It’s called the Mutewatch because it’s silent. No moving parts, everything digital. The Mutewatch reminds me of the Nike+ bands that got all-too popular because of the running craze back in 2008. I finally got my hands on one, thanks to the fine folks of Digits Trading and I’ve never been so excited to wear a watch. Because, well, I hate watches. This one is geeky, so it’s a different story.

What it is: A touch screen watch that charges via USB

What makes it cool: Geek factor

It doesn’t play music. It doesn’t store data. So why does the Mutewatch make my head turn? I’m not even fond of watches but I’m wearing this one today!

Above: The strap is pretty much snap-on. And wait, I forgot to set the time!

The Mutewatch is a minimalist archon of beauty with a LED display capable of working for 5 days on a single charge. The watch strap hides a USB slot which you can plug into any computer to charge. Two things to note: the LED display has an accelerometer underneath which lets you flick your wrist to activate the clock. The display is also capacitive, so swiping it left and right scrolls through the slim number of features which are essentially the clock settings, alarm, mode, and timer.

Peel open the strap flap and you’ll find the USB plug for charging purposes. One charge can last about 5 days.

The Mutewatch sells for PHP 12,950.00 and can be bought in Digital Walker.

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• May 14, 2012 -- Stay a while and listen: The Diablo III Launch (2)
• May 14, 2012 -- One day till Diablo III. Retail Version vs Digital Download (0)
• May 11, 2012 -- Today: I’m in Manila Bulletin’s Special Supplement for the Department of Tourism (0)
• May 8, 2012 -- Coming Soon: More. Regular. Giveaways. Yay. (4)
• May 4, 2012 -- Under the Hood: HP Z1 All in One Workstation (0)
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• April 25, 2012 -- ‘Running with Sardines’ a piece I wrote for Rappler.com (0)

If it’s one thing gamers will never compromise, it’s their Internet connection. The launch of Diablo III has prompted gamers around the country to scrutinize the quality of their Internet connectivity. As a fan myself, I really take these things seriously and no amount of marketing BS will convince me otherwise. The proof is in the pudding and it seems that not everyone is a chef.

This feedback is based on a number of qualitative feedback from friends and personal experience as well.

So far, it seems that Diablo 3 works fine with the following ISP’s

Wireless:
Smart (tethered) – I tether my MacBook with my iPhone 4s and get to play just fine
Globe (tethered) – I get to play with Rico of Technogra.ph (he tethers using a Samsung Galaxy S II)

Wired
PLDT – Generally good. I hopped into a number of games of friends and we’re rolling seamlessly.

On another note, one ISP stands out to be the provider to avoid for Diablo III:

Sky Broadband – Woes to Sky Broadband. They really dropped the ball on this one. I used to swear by Sky publicly as the best wired connection money can buy in the country. Service has dropped to a really poor rating in the past 2 months.

Brendan outlined it all here in a comment:

Hi there,

Many many emails to Skybroadband support center regarding Blizzard downloader P2P issues and unplayable in game experience with Diablo 3 (may be DNS, but may be that they have restricted Port 1119, which Diablo 3 uses) – to no avail.

Sky simply does not respond to queries and when you call them they tell you to send an email through to support center. Its a vicious circle.

Playing it on my friends PLDT connection works perfectly.

After 2 years with Sky, seems like PLDT really is the way to go.

- Brendan

As my cousin said, ” Pre-term fee for Sky is PHP 2,000.00, Diablo 3 is priceless. If it doesn’t work at 3Mbps, I’m dropping them for (insert ISP here).” Sorry Sky Broadband. I swore by your services. I really did. But sad gamer can’t compromise.

You know what’s most interesting? My wireless tethering is faster than my ethernet connection. Why, Sky, why? Note that I write this not to smear Sky’s reputation but 2 months of your IT support not knowing what the problem is makes for really bad service. Fans have waited for Diablo III for about a decade and we absolutely need to be online to play this (there is no offline mode). So you definitely should understand why gamers feel really bad about this and need to switch. We waited 9 years for Diablo III. We absolutely can’t wait for you.

To the others: how’s your gaming experience? Add me up: LOLMOWER#1648

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One commentary I always make about the smartphone industry is that there’s always a huge focus on making devices more and more responsive as time goes by. Every year, every smartphone is always “faster” or “lighter” or “thinner.” Screen technology is improving very fast from LCD to LED to AMOLED to Super AMOLED to Super AMOLED Plus. BUT — and that’s a big but: what about battery technology? Lithium ion and lithium polymer have been around since the 80′s and although there are improvements to how devices save battery life, there isn’t much on the forefront of next-generation battery technology. The near future is bright however, with graphene (wrote about that here as a thought piece on the iPad rumor) being looked at as the new wonder-element for semiconductors and battery technology.

But that’s the future. What about now?

Imagine your current WiFi technology: you’re at the mall and your phone can access the Internet via several seamless hotspots. Some are password protected while others aren’t. Now imagine the same thing, but applied to battery technology and being free for everyone! Imagine your phone being able to charge itself wirelessly through magnetic induction. The proof of concept is already here: I have two Powermats at home, one a solo dock for the iPhone 4/4s while the other is an actual mat that allows you to charge up to two devices.

The platform comes with proprietary cases for the iPhone and a number of BlackBerry models. Yes, you need a case to charge. The case has a magnetic strip that helps dock the phone in place and also makes the induction of your “charge” possible. If you’re on other devices, the PowerCube comes with different endings for various phones including Android, Sony Ericsson, iOS and BlackBerry.

But wait, if I use the cube, doesn’t that still count as a “wired” charge? The cube seems to be the practical workaround for the entire system as future PowerMat products will even include an insane microSD card that links your phone to a charger. Wirelessly. It’s called the Wireless Charging Card.

By themselves, these PowerMats have two advantages apart from the wireless charging:

a. They all have fast-charging features

b. They all have auto-off features once battery is at 100%

So what do you think? Useful? Maybe the pricing will help you decide:

PowerMat with Powercube PHP 3,990.00
PowerMat for iPhone 4s w/ case PHP 3,490.00

For me, the platform is really useful in a BlackBerry or iPhone-filled household or office space because the induction technology is built into the phone case so you really don’t need to plug in anything, anymore.

——————————–

On a timely note, here’s a very fresh press release on a new partnership between Qualcomm and Samsung for wireless freedom in battery technology:

Alliance for Wireless Power – Global Technology Power Players Unite to Form Alliance for Wireless Power Cre…

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• May 8, 2012 -- Coming Soon: More. Regular. Giveaways. Yay. (4)

EDIT: In the finishing stretch of the installer, the devs change the color of the progress bar and go into minute details of how much longer it’s going to take. Brilliant. The anticipation!!!

—————–

At 8:01AM PDT servers around the world opened for the launch of Diablo III. But Blizzard really knows how to tease and the servers only unlock the installer, in time for the actual launch of the game which is sometime on the 15th of May PDT.

You know what’s better than trending on Twitter? Crashing a server. After the game unlocked, everyone got this error:

“ERROR: Unable to initialize streaming. Please check
your Internet connection. If this problem persists,
please contact Blizzard Techinical Support.
(CreateStreamingManifest::GetStreamingManifestContents)”

Looks like the seed hasn’t been uploaded yet. Or something. Or really there are just too many people.

This is the most in(tense) product launch ever. A launch I’ve been waiting for over a decade. Exciting!

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When smartphones were not yet that “smart” Kris Aquino had already been using a Nokia (circa N95 days), which she would place on the coffee table during her talk shows. Back then, she wasn’t a real endorser but Nokia did take notice of this and voila, she’s now the new Nokia Lumia endorser!

The story above comes from Nikka Abes of Nokia Philippines.

Although the ad only shows the Lumia 610, 710 and 800, she is also the endorser of the flagship Lumia 900 which will be officially launched next week.

So my question to you is .. how do you feel about Kris Aquino being their new endorser?

To a number of IT folks, the idea may be unsettling as she’s obviously not tech-oriented but given Nokia and Microsoft’s strategy to push Windows Phone and the Lumia as devices for the highly untapped feature-phone oriented consumers, then the endorsement is spot on. If you’re already a heavy iOS user, you definitely won’t make the switch. Windows Phone is aimed towards non-smartphone users, so the advertorial is apt.

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Don’t be surprised if a lot of people call in sick tomorrow. Starting 3AM, Tuesday, May 15 the servers for Diablo III are going live. Fans have been waiting a decade for the triumvirate to be completed. I still remember my days in college, cutting a few classes just to join in on the LAN sessions at the gaming cafe beside school.

For the record I didn’t buy the collector’s edition as I’ve learned the hard way that these things take up a lot of space (case in point: Warhammer Online Collector’s Ed) and despite the fact that the box comes with cool add ons to your character, the real-money auction house system will definitely spark a number of doodads that will make the Collector’s Ed exclusives cry manly tears.

On the D3 Facebook group, Joseph Datu has unboxed his PHP 11,000 Collectors Edition with the Diablo Skull + 4GB USB Soulstone. It’s huge!

D3 Collector’s Ed photo by Joseph Datu. Congratulations! If I had more space in my place, I’d definitely get this.

Instead of the retail box — Collector’s Edition counted, I really just wanted to download the game way ahead of time so it would be a breeze installing. No box. No lines. I still own the game. Not sure if this is symptoms of getting old, but at this point in my life, 10 years after Diablo II, I prefer foregoing the formalities and getting it on. Save paper.

So that’s it. Looks like a long evening. 3AM guys. See ya in New Tristam.

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How far would you go to integrate your gear with your daily life? This man bolted four tiny magnets into his arm so that he could use it to mount his iPod (or any gadget with opposing poles). Crazy. But crazy awesome.

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Manila Bulletin has a special execution today for the Department of Tourism. The 4 pages talk about tourism highlights including hitting 1.148 tourists visiting the Philippines in Q1 of this year. The DOT also discusses growth industries including scuba diving, eco tourism and the development of marinas and national parks (no more mining please!).

My photos and “how to” blog post was replicated (by permission of course, thanks Chato!) under the half page section on the #ItsMoreFuninthePhilippines meme phenomenon.

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I can’t stress it any more: iOS is the platform of choice if you’re a fan of modern (and classic) board games.

Summoner Wars is a fast-playing, action-packed 2-4 player card game. Players take on the role of Summoners: powerful beings who harness the power of mysterious Summoning Stones to lead their race to conquest on the war-torn planet of Itharia. These Summoners wield terrible magic on the battlefield, freezing their foes in place, draining their enemies of power, and even bringing rains of fire down from the heavens. But most notoriously, they summon their great race’s hordes of warriors to the battlefield, to clash in the never-ending struggle for supremacy. A Summoner is both mage and general, and must combine their wizardly might with clever tactics to defeat the enemy Summoner on the opposite side of the battle. [BoardGameGeek]

I’ve heard a lot of good things about Summoner Wars and do plan to play it one day (I still can’t get over the fun we had playing the latest edition of Wiz-War). Ah board games. I love thee. Especially when there’s a more affordable version on the tablet.

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For fans of Ascension, this needs no explanation. But for the uninitiated, Ascension is one of the world’s most popular deck building games created by by Justin Gary and the third expansion second expansion is due out as an in-app purchase, estimated to launch next week.

If you’re looking for a new game for your iPad or iPhone that can be enjoyed competitively or casually, Ascension would be one of my top recommendations for a number of reasons: if you were a fan of Magic the Gathering, do know that pro-tour players led by Justin Gary developed Ascension as a more cost-effective alternative because you don’t shell out money for individual cards. Everything is bought in a sealed deck and you know exactly what cards you’re getting.

Casually, Ascension on the iOS platform is well-made and intuitive. If you’re coming from the left into this genre, the tutorial can get you learned and competitive in minutes. The app has dropped price from USD $4.99 to USD $0.99 so that’s more than enough reason to grab a copy. The first expansion, Ascension: Return of the Fallen can be bought via an in-app purchase as well. Storm of Souls will follow the same in-app format.

Download Links:

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer USD $0.99

Both Ascension: Return of the Fallen and Storm of Souls are available as in-app purchases. For current Ascension owners, there is an update available on the App Store that allows you to purchase the expansion and adds a number of little features to the core game.

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