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Showing posts from 2009

Globe Tattoo vs Smart Bro

I was about to purchase a new smart bro unit to ready myself in my 6months long stay in Manila, until I remembered a speed test challenge that was featured on TV. So with a little research, I came across some videos below which tends to depict the "performance" of globe tattoo, and smart bro. Of which after I watched the videos, it made me realize that I have to choose from the two big companies. In essence, since the network connection is wireless, you will expect to have transmission losses. Another consideration also is that, the distance from the transceiver you are in. The nearer, the better. The farther, the slower. So what is it gonna be? If you have experienced smart, globe or both services, please share with us.. Please help. Leave comments below Globe Tatto Vs Smart Bro - Free videos are just a click away

Friendster is Back!

Just this morning, I was shocked to open my inactive friendster account. I was about to scratch my head on why twitter opened, but then again it was friendster. Friendster on Twitter? For a while, I recalled that facebook and twitter has its integration, friendster has its own story of it? Can I call it a "conflict of interest?". I think not, just like other media like TV, they always integrate. (Video about it below) The pioneering social media network has a new logo (in green), new tagline ”Connecting Smiles”, and an entirely fresh new look. Really you would be connecting to your old friends that were forgotten because of facebook. I guess this is what is all about, connecting with your friends, and connecting smiles So visit your friendster account, and tell us what you think. Drop your comments in our comment board.. .

New Sensation: Google Wave!

It started in March of 2009 when the media hype its launching. Now google wave has taken many by storm. My previous encounter with a collaborative tool was in the electronics industry where they name it as a putty tool. The edited files are highlighted and are easily retrieved by following its own protocols. Going back, to understand and appreciated google wave , please watch the video below. So what do you think? Where and What We'll We Use Google Wave For? From the video, we can use google wave in the following: 1. Making minutes of the meeting. 2. Document creation of a team with private inline replies 3. And so much more. By default, google wave is now on limited preview. The demand crashed the google wave system, so I guess they implemented the "by invites" scheme to screen out users. To have your own google way, fill out the form (click here) I'm excited to receive my own google wave account and start with this tremendous platform. Sh

Our very own student tutorial and talent center

Wow! I'm inspired to write the latest of what's to come here. My friends and I will be gathering tomorrow night to discuss on our plans of putting up our very own center. Yup. you see it right, we'll be putting a student tutorial and talent center. What's our purpose? Basically, we thought of giving back to others the talent that has been given to us. We have various talents so we chose to simplify and concentrate on the thing that we already as mastered. And that is, in the arts (singing, dance, painting, theater, mime, etc) and in teaching (any subjects). We noticed that through the years, we gained the skill to verbalize and actualize what we have in mind. We gained knowledge and ability to communicate the essential message that needs to be heard, be seen, be felt and be understood. Yes, we envision the enhancement and development of the inner-directed and well-adjusted child into a skillful performing artist. Not only that, we will provide relevant opportunities to

FREE Game: Junk: Battles

Fredrik Liljegren, the DICE founder has his eyes set on free-to-play games, as he's revealed (via Gamasutra) his new studio, Antic Entertainment. He and other Digital Extremes alum Mark Mikulec and Jeff Evans at the London has a project with a title underway called Junk: Battles. This is a bit controversial as that the name itself is not so lovable to would be gamers. Would you love to play this? Let's try! Battle for FREE by clicking here

For the Best Stargazing on Earth, Send Robots to Antarctica

Astronomers have found the very best place on Earth to observe the heavens. Now all they have to do is get there. Ridge A, as the spot is known, is located in Antarctica, six hundred miles from the South Pole and 13,297 feet above sea level. All things considered, it’s probably the very worst place on the surface of the planet for humans. As far as anyone knows, no person has ever even set foot there. But thanks to satellite data, scientists now know that Ridge A surpasses all other sites based on eight factors that impact the sharpness of observations, like cloud cover and atmospheric turbulence. “The astronomical images taken at Ridge A should be at least three times sharper than at the best sites currently used by astronomers,” said Will Saunders, an astronomer at the Anglo-Australian Observatory and visiting professor to UNSW, in a press release. “Because the sky there is so much darker and drier, it means that a modestly-sized telescope there would be as powerful as the largest te

Great Health: RX For Sore Feet: Rubz Massage Ball

When our feet are heavily dog tired, we would like to give them a cool Rub down. This little ball, just under two inches in diameter, gives the perfect foot massage to all of us. Here's the tip, while standing, place your foot on the ball and roll; the 172 "stimulating fingers" work the soles of your feet. If you want more pressure, you simply put more of your body weight onto the ball. My feet crave a little rub after a long hike or run. Giving your feet a little love can help prevent plantar fasciitis, an overuse foot injury that can sideline runners. The massage brings blood to the stiff fascia, making it more pliable and responsive to preventative stretching. You can pick up a Rubz at REI for $5. A cheap and easy foot rub, however, is truly priceless. Try it! Its fun!

Kotick: Video games could trump TV and movies within five years

Profiled on the website of money magazine Barron's, Activision-Blizzard boss Bobby "Guitar-Toting" Kotick reckons that film and television are living on borrowed time as the most prolific forms of entertainment. Speaking on gaming's (near) future, he said, "I view the medium as having the potential to eclipse film and television," going on to tell the article's author that it could happen within five years. According to the piece, the one element Kotick sees as being crucial to this is rendering believable human characters in real time, something he thinks the next round of consoles will be capable of. (You have to wonder what sort of sneak peeks he's been privy to in his position.) BTW, it's probably best not to inform David Cage that all the work he's putting into creating characters you can care about in Heavy Rain is for naught, since it's just not possible this gen. From this link by Randy Nelson

Do You Tune In to Kid Networks?

I've always thought Selena Gomez was cute as a button, and apparently she's a ratings powerhouse as well. Her Wizards of Waverly Place Movie hit a grand slam for the Disney Channel on Friday night, premiering to a record-breaking 11.4 million viewers. It now ranks as the most-watched cable program of 2009. Most of the viewers are probably young fans of the TV show, but there have to be a few adults who tuned in as well. I've admittedly found myself landing on the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon for an episode or two of SpongeBob SquarePants or Lizzie McGuire (OK, and maybe JONAS once). Even if you didn't catch Wizards over the weekend, do you tune in to kid networks? from this link

wPhone: Window's own Mobile Phone

AT AN EVENT to show off upcoming Christmas goodies, Microsoft let slip to the INQ that Windows Mobile 6.5 is to be re-christened Windows Phone. This, says Vole, is an effort to unboggle the minds of the consumer with all the "6.1" and "6.5" business that exists now, and which they're afraid will get even worse when Windows Mobile 7 arrives. The name change also "reflects the upcoming desktop operating system release where people away from their PC can have the same experience everywhere," says Microsoft. Are you suitably un-boggled? The name Windows Phone applies to Windows Mobile 6.1, 6.5 and multitouch Windows Mobile 7. At least something in the Windows universe is forwards and backwards compatible. Features of the new platform (that is WM 6.5, aka Windows Phone) include back-up of all SMS and email content into Vole's cloud, remote disabling of the handset and inclusion of an Itunes-alike Windows Mobile software repository called Market Place. I

BMW pushes for Diesel Car

Finally, a carmaker is trying to promote diesel in a meaningful way. BMW said this week that the company will offer $4,500 in “eco credits” for anyone who buys a 335d or X5 diesel. Eco credit is basically a euphemism for a rebate since a customer can use it like cash towards a purchase of the diesel Bimmer. European automakers have been selling diesel cars in the U.S. for quite some time. But they haven’t marketed them really aggressively. But with new tougher fuel economy rules, called Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFÉ, set to kick in starting in 2011, they’ll need a play to meet them, especially BMW and Mercedes. European luxury carmakers have long seen CAFE fines as a cost of doing business since they don’t sell enough small cars to balance out the lower fuel economy of their big sporty vehicles and suvs. In BMW’s case, the company has paid some $90 million in fines since 2000, according to documents from the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration. Mini’s rise in r

Spy Satellite Sea Ice Images Finally Made Public

Super high-resolution spy satellites have been imaging sea ice at the poles for the last decade on behalf of earth scientists. But the images has been kept from the public and nearly all scientists, too. Over the last 10 years, a tiny group of scientists with security clearance was able to see some of the images, but couldn’t use them publicly. Now, mere hours after a National Academy of Sciences committee recommended that the intelligence community “should release and disseminate all Arctic sea ice” imagery that can be created from the classified satellite data, the United States Geological Service has published the set of high-res images. The new data provides what NAS committee member Thorsten Markus called “a dramatic improvement” in what we can see. The previously off-limits sea ice data has a resolution of one meter. The previous scientific standard sea ice images from the Landsat program have a resolution of 15 meters. Markus saw some of the sea ice images last December when the

Yahoo Search Ad Deal With Microsoft “Down to the Short Strokes”–But Caution Also Advised

Unless there is some major glitch, there might finally be a search and online advertising deal struck between Yahoo and Microsoft at long last. Top executives at Microsoft–including SVP of the Online Audience Business Group Yusuf Mehdi, search head Satya Nadella and top digital exec Qi Lu, as well as others–have all flown down to Silicon Valley from their Redmond, Wash., HQ today to iron out the remaining issues, which seem to have to do with the deployment of technology. “It is an entourage,” joked one exec. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is also deeply involved in the talks, although he is not with the group. If all goes well, the deal could be announced within the next week, sources at both companies said. The most recent talks have been unusually close to the vest at both companies, and spokespeople for both Yahoo (YHOO) and Microsoft (MSFT) declined to comment on the issue. And, of course, they should not, since there is no certainty any deal will be struck at all, especially since

Facebook Working on New Twitter Integration?

While it’s too early to tell exactly what this means, Facebook engineer Blake Ross today posted a “test” tweet from a Twitter application called “Penguin FB” that resides on Facebook development servers. One interesting possibility: Facebook is working on a new, more native Twitter integration that would let users publish updates to Twitter automatically from Facebook. If that is indeed the case, it would be an interesting move by Facebook. Allowing users to more easily link their Facebook updates with other services like Twitter could potentially make Facebook one of the largest Twitter applications. If only a few million Facebook users were to publish their status updates to Twitter, Facebook could become the largest source of tweets - an interesting inversion of the way Twitter is used as a Facebook application by many users today. Of course, all of this is still speculation. When contacted, Facebook said it doesn’t have any comment on the “Penguin FB” project. (Update: Ross has si

Google Games Bite Newspapers

Newspapers have learned to aggressively optimize their content for Google in its desperation for online advertising. The result of this shift is more traffic- Junky traffic. It was seen that readers tend to spend lots and lots of time on newspaper sites. The readers’ level of engagement has been print journalism's strongest asset online, but the recent trends show that's changing. Nielsen Online published that readers are spending less time on top newspaper websites which denoted six minutes less per month at Washingtonpost.com, one minute less per month at USAToday.com and a minute and a half less per month at NYTimes.com. That is a natural consequence of deriving new traffic growth from a Search Engine Optimization staff, as hearsay anecdotally states that it is happening at many papers. The count of unique users goes up, while the value of each reader for advertisers goes down. And when papers like Huffington Post comes to town with a local section — HuffPo launched in New

How to Remove pc-off.bat from your computer

Last weekend I bumped into a digicam which had a malware in it. The malware like to shut my pc off as soon as I'm trying to access the command prompt. My antivirus was able to detect it, but was unable to delete it from my system. So with a little research I was able to erase it completely from my system! Thank God! I'll share to you this method, hoping it can help you too! This is the symptom of a computer having JBLCF_Scandal.exe virus. The virus comprises of JBLCF_Scandal.exe and pc-off.bat. When you boot your Windows XP in Safe Mode the message appears: "Dont Worry. I will do no harm here" The pc-off.bat contains the syntax like this”C:/path/shutdown -s -f -t 2 -c” which automatically shutdown your computer when you run the cmd.exe. So heres the solution to this problem… just follow these simple steps that will be discussed below. For Manual removal: 1. Upon start up... After OS loading... Go to task manager by pressing CTRL+ALT+DEL then kill (end process) JBLCF_S

Windows 7's Window Sizing is now Available to all Using PowerResizer

If you have heard the power of Windows 7 but you’re still unfortunate to make that switch with a notch of its (windows 7) awesome window docking and resizing features, we recommend that you grab PowerResizer to bring sizing into your current version of Windows. PowerResizer features a variety of features that make window management easier on XP or Vista. There are keyboard shortcuts for a variety of windows movement and resizing tasks. Pressing keyboard shortcuts while moving a window allows you to dock it to the various edges and corners of the monitor. Also available are keyboard shortcuts for resizing windows to various divisions of the screen size. The feature that really makes PowerResizer stand out is its dynamic resizing. Once you've placed your program windows where you want them, rather than docking and resizing all of them again to change one of them, you can simply start reshaping it and all the others will automatically scale themselves to fit around the window you are

Technews: iPhone 3GS, Snow Leopard, and Other WWDC Announcements Edition

Yesterday was a busy one for Apple in San Francisco. Not to mention the release of Safari 4 and the release date and upgrade price of Snow Leopard announcement, we saw a new iPhone which is iphone 3G S. An iPhone with the “S”, new hardware, and all kinds of sneak peeks. Here's the run-down of all the on-goings yesterday iPhone OS 3.0 Available on June 17 Get your updates ready for iPhone 3.0 which will hit our phone in a week and a half. Upgrades cost $700 for existing iPhone users. (that’s according to the gossip reports) •About Snow Leopard Better performance, support for Microsoft Exchange, presence of a bright new Quicktime 10, poise of Windows 7-like Dock-based Exposé, and many more. •AT&T Not Ready on US iPhone Users Abundant feature like data tethering and Multi Media Services (MMS)—are lined up for iPhones in the 3.0 update. Unfortunately AT&T won't be ready to handle any of them when iPhone 3.0 is released. •8GB iPhone 3G Will Sell for $99 Alongside 3GS The p

Recession Will Boost Challengers from China and India

From autos to outsourcing, these companies can operate at low cost in tough markets. They're likely to survive the downturn and thrive In what seems like the blink of an eye, companies little known in the U.S. and Europe just a few years ago have become global leaders. Their common attribute is this: They all come from the rapidly developing economies (RDEs) of Asia, Latin America, the Persian Gulf, and Central and Eastern Europe. They are what the Boston Consulting Group calls the "Global Challengers." Some financed their global expansion by borrowing heavily in the years just before the downturn became apparent and now face a day of reckoning. For others, cash-rich or with access to capital through government programs, the recession creates new opportunity. As a general rule, RDE companies with healthy balance sheets and access to capital will fare better than those with heavy debt burdens. Indian outsourcing services should gain, as these companies take advantage of We

Microsoft’s Bing boings into life – early

No, you won’t need to go to Google to find Bing – all you need to do is to visit Bing.com where you’ll find that Bing is now in beta. Although Microsoft wasn’t set to launch Bing into life until June the 3rd, it seems as though someone at Microsoft just couldn’t wait for Bing to start singing its siren song of search. So, while Google may have thought it still had a couple of days up its sleeve to work on whatever plans it had to sting Bing, it looks like Microsoft has danced like a butterfly so it could do some stinging of its own. Finally, the world can now see whether Microsoft has the smarts to make Live, MSN and even Google Search but distant memories, but will the reality be a surge of interest in Bing before the familiar ring and results of Google become too overwhelming? You’ll have to let us know what you think of Bing, dear reader. The big question is… how quickly Google will take some of the elements Bing has brought forward and duplicate them in its own search results? But

Chipmakers Get Tied Up in Home Networking

Chipmakers are spreading their bets around on the three current standards for home-networking—all of which could give way in the end to G.hn. Wireless networking gets all the love in today's mobile world, but inside the home, wires will still play a key role in delivering entertainment and other content. Your set-top box may sport an Ethernet port, but it still connects to the wall via coaxial cable. Wires are a secure, fast, cheap, and existing network inside most homes. The main links around the home are power lines, coaxial cable, copper phone wires or some mix of the three, depending on where in the world a person lives. But the three standards vying for dominance today could gradually give ground to an emerging standard for delivering IP-based services called G.hn. This fall, the electronics industry will finalize a standard called G.hn (already being pushed by the HomeGrid Forum) that will allow chip companies to provide the silicon that can deliver 700-Mbps speeds over pow

iPhone's Safari Browser to include Geolocation

I can't believe I missed this. Even worse, it looks like just about everyone did (OK, not everyone). I just checked a GPS-enabled webpage page, below, on a 3.0B5 iPhone's Mobile Safari and Boom! The webpage checks the GPS coordinates of the iPhone and returns a result. The test webpage was built by Doug Turner for Mozilla's upcoming implementation of the Geolocation API (if you have Firefox 3.5B you can try it out). Google also mentioned in their Latitude for iPhone presentation last week that they were no longer going to build a native app for the iPhone. They said Latitude was now going to be a WebApp that would run in Safari. That should have tipped me off that Safari would have to be able to not only retrieve others' locations, but also broadcast the location of the user's iPhone. GPS in the browser is a relatively new trick. The Geolocation API Specification is part of the W3 Consortium's standards but hasn't been finalized just yet. That means that the

To Survive Cancer, Live With It

For all the weapons deployed in the war on cancer, from chemicals to radiation to nanotechnology, the underlying strategy has remained the same: Detect and destroy, with no compromise given to the killer. But Robert Gatenby wants to strike a peace. A mathematical oncologist at the Moffitt Cancer Center, Gatenby is part of a new generation of researchers who conceive of cancer as a dynamic, evolutionary system. According to his models, trying to wipe cancer out altogether actually makes it stronger by helping drug-resistant cells flourish. Rather than fighting cancer by trying to eradicate its every last cell, he suggests doctors might fare better by intentionally keeping tumors in a long-term stalemate. It’s an unorthodox notion. But nearly 40 years after Richard Nixon declared war on cancer, orthodox approaches have produced little in the way of treatment. Cancer death rates have fallen by 20 percent in the last 15 years, but experts say that much of the improvement comes from lifesty

Just for Laughs: Farting Galore

Farting may be an act of someone immediately unloading eruptive smelly gases before leaving a room; leaving that special something to be remembered by. Person 1: That party was the worst. Person 2: Don't worry, I made sure to thank them with a farting gift. LOL!

Down Markets Favs Twitter Founders

Twitter has reportedly been valued by investors at $1 billion with Oprah Winfrey on board the twitter ship. A high-profile D conference was set yesterday with the company's (Twitter) founders. So it's odd they seem to see their own product as a repository for jokes about cleavage, bird shit and killing Jason Calacanis. There were many comments about twitter as many would write that twitter is just another social networking site. Some would like to post their impressions or products so that users or any web paparazzi can get a hold of the real score. Nonetheless, we quote some of what the users think of twitter. Twitter allows its users to mark some tweets they find particularly amusing, insightful, witty, informative, or whatever as "favorites." But this may also mean that rifling through the founders' favorites is a pretty good way to get a sense of what they think Twitter is good for: crude jokes and narcissistic status updates. Below is a sample of the tweets f

N. Korea to Test More Missiles

SEOUL, South Korea — One day after its nuclear test drew angry and widespread condemnation, North Korea further antagonized the international community on Tuesday by test-firing three short-range missiles. In addition, a South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday that American spy satellites had detected plumes of steam and other signs of activity at a North Korean plant that reprocesses spent nuclear fuel to make weapons-grade plutonium. The report from the newspaper, Chosun Ilbo, appeared to support a claim by North Korea in late April that it had restarted its reprocessing plant at Yongbyon, 60 miles north of Pyongyang, the capital. The missile firings came just hours after South Korea said it would join an American-led operation to stop the global trafficking in unconventional weapons, an action the North had said it would consider a declaration of war. The developments sharpened the confrontation between North Korea and much of the world — especially the United States — as the U

Pandora unleashing its Mobile Phone Ads

Kraft, Nike, and others are getting results advertising on Pandora's mobile music service. Is cell-phone marketing finally taking off? Forever, it seems, we've been told that it's just a matter of time—next year, for sure—that mobile marketing will take off in the U.S. Yet advertising on cell phones remains tiny. That may be about to change for two reasons: Web-surfing smartphones are selling briskly even in a downturn, and applications for those gadgets—especially Apple's (AAPL) iPhone and the BlackBerry—are proliferating. That means people are spending a lot more time playing games, watching TV, and shopping on their phones. All that activity translates into what marketers call engagement, a fancy way of saying people are paying attention. Companies, of course, prize that, so they're looking for mobile applications that are a good fit for their brands. Which brings us to Pandora, a nine-year-old, free online service that lets users design "radio stations"

Korea: Roh's Death and a Nuke Test

As Seoul grapples with ex-President Roh's suicide, North Korea defies international law with a nuclear blast By announcing on May 25 that it has carried out a second test of nuclear weapons, North Korea is sending a message to the world that it is determined to be recognized as a nuclear power—even if the consequence is deeper international isolation. North Korea watchers in Seoul believe the test is a confirmation of Pyongyang's policy to consolidate the repressive regime of its military-backed leader Kim Jong Il in the face of his deteriorating health. "Everything else comes second," says Dong Yong Sueng, head of the economic security team at Samsung Economic Research Institute, a think tank for South Korea's top conglomerate, Samsung. To heighten tensions further, North Korea also fired three short-range missiles from its east coasts on May 25. South Koreans are accustomed to threats from the communist North, so jitters about military provocations are usually s

China's Yuan: The Next Reserve Currency?

Skeptics have dismissed Beijing's talk of de-emphasizing the U.S. dollar, but China is making moves that could soon lead to a convertible yuan. Are the Chinese finally getting serious about loosening their ties to the dollar—and even replacing the greenback with the yuan as the global economy's reserve currency? The evidence is mounting that they are. For the last two months, China's leadership has been complaining about the country's dangerous dependence on the dollar. Beijing holds $2 trillion in dollar assets, accumulated through years of exports to America and massive purchases of Treasuries by the Chinese government. If Washington can't rein in its mounting budget deficit, both Treasuries and the greenback could weaken considerably—and the Chinese could be big losers as a result. The Chinese began generating attention on the issue in March, when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said he was worried that the country's dollar assets could slide. Ten days later Chin

Twitter Goes Hollywood?

The web is abuzz today with talk of a “Twitter TV show.” Lots of folks are asking if they can audition. Indeed, there are a lot of interesting developments happening in the television space—MTV, G4, CNN, E! and various independent production companies. Start your own twitter today and know why it has reached Hollywood.