Free WiFi Boss, Free WiFi!

I am occasionally asked where we can get free WiFi access in Makati. Obviously, they're the gadget people, walking around with internet savviness oozing from their being. Personally, I have not been paying attention to where we can get free WiFi until recently, when I acquired an iPhone. Now, I can't seem to stop looking around for places with a "free WiFi" sign on them. Well, here's one in Glorietta... at Burger King!

I am quite fond of their Whopper and so their menu list is not new to me. But it's been a while since I last visited their store. Once upon a time, they had a serve-yourself bottomless drinks. But that was hastily removed because the place gets pretty messy and freeloaders just can't seem to get enough of the free drinks. After that, Burger King seemed just like another ordinary place to get ... well, burgers. But when we got a chance to drop by last week, the place looked quite different. Pop art adorned the walls, and they now attract a new crowd: the laptop-lugging group. The density of computer presence in this area is most profound. And it's because of .... free WiFi!

Not only that. They show a free movie at 2PM! I wonder when we can come here for an afternoon meeting. Tee hee!
The brightly-lit notice at the left side of the photo below is a mobile phone charging station. Also for free!
I'm a big fan of apple pies so I got excited when I saw this new item in the menu. It did not meet my expectations, unfortunately. True, there were apple bits, but the crust was all mushy, and it's a tad too sweet for me.
The free WiFi access is an attractive come-on for people who want to conduct a meeting and need the internet access. Does 2PM sound fine? :-)

***

Congratulations to the winners of the 100,000 Hurrahs "contest"! They are:

Zherwin, who said:
"WOW six figures? sana piso bawat visitor no? hehehe congratulations! it's been a long time na rin pala since my first visit here, i think it was your post on Puerto Galera (the one with Sadako?) or something puerto galera that i wrote my first comment? and i also bookmarked your Oh My Gulay post, for future references hehe. :)"

Leah, who said:
"... I like your blog because (although I lag in my visits)you feature stories about Baguio. I like yor photos and the scenic snaps you share with your readers on your travels plus all the food trippings ofcouse. I am glad I discovered your blog. I remember your entry on the Panagbenga and I really liked the landscape photos you published."

Toni, who said:
"I like it when you write about Baguio. Through this blog, we've come to get to know this home of yours. I don't have one favorite Baguio post, but those that I recall fondly are all Baguio-related. There's the entry you submitted to the Oh My Gulay Lasang Pinoy carnival, the food you eat in Baguio, reuniting with family on weekends. They're homey posts, and that's why I like them!"

Group hug! Group hug! Congratulations again, and I hope you like what my wife and I bought you at the Panagbenga fair!

The laptop made affordable

My wife wanted a laptop for her to use at the office for spreadsheets, word processing, and presentations. Aside from this and browsing, she doesn't really need anything else at all. So you would imagine that getting a laptop with the basic requirements will be easy as pie.

Unfortunately, that pie is quite expensive even in its most basic form. And we did not want to get a second-hand laptop either because we wanted something that comes with at least a 1-year warranty. We need at least 50,000 pesos to buy a decent laptop. And so she has been saving up for this piece of necessity.

Last December, there was a flurry of buying spree at our office for laptops. And they were personal purchases. When I checked out what the ruckus was all about, I was astounded to find this nice bit of news: you can now buy a laptop for 17,000 pesos! Whoa.

I immediately informed my wife about it and without second-thoughts she handed over the cash and I bought her laptop and I bought her a nice laptop bag to go with it (am I a nice guy or what? hahaha)

The laptop I'm talking about is the Asus Eee PC. Catchy name, isn't it? The laptop came in cutesy white last December so it looked like a small Macbook, but now you can also have black and other colors (but beware, the other colors don't come with a built-in webcam).

The Eee PC comes with the following specs:
7" display
Pre-packaged with Linux and OpenOffice (but is Windows XP compatible)
Ethernet connection
Wireless Internet
512MB memory (DDR2)
4GB Solid State Disk Drive
Stereo speakers and headphone
0.92kg weight

Now, the Eee PC also comes with a 1GB memory and 8GB Solid State Disk Drive model (I don't have the price of this yet)

What I like about the EeePC is its size. It's so easy to carry around! Plus it has wi-fi capability and webcam built-in. It also has 3 USB ports to plug in your other peripherals such as an external hard disk drive, or CD-ROM Drive.

What I don't like about it is its hard disk size. 4GB can be easily filled-up so what we did was we bought a 4GB memory card and inserted it into the built-in memory card slot. The OS stays in the hard disk, and the data into the memory card. Also, the monitor has a resolution of 800 x 480. They could have adjusted the monitor resolution to 800 x 600, a standard resolution size. What happens now is that when there are window prompts whose lower part goes beyond the bottom of the screen, you have to adjust the display to 800 x 600 so the screen will slide and you can click on the buttons. Or, you can click "esc" for cancel or click "enter" for ok. Well, ok, there are workarounds...

The keyboard is also nicely laid-out and you can type on it rather easily but I won't expect anybody to be writing novels and multi-page reports on it. I suggest getting a full-size USB keyboard for those tasks (but that would look sooo uncool).

But still, where can you get a laptop for 17,000 pesos! Overall, its usability makes it a worthy buy. If you need a laptop to do your office work on-the-go, or need internet access minus the small phone screens, the Eee PC packs in a lot of value.

This is not a paid advertisement.

The Eee PC beside the 15" Mac PowerBook I use at work. Pardon the mess :-).

***

Don't forget to join my 100,000th guest celebration "contest"! Details in the article prior to this.

an iPhone review

I admit it. I am a gadget freak. When the Matrix movie featured this Nokia phone with a sliding keypad cover, I got myself the closest thing: a Nokia 7110. And I had to wait for 3 months for my order to come in. When the first ever Nokia phone with polyphonic tones came out (the 7650), I lined up for one. When Siemens came up with a small phone that can display 7 lines of text, I got one for myself. And I also went through the gaming console phase.

Those were my gadget freak days. When I got married, priorities changed. I skipped PSP, the WII, the iPods. Rather than buying something for myself, I'd rather get something for my wife or son. And - dare I say it? - I was ready to settle for a phone with just SMS and call features!

And then came the online video of Steve Jobs' launching of the iPhone. I watched mesmerized. I simply got to have it! The last couple of months was enamoured with looking for an iPhone. I practically gave up on it and left the searching to my good buddy Harry.

And he finally found one! One morning he dropped it off my room. I took one look at it and felt that I really didn't want such a phone, even if it was going to be my holiday present for myself. But I decided to just take a little peep into what it can do...

Whoops, look at what we have here. I brought home the Powerbook! Hmm... let's see what will happen if I sync it with iTunes...

I spent the next few hours transferring photos, songs, and music videos, and configuring the device for my preferences. So much for losing my gadget freakness! I spent a couple of nights converting a couple of movie favorites into iPhone format. I was hooked.

So how is the iPhone like?
As an iPod, it's simply amazing. I love the coverflow which enables you to visually flick through your album and song selections. I love the huge screen and the crisp images! I love the music output.

As a WiFi device, I love it. The pages load and display nicely. Controls are so easy to use!

The camera captures really nice images even in low light conditions. Which I cant say the same for the Nokia N80, with its 3Mpixel camera. And you get the entire screen as your viewfinder when you take photos! Nice.

The interface is so simple you don't need a manual to familiarize yourself with it.

As a phone...
It's a cinch to make calls! And you get a full screen photo of the person you're talking to. And the screen turns off when you press it to your ear.

As an SMS device, that's where most of my expectations fall short. In a country where we send and receive SMS and MMS like we have meals 5 times a day, the features of the iPhone fall short. Imagine, you cannot forward messages! The horror! And you cannot send a single message to multiple recipients! Unspeakable!

Typing your messages also takes a lot of getting used to. Of course, we send more messages in Filipino than English but the dictionary kept substituting words. In fairness, the dictionary is also trying to learn some of the Filipino terms but typing can be frustrating sometimes. I thus try to send messages in English, which the dictionary is built for, and that's where I can see the dictionary working out. You don't have to accurately press on the right letters; the dictionary will help you get the right words in.

But still... I wonder why they didn't at least include message forwarding and sending to multiple recipients. It's as if the developers or the beta testers have never tried SMS and MMS before.

Darn.

So right now, I find myself smiling when I use the iPod features and surf on it, but get frustrated at times when I send text messages. It's a love-hate relationship.

Jan 09 update:
A colleague who also has an iphone dropped by my place awhile ago. He took a look at my phone and wondered how come I did not have some features which his phone has. Such as sending to multiple recipients and forwarding messages. Whaaaaatttt! And installing games and applications. WHAAAATTTT!!! My phone is running version 1.1.1 and his is running version 1.1.2. So I thought it was a matter of upgrading the version. I googled for upgrade procedures and found this one at Finance Manila. But it called for a PC and I had a PowerPC Mac so while contemplating on that, I came across the fact that I had to have a file called Oktoprep in order to start the upgrade process. I didn't have this in my Installer section so I googled for this file and landed on tuaw.com which provided for an instant jailbreak procedure which will allow you to install applications on your iPhone! Nice! So I wifi'ed my way to jailbreakme.com and soon I was installing eBooks, Dictionaries, and games on the iPhone! And then my colleague also instructed me to install WeTool so I can forward messages and send to multiple recipients. I was able to go to the iPhonesTalk site and got the WeTool app. And now I can do the SMS functions I wanted to do! Wow! Thanks guys!

Pedometer mania

It was four or five months ago when I decided to start an exercise routine and in my search for the ideal exercise - something that doesn't require going to the gym because I've faced the fact that I simply have no time for it - I came across this nifty little device called the pedometer, which counts your steps. To benefit from walking as an exercise, you either have to do brisk walking (and set aside time for this), or accumulate 10,000 steps in a day. Walking? I walk all the time! I was set to go.

Or not.

I searched sports shops and drugstores for a pedometer, and it dawned on me that pedometers aren't exactly popular in Manila. I found one though at a sports shop, but it costs around 2,500 pesos! Darn.

Fast-forward to last week. We visited Divisoria and I chanced upon a digital pedometer for a measly 50 pesos! Of course, I am rather dubious about anything electronics sold in Divisoria, but at 50 pesos, why not try it out?

And then last Sunday while watching TV, we saw this Anlene (a milk brand for adults) commercial encouraging the drinking of milk to fight osteoporosis and exercising daily. And as an added boost to this campaign, they were giving away pedometers for free! Come on! That very afternoon, we went to the supermarket and there it was, the 250 peso-box with the free pedometer. I bought the milk for my wife and kept the pedometer for myself.

And then just yesterday, I dropped by the Japanese 88-peso store and discovered that they are selling pedometers at - you guessed it - 88 pesoses! What a deal! Operators are standing by!

I'm still trying out the two pedometers I have and unfortunately I'm getting different readings. Yes, I have two pedometers on my belt, though I'm not exactly fond of the eye-catching white and green Anlene pedometer which stands out against my otherwise dark-themed office attire. The divi pedometer has a black body with a grayish face. Much better.

Also, I must be accidentally resetting the things when I put the seatbelt on (I travel a lot).

And a colleague asked me if I had a beeper on. That was a laugh.

Question: Are pedometers a girl thing? The packaging makes me think so. Hmmm.

Anyways, I make my report soon about my "pedometer challenge". For now, this device is indeed motivating me to walk-walk-walk!

Phonethics

How wud u lyk it f i strtd typing lyk dis?

I tend to be in a tolerating mood when it comes to SMS, but writing like this for other things?

Ironically, many people already do, especially the younger generation. They have gotten so hooked up with abbreviated texting that they now use this method in everyday writing. Think about it. We tend to ignore this simple fact of life, that people - especially in our country - do love the convenience of SMS but as the user range broadens to include kids, what will its effect be on their reading comprehension? Use of grammar? Spelling?

"wer n u d2 n me" - to be brutally honest, I found these forms of text messages irritating. However, I have, over time, started to accept these small grammatical horrors. But there are still those overly truncated messages that try to squeeze in a lot of information into one SMS that I often surrender deciphering and send my standard reply: "ha? I don't get it." To which the person concerned sends me another, spelled-out message. The good thing about it is, many of my text correspondents now take time to really spell things out.

And so this brings me to the subject of predictive texting courtesy of t9. Predictive texting has been around for quite some time now. The first time I used it was in the year 2000 with a Nokia 7110. I've been hooked ever since. The phone I have now - an office-issued N80 - even has a "Tagalog" option for predictive texting. How convenient is that?

How do you activate t9 texting? On Nokia phones, it's simple. The shortcut method is to open the messaging window and bring the cursor to the section where you would write your text message. Then press the pound key twice (this is at the lower right; the # symbol is accompanied by an arrow symbol). You will see that the text mode indicator at the upper right side of the screen will have two lines next to it, indicating predictive texting mode. To turn t9 off, just press the pound key twice.

Compare the number of keys you have to press when typing the word "hello":
conventional method: 4433555555666
t9 method: 43556

The website www.t9.com has a tutorial for predictive texting. Give it a try!

And since we're on the subject of mobile phones, I suggest you check out the battery of your Nokia phone. There are BL-5C batteries out there that may be hazardous to your health due to overheating. And you know what happens when batteries overheat! Check out this product advisory from Nokia to see if your Nokia model is affected. You will get a free battery replacement of yours is included in the defective batch.

One last tip for mobile phones, not just for Nokia. Be very careful when bringing your phone in Divisoria! Or better yet, don't bring it at all! I lost my phone there last December, and I still haven't gotten over it. I loved the 6630's camera; it's even better than this N80's 3 megapixel version.

Happy weekend eveyone!

[photo credit: answers.com]