Showing posts with label techonology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label techonology. Show all posts

Monday, July 22, 2013

Cheap Songs - A Gift from Smart Music

A few weeks earlier, Smart which is the leading wireless service provider in the Philippines has launched Smart Music in partnership with MCA Music. As the two big players in their own fields unite, this project has produced high hopes not only for the corporations itself but even for the OPM bands wherein part of the revenue will still be shared with the artists.

Most of us are guilty when it comes to piracy related topics specially when it comes to music, but as for our own experiences, the only reason you'd get a customer to buy the song is if they really support the band or just because of that Last Song Syndrome which forces them to do so.

As discussed from a previous post where MyMusicStore Philippines is in the spotlight comes a competitor (Smart Music). This time, Smart has made it a lot easier for subscribers to obtain that mind bugging songs you'd die for. Since Credit Cards are something that majority of the subscribers doesn't have, Smart made it possible to directly acquire the song by paying the bill through your regular load. Though the process is nearly the same with MyMusicStore, purchasing through the use of your mobile phone's load is a lot more convenient rather than looking for a Load Central retailer to buy a MyMusicStore Credit.

The free 5 songs upon registration is a good catch already but another good thing about this project is the cost for each song where new available songs has a price of Php. 20.00 and other songs will only cost Php. 15.00. A huge price difference with their competitor.

Smart Music will be available under the Smart Telecom Umbrella which includes Talk 'N Text and Sun Cellular subscribers.

So for a summary of this article, here is a detailed list why I would choose Smart Music

  • Price difference
  • Convinient way of payment
  • Free 5 Songs when you register
  • I'm under the Smart Umbrella =)
An existing Android App was also available for download at the Play Store though it seems just like a browser which directs you to the mobile view of the portal. (Not to mention a huge amount of negative feedback)

Though the project is still in its early stage, it seems very promising and has a lot of potential. I'm sure Smart will take immediate action with those feedback that they received from their subscribers.

For those under the Smart Telecom Umbrella, have you already tried this? Share your comments and ideas with us!

Monday, July 15, 2013

Setting Up a Wordpress Blog Using Softaculous

As a blogger, I dreamed of using Wordpress as my CMS (Content Management System) for blogging, but the main reason why I wasn't able to get a hold of myself to that technology is the cost. There are some free hosting sites where you could setup your blog but at the moment, I can't seem to find a very reliable free hosting service that would keep my desired blog alive at 99.9% uptime just like what they promise.

So what is Softaculous? As I see it, Softaculous is a web application that helps the user to automatically install software and database to a server.

This guide is done using CPanel where Softaculous is present and is hosted in a free hosting site where I set my desired subdomain as "snake14".

1. Click the Softaculous Icon in your CPanel and select Wordpress once the page loaded.


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2. Select "Install" which is listed among other selections.

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3. Set up your Wordpress Blog and fill all the necessary fields. (Since I'm using a free hosting site, only a subdomain is given to me) Then hit "Install".

  • InDirectory - Leave this blank if you wanted your blog to be in the main directory.
    • This is how your URL look like if you leave that field blank. (myblog.com)
    • This is how it would look like if you place something in the Directory. (myblog.com/directory)
  • Admin Account - Make sure you remember this login credentials for you'll be using this to login your Wordpress blog.
(Click to enlarge image)


4. Wait for the installation to finish and you'll see a "Congratulatory Page"

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5. Visit your blog according to the URL you customized and start blogging!

  
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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

BB Q10 on Sun Cellular Postpaid Plan 1499

Ever wanted to get your hands on the BlackBerry Q10? For Sun Cellular subscribers, you might have received the same message which invites you to get the much anticipated SmartPhone on the BlackBerry Community!

But for those who are on the other side, then this is news for you!

BlackBerry Q10 Plan 1499 comes with the following:

  • Unlimited Data
  • 300 Texts to ALL networks
  • 5 Minutes Sun Calls

Might as well view the message sent by SunCell...

Sun Cell Plan 1499

For those interested, just visit the nearest SunCellular Shop and apply for the plan!

Saturday, June 22, 2013

The Jing Experience - Review

Formerly known as the "Jing Project", Jing is an easy way to share and create not only images but video tutorials and was created by TechSmith. To give you a few background, Jing is a screencast computer program which enables you to choose if you would save your created file in your desktop or in the web. All it takes is a single click!

As soon as you're done capturing your desired shot, Jing will allow you to add text, arrows, and frames to easily pinpoint to your audience the climax in that shot. When you've decided to put it in the web, after a single click, it will automatically upload that image/video to screencast.com (which is another product of TechSmith) and immediately saves the link in your clipboard for easy pasting of the generated link for sharing.

For those interested, when you register to Jing, you'll also be entitled with 2GB storage and 2GB monthly bandwidth in screencast. Being a non-video tutorial fan I just mainly use Jing as a way to capture screenshots and point out the thought/idea or the process in a certain image which makes 2GB a lot of space for future use. Besides that, you could also login to screencast and be able to delete any unwanted files you've uploaded or track which is which when it comes to bandwidth consumption.

Oh by the way.. Aside from the regular setup for you Desktop/Laptops, you'll also be needing a .NET 4.0 Framework (or higher)..



How about you? Have you tried Jing as your screencasting partner or a Snipping Tool alternative?

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Instagram introduces Video Sharing Feature

Two years after the initial release, Instagram is now the most renowned photo-sharing and social networking service when it comes to that niche and yesterday (June 20, 2013), Instagram 4.0.0 is released!

With their new Video Sharing capability, users are now able to share their stories through a fifteen second video using Instagram Camera. In addition to that, Instagram also added thirteen filters specifically for those incoming short clips.

Though I can't imagine what would this new feature of Instagram could urge or keep the users from doing, this is definitely something worth a try specially that "world-class" image stabilization for decent clips even when walking!

To access that Video Sharing capability, just go to your Instagram App and you'll find a movie camera icon. Just hit it and you'll enter video mode. For those interested, get your smartphones and update your Instagram App now!

Instagram version 4.0 is now available in iOS' Apple's App Store and Google Play for Android users.

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Facebook New Emoticons - Quick Access

Aside from the new status updates presented by Facebook recently, we probably knew that you also noticed the new emoticons that roam the news feeds of all of us saying you should copy this, or join this and you'll be able to use the following emoticons. Fortunately, someone made a script to help users who enjoy the said emoticons. You just have to download some add-ons and install the plugin to use the emoticons quickly.

To give you a glimpse of what we we're talking about. See this screenshot below.


The new Facebook Comment and Chat Emoticons 2013 is now available after a few modifications in your browser. The good thing about this is after you install the necessary requirements, you only need to click an icon and select from the list and it will automatically appear whether in your Status, Comments or Chat box. You're the one to choose!

Base on the Credits presented, it was made by "Rendi Okriza Putra" and you could download the script here. http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/171181.

There are different requriements when installing it on FireFox or in Chrome so we will have to dissect the steps. We'll start off with the leading Chrome.

How to Install the Script in Chrome

1. Install Tampermonkey
2. Install the script found in http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/171181
3. After installing, restart Chrome
4. Login your Facebook Account
5. Click the "like" symbol found beside your name
6. Start posting, chatting or commenting and click an icon you desire.
7. Submit your content and see how it works!

How to Install the Script in FireFox

1. Install GreaseMonkey (Be sure that you're NOT using the latest FireFox browser.)
2. Install the script found in http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/171181
3. After installing, restart Chrome
4. Login your Facebook Account
5. Click the "like" symbol found beside your name
6. Start posting, chatting or commenting and click an icon you desire.
7. Submit your content and see how it works!



NOTE: There's seems to be a bit of side-effect caused by installing the script. Random post will appear in your news feed and a repetitive request to subscribe to a page/person. Please consider before you install the script

Monday, June 17, 2013

KAT.PH Blocked by Philippine Government

Days after the government placed a TRO (Temporary Restraining Order), the infamous torrent site that holds ".ph" TLD, kat.ph or most widely known as "Kick Ass Torrent" is now alive and back on business. Despite the restless effort that the Philippine Government put to keep piracy involvement in the Philippines be minimized KAT had already made backups which is pretty much normal for a well maintained website.

If the sources claims were true, it only took less than 12 hours before regular users regain access to the site which is now redirected to "kickass.to"

Same speed, same resources and same audience. It did hold a ".ph" TLD but that doesn't literally mean that the one behind the schemes are Filipinos. (It hasn't been proven yet.)

KAT was blocked according to Interaksyon News because it serves as a source to download OPM songs. Some may have downloaded OPM from that site, but most of the users definitely use it for different interests.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Block Application Invite in Facebook

It's been a long time but still, it seems that a lot of people are annoyed by continuous application requests sent by their friends specifically in Facebook. So if this is still a thing that you haven't learned, then you're in the right place my friend. For today, that's the thing that I would like to discuss with you after seeing another annoyed status regarding application invites.

There are two possible options when it comes to blocking an invitation. It's either you block the person who invites you or block the application itself.

First, you need to go to your Privacy or Account Settings.
Just hit the gear symbol on the upper right corner of your Facebook Account.


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Second navigate to Facebook's left side and click "Blocking"

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Last, just go to Block App Invites or Block Apps and type the desired name or application that you want to block.

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After that you can finaly expect less application invites specially when those you block were friends of yours instead of the application alone.

'Til the next time!

WeChat Mobile App Review

After a week of being aired in commercials, WeChat has now has now caught the attention of the netizens making them one of the primary subjects being passed on news feeds of Social Networking sites as of the moment.

Aside from its current contender who's also aired in televisions, individuals still enjoy placing their IGNs as their status or as for WeChat, QR Codes have become another thing to pass on.

To tell you honestly, WeChat still resides as another platform to connect with your peers through the use of our all time favorite internet regardless of the fact that all the platforms that share-alike is trying to pull...

A Social Media / SMS / Photo Sharing and Wall where you and your friends could interact.

The only thing that caught our attention is the consideration of the company to include even Symbian users. As we all know, Symbian phones are slowly becoming a thing in the past which makes other companies focus on the larger scope of marketing namely, iOS, Android and Windows Operating Systems...


... and for that move, a salute for WeChat!

Monday, March 4, 2013

ASANA on Android


For those who're already hooked by this task management web application, you probably received a newsletter regarding this update under ASANA. Last March 1, 2013, Asana is now up on Google Play Store.



To discuss with you again, what is Asana?

Asana is a collaboration tool that centers your team's communication around Projects & Tasks, keeping your team organized and in sync at all times. Best of all, it's FREE for up to 30 teammates.
The Asana Android app takes the power of Asana and puts it right in your pocket.
Key FeaturesAsana Mobile makes it easy and fast to manage your team's tasks, organize its projects and stay connected to your teammates – from wherever you are.

The Asana Android App lets you do whatever you're capable of doing when in Asana.com though there's something very odd. Well, it's just that, it looks nearly/exactly the same when browsing your Asana account on your mobile phone.

There were in fact a lot of feedback since the release and to present  the downside, it is currently rated with 3.1 stars according to 186 respondents and received a lot of negative feedback including crashes while in use and a slow response from the app.

Do you have this longing to try this app?
Just download it at Google Play Store

For those who downloaded the app, why not share your experiences here!?

Monday, February 18, 2013

Townsmen - Android Review


From the previous versions Townsmen 1 - 6, of course we expect better graphics now that it was in Android and HandyGames never failed there. From the previous games that I tried, Townsmen did  in fact leave a mark on my consciousness not just because of the graphics but for the game play itself. I as a strategic game enthusiast (but never get the hang of strategizing things) love this game personally. Though there were a lot of changes, it is still the game we adore.


So let me give you a brief insights for the game.
Here are the most noticeable changes I've seen so far:

  • Screenshot capability
  • More Buildings to construct
  • Decorations and Roads
  • Winter Season
  • Town Renaming

Another thing that is definitely most noticeable was a bit huge ad which covers the top left corner of your screen and can only be removed through IAPs and as you get to go for different situations that HandyGames prepared for their us, there is just this great longing I've been searching ever since I get to play this new version for Android and it's the battles. Battles that I experienced during my Townsmen 6 days where you create soldiers or revolutionaries to defeat the enemies that arrives by surprise and conquering their territories together with the awesomeness of upgrading your structures.

All in all, this still is the Townsmen that we adore though the features that I once cherished vanish in this version. So for my rating from 1 - 10...

I'd say, it's 8.5

Download your own Townsmen for Android at Google Play Store and share your experiences with us!
Till the next post!


Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Choose Your Own Number - Sun Cellular Philippines

As the build up of consumers and entrepreneur takes the country by storm together with the said growth of the Philippine Economy, it's really important that your consumers and contacts easily figure where to get easy access to your side. With this growth comes a first from Sun Cellular Philippines. The "Choose your Mobile Number" was officially announced a few days ago and has already aired in some commercials.

For only Php 59.00 you can have your own personal number with the following format:
0942.1.RFREAK
This first from sun is not only limited to that. Together with your SUN Name UR NUMBER sim are the following:
  • Sun Call and Text Combo P50  Promo:
  • 200 SMS texts to other NETWORK
  • 200 SUN Texts
  • 70 minutes (1hr and 10mins) to SUN number
All valid for 5 days!

For more information, you could visit their website.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

New SmartPhones - BlackBerry Z10 and Q10


BlackBerry announced their new platform, the BlackBerry 10 featuring two new devices!
The Full-touch Z10 and the keyboard-equipped Q10.

According to their chief executive Thorsten Heins, The new BlackBerry "will transform mobile communications into true mobile computing." after the announcement that RIM is now officially BlackBerry.

After being a dominant smartphone before Apple and and Google Android operating system, they now hold less than five percent of the global market according to surveys which makes it nearly a life-death situation for the company if they will still standout or be forever be a thing in the past.

Though tech analyst Jeff Kagan said that he was impressed in the lofty number of applications and the overall impression of the device, he added that it was too soon to say if BlackBerry 10 will emerge as a major competitor to Apple and Google.

For the features noticeable in these new smartphones are the capacity for users to share in real-time screens and complex data from two different locales on a messaging system, a single character flick that can generate an entire word and a sophisticated camera for the photo enthusiasts.

Well, while some consumers prefer to use their phones for applications most of the time, there is no need to worry since the new devices also starts with some 70,000 applications including prominent offerings like Amazon's Kindle and LinkedIn.

For those BlackBerry Fans out there, it's time to get your pockets and purses ready as their new devices invades the market!

Monday, January 28, 2013

Release of Apple's update - iOS 6.1

Apple issues their first major update on Monday (January 28, 2013) to iOS 6 after being announced last September of 2012. After running through five beta test updates, iOS6.1 now includes 4G LTE support for 36 additional iPhone carriers and 23 more for iPad.

Apple has also added a way to reset your Advertising Identifier, which acts as a control room for informing advertisers about your web activity.

Sad thing about it was that, only U.S. users can purchase movie tickets through Fandango via Apple's ever popular assistant Siri while iTunes Match subscribers can download songs individually to iOS devices from iCloud.

To download the app, visit Settings on your mobile device and then select General. The update will be available via the Software Update section within that screen. However, users should not at least 1GB of storage is needed to download iOS 6.1, so you may have to clean up some space on your device beforehand.

With the forecast of Apple's senior Vice President of Worldwide Marketing as iOS6 as the most popular new version of an OS in history with nearly 300 million users, do you still prefer iOS or Androids? Share with us your opinion...

Tuesday, January 15, 2013

ASANA - Task Management Review

Today I would like to discuss with you this task management web and mobile application that we've been using for some months now. This is the Asana Application. As I've experienced from our previous task management scenarios, most files and reports gets duplicated and not in its proper order. So fortunately, we manage to get along well with Asana. Not that we already tried working with other online task management application so far but we experienced some smooth sailing with this one.

Asana was developed by Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and engineer Justin Rosenstein and was officially launched its beta last 2011. Asana is a collaborative task management application. The product has many features, including Workspaces, Projects, Personal Projects, Tasks, Tags, Notes, Comments and an Inbox  that organizes and updates information in real-time.[1]

As for the environment, it's pretty much User Friendly and there were some guides throughout the interface where you could get an idea on what or how to do things. More of a drag-and-drop functionality but of course you should set some sections on where should you place the proper task like this one.



The set up I did was to have a "Task" section, "Bugs" and "To Check" section. So when one of our members were through with what was assigned to him/her, he would just simply move it to the proper section and if our Test Engineer approves it, then it automatically hits the top shelf addressed as done.

If you ever try to create a project? Do you feel that this would deem necessary?
or for those who have tried it? What are your opinions regarding this topic?

References:
[1] Wikipedia - Asana (web application)

Friday, November 23, 2012

Legally Downloaded - Online Music Store


This is a post from my previous blog which was posted last January 30, 2012

With all of these commotion with regards to piracy, some of our fellow countrymen thought of an idea that I thought should be shared. Here it goes.
Php. 25.00 – 35.00 to “legally” download a song.
Reported on Yahoo Philippines last January 20, 2012 is a way to legally acquire a song through the process of our very precious “downloading” technique. MyMusicStore Philippines, a website supported by 15 other group of recording companies (Based on the Partners they listed on their footer). Though there are some issues or questions that I have in mind with regards to this process, this is something that could actually change the whole thing with regards to piracy.
Honestly, I haven’t tried it yet and haven’t run a few checks on their site ( not that I’m that good on checking stuff ’cause frankly, I’m just a spectator here ) But here’s like most of the common questions I have heard when I discussed this to my friends and also some of the popular feedback on yahoo news…
  • What would happen if I accidentally removed/deleted my downloaded file from the site? Do I have the rights to re-claim a copy?
  • Php. 35.00 is so expensive for just one song! Could you perhaps make it a bit cheaper?
  • Credit Cards? What if I don’t have one? From what I’ve heard Paypal needs to be linked to a debit card and I don’t want that.
  • Why not make “prepaid cards” to top-up on an account?
I’m not even a user of iTunes so I can’t really compare the two but for some reasons, I found their feedback reasonable and worth considering. Normally, an original CD holds up to 14 songs (Just from my experiences) and if I downloaded all of them that would also cost me as much as buying an original CD or sometimes even less! But since CD sales are declining, I think this isn’t as bad as it sound. Some of us doesn’t really listen to all of the songs listed there anyway. There is always one song that tops the whole album. Besides, though not practical, the amount of one song doesn’t seem like it was too much. Some of us could actually spend Php. 40.00 and above for cigarette packs (a day) or even other vices.
Still, the decision is up to us users… Which one will we consider worth buying? Which is more practical or more appropriate?

BayanCars.com.ph - Cars for Every Juan



As the growth of technology increases, sellers and buyers also go for innovating practices like online selling and buying. As we all know, there are a lot of site which serves as a venue for people to sell and look for the things they need including cars. And that’s the part where BayanCars.com.ph comes to place.

From different platforms to one is what BayanCars targets to give their users. This includes deals, posting of events, services, car parts, news/articles and specially the car-ads. To further discuss the features of this emerging site, I've personally tried and experienced the things that they offer.

The Events Shout Box which is a free space where users can post any events that they wish to publicize. After posting the desired event will came an e-mail that will request you to activate the post. As we all know, spam posts are always an issue for other sites and this serves as their Anti-Spam in their Shout Box.

Have you heard about deals offering huge discount for their customers? Well, that's what BayanCars also intend to do. Offer huge discount for their users through the form of deals and merchants has their way to gain access on posting their car-related deals for other consumers to enjoy.

So now for the main purpose of the site. Car-Ads, Services, Car Parts and Car for Rents. The site also offer VIP posting so that interested buyers has easy access on trusted and dealers. For those who experienced VIP posting from other e-commerce sites, VIP ads from BayanCars were also prioritize from their search engine.

To sum it all up, BayanCars indeed made its way to provide access to all car-related things in the industry. Keeping viewers to an up-to-date news and events, tips and articles and everything that car buyers might need.

How about you guys? Care to share your experience with the site?
Feel free to post your comments below.
Till the next time!

Repeal or Replace the Anti-Cybercrime Law


Pros and Cons arise at different latitudes of the country. **Well, most of what I’ve heard was cons.

So what is it anyway? If you would take time to read the law which is naturally long at the Philippine’s Official Gazette, you’d notice that most of them are naturally known crimes. It’s just that, they are punishable by law now.

It was known as Republic Act No. 10175 or more commonly referred to as the Anti-Cybercrime Law.

For some, we knew that doing deviant acts is naturally wrong while some wait for the law to consider it a crime. Way back in the year 2000, a virus was accidentally spread by a Filipino, which we commonly knew as the “ILOVEYOU” virus. If my memory serves me well, they told us that we didn’t have any CyberCrime Law back then unlike what we’re experiencing now. There were two suspects at that time namely Reomel Ramores  and Onel de Guzman and when they were arrested, the NBI didn’t knew what to charge them with so they were released with all charges dropped by state prosecutors. After the incident which obtained a world record then resulted to the birth of Republic Act No. 8792 which was also known as E-Commerce Law in July 2000.

Back to the topic… What’s hot?

What’s hot was that you could accuse someone with libel because of the said law, restricting most of us to our freedom to express our thoughts.

Brad Adams, Asia director for HRW said that “Allegedly libelous speech, online or offline, should be handled as a private civil matter, not a crime,” – Yahoo News

And also from the news, libel has a large scope specially when attached to Cyber Crime. Who should be punished? The one who expressed his/her thoughts? The one who agreed with them? Or the one who shared and spread the issue?

While the author of the Law said,
"We have to give the law a chance and see how it will be implemented. Only then will the loopholes and the gaps be identified and properly addressed. But as it is, I believe this law is a milestone for ICT in the country,"

So what would happen to someone who was charged during the law then was revised during his punishment? Would he be entitled to criminal record? What about the years/months or any charges filed against him?

If we wait for loopholes or gaps, then many will suffer before we realize what we’ve done wrong. That’s why, before passing a law/bill, it should be read and analyzed thousands of times.

A crime is a crime there is no doubt about that. But it wouldn’t hurt us to think about the innocent that will be affected.