A Little Friday Tech Humor : Handsfree

This photo was circulating the net a while back, and was always captioned as a joke about "handsfree" mobile phone use.

I NEVER thought someone would actually take it seriously... let alone to a whole new level...

I mean how can you NOT want one?!?!? I love the main "selling point" in the end... 

EVEN THE WEIGHT OF A 5LB LAPTOP!!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

iPad 2 Prices Officially Drop (Philippines)

Good news to those thinking of getting an iPad! Apple Store PH has officially dropped the iPad 2 prices to coincide with Apple's Official price drop! This also means that preloved iPads should be a lot cheaper as well.

Prices start at

P18,990 for a brand new 16GB iPad 2!

P24,990 for the 16GB 3G model!

Head on over to Apple Store PH now!

Can't Touch This... Coming Soon - Sony Xperia sola

Touchscreen? That's so last century! Well, almost. Seeing as how touchscreens are now almost standard, and developers are trying to make bets on the next big interface it's only natural to start seeing new ways to interact with your mobile device.

Apple has brought voice command into the spotlight with Siri.

Others are trying for motion based controls.

Sony Ericsson Mobile has introduced a new twist on the touchscreen called "floating touch" (Such a catchy name) in their new Xperia sola.

Adding to the regular gestures of touch screen technology, floating touch introduces a "hover" mode. Much like moving the mouse around before clicking, it allows you to see exactly which link/button/key you're about to press before actually pressing it. Touch is still required to register a click/tap.

Coming soon!

iOS Tip Of The Day: Save Your Home...Button.

Almost all iOS owners know the inconvenience of the non-responsive Home Button. It is the weakest link in the iOS hardware platform and yet using it is also the most required action. This leaves you with a perfectly working iOS device...EXCEPT for a Home Button that either doesn't respond or need to be mashed just to respond.

Jailbreaking is an option. It enables gesture (swipe) access to almost all the Home Button functions. But what about people that don't know how, or just don't want to Jailbreak their iOS devices? Well, on iOS 5, Apple has a feature that can help minimize the use of the Home Button.

It's found in the Settings Menu on your device.

Simply scroll down to the General menu

Then go to Accessibility

Then Assistive Touch.

Once enabled, you will now have a translucent button that floats over your desktop. The button placement is dynamic and can be moved around, it will also automatically move out of the way of the virtual keyboard.

Pressing this will bring up a gesture box, and the Home Button is one of them!

Kindle Touch : Hands (and Fingers) On.

Although the Kindle Fire is Amazon.com's flagship model, it doesn't quite excite me as much as it is just a stripped down Android tablet. Granted it has most of the features of an Android tablet, it no longer has the great features that made the Kindle one of the best e-book readers on the market.

Enter, the Kindle Touch. With all the best qualities of the original, the new Kindle Touch has added a touch screen, reduced overall dimensions, and improved screen contrast. It is, in my opinion, Amazon's BEST e-book reader to date.

No longer sporting a hardware keyboard, the Kindle Touch still has the 6" screen of the original, is now 1.5" shorter and a bit lighter.

Just as a disclaimer, I am NOT a book worm. I don't really like reading books. I'm an Android/iPad kind of guy. But I do see the advantages of the Kindle over a ful-blown tablet. Battery life being the main one. The Kindle battery life is far more impressive than the 5 hours on any current tablet. Sure they can make one that can probably hit 7-8... or even 12 hours. But 3 weeks is normal for a Kindle. The Touch is even more impressive with a 2 month battery life! (Wireless off) It is also more rugged and can take more everyday abuse than a  tablet.

Design-wise, I like the new Touch. It feels more polished and solid than the previous generations. That's saying a lot since the previous generations were built really well. Shape is smoother and feels better in the hand.

If you're in the market for an e-reader, I highly recommend the Kindle Touch.

It comes in 2 versions:

$139 is the regular model

$99 is ad-supported (so you get $40 off the regular price)

Head on over to Amazon.com now!