a Rafflecopter giveaway

OMG it’s been 10 years! Addict Mobile represent! Entering my very first job (in real estate, can you believe?!) I wanted to feel like a responsible adult who’s new to the workforce so the first thing I did after signing my employment certificate was to apply for a post-paid line. I was actually already a SMART sub back then but through prepaid and the main reason why I stuck to this network was their competitor had an odd billing system which had this thing called “dollar conversion” and it didn’t quite make sense because my bill would fluctuate every month. So budget conscious me killed it and took a risk with a postpaid line with SMART. And a Nokia 3650. OMG, do you remember this phone? It was the phone with the weird circular keypad and despite having an odd layout, I could text really fast on it! 3650 + Addict Mobile reprezzzent!!!

Do you remember this phone??

It’s been ten years and I haven’t looked back. I’m happy to have been a partner with SMART through this blog for the past 3 years. Back in the day, when blogs didn’t exist and there was no such thing as digital marketing or online brand ambassadors, I was supporting them. One of the things I particularly loved was their retention plan — that every 1 1/2 years they would make me eligible for a new phone. Believe it or not, I’ve never bought a new phone since 2003. That’s mainly due to the retention plan that my network gives me. New phone every two years or so.

So today, on the anniversary of my 10th year, I’ll be giving away one of the most coveted gadgets to date: the 4th generation iPad with Retina Display (16GB) which is also available through SMART’s LTE plans! Want to win this? Check out the Rafflecopter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The mechanics are posted on the Rafflecopter page, and I suggest you enter the contest through there because it’s much easier to monitor. But if you want to do it through here, that’s fine too:

1. Follow these accounts on Twitter:

@jayvee (that’s me!)
@SmartCares
@SmartPromos

2. Answer the question:

How can #SmartLTEiPad make you live more? (Please include the #SmartLTEiPad hashtag. No hashtag, no entry. Multiple entries are valid.)

3. I will be looking through the entries and will be choosing one winner come the 25th of the month so keep those entries coming! This contest is valid for PH residents only. A valid ID will be asked of you to pick up the prize.

For those of you who are planning on getting an iPad mini or iPad w/ Retina display under the new LTE plans, you can check out this detailed guide for the plans and costs:

Every other tech blog has made the ‘Diamond pun’ so here’s mine: this post has taken forever to write (because diamonds last forever). So yes, this is late. Like one month late. The Starmobile Diamond was released back in April and has been making the rounds among the many lifestyle and tech blogs. About two weeks ago I had lunch with Starmobile’s Consumer Marketing Head, Katrina Tioseco, President Michael Chen and Asst. Brand Manager Paula Rivera. Immediate discussions naturally revolved around the state of the phone industry, local blogs and yes, SCUBA diving (as Katrina is also a licensed SCUBA diver). I swear, diving is the new golf.

For those unaware, the Diamond is Starmobile’s current flagship phone. The ‘before’ standard for smartphones scratching the PHP 10,000 price point would be a screen roughly 4″ with your typical generic China-OEM specs like a shitty camera. It is a relief that many local manufacturers have raised the bar in terms of quality while maintaining competitive price points. Starmobile is the poster child of such a phenomenon as the phones are designed locally (they are a local startup) but manufactured in China. Outsourcing OEM’s is a normal thing for these more affordable brands but Michael and Katrina have been harping the fact that what separates them from the rest is their QA testing and “small things” such as being able to cram more characters into one SMS vs other brands (and that’s a big deal if you’re on prepaid) that divide text messages into several messages.

Essentially, unlike many brands that simply do a “shopping cart” of looking through phones in a conveyor belt in China and then branding them, Starmobile designs the phones they want to spec such as the finish (type of material such as glass, plastic or metal) and other modifications and then have the devices built. This gives them better control over quality and flexibility with the phones that they intend to release in response to market trends.

For less than PHP 10,000, you can avail of an Android powered high resolution 5-in screen with a non-shitty 12MB IBS camera with dual core power. If you’re the type of person who goes for Antutu benchmarks, it definitely isn’t the best in class with a 5,609 score BUT that’s not the point. For a sub-10k phone, it’s nifty. It’s elegant and I can’t help but stress how beautiful the screen is. See specs below.

Summary

If you’re looking for an affordable smartphone that also doubles as a good media player, the 5-in Diamond with scratch-proof IPS display will definitely amaze you. I wish the 2000mAh battery were slightly bigger – perhaps 2500 to 3000mAh and this would add so much more value to the phone. But as it is, the Diamond is, for lack of a better term, solid.

Pros
- huge screen with sharp resolutions; definitely one of the best in its class
- overall design
- non-generic camera courtesy of the BSI flash technology

Cons
- battery life suffers due to the nice screen (bring a portable charger!)

Starmobile Diamond Packs the following:

Dual-SIM Dual Standby
1.0GHz Dual Core
PowerVR SGX531 GPU
5-inch scratch resistant IPS LCD display (720×1,280)
12MP rear camera w/ IBS for low light
3MP front camera
2000mAh battery
1GB RAM
4GB internal storage
microSD card slot (up to 32GB)
Android Jelly Bean (v4.1.1)

Two weeks ago, I enjoyed a night of being wined and dined by the good folks from SONY as they unveiled their new BRAVIA line of TV’s.

I’ll tell you a secret. Having been a tech writer and editor for more than 10 years, I’m at my most uncomfortable self writing about anything to do with A/V products. Not because I don’t understand flat screen TV’s or audio — it’s more about trying to describe in words an experience that’s best felt when you’re there. How do you write about 3D? How do you write about 7.1 surround sound? You can shove a thousand words to your reader and he still won’t get it.

The “magic” happens in the showroom. That’s where the consumer (and in my case, my readers) get to validate everything they’ve read up on various websites. One thing you need to know, historically, about the BRAVIA line is that in the past, when they were advertising their slim CRT television boxes, they were known for having the brightest displays. And this came as a serious threat to other manufacturers. Other brand managers would tell me that they had to up the default white balance and brightness settings of their TV’s in the showrooms just to match SONY’s default settings. ProTip: When buying a new TV have the salesperson reset the settings to default to do a real comparison.

This was more than 7 years ago and the BRAVIA has moved on to compete in other factors such as price, audio quality and features in your LED TV gauntlet match. True enough, the industry has changed since then and SONY had been playing catch up ( < --- click that link; it's a well-written piece on the state of SONY) in the entire TV market as they were overtaken by Samsung's "wine glass" LED designs which ultimately led to consumer choice becoming more a factor of price because it "approximated" the quality of SONY, at least from first glance. But this is a piece not about Samsung (or other brands). This is about how SONY is aggressively pulling back in many areas of innovation (the gaming segment comes to mind with the success of the PS3 and excitement over the PS4).

If back then, BRAVIA was known to be the brightest of all the CRT TV's, these days it's all about color. Not color boosts or enhancements, but having your TV render the actual colors that you see in your environment. You know how sometimes your images look a bit washed out even after fiddling with the settings? There you go. SONY Philippines President Mr. Yasushi Asaoka, announced that high end BRAVIA models will come with TRILUMINOS technology which basically means that the reds, greens and blues will, on the screen, look like their natural colors. They also announced this new thing called X-Reality Pro, which basically makes your images look better. It's like the OpenGL of the TV world; a better video card that renders faster and better compared to a stock video card, if we compare it to the PC industry.

But really, dear readers, none of you care much about these technical terms. In fact the most technical term you'll encounter in this new chapter of the TV is the term "4k." What does it mean? What happens if your TV is 4k capable? Does it matter? To answer that question, let's backtrack a bit.

You most probably own a flatscreen LED TV and if you look at the panel, there’s usually a sticker that says 720p or 1080p Full HD. 1080p means that screen has a resolution of 1920×1080. Simply put, it’s clear and crisp and it’s widescreen! Now here’s the thing, the bigger the TV gets, it does not necessarily mean that the image will get better. Inversely, it also does not mean that the smaller the TV gets, you’ll notice differences in picture quality. Here’s the golden rule: ever wonder how some bigger TV’s have that “pop out” screen effect that’s sort of like 3D but isn’t? Well to achieve that effect you will need to have at the very least, a 40-inch LED TV. Anything smaller won’t do any of that stuff. 1080p quality movies will be noticeable to up to about having an 80-inch flat screen TV. “4k” simply means that it is 4 times the resolution of 1080p. You will only start to notice 4k quality the bigger the screen gets, which is why it’s recommended to get a 4k TV that’s bigger than 80 inches. James Chua of OMGeek “Instagramed-in” a question during the evening launch, which was basically the thing that boggled my mind with 4k upscaling:

Also, there is almost zero content (movies) shot in 4k quality so at the very most, you’ll be loading up a 1080p movie into a 4k TV and a feature known as upscaling will kick in, which is simply the term given to the TV trying to improve the picture quality of the movie by “adding” the loose ends into the picture. WHat’s amazing is that the upscaling from 1080p to 4k is quite amazing and you won’t feel cheated on spending PHP 150,000 on a big-ass TV that can render 4k content.

Did any of you just understand that? Next time you go to a showroom ask the attendant to stop playing the demo video (which is shot in native 4k) and pop in a movie that’s in 1080p quality and see how it upscales. Pretty nifty!

There are many good reasons why SONY should definitely be considered as your next TV. For one, with the arrival of the PS4 by the end of the year, having a SONY-enabled living room will definitely help with **some** conveniences such as 3D simultaneous split screen co-op gaming. If you’re conscious about sound, you’ll be glad to know that despite the BRAVIA being thin, it does have the ability to ‘simulate’ a sub-woofer using NASA-based magnetic fluid technologies. In other words, even with a thin frame, your audio will still sound whole.

Sony Launches New BRAVIA TVs

Jonathan is what I would call the “reverse bartender.” He’ll listen to you. He’ll engage in small talk but in return he’ll serve you an upper. Jonathan Choi is the proprietor and head bean of Magnum Opus Fine Coffees, an artisan coffee shop located in the always-busy intersection between Aguirre Ave and Elizalde in BF Homes, Paranaque.

Jonathan recognized me from my days with the Hinge-Inquirer group doing a little (big-sized!) magazine known as m|PH. Yes I was famous before the Internet. JK!

In an article I wrote for 8list last week, I outlined the 8 reasons why ‘Magnum Opus’ is the definitive coffee geek’s haven in the south. for one, the Belgian Heartbreaker won me over:

I insisted on his personal take of a café mocha which was essentially an amalgamation of ristretto (quickly pulled espresso shot so it’s not watery), cream and molten Belgian chocolate all served in a short martini glass. The sum is a creamy, frothy tug of war between the jolt of an espresso shot and dark chocolate. This feeling is what the great Greek poet Horace refers to in his poem to Murena, ‘The Golden Mean.’

‘The Golden Mean’ was a Horatian ode that deconstructed the topic of ‘balance’ in the same way that the Dark and Light sides of ‘The Force’ must be kept in check.

On my first visit, Jonathan confirmed a suspicion about how I make coffee. I’ve postulated that my el-cheapo handpresso can pull a better shot of espresso than my relatively more expensive 16 bar espresso machine.

Tarry no further. Do have a read over at 8list.

—-

Magnum Opus Fine Coffees

115 Aguirre Avenue, BF Homes Parañaque.
+63939.920.0701
@magnumopusfc on Twitter and Instagram

Kobe Bryant is Lenovo Mobile’s new endorser for both the Philippines and China. In the advert, he’s touting the flagship K900 smartphone powered by Android and Intel.

Finally, it’s here in local shores! The iPhone 5 is a beautiful device, but suffers (like all other smartphones) from drained battery woes especially when you have LTE turned on the whole day. Although the battery management has slightly improved (speculation has the iPhone 5 battery carrying a wallop of 1400 to 1700mAh), these numbers are meaningless to the general consumer! The BoostCase for iPhone 5 adds about a full charge + 50% more battery life to your existing iPhone. So that means if that your iPhone is pulling 6 hours before drain, the BoostCase will give you 9 hours aggregating your total count to roughly 15 hours. That’s for the 2200mAh one.

Boostcase Hybrid 1500 mAh – SRP P 3,250
Boostcase Hybrid 2200 mAh – SRP P 3,950

Available in Digital Walker and Beyond the Box. I got mine from the branch at One Rockwell.

I am a previous BoostCase for iPhone 4/4s owner so for those who want to know what the differences are, here you go:

(Size comparison: the old white BoostCase fir iPhone 4/4s and the black BoostCase for the iPhone 5)

1. Both the 4s and 5 extended battery packs are of similar weight and width. Obviously, the BoostCase 5 is longer.

2. Instead of plastic, the exterior of the BoostCase 5 is made of a rubbery coating thus preventing it from oiling up from all your mobile warrior-ing.

3. The BoostCase 5 comes with 4 spokes to help align the iPhone 5 case. The previous version had only one huge spoke and if it broke, you’re in for a huge inconvenience.

4. The BoostCase 5 has a slot for your 3.5mm audio jack to pass through.

5. The BoostCase 5′s battery indicator is color-coded (unlike the previous version that used 4 LED lights at the bottom of the case). Simply press the BoostCase logo and you’ll get one of three colors to show you whether you’re full, below 50% or nearing empty.

It looks like Multiply CEO Stefan Magdalinsky has an official reply as well, and would not comment further on the exact reasons. His Twitter account (@smagdali) does not mention anything as well.

If you check Multiply.com, you will find this message:

Multiply is closing on May 6
We regret to announce that Multiply will be closing on May 6, 2013 and ceasing all business operations by May 31, 2013.

Multiply will maintain normal site operations through May 6. We will use the rest of May to make sure the all accounts are settled and that merchants receive full payment for all the transactions they completed on our platform. This will also provide our merchants with time to find and migrate to alternative ecommerce platforms, settle all payments on items bought and delivered, and to minimize disruption to their businesses.

Multiply will ensure that you receive all funds you earned on the platform no later than May 31, 2013. We will close the actual marketplace sooner, on May 6, 2013, to ensure that all orders have sufficient time to complete and be delivered to your customers before the end of the month.

Merchants who have premium subscriptions should contact our customer support and we will ensure that they receive a full refund for the un-used time on your subscription.

Very little words, really. Last year, Multiply announced that they will be shifting their focus from social networking into full on eCommerce and it seems they are closing that chapter as well. I have gotten confirmation from Jack Madrid that this is true.

Could it be the influx of new players such as the Rocket Internet group (composed of Zalora and Lazada) or that the boutique / second hand market is really just heavily involved in other forums such as Sulit? Multiply has been a huge enabler for entrepreneurs to set up small garage sales all over the Internet and it’s indeed sad to see them go. You’ll be missed.

Bit of ‘late’ news here. Last week, SMART Communications launched their prepaid LTE service which means that you can now avail of LTE signals without the need of a phone plan. The LTE SIM card costs PHP 350.00 if you plan on using it with your current LTE-compatible phone. If you want the LTE USB plug-it, this will set you back by PHP 5,995 for the dongle and SIM. If you intend to share your LTE with multiple devices, this will set you back by PHP 6,995. Speeds up to 42 mbps. In terms of sachet connections, here are the keywords for LTE plans. The most ‘sulit’ is the unlimited 995 Plan.

LTE 50 P50 1 day Text LTE 50 to 2200
LTE 299 P299 7 days Text LTE 299 to 2200
LTE 995 P995 30 days Text LTE 995 to 2200

Hey readers! It’s contest time again! Who wants to win a 1TB WD external hard drive?! As you know, summer can be a bad month for your gadgets because of the extreme heat that bakes your already hot computers. So what better way to “sun block” your data than to back up with a nice fat (or NTFS haha!) storage solution?

Well, our friends at Jollibee are helping you out here. They have an awesome new sundae offering — these MILO Mix-Ins are the best! The one above is basically the creamy Jollibee ice cream choco cookies mixed in with pretzels and MILO. But they also have another variant that combines strawberry syrup, cookies and MILO if you want a more fruity tang. These desserts cost PHP 38.00 a cup.

Onward to the contest!

Mechanics

1. Take a photo of you enjoying a MILO Mix-In using your smartphone.
2. Use an app to add filters, captions and effects (i.e. Instagram, Facebook, Snapseed, Camera 360, Flickr, Overgram, Phototropedelic) to give a unique MIX-IN to your photo!
3. You can upload the photo BUT you must also send it to my email at jayvee (at) abuggedlife (dot) com. Please use subject title “Jollibee Contest” for easy reference
4. Please include a caption answering what app you used and how you think it best captures awesome moments with your friends
5. Contest is open from April 24 to 11:59PM of May 22 2013
6. You can submit multiple entries
7. Contest is open to Metro Manila residents only because you will have to pick up the prize yourself from Makati

For your effort, ONE WINNER will receive a 1TB Western Digital Hard Drive and PHP 3,000 worth of Jollibee GC’s(!!!)

Well, here’s an example — in my case I used the ever reliable Instagram with the enhance feature on top of the Amaro filter because it was approaching 6:00 PM. Who was I with? Well, my Internet friends who liked the photo, haha! (and that’s Ricky Baizas of Nestle PH giving the thumbs up for MILO).

Whoa! Windows Phone 8 for less that P10,000? Nice! Last week, Microsoft Philippines together with HUAWEI unveiled a sub-10k smartphone running on the latest Windows Phone 8 operating system. Historically, there have been other Windows Phone devices that have been released for less than P10,000 yet cannot be upgraded to the latest OS.

Here are the specs:

480 x 800 pixels, 4.0 inches
5 MP, 2592х1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Qualcomm MSM8230 Snapdragon
Dual-core 1.2 GHz Krait with Adreno 305 GPU
microSD expansion up to 32 GB
Internal 4GB storage with 512MB RAM

Ascend W1 Huawei's First Windows Phone 8 Smartphone Now Out at P8990_12April2013 (6)

For fans of BoostCase, the wait is finally over. It’s thinner and more stylish than the previous BoostCase for the iPhone 4/4s and will be available starting Wednesday, April 24 2013. The stores that will be carrying it include: Beyond the Box, Digital Hub and Digital Walker Branches.

Boostcase Hybrid 1500 mAh – SRP P 3,250
Boostcase Hybrid 2200 mAh – SRP P 3,950

For adventure junkies and mobile warriors alike, there’s no denying that the iPhone 5 has become prevalent in this day and age. With several ruggedized and waterproof housing solutions for the iPhone such as the LifeProof, Seashell and Patima, none is considered more popular than OtterBox. This is a look into the weatherproof Armor Series case for the iPhone 5. Can you take this underwater? Yes, up to 6 feet so it’s great for snorkeling and the swimming pool.

At PHP 4,900 it’s definitely one of the more expensive cases out there but functions like a suit of armor for your iPhone. The OtterBox case for iPhone 5 is tough to put on, consisting of two rugged plates held together by a tight clamp. But “tough” to put on is a good thing in cases such as these.

(There’s something odd with the photo above. Can you spot it?)

Check the case for loose dirt, lint or dandruff. See above.

Below is a video to help better appreciate the Armor Series and to help you get yours up and running. I will want to add though that as someone who has been testing underwater housings for many devices, once you do your first submerge without the phone inside, do put a piece of tissue paper so that you can easily tell if there was a leak, however minute.

I use two additional accessories to ensure that your device stays water proof. Since the case doesn’t come with an o-ring, what’s keeping the device sealed tight are the pressure of the lock and the rubber sides. Before putting your phone, you may want to use a blower or **that thing you use for make up** to remove dust and other small specks. Remember that these small specks of dirt or hair can be responsible for flooding your case so be warned.

With the case on, you’re pretty much protected from the weather and shock — you’ll need to individually remove the padding of your device if you want to use the 3.5mm jack.

The case itself can withstand the following:

2 TONS OF PRESSURE
6.6 FEET UNDERWATER FOR 30 MINUTES
10 FT. DROP TO CONCRETE

Weight:
3.91 oz / 110.88 g
Dimensions:
5.51 in x 2.97 in x 0.70 in / 14.02 cm x 7.55 cm x 1.78 cm

This case goes well with the weatherproof BRAVEN BRV-1 wireless speaker system that we reviewed previously.

Got 15 minutes free time? Watch this iPhone 5 torture test:

The Samsung Note 8 retails at PHP 23,990.00 for the 3G version. The LTE version is not available in the Philippines. If you are looking for a deal, the Note 8 is available for free on PLAN 1699 on SUN Cellular and it comes with a FREE Samsung Galaxy S3 mini smartphone!

I got to sit down at a quaint dinner as the reps from Samsung ran me through their new baby, the Samsung Note 8. It’s quite obvious where Samsung gets their inspiration (having been an Apple OEM) and as a market leader and Android poster boy in the smartphone and tablet segment, competition with Apple is stiff. The Samsung Note 8 borrows much from two predecessors — the love child between the Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Note producing an offspring that’s wee-in between the size of both devices and retaining the S-pen. In a nutshell, the Note 8 is an enlarged Note II (or a smaller Tab 10.1).

In the case of this device, size matters. It’s not small enough to shove into your pocket nor too big to be daunting at the dinner table. The “8″ defines its relative size, which is actually around 7.9 inches of real estate and thin enough in accord with Samsung’s design expertise. It’s not revolutionary (nor evolutionary) — it’s simply the logical step in the journey to building the perfect tablet device.

Like any tablet in the market today, Note 8 stresses productivity but the addition of the S-pen gives it a supposed one up against the competition because of the realm of hidden features that the pen can unlock. Some of these gestures are already familiar to previous S-pen veterans such as the video preview mode when watching movies. Others are built into the Calendar and To-Do list allowing you to digitize and sync everything from your grocery list to your calendar. This is by no means a new feature in tablets, but Samsung removes the geek layer and attempts to make it cool for anyone to try out with the use of templates.

To be honest, I had more fun fooling around with the new camera apps (a paper-textured filter app similar to Instagram and a doodling app). While Samsung stresses these new productivity features (and I appreciate them) I overlook these in favor of the more engaging (read: fun) applications.

I can definitely see myself using this as a browsing device while wrapped up under the blankets. But outside the home, the Note 8 charms me as a decent consumption + creation device all because of the S-pen (if you don’t need it, it stays invisible inside its receptacle).

This or the iPad mini? Well, they’re both of similar size and to be honest, real estate isn’t what’s in question here: we’re looking more at an iOS vs Android ecosystem. BUT, if you are looking to create more content in the likes of editing documents and making notes, the Note 8 is definitely the clear winner.

BRAVEN. I love this word. This is because it sounds like one of my favorite descriptors in the English language — the adjective ‘brazen’ which meant ‘without fear or shame.’ And perhaps this descriptor is apt as a brand name for hands down, the most impressive rugged portable speaker system I have encountered.

Many brands take portability to the next level by displaying a line of speakers that’s centered more on portability than function and with this norm dominating the ‘casual’ speaker scene, this is something completely different. The BRAVEN’s BRV-1 is king of the hill of portable speakers: rugged, light, wireless, splash-proof and wow, the sound (WOW!). I was completely blown away when I first turned it on in my living room: 6 watts of booming audio filled the space. None of that rickety audio that seems like it’s coming out of a tin can: Full bass, full mids and great highs. The BRV-1 is about the size of a DSLR (body only) giving it enough oomph for the bass to tremble.

The BRV-1 is ultimately a speaker system armored in a splash-proof rubber case. It’s slip proof, so you can’t just drag it across the table. If you place this beside a swimming pool, the case will absorb splash damage (lol!). Note however that the BRV-1 is NOT WATER PROOF so don’t expect this to survive if you dump it in water.

Controls

The BRV-1 wireless speaker system has four buttons that run beneath the weather-proof housing. These are marked as the power, BT pairing, and volume controls. Since it is also a wireless speaker, the system can remember up to 8 Bluetooth devices including computers and smart phones.

The BRV-1 panel is protected beneath an airtight resealable cap. Housed here are the battery indicator, 3.5mm audio dock, USB charging dock and micro USB charger. Yes folks, not only is the BRAVEN BRV-1 a portable speaker, it’s also a portable charger for USB compatible devices as well! Battery life is pegged at 10 hours of continuous play sans using it as a charger.

Verdict

If you are a water baby, look no further. The BRV-1 is your definite choice for weatherproofing your audio experience. Since it can stream music via Bluetooth, you can keep your phone in a more secure location (or use a weather proof case such as the Otterbox armor case for iPhone 5). If you’re not much into travel but are still looking for a portable speaker solution which you can bring around (especially to work-related presentations), the BRV-1 is a definite head turner. It’s crisp audio fills the room and does justice to whatever high quality video you’re playing on your computer or TV screen.

The BRAVEN BRV-1 (and other BRAVEN products) is available at Beyond the Box. The BRV-1 costs PHP 7,450.00. Look no further!

From the Facebook page of WWF CEO Lory Tan:

WWF Philippines has launched a capital campaign to raise P40M in order to build a new Tubbataha Ranger Station. They do so much for us. The least we can do is to give them the best facilities we can offer to help them do their job. Lafarge Philippines has committed to supply all the cement needed for this laudable, all-Filipino project.

One of the highlights of the Tubbataha Reef 25th Anniversary celebration was the unveiling of a 100% Filipino funded project, which was the construction of a “real deal” Ranger Station that would have proper capabilities to deal with imminent threats (such as another ‘Guardian’ incident that occurred just this week by a Chinese fishing vessel).

As you can see, the new Ranger Station spells ‘gwapo’ futuristic utilizing solar panels and modern day equipment + countermeasures to deal with illegal poaching of our marine life.

If you are interested to participate in the fundraising, check out wwf.org.ph.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Tubbataha Reef’s declaration as a world heritage site. I consider myself proud and honored to be one of the contributing underwater photographers participating in a roving photo exhibit around Ayala Malls.

Above is my photo of the green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas) taken during my 2011 Tubbataha charter trip on board the HCA. I would like to thank WWF Philippines and the Tubbataha Management Office for this honor.

Tubbataha Reef 25th Anniversary Photo Exhibit Album

The Tubbataha Reefs is considered one of the best dive sites in the world, and is one of the most biologically rich and diverse areas within the Coral Triangle, Earth’s epicenter of marine life.

With the support of Canon Marketing (Philippines), Inc. and the Ayala Malls, WWF-Philippines and the Tubbataha Management Office formally opened the exhibit on Monday at the New Glorietta Activity Center.The exhibit will continue to run from April 10 to 13, at the Ground Level of Glorietta 3.

Through the photo exhibit, WWF and TMO aim to promote the Tubbataha experience and highlight the importance of protecting our Tubbataha Reefs and help raise funds to build a new Tubbataha Ranger Station, which will better protect this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

You know, every time I walk into Datablitz these days I get more and more tempted to pick up a copy of Skylanders. If you go there often, every branch has a store display of ‘Skylanders’ action figures that are not only toys — but are also integral to the Skylanders video game. When you place an action figure onto a “Portal of Power” (which is simply a Bluetooth enabled NFC device) the character comes to life inside the game. So not only do you get a new character to play with in Skylanders, you also get a collectible toy.

I had always wondered when this business model would be replicated as it really pushes the future of toys. After some research, it appears that this “future of toys” industry is quite prevalent and the buzz word is .. wait for it … “APPCESSORIES.”

Appcessories = Apps + Accessories (where “accessories” are toys)

While Skylanders has dominated the console, handheld gaming and PC scene, these appcessories are available on our everyday iPads (the app won’t work on the iPhone as the screen is too small).

Simply put: These are toys (mostly from Mattel) that you can use to play in conjunction with your digital device. In this case, we’re on the iPad. Instead of using your fingers to control a race car, you can use a toy car. It’s great for kids and fun for adults. Every modern day family more than likely has an iPad at home. From a developmental perspective, these toys breathe new life into play time so your kid gets to develop tactile skills while playing with the iPad.

The apps are free to download but most will not work if you don’t have the toys. These toys range between PHP 500.00 to a little more than PHP 1,000 for a box set and they all do different things. Here, watch the Batman one:

For some games, like Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja, the toys unlock hidden modes that I had no idea existed. If you place the King Pig on top of your vanilla Angry Birds app, several modes unlock such as “unlimited birds,” “play as pigs,” “touch to destroy” and many more! Placing Sensei onto Fruit Ninja multiplayer will unlock a special mode where one player plays as a fruit-throwing Sensei.

The Hot Wheels collection is actually the most affordable one, at less than PHP 500.00 for a collectible toy car and the app. When you place the car on the iPad, you can customize the vehicle with boosters, floatation devices and bigger wheels which make the actual toy look more awesome!

And here’s the WWE toy franchise in all it’s awesomeness:

If you’re a parent and have a kid, these toys are no-brainers. They’re collectible and fun to play with and if your kids misbehave you can always take these toys away thereby “locking” them out of the game. If you’re a geek that loves to collect things, these figurines deserve a place on your display mantle.

And yes, they’re scratch proof for your iPad. Available now, nationwide.

Check out these authorized sellers:

Power Mac Store
Digital Walker
Beyond the Box
Accent Micro
Future World
TechSavy
iGig
inBox
Fortress (Bohol and Legaspi)
iCenter (Davao)
iShop (Cebu)
The Computer Authority
Microstation
TechConcepts
Datalink
Ormocnet
Mobile1
Datablitz

Trading jokes and getting into never-ending kulitan. Quoting songs and exchanging pick-up lines. Sharing comments about the weather or passing around traffic updates. Asking obvious questions or giving practical answers. There are millions of stories we share everyday plus the countless ‘good mornings’ and ‘goodnights.’ That’s what’s unique about us, Filipinos; we always have something to say and we always find the right words to utter –to a friend you hangout with almost everyday, to your family whom you only see in reunions, to someone special you can’t get enough of, or even to the stranger you met on the street. We always have reasons for small talk. And for more than 12 years, we are happy that Chikka has been part of the lives of millions; bringing Filipinos from different parts of the world together. Small talk, after all, is the nature of the messages that Chikka sends every day. So here’s to many more small talks and to those special moments when small talk says it all.

OK but seriously know, before the trendy word “startup” a small company known as Chikka was one of the more visible tech startups of the past decade. They’re more known for the Chikka app that everyone used when the lifeblood of SMS was too expensive. Today, Chikka has realized the startup dream, having been bought out by SMART Communications several years ago.

Check the multiplatform Chikka app on Android, iOS, Facebook, Windows and Google Chrome extension.

Bioshock Infinite is out tomorrow, March 26 2013 for the Philippine market. Take this post as a PSA on the costs. There are three editions available — Standard, Premium and Songbird.

Premium edition includes the Murder of Crows Keychain, Handyman game resin-cast figurine, lithograph print and art book as well as the exclusive in-game gear. The Songbird collection comes with a rare 9.5 inch statue of the Songbird.

“We are very excited with our latest FPS offering,” said Ron Aquino, GM of X-Play. “This game definitely offers a refreshing breadth of features that players look for in an FPS game that they cannot find in other titles.”

BIOSHOCK INFINITE PRICE GUIDE

PC Version
Standard Php 1,895
Premium Php 3,295
Songbird Php 6,495

PS3 Version
Standard Php 2,295
Premium Php 3,350
Songbird Php 6,495

XBOX 360 Version
Standard Php 2,095
Premium Php 3,350
Songbird Php 6,495

You can pre-order in the following stores:

• A-Deals (online website- https://www.a-deals.com/home)
• Achieve
• Brochiere
• Netopia
• Game Extreme
• Gameline/GameGizmo/Teke
• iTech

Note from the distributor:

Each pre-ordered copy entitles players to a FREE soundtrack and gear DLC—all they have to do is provide their contact information to any of the listed retailers, and a DLC code will be sent back via SMS or e-mail. Pre-order offer expires midnight of March 27, 2013.

First off, I love their logo. There’s nothing more epic than nanay doing a power uppercut with her Sari-enabled smartphone. In the digital industry, it is rare to find individuals who can look beyond merely building campaigns for brands. I’ve always championed the fact that (almost) anything you do in the digital landscape should not be campaign-focused but rather platform-focused. Analogy: Would you rather be the guy who puts money into Facebook to launch your time-bound campaign or the guy who actually runs Facebook, where all of the conversation and conversion happens?

In the Philippines, we are blessed with a very high penetration for mobile device usage mainly due to our resounding texting culture. With the influx of smartphones, the transition to using the Internet is more apparent on these small devices not only because they are cheaper than computers, but because it’s what every Filipino in every single financial bracket is used to. In fact, for most of the lower C segment, the smartphone is their introduction to the Internet.

CEO and Founder Ibba Rasul-Bernardo says that although we use our iPhones and Android device for a lot of fun things like Facebook and Instagram, in the hands of sari-sari store owners, the apps within these phones can be life changing. But why sari-sari stores?

There is no argument that a sari-sari store serves as a point of interest in every barangay. It is a meeting place, a store that sells cheap, individual sachet goods and honestly the life blood of every single Filipino. There is a sari-sari store everywhere — even within upscale subdivisions to cater to yayas, drivers and maids. The problem with sari-sari stores is that, although potentially lucrative, nanay doesn’t have the capacity for an elegant method to keep track of her sales, and ironically, just like her customers, goes about her life one day at a time.

Enter Sari.PH. Essentially, it is a capacity-building tool on your mobile phone. It empowers nanay with the financial tools used by big businesses to keep track of inventory, profit, frequent customers AND rewarding her for a job well done in the same way that Foursquare rewards us with badges for checking in to different venues. This is capacity building, gamified!

Sari.PH has the vision of putting the sari-sari store online. Imagine that during a natural calamity such as a flood, you will have the ability to donate relief goods directly to one of 800,000 sari-sari stores around the metro using the cloud-based map of sari-sari store locations. Sari-sari store = distribution center!

Sari.PH is exactly what we need — bringing technology down to the hands of the masses to give them meaningful ways to build capacity and enhance their own lives.

Want to help them? Check out:

Makati Branch:
Tao Corporate Center,
2291 Chino Roces Ave,
Makati City, Philippines.
Phone: +63 (2) 836 5888 local 7019
info (at) sari (dot) ph