App of the Day: Philippine Shipping Mobile Apps

If you love to shop online like I do, or just need to send packages to your friends or family in the provinces, package tracking is quite essential. Up until recently in the Philippines, these had to be done on a desktop web browser. Mobile apps are far more convenient to use and usually more reliable.

Thankfully, Air 21 and LBC have free mobile apps that offer live tracking and other shipping tools for your convenience. Containing tools and information such as rate calculators and branch locations, it gives customers easy access to the most useful logistic services.

Both apps are quite easy to use. Simply enter the airway bill number and you get a detailed report of the location of your package. While rate calculators are usually accurate, if you have an odd sized package or a very heavy one, it's still best to give the company a call to get a better estimate on shipping costs.

For int'l packages, FedEx and DHL have their own respective apps as well. UPS only has an app for iOS (Boo!)

Links to download the free apps are here:

Air 21 Android

Air 21 iOS

LBC Android

LBC iOS

**disclaimer: I'm affiliated with Air21 and FedEx Philippines and was asked to review their app and its functions**

Rainy Monday App of the Day: iTyphoon

Due to the recent storm flooding in the Philippines, I'm posting a very helpful app that allows you to track incoming LPA (low pressure areas) and storms.

iTyphoon has a great interface showing both the weather report as well as a tracking map with the current and predicted path of the storm. iTyphoon is available for free on both Android and iOS. Head on over to Google Play for the Android version, and the App Store for the iOS version!

Typhoon2000.ph on the other hand, is a private website that consolidates links and reports from various weather sites and sources in one place. For more detailed reports, and satellite images, this is the place to visit.

PARTY(cle) TIME! (Higgs Boson News)

The scientific community is all excited about the most recent development in the search for the Higgs boson particle.

To celebrate this historic moment, I've collected a few links and videos related to the Higgs-boson particle.

Wikipedia on Higgs boson

Wikipedia on Peter Higgs

BBC News on the Higgs-boson-like particle discovery at LHC

Scientific American on Higgs boson and String Theory

Meanwhile, composer Domenico Vicinanza has written musical scores based on the data graph from CERN to come up with a musical piece on what quarks may sound like.

But not everyone is over-joyed.

Professor Stephen Hawking apparently lost a $100 bet on the discovery of the HBP. Tsk tsk tsk...

And of course, a final word on the Higgs boson from my favorite theoretical physicist, Dr. Sheldon Cooper.

Watch Out! (A Sony SmartWatch Review)

When you just absolutely need to have your Facebook & Twitter feed ASAP and taking out your phone from your pocket wastes too much time... This is the SmartWatch by Sony (Ericsson). SonyEricsson had 3 versions before this one. The first 2 versions were regular analog watches with small displays at the bottom that indicated incoming calls or texts. The 3rd generation, LiveView, had a color display and touch sensitive buttons (not a touchscreen).

The new incarnation is a bit more mature, and packs more features in a tiny display. In it's basic watch mode, it offers 3 time-keeping modes, Default Digital, Always-on Digital, and Always-on Analog. My preferred mode is the analog. I just feel it looks sleeker than the digital counterparts, but that's just me. Although the default version saves a lot of battery life, I'm not too fond of the look. You may download alternate clocks, but none of them replace the built-in ones, so they actually are apps that run parallel to the default clock. Until Sony allows addition clock replacements, I'll stick with their built-in ones for now. Battery life in this mode is approx 1.5 days.

Now onto the apps. Out of the box, nothing comes preinstalled, you have to first pair your phone with the watch. Quite an easy task. Just enter your Bluetooth settings on your Xperia phone, and search for a new device. Turn on the watch and the pairing automatically begins. To activate the watch however, your phone must be online as it will connect with the Google Play servers to update the watch software and search for compatible apps.

There are currently only a few apps out for the SmartWatch but it seems to be growing quite quickly for such a niche device. The essentials are provided for by Sony, mainly: Gmail, Calls, Calendar, Messages, Facebook, Twitter, & Weather. The other apps available are extensions for Google Maps, Universal IMs, Camera apps, and a few GPS ones.

I ended up installing so many apps, that the watch kept buzzing for every single thing I had on my phone. Trimming down to the most frequently needed alerts improves the effectivity of the SmartWatch all together. I've personally got mine down to just calls, SMS, only calendar events with reminders, and only a few people on Facebook. Everything else isn't as time-critical.

So far, I'm finding this little toy to be more useful than I had thought. I had bought it thinking it would just be a fun gimmick, but I'm actually liking the way it functions!

***March 14, 2013 Firmware update adds new clock faces!***

Singapore Electronics Bazaar 2012

Heading to the Singapore Expo Food & Electronics Bazaar.

(Food and gadgets, how can you go wrong!??!?!)

Will be blogging about my findings there... stay tuned!