Why I got an iPod Touch 2G?

My first and only iPod was when I got one in 2005. Its the 3rd generation iPod. The reason behind my purchase before was due to the fact I wanted to own one and have all my music in one digital device. After 3 years, my unit is still in good working order and I do hope it stays that way. I only had the battery changed in order to renew its playing time.


I held off buying the other generation iPods like the iPod photo, iPod video or even the nanos since in my personal opinion the upgrades are noteworthy but not enough to convince me to have it. I primarily use my iPod for music and podcasts which is why it is mostly used in my car.

Now the iPod Touch came in and it made me think already of an upgrade but since I usually hold off on 1st generations that made me wait. Now the 2nd generation was introduced last September 2008 together with more programs in the iTunes app store that are both useful and trivial.

I previously own a PALM Tungsten TX and was a very good PDA. I especially value it for its ability to have Epocrates Rx and for handling document files. Now my Nokia unit is handling the documents but unfortunately does not have the Epocrates Rx program built for the Symbian OS. This made me miss my Tungsten Tx.


Last December 2008, I was surprised to see in the iTunes app store and Epocrates website the availability of the program for the iPod Touch. This then made me seriously consider in getting the 2nd gen iPod Touch. So after researching and doing some window shopping for the best price I got one before the year ended.

Now, I am enjoying the 2nd generation iPod Touch because of the following reasons:

1. Still handling my music needs
2. Able to handle podcasts, not only audio but video content as well
3. Have useful and trivial apps to be more productive and counterproductive :)
4. Have Epocrates Rx for my professional needs
5. Include medical pictures that will help me in explaining to patients their condition.

The ability to handle documents such as editing and making it is still lacking for now. The only thing that I am now waiting is when Dataviz will be releasing the Documents to Go program for the iPod Touch and iPhone. If you want to be notified once it is released visit this link. I do hope it will be soon. Happy New Year to all!!!

Track Santa in Delivering Presents

It is the time of the year when children and even adults want to know what Santa will be giving them. Preparing cookies and milk beside the Christmas tree for Santa to eat while delivering the presents. Now with the modern age of GPS, computers and the internet you can now know where Santa is during the Christmas season.

NORAD or North American Aerospace Defense Command together with Google using Google Maps and Google Earth found a way to know the specific location of Santa Claus and his gift giving schedule.

NORAD Santa website is the place to look at as the site gives the blow by blow gift giving route of St. Nick. You can also track Santa via 3D. 

Enjoy the fun with your kids or even for the adults.

Wired news website has an article on how all of these started.

Merry Christmas to all!

Ecofont: A way to help save in printing and the environment

Ecofont developed by SPRANQ is a great idea on how to save ink for your daily use at home or in the office. Thus saving you ink and in the end not only save money but the environment too.

Taken from the website of ecofont,
("After Dutch holey cheese, there now is a Dutch font with holes as well."

Appealing ideas are often simple: how much of a letter can be removed while maintaining readability? After extensive testing with all kinds of shapes, the best results were achieved using small circles. After lots of late hours (and coffee) this resulted in a font that uses up to 20% less ink.)

And it is free to use.
So you can try it out just go to their website.
It can be used for Windows Vista, XP, Mac OS X and Linux. Just select the appropriate download.

COD Christmas Show: Manila to Cubao and now in Greenhills.

I remember when I was a kid, my parents will bring us to Cubao to see a show. It is every Christmas time, crowds will flock in front of the building and look up. A fantastic stage with moving "puppets" or now what they call "animatronics". During that time, that is already hi-tech and I always ask my dad on "How they do that?"

Now, the show has found a new home in Greenhills shopping mall. Being on its 6th year in Greenhills, it is just yesterday that I had the chance to visit it again. My daughter and wife is with me and now I find myself in my parents shoes.

The theme this year is regarding environmental preservation. Watching the show with my daughter gave joy and fascination in her eyes, just like the other kids. Actually, it is not only her but including me, who again gave me flashbacks when I was the one who was brought to see it.

With changing backdrops from wasteland to a green and clean environment, moving animals such as reindeers, a horse with Karitela, a carabao pulling a cart and moving human puppets including a Band gave the audience a good show.

The new generation now immersed on TV, gadgets and other forms of entertainment may have lost the old "classical" and worthwhile to preserve Christmas traditions. Some may argue that it is old technology, but for me it is not the technology that matters. It is the people behind it who believes that Christmas is for kids and for the family. Letting them watch a once a year show all together for at least a day and spending quality time. Making the kids grow up in knowing what once was and is still now a Christmas show worth seeing and remembering with happy faces and a good heart.

It is not only nice but wonderful that the Ortigas family invited the Rosario family to continue the Christmas show tradition since 1957. Kudos to the Ortigas family who saw that this tradition should live on and to the Rosario family together with the personnel who still carry on this show. I do hope they know that the kids during the early years of COD are now the parents who bring their kids to see it again.

The full story behind COD and the Christmas show can be found at inquirer website.

May you have the opportunity to see the show. Merry Christmas to all!!!

Video call (3G), the advantage!

Filipinos love to text. That is a given. The ratio of text to call most likely will be 10 is to 1 (I am just guessing here) This might be due to the fact that texting cost less, is easier in terms of texting and press to send rather than press to call and wait for the receiver to answer.

However, calling has its advantages, 1) you hear the person you want to talk to 2) you are able to express your feelings and let the person know it 3) You are able to explain in detail somethings that is hard to express via text.

For quite a long time, Globe and SMART had been pushing video calls as a way to communicate but lately I have not seen any marketing campaign from them regarding this value added feature. This might not have taken off as planned by the telcos since initially it was charged higher than the standard voice call.

Now the price of the video call is the same as voice call, so I have taken advantage of it this year with my nokia 3G phone. Me, my sister and very recently my wife got hold of a 3G phone. We use SMART as our primary line. (Picture from www.guardian.co.uk)



So what certain situations we like to use the video features or how it is a GOD sent.

1. Buying stuff wherein the primary buyer is not with the errand person to buy it. Just like when my wife needed a phone pouch and wanted to see the different colors. Instead of guessing and going back if she did not like it, I video called her, showed the colors and VOILA!, she picked the one she liked.

2. Doing a procedure step by step via video call.
My sister had car trouble just the other day with her vehicle. She was stopped by the NLEX enforcers due to a non functioning tail light on the right side. She is not adept in trouble shooting so she called me up. This is were video call became handy. She showed me the tail light area and instructed her on how to dismantle the panel at the inside of the rear end of her vehicle.

3. Making someone happy especially the "Lola"
My mom is very fond of my little angel daughter. So when my sister is with my mom, I call her up and they are able to "talk" to her. Sometimes, when I am out, I call my wife and chat with my little girl. I can always see her delight and fascination that I can see her and she can see me.

Now if I could only get a hold of the previous unit, Mobile eye by SMART. This definitely I plan to use for security cam purposes.

How about you, any special use for your video call 3G? How I also wish that inter-Telco video calls would be possible for better use of this feature.
The only thing that I believe you don't want to be seen is when you are not dressed up properly or have a bad hair day. :)

Malayan Bank Power Saver Account: Investment Alternative

I came across Malayan Bank's Power saver account. It doubles your money every 5 years.

The first 5 years is the monthly savings stage. Once you open the power saver account, you deposit every month 1000 pesos for 5 years. This will then accumulate to 60,000 pesos. At that time, you can get the money with an total interest rate of P12,963 or you have the option not to take the amount and interest and leave it for another 5 years. On the 10th year, the 60,000 pesos will become 120T. Leave it for another 5 years and it will become 240T. Another extra 5 years it will be 480T. A total of 20 years.

What is good about this account is that you only save 1000 pesos every month for the first 5 years and still get P12,963 if you opted not to continue it. But if you do, then double your money in 5 years time is something that no other bank has given for quite a long time.
Again you have the option to continue adding 1000 pesos every month for another 5 years which of course will give you another set of double your money.

Now as for the risk, PDIC will cover you for 250,000 so that means you can keep your investment with them for 15 years and you are safely covered. The last 5 years then will be the risk you have to take since the amount is beyond the coverage. However that will be 15 years from now and with the recent push of changing the coverage amount to 500,000 pesos by the BSP and PDIC through the help of congress, then that may be covered too by that time.

Another Power Saver scheme is the 500 pesos per monthly plan. It is the same mechanics except that P500 instead of P1,000 will be deposited.
The picture below shows the options you can take.



What will happen if I was not able to deposit monthly?

If you are not able to deposit monthly for 3 months, the account will be converted to a regular savings account. If you were late in your monthly deposit, a penalty of 1% is given. If due to unavoidable circumstance, you wanted to withdraw from it, then it will again be converted to a regular savings account.

This can then be an investment alternative for those who want to retire or even as a legacy they can give to their love ones once the time comes for the investment to be taken out once it becomes due.

"Malayan bank was founded in 1996 and is a joint undertaking of outstanding business leaders coming from GMA Network, LINQ Corporation, Liberty Flour Mills, and the Majaco Group" taken verbatim in their website.

Their branches are found in Makati, Kalentong, Pasig, Marikina, Las Piñas, GMA Quezon City, Sta. Rosa Laguna and Imus Cavite. How to contact them and map can be found here.

Sony Ericsson service center vs 3rd party cellphone repair shops

My wife's SE K550i recently had some problems. Why does it happen that issues appear after just a few months the warranty has expired ? Her SUN SIM card suddenly was not able to be seen by the phone and her battery suddenly ballooned. So I got a new battery which was the easy part. But then as I inspected the phone on why the SIM was not read, the SIM PINS was damaged. 1 pin was pushed up and 1 SIM was broken off. I wanted Sony Ericsson service center to see the unit since I bought it from them more than a year ago.

After just a minute of inspecting by the attendant and forwarding it to the technician inside their shop, I was given a "You need to BUY a NEW PHONE" impression by the attendant. She told me the phone was exposed to liquid based on the indicator in the phone. That was unfortunate for me since my wife places the phone together with the baby stuff for my daughter. Most likely with the baby bottles, milk, and diapers that is a expected. However since this is out of warranty, that won't matter since I have to pay already.
But then the thing that I was disappointed was the next one she told me. The SIM PINS are damaged and that is connected to the main board plus the battery connectors have electrically shorted out. For short, a new board for the unit is needed and the cost is as if I bought a new phone. I asked if they can still repair it just to make it work. Their answer is "NO".

Greatly disappointed, I had no choice but to look for a 3rd party cellphone repair service in SM NORTH cyberzone. What I don't like with such 3rd party providers is that if this is your first time to have a phone repaired with them, you are not sure regarding the skill of the technician. Good thing the one that I had this phone brought to was a good one. TOPWIN Telecom Trading corporation is the name of the shop. (need to advertise it since I am happy with their technician) It is near Sun cell shop in cyberzone. I told the technician the problem with the battery and the SIM pins. After inspecting the unit, he told me that he will be able to repair it without replacing the board. After an hour, the SIM Pins was repaired, the battery contact points was cleaned and the phone was working again!!!!!

The limitation/reminders he told me are the following:

1. The SIM pin that is broken was a patchup. He had to do a makeshift pin that is welded to replace the broken one. That is understandable since you can't remove the SIM holder which is attached directly to the mother board.

2. Never overcharge the battery since it may again bloat the new one and damage the contact points.

3. Avoid exposure to water or liquids again, it may not survive the next round. Which I concur, that made me buy a semi-water resistant pouch and placed it inside a zip lock for double protection. That added a 100 pesos cost but in comparison to a new phone, that is acceptable.

Total cost of the repair? 500 pesos compared to the 560 pesos labor for SE plus the main board. What I can say is that is a good price difference.

Final analysis:
If your phone is within warranty coverage and not damaged by any liquid exposure, then SE service center is a good place to bring your unit, since it will be free of charge.
BUT....
If your phone is damaged not covered by warranty such as liquid exposure or even if out of warranty already, looking for a good 3rd party repair service is a better option. Since the technician can try to find ways to repair your unit to be usable till your next scheduled purchase unlike in Sony Ericsson wherein damaged part equals replace the whole module or part.

Now if only Sony Ericsson has a bright idea of making a 3rd party repair service to do such odd or "non-serviceable" units for them that would be added business income. But I guess that is not within their line of thinking, what they want is for you to purchase a new one. Which I am happy that I won't do until my next scheduled purchase or when my retention plan comes in.

Review: Barney Dino-mite Birthday Live on Stage: My Experience with my daughter

I always wonder how this purple dinosaur is able to fascinate kids. Since my 2 year old daughter with the prodding of my wife, wants to see the show, I got tickets to their multi-date, multi-time shows in Manila. The first sets was in SM North and the show we got is for SM Mall of Asia.

Definitely if you ask any child regarding the show, they will enjoy it. My little daughter and the rest of the children watching it showed their delight on seeing Barney and his friends.
I was telling my wife that kids shows like this is a good business, since the tickets are not just for the child, which you pay full price but also the ones accompanying her/him.

So how did the show fair up to the other shows that I watched with my daughter. Previously, we watched Dora the Pirate show last April 2008 in Aliw theater and also the DVD live show of Barney in the US. My comparison will then be based on this 2 shows we watched.

Generally, as a parent, I was disappointed with the 40+ minutes production number for this kids show. Why? Well, my daughter usually is very interactive when it comes to watching and I always accompany her in dancing/singing or even asking questions. In this case, she was initially dancing and singing but after just 5 minutes of watching, she just sat with us. (That is even after she slept more than an hour before the show)

So my breakdown of the show:
1. Theme: Barney's birthday
The theme was okay, it was focused on Barney's preparation for his birthday together with his friends who came in one by one as the show progressed. The only audience interaction was mostly just asking whose voice is the one heard before that friend comes on the stage.

2. Stage setup/props:
It was very static, the main backdrop was just a FUN MACHINE with an interactive screen that shows what Barney and his friends imagine what is needed during the preparation of his Birthday. Even the balloons/ buttons for the FUN MACHINE are just drawings. There was no moving setups, no change in backdrops. The real balloons are a pathetic 4 to 5 pieces on each side of the stage brought in by the people friends. The instruments held by Barney, Baby Bop, BJ, etc are too small to be seen by those at the far end of the theater. Lighting is very basic, not even changes in color during the sunny and cloudy day. All the visuals are found in the FUN MACHINE that lack interaction with the audience. The picture of friends shown in the FUN MACHINE was very generic which personally I felt could be done with pictures of Barney and his friends instead. There was not even any popping/falling confetti for this Birthday party show.

You may be wondering why I am so critical about this, well in comparison with the stage props and backdrops of Dora the pirate, this showed failed in comparison to how that was done last April. Even the show of Go Diego Go and Igi the Iguana done in Trinoma the past 2 weeks had also a simple backdrop but still was able to give a more interactive changing of stage props.

3. Stage performance/Blocking
The audience definitely cheered when Barney and his friends enter the stage. But somehow the stage blocking of the characters are very simple and boring for me. Yes they were all there but it lacked a punch. In Dora the Pirate show your eyes move from left to right, right to left or even going up or down (since there was a portion were there was a pirate ship). The lack of props or moving stage background may have contributed to the boring presentation. In comparison with the DVD Barney live show done in the US, in a scale of 1 to 10 and the DVD show is rated 10, this one is way below 5.

Again why am I so critical about the Barney show? Since this is for kids why do I even bother analyzing the show, they are the ones who should enjoy it right? Well personally, as a parent, I always want to interact with my daughter while watching. We sing, dance and even imitate the movements such as the ending of Barney shows wherein they sing and hug. Unfortunately the ending of this show did not even make my daughter stand up and let me do what Barney do. And after watching better shows, I dozed off at the middle of the show.

Final analysis: If you want your kids to be happy to see Barney and his friends live, then by all means, see the show. But as a companion to your kid who should also enjoy the show and even be happy that their kids will interact with you while watching it, you will be disappointed. The production team could have done more to make this truly a show to watch for.

Schedule of shows taken from Ticknet website:
"Barney Dino-mite Birthday! is set to stage on November 22 & 23 in SM North Edsa Cinema 8, November 29 & 30 in SM Mall of Asia Centerstage Cinema, December 6 in SM Sta. Rosa Cinema 3, December 13 in SM Dasmarinas Cinema 2 and on December 14 in SM Megamall Cinema 4. Show times are at 12nn, 3pm and 6pm." (Taken verbatim)