A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Lies... ok, maybe just 8... (CES - Olympus VR-340)

Ok, this is getting a bit out of hand, but I guess it was inevitable.  Why bother with Photoshop when your camera can do most of the work?  There are already cameras that make your eyes bigger... give you a tan... why not an instant face-lift?

The Olympus VR-340

The Olympus VR-340 looks like your average 16mp point and shoot, but hidden in the menus is a "Beauty" mode which allows  you to do spot 'enhancements' like whiten teeth, eye shadow add/remove, and a few more 'fixes'.

With all the negative issues with retouching photos... I don't think this is exactly a step in the right direction... why bother being in the photos if it's not going to look like you at all?  Oh well... C'est LIE vie.

It's that time of year... CES time! *Updated*

CES ... gadget freak heaven... some of the things to look forward to:

*Thunderbolt hub updates below - October 2012*

Both Lacie and Belkin have shown 2 new Thunderbolt hubs (ABOUT BLOODY TIME!) that take advantage of Apple's new port.  Lacie's hub allows for eSata drive connections... while Belkin's is a more conservative "port replicator" type hub with USB 2.0 (why does Apple hate USB 3.0????) Firewire, Ethernet and 3.5mm audio.  But their scheduled availability dates are quite disappointing. At the slow pace Thunderbolt (pun intended) is moving, it may just be overtaken by the next unknown standard. GUYS HURRY THE #@!$ UP!!!!

Belkin's new Thunderbolt hub functions as a port replicator. Still no USB 3.0

LaCie's Thunderbolt hub allows eSATA connections! Perfect for Audio/Video professionals!

Oct 12, 2012 updates on Thunderbolt hub availability... LaCie's is out but difficult to come by. The Belkin Turtl..er... Thunderbolt hub? Promises sometime in 2013... cough cough... at least it has USB 3 now along with eSATA

Belkin's Updated, but yet to be available Thunderbolt Hub

Sony Eric...er... Sony has also announced 2 new Android phones.  Albeit suffering from an identity crisis, the mock-up photos still have the SonyEricsson logo at the back, and the Sony logo in front... the new models both sport HD 1280x720 resolution screens... perfect for watching recorded HD movies!

The Sony Ion is an AT&T only model at the moment sporting a 4.6" display, while the Xperia S is a 4.3" model, but has a nice silver accent *transparent antenna* in the design which I really like. Both have 1.5 gHz dual-core CPUs, 12 mega-pixel cameras, 1280 x 720 screens. Both still run Android Gingerbread. ICS is scheduled more or less at the same time as the 2011 models will get it.

Sony Ion - 4.6" Reality Display. **Nice rear logo... hahaha** 

Sony Xperia S - 4.3" HD Reality Display.

Huawei also announced a new phone, the thinnest Android so far. Measuring 6.68mm thin.  Called the "Ascend P1 S" (such a catchy name). Specs are decent although not too excited about the 960 x 540 resolution screen, it is still quite decent.

The Huawei Ascend P1 S

#itsmorefuninthephilippines

The Department of Tourism in the Philippines has launched their new tourism campaign #itsmorefuninthephilippines. Show what makes the Philippines fun, unique or amusing to you! Congratulations to the DOT for a successful campaign! #itsmorefuninthephilippines #1forfun So to all my readers out there, it really is more fun in the Philippines! Come and visit!

For those interested in creating their own FUN meme, download the Harabara font here. My full album is on Picasa.

**Update Jan 9, 2012 - you may also visit morefunmaker.com to create your own photo meme! **

Technology. More fun in the Philippines

Hotel Pickups. More fun in the Philippines

Afternoon Walks. More fun in the Philippines

Surface Intervals. More fun in the Philippines

Watching Twilight. More fun in the Philippines : Caption by Tippi Ocampo

Midnight. More fun in the Philippines

Being moony. More fun in the Philippines

Traffic. More fun in the Philippines

Going round the bend. More fun in the Philippines

Going round the bend. More fun in the Philippines

Cover Your Face...Book Timeline (A Privacy Entry)

Facebook has once again changed their interface. Much more drastic than any previous update in the past. Causing the usual uproar about how users preferred the "old interface"... the same one they HATED when Facebook first introduced it.

Anyway, with Facebook's new timeline, user's profile now look more like those Science Museum charts that show important points in history.

For those that want to control their privacy, it's much easier to do so now.

1. First click on the drop-down arrow on the upper right hand side of your profile page.
2. Next click on Privacy Settings.
3. A new page will appear where you can select from 3 options: Public, Friends, and Custom.

• Public makes everything you post viewable by everyone. Even those not logged into Facebook. For corporate pages, or fansites, this is usually preferred for maximum exposure and search engine indexing.
• Friends is for just your immediate contacts.
• Custom is where you can select Friends of Friends, or only a certain group of contacts, or even ban certain Facebook users from viewing your page all together.

Tech Gospel v3.0 (New Year.... New Look...)

I've been experimenting with Blogger's new "Dynamic View" templates since they were introduced last year.  But I decided to implement them only in 2012.

There are still a few bugs, and I'm sure a lot of my regular readers may complain... but as all things tech, upgrading is inevitable.  Dynamic View allows for easier search indexing and more interactive layouts.

The advantage of Blogger's new layout is it allows my readers to change my layout to their preferred view.  Go ahead and try it out.  Just click on the drop down menu on the left side and select a new layout!

One limitation for now, however, is that inability to add a header image.  My simple workaround is to have it in my background image.  I'm still going to be playing around with the title bar since the space allowed is quite small.

For those interested in experimenting, the height of your header image should be no more than 65 pixels.  This is the only part of the background image that will be visible above the menu bar. Hopefully, Google will change this soon and allows better customizability.

Here's to 2012 and all the great new technology that will come with it!