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PNoy: Labor Day should become 'Good Job Day'

2013-04-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

Seeking to remove the air of negativity during Labor Day, a day annually marked with protest rallies, President Benigno Aquino III on Tuesday appealed to employers and workers in the country to consider May 1 as "Good Job Day."

In a speech after holding a dialogue with the labor sector on Tuesday, Aquino said laborers should treat Labor Day as a moment to celebrate a productive year at work.

"Hindi po ba mas maganda kung imbes na tratuhin ang Labor Day bilang araw ng alitan, ituring natin ito bilang selebrasyon—isang araw na masayang nagdiriwang ang mga manggagawa at mga negosyante dahil sa matagumpay at produktibong taon," he said.

Aquino credited Filipino workers for the economic gains attained by his admistration.

"May panibagong lakas ang ating ekonomiya, at nagmula ito sa pinagsanib na dedikasyon at tiyaga ng mga manggagawa at negosyanteng Pilipino. Tunay pong kayo ang gumawa nito. Good job sa napakalaking ambag sa bansa, good job sa mas marami pa nating magagawa," he said.

Last year, the Philippine economy posted a 6.6-percent growth, driven by the services, trade, real estate and construction sectors.

Despite this, the National Statistics Office reported that 7.1 percent of the 9.8 million Filipinos remain unemployed in January 2013, almost three years into Aquino's six-year presidency.

The National Statistical Coordination Board also reported last week that poverty remained unchanged during the first half of 2012.

Talks beyond Labor Day

During their dialogue with the President, labor groups appealed to Aquino to hold consultations and discussions with them even beyond Labor Day.

"Masyadong busy po yata ang pangulo sa maraming importanteng bagay at usaping pambansa. Subalit sa palagay ko, mas maganda yung may regular na harapan ang pangulo at ang mga lider sa paggawa," lawyer Sonny Matula of the Federation of Free Workers said during the dialogue.

Matula said that regular dialogues will enable the Aquino administration to come up with better solutions to the problems of Filipino workers.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda, for his part, said Aquino's Cabinet has already committed to consult the labor sector on a regular basis.

"The Cabinet secretaries have agreeed to hold a regular dialogue with the labor sector representatives and the next dialogue will be held at the end of May," Lacierda said in a text message. — Andreo Calonzo/KBK, GMA News

Social media to blame for dwindling Church numbers?

2013-04-19T09:42:00.002-07:00

Where do younger Filipino Catholics go on Sundays, if indeed many of them no longer hear mass? They go gaga over the Internet, a local Church official said.

Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Episcopal Commission on Youth executive secretary Kunegundo Garganta thus urged the Church to push for relevance in rapidly changing times.

"Marami talagang factors kung bakit marami sa mga kabataan ang tumitigil sa pagsisimba o physically present sa Simbahan (The youth's waning presence in churches may be attributed to many factors)," Kunegundo said in an interview over Radyo Veritas.

Among these is their penchant for the Internet and social media, which he said "offer a false reality in the lives of the youth."

Related story: One in 11 Catholics think of leaving Church

"Nakikita ng mga kabataan na mas parang totoo ang gamit ng Internet o medium na ito (The youth perceive the Internet as a more useful medium)," Kunegundo said.

U.S.-based pollster Gallup has earlier noted that 75 percent of Filipinos, including young users, access social networking sites despite low Internet penetration among Pinoy homes.

"[M]alaking hamon din ito sa mga nasa Simbahan kung paano makapagbibigay ng inspirasyon sa buhay at pakikisangkot sa buhay ispiritwal ng mga kabataan," Kunegundo said.

His statement comes weeks after a pollster claimed that one of 11 Filipino Catholics sometimes consider leaving the church and the church attendance in the coutnry has been on the decline.

Bishops have earlier bucked the poll results, however, claiming that more Filipinos are going to church as seen in how masses should now be held in shopping malls to accomodate the faithful.

They have also called for a "scientific study" to validate the claim, even as they questioned the timing of the release of survey results to only days before Church-led groups' plan to announce support for some senatorial candidates.

PNoy wants Brillantes to stay

2013-04-19T09:40:00.001-07:00

President Benigno Aquino III on Friday said he’s not quite ready yet to let Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. go, especially since the May 13 midterm elections are less than a month away.

“Papakiusapan ko naman ‘yung ating chair. Medyo less than a month na lang ‘yung eleksyon. Ang hirap naman na magtatalaga ng bagong chair at that point. And I think he will see that the country needs him to chair the Comelec at this crucial period,” Aquino told reporters at the sidelines of the groundbreaking ceremony of the Mactan Circumferential Road in Cebu.

But Aquino said he is ready to meet with Brillantes, who is seeking an audience with the president regarding his plan to quit his post following several Supreme Court rulings that went against the poll body's resolutions.

“I’m at his disposal. When he feels that he’s ready to meet with me, I’m always ready to meet with him,” Aquino said of his former election lawyer.

On Tuesday, a teary-eyed Brillantes threatened to resign after the Supreme Court stopped the Comelec from imposing new airtime limits on political advertisements on radio and television.

Aquino said Brillantes might have been emotional when he made the statements.

“Parang ‘yung nabasa ko sa dyaryo sinabi naman niya baka spur of the moment feeling at the time that he was most frustrated which, he said, ‘let me think about it over the weekend. Think about it more soberly and less emotionally,’” he said.

Meanwhile, Aquino said he supported similar airtime rules being pushed by the Comelec when he was a senator.

“I still subscribe to the idea na kung dadagdagan natin ang gastos tuwing eleksyon, para na rin tayong nang-e-engganyo sa iba na maghanap ng paraan para mapondohan ‘yung gagastusin nila. At ibig sabihin ‘non kadalasan para lalong mag-succumb sa tukso ng corruption, ‘yon ‘yung nilalabanan natin,” he said. — Patricia Denise Chiu/KBK, GMA News

Statement: The Presidential Spokesperson on the passage of the Responsible Parenthood Bill, December 17, 2012

2012-12-17T04:41:00.001-08:00

Statement of Secretary Edwin Lacierda:On the passage of the Responsible Parenthood Billon 3rd reading at the Senate and the House of Representatives

[December 17, 2012]

Our legislature took an historic vote today for women and families—as it successfully passed the Responsible Parenthood Bill. We thank our Senators and Congressmen who voted for access to information and care. We are particularly grateful to Speaker Sonny Belmonte; Majority Floor Leader Boyet Gonzales; Congressman Edcel Lagman who authored this bill and shepherded it through for more than a decade; Senator Pia Cayetano, who waged an equally difficult battle in the Senate; and every legislator who voted for this measure. They have made it even clearer: The people now have the government on their side as they raise their families in a manner that is just and empowered.

As President Aquino asked, our representatives voted according to conscience. Discussions regarding this bill were heated and did not lack for passionate advocates from either side. Despite this, our legislators fulfilled their duties with honor: they crafted a law that can truly address the needs of our people.

The passage of the Responsible Parenthood Bill signals not only a new chapter in our agenda of inclusive growth; it also begins a process of healing for the wounds that may have been opened by an often feisty democracy. We are confident that positive, meaningful engagement between the different branches of government will continue.

Let all Filipinos now come together in unity for the future of the country that we all love.

The Evolution of Cell Phone Design Between 1983-2009

2012-12-10T00:07:00.001-08:00

Cell phones have evolved immensely since 1983, both in design and function.

From the Motorola DynaTAC, that power symbol that Michael Douglas wielded so forcefully in the movie “Wall Street”, to the iPhone 3G, which can take a picture, play a video, or run one of the thousands applications available from the Apple Store.

There are thousands of models of cell phones that have hit the streets between 1983 and now.

We’ve picked a few of the more popular and unusual ones to take you through the history of this device that most of us consider a part of our everyday lives.

We have tried, wherever possible, to include the most popular phones and the phones that were “firsts” for a particular feature, but may have missed out on your favorite phones due to the sheer number of models that are out there.

We invite you to post your faves in the comments section if they are not listed here.

Mobile phones are just now beginning to be as vital to North Americans as they have been to Asians. You can always see what is coming to store shelves in the next six months to a year by looking at the models that are currently available in Japan.

North America also had a spotty 3G network that has only really been revamped recently in order to deal with increasing demands for faster loading speeds from mobile customers, whereas Asia and most of Europe have had proper 3G networks in place for some time.

This has led to a revolution in 3G phones from 2007 until now, with more due to come out in 2009.

The list does not include any phones that were not portable handhelds. Car phones and some handhelds that were the size of a small briefcase were in use in the 1970′s and 1980′s, but since this is more about design than function we chose not to include them here.

1983

Motorola DynaTAC 8000X

Analog Motorola DynaTAC 8000X Advanced Mobile Phone System mobile phone as of 1983.

1989

Motorola MicroTAC 9800X

The first truly portable phone. Up until its release, most cellular phones were installed as car phones due to the inability to fit them into a jacket pocket.

1992

Motorola International 3200

The first digital hand-size mobile telephone.

Nokia 1011

This was the first mass-produced GSM phone. It was produced until 1994.

1993

BellSouth/IBM Simon Personal Communicator

The IBM Simon was the first PDA/Phone combo.

1996

Motorola StarTAC

The first clamshell cellular phone. Also one of the first display screens featured on a cell.

Nokia 8110

Alternately called the “banana phone”, this phone was popularized in the first Matrix movie.

Nokia 9000 Communicator

The first smartphone series, driven by an Intel 386 CPU.

1998

Nokia 9110i

This iteration of Nokia’s Communicator series significantly reduced the weight of this precursor to the smartphone.

Nokia 5110

This cell phone was the most popular consumer model at the time of its release and for some time afterwards.

1999

Nokia 8210

This phone was loved for its customizable design, but hated for its screen fade.

Nokia 7110

The first mobile phone with a WAP browser.

Nokia 5210

This phone was known for its durability and splash-proof interchangeable casing.

Benefon Esc!

This was the first instance of a GPS being integrated into a mobile phone, and was sold mostly in Europe.

Samsung SPH-M100 Uproar

The Uproar was the first cell phone to have MP3 music capabilities.

Nokia 3210

The internal antenna and predictive T9 text messaging sold approximately 160 million of these phones.

2000

Ericsson R380

The R380 featured a black and white touchscreen, partially covered by a flip.

Nokia 3310

This popular phone sold 126 million models, and was particularly popular in Europe.

Ericsson R320

One of the first phones with a WAP browser. A version of this phone was released in China that allowed Chinese character SMS.

2001

Nokia 5510

This phone featured a full QWERTY keyboard. It could also store up to 64mb of music.

Nokia 8310

This phone contained premium features not normally found on handsets of the time, such as Infrared, a fully functional calendar and a FM Radio.

Ericsson T39

This tiny handset was the first Bluetooth-capable phone.

Ericsson T66

This diminutive entry from Ericsson was the height of a cigarette.

Ericsson T68

This was Ericsson’s first handset with a colour screen.

Siemens S45

Siemens’s first ever GPRS mobile phone with 360kb of internal memory – high at the time.

2002

Nokia 3510(i)

The first Nokia phone to bring GPRS internet services to the mass market. The 3510i, pictured here, was a more advanced version with a colour screen.

Nokia 7650

This was the first Nokia set to feature a built-in camera and was featured in the movie Minority Report.

Sony Ericsson P800

This smartphone featured a touchscreen and up to 128mb of memory.

Nokia 6100

This model sold from 2002-2005. It featured an LCD screen and internet connectivity through GPRS.

Nokia 6310i

The 6310i quickly gained popularity in the corporate world for its simplicity and long battery life.

Sanyo SCP-5300

The first camera phone. Despite the low quality images it produced, it was the first.

2003

Nokia 1100

This extremely popular design has sold over 200 million since its introduction in 2003. This phone is rumoured to have sold for up to $32,000 in online criminal communities due to its ability to intercept one-time banking passwords.

Nokia N-Gage

Nokia’s answer to the Game Boy advance, this phone/games system had a couple of award winning titles before it succumbed to its clunky interface design.

PalmOne Treo 600

One of the “it” gadgets from 2003-2004 until BlackBerries overtook them in popularity. Three or four days between charges and a successful merger of phone, PDA, and camera made this the business tool of choice.

Nokia 2100

This design was available in a wide range of colours and featured a monochromatic screen.

Nokia 6600

Considered very advanced at the time of its introduction due to its Symbian OS-based Nokia Series 60 platform. Released in the US market as the Nokia 6620.

BlackBerry Quark 6210

Research In Motion’s first integrated phone/PDA.

BlackBerry 7210

BlackBerry’s first colour screen.

Nokia 7600

One of the first 3G smartphones by Nokia, still one of the lightest and smallest.

2004

Motorola Razor V3

When this was introduced it set the standard for sleek design in the industry.

Sony Ericsson P910

An attractive flip smartphone with full internet connectivity.

Nokia 7610

Nokia’s first smartphone with a 1 megapixel camera.

Nokia 3220

The first entry-level Nokia phone that offered full internet access.

Nokia 6630

The first cell phone to allow for global roaming.

Nokia 7280

Listed by Fortune Magazine as one of the best products of 2004. Also referred to as the “lipstick” phone.

2005

Nokia 1110

Released as a low-end GSM phone, and widely used in developing countries.

Nokia 6680

One of the first 3G phones, the Nokia 6680 was considered to be high end at the time of its release.

HTC Universal

This was the first 3G Pocket PC phone at HTC and the first to come with Windows Mobile.

Motorola RAZR V3 Magenta

This hot pink phone gave the fashion set something to talk about – and on.

2006

HTC TyTN 100

This model was sold as the Orange SPV M3100 in the UK, keeping with HTC’s tradition of private labelling for individual carriers.

Nokia N73

This immensely popular smartphone has sold millions of models worldwide, and is still in wide use as of 2009.

Motorola Q

The “BlackBerry Killer” from Motorola.

BlackBerry Pearl

The first design-conscious entry from RIM, the Pearl is still being offered on the market today.

KDDI Penck

A fabulous design available only in Japan.

O2 XDA Flame

The XDA Flame is the first dual processor PDA-phone in the 02 line.

LG Chocolate KG800

One of the first well-designed phones made for mass market use.

Samsung i607 BlackJack

Research in Motion sued Samsung over the name of this phone. The lawsuit was settled out of court.

Nokia E62

Originally released to target business users in the European market.

2007

iPhone

The original iPhone was released in June 2007 with an auto-rotate sensor, a multi-touch sensor that allowed multiple inputs while ignoring minor touches, a touch interface that replaced the traditional QWERTY keyboards, and many other features that helped to give Apple an almost instant healthy market share on its release.

LG Prada KE850

Touchscreen phone that took home a Red Dot Design Award for “Best of the Best” in 2007.

LG Voyager

This design was touted as LG’s take on the iPhone.

HTC Touch

HTC’s answer to the iPhone with its own multi-touch interface and a high screen resolution.

Motorola RAZR2 V9

The solid steel hinge and the metal case make this sleek design feel luxurious and durable.

Motorola Q9H

This fine-tuning of the Motorola Q was released in Italy and the US in 2007.

Nokia E90 Communicator

This update of the first smartphone launched the fifth generation of the series.

Nokia N95

Nokia’s popular smartphone features a slider to access multimedia buttons and a numeric keypad.

Helio Ocean

Work on this “ultimate messaging and talking machine” began before Helio was a company.

LG Shine

This phone won another Red Dot for LG in 2007. Also released in Gold and Titanium Black.

Motorola RAZR²

This phone features the Opera internet browser and CrystalTalk technology.

Palm Treo 755p

The Treo 755p is a smartphone developed by Palm, Inc. It was released on May 14, 2007 as the first CDMA Treo without an aerial antenna.

LG Viewty

A phone firmly focused on visuals. DivX Certified playback and 5 megapixel digital camera with Schneider Kreuznach optics are just a couple of the features of this simply designed phone.

2008

iPhone 3G

The iPhone 3G was made even more desirable by all the apps that could be purchased for it in the AppStore when it was released in July of 2008.

LG Vu

The LG Vu was one in a series of phones that included the LG Prada phone.

T-Mobile G1 Phone

The G1 phone was the first phone to be released with the Android operating system designed by Google. Also known as the HTC Dream. One million devices have sold as of April 2009.

Nokia N96

This GPS-enabled entry in Nokia’s smartphone line features a sleek, compact design.

Nokia 5800 XpressMusic

This phone was featured in The Dark Knight.

LG Secret

The outside of the LG Secret, a 3G slider phone, is constructed from carbon fiber. Also features the world’s slimmest 5.0 megapixel camera on a smartphone.

Samsung Instinct

The Instinct was introduced as the “iPhone killer” from Samsung at a low price of $129.00.

BlackBerry Storm

Designed to be a direct competitor to the iPhone 3G and other 3G smartphones; RIM’s first device to do away with the QWERTY keyboard and incorporate a touchscreen.

BlackBerry Bold

Blackberry’s “middle ground” solution for those who wanted a 3G phone and a QWERTY keyboard.

Samsung Behold

Cell Fanatic found this entry by Samsung offered superior image quality over the Apple iPhone 3G and the BlackBerry Storm.

Samsung Gravity

The Samsung Gravity is their first to feature a slide-out keyboard that has proved popular in other brands.

Motorola Krave

The Krave design features a transparent flip that acts as a secondary touch surface to access additional features.

Samsung Omnia

The Samsung Omnia features a simple touchscreen interface and a speaker on the back.

Nokia E63

Billed as the budget business smartphone.

LG Dare

The handwriting recognition and simple touchscreen styling of the Dare is enhanced by the easy-grip back.

Sony Ericsson W760i

Includes the “Sensme” music feature, as well as all of the other features from the Walkman phone brand.

Nokia N79

The Nokia N79 has a Naviwheel, GPS, a 5 megapixel camera with a Carl Zeiss Optics Tessar lens and more.

HTC Touch Diamond

This attractive smartphone featured a resistive touch screen which is better for Asian character recognition.

LG KC910 Renoir

The LG Renoir has an 8-megapixel camera with xenon flash and Schneider-Kreuznach optics.

Nokia E71

The steel frame of this sleek smartphone from Nokia fits into your palm.

2009

Prada II or LG KF900

The second iteration of the Prada phone designed by LG. The sliding QWERTY keyboard is new, as is its 3G capability.

LG Arena

The first phone with LG’s 3D S-Class user interface. This UI reorients with the rotation of the phone and allows you to scroll film-reel style through available apps.

BlackBerry Curve 8900

Released in February 2009, the Curve features an improved trackball and a higher resolution screen. Still a 2G.

LG Versa

Comes with an attachable QWERTY keyboard and a virtual keyboard on the touch screen.

Sidekick LX 2009

This 3G incarnation of the Sidekick includes improved support for social networking applications.

Samsung Magnet

The Samsung Magnet is a cheap alternative for pricier smartphones with much of the same functionality and a cool design.

LG Xenon

Another slide-out QWERTY keyboard and compact design. Comes with AT&T’s Navigator, AT&T’s turn-by-turn GPS service.

HTC Magic

The next HTC entry to sport Google’s Android operating system. No US carriers have yet been confirmed for this model, but T-Mobile has been rumoured to be the carrier of record. Vodafone has exclusive rights to the phone in all markets that they service.

HTC Touch Diamond2

HTC made the LCD display screen as large as they could at 3.2″ for their next incarnation of the Diamond.

Samsung Propel Pro

The sliding QWERTY keyboard and slick design make this an attractive entry by Samsung.

LG Rumor2

Built for e-mail, the Rumor2 supports Lotus Notes where its predecessor didn’t.

Motorola Renew

This eco-friendly phone is the world’s first carbon-neutral cell phone. Made with recycled water bottles, cheap, and an abundance of features for the low price.

Coming Soon

Palm Pre

This phone launches June 6 in the US through Sprint. It will feature the ability to keep multiple apps open at once.

Nokia N97

This phone will be available in June of 2009.

Omnia HD/Samsung i8910

This phone promises the first high-definition video recording when it is released July 1st of 2009.

Only Available in Japan

Here’s hoping that some of these sleek designs make it across the pond eventually to North America. For more Japanese tech goodness, check KDDI’s English page.

Hitachi WOOO Ketai H001 Phone

This phone promises a 3D display. Ubergizmo predicts that it will be a Japan-only handset.

Panasonic P001

3.1″ increased resolution screen, impressive design, global roaming capabilities and one-push open make this an object of desire.

Walkman Phone Premier³

This phone opens up to reveal a 3″ screen and a stylish keypad.

Casio 001

This sports model features a touch panel for interactive gaming and music.

S001 Sony Ericsson Cyber-Shot

This phone screams elegance. Oh, and it has the world’s first 3.3″ full OLED WVGA display and an 8.1 megapixel camera. Not that we’d want all that fancy stuff in North America.

Toshiba T001

Princesses and fashionistas everywhere will go gaga over this design. Advanced video functions and a 5.1 megapixel camera put a little spike in this phone’s heel.

Kyocera K001 Junior Phone

Those of you with children will know how hard it is to put parental restrictions on anything electronic. This phone gives you the ability to track your child with a GPS locator, lock out questionable website addresses, and more.

Samsung Unveils Its “Premium Suite Upgrade” For The Galaxy S III

2012-12-09T22:04:00.000-08:00

Multimedia

Paper Artist: You can make a picture like a pop artist. Change the moods of your pictures whenever you want.
Camera, Low Light Shot: It’s always tough to take pictures in dark places. So the Galaxy S III with Premium Suite has a Low-Light-Shot function. Get your hands on one and check out the difference!
Camera, Best Face: The problem with group pictures? Somebody always, ALWAYS blinks. Well, Best Face is your solution to that. Best Face takes 5 consecutive pictures and lets you choose the best face for each person among those shots.

New Features And Better Accessibility

Easy Mode: For first-time smartphone users and/or those who are really really, well, lazy. This function helps you set up the most five frequently used widgets on the home screen, so you don’t have to be tired of looking everywhere to find those apps.
Sound Balance: You can adjust the balance of volume one each side of earphones.
Setup Wizard: After turning on your cell phone, you can see the accessibility menu right away on the screen.
Camera Easy Snap: With ‘talk back’ and ‘face detection’ on your settings menu, the Galaxy S III tells you how many faces it can detect on the camera preview.

Moon to become next hot vacation destination?

2012-12-09T05:04:00.002-08:00

Golden Spike, a company full of ex-NASA people, announces ambitious plans to launch commercial spaceflights to the moon by 2020.

Tourists may follow in astronaut Eugene Cernan's footsteps on the moon from 1972.

(Credit: NASA/Harrison H. Schmitt)

I feel sorry for all those suckers who blew $20 million and only got a lousy trip to the International Space Station. If they had held out, they might have had an opportunity to invest many more millions on a trip to the moon.

Golden Spike Company announced yesterday a venture to launch commercial voyages to the moon by 2020. Of course, this sort of experience doesn't come cheap. Golden Spike is expecting a trip to cost $1.5 billion per flight.

At that price, most private clients would be left out in the cold. As awesome as moon tourism sounds, Golden Spike is mainly focused on offering its services to governments that would like a lunar lift, much like Russia helped other countries get to the space station. Still, I'm guessing Golden Spike would think twice about turning down a multi-billionaire with the dough and desire to buy a ride.

For those of us who don't bathe in tubs full of hundred dollar bills, Golden Spike has announced its intention to make moon visits frequent and affordable. The definition of affordable is up for debate.

If you're going to take a chance on a private moon transportation company, you could do worse than Golden Spike. The chairman of the board is Gerry Griffin, Apollo flight director and former director of NASA's Johnson Space Center. The president and CEO is planetary scientist Alan Stern, former head of all NASA science missions. NASA resumes are all over the Golden Spike team listings.

On the front page of its site, Golden Spike says, "Private sector human expeditions to the moon are now feasible and profitable without government funding." That's a bold statement. Let's keep an eye on Golden Spike and see if it can deliver.

A rendering of a Golden Spike vehicle on the moon.

(Credit: Video screenshot by Amanda Kooser/CNET)

article source:http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57557844-1/moon-to-become-next-hot-vacation-destination/?ttag=gpwl

5 Alternatives to the iPhone 5

2012-12-09T04:56:00.001-08:00

Not impressed with the iPhone 5? Here are 5 alternatives!

5 Alternatives to the iPhone 5

If you’re not liking the iPhone 5 and you’re in the market for a high-end smartphone, you actually have several good options available here in the Philippines. These devices are all awesome and offer great value for your money so you might want to take a look at them.

Samsung Galaxy Note 2

Galaxy Note 2

Leading our list is one of our favorite devices for 2012, the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. It sports one of the fastest processors (1.6GHz quad-core), generous serving of RAM, a gorgeous 5.5 display, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and improved S Pen hardware and software. You can read our full review here.

Sony Xperia V

Xperia V

Next on our list is one of the first LTE handsets to launch commercially in the Philippines, the Sony Xperia V. Not only is it water and dust resistant, it also has a 13-megapixel shooter. Another notable feature is the beautiful Sony Mobile Bravia Engine 2 powered 4.3-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen display which as 720×1280 pixels (~342 pixels per inch). Of course the main highlight is that you can already connect to the LTE network of Smart which gives you crazy download and upload speeds.

Google Nexus 4

One of the most anticipated devices this December is the Google Nexus 4. This Gorilla-glass wrapped (front and back) smartphone sports the latest Android software, Jelly Bean 4.2. It has a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 2GB RAM, 8-megapixel shooter, 1280×768 True HD IPS Plus LCD Display, and two storage options: 8GB and 16GB. Smart has confirmed that they will offer this in their postpaid line-up. We’re just waiting for the details.

HTC 8X

Android or iOS not your cup of tea? Why not Windows?

If Android and iOS don’t impress you then you actually have another option this December! Widget City is already selling the HTC 8X, a Windows 8 device that pretty much has all the bells and whistles of smartphones (8-megapixel shooter, fast processor, connectivity, etc).

Samsung Galaxy S3

And course we have to include the Galaxy S3, one of the best-selling smartphones in the world today. When it launched it was only available in Blue and White. Now there are more colors including Red, Silver, Black, and even Brown (looks ugly though lol). The Galaxy S3 is available through the postpaid plans of both Smart and Globe. It’s also be sold by a lot of online sellers with the prices going as low as php23,000. Definitely worth considering. For more information on this device, click here to read our full review.

And that rounds up our list! How about you guys? If you have the money for a high-end smartphone, what would you buy if the iPhone 5 isn’t appealing to you? Hit the comments below and let us know! We’ll feature it on the Podcast on Monday.

article source: http://www.unbox.ph/gadget/5-alternatives-to-the-iphone-5/

Juan Manuel Marquez Knocks Manny Pacquiao out Cold in Sixth Round

2012-12-09T04:45:00.002-08:00

article source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1437934-pacquiao-vs-marquez-4-results-live-round-by-round-updates-and-reaction

Juan Manuel Marquez scored the biggest win of his career and finally solved the riddle of Manny Pacquiao Saturday night in Las Vegas.

With blood streaming from what appeared to be a broken nose and seemingly on the verge of being stopped himself, Marquez landed an absolute missile of a right hand at the end of the sixth round that knocked Pacquiao cold and ended the night.

It was an absolutely stunning ending to an all-action war.

And it was frightening as Pacquiao lay motionless on the mat for several minutes while his foe celebrated the biggest win of his storied career.

Nobody saw it coming but now Juan Manuel Marquez finally has his vindication and Manny Pacquiao faces an uncertain future.

Blog has not been active within the past two hours.

1:19 AM ET

Wow. What a night. Juan Manuel Marquez in many ways vindicates his career with a stunning, and scary, knockout of Manny Pacquiao.

It was a very deserved victory for the Mexican warrior who spent much of his career in obscurity and who now can finally say these four words:

"I beat Manny Pacquiao."

That'll do it for our fight blog tonight fans. Hope you enjoyed our coverage of tonight's fights!

To get more of your Pacquiao-Marquez fix just jump over to our live-blog of the press conference which is expected to begin shortly!

1:10 AM ET

Al Bello/Getty Images

The boxing picture of the year.

1:07 AM ET

1:05 AM ET

Al Bello/Getty Images

An absolutely stunning outcome. Nobody saw this coming. Marquez has never landed a shot like that in his career but he picked a helluva time to do it!

1:04 AM ET

12:53 AM ET

Pacquiao was taking over the fight, seemed on the verge of dominance and got absolutely knocked OUT COLD at the end of the sixth round.

Juan Manuel Marquez WINS the biggest fight of his career! An absolutely MASSIVE right hand ends the night.

Marquez KO 6 Pacquiao.

12:51 AM ET

Al Bello/Getty Images

JUAN MANUEL MARQUEZ JUST KNOCKED OUT MANNY PACQUIAO!!!!

12:49 AM ET

Al Bello/Getty Images

Manny Pacquiao is looking to make an absolute statement here tonight. That he CAN beat Juan Manuel Marquez.

12:48 AM ET

Marquez might have a broken nose. A lot of blood. This might need to be stopped soon.

12:47 AM ET

Pacquiao BLITZED him in the fifth. We've NEVER seen that kind of action in the three prior fights.

Both guys with knockout intentions on all their shots.

Manny takes a 10-8 round.

He leads 4-1 in rounds

48-45 on points.

12:46 AM ET

Al Bello/Getty Images

This isn't tactical. It's not boxing. It's a full-blown WAR.

Both guys going for the kill!

Marquez BADLY hurt at the end of the fifth!

Pacquiao going for the knockout!

12:45 AM ET

And DOWN goes Marquez in round FIVE! We are now even on knockdowns. HIGH DRAMA.

BOTH GUYS GOING FOR IT!

Marquez responds with a HUGE RIGHT.

12:44 AM ET

Very nice combination there from Pacquiao. And round four ends with both fighters landing solid shots. What else? Another tough one to score but I gave it to Pacquiao.

3-1 in rounds for Manny but only a 38-37 lead due to the knockdown.

12:42 AM ET

Al Bello/Getty Images

Marquez finding a home with that straight right again here in the fourth. He looks much more confident and comfortable. Pacquiao looks a little shaky. Not physically, but mentally.

12:40 AM ET

That woke a lot of people up. Absolutely stunning moment in this fight. Big psychological turning point for both fighters. First time Marquez has ever dropped Pacquiao.

12:39 AM ET

Al Bello/Getty Images

First time in their four fights that Marquez has deposited Pacquiao on the mat with a huge right hand!

Manny looking VERY defensive now. He's back on the attack in the final 20 seconds but what a shocker!

10-8 round for Marquez.

28-28 after three rounds!!

12:37 AM ET

And Pacquiao is DOWN!! Third round knockdown for Marquez!

12:37 AM ET

Pacquiao's straight left is bothering Marquez. A lot more feinting and head movement this time around from Manny.

12:36 AM ET

12:35 AM ET

Another very tough round to score. Marquez with some nice body shots but Pacquiao landed the harder, flashier left hooks that won him the round on my card.

20-18 Pacquiao after two.

12:33 AM ET

Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Marquez looks more cautious than normal...Pacquiao definitely more active in the early rounds. Marquez is digging some shots to the body when Manny comes in though.

Two big lefts from Pacquiao mid-way through the second round!

12:32 AM ET

12:31 AM ET

Marquez looked like he was just feeling him out in there. Pacquiao more active and takes another close, hard to score round.

10-9 Pacquiao after round one.

12:30 AM ET

Can these two guys have just one round that's easy to score?

12:26 AM ET

Definitely this is a Marquez house tonight. Pacquiao booed as he hits the ring
— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) December 9, 2012

HEAVY boos for Pacquiao during his introduction.

12:25 AM ET

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!!!!!!!!

Marquez looks bigger than I've ever seen him.

Pacquiao all smiles in his corner.

12:23 AM ET

Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

Pacquiao has not scored a knockout in three years...makes you wonder why I predicted he'll get one tonight.

12:21 AM ET

And here comes Manny Pacquiao...

12:20 AM ET

Marquez pumping right fist to crowd. It's a weapon, that's for sure.
— Lance Pugmire (@latimespugmire) December 9, 2012

That's his biggest weapon. He'll need it tonight.

12:18 AM ET

Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

Marquez on his way to the ring. Will his extra muscle affect his ability to counter-punch Pacquiao? That's been his bread and butter in the first three fights.

12:16 AM ET

I've got Marquez in nine. #boxing #PacMarquez
— Gabriel Montoya™ (@Gabriel_Montoya) December 9, 2012

12:15 AM ET

Of all the judged rounds between the two by the three judges in each fight it's:

Pacquiao 52

Marquez 56

The difference for Manny has been the knockdowns.

Can he win another close decision?

12:13 AM ET

Still nothing like 17,000 Mexicans belting out their national anthem in unison.... #boxing #pacmarquez
— Steve Kim (@stevemaxboxing) December 9, 2012

Hostile environment for Pacquiao.

12:11 AM ET

Are you Ready?? Champion of the Decade!! @mannypacquiao vs @jmmarquez_1 4!! Who will win?!
— WBO(@WorldBoxingOrg) December 9, 2012

12:08 AM ET

Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

Been saying it all week...think we're going to see the Manny Pacquiao of old...think he takes it by knockout.

12:07 AM ET

I absolutely LOVE the Mexican national anthem before fights...but this rendition is very very bad...

12:05 AM ET

Jeff Bottari/Getty Images

And the official festivities have begun...first the National Anthems...then the ring walks...then weFIGHT!

EDSA traffic inspires entrepreneur to create ‘scribbled’ bracelets

2012-12-09T04:34:00.001-08:00

MARIKINA CITY, METRO MANILA – Most commuters find daily traffic at EDSA exhausting yet Paula Pioquinto-Dimaano managed to squeeze some inspiration out of it.

“I commute everyday going home and I never fail to notice the traffic in EDSA. So I thought of making something out of that experience,” Paula says, referring to the “Scribbled” bracelets she sells under her brand Piesa.

The bracelets are made of wires and wrapped with cloth. She can finish a bracelet in about 20 minutes, though depending on how complex the design. These have golden chains to secure it from falling from your wrist; the chains are detachable to so you can wear it how you want it.

Her accessories, which come in different shades and styles and priced between P100 to P300, are lightweight in feel.

Paula admits she initially wanted to name her accessories “EDSA” but reverted back to Scribbles realizing it could be confusing for most people.

She put up Piesa about a year ago, initially selling custom-printed shoes until she realized that her heart is more into making fashion accessories, which she started focusing on months ago. She re-invested around P5,000 and says she recovered all of it after three months.

Working with intricate pieces (hence, the name Piesa to mean piyesa or pieces), she says, takes a lot of patience and dedication.

“I can make something creative and unique out of little pieces,” she says, describing how she named her business.

article source:

Despite defeat, Pacquiao gets praises from fellow House members

2012-12-09T04:30:00.001-08:00

World boxing champ and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao’s defeat to Mexican boxer Juan Manuel Marquez on Sunday did not stop the Filipino fighter’s colleagues from the House of Representatives from expressing admiration of their fellow lawmaker. In a statement, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. lauded Pacquiao for putting up a good fight against Marquez. “Being a great champion also means having the grace to accept defeat with utmost humility as Manny has shown. He is still the people’s champ,” Belmonte said. “Just as he has always been the symbol of Filipino resiliency, I am certain he can rise above this setback and still inspire our own people,” he added. Pacquiao was knocked out by Marquez in the sixth round of their fourth face-off in Las Vegas on Sunday. Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares meanwhile described Marquez’s victory against Pacquiao as a “fluke.” “It’s a sad loss for us and for Manny, but that does not diminish his many accomplishments yet unequalled by any Filipino boxer. Now, more than ever, is the proper time to remember all his accomplishments,” the party-list representative said in a separate text message. Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, for his part, said Marquez’s “lucky” punch “cannot obliterate the illustrious boxing career of Manny Pacquiao.” “He [Pacquiao] truly deserves the continuing adulation of Filipinos and the boxing world, and he is entitled to a fifth bout with Marquez,” Lagman said in a separate statement. Pacquiao, a neophyte congressman, is seeking another term as House member in 2013. He was the country's richest lawmaker last year, and was also among the top absentees in the lower chamber. — BM, GMA News

QWERTY BlackBerry 10 phone will launch before June

2012-12-08T00:58:00.001-08:00

No need to hit the panic button on Research In Motion yet; its BlackBerry 10 phones aren't facing any major delays, CNET has learned.

A report from Forbes, citing research firm Detwiler Fenton, said the Blackberry 10 devices wouldn't hit until March, and that the QWERTY version wouldn't come until June.

The bit about a June launch is inaccurate, according to a person familiar with the company's launch plans.

RIM is expected to unveil its devices on January 30, with a launch coming roughly four to six weeks after, so the first BlackBerry 10 phone may actually hit in March. The full touch-screen device is expected to launch first, while the qwerty version will come "shortly after," the company has said.

RIM's statement on the timing of the launch:

Details of the commercial availability for BlackBerry 10 will be announced at the global launch events on January 30. Our executives have made it clear that the touch screen device will be available shortly after launch with the physical keyboard version to follow shortly after that.

Still, the timing suggests RIM will report weaker results in the fourth and first quarters, with the BlackBerry 10 devices not having an impact until the end of the first quarter. RIM's stock has risen the past few weeks on optimism over the new products.

The touch-screen device is the priority for RIM because the U.S. has shifted to a largely touch-screen-only market. The company is banking that consumers who would normally buy an iPhone or Android phone will consider BlackBerry 10 instead.

The company, however, will need the full-keyboard version quickly to satisfy the still faithful existing BlackBerry customers who prefer the tactile sensation of actual keys. In fact, there are likely many past users reluctant to try a full touch-screen BlackBerry device given its poor history with that style of user interface.

Because the software is designed for touch devices, there was a little bit of additional work that went into tweaking it to run with the qwerty keyboard, the person said. That extra work likely means additional tests at the carriers as well.

While RIM hasn't defined what "shortly" means, the person said the qwerty BlackBerry 10 phone would come out before June.

article source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57557842-94/qwerty-blackberry-10-phone-will-launch-before-june/?ttag=gpwl

Samsung Galaxy Muse takes on the iPod Shuffle

2012-12-08T00:48:00.003-08:00

The Galaxy Muse is definitely more portable than that 5.5-inch smartphone.

(Credit: Samsung)

Samsung's latest Galaxy announcement, the pebblelike Galaxy Muse, is a stylish $50 media player that attempts to divert some of the iPod zeitgeist to Samsung's flagship phones.

Plug it into the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and the Galaxy S3, and the Galaxy Muse syncs with the smartphone, so you can access just your music without bringing the entire phone with you on a jog.

Available in the familiar Pebble Blue and Marble White options, the Galaxy Muse offers 4GB of storage and delivers up to 6 hours of music playback. While it might be easy to dismiss it as just another MP3 player, Samsung's device is enhanced by a dedicated Android application -- Muse Sync Android -- that lets you sync music without the aid of a PC. The Galaxy Muse connects to either the GS3 or the Note 2 through a USB-to-3.5mm headset jack.

Thanks to a tiny, smooth form factor, the Galaxy Muse clips onto a pocket or shirt sleeve for music on the go. Much like your standard media device, the Samsung player offers playback control such as shuffle, skip, and going back.

You'll find the Galaxy Muse on Samsung.com; the Android app is available in Google Play and Samsung Apps.

article source: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-57557857-251/samsung-galaxy-muse-takes-on-the-ipod-shuffle/?ttag=gpwl

Thousands have gathered to remember the dead on the 71st anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbour.

2012-12-08T00:38:00.001-08:00

More than 2000 people at Pearl Harbour and many more across the country are marking the 71st anniversary of the Japanese attack that killed thousands of people and launched the United States into World War II.

The USS Michael Murphy, a recently christened ship named after a Pearl Harbour-based Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan, sounded its ship's whistle on Friday to start a moment of silence at 7.55am local time, marking the exact time the bombing began in 1941.

Crew members lined the edge of the Navy guided-missile destroyer as it passed the USS Arizona, a battleship that still lies in the harbour where it sank. Hawaii Air National Guard F-22 fighter jets flew overhead in a special "missing man" formation to break the silence.

Among those gathered for the ceremony were about 50 survivors of the attack.

Edwin Schuler, of San Jose, California, said he remembered going up to the bridge of his ship, the USS Phoenix, to read a book on a bright, sunny Sunday morning in 1941 when he saw planes dropping bombs.

"I thought: 'Whoa, they're using big practice bombs,' I didn't know," said Schuler, 91.

Schuler said he was returned for the annual ceremony about 30 times because it was important to spread the message of remembering Pearl Harbour.

Online, Pearl Harbour became a popular topic on Facebook and other social networks, trending worldwide on Twitter and Google Plus as people marked the anniversary with status updates, personal stories of family and photos.

The Navy and National Park Service hosted the ceremonies held in remembrance of the 2390 service members and 49 civilians killed in the attack.

Friday events also will give special recognition to members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots, who flew noncombat missions during World War II, and to Ray Emory, a 91-year-old Pearl Harbour survivor who has pushed to identify the remains of unknown servicemen.

Admiral Cecil Haney, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, gave the keynote address, giving examples of courage and heroism of military service members that day. The ceremony also includes a Hawaiian blessing, songs played by the US Pacific Fleet band and a rifle salute from the US Marine Corps.

President Barack Obama marked the day on Thursday by issuing a presidential proclamation, calling for flags to fly at half-staff on Friday and asking all Americans to observe the day of remembrance and honour military service members and veterans.

"Today, we pay solemn tribute to America's sons and daughters who made the ultimate sacrifice at Oahu," Obama said in a statement. "As we do, let us also reaffirm that their legacy will always burn bright - whether in the memory of those who knew them, the spirit of service that guides our men and women in uniform today, or the heart of the country they kept strong and free."

Mayor gets stingy with comments on issues involving Cebu City funds

2012-12-08T00:34:00.003-08:00

AS THE year comes to a close, money issues are piling up, boggling both the executive and legislative departments of Cebu City.

Yesterday, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama was asked whether the City Government is willing to extend help to the other provinces devastated by super typhoon Pablo like Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley.

Rama did not give a categorical answer and just said that there might be criticisms and questions again on the financial capability of the City Government.

He will have the calamity fund checked, though, as it reportedly still has a balance of P11 million.

Rama declined to comment on criticisms against him, such as the latest one lodged by

Vice Mayor Joy Augustus Young that the mayor is using the planned cash gifts to City Hall employees to woo their votes.

“I don't want to answer that as they don't even know yet how much we are giving,” the mayor said.

The initial plan is to give as much as P20,000 to each employee, but this will have to depend on the availability of funds.

Not ready

As of yesterday, the third supplemental budget (SB 3) was not yet ready.

It should have been passed by now to beat the deadline for its inclusion in the agenda for the next regular session of the Cebu City Council this Wednesday.

“There will always be time if people will spend time on it,” Rama said.

There are only three regular sessions left before the year ends. But bonuses should be given before Christmas Day.

The Council, though, is conducting marathon budget hearings starting Monday. It can also call for a special session to tackle urgent matters.

Allowances

Rama will also check on the P2,000 allowance that have not been released to law enforcers.

The allowance was already depleted so that the City has stopped the release of incentive allowance.

There are 1,100 law enforcers from the Cebu City Police Office, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) 7 and maritime police affected by the non-release of incentives.

The allowance of law enforcers, bonus and allowance of prosecutors are among the items that could be included in the SB 3.

But it will depend on the availability of funds and prioritization of items.

article source:

Desperate Philippine typhoon victims await aid

2012-12-08T00:27:00.002-08:00

Hungry and homeless typhoon survivors appealed for help Saturday as the ravaged southern Philippines mourned its more than 500 dead and desperate people in one hard-hit town looted shops in search of food.

Four days after Typhoon Bopha struck the major island of Mindanao, officials have struggled to bring in food and relief convoys through roads that had been blocked or swept away by floods and avalanches of rock, logs and mud.

About 4,000 residents in the destroyed farming village of Maparat had eaten the enclave's surviving chickens and were left with scavenging fallen coconut fruits, said nursing mother Virginia Dodres, 38.

"I tried to breast-feed Mica, but they're dry from lack of food. So I gave her coconut water, and now she's down with colic," mother-of-four Dodres told AFP as she comforted her crying one-year-old daughter.

All the houses had been carried off by floods and survivors were sleeping 80 to a room on the bare concrete floor of the local elementary school.

They share the toilet's two stalls and are doing their washing and bathing at a nearby spring, which is also their only source of water.

Dodres said church workers with two big pots of porridge arrived Saturday bearing the first relief aid to Maparat, located a few kilometres (miles) from the devastated town of New Bataan. The food was gobbled up within minutes.

The village of flattened coconut and banana plants is linked by a muddy footpath to the main highway, where residents hung a hand-painted arrow with a crude sign on canvas that read: "Evacuation Area. Please Help Victims."

Rescue officials said Mindanao's east coast accounted for all but 40 of the 546 known deaths from the strongest typhoon to hit the country this year.

More than 500 other people are missing.

At least 211,000 people are taking refuge at crowded government-run shelters, according to the civil defence office in Manila.

Military trucks brought scores of coffins into Maparat early Saturday, as unidentified corpses retrieved from under rubble piled up at a government yard.

Cedric Daep, a public safety specialist, said desperate survivors looted shops and warehouses in Cateel, a hard-hit town on the Mindanao coast in the early aftermath of Bopha's landfall there.

"The food aid took so long to arrive that the locals broke into whatever building (was) left standing in search of something to eat," said Daep, who was sent to the south to help organise the disaster response.

Officials said damage to roads and bridges by floods and landslides trapped 150,000 people for three days in Cateel and the nearby towns of Baganga and Boston, where they said 97 percent of buildings were flattened or unroofed.

A Philippine Navy patrol vessel with 31 tonnes of emergency relief and 132 volunteer aid workers reached Baganga on Thursday, navy spokesman Omar Tonsay told AFP, saying he had not heard of the Cateel looting.

Daep said the region suffered its last strong typhoon in 1922, and had little expertise in coping with them.

"You have to organise (pre-disaster) evacuation, relief distribution systems, and putting up temporary shelters... They were not prepared," he said.

Daep said survivors needed a reliable supply of food, safe water, shelter and clothing.

article source:

Japan unveils world's fastest levitating train

2012-12-06T23:25:00.002-08:00

The L0 Series maglev train.
(Credit: Central Japan Railway Co)

Japan's bullet trains can travel up to 300 kilometres per hour (km/h). The Central Japan Railway Co claims that a new maglev train prototype can reach 500km/h.

At this point in time, there are only two commercial maglev train systems operating: one in Shanghai (the Transrapid from Shanhai Pudong International Airport to central Pudong), and one in Japan (the Linimo in Aichi).

Central Japan Railway Co has now unveiled the prototype of a new maglev train, the L0 Series, to run between Tokyo and Nagoya on the Shinkansen bullet train line , ferrying passengers at speeds of up to 500km/h - the fastest land-based commercial speed. Shanghai's Transrapid has reached 501km/h in test situations, but only has a top operational speed of 431km/h .

Maglev trains operate via magnetic levitation (hence the name). Powerful electromagnets are used to propel the train along its track, making the trains quieter and smoother, and also requiring no fuel to run (outside of that used to create the electricity powering the magnets, of course). They're also considered to be quite safe, since they cannot leave their tracks. You can read in detail how the system works here .

The current record for the fastest maglev train was made in 2003 by Central Japan Railway Co's JR-Maglev MLX01, which reached a top speed of 581km/h, but those speeds are not practical for commercial purposes.

Central Japan Railway Co hopes to have the L0 Series up and running by 2027, with the capacity to carry 92 passengers across 14 carriages.

Qantas pulls plug on in-flight Wi-Fi

2012-12-06T23:23:00.000-08:00

Qantas has decided not to go ahead with in-flight Wi-Fi following a nine-month trial of the service, citing disappointing uptake of online access by its passengers on the selected test routes.

Internet access had been available on selected services between Australia and London and Los Angeles in its A380 aircraft. Qantas told Australian Business Traveller (ABT) that fewer customers than anticipated used the service. It observed that customers on overnight flights prefer to sleep, and that because the majority of the A380 services operate overnight, the satellite internet option was not as popular as the airline had hoped.

According to Qantas estimations, only about 5 per cent of its passengers on these overnight flights used the internet.

Qantas had offered the internet to passengers for free when the service was first trialled in March this year, for up to 35MB of data. Since then, pricing ranged from AU$12.90 to AU$39. The service was slow, according to the users who spoke with ABT , and suitable only for text-based content, like Facebook chatting and email.

This is certainly a shame, but it does sound like the technology isn't really ready for public consumption. AU$40 is a lot to pay to check Facebook status updates, and the number of people for whom email access is a business critical necessity probably does sit at about 5 per cent of a plane-load of passengers.

Virgin Australia is expected to begin trials of in-flight Wi-Fi next month, with free access for customers using their own tablets, laptops and phones. Hopefully, the internet is a tad faster on the Virgin fleet.

What do you think about in-flight Wi-Fi? How much would you pay and how much data do you think you'd need? What applications would you use?

Philippines typhoon kills over 477

2012-12-06T22:41:00.001-08:00

A quarter million people were homeless and 477 confirmed dead after the Philippines' worst typhoon this year, officials said Thursday, as the government appealed for international help.

Typhoon Bopha ploughed across Mindanao island on Tuesday, flattening whole towns in its path as hurricane-force winds brought torrential rain that triggered floods and landslides.

Erinea Cantilla and her family walked barefoot for two days in a vain search for food and shelter through a muddy wasteland near the mountainous town of New Bataan after the deluge destroyed their house and banana and cocoa farm.

"Everything we had is gone. The only ones left are dead people," Cantilla told AFP as she and her husband, three children and a granddaughter reached the outskirts of the town, which itself had been nearly totally obliterated.

Rescuers said they were looking for 380 missing while seeking help for more than 250,000 others who were sheltered in schools, gyms and other buildings after losing everything.

Shell-shocked survivors scrabbled through the rubble of their homes to find anything that could be recovered, as relatives searched for missing family members among mud-caked bodies laid out in rows on tarpaulins.

President Benigno Aquino has sent food and other supplies by ship to 150,000 people on Mindanao's east coast where three towns remain cut off by landslides and wrecked bridges, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas said.

Officials said many of the 477 dead victims were poor migrants who found work at landslide-prone sites such as New Bataan and nearby Monkayo towns, either at unregulated gold mines or at banana plantations.

Bopha, flower in Cambodian, wiped out a fourth of the country's banana crop, according to the local industry association.

Major-General Ariel Bernardo, head of the army division leading the rescue effort, said 36 people had been dug out alive in two days, but the prospects were looking dimmer for the hundreds still missing.

"I do not think it likely," he told AFP when asked if he thought most of the missing were still alive.

Civil defence chief Benito Ramos refused to give up hope.

"There is no time limit -- as long as it takes," he told reporters when asked how long the search and rescue effort would take.

A man trapped for two days under rocks and debris after flash floods swept away his entire family was among those rescued Thursday.

"It's a miracle that I survived, but I might as well be dead," said Carlos Agang, 54, who suffered a broken right leg.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said the government asked the Switzerland-based International Organization for Migration to help it build bunkhouses to ease the pressure on evacuation camps.

The United States, Japan and Singapore said they had offered emergency assistance, with the latter sending over a rescue team in Mindanao.

Geneva-based International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies appealed for 4.5 million Swiss francs (3.7 million euros, $4.9 million) for relief aid, warning the number of people needing help would rise in coming days.

Meanwhile the insurgent Communist Party of the Philippines offered a truce with government forces now leading the rescue in Mindanao, while ordering its guerrillas there to help out.

The army dismissed the offer, with a military spokesman saying the rebels should abandon their armed campaign instead.

Workers were struggling to reach villages due to destroyed roads and wrecked bridges, but finding corpses was not a problem due to the overpowering stench everywhere, said Francisco Macalipay, a soldier involved in the rescue.

"Just let your nose lead you to them," he told AFP.

article source:

Star Trek Into Darkness

2012-12-06T22:05:00.001-08:00

The first official teaser trailer for upcoming movie 'Star Trek Into Darkness' is now available for your viewing pleasure.

How do you like the trailer? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Google's Tom Uglow: when might 'digital art' become just 'art'?

2012-12-06T21:28:00.001-08:00

Image: Shutterstock

150 years ago the colour photographic process was being invented; at the same time the Impressionists began to re-imagine the world through painted interpretations of light, something that is now so normal as to appear saccharine or twee. It would be another 100 years before the technology of the photograph would be commonly framed, or presented as art. We are now immersed in a digital world; so how close are we to the generation of artists that will transform our world through their interpretations of data? When might "digital art" become just "art"?

Our data-marked world is often represented as benignly utilitarian -- filled with smart cities and networked objects -- a functional, benefit-led data-driven place, flipping classrooms and crowdsourcing solutions. Yet in this world there are relatively few artists or data sculptors such as Aaron Koblin, the wired poets of the new reality.

This new art will not be painted, or static, or televised, or found in a gallery. It must be digital, and digital means dynamic, constantly changing. Digital means algorithmic, generative, collaborative, crowdsourced; the output is unique to the user, to the time, to the place. It stands to reason that digital art should be all of this and seek to reflect the state of contemporary reality using contemporary platforms. What might that look like? Art that might game our behaviours and our environment into new ways of understanding.

We are told the world is going mobile; it seems hard to argue. We prefer to swipe, push and prod rather than sit and click. Small screens are getting larger. We check the news in line at Starbucks. Share photos on the loo. Setting up a direct debit on the train seems normal, as is shopping on the bus. What used to be a "click" is now a swipe, a scan, spoken, shaken, or touched, or better still -- "it just knows". Our phones and tablets have become remote controls for an alternative reality that hovers around us like a scene from Keiichi Matsuda's prescient Augmented City.

And this raises many challenges, such as how to move you, dear viewer, between the real world and the digital one? How will this "art" start? Let's imagine you are standing in the street, in the middle of an exhibit, but you wouldn't know. Or everyone else in the building is immersed in a location based performance work, but you are not. You are out of the game. How do you enter this world, what do you click, where is your ticket, is that an app or just a url, and either way how do you get it?

It is a question not of clicks but of context. What used to be conceptual is now contextual. How do we tell your device to initiate an action? What triggers the art when you remove the need for it to exist on a screen, or at a certain time, or even in a certain place? The artists can use ambient measures like temperature, location, frequency, velocity, orientation, sounds, volume, weight, speed, humidity, density, face recognition, emotion recognition, touch, keywords, time, or any combination of these. And these can all become the equivalent of a "click", like pressing a button, or opening a door into one of those old white cubed galleries. Potentially it is chaos, or beauty.

We are comfortable with digital art immersions, literally. There have been consistent two hour long queues for Random International's Rain Room at the Barbican -- an exhibit which uses location aware software to follow the "viewer" around the room and moves the "rain" around them. Maybe the new form means viewers have to contribute to the work in order to experience the cumulative piece. Perhaps it could be an extravagant interactive experience, or augmented reality, or just as simple as trees that whisper secrets to you (if there is no one else around).

And you may even have to subscribe -- art that requires you to authenticate yourself. When we can create a conventional market for work with that potential for intimacy, magic and scarcity, then we will have a whole new art. The Tate can sell tickets to an exhibition that occurs where you are, and that exists around you.

A new international commission from Bristol's Watershed might shine light on this. The commission provides £30,000 for artists using creative technologies to explore the theme of the Playable City in and around the streets of Bristol. Turning the hard purposefulness of the data-driven smart city into a context-driven chaos, a cacophonous playful, playable city, or reflecting the darkness and the absurdity of our device-driven sensibilities.

We are raised and educated to understand the world visually, and this is why we understand today's art. It might be hoped that the next generation of artists will be raised to understand the world digitally and so understand data as art, and they will illuminate our endless volumes of self-generated data and make them beautiful. Playable City seems to be just the very start of that. Digital art is not about touch-screens or clicking things -- but it is about removing the constraints of the past thousand years and using data and hardware to generate extraordinary transformative experiences, just as photography did. The first step towards this is funding artists properly to make this work rather than relying on galleries, schools or brands to stimulate and subsidize. From the urban spaces of Bristol, Playable City will hopefully be the first of many commissions for contextual art that transcends technology and show us new ways to see the world.

article source: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2012-12/06/tom-uglow-playable-cities

Facebook: Businesses have paid for 2.5 million promoted posts

2012-12-06T21:08:00.000-08:00

credit: facebook

Facebook released some new numbers today for its local business Pages, revealing that about 2 percent of the Pages have used promoted posts.

The social network said it's reached 13 million local Pages now -- up from the 12.8 million last reported during its earnings call in October -- and 300,000 of those have promoted more than 2.5 million posts. Promoted posts are ones that Pages pay for to make sure they reach more of their Facebook fans.

According to a Facebook representative, Facebook Director of Global SMB Markets Dan Levy went over some of these new numbers at theBIA/Kelsey's Interactive Local Media West Conference in Los Angeles.

Facebook's change to its News Feed algorithm earlier this year brought on some scrutiny over whether promoted posts are worth the money, and worse, rumors saying Facebook was intentionally making it more difficult to reach fans. The social network had to call a press conference to explain that it was just taking care of spam.

Facebook may be sharing some numbers to show that there are still businesses that find its services valuable.

According to the numbers released today, 150 million people visit Facebook Pages daily, with half of them visiting through mobile devices. Over 3 million Page owners use Facebook's mobile advertisement management app, which launched six months ago, to buy their promoted posts.

The social network also boasts that the number of pages advertising on the social network has nearly doubled since January. Active local Pages, a Page a business uses at least once a month, have increased by 40 percent. But Facebook isn't saying how many Pages or active Pages existed in January.

This means we don't know exactly how quickly the number of Pages has grown in the last year, or how many new small businesses were willing to jump on the bandwagon.

article source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-57557663-93/facebook-businesses-have-paid-for-2.5-million-promoted-posts/

Will the Samsung Galaxy S4 be 'unbreakable'?

2012-12-06T18:40:00.000-08:00

A new rumor says Samsung's fancy bendable displays could come to market in its next flagship phone.

Will the next Samsung Galaxy flagship phone bring a comic book dream to life and be truly "unbreakable."

(Credit: CNET)

If the rumors are true, Samsung is looking to go big with its next flagship Android phone, presumably to be the Galaxy S4.

Not only is it rumored that the next batch of galactic goodies will pack a quad-core processor and 13-megapixel camera, as CNET's Scott Webster recently reported, but there's also word it could come with an "unbreakable" screen, according to one analyst quoted by Reuters.

For years now, Samsung has been teasing us with its fancy, flexible, unbreakable displays at CES and other venues, but little of the technology has actually been brought to market.

Sanford Bernstein analyst Mark Newman predicts that either the Galaxy S4 or Galaxy S5 will have bendable or even foldable displays by 2014. Just imagine, returning to the legacy of the flip phone with new folding or even "squishy" phones. I might even stand in line for a "koosh" phone.

If the Samsung Galaxy S4 arrives in the middle of next year with an unbreakable screen as some rumors claim, I predict it will be one of the best summers I've seen yet for blockbuster gadget torture tests.

Get the wrecking ball ready, SquareTrade -- I can't wait.

article source: cnet.com

Quake hits Samar

2012-12-06T17:20:00.000-08:00

A 5.5 magnitude earthquake hit several areas in Eastern Samar Thursday. (Phivolcs)

A 5.5 magnitude earthquake hit several areas in Eastern Samar Thursday.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported the moderate quake occurred about 138 kilometers northeast of Guian at 8:43 am.

Phivolcs noted the quake was of tectonic origin and had a shallow depth of 20 kilometers. Quake was felt strongly at Intensity V in Mercedes in Eastern Samar.

The tremor also hit Tacloban City, Borongan City, General MacArthur, Eastern Samar at moderately strong Intensity IV, the agency said.

It added the same earthquake was weakly felt at Intensity III in Catbalogan City, Jaro, Dulag and Tolosa in Leyte as well and slightly felt at Intensity II in Capoocan, and Dagami in Leyte.

Phivolcs said the quake occurred after a weaker 4.1-magnitude tremblor shook Calatagan, Batangas at about 7:01 am on the same day.

No one was hurt and no property was damaged, Phivolcs added.

Social media has grown up, says Nielsen

2012-12-06T17:08:00.000-08:00

AFP News - Facebook is telling its users to ignore rumors spreading on the social network that they need to post a statement to protect their copyrights of their comments and other materials

Social networking may have graduated from its infancy as it continues to grow in 2012, according to a study by Nielsen and NM Incite.

The study showed consumers are spending more time on social networks than on any other category of sites, Nielsen noted in its study.

"(C)onsumers continue to spend more time on social networks than on any other category of sites: roughly 20 percent of their total time online via personal computer (PC), and 30 percent of total time online via mobile," it said.

It also said the total time spent on social media in the US across PCs and mobile devices increased 37 percent to 121 billion minutes in July 2012, compared to 88 billion in July 2011.

Related story: Using Social Media to Increase your Website Traffic

The study said the recent proliferation of mobile devices and connectivity helped fuel the continued growth of social media.

"While the computer remains as the predominant device for social media access, consumers’ time spent with social media on mobile apps and the mobile web has increased 63 percent in 2012, compared to the same period last year," it said.

Facebook still on top

The study showed Facebook remains the top social network, but other social media sites are emerging and catching on.

Facebook remains the most-visited social network in the US via PC (152.2 million visitors), mobile apps (78.4 million users) and mobile web (74.3 million visitors).

It is also the top US web brand in terms of time spent, as some 17 percent of time spent online via personal computer is on Facebook.

Also read: World Bank: More people have access to cellphones than toilets

On the other hand, it said Pinterest emerged as "one of the breakout stars" in social media for 2012, boasting the largest year-over-year increase in both unique audience and time spent of any social network across PC, mobile web and apps.

A separate article on Dvice.com quoted Google+'s VP of product as saying Facebook is a "social network of the past" with its intrusive advertisements "pissing off users."

"It's quite a statement for a company who has seen its own social network, Google+, being branded a ghost town since its inception. Although it boasts 400 million registered users, Google+ been criticized due to said users hardly ever logging in. Still, Google has stressed it's the best social service available so it must be, right? ...Right?" it said. — TJD, GMA News

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