my Technology Blog

Health care for the poorest of the poor! Really.

2012-01-05T16:15:00.004+08:00

We all see it, everyone knows someone or some place where poverty is prevalent, where you can see the most able, willing and has the potential to do good things with their lives but are held down due to illnesses or lack of health care.

Help them join the Philhealth sponsored membership program.

The aim is to basically provide FREE health coverage for those considered as part of poorest 25% of Filipinos.

The first step is for them to be registered at their local DSWD offices. Then their on their way on being medically insured!

Health is Wealth. Spread the word, please.

New 2.1 Edifier Speakers, 'Bang-for-buck' router & gaming mouse

2011-02-24T08:47:00.012+08:00

It's the launch of the first Honeycomb tablet today (I'm waiting for the next slew of honeycomb tablets) so I figured to do some hardware blog....

I needed a 2.1 speaker for room use only so 5.1 is out of the question for me and it was a toss between the Altec Lancsing BXR1220 & Edifier M1385f. The problem with the BXR1220 is that it doesn't have bass control for that dyug!-dyug!-dyug!!! =) Another minor plus for me is the M1385's built-in FM feature. As of this writing I'm still testing it so the review will come later.

Btw, that TP-Link R402M+ is the cheapest reliable (wired-only) router that you can buy today (less than 1k). I already have a 300mbps wireless N Router and I just needed a replacement to our old D-Link 604 Router (another subnet).

Also bought the "Bang for Buck" e-blue Scorpion 3200DPI Pro Gaming mouse and it's niiice! The only problem is the DPI & auto-fire switches that if you're a claw-type, you're likely to accidentally click those buttons. Unfortunately, I got mine replaced due to a non-functioning auto-fire LED light...twice! So I settled with an e-blue 1600DPI one. :(

You should follow me on Twitter here

Rails adventures (not that, the web programming kind)

2011-02-03T09:21:00.016+08:00

I've been trying out Ruby on Rails for a week now (during my free time). I'd say it's a very good MVC Web Framework. I started with scaffolding then all the ways down to its in internals. Routes file, ORM, Rake, Migrations, TDD, helpers, validators, associations...all the way through Rack. I'm glad to find out that many modern programming/architecture concepts are now mainstream, meshed together on these frameworks.

I haven't done much pure large-scale coding work since I started handling software R&D but my intentions on learning Rails is for Prototyping/RAD.

As a background, we find quick, cost-effective, reliable, alternative solutions for software requirements in our company. In which more often translate into utilizing Opensource software (Well, of course).

You can't always find the right Opensource software (or at least a near fit) to your customer's problems, and there will come a time where the best way in finding a solution is to just quickly create a prototype where everyone can immediately understand and appreciate the problem/solution.

So when that worst case scenario arrives, we can just do it in Rails with scaffolding here and there (don't laugh, I learned quickly through scaffolding and I know, you can only use scaffolding up to a certain point and ideally only as a guide if you're just starting out) then, Boom! "Can everyone now realize the simple problem or solution to this issue? Thank you." It's just kinda like an "Ace up your sleeve" thing...

There's already a lot of resources on the net so I will not waste your time providing links here and most likely just end up to the usual Rails resources out there.

KUNG HEI FAT CHOI EVERYONE!!!!!!!

Food treps...

2011-01-03T22:03:00.010+08:00

Found a very nice dining spot in Antipolo for our Anniversary...Anix's House of Kare-kare. (not a paid blog mind you) :)

Everything about the food is very good, plus a bit of something special. Like the kare-kare is great, all done right plus the bagoong...it's like the ones commercially available (not the cheap ones) but better. And I don't eat everything on a kare-kare, but this one I can even lick the kare-kare bowl clean, hehe.

The Crispy Pata is all evenly crispy and almost mushy on the inside where it counts. Plus the sauce is different but great. (I'm a sucker for Crispy Pata/Lechon kawali sauce. Aysee, you're still my favorite) =)

Well, been a while since my last post (damn you Facebook & Twitter!). The older you get the more you realize the value of time. It's not the cliche, but the fact that the older/wiser you get the more you realize that you can do a lot of things in life. Out of topic na,...'til the next post.

Short & sweet new desktop PC upgrade

2010-07-16T16:51:00.014+08:00

Having the upgrade itch?

With so many terms & new technology available today, catching up on PC trends to make sure of your purchase will take you some time...For example, CPU: 3 to 6 cores, HT, Turbo. Motherboards: USB3, SATA3 (6Gb/s), Triple channel, Solid caps, Sideport 128. Video Cards: 1GB, 512bit, DDR5,SLI,Crossfire,dual-DVI,HDMI.....just to name a few.

Of course, choosing the right hardware always depends on your PC's intended use, so hopefully these components will help you decide.

I've initially made this very, very quick guide as a sort of crash course in current hardware upgrades for a few of my close friends, and now posting it up for everyone. And I've decided on a different approach that focuses on above average budget + future proofing your hardware investment.

side notes:
I'm no Intel or AMD fanboy, but i haven't reviewed much intel cpu/mobos lately so this guide uses AMD for CPU & motherboard. Besides, I believe few enthusiast would argue against AMD having the better price/performance ratio.

Also, some components here might actually seem to be in the upper Mid-range market but remember, we are after components that should last well before your next upgrade itch. =)

PROCESSOR:
High-end: AMD x6 cores (or intel i7) plus CPU cooler
Mid-range: AMD x2 555BE (unlocked into x4 cores) or higher

MOTHERBOARD:
High-end: 890 chipset (or intel X58) These are SATA 3 6Gbit/s, eSATA 3 6Gbit/s, USB3, RAID0/1/5/10,Gigabit Ethernet, usually solid capacitors.
Mid-range: 785 chipset

MEMORY:
High-end: Triple Channel DDR3 2133/1800
Mid-Range: Dual Channel DDR3 1333/1066/1600

HARDISK:
High-end: SATA 3, 64MB cache, RAID0, SAS
Mid-Range: SATA 2 7200rpm, RAID0

POWER SUPPLY:
High-end: 700w 80 plus gold (rated)
Mid-Range: 500w

VIDEO CARD: (ATI)
High-end: Radeon 5850 - 5870 + Crossfire (5970-5990 are super high-end)
Mid-Range: Radeon 4770 - 4890

VIDEO CARD: (nVidia)
High-end: GTX 465 - 470 + SLI
Mid-Range: GT 250

Note: For the sake of completeness, Macs are always considered on the high-end side.
The Mac Pro starts at $2,499.

Pls. post a comment if I forgot anything.

Will the Daemon come to see the light of day at the big screen?

2010-02-26T10:43:00.006+08:00

Just Finished the book: Daemon by Daniel Suarez (aka Leinad Zeraus).

What can I say, It's one of the best Computer Technology novels that I have ever read. Actually, it was an audiobook.

(spoiler alert) Distributed AI, botnets, global reliance on technology, darknets, etc. If you're interested in those things then this is for you. And oh, did I mention MMORPGs?? (end spoiler alert)

They should Better hurry up if they're gonna make it into a film because there are stuffs in there that gets old, fast.

The ending kinda left me hanging but,...well I won't mention anymore spoilers here Ü

Another Book which I read and waiting for the 'Big Screen' adaptation is Digital Fortress, the first released novel by Dan Brown (1998). I have seen the teasers years ago.

When converting it into film, what always comes to mind is how are they going to visualize TRANSLTR, NSA's 3,000,000 processor codebreaking supercomputer (that's 3 million CPUs....in parallel!)

The first thing that jumps into my mind is the one from Eagle Eye's (starring shia LaBeouf) supercomputer hardware environment (ARIIA - autonomous reconnaissance intellugence integration analyst).

Now it got me thinking w/c book i liked better.....I'd say I will know it when I finish the second installment of Daemon, "Freedom"..........

BTW, Daemon is "condensed from Disk and Execution Monitor" w/c in MS Windows terms are simply 'Services' and is pronounced 'Demon'.

Frak, have to pay my mobile phone bill after 3 years.....My bill, around php 1k .

2010-02-13T14:13:00.012+08:00

=) How did that happen? I've been on rebate since Feb. 2007. Now, I'm on my 2nd rebate.

I got my 1st rebate after finishing my 1st ever smartphone (XDA O2) phone subsidy. After that got my rebate plan.

From a plan of 1,800 I downgraded my plan to 1,200 then to 800 because I simply wasn't able to use it all up. Then by this time my monthly rebate was already more than my monthly bill (oh, my rebate was more than 1.3k/mo.). And after a few months i downgraded it again to 500 so it ended up me having more credits every month (if only it was possible to convert it to cash..hehe). And my max billing credit is 5k.

I'm sure many loyal subscribers especially those high-rate plans w/ free phones may have this free-rolling situation. So maybe this will still work for you.....but I'm sure they'll catch on eventually. =)

(**"Frak" is a reference from "Battlestar Galactica Reimagined" TV series)

Apple announcement day!

2010-01-27T08:23:00.008+08:00

I'm no fanboy, but if I have to predict about the "Tablet", it's going to have a better multi-touch w/ image sensors... for gestures (or maybe an alternate resistive, capacitive, acoustic wave type of touchscreen). Or something like a multi-touch/Pen combo.

And about the UI?... Apple simply can't afford it to be just an extended iPhone UI. No,no,no....it has to be groundbreaking (coupled with the new multi-touch of course).

Other features? No doubt an eBook reader (bye-bye Kindle). Buit-in voice recognition, better maps & geo-location (augmented reality anyone?), media cetner, video calls to the next level, real-time translation (....ok that's too much, I'm letting go now).

OR, maybe Apple is simply opening up the iPhone off of AT&T (rejoice for US users!)

hacked site of the day? cdrking.com

2009-10-12T12:21:00.007+08:00

Yo CDRKING.com! yo' site has been hacked. Just go to the search page.

I Haven't looked into it too much yet but I think it's a cross site scripting (XSS)/injection hack because the text is on the product categories and other places. Dunno how long it's been there, just wanted check out if they have wifi routers......Oh, well. Mental note: Do not to buy security products from them. hehe

Got my IE 6 pass the ACID Test 3! (and some Chrome OS)

2009-10-09T16:33:00.010+08:00

Yes, some developers still have to maintain IE6 especially in the enterprise (I know, it should already be eradicated from this world) and a big chunk of the market still uses it. Anyways, I mainly use Firefox & Chrome.

Now, As some of you may have guessed, it's just an addon to Internet Explorer to make it behave like Google Chrome which according to google, makes it faster and have more advanced features. But I think what it (webkit) really does is just enhances its javascript speed and HTML 5 support.

Google Chrome Frame has been out for a couple of weeks now, but most user gripes is that the only way they can use it (and according to the video) is to have an special HTML tag on your webpage to activate it. Soooooo, how can it be useful if we have to make those tags ourselves or wait for other sites to have those tags??

They say it is by design for now, but I found on some forums that you simply have to add "CF:" in front of the whole URL.

http://aced3.acidtests.org/
to
cf:http://aced3.acidtests.org

(update: They now explain this on the developers guide)

And now, you can now have a bigger chance to view and use those web 2.x sites (read: sites that lower productivity. hehe)

And about that Chrome OS? It's just gonna be a new Linux distro aimed at using Google products. It's not like KDE or GNOME because it's not going to use X Windows! Now what I want is a desktop environment war between Chrome OS ,Windows 7 & OS X (Aqua).

That's it. A very short blog for today.....What else did I do recently? Oh, I managed to implement a very, very easy to use opensource solution for remote desktop using RFB protocol (aka VNC). Started playing around with my Wii. Trying out an executable packing tool (UPX). Level 298 in Mafia Wars. Food? tried Xocolat and 1950's Pan de amerikana in Marikina (highly recommended!). And still waiting for my WIMAX installation at home. I wonder how long until LTE 4G comes to the Philippines?

The search for a great task manager iPhone app...

2009-07-03T16:34:00.029+08:00

(Oh no, not another iPhone Task manager/To Do/Notes/Lists app article) Yeah, I know there are a lot of these things out there and on the app store, and there are different things/features that work or appeal to different users. So I'm going to say outright my criteria so that if you happen to be looking for something like this, it might be useful to you.

Main Criteria:
#1. Collapsible.

#2. Fast loading.

#3. Cost efficient. (ok-ok, this means it has to be cheap)

#4. online sync/backup.

As a quick background, I wanted an app that could organize my thoughts, plans, ideas, To-dos, reminders, etc. So a simple notes or list app wouldn't do. And So,...I searched the app store....

THE APPS: Notes, To Do, TooDoo, To Do's, To-Do's, Simplist, iDoLite, Tasks, Notebook, QuickMemo, NotepadSync, Fliq Notes, Fliq Tasks, EasyTask, Evernote, reQall, ZeptoLiner, Life Balance, Mindmapper (and these are the only ones I can remember).

COLLAPSIBLE. I find that a good feature for my needs is the ability to fold/unfold entries to manage clutter. An easy enough feature, but you don't see this often on iPhone apps (maybe due to its minimalist design philosophy). Makes me want to think if I should go into iPhone apps development. Anyways, I used TreNotes on my previous phone (O2) and I already forgot what I used on my Palm.

Life Balance has a collapsible feature but has an entirely different concept on the overall product. Which is good, but not exactly what I need ($19.99), at least for now.

Mindmapper would be overkill.

Zeptoliner (the free version) is a text based "idea processor" (so they say). It has good collapsible features and it has a Windows feel to it, which is kinda off. It's like a windows mobile app on an iPhone (I miss the undo feature though). And compared to a well designed iPhone app, you could say that it's clunky. You could easily get more unorganized especially when you're in a hurry.

For the rest, almost all of the apps mentioned above have essentially the basic list-details functionality and not the collapsible type.

FAST LOADING. Nothing beats the built-in Notes app in terms of loading speed (no surprise there). But sometimes you'll definitely feel they've overdone it. How so?? It does always load fast, but sometimes after loading you still can't do anything. You can't type or select notes right away (lag time, or maybe it's just my iphone).

Normally, smaller apps are the ones that loads faster. Like To Do (52.7kb), To Do's (84.8kb), Outliner (216.4kb), TooDoo (157.6kb), To-Do's (96.6kb). And I really hate bloatware! (Sorry, I can't resist)

I especially liked the To Do app by Erica Sadun in terms of speed, but the app does has saving issues. (Sorry Erica if there are already an updates for this by now).

COST EFFICIENT. This one is easy to determime, just follow the money! ;> Some apps that are free have more features than those that aren't. And when you get used to the app store, you'll realize that it's worth your time checking out the free ones first.

ONLINE SYNC/BACKUP. If you have important data, of course you have to secure it and have a backup. Security for now is just a minor issue for me and the backup just have to be off the phone and easily accessible. But, an online backup would be so convenient.

Notebook,NotepadSync,Fliq Notes/Tasks,EverNote has sync capabilities.

So actually, after the first batch of evaluating all those apps, I was not able to find the right app for my needs. So the next step was to do a more in-depth search, especially with those paid apps. And I waited a few days and searched again.

Enter CarbonFin Outliner....I found this little gem of an app from a blog somewhere. It passes all my criteria and was actually the first app that I really wanted to pay for off the app store. And now, it's always on my icon dock together with my phone, SMS, Safari & iPod apps.

So the lesson learned here boys and girls,...nah just playin'. So as I've said before if you happen to have those criteria, keep these in mind.

HTH y'all!!

my iPhone Podcasts

2009-05-11T18:11:00.005+08:00

One of the best use of my iPhone is with Podcasts. Fortunately my 2009 Honda is iPod ready and now everytime I drive alone usually to/from the office, I always put on my favorite podcasts for my regular Technology news consumption. Here are my podcast list....

TWIT - This Week in Tech (with Leo Laporte, used to be of TechTV)
GeekBriefTV (Video podcast with Cali Lewis)
CNet's Buzz Out Loud (Natali del Conte...and two other guys)
Security Now (Steve Gibson aka Sprinrite w/ Leo Laporte)

A recent addition to my list which I have been putting off for a while now is diggnation (digg.com) and scam school, both from revision3.

And I also have some kids podcasts for the li'l ones which I transfer to their iPod Shuffle.

What's your podcasts?

Tidbits: speaking of scams, don't you know you can't make a folder name 'con' on any version of windows?

IT Risk management software (my Adventures into Risk management software)

2009-05-07T18:44:00.028+08:00

Risk Management Softwares (part 3)

So I guess the most important part of this adventure are the actual softwares evaluated. So here goes...

SOFTWARES
Document Based/Templates - RiskMan Toolkit (xls) by Method123, Risk Management Plan Template (doc) by Carnegie University.

Project Open + Risk, OSRMT, RiskGuide (web-based only), Project administrator v5.1,RiskMatrix220,RiskSuite,pmtoolbox,dotProject -- Good Project Management Tools, but only with a little Risk assessment features/modules.

ITPG (IT Project Guide -Risk Management) -- Simple web-based PM tool w/ almost a decent Risk Management module.

PTA - Practical Threat Analysis -- Great Risk Assessment software with lots of features including reports (yea, lucky for you risk managers!) , Threat Builder, Libraries, etc. Free for students, Researchers and independent Security Analysts.

SMART (Security Management & Risk Tracking) -- Web-based. Strong Security Risk Tracking w/ compliance features.

Sobf Tool (Security Officer's Best Friend) -- SOMAP-Secuity Officer's Management & Analysis Project. An OpenSource IT Risk Management software.

CONCLUSION
Now if you're looking for a cost-effective risk management solution for your business, I recommend the last three softwares.

But if you're gonna make me pick the best one and treat me to a good dinner, well I'd say PTA. At first, it may seem like to focus only on security threats, but PTA has more features and more flexible than that. And, I just can't do justice to it in such a short amount of time. Maybe I'll make a separate blog for it soon.

IT Risk management software (my Adventures into Risk management software)

2009-04-15T14:13:00.014+08:00

Risk Management Softwares (part 2)
Commercial Solutions has already aggregated Risk Management into a GRC software (Governance,Risk & Compliance) like Agiliance RiskVisionTM, Symantec's Control Compliance Suite, SAP's GRC solutions, CA's Clarity, Oracle's GRC Manager, BWise 4.0, MEGA's GRC Suite, etc.

But for me, I've been tasked to provide our IT group a cost-effective, easy-to-use, standards-based Risk Management software 'Specifically' for IT Projects.

Cost-effective
By Cost-effective it means "NOT a huge investment and free would be nice" kinda thing.

Easy-to-use/implement
Any enterprise or any assessment software gotta have some learning curve or some level of
initial expertise or domain experice. So we're trying to avoid that.

Standards based
well,... at least based on risk management standards. (A very good reason!) So everyone will not just blindly follow it.

The ISMS standard to follow is the ISO 27005 - ISMS Risk Management, which was released late 2008. It's a part of the new ISO 27000 standard set....

• ISO 27000 – Fundamentals and vocabulary (late 2008)
• ISO 27001 – ISMS requirements–Certification Process (based on ISO 27002)
• ISO 27002 – Code of Practice on IS Management
• ISO 27003 – ISMS Implementation Guidance (2009)
• ISO 27004 – ISMS Metrics and measurement (late 2008)
• ISO 27005 – ISMS Risk Management (late 2008)
• ISO 27006 – Guidelines on ISMS accreditation (certification bodies)
• ISO 27007 – Guidelines on ISMS Auditing (2009)

The basic flow of the 27005 Risk management process includes:

• ESTABLISH CONTEXT
• RISK ASSESSMENT
  • Risk Analysis
    - Risk Identification
    - Risk Estimation
  • Risk Evaluation
• RISK TREATMENT
• RISK ACCEPTANCE

(Note that Risk Identification & Estimation is just a part under Risk Analysis.)

Now, when you think about it, all these requirements are the recipe for an objective Risk Management system that can be quickly implementation and/or integrated on any size IT project (in techy terms -- small, flexible, free or almost free application).

The first thing that would come to mind would be OpenSource!!! (c'mon, it was in your mind the first time you read "free"....i mean "cost-effective", right?) aside from cost, successful opensource projects generally adheres to open standards. Then its just a matter of finding the right one that is easy to understand, teach & implement.

IT Risk management software (my Adventures into Risk management software)

2009-03-12T13:30:00.008+08:00

Risk Management Intro (part 1)
There's already a big industry in Risk Management Systems & Services. There are tons of commercial Risk Management software for different industries and applications. Usually what you hear are health, financial or operation risk management.

For enterprise risk alone, it can be broken down to STRATEGIC, FINANCIAL, PROCEDURAL & Other Risks:
STRATEGIC RISKS - Business decisions, Poor Decision, Competition, New Technology.
FINANCIAL RISKS - Credit risks, Market Pricing, Interest Rate, Liquidity, Asset & Liability, Systemic.
PROCEDURAL RISKS - Operational, Disastaer, Fraud, Terrorism, Project, Contractual.
OTHER RISKS - Regulatory, Reputational, Pandemic, Legal, Environment, Government (yes, government compliance is a risk).

IT Risk Management usually revolves around Information Security, but it doesn't need to.

Virtualization in a Nutshell

2009-01-13T19:00:00.015+08:00

Well what do you know. It's been more than a year since my last post. Ok, this is my first attempt for this year. hehe....

Ok, Virtualization for most of us is just having another instance of an operating system running inside a host computer. For businesses, this means reduced server costs & thinking green. These server or desktop virtualization (depending on where you install the host) is just one part of the whole virtualization infrastructure.

Before going further, I'll just try to briefly explain the underlying virtualization technologies.

#1. Full Virtualization is pure emulation of hardware to software, hence performance is an obvious consideration simple because its not native.

#2. ParaVirtualization is hardware-assisted virtualization via a slightly modified version (custom kernels) of a guest OS.

There's actually other types of virtualization like SKI (one version of OS only), KVM (Linux host that requires Intel-VT or AMD-V), Microsoft's Hyper-V (Windows host), VirtualBox, openVZ, etc. But the above two are the most widely used enterprise virtualization technology from (On this corner for full virtualization) VMWare & Citrix XenServer (for paravirtualization).

And to clearly distinguish the two technologies apart, full virtulization relies on the hypervisor to communicate on the host OS hardware and para virtualization has native device drivers to directly get to the Os hardware.

So what happens is that full Virtualization performs binary translations unlike the direct way of paravirtualization but at cost of a modified guest OS.

PROS & CONS:
Full VirtualizationPROS - unmodified guest
Full Virtualization CONS - not near-native

ParaVirtualization PROs - hardware-assist (near native)
ParaVirtualization CONS - modified guest

SOFTWARE VS. HARDWARE-ASSISTED, seems like software will loose but according to VMWare, they have a LOT of years in optimizing this translation so theirs is actually faster. You decide.

Did I already mention that Xen (not Xenserver), the Virtualization engine is OpenSource (free)?

Fast-forward. Now Xen can support unmodified guests and full virtualization via Intel-VT and AMD-V hardware-assist.

Now leaving the virtualization engine part of things, let's take a look on what problems you will definitely encounter in a relatively new deployment...

So now you will have desktop, server, storage, application, Network virtualization to contend with. Like in desktop virtualization there are two types, one is the the multiple OS in one machine type, another is where a user machine becomes a thin-client and applications and doftwares are hosted on a central host.

Other critical issues that you will encounter are server sprawls & VM security complexities. Now you gotta experience that on your own....or buy it and you can also get other features like resource provisioning, agile software migrations, backups & disaster recovery.

So all in all for me, it's a toss between who's got the better management tools & security versus cost. which in turn kinda brings us back to the point between choosing VMWare or Xen.

Virtualization technologies are still growing and I'm not sure if I can catch up...well, see yah until the next Internet hype goes mainstream, "cloud computing".

Tidbits: If you just want to run Linux on windows, check out Cooperative Linux (coLinux) Essentially, it's an Opensource Linux VM for windows. I'd like to think of it as another cross between para-virtualization & full virtualization. It does not use a hypervisor wherein the guest OS only talks with it. CoLinux is run under a whole single process under windows.

Wireless but it's not Wi-Fi...What is this?

2007-12-21T15:05:00.000+08:00

There's no wires to install. Just plug it in and you're ready to do networking. What is it? No, not Wi-Fi. Hint, it uses wires but you don't have to worry about it at any stage......

Power-line networking.

Power-line networking technology has been around for quite some time now but its not coming into mainstream anytime soon. Why? Well mostly, the culprit is Wi-Fi. But newer power-line networking products are now faster than 802.11b. And I think it's now cheaper than Wi-Fi devices.

Check out this product from devolo.
http://www.devolo.com/co_EN_cs/produkte/dlan/mldlanhsethernet-64.html

Network protocol developers rejoice!! (and linux/windows interop for that matter)

2007-12-20T14:35:00.000+08:00

Microsoft will hand over windows protocol documentation to Samba developers. Expect more application ports from Windows to Linux in the future. Especially,....Network GAMES!!!

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/12/20/Microsoft-to-hand-over-Windows-secrets-to-Samba-team_1.html

The 8-bit Tie

2007-12-13T13:38:00.000+08:00

Come on, I know you want one.... (that, or you're too young to want one).

[image from thinkgeek.com]

The VERZIO m700 Digi-Cam

2007-12-06T17:18:00.000+08:00

It took me a long time to write a review because of two things.....I had a busted SD card and it took me a while to have my pictures printed. (the most important part for the review)

To get it out of the way, I only get my photos done in one shop in Makati, Pixel Point in Glorietta. So it wouldn't be fair if I print my m700 pictures somewhere else where the output quality is unpredictable....But, I really want to see the printed outputs of this new camera so I succumbed into having it printed when we visited the newly opened SM Taytay mall. But it will be taken into consideration. Now, on with the review....The Verzio m700.

To quote it from their website, "you are assured of premium-quality optics with your Verzio digital camera -- [The ultimate eye candy]."

"Large 2.5"TFT Display. CCD Sensor. 4x Digital Zoom. 3x Optical Zoom. Built-in Flash. SD/MMC Slot Support. PC Interface. Low Power Consumption. AV Out. 2x "AA" Alkaline Batteries."

I'll make it brief with the looks of the camera.....It comes in two colors. I have the silver model. Get the other one. The silver model makes it look like any other digicams out there.

CONTROLS. Responsiveness is quite good. Easy to get used to.
At first I thought the autofocus needs work. But my settings was not just set for autofocus (it was set on 9-area) . For average users & people/candid shooters like me, autofocus is important.

Quick Tip: I tend to not breathe when clicking the shutter, and arms tucked in to have a more stable shot. And if you have a tripod, use it.

The Scene Modes button is really great! You can quickly adjust shooting mode from there. (But I guess most recent mid-to-prosumer digicams already have these feature)

TFT Display. Good! The larger the viewing area, the better.

Lens/Sensor. ISO 50 - 800. F/3.1, (wide) - 5.9 (tele). Digital camera features shouldn't list digital zooms on them. It's part of the hardware feature, but I really find it useless.

Image Formats. JPEG (DCF/DPOF/EXIF). MJPEG for Video. 640x480 30fps maximum resolution. 0.3M/2M/5M/8M/10M (10M is firmware interpolation)

The internal 32MB is of course very lacking considering it's a 7mp camera.

Low Power Consumption -- I'll only find that out when it's time to get new batteries. Batteries included by the way, so you can fire away once you open the box. Auto-power-off (now you won't get images of your feet and floors anymore).

Picture Quality. I have tried using the 4MP & 7MP modes. Print quality is good enough although considering that I'm not happy where I took my pictures for developing, I'm still expecting more out of this camera. (I'll add a post on this soon).

Overall: A price tag of around 8K for a 7MP Camera with its supported features, very nice indeed.

Dual SIM phones, are we there yet? -- The world's first 3G Tri-Band Dual SIM mobile phone.

2007-11-22T19:21:00.001+08:00

As from my previous post, the first Dual SIM phones that came out the market was the KTech, myphone and those so-called China phones (I think most of them are manufactured by CECT) .

So, is the Live/Active Dual SIM market mature yet??

I haven't used those Dual SIM phones mentioned above just yet. But I believe it is worth mentioning that I heard problems w/ the better units above are the RF Transceivers. When choosing a default SIM, the other SIM will have a poorer signal. For me, that's still NOT a true Active Dual SIM phone. Again, I haven't actually used them but it is a good thing to know, so you can check it out immediately in case you decide to get one.

So here are the ones I managed to get my hands into.....

Verzio Duplii. The world's 1st 3G Tri-Band DUAL SIM phone.

It utilizes Qualcomm MSM6245 & Philips NXP 6120 processors, FM Radio, Front Camera, 2mp Camera rear camera, Video recorder, 2.2" QVGA TFT display, Bluetooth SIG v2.0, Audio MIDI/MP3/WMA/WAV/AMR/ACC/ACC+ support and Email. Just a few of its best features.

hey, maybe eventually they'll also have dual core mobile phone processors....Moore's law still applies here, right? :)

Very good design & controls, and a full non-interpolated 2 megapixel CCD camera. The Zero key is on the right side that needs getting used to. It uses REX OS.

Verzio Twinn. The world's 1st EDGE/E-GPRS Tri-Band DUAL SIM phone.

A slide-phone that has Philips NXP Dragonfly & SSME 5110 processors, 262k-color 2.2" Touch Screen, 1.3mp camera, Video recorder, Bluetooth, Li-Polymer Battery, Audio MIDI/MP3/WAV/AMR/ACC support, Hand recognition software w/ stylus.

A solid design and nice touch screen LCD. The stylus pops down from the bottom of the unit and is retractable.

Update: This just in... myPhone just announced their newest product "The First Dual Active SIM Slider Phone". Now this got me confused to Verzio Twinn's claim to be the first one.

They maybe the first one to release a Dual Active SIM phone locally (but not Tri-band) , but it definitely looks like Verzio has already beaten myPhone on releasing the first Dual Active SIM Slider phone (and it's Tri-band to boot).

Now, going back to Verzio,... it is from the same local distributors of 02, Sony Ericsson, Canon, BenQ and Siemens.

Overall, I would choose the Duplii because of the form factor & the 2mp camera and I find the Duplii more responsive (ARM9 255Mhz). But the touch screen and price of the Twinn also makes it irresistible.

....And I'll give it after the holiday season, if this trend is gonna hit it BIG.

"Verzio is the first regional 3C brand with majority interests owned by a Filipino holdings company. Duplii and Twinn will be officially launched in the Philippines on December 2007. For more info, please log in to www.verzioworld.com"

Next up for review... The Verzio m700 Digital Camera.

Live Dual SIMS

2007-11-21T17:35:00.000+08:00

Before the advent of Live Dual Sim that has stable dual signal (like the Verzio phone), there were Dual Sim Holders which implemented Dual Sims technology by literally putting the SIM chips into one SIM card (yeah, you have to cut your SIM card for it). Then started the phone hardware implementations like the WIND DUO, a true-blue 2-in-1 phone (dual camera also). Pls. click on the image to see the animation.

Also, some of the first Live Dual Sims that came to market were the SKDD-XX aka NCKIA Brand (It's not a typo, O replaced w/ C), China Phones (models E-PDA, C92 & S-Phone) and KTech. myPhone and Verzio were the latest ones locally.

(Speaking of clones, like the NCKIA Brand, have you seen a SUNY ERICSOM phone? (you wouldn't really see the difference until you see the logo "SUNY ERICSOM". )

One common thing among all of them. "Made in China" (Are they overtaking Taiwan?)

Mobile Phones...the next trend?

2007-11-21T14:57:00.000+08:00

What's the next trend or what consumer product offerings will the mobile phone savvy people of the phils. embrace?

Before there were GLOBE & SMART (and Piltel). You laugh at the mobile phones of those days when you talk about it w/ your friends.

SMS was a HIT! (aka SMS capital of the world!)

MMS?? still struggling for adoption.

The arrival of Feature phones, PDA phones, Camera/Video Phones, SmartPhones, BlackBerry, 3G, iPhone...Oppps I'm getting ahead of myself.

Cellphone flea markets in almost every mall.

Mid-to-High-End mobile phones won't really make it to mainstream so people having two mobile phones were the norm. Mostly retaining their old phones and buying a second one.

When SUN established their position (formerly digitel), they were the preferred second line due to its competitive pricing then its unlimited call & Text.

Dual Sim Holders (Two Sims in one) or MultiLine Sims. The disadvantage of these before, you have to restart your phone to select what sim to use (one at a time). The newest ones enables you to switch lines thru an STK menu.

Now, Live Dual SIM phones. A phone that features using two SIMS at the same time. Will this replace a person's dual phone...err, two phones. If yes, this could justify it's higher price tag. And looking ahead, those two phones will be re-sold and will then be more accessible to the lower markets. (More on Dual sims on next post.)

my Technology Hardware...

2007-11-20T07:23:00.000+08:00

I thought I would be able to blog regularly now...But oh well.

For now I'll talk about the Tech Hardware stuffs going on in my life....nothing much there really, my almost 3 1/2 year old XDA2 is still working! hehe.

In recent months, the only interesting tech hardware I had was an iPod Shuffle (Clip) and a Sony Ericsson K800i (Camera Phone). And oh, 10 PCs for a very small Internet Cafe Shop (now that's hardware)

For the iPod, I got it from a local telco event, then not more than two months after, the earphones broke (garbled sound) took it to an Apple center, then recieved a replacement for the earphones. Did I mentioned that I got the iPod for FREE? (I love APPLE!)

For the K800i, I mainly bought it for the camera (I know-I know, I should have gotten the k890 or k900). I'm more into people photography nowadays, so in order to get many GREAT memorable pictures you have to shoot a lot and shoot quick. The more shots you make, the bigger the chance of getting one, right? And you get that chance if you happen to have a camera ready at any given time. The k800i is still one of the best camera phones out there.

New Oracle PHP driver release

2007-10-13T18:41:00.000+08:00

While we're on the topic of Database Drivers. Here's another release for you PHP devs out there....But what I find somewhat interesting is that it depends on where you get the news of the release, either Oracle has beefed up its driver for PHP or just fixes it up. (?????)

Oracle beefs up PHP driver

Oracle fixes glitch in PHP Web applications

SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP

2007-10-11T07:34:00.000+08:00

http://www.microsoft.com/sql/technologies/php/default.mspx

still not downloadable tho' as of this writing..

HELLOOOOOO AGAIN!!! (boo phishers!)

2007-10-10T19:02:00.000+08:00

After a loooong hiatus (almost 2 years), I've decided to start blogging again!!
Why?...We'll get to that on my next blogs. But right now, while the
site is still hot (and accessible). Head on over to...

http://www.ucpb.com.ph

http://www.ucpbonline.com

The phishing site is registered to
Domain Discreet
ATTN: ucpbonline.com
P.O. Box 278
Yarmouth, NS B5A 4B2
CA

Another interesting fact is that the the real .ph site doesn't have a valid certificate. So who to trust??

And if you're using IE7 w/ your phishing filter on, it will still not detect the phishing site. (I've already reported it to Microsoft)

A great read about TDD (Test Driven Development)

2005-11-23T15:03:00.000+08:00

A great read about Test-Driven Development and what Microsoft has done with it.

http://codebetter.com/blogs/scott.bellware/archive/2005/11/21/134910.aspx

(I'm glad I already started using NUnit and didn't wait for VSTS)

Hardware: Nokia says MP3 players, digicams to become obsolete

2005-09-12T19:40:00.000+08:00

Nokia says MP3 players, digicams to become obsolete
http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=49892

I can't help not reacting to this article. Are they kidding? Mobile Phones will make Digicams Obsolete?

That Nokia EVP obviously doesn't know the advancements in digital photography. And the most obvious hurdle Nokia faces is that if you'll include an mp3 player and a good camera on a mobile phone is its battery requirements. And I don't see any indication of next generation battery solutions coming out in that area that will replace Li-ion/Ni-Mh/Poli Li (Methanol? nah, not for phones).

Well, TI's OMP chips may help out a bit but can it catch up to like the latest Canon EOS, Sigma SD10, Finepix S3 Pro, Nikon D2X, etc. (I'm drooling already)
or at least Sony's November release of it's 10megapixel Carl Zeiss Camera? :)

Web: Just got my Hotmail account upgraded...

2005-09-01T15:47:00.000+08:00

Finally, I got my old Hotmail account upgrade to 25MB (It's about time). I think I got this account way back 199x.

I'm mostly a Gmail & YahooMail user, but my hotmail email is now the oldest I got (There was quite a few before hotmail).

I thought I was not going to get an upgrade since I always get my mailbox full in a matter of 1 or 2 days, so a most likely candidate for a paid upgrade (damn those spams!)....But there's a trick. If you're interested post a comment :)

Software: Just got myself Certified in Windows XP!

2005-08-26T17:09:00.000+08:00

....It was lunch time and I was booted out of a DOTA game because of that darn "0xC0000005 (ACCESS_VIOLATION)" error in WC3 TFT (any ideas about this?). So I just checked my emails and a few minutes at brainbench (napag-tripan lang) then,...voilaaa!!

Head on over to http://www.brainbench.com/xml/bb/common/testcenter/freetests.xml to view the list of free test they are giving....(btw, I used to be one of the first ones to be certified in ASP in BrainBench)

And oh after that, I changed my phone's ringtone (a wave sample of Steroephonic's Dakota), then went back to work right on time. :)

Software: You learn something new every day...(ntfs)

2005-08-23T13:02:00.000+08:00

Did you know that NTFS has five versions: v1.0, v1.1 and v1.2 found in NT 3.51 and NT 4, v3.0 found in Windows 2000 and v3.1 found in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. These versions are sometimes referred to as v4.0, v5.0 and v5.1, after the version of Windows they ship with. Newer versions added extra features: Windows 2000 introduced quotas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a *NIX inode is equivalent to NTFS' Master File Table or MFT

tafn

Games: Console Wars update (Video card)

2005-08-19T15:25:00.000+08:00

Well, I've been an nVidia user for quite some time now and I was wondering about the GPU of those next-generation Game consoles from Sony & Microsoft (PS3 & Xbox 360)

XBOX 360 will have a video processor by ATI and Nvidia for the Sony PS3. The Nintendo Revolution will also have an ATI GPU (and WiFi!!).

XBOX 360 will be launched months ahead of PS3 but they say PS3's hardware power would be double of XBOX 360. Nintendo Revolution doesn't want to go into the hardware battle but their approach might make them more successful.....

Hardware: LCD & Camcorders

2005-08-17T19:50:00.000+08:00

Cool LCD
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121824,tk,cx072705a,00.asp

Videocams
Camcorders are now reaching 3-4 megapixels and that's great for videos.
But what I'm particularly waiting for consumer camcorders to have is DVD or flash card recording capabilities, like Sony's Handycam DCR-DVD301 which uses DVD-R & DVD-RW or Hitachi's DZ-MV580A boasts of Mini DVD-R, Mini DVD-RAM, MultiMediaCard & SD Memory Card.

Now it's here,...I just have to wait for prices to go down...hehe.

Games: Knights online

2005-08-12T14:16:00.000+08:00

For a different kind of Online FPS, there's Gunz Online. Now a new popular MMORPG. Head on over to www.knightonlineworld.com to check it out.

I'm using an orc Rogue Assassin.

oh, did I already mention that it's FREE?

Technology always making things better?

2005-08-05T10:43:00.000+08:00

For Hard Drives, Web Search, killer apps & rappers....does technology always makes things better?

Next Generation Hard Drives
Solid-State Memory Disks & PCI RAM. check it our at
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121946,tk,cx080205a,00.asp
Fearless forecast,... SSD will rule!
It's obviously much cheaper and does not require constant power to store data.

Want GOOGLE to crawl your website properly? Go Google Sitemaps (beta)
Google Sitemaps is an easy way for you to help improve your coverage in the Google index. It's a collaborative crawling system that enables you to communicate directly with Google to keep us informed of all your web pages, and when you make changes to these pages.
https://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/login

Email is only for grownups??? (are we getting old?)
Figure this, teens are saying instant messaging (IM) are in. Email is for grownups. Read it here

This got me thinking... is email still the net's killer app? Will IM inevitably replace email?....But before that happens, just wait till all threats comes out for IM (like email spam) And I'm sure there will be a lot more than IM spam.

There's a growing GEEK Hip-hop culture out there...?
Geeksta-rap anyone? :) http://www.sepiamutiny.com/sepia/archives/001100.html

Other links: http://upster.blogspot.com/2005/06/geeksta-rap.html
http://www.komotv.com/stories/38342.htm

....especially for that last part, sometimes technology only makes things more....well, varied.

XP Stuffs: No more Longhorn. Enter Windows Vista

2005-07-28T17:22:00.000+08:00

No more Longhorn. Enter Windows Vista
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/jul05/07-22LHMA.mspx

Check for unsigned drivers in XP
If you want to check if your any of your drivers are not signed, you can use "sigverif.exe"

1. Click Start, click Run, type sigverif, and then click OK.

2.Click Advanced, click Look for other files that are not digitally signed, navigate to the Winnt\System32\Drivers folder, and then click OK.

3.Click Start.

Free XP Tweak Softwares
Want to tweak for performance and stability? Or just for games? Check out Safe XP & Game XP @ http://theorica.mirrorz.com/

PalmOne now Palm (again)

2005-07-26T19:09:00.000+08:00

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121823,tk,cx071405a,00.asp

For a bit of its nine-year history, Palm Computing got a hit when it released the Pilot Organizer. Then it was bought by US Robotics, then gobbled up by 3Com. Palm's founders resigned and formed Handspring, a direct competitor for Palm. 3Com split Palm into PalmOne (hardware) and PalmSource (Software).

Handspring goes back to Palm....and they will all be called PALM. Exciting company isn't it? :)

The past week for me...(Da Vinci, GUNZ, and Light draft beer! and oh, some IT news too.)

2005-07-18T14:30:00.000+08:00

Not much technology adventuring for me this past week. I've been reading Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code, playing Gunz, DOTA and San Mig Light Draft!

Well, just have time playing gunz a few hours a week but at least I'm now at Level 12. I still use the default shirt armor & pants, but upgraded everything else (while still saving for a good rifle). You can inconspicuously upgrade your HP & AP by buying boots, gloves & rings.

I love it when your opponents still think you're a noob in a room with players having lower to slightly above your level....and kicking their asses!

But on rooms when you have the lowest level it's a different story. They're all gunning after you looking for an easy kill! which I also like. you get more experience points killing opponents with higher levels.

I also find myself playing more on "sword fights only" rooms which I think is more fun to play. Takes longer to gain experience but that's not why I play Gunz.

Before I hated those dagger %$&*@^. But now I really enjoy fragging them for an easy kill! (well, not all of them)

There's also this interesting room type called "Honorable Sword Fights only". It's a swords only deathmatch solo.....but 1vs1 only. "How do you do that in DM solo? you only enter then kill anyone in sight! The match is initiated by bowing first and getting an acknowledged bow in return (type "/bow"). That's the only time you start fighting.....The way of the Samurai. :)

After all of that,...had a bit of a celebration this weekend drinking San Mig Light Draft! I remember my college days of sanmig draft but SanMig Light Draft was even better! (not a paid advertisement. Hey, but if you want to...)
....We had 1 keg, 8 persons.

Ok, at least I tried reading some IT news....
Amazon.com turns 10. 'THE' Internet e-commerce king. Read it here.

Goodbye Windows 2000, now OS/2? (It's about time!)
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/071505-ibm-os2.html

Next High capacity storage media...HD-DVD or Blu-Ray DVD?
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,121822,00.asp
Me, I just like the Blu-Ray because of its higher capacity. But I'm sure HD-DVD will be cheaper. Cheaper meaning it will be more acceptable in the local market.

Games: DOTA, Gunz & RayCrash

2005-07-11T18:01:00.000+08:00

DOTA
A new map is here v6.10. For starters, a new hero & Faceless Void remake.

The new scourge Hero (Invoker) is fun to play. He's like the ultimate caster boasting of 27 spells! Yeah, you heard that right, 27 spells. But you can only use one at a time. (Here's a tip Guinsoo-Chaos Meteor-Firebolt combo rules!)

Gunz Online
I just found out that network code for Gunz International SUCKS! there's no central server to synchronize battle operations (movement, shoot/slash/locus points and even items) So you connect & send network messages to all users you are playing with. (Talk about lag, a resource hog and very prone to hacking!) That's why they clearly state that Gunz Beta does not yet support NAT/Firewall setups.

But I still like the game tho' :) And I've read that this is not the same w/ Korean server, so most probably after the beta this will not be an issue.

RayCrash
Here's an upcoming hit online game...RayCrash. A Mech Battle Online action game. Check it out at http://www.raycrash.net.sg/

[thoughts]
Some local organization should really push online games development here in the philippines. We've got the right designers & animators, talented programmers & enough user base. (Well, VCs are another story) :P

New free Softwares (a Game and 2 Utilities)

2005-07-06T19:48:00.000+08:00

GunzOnline.com
What can I say,...many refer to this Online 3rd person shooter as a cross between Counter Strike & Devil May Cry. I say, shooting from CS, dodging from Max Payne (w/o the bullet time) and dashing/jumping/slashing from Devil May Cry.

My first time playing and I got to Lvl 5.

Microsoft ® Windows Server ™ 2003 Performance Advisor

"which is a simple but robust tool that helps you diagnose the root causes of performance problems in a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 deployment. Server Performance Advisor collects performance data and generates comprehensive diagnostic reports that give you the data to easily analyze problems and develop corrective actions"

Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager

"USB Flash Drives are also a great option for saving information and share it with others. When you have many things to save and share but you have a limited number of USB Flash Drives, you will need to backup the information and restore it when needed. This is where the Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager application can help you. The Microsoft USB Flash Drive Manager will help you backup and restore presentation, pictures, songs and applications from and to USB Flash Drive devices and take them with you. The application can also help you to classify and name USB Flash Drives images (for instance "My network configuration" or "The pictures for my grandma") and lets you see this name whenever the USB Flash Drive is plugged into the computer."

Update: Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4

2005-07-05T12:13:00.000+08:00

With the mainstream support for Windows 2000 over.
Get your "Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 SP4" here

..And about the remaining "security related only" support. They will still be giving it out for free until March 31, 2010.

Software/Hardware: End of life for Windows 2000. AMD vs. INTEL (in court)

2005-06-28T17:59:00.000+08:00

Microsoft will end mainstream support for this still popular OS on June 30.
At the very least, Win2000 is still the most widely used OS on business PCs.

What will really happen?

There will be no more new features to be built or included for Windows 2000.
And if your not paying for support, no updates if it's not security related.

Are you still using W2K?

AMD sues INTEL
AMD sues INTEL due to anti-competitive practices. Expect more news about this to come. Check it out on AMD's website
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Weblets/0,,7832_12670_12684,00.html?redir=CORBF02

[other stuffs]

Motorola adds Wi-Fi to 3G phone for NTT DoCoMo
I've always admired Japan's NTT DoCoMo since they released i-Mode many years ago.

Now, their handsets will now feature both 3G and Wi-fi technology starting July.

http://www.networkingsmallbusiness.com/news/2005/062105-motorola.html

Hardware: NVidia's Newest Grahics Card 7800 GTX (drool...)

2005-06-23T17:29:00.000+08:00

GeForce 7800 GTX Sets Gaming Speed Records

I wonder how/when ATI will respond to this?

[Others]
A Hard Disk In A PCI Slot?
http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20050617/index.html

Games: Games and a Gaming Shop.

2005-06-21T16:04:00.000+08:00

.....It's been a while since my last blog. I've been busy with work and making this Internet Cafe Management software for a Gaming shop. (and oh, PLAYING GAMES..hehe)

On with the games!.....

For a regular gaming shop, games you normally see are Online games like Ragnarok, Gunbound, MU Online, Khan, Warcraft III & World of Warcraft. Lan games like Warcraft III, NBA Live 2005,...and the return of CouterStrike 1.3 (not 1.5). Single player like Grand Theft Auto, House of the Dead, Need for Speed 2, NBA Live. PS2 games like Tekken 5 (of course!), Wrestling (WCW RAW, Backyard wrestling, etc), Skating games, Devil May Cry 2, Gran Tourismo 4, etc.

What I have been playing...

Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne aka TFT
-Dota-allstars.com has been down for a while now. And everybody has to register again.
-Dota v6.10. I got a supposedly new version of DOTA (by IceFrog). It seems to be a leaked version or someone just created a new version for themselves. It has two new items. Deathlord shield & Firehand gauntlets, which are both good items w/ multiple abilities but expensive (most likely for newbies).

Gunbound
When I first saw Gunbound Philippines, I thought it was just a glorified version of scorched earth. Well,.. true. But much, much better. I also have Atomic Cannon installed on my phone (glorified Scrorched Earth for PPC), so I don't think I'll be THAT addicted to Gunbound. :)

Tekken 5
yeah-yeah, I don't have a PS2 at home....But this has got to be the most played game in PS2 gaming shops. And I still own with the oldies tho' (Paul, Lei, Law, Christie[new Eddie Gordo])...I miss Jun Kazama. :)

MU, Khan, Ragna, NBA Live
I'll get to that, next............. :>

Meanwhile, how about some KYO moves....

Other stuffs...

Acrylic
Look out Adobe Photoshop, if ever there was a software maker that can shake Photoshop's dominance, it's Micro$oft (thru its acquisition of Creature House).
http://www.microsoft.com/products/expression/

IE Tabbed browsing
MS has expressed that it was a mistake having not included Tabbed browsing IE6, and now it will definitely be on IE7. But if you can't wait for it you can download the new MSN toolbar that will enable tabbed browsing on your IE.

Hardware: WhiteBooks

2005-06-10T12:30:00.000+08:00

Ah, those cute Apple white colored Notebooks?

No.

WhiteBooks are DIY notebook PCs (also called 'unbranded notebooks' or generic laptops)

Do you see all those major notebook/PC vendors coming up w/ their build-your-own or build-to-order your own laptop? Like Neo, PCX X-Mobile, MSI, ECS, etc....They are customizing/reselling whitebooks and putting their name on it. (of course with aditional value-added services like warranty, support, etc)

Just like the PC industry before, where you're tied-in on those branded units....now, you can customize every component on your PC. And this will be the future of laptops. No doubt about it.

I can see Intel & Seagate spearheading these technology.

The latest platform for these whitebooks is Intel Sonoma w/c comprises the new Dothan Pentium-M (w/ as much as 2MB on-chip memory), new Intel 915 chipset w/ FSB of 533Mhz (whoa!), PCI-E, DDR2, wireless 802.11a/b/g, as well as new audio/video technology enhancements.

But right now, the only thing configurable in what you can get your hands on whitebooks today are the Hard Disk Drive, CD Drive, Memory, WLAN.

The barebone kits that you can buy from ODM (Original Design Manufacturers) includes the chasis, battery/charger, keyboard, pointing device, screen and CPU and mainboard chipset. The chipset w/c in turn includes video, audio, IO ports, card slots, indicators, etc.

Just to name a few, top ODMs are Quanta (HP,iBook,IBM), Compal, Wistron (Dell), Arima (Compaq), Inventec.

So before buying those branded (expensive) notebooks, consider taking a look on what current whitebooks has to offer.

cheers,

[tidbits]
DOS is dead, right?

Well, the MS-DOS successor is the Monad shell or MSH. Did I already mention that it's a part of Longhorn?

(non-tech blog): Movie "Mr. & Mrs. Smith"

2005-06-08T11:30:00.000+08:00

(got to watch another premiere last night at Gloreitta 4)

"Mr. & Mrs. Smith" (Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Vince Vaughn) is an action-comedy film about a bored marriage life between 2 super assassins.

Not much of a story here. The action was ok. Comedy could have been better. There's just too many unrealistic things going around.

Apparently, the producers are banking on the two main cast for it to be a hit.

Either that or I just have a monster of a headache that night that prevented me from enjoying the movie (seems like Temporal Arteritis).

Rate from 1 to 10.....a 6.6 :)

(non-tech blog): Movies "My Sassy Girl", "A lot like love"

2005-05-31T23:48:00.000+08:00

I happen to get a chance of watching the advanced showing of "A lot like love" at RockWell Power Plant last night. (am not a Fan of any of the cast or director, just got the tickets for FREE) :)

What can I say? It's an ok film but a bit predictable (aside from the fact that the story spans 7 years) Unlike the last (romantic-comedy) film I've watched in Home-video "My Sassy Girl". It's difficult to predict and it unravels well in the end.

I'm not much into spoilers so I won't even try to begin telling what the story is about (In case you haven't seen it, that is). But I'd say, in it's category it's one of the better film that I've watched. And I heard they are making a Hollywood version of "My Sassy Girl".

Gadgets: Another HP Trade in-Trade up promo (IPAQ)

2005-05-26T12:25:00.001+08:00

There another Trade-in promo from HP

http://h50043.www5.hp.com/hpnewsroom/article.asp?articleid=4530

Databases: Auto shrinking DB files in SQL server

2005-05-25T17:08:00.000+08:00

(I've been doing some Database optimization troubleshooting/recommendation lately, so i'll post some of 'em....)

In SQL Server 2000, you can automatically reduce the physical file sizes of your Dabatases (records, Indices, Logs, etc) when SQL server detects that it already has large amounts of free space. But primarily, the purpose of this is just to 'NOT' run out of disk space.

Growing & shrinking your database files causes defragmentation (aside from the consuming resources) which leads to reduced performance of your database. So making these automatic will create additional resource overhead and file fragmentations every time these options kicks in (I believe it checks every 30 minutes).

For me, it's ok to leave the 'automatically grow files' on. But as much as possible be accurate on the file growth values.

Manually 'Shrink, then Reindex' your database regularly. Try to use DBREINDEX command as much as possible. INDEXDEFRAG only if you can't afford to many locks upon these maintenance tasks.

On the other hand, if you really want to defragment your files, use a defragmenter tool (Disk Defragmenter). Problem is, you have to turn-off your SQL server because it does not defrag opened files.

[tidbits]
Data pages in SQL server is 8k. (In Oracle, you can set this per database)
512 bytes for Windows 2000 and above. (hmm,.. DO I hear 'Database corruption' possibilities?)

DBCC MEMUSAGE in SQL Server 2000 has been replaced by these performance counters
-Procedure Cache Pages
-Procedure Cache Hit Ratio
-Procedure Cache Pages
-Procedure Cache Object Counts

Hardware: Building a "Good enough, bang-for-buck" Gaming PC under 21K

2005-05-17T12:10:00.000+08:00

I've been trying to come up with a PC specs for a Internet Cafe/Gaming shop.

As far as I can remember, the average 'decent' PC was always around the price range of around PHP27K-30K. Decent I mean with mid to high-end components that will enable you to NOT upgrade for at least 1-2 years under normal use (back then ha?). What usually happens is whenever you buy a good or high-end PC component, overtime this will depreciate of course, but will be replaced on market by a newer technology with about the same price of when you bought your hardware. (Is this related to Moore's law? Nah, not really, it's more related to supply & demand) :)

For example, a standard above average video card (for entry-level hardcore gamers) costs PHP5,000.00 in early 2003. In my case, the nVidia MX440 64Mb/64bit and that was the cheapest you can get in Virra Mall at that time (I miss Virra Mall). Now it sells for slightly above 2K and the standard for entry-level hardcore gamers is the ATI 9550EE (rev 2.2 now available) which ranges from 4.7K-5.7K (too many models/brands to choose from). Go for GeCube 9550Extreme Edition rev 2.2.

But at present, this isn't the case anymore. An average decent PC can cost you around 23K-25K with the same components as before (not including media readers, external drives,USB peripherals, etc)

(I know this might all be relative and depends on how you look or where you stand in the market, but you made it this far, read on!) :)

Anyways, here's the specs I've come out with 'under 21K' tight budget...

AMD Sempron 2500+ (Boxed)
ECS N2U400A-L nForce2 U400
1x256MB DDR 400
Palit fx5200 128mb/128bit DDR
17" Monitor
Mars Casing w/ Keyboard & Mouse
40 GB Seagate 7200rpm (2-yr wty)
Ozaki CM688B 2.1 with Subs
TOTAL estimate 20,800

[Reviews]
CPU: AMD Sempron (Sempie), we're taking about bang-for-buck here, right?

Motherboard: ECS N2U400A -- I initially put there the Epox EP-8RDA3i nForce2 mobo. But apparently, this is 'overkill' for a tight-budget gaming shop. (I still insisted on an nForce2 though)

2nd choice mobo: ECS KT600AL KT600 -- new KT600 chipset w/ SATA & RAID. nice.

Memory: 1x256Mb for now, since if you upgrade another stick of the same 256MB, the additional performance will come from the Dual Channel (not to mention it's easier to maintain it that way)

Video Card: Palit brand since I've been hearing a lot of heat issues with Inno3D FX5200. But what about Inno3D's renewable warranty? (I need suggestions on this)

Monitor: If I can have it my way, any monitor that can at least go 1152x864 @80-85 Hertz refresh rate or higher would be gggreat! :)

Hard Drive: 40GB Seagate -- more distributors offering Seagate drives. Easier/faster to replace (RMA).

Speakers: Ozaki -- well, just heard some nice reviews about it. :)

Comments are most welcome!!! (please?!) :)

IT News Tidbits...

2005-05-10T17:58:00.000+08:00

Is IT as a career beginning to lose its shine?
http://www.itnetcentral.com/computerworld/article.asp?id=14524

Web Audio braodcasting
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120104,tk,cx040405a,00.asp

Dual-Core battle, AMD in the lead
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0%2C1558%2C1813748%2C00.asp

Critical Flaw Found in Firefox
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120756,00.asp

Adware/Spyware: What Anti-spyware industry?

2005-05-06T19:41:00.000+08:00

Ever wonder why we now have an anti-spyware/adware industry? (or at least that fast?)

From CNet:
"In an interview with CNET News.com, Harvard University law student Ben Edelman, 25, who has researched and publicized findings on how spyware and adware programs work, said his most interesting discovery is the "huge amounts of money changing hands."

"The biggest, richest American companies are buying advertising through spyware. The biggest, richest venture capital firms are investing in those who make this kind of unwanted software. That's names like American Express, Sprint PCS, Disney, Expedia, Guy Kawasaki's firm," he said. To read the full interview, click here."

Web: 1st Philippine Blog Summit

2005-05-05T19:11:00.000+08:00

Haven't been blogging for a while.....been very busy at work. But I promised myself to do more blogging next week...In the meantime, check this out.... :)

Go to iblog, the Philippine’s 1st Blogging Summit. Attendance is FREE. Register now to save your seat!

[tidbits]
Hong Kong Broadband Launches 1 Gbps Home Service for US$215/month
I want my broadband!! :)

My first WM2003 App

2005-04-24T23:24:00.000+08:00

I've finally finished this app I'm making on my Pocket PC 2003 Phone Edition (aka Windows Mobile 2003). I made it out of the need to backup my SMS Messages.

One limitation of the Pocket Outlook Phone Ed. (even on the 2nd edition), is that you cannot backup your SMS folders thru Activesync. So, I've been using this freeware app called "Smartphone Studio" to do my SMS messaging, and guess what,... that's what I've been using since my first smartphone, the 02 Tanager (aka Smart Amazing Phone). Cool, huh? :) Once you've tried sending SMS using your PC (or simply typing your SMS), you wouldn't want to go back using your phone to do text messaging.

Then just recently, Smartphone studio just won't work anymore. I call it the dreaded "SMS module init failed" error message...hmmm, I just know that it's a problem on the message stores but I've been doing searches on the net for days now and I can't find any good resources.

The application I made simply displays your SMS folders and message contents and you can output to an XML file. The biggest problem I had was using that deprecated SMSReadMessage method.

If you want a copy of this app, just leave a comment and how to contact you.

(non-tech blog): VVRS (color-coding) in MegaMall?

2005-04-19T15:41:00.000+08:00

Just in case you didn't know, (and kinda my own way of doing public service), Color-coding is now in effect on some parts of Ortigas Center and MegaMall.

Actually since last month, you can't pass by the streets at the back of Megamall, and even San Miguel Ave.....BUT on the southbound lane only. Meaning, all vehicles from Oritgas Avenue, Meralco Ave. or Julia Vargas going to anywhere past the southbound lane of ADB & San Miguel Ave. is covered by Mandaluyong City.

In short, you can't enter ADB, Megamall, the old Medical city, San Miguel Bldg. and even Shangri-La from 7am to 7pm (no 10am to 3pm window. parang Republic of makati).

Here's the complete list...

ADB Ave. -- southbound lane only
San Miguel Ave. -- southbound lane only
Lourdes St. -- from San Miguel to St. Francis Ave.
Julia Vargas -- from San Miguel to EDSA
The whole stretch of Poveda St., Gadix St., St. Francis Ave., and Bank Drive

[tidbits]
a broker friend recommends Philex (PX & PXB) for all you stock market bargain hunters. :)

Intel awards for best CPU Manufacturer: Winner is... "AMD"

2005-04-15T09:05:00.000+08:00

AMD scored Big Time!!

The Intel rep giving the awards walked out rather than presenting the award.

Gadgets: WinCE/PPC 2002/PPC 2003/Windows Mobile 2003 Demystified

2005-04-11T09:45:00.000+08:00

Particulary for developers wanting to dive into the inevitable world of mobile applications, the Windows Mobile name has caused some confusion. Windows Mobile is the current MS marketing term for the PocketPC/SmartPhone OS.

Here's a quick look at these mobile platforms:
-Pocket PC 2000 / Pocket PC 2000 Phone Edition
-Smartphone 2002
-Pocket PC 2002 / Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition
-Smartphone 2003
-Pocket PC 2003 / Pocket PC 2003 Phone Edition (w/ .NET Compact Framework)
-Smartphone 2003 Second Edition
-Pocket PC 2003 Second Edition

And just to be complete, here's for the Windows Embedded Operating Systems:
-Windows CE (for small-footprint devices)
-Windows XP Embedded (a componentized version of the XP operating system)
-windows NT Embedded (a componentized version of the NT operating system)

Simply put, the basic difference between Pocket PC phone edition and a SmartPhone is the device's intended or primary use. a "Phone-PDA" (Phone w/ PDA functions) if for the SmartPhone and a "PDA-Phone" (PDA w/ Phone functions) Pocket PC Phone Ed.
ie. XDA I/II/IIIi/IIIs and a Smart Amazing Phone (Tanager/Voyager) or an Ericcson P900 and the Treo.

Also an important thing to note here is that PocketPC & Smartphone is WIN CE.

[Quick tips]
For sys ads out there, tomorrow Apr 12, if you purposely blocked XP SP2 ("DoNotAllowXPSP2" registry key) from automatic updates. This key is set to expire tomorrow so XP SP2 will now be automatically downloaded.

(non-tech blog): Never-ending Oil price hikes!

2005-04-05T21:40:00.000+08:00

Haaay, another one of those days.....I don't know why, but I always get the brunt of these gas price increases. whenever I get a chance to fill-up,...right after fuel prices has gone up.

I remember one time, we checked the prices, drove in, and after driving out the price has already changed and after looking at the receipt we were indeed charged with the new price. This happened to me twice. The first one was months ago and the other on the first week of the outrageous weekly price hikes. (yeah-yeah, I don't read the news often enough)

And just the other day, we drove-in on one of the lanes, were asked to transfer to a new lane because that one was already being calibrated for the new price (daw), so of course we quickly transferred to the next lane but this guy who has just finished filling up, jumped outside his vehicle and started talking on his cellphone. (grrrr!) Assessing that taking time to request the guy to move the hell outta there would consume more time, I just decided to go the other lane. After that, when the nozzle was about to be inserted on my gas tank, tick!... the price per liter on the lcd just changed. Well, I argued that I was there before their supposed time of price adjustment and was just asked to transfer, but they said the prices on the pumps were automatic. (more grrrrrrrr!)

I knew it! they made it look like they were doing us a favor by gradually increasing prices by the week. But on the contrary, it was their sneaky way of getting away with pumping up oil prices even more!! Imagine if they didn't do it weekly, could they have jacked-up the prices upto around 3.50 pesos? I don't think so!!! They know the consumers will not stand for it. (Kelan ba matatapos itooo!!!)

(...More tech blogging on my next posts...) :)

Investments: Fixed Income Exchange (& other tech stuffs...)

2005-03-31T15:02:00.000+08:00

(quick post) ey! can someone explain to me this local Fixed Income Exchange to be offered to Retail Investors in July?

Thanks,

(Other tech news....)
Transmeta will quit its chip manufacturing business (well, almost) and a new CEO.
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120263,00.asp

Having monetary disputes (or other complaints)? Check out Philippine Online Dispute Resolution at http://www.disputeresolution.ph

Changes in .NET Framework 2.0 -- Distributed Transactions
http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/05/02/DataPoints/default.aspx

500GB Desktop Drives
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,120102,tk,cx033005a,00.asp

Online Investing: Local Online Resources

2005-03-29T11:18:00.000+08:00

The local stock market suffers from being an "illiquid market" or thin market.
Meaning, there is not enough number of buyers and sellers, at least to attract more foreign investors. So I'd like to take this opportunity to provide potential 'retail investors' more ways to get information about the market by making use of 'readily available' mobile or web resources.

And even though I'm far from even being remotely considered a successful investor, I'd still like to advocate investments in Stocks, Bonds or Mutual funds.

So for all you budding stock investors our there....
If you want to see the PSE website Ticker Tape, here's the link
http://www.pse.org.ph/html/ticker.html?display=No
If you want to take a look at the current value of an individual stock, for example iBank (IBNK), use the link
http://www.pse.org.ph/html/MarketInformation/stockinfo.jsp?securitySymbol=IBNK
(Tip: just change the last few characters to the stock symbol you want to view)

If you want to receive stock quotes via SMS, just text "PSE QUOTES <Stock Symbol>" to 2333 for Globe users and 211 for Smart. They have their SMS/WAP information page at http://www.pse.org.ph/html/WAPSite/wap_site.html

These are all just in the PSE website. I just provided the shortcuts I use.
And for us small-time or 'noob' investors who can't afford those 'real-time stock information systems', these resources should get you going. :)

And by the way, in case you need a broker, I'll be happy to recommend and give you the contact number of my broker. :)

Cheers,

(non-tech blog): The Republic of Makati

2005-03-23T17:02:00.000+08:00

I just wanna vent out my frustration against color coding in Makati... I didn't have the time to look for a number to call to verify if the color coding will be suspended in makati yesterday. So this morning, my ears were tuned in to the news (at the same time textng everyone I know who works at Makati) while making my usual hurried morning rituals. (where's that MMDA hotline when you need it)
Then I heard one reporter asking a motorist where was he going today and he said "sa Makati po", then the reporter replied "oh, lifted nga pala coding sa makati". So I said to myself "I'm not commuting after all today".

On the way, I tuned into the AM radio just to make sure and not only that, we asked 3 MMDA traffic enforcers if indeed color coding was lifted in makati. They all said the same thing "wala, lifted ho ang color coding sa Makati" (ang kulit ko din ano?).
After that, when I was about to enter Makati via C-5 (I opted to pass under the c-5 flyover), congressman Ted Failon (on his morning radio show w/ Korina sanchez) announced that "Color coding is lifted on all MMDA areas,.....except the Republic of Makati". Dang! so buti me malapit na malilikuan pa ako pabalik to go to Shangri-La to park and take the MRT....grrr! It instantly reminded me of the Traffic scheme MMDA put along Kalayaan & C-5 intersection and just when everyone has gotten used to it (and it works by the way!), one day all the road blocks were removed and it was all back to the same ol' c-5/kalayaan intersection! (I heard it was ordered to be removed by Makati's mayor).

Oh well, but one time I got away with getting my ride inside makati while it was my color coding day due to a typhoon...hehe (well, maybe not just one time....haha)

Spyware: what anti-spyware are you using?

2005-03-21T13:50:00.000+08:00

I've been hearing or has been asked a lot lately, "what anti-spyware are you using?"

Well, when anti-spyware softwares started coming out, I was using ad-aware, spybot & spy sweeper. Now, I occasionally use them.

To check out these spyware stoppers ranking (by PCWorld), Click here.

Web: The Blue Chamber

2005-03-17T10:03:00.000+08:00

The Crimson Room started it all, but the latest is the Blue Chamber.

This has been around for a while now, but just in case you haven't seen it yet, head on over to http://www.fasco-csc.com/works/bluechamber/index_e.php

Encryption: Birthday Attacks

2005-03-11T21:56:00.000+08:00

To continue on the SHA-1 issue, birthday attacks (or the birthday paradox) are related to this...

A Birthday Attack is exploiting hash collisions by finding another random message which produces the same hash result.

Birthdays and Attacks...
Imagine a number people in a group.There are 365 days in an year and so there can be 365 possible birthdays.How many people do we need in the group to make the probability of finding 2 people having the same birthday exceed 50%? Believe it or not,the answer is 23.That is the birthday paradox.

Take a group of 23 people.There are 23*22/2 possible pairs ,that is 253.
chances of failure that 2 will have the same birthday is (1-1/365)*(1-1/365)*....253 times which is (1-1/365)253 = 0.4995
chances of success =0.5005

(...gotta try this on a bet someday....haha)

Linux: Ubuntu Linux

2005-03-07T14:21:00.000+08:00

http://ubuntulinux.org/

I just got my Ubuntu CDs last week. I still have 5 more extra CDs. Whoever wants one, just post a comment here.

Or just get yours here. (takes time though)

Hardware: New Batteries, Twice the Life

2005-03-04T22:09:00.000+08:00

If your're a gadget freak (like many people I know), this should be good news to you.

Oxyride disposable batteries

Encryption: SHA-1 broken. (Be afraid, be very afraid!)

2005-02-25T02:14:00.000+08:00

The news broke out last week at slashdot.

Essentially, SHA-1 is a (One way) Hash Algorithm used in many electronic communications.

Two of the most commonly used are MD5 and SHA-1. The accepted differences between these two algorithms is that MD5 are faster but has a lesser amount of security than SHA-1 (lesser amount of security means that it can be broken in less time)

Other secure Hash algorithms are MD2, MD4, HAVAL, REPIMD-128/160/256/320, HAS160, Tiger, etc.

Before going further, let's just differentiate a bit between some of these encryption jargons...

Hash algorithms are computations/operations that converts a message to produce hash values, but only one way. Meaning, [F(m) = H ] a message applied by a hash function will produce H, but you can't derive m from the hash value (H) and the hash function (F)...(Well, now we now that you can)

Encryption or Cryptographic algorithms like RC4, Blowfish, DES, 3DES, AES are typically more complex algorithms which are reversible and uses secret keys.

[Tidbits]
Blowfish, DES, 3DES (Triple DES) and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) are block ciphers, as opposed to stream ciphers like RC4 and A5 (A5 by the way is the algorithm used to encrypt GSM communications)

Now the bad news is, SHA-1 is used in many cryptographic protocols like SSH (secure remote access), in SSL (secure HTTP), in S/MIME (secure email), in PGP (Public key encryption), IPSec, VPNs, Database passwords, etc.

So Be afraid, be very afraid!?...well, not really. at least not for now. SHA-1 hashes are usually just part of these cryptographic protocols and session lifetimes of these types of communications are just too short. The initial recommendation is to switch to SHA-256.

You can check out the details of this crypto algorithm biting the dust at
http://www.itnetcentral.com/pcworld/article.asp?id=14299

(Yey! It's a holiday tomorrow!) :)

Internet: Phil. Narrowband Industry news

2005-02-18T15:12:00.000+08:00

(what? you don't have broadband yet?) At home, Yes. I don't have broadband yet because from where I live, the only option is Satellite connectivity.

[Tidbits]
(For the entire Phils., internet penetration is roughly around 4.2%. source: internetworldstats.com)

Before moving to our new home, Dial-up and pre-paid cards are the ones I used for the last few months....When you've been in the internet industry for almost 10 years (since 1995), paying for internet connection at home seems weird.

Now,... not that I can be optimistic that Digitel or other Cable broadband companies can soon have their lines in our area, but there seems to be quite a development on Narrowband scene...

Feb 5, 2005
SOME LOCAL PROVIDERS CLUELESS
PLDT quietly raises wholesale price of dial-up

http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=26500

The article stated that PLDT jacked up the prices of dial-ups sold to ISPs and dropped retail prices of it... Haven't heard any follow up on this news yet.

And then after a little more than a week...

Feb 14, 2005
PLDT set to dominate narrowband

http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=27428

PLDT offers 99 hours for 99 pesos. (Even Tri-Isys can't beat that!... well, let's see)

and the Coup de Grace...

PLDT launches own unlimited call plan

http://news.inq7.net/infotech/index.php?index=1&story_id=27430

Hey, I could now make NDD dial-up connections??!!?

It really looks like it's PLDT's time again? (hasn't it been always?)

(....I WANT MY BROADBAND!)

Softwares: Free MS Tools

2005-02-05T07:45:00.000+08:00

Let's talk more about softwares....how about these relatively new 'FREE' softwares from Microsoft......(ok, some are not that new).

MS Port Reporter [Network Port Monitoring]
MS AntiSpyware (beta) [spyware/adware]
MS Log Parser [especially for IIS logs]
Malicious Software Removal Tool [Malware]
Windows XP Video Decoder Checkup Utility [video codec]
Microsoft Best Practices Analyzer for MS SQL server 2000 and Exchange server [For SQL/Exchange server Admins]
Tweakomatic ['nuf said]
Update for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB884020) [update]
Codec Installation Package [video codecs update]
Microsoft ActiveSync 3.8 [update]

I haven't personally tried some of these softwares (I use other third party apps) , But I believe it's a must have for regular to intermediate users.

[Tidbits]
Did you know that Windows 2003 servers automatically logs IP Addresses of ALL 'failed' authentication requests? (that login pop-ups, even for web access).

Security: Tsunami fund hacking 'boo-boo'

2005-02-01T17:43:00.000+08:00

A Londoner was arrested for 'allegedly' trying to hack into the donation site for a Tsunami relief fund. BT (British Telecoms) misread access logs coming from a non-identifying browser (which apparently was a lynx browser on Sun OS) and alerted the site owners...and the poor guy was just trying to make a donation through the site.

Check out the BBC news here.

Now the inside story, according to this site.

Linux: Live CD

2005-01-29T14:25:00.000+08:00

(..back from a week long vacation...)
Linux Live CD has been around for quite a while now. There are at least 200+ linux based Live CDs.

Now, why live CDs? Here's what it says on the Slackware site... "Imagine the ability to boot your favorite Linux distribution whether you are at home, at school, or at work. Imagine walking on the street and carrying the only thing you needed in life - the 8cm compact disk with your Live Linux CD. Wouldn't you want to experience such a feeling? :-)"
(I just remembered, before Live CDs I used to have that Linux in a Floppy. I just can't find it) :P

I'm using the one from Slackware 185MB (now SLAX http://slax.linux-live.org). But the old one I got still doesn't have a apache (web server) on it. But now there are a lot of modules you can download.

MMORPGs - Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games

2005-01-21T18:47:00.000+08:00

(It's been days since my last post. I've been on leave for a quite while...)

"Massively Multiplayer" Online Role-Playing Games ("MMORPGs")...

I find these games to be the most popular globally (or at least what I am interested in) Anarchy Online, Everquest 1 & 2, Dark Age of Camelot, Lineage II, Star Wars Galaxies, Sims Online, Ultima Online and of course, World of Warcraft.

To see slices of the MMORPG world, head out to www.mogchart.com (not sure if accurate though)

Do you know that WoW gold (World of Warcraft Currency) sells around half the price of a dollar ($).. KAAA--CHIIINGGG!!!! :)

And with Final Fantasy XI, last time I checked it was $54.99 for 1 million Gils.

Linux: Yoper (Your Operating System)

2005-01-15T18:05:00.000+08:00

http://www.yoper.com/ --- YOPER.

"Yoper is a high performance operating system which has been carefully optimized for PC's with either i686 or higher processor types. The binaries that come with Yoper have been built from scratch using the original sources combined with the some of the best features from other Open Source Linux distributions (distros). However, Yoper is not like general purpose distros such as Redhat or Mandrake. It is a high performance Desktop OS. It is compact. It resides on 1 cd-rom. In fact, Yoper is also one of the most standards-based environments in the Linux community! You will find hardware performance as good or better than that of any commercial OS."

This OS will definitely be next on my list of OS/Softwares to try out.......If I can only find time to fully try this OS on my (very) old PCs at home.

Azeroth Grand Prix

2005-01-14T11:52:00.000+08:00

Hey DOTA fans (a very popular warfaft 3 custom map), there's a new map in town!
And if you happen to be a NFSU 2 fan also (like me), say hello to Azeroth Grand Prix!! Get it here.

What can I say? Well, it's not the kind of map that you'll be playing for a long time, but it's waaacky! :)

Online Investing

2005-01-11T11:43:00.000+08:00

I just started out on (small time) investing last year. And if you happen to be interested in investing online (or investing in general), here's a very good resource for you. Investing Online Resource Center (IORC)

Don't just take my word on it, head on over to http://www.investingonline.org

And if you're ready to Trade online in the Philippines, your first stop would be http://www.bpitrade.com/ (not a paid ad) :) There used to be a high initial deposit requirement, but not anymore.

Cheers,

Mono on Linux

2005-01-04T17:16:00.000+08:00

Here's a good read about the Mono Project, the open-source, cross platform implementation for Microsoft's .NET development framework. Read it here.

And of course, the Mono Project website.

AGP (and other hardware stuffs...)

2005-01-02T17:10:00.000+08:00

I'm a bit rusty on my hardware nowadays since I finished setting up my PC upgrade which turned out to be an additional PC at home about several months ago.

Well, it's a conservatively overclocked machine featuring a Mobile Athlon CPU, Epox board (both great for overclocking by the way), some thermal paste, 5,000rpm cpu fan, 7200rpm ATA 133 Hard Drive, 512mb Geil DDR memory (yea, no budget yet for dual channel), HEC dual fan power supply, 3 casing fans (front & side intake, 1 back exhaust. How I wish I could have a top blowhole!) samsung dvd combo player and rounded cables. (and hours upon hours of tweaking and doing stability testing with Prime95)

There's already tons of resources on the net on OC (not obsessive compulsive...hehe) overclocking, but if you have any questions, feel free to email me at umbertoeklat@gmail.com or simply make a comment here.

Now going back to AGP...
I don't regularly upgrade my video card so I never knew the evolution of this motherboard slot. Basically, I didn't plan to upgrade my old Video card (saving up for a GeForce 6800 Ultra or Radeon 9800 XT) also since I have some older video cards lying around the house so I found it a bit confusing when I started inserting those old vid cards into my old PC.

The problem was the old ones won't fit directly on my AGP slot. The slots are keyed differently.

regular PCI from my old PC.

my old vid cards.

Here a rundown on all the PCI types:
1. Original PCI -- 32 bits/33 MHz, 1 Gbps, 5V
2. Wide PCI -- 64 bits/33 MHz, 2.1 Gbps
3. Fast/wide PCI -- 64 bits/66 MHz, 4.3 Gbps
4. Fast/wide 3.3-volt PCI -- 64 bits/66 MHz, 4.3 Gbps, 3.3V
5. PCI-X -- 100MHz, 133MHz, 266MHz, or even 533MHz. 1.5V/0.8V
6. Narrow PCI-X -- Just a physically narrowed PCI-X.
7. PCI-Express -- new. Signaling is both serial and parallel. There's serial signaling on each line, at 2.5GHz with an 8bits in 10bits encoding; and you can have up to 16 lines. It's also full-duplex - you can send data in both directions simultaneously.

Also consider other next generation technologies that would surely be adopted mainstream like Dual Core processors, DDR2 memory, Serial ATA (SATA vs. PATA) hard drives, Blue-ray Discs, HD-DVDs, SLI Video (nah, I don't think so. Still too expensive) etc.

Well, that's it for now. I'll try to post some topics on softwares next time. bfn

Windows Mobile 2003 SE for XDA II

2004-12-23T17:14:00.000+08:00

For all you XDA II users out there, it's now upgradeable to Windows Mobile 2003 (WM2003SE). New features includes Landscape Views, Pocket IE enhancements, Transcriber update, support for higher resolutions & processor speeds. Get it here or the version 2 here.

Btw, XDA IIi should be out by end of December or January '05. Basically has a more powerful processor that also saves more on battery, Wi-Fi, 1.3 megapixel camera, etc.

DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) & WOW (World of Warcraft)

2004-12-19T20:09:00.000+08:00

In case you haven't played it yet, DOTA (Defense of the Ancients) is a multiplayer custom map for Warcraft 3 Frozen Throne. It's really a fun mod.

I'm currently playing DOTA-AllStars. The objective is to defend the Ancients (Tree of Life for the Sentinels and Frozen Throne for the Scourge) from your base, and you can choose from a lot of heroes (up to 10 players), but you can't directly control the units of your base, just your hero. Then you can build up experience points and gold by killing enemy units and structures and you can buy lots of items to beef up your hero.

You can check out the latest map at http://www.dota-allstars.com

I'm playing this game until WOW (World of Warcraft) is available locally.....And sources tells me that PLDT & IPVG are the only ones left vying for the licensing of WOW here in the Philippines (I hope PLDT doesn't get it)....Now come to think of it....WOW Pilippines is already taken...by Gordon!..hehe

New product, IONICS Combo DVD Player

2004-12-10T09:32:00.000+08:00

It provides almost all your CD-DVD player needs...(not released yet in the Phils. but very soon)

Features:
-DVD player for PC (12x read)
-DVD Player for TV (standalone w/ REMOTE)
-5.1 Surround sound
-CD-R/RW writer (40x CD-R read/write, 10x CD-RW write)
-Standalone Audio CD player
-Standalone MP3 player
-Standalone JPEG Viewer
-1 year warranty

At first look, it closely resembles PHILIP's Jackrabbit 3 (being sold in Europe)
I'll write a long review after I get my hands on it, hopefully by next week. :)

Photo Developer woes

2004-12-09T11:56:00.000+08:00

(sorry for not posting for a while...been under the weather for the past few days)
My favorite photo printer just moved their Noritsu machine to another branch....aaaawwww!
This means it will take my prints looonger to process and I can't monitor my prints!

Can't help thinking, is it because it's been more than a month since I made my last prints from them? (been very, very busy the past month and I was not able to do ANY photography work) that this new branch has more orders now? :)

well, just want to blow off some steam.......

Netscape has a new browser (should we care?)

2004-12-02T14:30:00.000+08:00

(...back to Tech blogging)
What? Still not using Mozilla FireFox?? Get it here.

And now, AOL has this new broswer (still in beta). One interesting feature aside from the now almost standard tabbed browsing feature, pop-up blocking, etc, is the ability to use either the FireFox or the IE engine.

My initial thoughts,... "bloatware".

To take a look at this new beta browser, check it at PCWorld here.

Had my first Cashflow game

2004-12-02T12:54:00.000+08:00

(A non-Tech blog for now)...Had my first Cashflow game (Rich Dad/Poor Dad fame - http://www.richdad.com) last night. Initially, I was just planning to see the game in action and not actually play it yet (since I had plenty of other things to do that night). And so I would deeply like to thank kuya Jun & co. for being so accommodating.

Our group had 4 players and I completely finished the game well under 2 hours (I got out of the rat race and landed on my cheese). Not bad for a newbie. (yeah-yeah, it's called beginner's luck). :)

I highly recommend this game because it really teaches financial intelligence.

Oh I almost forgot to mention, it's held every Wednesday 7pm-12mn Mezzanine of Charterhouse Hotel in Makati. For F-R-E-E!!

World's smallest Laser Printer, Samsung ML-1510

2004-11-30T06:11:00.000+08:00

Got myself the world's smallest laser printer (at least for now) last Thursday at CyberZone MeagaMall (amidst the transport strike). I traded-in my more than a decade old panasonic dot matrix. :) (yeah-yeah, I missed the Epson & HP promos which started these trade-in your old-printer frenzy). I'll add my review soon...

Dimensions (WxDxH): 348x355x193 mm (13.7"x14.0"x7.6")
Weight: kg (15.4 lbs)
Speed: 14 pages per minute
Monthly due cycle 15,000 sheets
Cartridge Life: 3,000 sheets

R.I.P for VHS

2004-11-24T13:38:00.000+08:00

Yeah, everybody owns one (or used to own one). Now, I'm still trying to find time to finish converting all of my VHS to VCD/DVD.

hhmm...now that I thought about it, how about those VHS collections from my dad (hundreds of them)?

Rest in peace VHS from CNET

eBay is in the house!!!

2004-11-17T12:48:00.000+08:00

eBay.ph is now here....Watch out Bidshot! :)

Many filipinos can't do eBay because PayPal is not offered here in the philippines.
But I guess they still don't on eBay.ph....but at least it's now local.
And payment methods are similar to bidshot. (for now)

Have SS7, will travel.

2004-11-05T15:48:00.000+08:00

(Nope, if you're a gamer, it's not Samurai showdown 7.) :)

Telcos and mobile services are still booming here in the Philippines with no signs of abating.

Surveys (based on businessworld 2003 yearbook) ranks Globe and Smart as top 10 & 11 respectively, as the country's top companies. (And from what I've heard, they've got great benefits. 15-16 months pay). And with PLDT in 7th place (boasting as the country's best manage company of 2003).

So what makes these companies' systems tick??...
It's "SS7" Signaling System 7 or C7. PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) relies heavily on this.

Developed by AT&T in 1975, SS7 or C7 is a protocol suite that is used globally.

In the public switched telephone network (PSTN), Signaling System 7 (SS7) is a system that transports the information required to set up and manage telephone calls by converting signaling information to digital packets. An international telecommunications standard, SS7 uses out-of-band signaling, meaning that signaling (control) information travels on a separate, dedicated 56 Kb/s or 64 Kb/s channel rather than on the same channel as the telephone call. Historically, the signaling for a telephone call has used the same voice circuit that the telephone call traveled on (this is known as in-band signaling).
http://www.intel.com/network/csp/solutions/ss7/7194ovr.htm

And talk about convergence...it can bind fixed-line, cellular, and IP Networks together. So, want to work in a telco? study SS7. :)

Very good read here - Signaling System No. 7: The Role of SS7
OpenSS7 - Open SS7 FAQ.

my Photoshop Work Flow for Digital Image Enhancements and Printing

2004-10-27T14:34:00.000+08:00

Here's my own Digital Workflow............

[STEPS]
#1. Crop to desired size
Cropping is one of the most destructive things you can do on your digital image enhancement tasks. Especially if you do both cropping & increase resolution at the same time, as most do. It takes away pixels and if you are increasing resolution, it has to resample the image (add pixels) thru interpolation.

Cropping is an art in itself. (maybe i'll do a separate article on this.) It makes
compositions stronger. The most common use is to cut away clutter and distractions in order to focus on what really matters.

So, the best tip I can give you is to make this your first step in your workflow.

#2. Check Histogram for Tonal range (ctr+L in Photoshop)
it helps me decide what color enhancements to do next, if necessary.

#3. Decide to use Auto Color, Auto Levels, Manual Levels and or Curves.
Auto Color was great on PS7. I try auto color/levels first (ctr+shift+B/ctr+shift+L) because it's fast and in CS, you can dock the Histogram and instantly see the changes. Then, if I'm not satisfied w/ it, I'd go to Manual Levels or Curves.

I would recommend using curves. Levels also allows you to adjust the tonal range of an image But with it, you have much greater control.

#4. Decide for needed (specific) enhancements (Heal,stamp,soften,etc)
Do your specific enhancements here, be it red eye correction, complexion ehancements, wrinkle reduction, special effects/toning, etc.

#5. Soften if needed
I consider myself to be more of a people shooter. So this is my most often used digital enhancements effect (plus the fact that I don't use a lens filters on my digicam).
This is more of a personal workflow step for me. It's also maybe because of my camera. :P

#6. USM
...And the last step in almost everyone's digital image enhancement workflow,...USM or the UnSharp Mask.

Tip: If ur purpose is to contrast, you should sharpen first bec. sharpening always increases contrast.

And The New Superman Is... Brandon James Routh

2004-10-18T20:38:00.004+08:00

Movie stuffs again....

Hot off the press, read it here http://www.darkhorizons.com/news04/041016c.php

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow

2004-10-13T12:54:00.000+08:00

(going off-topic from technology for now.....)
Just watched the premiere at Mega Mall last night.

What can I say, nice effects and.......nice effects, and it's obviously 'computer generated'. (I take back that off-topic remark)

Anybody remembered Nick Fury: Agent of Shield during the film, eh? :)

Nice to see a different role for Giovanni Ribisi.

Also seems like an Asimov rip-off to me.

overall,... good thing the tickets were free and there's Angelina Jolie :)

Securing FTP

2004-10-08T21:10:00.001+08:00

How to Secure your file transfers on a Windows FTP Server from network sniffing?

Well, short of using 3rd-party components, the only alternative that I can think of right now is using VPN, if we are only after the security of FTP usage against network sniffing.

yeah-yeah, why not simply use HTTP file transfers (like posting acceptor,webdav,web folders,web services,WSE 1.0/2.0)? because that was not the question :) (and it's slower. especially SOAP)

oh how easy it is on unix boxes (ssh)

Gmail invites...

2004-10-05T12:22:00.001+08:00

ah got me 6 gmail invites. If anyone wants one, just post a comment and send me an email at umbertoeklat@yahoo. Preferably, don't post your email addresses. (I wouldn't want email harvesters getting yours for spamming purposes.)

XP SP2 training

2004-10-01T19:11:00.000+08:00

Whew....just came from a Windows XP SP2 training......

Viewing your ActiveSync backups...

2004-09-30T14:02:00.001+08:00

Maybe a lot of you already know about this, but I just saw this freeware app to view your Activesync backups sTG viewer

It's one of those trivial apps that you may never use but when you need some specific files from your old backup you can now get back to it.

Flickr

2004-09-29T16:50:00.000+08:00

Just found this site suggested to me from the PH-Photo list....
, a fancy photo sharing thing.

myGadgets

2004-09-24T18:39:00.000+08:00

Just some of my gadgets right now.....

Counter-clockwise from left....
Sony Ericsson T68i - my First GPRS + Camera phone.
HTC Tanager (Smart Amazing Phone) - my First smartphone.
XDA II - my current phone.
Palm Vx - I think I have this more than 5 years already....superb form factor design when it first came out.

(hmmm....now I need to dispose all of these...except for my XDA2) :)

Chona In the City: pasalubong

2004-09-14T11:29:00.000+08:00

A rising star blog.....
Chona In the City: pasalubong

Pinoy Blog

2004-09-08T13:09:00.000+08:00

I wonder what kind of stuffs will I put here.....
I think I'm gonna make this a tech blog, since it's my everyday routine.

Here are my area of interests:
HARDWARE: PC/Server/SSF Hardware and accessories, PocketPC
Overclocking/Underclocking

SOFTWARES: [many]

PROGRAMMING: VB, VB.NET, C#, Java, Perl, CGI, Php.....

WEB DEVELOPMENT: ASP.NET, XML, Php, JSP, servlets, HTML, Flash....

NETWORKING: Physical Network setup, Network Hardware, Windows Domains, TCP/IP

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING: UML, Unified Process, Extreme Programming

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

COMPUTER GRAPHICS/DESIGN [2D/3D]

DIGITAL SECURITY: Network Security, PKI...

PHOTOGRAPHY: mostly digital now
Film: Olympus APS Digital: Canon PowerShot, XDA II (yeah, it still has a camera)

OS: Windows, Linux, Solaris, PocketPC, Palm, DOS

My primary sports are Badminton & Tennis.

well, too many to mention still....I'll just update it as we go along :)

myBlog

2004-09-02T14:56:00.000+08:00

Here's my first attempt for a real blog....

Ok, so what has UE been up to lately?
By the way, Here was my first ever blog (well, a test blog) way back 18 Jul 2001

disclaimer: the name Umberto Eklat was borrowed from a friend when he went to US. I just used it as a username for some community site and then, it got stuck on me.