Thursday, April 28, 2011

NEW iPHONE ANNOUNCED!!! Oh Wait...

...It's just the same old iPhone 4... but it now in white!  Now that the iPhone 4 is close to it's EOL (End of Life) cycle... Apple has found a way to keep sales up until they can time the release of the next iPhone 4G (4GS, 4GSS, 4.0001G, or whatever else they'll call it)

But this is great news for people who just bought the iPhone 4 in black... now you can buy a second matching pair to complete your formal/casual iPhone 4 set!  Or, sell off your existing iPhone 4  so you can buy the new white one and be cool again!

Sorry, my enthusiasm is showing... this news may be the coolest thing yet since this iPhone.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Just A Little Clarification...

HSPA+, WiMax, and LTE are NOT 4G.  Regardless of the marketing that providers post on their posters and banners... none of these technologies meet 4G requirements.  LTE Advanced (not LTE) is only a candidate technology.

4G must meet the 1Gbps peak data rate which none of these current technologies meet at the moment.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Scam Warning!

Facebook virus warning of the day...

If a friend of yours suddenly chats with you, with a message and link that look similar to this... do not bother clicking on the link.  It will take you to a website that claims you can view the people that are viewing your Facebook site.



You will most likely receive an event invite as well "How to see who viewed your profile!!".  Do not accept the invite and delete it as soon as possible.

Monday, April 25, 2011

"Oh, they've encased him in carbonite. He should be quite well protected."

Society6 is selling a Steve Jobs in Carbonite case for the iPhone 3/3GS/4.  What better way to keep Steve close to you at all times.  Safe and well-preserved.  US$35.  May The Steve be with you...


Saturday, April 23, 2011

Site Of The Day: Down For Everyone Or Just Me?


Ever try to visit your favorite site and find that it's down?  Did the connection time out?  Is your Internet provider down?  Is your favorite website down?  Usually if you can visit Google, Microsoft, Apple or any big website, that means your internet connection is ok.

But the Internet is quite complex.  Just because other websites are up, doesn't mean all of them are.  Even more complicated, just because you can't view a website, that doesn't mean it's down.

Sometimes, under certain circumstances, a website that everyone else can view can be down with just you. Or vice versa.  A site that you can view, might be unavailable to others.  So, how can you tell?  Well, there's a simple website that you can visit to check it out.

DownForEveryoneOrJustMe.com does just that (shortcut link is isup.me).  It checks the URL of the site you suspect is down, and tries to visit it and tells you if the site is really down or not.

*Now, if you can't connect to their site... well... I have no response to that... hahahahaha!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Mini Pro 2 Successor Size Comparison

More pics have surfaced about the upcoming Mini Pro successor!  I hope they will announce this real soon!  I wonder if this will have LTE or HSPA+ already...

Sunday, April 17, 2011

FIRST 4G in the Philippines ... (Allegedly)

The 4G service provider race is now starting to heat up in the Philippines.  Globe Telecom has announced it's the first to commercially deploy 4G services.  Initially using HSPA+ clocking in at 21Mbps, with future upgrades allowing over 80Mbps, Globe has made a strong claim of being the first to deploy one of the largest "4G" networks in SouthEast Asia.

Again, I really don't care how fast my local-loop is.  I care about how fast I can actually connect to the INTERNET, not the local exchange switch.

So far, 2 providers have announced their mobile high speed data services... is it gonna be three times a charm in the telco industry? ;)


Saturday, April 16, 2011

LTE in the Philippines

Blogger Jim Ayson has posted news on Smart Telecom's new "4G" LTE service being demoed now.  Boasting theoretical speeds of 50mpbs, I'm hoping their interlink is fast enough to handle the traffic.  Otherwise it'll just be the same old "really-fast-local-loop" crap we have now.

Considering that my HSPA connection does give me a 2-3mbps local-loop speed... but less than 1mbps internet speed... Would that mean that 50mpbs will still just give us the same internet speed anyway?  Time will tell... let's hope the local infrastructure can handle the additional bandwidth that they will be offering.

But the local telco scene is getting exciting again!  Let's see what surprises lie ahead as well... ;)  Cough...cough...

*Just a side-note... LTE and WiMax are NOT 4G yet, despite marketing claims to be 4G.  4G standards dictate speeds of up to 1Gbps.  Not the current 100Mbps incarnations of pre-4G tech.

iOS Tip of the Day: DAMN YOU AUTO-CORRECT!!!

For those of you still annoyed with Auto-Correct...


  1. Go to your Settings
  2. then General
  3. then scroll down to Keyboard
  4. Tap the ON switch on Auto-Correction




Scam Warning!

Scam warning for the day!  Do not click on FB links that look like this!

Friday, April 15, 2011

iOS Update

iOS 4.3.2 is now out... time to update all your devices!  One thing I noticed, it's much more convenient to just download the updates first, before updating my devices.  When downloading only, you can queue for all your iOS devices, instead of waiting for one to update before updating the other.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Scam Warning!

If you see this posted on your wall, do not click on it!

Mango Season? (Xperia Mini Pro Successor)

Mango, aka SK171, aka Xperia Mini Pro II has been spotted again.  This time with much clearer pics.  SEMC Blog has posted more details about it.

So far, rumored specs still stand at:

  • Android 2.3
  • 3′ 320×480 pixels Display
  • 1GHz CPU ( Snapdragon *QSD8650)
  • Adreno 205 GPU
  • 5 mega-pixel camera
  • 720p Video Recording
  • Backlit MENU and BACK touch keys
  • Hardware HOME key


And as I previously noticed, the smaller frame/bezel around the screen seem to suggest that this is smaller than the current X8, but larger than the current Mini Pro.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Scam Warning!


Another one for today...

Scam Warning!

I may be posting more than one warning a day!  Sheesh!

Scam Warning!

Be careful with this link.  Highly suspicious since it links to an app, and not a video.  I saw the real vid of this and it's funny.  Manually search for it on YouTube instead.

More Thunderbolts! (NAB News)

G-Technology by Hitachi (which will soon be merged with Western Digital), has announced their Thunderbolt RAID drive at the recent NAB 2011.  Although targeted for AV Professionals, the sheer number of new Thunderbolt products being introduced is good news for the new interface.  This means a huge leap forward in personal computing as this allows you to maximize the potential of your computer.

So far, LaCie, Promise, and now G-Technology have all shown Thunderbolt products.  Seagate on the other hand has gone a slightly different, albeit more practical, way... their current GoFlex Drives can be upgraded to Thunderbolt ports with an upcoming adapter.

I can't wait!!!


**Hallo, ich lerne Deutsch und ich kann ein paar Fragen zu beantworten.
Je parle un peu français aussi. Je peux répondre à des questions sur mes messages.**

Monday, April 11, 2011

Warning of the Day


I will try an post as many regular warnings as I possibly can when I notice viral links going around FB or email.  If you see a similar link in your newsfeed, avoid clicking on them without verifying their authenticity.

Printed Matters: My 2nd Printed Review

Just sharing that my 2nd printed review came out last January in C! Magazine.


Saturday, April 9, 2011

Update: Rumored Xperia Mini Pro Successor

I can't wait for the upgrade of my Mini Pro.  I was a bit apprehensive at first, since the initial rumors claimed a 3" screen, putting this closer to the larger X8 than the Mini/Mini Pro.  But looking closely at the photo, it seems to be somewhere in between.  The screen bezel seems to be thinner, and given a rumored 3" screen puts the dimensions just slightly larger than the current X10 Mini Pro, albeit with a much higher pixel density.

A newer rumor surfaced recently claiming a 3.3" display, which makes this NOT a Mini in any way.  Putting the dimensions larger than the iPhone and Xperia X8 (which are my standards for a normal sized phones)

I sure hope the upcoming Mini Pro is smaller than the X8.  Otherwise I'll be pressed to look elsewhere for my next phone.  Although there is a rumored Mini iPhone, I don't think I'll hold my breath for that since that really wouldn't be in line with Apple's market strategy.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Celfone Camera Tips: Doc Scanner

Most people don't realize how handy their celfone camera can be.  Aside from taking party shots, or embarrassing Facebook photos, your celfone camera can be used as a portable document scanner.

It may not be as clean or clear as a real flatbed scanner, but for making instant soft copies of receipts, invoices, and other important documents, it's handy because you have your phone with you everywhere.

The great thing about it, is that you have an instant jpeg that can be emailed or uploaded right away.  And on Android and iOS devices, this also means instant sync with your Dropbox folder for archiving or printing.

Some tips:
  • 3.2 MP is clear enough for most documents.  Autofocus/Macro is needed.  Fixed focus cams are no good, almost all your documents will be blurry.
  • Lay the document down as flat as possible.  If you can, tape the edges down before taking the shot.
  • Be as steady as possible when pressing the shutter, use both hands.
  • Wait for your camera to focus lock and check that the image is really in focus
  • Although some phones have a dedicated document mode, taking a document in full color/macro mode usually gives better results.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Bored w/ Games? Try Tron : Board Game

Tired of those boring computer games?  In honor of the recent DVD release, Brett King decided to make a Tron:Legacy Board Game!  Unfortunately, for you Tron fans, it is not for sale.


Monday, April 4, 2011

Thunderbolt Enclosure Coming Soon... Promise!

Promise Technology has announced an upcoming Thunderbolt RAID enclosure, called Pegasus. This is great news for new MacBook Pro users (like moi) with the new TB port. Exceeding SATA speeds, this will give laptops the high end performance that only desktops had in the past. Video editing and audio recording on a laptop can now almost match the power and speed of their desktop counterparts.

Although the speed limit will be the SATA drives themselves, and even SSD drives aren't fast enough to max out a single Thunderbolt port, this will allow parallel tasks to be run.  Saving files while streaming uncompressed media to and from the drive(s).

Even RAID enclosures don't come close to TB's limit, this offloads a lot of the processing, high-end application stress, and file serving to an external box, theoretically giving mobile systems a modular approach.  Similar to the laptop docks of the 80's and 90's, the Thunderbolt port will allow high performance storage and displays to be conveniently connected to a mobile system and access files faster than the laptop's own internal drive.


**Hallo, ich lerne Deutsch und ich kann ein paar Fragen zu beantworten.
Je parle un peu français aussi. Je peux répondre à des questions sur mes messages.**

Past Tech Gospels

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