 400g on land
– Available controls: Rec Button, STOP button, Program Confirm Button, Camera/Camcorder mode Button and Power Button
OK looking at the shots, I’m really wondering how exactly will you unlock the iPhone with the three buttons? The three buttons + home is obviously used for the camera, gallery and photo / video switch (again not sure how you’re going to switch). I’ll probably get an explanation how it works and hopefully a run-through. I don’t see any slots for strobes or video lights so you pretty much have to do a DIY config to get this thing working 100%. Nonetheless, I don’t think Patima designed this to be your primary underwater camera, but still. It delivers.
This Patima case doesn’t seem to be compatible with other iPhone models.
More than the news about the coming iPhone 5 (which should be completely redesigned to support a bigger 4.3″ screen), I’m more interested in two Apple rumors namely the iPad 3 allegedly going to be released the day before Steve Jobs’ birthday on the 24th of February 2012 and the Siri app being ported as a wearable device to communicate with your iDevices. So for those asking about the mythical 3rd iPad, Q1 is the safe bet and yeah it’s actually due for a refresh. Some of my predictions would include:
– full screen “natural” 16:9 viewing (with sides of the app leaving space for thumbs in App view)
– virtual middle button
– Siri integration
– better camera
There’s rumor of an “iPad mini” going round as well and in its current vaporware form should be something like the Samsung Galaxy Note. If more of these configs get introduced there is no doubt Apple may bump iCloud storage up for free. Well, they’re rumors. So whatev.
Then there’s Siri. More than being a piece of software embedded in a phone or tablet, the iRumor is that it’s going full blown wearable hardware albeit more elegant than those Bluetooth headsets people wear on their ears. Maybe watches. Maybe. But then again, I’d be more excited to see Siri support more locations as its pretty limited in geo-services in the Philippines.
A third rumor, though not happening anytime in 2012 is the switch to hydrogen cells for powering the iPhone and iPad. This will enable iDevices to run for weeks on a single charge. It’s no secret that battery technology is one of the most archaic in today’s age as lithium ion is a really a thing of the past. Smartphones need that added power to stay alive and li-ion just doesn’t cut it anymore. The move to more efficient power was supposed to be through a sweet little item called Graphene but it looks like Apple is going through a completely different direction. Again, rumors.
In this day and age, the term “media player” can be defined only as ambiguous. Where once, a media player meant the VHS player that sat beside your television set, today a media player has been limited to a feature in almost any piece of portable technology rather than the hardware itself.
