Snappin' share

I'm a sucker for novelty gadgets. The first one I manhandled was a Vivitar magnacam, a kind of digital camera that poses as a binocular, so that when you're in an opera house that prohibits the use of digital camera due to the flashes that might vex and barge the performance, it can pose as a nondescript capturing device. That also make me a stern advocate of come-on cause when I'm walking along a mall with tiangge that displays novelty item in a vareity of tapestry. 

Recently, a friend of mine handed me a camera that really titillate my gadget fetishes. It's a Philips keychain camera that proves to be an eclectic, ingenious way of fusing a keychain charm, a digital camera, and a camcorder, so handy that I brought it along with me in my business trip. Even if you haven't included it in your checklist, you'd mostly likely be bringing it since it poses as a charming conduit to your keys. 

While not really an exceptional result as accomplished by a conventional digital camera, it does the trick of capturing precious moments at a fairly light travel. Here are few points to consider, and "capitalize" when using this nifty gadget:

1) One must have an ample light condition to be able to churn out decent pictures, otherwise it would appear a bit grainy and dark. 

2) The highest resolution it can get is just 352 x 288 pixels, barely large enough for a web image. In low light (indoor light) you get horizontal lines accross the images. So again, make sure that you have sufficient ambient light.

3) Since you don't have a screen to view the images on, you are really shooting blind. There is a tiny screen that shows two letters that you use to figure out what you are doing. The abbreviations though aren't very intuitive, unless you possess an uncanny photographic memory. For example, CA means delete all images. For self timer mode, it uses an "S" and a letter that is a capital E without the top bar. Confusing to say the least. It always pays to bring PDA phone to reference it with the letters. Kinda cumersome. 

4) It makes use of Availasoft software to download the pictures from the camera. Like most software packages, it tries to install other programs on your machine like a photo album. The exemplary part is the software (called MyCam CIF) allows you to control the camera directly from the software. This allows you to preview what the camera sees on screen. You can capture a frame, and even shoot in video mode this way.

Now, you just don't have your keys along with you but your camera as well to snap moments that doesn't deserve to be fleeting. Never leave home without it. 

Shun by Shutters

I don't know how much the camera have changed the way we live, as much change as the way it had been. Camera, once touted as apremium staple for the rich and famous, has evolved into a daily must-have's in the digital necessities. 

Invaded by film during the early eighties, now it has spawned into a filmless(purely digital) technology with the advent of storage devices like flash disk and external memory cards(CF Cards, SD Cards, xD cards, etc). Now, shooting a subject can be almost seamless, almost as it still depends on the capacity of your flash disk. But if you're always brining your laptop, the limitation of shutterbugging can be highly scaled down to being-no-limitation at all, except for power depletion, as it solely relies on its portable battery to jazz it to life.

My earliest recollection of the myriad of conventional photography is through the use of Kodak Instamatic. But the technology is unstoppably raking with speed and rigor. On what has been a black-and-white photos(exemplified by the wallphoto of me at the middle and my brothers sandwiching on both sides) that I do have is now inspirited with full color and zest. On what was once a delayed appreciation after from lengthy rigging at the blackroom can now be viewed almost instantenously through its LCD preview. 

So much have changed. yet so much has to be learned too. Now there are a lot of things to consider, ISO setting, focal intensity, zoom ratio, aperture scaling, shutter speed, and a lot more can inevitably make your head dizzy, and with each shot that spells further hardware improvement, one will have to keep abreast in upgrading parts, making photography one of the most expensive hobbies around. 

And now, with the chiming pity a friend feels towards me for having always had to borrow my brother's digital camera, he decided to hand one for me. Oh, the people aroound me are such angels. That will surely hone my composing eye for photography. Who knows, I will be holding a photo exhibit soon. Or my spectacular snaps might be featured in the National Geographic. 

I Sniff WiFi, Not A Whiff

I have always been a sucker for anything pleaasing to an olfactory sense. No, and I am neither a scent specialist nor a perfume pundit. I just love lovely scents so much that I even spray(subtle amount) my pillow with eau de toilettes. And since most of eau de toilettes cost a bit lesser than easu de parfum, I wouldn't mind squandering a relatively bursting amount in its bottle for as long as I will sleep with rewarding respite.

Last night, I went to Sta. Lucia East Mall as a "heaven-sent scent haven" suggested by some of my lady friends checking out perfumes at an unbelievably dirt-cheap prices. And a cheapjack that I am, I immediately vroom into the place after work to check out wide array of fragrances. And true enough to its cause of providing similar effect as Rustan's redolence in profusion to the budget-constrained individual, they offered perfumes almost Php1,500 less than what department stores' perfumery section offers.

Bvlgari Extreme is what I have bagged, a myriad scent inclining to femininity. Why? Hell not. I'm neither gay, nor do I have a testosterone-deficit dysndrome. I just loooove women's scent so much. Men's scent is just way too thuriferously musky and can cause me a swift, sudden, and unwanted sinusitis. You see, I still have the empty boxes of the perfumes I have used in my lifetime. So few since my meager paygrade as a writer slash engineer couldn't hoard me with so much. Back of it are handwritten labels to remind me of what kind of ocassion will I wear it for.

Two of my male colleauges I brought along with me happens to be my day's surprising blow. Having stepped into the corporate ladder not knowing the very inner workings of the fragrance factory and not even knowing the difference between perfume, eau de perfume, and eau de toilette is such a huge stun. I was even given a blank stare for asking for a coffee in a perfumery section, only to have found out that what I am asking is not coffee per se but a coffee bean to neutralize or diffuse the nostril-sticking smell.

But let me provide you a brief rundown on how each types differ:

Most perfumes are complex combinations of natural materials, such as essential oils from plants, and synthetic products that increase the lasting power and heighten the smell. Alcohol is used as a liquid base for perfume, and the ratio of alcohol to scented perfume concentrates determines what the final concoction is labeled.

From highest concentration to least, the different forms of perfume are:

1) Perfume, also called extract or extrait perfume, can include 15-40% perfume concentrates. This is the purest form of scented product and is the most expensive as a result.

2) Eau de parfum contains about 7-15% perfume concentrates. This is the most popular and common form of perfume. It provides a long-lasting fragrance and generally doesn't cost as much as extract perfume.

3) Eau de toilette has around 1-6% perfume concentrates. This makes for a light scent that doesn't linger as long as the more intense versions. It was originally intended to be a refreshing body splash to help people wake up in the morning.

4) Eau de cologne is sometimes used interchangeably with the term eau de toilette. However, the concoction began as the name of a light, fresh fragrance mixed with citrus oils and was made popular by Napoleon.

Some perfumers today have a version of this called eau fraiche. Given it to be a French counterpart for "fresh water", it might be a scent based on a non-alcohol and non-oil solution but purely on fresh water. But I have to verify that first. Like what I said, I sniff wifi, not whiff.

Mobile Make Over

Last Saturday had been reeling with so much fun and fervency. I realized how lucky I am still to be in the Philippines, despite the perpetual bullheading of my folks to go abroad.

Where can we ever find repertory of goods and services heaped in one spot than in the land of the orient pearl. Philippines is teeming with everything you can find in one cornucopia. We have a relatively wellspring of everything we need, and all of them are stacked in a zoning order. For computer parts slash peripherals, there's Gilmore. For pets and household cuddly lollygags, there's the Libertad. For electronics, there's the Raon. For shutterbug like me, all sorts of photo paraphernalia can be found at Hidalgo. For car parts, Banawe is replete with all kinds of car set up bounties, in almost all car brands you can think of. For almost everything under the sun, there's the treasury of it at the Divisoria.

So there we went at Banawe to check out some cool car craze dress up. stereo set, side skirts, side mirrors(be aware of the anti-fencing law, unless the side mirror sold to you is your very own), mufflers, and tiremags. While the hair makes or breaks one's look in a human being, a tiremag is the crowning glory of the car. It is like putting a new shoes to your automobile. The plethora of it abounds in Banawe.

And speaking of hair, after our mobile make over, we headed off to J23 Glam Salon and Spa for some urban pampering, a fair treat from a sweat-breaking day of price haggling with the Banawe folks.

For every person's first visit, one can get to enjoy a 10% discount on all its services. Butt because my friend has a gift of gab and undeniably a charm like no other, we were both offered with a 10% off too on its gift cheques worth Php500 and Php1000 respectively. A cheapskate that I am only gets thePhp500, enough for me to avail of their spa session on my next visit.

The long day obviously sends our stomach in deprivation. So we drive from Timog all the way to Cubao and filled our gustatory room at the Gateway foodcourt, with only a handful of bills left we have on hand. Our budget may have been squeezed, our day shrunken, but it was well worth it; it was a day conspicuously capitalized.

Mobile Cruise

I have unboxed quite a number of gadgets and techtoys but not 'toys for the big boys'(in other words, cars), but have been driving fairly well in the past, and admittedly enough have driven more time on jeeps than sedans, or than I could even count. True enough, the driving experience that it brought on me is quite exhilarating, and not because most of the jeeps that I have driven rallied through open air with dust, foreign pollutants, and radioactive elements of the sun are promiscuous visitors of your exposed body.

Lately, a friend of mine from the other side of a non-Mitusbishi universe that I am always involved with invited me over to grace his pleasure driving as his 'navigator' at the Honda Cup Challenge 2009 held at the NLEX straight. But because of my tight schedule and a series of events that I am brewing with, I turned down the invitation.

What rings to my ear is the term "pleasure driving" which is obviously an antithesis of what I am expecting in a motor cup. It mustn't be as easy as a walk in the park, or a drive to the diorama. Afterall, with our restrained need for speed and unrealized Formula One affinity, what comes to mind when talking about car challenge is the speed and prevailing the race. This isn't the case, he said.

Honda Cup Challenge is not about torque and horsepower. It is about fuel-efficiency, comfort, and overall driving convenience. Simply dubbed as a drive to go green, this competition is composed of several fleets of Honda cars driving to every drop.

Until I have driven one myself, I can attest that it does have a very economical and functional design philosophy.

While not really my type of car design(sorry I am not into ultra-compact cars), this is by far the most practical option if you want to save fuel costs while zipping through the squeaking space of Manila traffic. With the use of

If you look at it at the outside, some impressions ebb and flow like driving a space-arresting MiniCooper. But hell not. You'd be surprised it even has a spacious interior than an Altis. Usability is indeed the Jazz´s strongest Ace card by a mile - the interior solution is rather ingenious: The Jazz is actually more compact than an already compact sedan, an inch shorter than a Volkswagen Polo, but you you will be amazed until you're in the inside. The interior space is closely linked to the height of the car- the slightly more upright seating position enhances the space available in the cabin significantly.

The wide visibility allows one to have a full controle at maneuverability in swirling even small radius. Iconic design, sharp-handling, and sprightly and spacious interiors, this is a fusion of practicality and personality.

Among the rafts of features it boasts is not just the lofty road performance but the commendable flagship i-DSI technology(stands for intelligent Dual and Sequential Ignition) which is just a renamed and refined DOHC(dual over-head cam) that consisted of two spark plugs per engine. Armed with an iVTEC engine and an always dependable petrol guage, one can more or less estimate his fuel consumption via FCR(fuel consumptipn rate) monitor while on the road. Nice, edgy, and definitely state of the art even for those shoe-stringed-budget-driven individuals.

And like what I said, I have driven jeeps more than I can count drinking frap in Starbucks, so the engine noise has been a common audible commodity for me. But not this car. when I turned the radio on, I can even barely hear the engine running. Or maybe it is because of the fresh-from-the casa factor.

The verdict: For a car that is obviously aimed at mobile professionals and city-dwellers like me, it is one practical choice on almost all aspects.

Talents behind technobabbles

I pride myself into knowing how to play piano, of fingering keys up to the frivolities of pianissimo and forte, crescendo and decrescendo. But piano is a defeat to my advocacies of mobility. Had I known it, I would have tried my fingers into strumming guitars same way as Cathy(shown in the picture with me perusing songbook and showing KTV remote) did.

But more than having flexibility of fingers on musical instruments, at the least I can sing. And I can sing adequately better than an average, musically inclined Filipino. Hahaha, call it "brimming a certain degree of fighting spirit." But not only that the people close to me know that I can, I also bagged fair share of modest Sing Along contests during my heydays. Yes, we call it "Sing Along" contest and not the pop-culturally-known singing contest known today. Most of my reportoire were ballads and standards, because those were where my vocal range astutely fits. And during college days, I was branded to be a master balladeer wanna-be who always brings Minus One Tape(there aren't any videoke or KTV sets back then yet) and refuses to relish songs upon the coax of my folks, but ultimately gave in, in the concealed pretenses of an already mastered and memorized song by saying "oh, sige, Side B, naka-rewind na yan ha".

Last Saturday, the G&S Party at Music 21 Timog had been streaming with surprises. I never though one friend named Vic can sing so good, dishing out songs from the renowned pop artist and premiere balladeer Martin Nievera. He rendered the song "How Can I" which is probably one of Ryan Cayabyab's musical virtuouso, but since I'm more into ballads than any music types, I am partial over Willy Cruz's compositions.

Sharon(shown in the photo below wearing red shirt with a balloon inside) has been irrefutably good at that craft. I used the term "irrefutable" because she can draw and lump the crowd together to stage her own concert, just as how she did it during her birthday at the Conway's Bar, Shangri-La Hotel, Makati. I knew it, I was there too. Running a blood of diva's, her sister Ynna won a certain songfest in HongKong.

Going back, I am categorizing(desparaging) shamelessly that piano is a limpid violation of mobility and I was so glad that Cathy not only possesses unparelleled level of confidence, hahaha(sorry dear) but also started to play guitar as well, and she does it for a good cause. For their local church chorale purposes, mainly.

Had I grabbed guitar lessons, I would have had my launching ground to be the 'Jose Feliciano protegee' in the making. Hahaha.

I told Sharon that I refused to immerse myself with alcohol that night because I want to preserve my sense of hearing to discover raw talents behind technobabbles.

And yes I did.

Starbucks Planner 2010: Self-imposed gift for your mobile lifestyle

What is it on every Christmas season that people are bent on spending thrice the amount of frappuccino and twice the three special featured beverage just to get the December's most-sought-after folio, the Starbucks planner. Why has it evolved into an urban lifetsyle habit to grab one everytime the month kicks in the -ber affixation. 

Quite frankly, I am only able to drink the Dark Cherry Mocha during November and December. And yes, not only because I have diabates that I only tend to loose myself a bit when it comes to what is restricted and what is regimental(it is in these season that abundance is apparent in the horizon), but because I also want to race against time to grab a planner that I don't even use the entire year. 

I know I am only partially paperless when it comes to keeping the personal information management intact. But when it comes to contacts, appointments, and task lists, I don't use any Filofax or planners. I don't even jot down meeting minutes on a piece of paper, but rather, highly rely on Notepad installed in my Windows based netbook that I carry almost everytime due to its mobile practicality.

Have you noticed how kids gets discernible excitement whenever Christmas frenzy is in the air, as they expect to be harboring with their coveted toys left and right from their godparents? Well, adults too get that same shivering feeling in the sheer luxury of completing Starbucks stamps. More like a heralding trophy of triumph after a long surge of urgency; the difference is that you can only have this out of your own pocket. 

I asked one of the colleagues why such a behavior among us coffeeshop parasites, as if I am asking a professional opinion from a psychographic point of view. He said it isn't the planner but the thought that a large portion of the proceeds will go to the UNICEF. 

Maybe I too have that same rectitude. And I have just been to Starbucks to get my Nth stamp. 

Mobile Conveniences

I have just been a Globe Postpaid "return customer" last October. That being said means that I am sporting a new number. That also means that I am putting another set of bills to an already avalanche of bills that my pocket has been bludgeoning with, magazine subscriptions mostly. Not counting other forthcomings like gym membership and all.

The last time I had my Globe line was during 1999, when analog phones rule the world and when Nokia 5110 has its peak of notoriety, a barometer of celebrated stature. 

Back then, I think Globe just started charging the SMS sending. So my entry into the mobile market is a bit late than most technology-assimilated folks. 

What made me return back to Globe Pospaid are reinforced into two reasons:

1) Globe Super Surf is offered with a compelling discount so huge that I didn't have a chance to banter my rebuttals. Thank to my friend who works as a Business Development Officer of Globe(name witheld). 

Though I already have a SmartBro since December of last year, having two broadband internet options is not only a necessary commodity but a convenient flexibility. 

Plus, who would ever say No to the fact that Globe Visibility users will be capped 5GB per monty of usage. Although I am not a Peer-t-Peer freak in the form of download engines like BitTorrent, I am definely a Youtube Baby, and I succumb to most of the Youtube content especially Karen Carpenters music videos to lull me to sleep. 

One classic example of flexibility is being able to juggle business proposal and blog entries while in a bar with some friends and clients. The picture on the left is taken at one of the bars within El Pueblo area in Ortigas.(Sorry, phone camera is a crap but was lucky enough to take this pic when the crowd is still absent to swarm the bar area). 

2) My trip to India will possibly culminate anytime soon as I get all the portfolio of services, business blueprint, and feasibility proposals ready. Yes, I will be going to Bangalore for just a stint of around 3-4days and I badly need roaming services to keep me connected to my company here. This would purely be a business trip that I don't even have a chance to see the Taj Mahal.

I couldn't say much about India except for the fact that it is where most epicenters of technology-driven businesses converge. 

I might just as well cross the bridge when I get there.  

Mobile Cowboy's Cuisine Trek

I am neither a food connoisseur nor a resto virtouso. Heck, I don't even know essentially the difference between a gourmet and a gourmand, much more than deciphering hard-to-pronounce continental cuisines. But I have been into lots of restaurants that I can already rule out which of the entrees serves superb sapidity. The rule of thumb is simple, choose whatever is the house speciality. But usually, such concoctions are priced relatively high than other courses. 

Going into Filipino restaurant always make a safer selection and a quite easier way to savor taste without the need to google encyclopedic food jargons. 

After a long and laborious meeting with our client at the UP Ayala TechnoHub, we went to the place that reminds us with our college days in restrospect. Mang Jimmy has been a haven for students along the Katipunan universities. It accurately defines the very term "home-cooking" since it is situated right at the very shard backyard of the man whose concept made the place needless to introduce. 

Unpretentious and utterly simple, Mang Jimmy is a place for mobile professionals(empie's for short, an evolved term from yuppies) to gratify mouth-watering goodness without violating one's shoe-string budget. Located right smack at the MWSS compound in Balara, just a stretch from the UP Campus, it has earned notoriety for serving good food with bang-for-the-bucks value. In fact, our bill barely hits the Php500 mark and the three of us are already satiated with bloated tummies and grotesque forms. 

The only sinful indulgence that we have repeatedly committed that day was to feast over a huge serving of Crispy Pata smidged with home-made sauce. It will even definitely lure diet-conscious and South Beach advocates. You can never go wrong with their sizzling plates and I bet one will never go home with an empty(or even mid-full) stomach. This is probably what my friend Shy means when she describes their home dishes to be "abundance is food." 

They didn't let us pay for our rice when most of it glided to each of our stomach quite profusely. 

Given our speed to be close to a hundred kph, we arrive at the place 4:00PM, started eating 4:20PM and ended up 6:45PM. It was absolutely room-filling. 

Jetson's wedding of the future

It's wedding time. At least that is what I have felt this season, not so much with the forthcoming yuletide break, since it has been a prevailing cycle when we pave way to the -ber months. 

But it is definitely noteworthy when one felt December to be vicarious alternative to June. Maybe because people are bent on receiving huge lump sum of Christmas bonuses and annual incentives. Or perhaps they just simply would like to start a year long being into each others arms. 

Couple of years back, Cat got wed. Few weeks ago, Pen just got married. Now Sha is about to tie knot too with her dearest inamorato. I mean, most of the pals that I have been hanging out with for so long are in one way or another disintegrated into our singlehood circle... gradually.  And ultimately leaving me alone in the circle. 

And speaking of Pen, let me start my story by asking an apology. You know, there are things that I couldn't do in my solitude just so in the present times that I am still nursing a broken heart. Things that would remind me of her, things that would make me long for her, I have been eluding it. I couldn't even watch a movie all by myself, much less than attending a wedding ceremony. It was plainly bad timing and I'm sorry for not attending, for not being there in the most celebrated moment in your life.  

Going back to the heart of the matter, I am neither a bane to romances nor have I possess expert knowledge in the dissertations of marriage and its grandstanding. But I have more or less an opinion on what I want whenever this technophilia that I am decided to walk down the aisle with my bride. Techno-thematics in its finest.

But Catholic Church is flooded with century old "conservatism" which might oppose the cultivation of new, rising radical ideas. So I will try my best to stand on the amicable ground between what is reasonable and what is reformatory, on what is historical and what is hype. 

Given my affinity to cars, I'd start thinking my quentessential wedding picture on settling what car would be used. Partly reminiscent of the Cinderella pumpkin-inspired carousel, this is enclosed in glass, so that my wife can be seen at all angles. I mean hey, she is the queen of her own, she should have the claim of exposure, the right to royalty. Afterall, the difference between a bride and a debutante is the sealed commitment of her eightenth rose.

If having an iPod that plays church music is already an uncompetitive thought in the Jetson's wedding of the future, maybe a wedding ring that has a playback capability to project videos into a screen would make bells and whistles. Yes, a wedding ring that works much like MP4 players slash microprojectors. Projecting into a screen would be quite an extraordinary idea as devices that should have this feature must comply two essential requirements: 1) light bulb small enough but can project large screen dimensions and 2) a battery pack also small enough but can withstand an hour of playback. 

Next is to think of a place that where all these high tech(albeit farfetched) ideas roll into reality. Maybe a dome stationed in the Earth's orbit? Connected into the ground via elevator with cables a tensile strength of the univserse's strongest alloy? 

Skin sizzlin' your laptop

I started skinning my laptop four years ago via Gmask, whose only laptop skinning outlet is at Greenbelt 1. That was way way back. And way way far from my place of work. Now my Acer Aspire 3620 is collecting dust like magnet, while serving its sole purpose of entertainment, playing dvd to lull me to sleep, or before I sleep.

But true to the apothegm that you'd go far places to make yourself beautiful, same goes true with laptop. Afterall, one's laptop is an embodiment of your personality. Seen in today's teen with laptop the colors of pink and pastels, with the designs of Hello Kitty and Tweety Bird, laptop has been gradually evolving to be fashion statement other than its main purpose of computing slash surfing. Probably competing fashion spots with cellphone's interchangeable housing wayback its heydays, today's laptop also dresses up according to the myriad of user's personality.

But skinning your laptop is not an easy task and is mostly done by professionals, and taking an hour to finish(at least that is what Gmask advised customers as the lead time of service).

Well, gone are those days. Cretouch skins are easy to install and don't require sweat producing glands to work.

Care of Cretouch at cretouch.com, you have plethora of premium skins to choose from, from the wood finish to the leather designs. Short for Creative Touch, Cretouch is your ally in terms of revolutionary make overs on boring laptop lids. My favorite design would be the carbon fiber, maybe drawned by my affinity to cars with carbon fiber hoods.

My gripe with Gmasking my device is that it doesn't come cheap. I remember having shelled out around 3grand for overall maskable area.

Now, I'm glad I don't have to spend a dime as my netbook's lid already has a decent design out of the box. See the similarity of the carbon skinned MacBook above with my Toshie NB205?

How mobile are you

One has to defy the orthodox rule of social lifestyle to be able to answer question like "how mobile are you."

For some, it is measured as to the frequent flight miles they had with their airline loyalty privies, while others think of it as the number of times they are at home versus the lifestyle they lead outside. 

I myself measured it by how I easily adhere working lifestyle with personal ones, while maintaining the ever shifting landscapes. 

You see, I had been always on the perpetual move since I started marketing role wayback God-knows-when. Probably since the time I had my social security ID and TIN number. 

Remember the PocketBell days? When pagers used to be the primary means of contact for mobile professionals? I am one of those donning EasyCall pager on my left waist while Philips Fizz cellphone(analog) on my right. 

Then comes the revolutionary age of the PDA, those electronic brick that poses to be the handy computer via inception of wifi. With my immersion to wwireless technology, I was even featured in a magazine that speaks about mobile sphere in the Filipino culture. 

And now, with netbooks came into fruition, plus the advent of 3G, a promise of mobile lifestyle has even sharpened in massive scale. One can now juggle work at the time of pleasure. An unhealthy combination but considerably convenient. The hussles and bustles in getting confined at the four cornered office is now replaced with cozy and sleazy coffee shops where you can just bring your laptop and cellphone, and viola, the mobile office is with you. Unplug and play is the name of the game. 

One can enjoy the atmosphere of his favorite hang out circuit while not missing business documents and deadlines. 

But as to how far has this reached us is best measured by the laptop shipments in a year. Atom processor doubled sales figure in just a short span of time, cannibalizing the other conventional CPU market. 

It used to be the dictum of the OLPC brainchild to have widespread distribution of portable computers, hence the abbreviation "One Laptop Per Child."

And so it is. Today's Filipino household possessed at least one laptop. Some even has one laptop per family member. 

And the coffee shops' primary amenity don't limit to the variety of palatables and drinkables. In house, store sponsored wifi are already part of the offerings. The doors are not only gracing with menus to choose from but with wifi logo to stay connected, a come-on feature. 

In fact, I am writing this blog in a smoothie cafe while securing my needed break from a Mitsubishi event I was part of, showned by my red Mitsubishi T-shirt and the picture of the exhibit venue. (And it's one of those rarest, priceless moments that I wore rubber shoes on an occasion). A classic example of lifestyle/paradigm shift while traversing different landscapes. Speaking of which, do watch out for the next leg of Montero Sport Challenge by Mitsubishi Motors Philippines. 

Until here, I will be back to the event.  

Emergency Mobile Must-Have's

The past typhoon Ondoy ultimately gives us a stern lesson, whether on our way of coping tragedies, or our wherwithal to rise above distress, or even our workin plan in preparing such disasters.

The Ondoy which swept the entire into total darkness, literally and metaphorically, is a distinct mark at how adept and equipped are we in the face of turbulence.

With the city almost in total darkness after several languishing hours of power outage, one could almost account as what would have we prepped in the cases of long hours of brown out.

Not mentioning the flood, since it can only be coped at a massive scale and socio-political level, let's dichotomize this disaster into the nucleus of individual importance.

Had it not been with my Toshiba netbook, I would been gnawed in total darkness too. This is probably thing working in the entire neighborhood(not mentioning some PSP's of my younger kins), which professes to endure 9hours of continuous computing. My phone rendered useless as Globe's signal were a matter of futility, latter known that some communication tower near the flooded area conks out and can hardly be repaired because roads are impassable.

In my modest contemplation, I listed down the things I could have brought and bought as an emergency must-have's:

1) Battery Geek Portable Power Station: With over 30 + tips along with a travel case and a pouch to carry just the battery and cord, this is probably the must have gadget in cases of emergency. This claimed to power up your device up until 18 to 20hours. Imagine if you have a netbook that can last around 7 to 9hours, plus this portable wonder, then you'd be alive and online for close to 30hours.

2) OXO Candela Luau Portable Lamp: While many of us has different versions of what a portable lamp comes to mind, be it a hybrid radio/ lamp/flash light or a mere table top lamp, one should have at least this device to endure in lengthy hours of power interval. One thing that comes close to mind is the Oxooutdoor lantern that can light up your life up to 10hours, depending on the brightness setting. If your TV's out and DVD marathon's not possible, then better grab this portable lamp and just commune with good books.

3) Candles: But if you don't have $199 to boot for a portable lamp, then better get candles but you've got to be careful since it is one of the fireman's hot list on the most common causes of fire. The most nifty design I have come across with is this beer-inspired candle. Now, if you're thinking of pleasuring your alcohol-drenched friends with Christmas presence, this might be the IT thing.

4) Emergency Light: Known to be as common office must-have's as with fire extinguisher, this is also handy at home. Renowned as the industrial illuminator which automatically light up when AC outlet is not supplying power, it is probably the most seen and required building item.

5) Dynamo Torch with mobile phone charger: One of the most dressed-to-advantage devices is this flash light cum torch cum all other name-it-functionalities, including mobile phone charging and AM/FM transmitter. It can withstand up to 8hours of superb illumination. When TV's out, and books are all consummed to mind, maybe it's time to return to your humble auditory roots when radio drama and corny FM DJ's stormed the airwaves.

Post Mortem:

In the light of these, may I extend my heartfelt gratitude to our neighbor Noel who has a Christian congregation that took the initiative of carrying three sacks of slightly stressed clothings of mine to the site, when I am world-weary and could not mobilize for having hailed from work.

And just as the spirit of helping hand reaches, I ask a friend of mine too to donate some of her used clothings to the poor flood indigents. Just as I hoped, she said yes. She is a staunch believer of retail therapy and has an uncanny shopping habits like no tomorrow, with clothes piling up more than she could ever wear.

While some groups of friends in the industry participated in the photo exhibit at Badminton Galaxy, 2F Auto Galaxy Bulding, Sapphire Road, Ortigas Center. The exhibit featured photographs capturing the hope, love and heroism amidst typhoon Ondoy. "Capture the light" is all about the art and craft of capturing emotion, strength and bayanihan in action using whatever camera one have(yes even a cellphone). Proceeds of this exhibit was given to the destituted few of this flood.

Ghosts of my Gadgets' Past

I am always a staunch believer that every natural phenomenon is a fruition of stimulus. Even as simple as terrestrial rains are caused by transitory condensation. A catalyst instigator of some sort, the one that causes the "cause" of the "effect."

Even my affinity to gadgets is triggered by some precursors of this uncontrollable passion, forming like a billowing clouds of smoke, awaiting for the fire to appear in its blaze of glory. 

Who would have thought that my fondness to PDA is because of Mrs. Lily Ong's(fondly known to us as "Mader", our collective respect to her stature... and tenure) new retail merchandise, the Franklin Ebookman. I vaguely had any knowledge on it at first until it was presented to us during one of our routine meetings(Ops meeting). 

To most of you, you don't even know that such a product exists. To my colleagues in the Marketing Department of Avid Sales, it may already have resided in the cobwebs of your memory, and to the branch heads who either ignored it or don't know what it is and how it is used for, this was the foundation of today's technological marvel. The wizardry of yesterday is now the basic component of our new digital lifestyle. 

The Franklin is an ebook reader that works much like the current crops of ebook devices like Sony eBook Reader. But during those times, devices like this costs real estate. And I thought I would pass of the desire since my salary grade couldn't compensate my buying frenzy. 

Or so I though, but one day, Roch Dalino, our then-brand assistant, went to our office with a dysfunctional Compaq Ipaq 3970. It was the time that I relish temporary ownership of the product, fiddling every nooks and corners of the display to figure out what's wrong with it. And it was probably my first baptism to the fires of touch technology.

The Franklin was already crossing its way to become a PDA, with similar PIM functions to boot aside from Franklin Reader and Viewer. 

Now, so many years had passed by. I became a senior member of two most renowned PDA user organizations in the Philippines, the Mapalad.org(Palm users group) and a PinoyWindows Mobile(PocketPC users group). I also share coffee moments of Marvin Emata, formerly of Computer Devices Corporation, to talk about his Sharp Zaurus, a Linux based PDA. 

I have guzzled every science of these gizmos. I already have owned several of them in my lifetime, and if only I get to keep all of them, I probably have a gadget relic slash library named after me. 

But to date, these were the only ones that survived the ocassional losses and the daily wear and tear.  The Motorola Q 8 Windows Mobile Smartphone, Sony TJ37 PDA, Handspring Visor Prism, Nokia 6260, and a Motorola handset whose model name I couldn't remember. On top of it were cable tangles of CDR King Mice(would we call it mouses if we're referring to the plural form of computer mouse?) and MPIO FY200 256 MB MP3 player.  On topmost is the  retail box of my newly acquired iPhone  3G. 

Not in the picture were the Palm M105 and Sony Clie SJ30, which were already serving new masters. 

Arsenals of Mobility

I have long been itching to write(or more appropriately, "publicize") what I have been donning everytime I turned mobile.

I fancy light travel and if only I can incorporate technology into my human bile system, I would probably have done it before. Has anybody from MIT developed nanotechnology cellphones that can text and dial at the volition of my thought?

If none yet, I don't have a choice but to square of some considerable weights whenever I'm on the road, for a meeting, symposium, and business travel.

Although Siemens didn't offer much travel privileges, I have my offshore endeavor that showered me with such concessions.

You heard it right, part of being a writer-in both literary and journalistic capacity, is to reap the benefit of travel here and abroad. And I have always been ecstatic whenever an oportune time comes, except for some minor repulse on humidity I always experience when I travel locally. But hey, we are a tropical country and in one way or another, my body will soon acclimatize.

Yes, so far, I have been to Cebu and CDO to cover local festivities, and whenever I pack things up, I only have my check-in luggage and my laptop bag, which is also where my other gadgets reside.

Luggage for my functional clothes. I don't bring clothes that I don't use or reserve for a chance that I might use it. If I run out of clothes anyway, I just rush into malls to get one. I have never been out into the Amazonesque type of remote regions not to find any decent clothing shop to drop by.

And of course, my laptop bag sans gadget container has these to boot.

1) Europack Messenger slash Body Bag(depends on how you carry it): It has pockets that contains my credit cards, cellphone units and chargers, passport, and my netbook plus AC Adapter. What's so charming with it is that it is not bulky, unlike other laptop gear bags. It is as it it is tailor-made for my Toshie nettie.

2) Toshiba NB205-310: Enthralled by its sleek look and awesome design philosophy, I bought this nettie out of sheer luck. I never thought reviews proved right that it has a monster battery. It can endure 9hours of straight computing and surfing marathon. Enough for me to either chat with boss, clients, and freinds while being able to churn out impressive knockdown powerful articles. I have spent almost the entire day at Starbucks but power dissipates only half of battery meter.

3) iPhone 3G: Who says infopreneurs like me don't know how to have fun. Well, you're wrong. In fact, as mundane as talking to flight attendants(noh, I'm not flirting) can be fun for us. But what more when my iPhone serves its entertainment purpose by letting watch my favorite TV series(Burn Notice, Leverage, Fringe, and 24) while I'm away, or at least playing some cool, smooth jazz to reinvigorate my wearsome itineraries. And finally, it served as a competent replavcement of my first MP3 player wayback 2003, the MPIO FY200 256MB(c/o Jason Teh) which only uses triple A battery to juice it up. But really, this iPhone acquisition is due to a man named Redford Larredo. Damn you Epoy! After a night of chat, he was able to gregariously lure my heart into buying this device that morning after.

4) Samsung i780: Thumboard-implemented PDAPhone which is also a touchscreen wonder when you don't want to use the mouse-like feature of the phone. Yes, it literally does wonders, and those were the reason why I grab this phone instead of the Blackberry 8520. I'd say that this is everything a businessman need. Great messenging application for both email and SMS, Opera Mini is a breeze, and a GPS to triangulate possible easy way points. I was never wrong to choose this instead of HP Ipaq Business Navigator after a week of use. Although the novelty of having a scroll wheel in the function of HP, much like an iPod wheel, I just couldn't bear the thought of doing mutiple presses to spawn letters when texting. I am such a classic typist. "One press, one letter" kind of person.

5) Samsung J600: I only use this if I know that someone out there who uses Sun cellular is about to call me. Most of which are personal related calls. But this is handy enough to be the third mohican in my pocket.

6) Smartbro USB Stick: Consider it the ammunition of my arsenals. Afterall what good is it for my devices without the ticket to the world wide web. Given as a gift from my brother, this has served me with the purpose of providing the pocket broadband, whenever wherever. Although I am planning to hit on Sun USB stick soon for another option.

7) CDR King 16GB USB Drive: CDR King has been the potpourri of accessories to compliment our gadget and mobile lifestyle. It has served as a commissary for literally almost all IT related products. And to have a USB drive is a basic staple. And as of this writing, the highest capacity avaiable in the mainstream market is the 16GB.

Of course, given all those arsenals of mobility requires healthy mind and body. And to keep myself rev'ed up into the demands of my travel, I bring in some regimens for a sensible lifestyle. Not a gadget by category but they aid me in the elaborate capitalization of my hardware. Yes, I control my hardware, not the other way around. And how else for me to be able to do it than with these:

1) Kyusoku Bihaku Glutathione Activator: I don't want to tattle you with classes on biochemistry but with the onslaught of glutathione products getting commercialized, you must have known the positive effects it can do to our body. KB, as what is commonly termed by beauty top brass, contains 480++mg of glutathione, the highest content so far, hence explains its effectivity in detoxifying our body through glutathione streams. KB combines free-components of gluta for better absorption and retention. It comes with Rosehips Vit C, especially formulated to aid in amino acid synthesis.

2) Metformin Hcl: The shuriken is for the Ninja, while the metformin for diabetics. Having had a diabetes mellitus since God knows when, this is also a must have pill I have to bring in my luggage. Contains molecular formula freely soluble in water to effectively lower down blood sugar. Spare me from discussing with you the dual hydriphuclic polymer matrix properties of it. What you need to know is, this is a diabetes drug.

3) Shisheido Whisis: It's an L-cysteine folks. It is not a glutathione but a potent one in whitening process. Three to five times more potent than glutathione. It works to suppress effects of melanin formation to elimninate dark areas of your skin like scars, acne, freckles, uneven skin tone, and sunburn. So if you're out in the sun even for just a minute, makes sure you have three tablets of this aside from your sunblock.

4) Cosmo Skin Grape Seed Extract: Before the glutathione came into hype and spririted trend, the most common sources of anti oxidants were Vit C. E, and beta-carotene. However these sources were not inexpugnable enough to combat free radicals and are excreted in the body within a short time of ingestion. Grape seed extract has been known to remain in the body for as long as three days, making this twenty times more potent than Vit C and fifty times stronger than Vit E. It is taken along with the glutathione regimen.

5) MAC Studio Fix: Don't get me wrong, I am neither gay nor have the tendency to be one. I am never bent to effy(short for effeminate). I only use press powder during special ocassions like cocktail evenst and product launchings. It's the most versatile press powder around, with great seemingly coverage. In fact, you might not even need a foundation already if you have this. It has the most excellent texture, and the MAC sales lady told me that the reason for being is that it went through the reifniery process three times, that is why the fine "granules" stayed into your skin astuteley, with an almost matte to dewey feel to it, and you need not retouch even after getting sweaty.

6) Nars Lip Gloss Harlow: Probably the most common lip products around, Nars Lip Gloss provides the gloss that naturally glides into your supple lips. Not so heavy, enough weight, and stays into your skin for as long as it can. It's a universally flattering shimmering goodness.

7) Bvlgari Omnia Amethyst in special atomizer bottle: Because Omnia product lines are housed in a ring designed bottles, lugging it around in your small laptop bag is a bit cumbersome. I put it inside the special bottle that I can easily slip into the bag pockets, preserving precious space that it requires. Its iridescenece amethyst fragrance is best for evening ocassions. Of course, you have to lightly apply it, you don't want your male colleagues smell that you're spraying female perfume, much worse to think that you're incurable womanizer that a women's smell sticks into your body all day long.

8) Dolce&Gabbana Light Blue Pour Homme: When The One was phased out by D&G, I thought it was the end of my world. Little did I know that it was just the beginning for my even awesome existence. You might ask, why do I wear women's perfume when I profess myself to be a man at every inch. It is because I am super sensitive to smell that brusque fragrance triggers my sinusitis. Light Blue is citrusy at first but when it evaporates in seconds it provides a Jasmine floral tinge which is gorgeously light and essentially effluvious.

Ok, I'm a bit vain. But let me remind you of that KC Concepcion commercial to always look at your best, because you never know who you ran into. Very true, for us journalists.

Apple Nano: Shoots videos only, stills maybe to follow

Everytime Apple initiates an assembly of Mac talks, bigots like me went blustering with frenzy and excitement. The same goes true with the Rock'n Roll event that makes the Mac cult went gaga in prophesying on what could be the next product offering. 

It was at this time when Apple Nano Video was announced, along with other products like iTouch 3.1 and the new breed of funky colored Shuffles.

To be honest, there is nothing distinctive that day aside from the Apple Nano video.  

Although a bit late, at least Apple listened to the series of our whinathon by implementing video technology in its Nano product line. Yes, we're already tired of the crappy videos of the CDR King's MP4 Players. So this offshoot of Nano Video is a beacon of hope and possibly a catalyst for change at how we look at small media players.

The display, which Apple claimed to be 65% brighter than the previous Nano, has widescreen and full screen option. 

Not only does this play dazzling video, it has a camera as well to make one. The caveat though is that Nano camera only shots video and not in still formats. 

Another notable feautures are the FM transmitter and a Coverflow interface that would let you ripple through the album cover and music libraries. 

Slapped with a 2.2inch vibrant screen that displays video at the highest pixel-per-inch density, the Nano is a caper worth watching. 

Annodized aluminum finish makes it look sleek and splendid, although rear panel is shiny but it somehow compliments to my affinity to anything glamorously glossy. 

Price for 8GB is Php8,790 and 16GB comes at a Php10,490.

Any of my friends thinking for an advance Christmas present for their early adopter friend? An iPod Nano 8GB would just suffice for me. 

HP Mini 311: Ion-clad gladiator

HP may have now occupied the same pedestal as its fiercest contender, Asus EeePC, toppling off another largest netbook maker, Aspire Aspire One, thanks to the effective brand recall by the nomenclature of "Mini". They may have capped the rising success of Mini Cooper, but they have made its mark through an alreday squeakingly saturated netbook market. Come to think of it, almost all brand giants came out with its own variant of miniature computing craze, a slot once solely occupied by Asus EeePC.

Now HP once again released another delight to delight our penchant interest in mobility.

Not so long after the release of HP's grown up business netbook, HP Mini 5101, here comes an 11.6incher netbook packed with NVidia Ion LE graphics. It is the first successfully implemented Ion chipset netbook in the market today. And HP have dunnit, but while someone did, the others are surely there to follow, whith coming closer. Take note, Asus was the first netbook to slap with Nvidia graphics via Asus N10J but it was not the NVidia Ion.

HP still have rehashed their first chart-topping milestone in the netbook category which is the implementation of a 92% keyboard, springy and responsive ones. Having known for its unorthodox trackpad click placement, this time they have maintained a conventional one by placing it at the bottom of the trackpad.

The 11.6-inch screen has a native resolution of 1366 x 768 which is modestly bright and vibrant. What is noteworthy is that it is capable of full HD and has a 16:9 aspect ratio for widescreen movie affionado. If you’re eager to see HD videos on a larger screen, the Mini 311 has an HDMI out port too.

Standard specs includes - 3 USB ports, microphone port, headphone port, Ethernet, and 5-in-1 card reader. Inside there’s a 160GB hard drive, 1GB of RAM (expandable to 3GB), and a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU.

Package will sport Windows 7 and a 6cell battery to withstand an entire day of surfing, and with a price point starting at $399.

Let's see where this Ion-clad netbook is heading in its fight to the finish.

Samsung i8000 Omnia II: Rockstar shine

Samsung has been one of the forerunners of a device with brightest LCD quality. True to its crusade, they have been trumpeting the OLED technology since it came into being. And no diference is the Omnia, Samsung's one of the firsts(if not the first) entry to HDD based mobile phone. Now, the market is staring at the second iteration of Omnia II dubbed by the coded nomenclature of "i8000. "

Competing against the HTC's TouchFlo interface, Samsung came up with its own, TouchWiz. A flagship interface that works like a multitouch shell of the phone's operating system.

The new Omnia has a lot more to offer than meets the eye. Sporting on a bigger screen size, gaining half an inch from the first Omnia, it has a 3.7 inch screen and with a monster resolution of 480x800, four times to that of the first Omnia.

Samsung i8000 slapped with AMOLED technology has been brimming with full confidence. And to say that it has the brightest, crispiest, most vibrant resolution among mobile devices is but an underestimation. Imagine yourself surprised at an event but you forgot your camcorder, you pulled up your Samsung i8000, capture video, and wowed yourself on a DVD quality playback. That is something from a mobile phone you couldn't just ignore.

Even if Samsung i8000 deserves rock star status among phones, it still has minor hiccups.

Let's see my collection of fearless rants and festive raves:

What's HOT:
1) fanfare of feautures is centered towards TouchWiz 2.0, winning over HTC's TouchFlow 3D
2) finger friendly menu that you wouldn't need any styli to fiddle interface
3) overhauled and organized PIM functionality
4) robust messaging platform that makes use of landscape and portarit mode, just like iPhone
5) it's a delight when i8000 veered away from Memoir's and Instinct's "full html browser" by making use of Opera Mini as a standard browser
6) DVD quality video recording is a vast improvement
7) excellent audio quality for TouchPlayer playback, employing its propereitary WoW HD, Samsung’s DNSe technology
7) WinMobile 6.1 is upgradeable to WinMobile 6.5 for free


What's NOT:
1) LCD has a plastic cover on the LCD, just like my Samsung i780 which makes images gets a bit washed out upon direct exposure to sunlight
2) plasticky feel makes one think that it is of a low quality material
3) WindowsMobile only limits to 65k colors, my iPhone 3G has 16m
4) just like my i780, i8000 too has noticeable delay in taking pictures
5) i couldn't get the NavFone Plus GPS application to work, just as I couldn't get the Enhanced GPS app of my i780 to work either
6) though it flaunts a barvado of a lightning speed processor and RAM, the lag is just downright noticeable, but maybe we blame it on Microsoft


Samsung may have nailed right this time with i8000 but we hope that they would address the technical flaws on the third iteration.

SmartBro and Globe Tattoo: Unrelenting Price Wars

Today's technology is not only dictated by manufacturing cost but by law of supply and demand, mostly. Same goes with services. ith today's rising demand of on-demand internet services, two of the country;s giant telco plummeted their price point to cater to their respective market shares. And lowering the price further to cannibalize their competitors. 

SmartBro had taken the lead in slashing down their price to Php995. Almost half of the original price. 

Now, in less than a month, Globe, from a crippling point of view, rises up with vengeance by offering even more affordable solution, this time it's Php895. 

While they fight ferociously in the arena of online services, the consumers as spectators as the sure winners. 

But only if they wouldn't degrade their service levels to commensurate the huge price decline. 

Gateway LT3102i and LT3103i: Cole Simplicity Promo

I am a sucker for watches, having owned a bevy of them, from the Baume & Mercier to the common Fossil. And I probably stake watches same level as my penchant for shoes and coats.

A laptop maker almost make my jaw dropped when they release product bundled with a Kenneth Cole watch. I say almost because I was hoping those watches were slapped with stainless steel bracelets.

If this doesn't appeal to your senses, maybe you can get the laptop and just sell the watch, for say, four grand.

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Here is a link for details.

Toshiba NB205-310: What's hot and what's not

Toshiba has been a purveyor of the mobile lifestyle ever since its inception in the digital age. It has done commendable jobs in churning out one of the best notebook lines in the form of Satellite, Tecra, and Protegee.

In our midst, at Asia Pacific Rim, it has a whole new different SKU and sub-branding nomenclature in the form of Libretto and Dynabook.

Today, albeit late, Toshiba once again conquered the comptuing market by storm by coming out a Toshiba NB205-310, a successor of the first netbook line NB205-210. The main difference being the keyboard lay out. The 210 has keys placed closed side by side each other reminiscent of HP Mini 1001TU. While the newer version 310, has a chiclet styled keys with spaces in between much like Sony Vaio and MacBooks.

I am lucky enough to own one and to have noticed some grins and grimaces of this generally lovely device. Lucky enough as this was coined to be the number one of the year's Top Ten netbooks by PC World. (http://www.pcworld.com/article/154358/top_10_netbooks.html)

This unit has been serving as amy digital tyepwriter whenever there's a need for me to produce articles for my offshore and local publication endeavors, has been literally wherever I go, Cebu, Tagaytay, and Puerto Galera, most of which are pleasure trips.

Slapped with a 6cell battery and a 2GB of RAM as an upgrade from day one, here are the few what's hot and what's not, being the master of this unit.

Pro:
1) Battery life is a monster, can endure 9hrs of battery when fully charged(and properly configured)
2) Faster app execution(but maybe because of my 2GB of RAM)
3) Nice keyboard feel
4) Crisp and bright display screen and clearly viewable even in side angles
5) Visually stunning design factor

Cons:
1) Audio is tad too soft
2) Creaking sound when pressure is applied to its chassis. Makes you think that it might be a weak plastic construction
3) 6cell battery protrudes like a tail that extends at the back(not an issue for me though)
4) I don't like the keyboard holes bigger that the keys because it is a possible dust magnet
5) Bezel is too large(also not an issue for me)

Nokia Booklet 3G: Taking flight where Palm Foleo left off

Few years back, Palm released what they called as an internet companion. This is the product way before the advent of what is now known as a netbook. And the time when the word netbook is solely used by Psion for their miniature computing line.

Whatever happened to Foleo is a call to arms of a lot of companies not to churn out similar product that lacks market positioning.

Maybe timing is of the essence since during that time PDA market was so ripe that people wondered what was the Foleo for when almost all features can be done using few licks and taps of a PDA.

Now at the hype of netbook craze, Nokia boldly took cudgels where Palm Foleo left off(and wasn't really able to take flight) released a similar kind and functionality. The product dubbed Booklet 3G. And by the name goes, it is pretty much oriented towards the growing internet market through 3G bandwidth, and to say that it is also an "internet companion".

In the forays of product lines dominated by the Asus and premier computer brands, would Nokia be able to make it in an alreday squeaking market?

Only time will tell but the only bells and whistles Nokia would be banking on is the power management feature which can endure an entire 12hour battery marathon. It's a 3G partnered-flagship feature Nokia offered, aside from the plethora of ports(HDMI and a hot swappable SIM card slot) and a faux-GPS(wifi triangulation) through Ovi Maps.

Comes at a hefty price of Php39,900(converted), this may endear our visual feast but it is wallet damaging.

HP Mini 5101: Business cocktail

On what used to be targeted towards the schoolgrader market via the inception of OLPC, netbooks swoop the market with staggering might, like a digital Thor smashing the cold and conventions of an already established low cost PC market.

And just as we thought that netbooks are only a hybrid device of a student and a professional, here comes the business-centric netbook that might just changed the way we think of netbooks. 

HP Mini 5101, packed with a rugged anodized aluminum display enclosure with a black, brushed metal finish and a magnesium alloy chassis, is here to invade the passive, plasticky feel of most netbooks. Sure enough, this isn't the first time HP release an aluminum based netbook, but what makes this one stunningly different is its black glossy exterior that defines elegance and sophistication.

Due to its "squared" design philosophy, one may mistook this to that of an IBM Thinkpad or a pint-sized HP ProBook, both known to be business handicrafts. 

Just like the Toshiba NB200, HP Mini 5101 also features HP 3D DriveGuard, which offers a three-axis digital accelerometer chip that sends a signal to shut down the hard drive upon sudden movement or shock. In additon to that, the HP Panel Protection System also includes a scratch-resistant acrylic LCD cover and magnesium hinge bracket for added durability.

Deriving the HP ProBook design elements, the HP Mini 5101 has a newly designed, spill-resistant keyboard that is 95 percent of a full-size QWERTY keyboard. The keys are nice and large with significant spacing in between each key to prevent typos. The individual keys have "HP DuraKeys" coating which HP claims makes the keyboard 50 times more resistant to visible wear than keyboards without it. In addition, the mouse buttons are located in the traditional space below the touchpad, making for a familiar user experience. 

Other rafts of oustanding features include 2MP integrated webcam and stereo microphones, 160/250/320 GB 7200 rpm SATA with HP 3D DriveGuard (supported on Windows models only); 80 GB Solid State Drive, 10.1-inch diagonal LED-backlit WSVGA (1024 x 600) / 10.1-inch diagonal LED-backlit HD (1366 x 768), 4-cell (29 WHr) or 6-cell (55 WHr) Lithium-Ion battery, 65W Smart AC Adapter, and since I am always at coffee shops, pne delight for me is the Kensington lock slot. 

Price starts at $499, so I dread it might be around Php24grand here.