Deuts.NET

Wesley So Drew a Winning Position Vs. Akobian

deuts — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:39:28 +0000

Indeed, Philippines’ pride GM Wesley So spoiled the fun for his Filipino chess fans when he drew a winning position against Varuzhan Akobian in the Corus Chess 2010 Group B in Wijk aan Zee, in Netherlands.

In this particular game, Wesley might have overlooked a better play on the 25th move with (25. Rxc4) instead of his conservative (25. Re3). This could have led to an endgame where he’s up by one pawn plus a solid pawn structure on the King side.

Well, what has been done is done. We need to keep moving. 10 more games to go. Wesley is 1.5/3.0, all first three games were drawn.

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I learned about my passion in photography when I had my first digital camera in Sony DSC-S60. Then I took it the next level when I had a Canon EOS 30D. You can check out my latest photos at my flickr photostream or my self-hosted gallery (which I intend to update soon).

If you wish, I would love for you to subscribe to my flickr photostream via email. By subscribing, it means that you’ll receive an email notifications everytime I upload new photos to my photostream. Click here, enter your email address, and follow the online instructions.

Best Buddies Share the Best Tea

deuts — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:08:00 +0000

As the year comes to a close, just before the darkness captures the year behind, two buddies — two little kids that is — share a bottle of ~~wine~~ tea to celebrate the dawn of the new year.

Cheers for the new year

The future is bright for these young kids.

Let's Drink to That

Aching to get a taste of that Real Leaf Green Tea!

Welcome Year 2010! Let’s celebrate with a bottle of Real Leaf Green Tea.

P.S. This may be a little late for a New Year post, but what the heck, Happy New Year everyone!

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Monster Mon – The Man of the Hour

deuts — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:40:23 +0000

At center, the groom took a quick leave from his bride to pose for some snaps.

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POP3 Access for Yahoo! Mail Free Accounts

deuts — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:53:02 +0000

A POP3 access allows you to send and receive your email messages from a desktop email client like Microsoft Outlook, Thunderbird, Entourage, etc. A user need not login to the web interface and face hundreds of banner ads everyday, but just wait till the program fetches the mails from the background.

POP3 access (and even IMAP) has always been free when you’re using a GMail account. However, by default, for Yahoo! Mail, you will need to upgrade to at least the Yahoo! Mail Plus account (yes, you have to pay in this case) in order to avail of the POP3 access.

Fortunately, there is a workaround for this: YPOPs!

YPOPs! is a free open source software that provides POP3 and SMTP access to Yahoo! Mail. You can use your favourite email client, be it Outlook, Thunderbird, or whatever else you like and connect to Yahoo! Mail seamlessly.

YPOPs! is an application that provides POP3 and SMTP access to Yahoo! Mail.

How do we do it you ask? Well, this application is more like a gateway. It provides a POP3 server interface at one end to talk to email clients and an HTTP client (browser) interface at the other which allows it to talk to Yahoo! The same concept holds good for SMTP as well.

I tried installing the program and configured my Microsoft Outlook 2007 to access, receive, and send mails from my Yahoo! account. Receiving mails (via POP3) was a breeze, it downloaded my messages quite well. Unfortunately, sending emails (via SMTP) failed for me.

It appears there was a glitch with SMTP access. Browsing the forums, it seems this problem has been there for quite some time (add to the fact that the forums has been swarmed with spam posts).

So, therefore, in conclusion, if you don’t want to pay for a Yahoo! Mail Plus to enjoy the convenience offered by a POP3 access, get GMail!

Did you know that? You can import mails and contacts from Yahoo! Mail (and other online webmail providers) to GMail for a smooth transition to the latter? You can read more about it here: Importing contacts and mail.

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Fritz12 Licensing: Activating and Deactivating the Software

deuts — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 17:39:47 +0000

Recently, I got Chessbase’ Fritz12 that I ordered online. Before I installed it, I was looking for any mention in the Terms and Conditions in the usage of the software regarding multiple installation. I’m particularly interested if I am allowed to install the same in multiple computers, and what happens if I reinstall the OS or change computers.

Unfortunately, there were no written Terms and Conditions in the booklets or manual that came with the DVD disk, nor in the actual contents of the disk. I scrounged the internet about it to no avail. I even emailed their helpdesk, and this is what they have to reply:

Yes, you are welcome to install and to activate the program on both of your computers.

Nothing helpful at all.

After installing the program, I checked the help file, and this is what it has to say on activation and deactivation of the software:

The program is activated with a serial number. The serial number is printed on the cover of the user manual accompanying the program. After entering the serial number you have to register the program on the Internet.

If a serial number is not already present in the text boxes type the number that is printed on the cover of the user manual. The serial number can be used to install the program on a maximum of three computers. If you want to install the program on a new computer, or you want to re-install your operating system, you should first deactivate the current registration online.

The reason for this is the hardware recognition. During the registration the program sends information about the user’s system configuration to the server. This increases the number of remaining installations by one, and the program can be re-installed on a different system configuration.

If you want to carry on using the program after changing the system configuration you also have to deactivate and re-activate the program.

Exactly what I was looking for, thank God.

I believe Chessbase should be clear about in the first place, and at least publish these provisions at their website. I’m sure there are a lot of users who are wondering about this for their purchased computer program.

Update: On a related note, you may want to check out FICS vs. Playchess.com.

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Deco’s Original La Paz Batchoy at Alphaland Southgate Mall

deuts — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:15:01 +0000

The first, and so far the only, branch in Metro Manila of the Ilonggo’s favorite ‘Deco’s Original La Paz Batchoy‘ opened last August 14, 2009, concurrent to the opening of the Alphaland Southgate Mall, at the corner of Pasong Tamo (Chino Roces Avenue) and EDSA, Makati City.

So it has been there for more than two months and I only knew about it today. And most probably a lot of Ilonggos still don’t know about it. Their marketing has really got to do a lot of catching up. You can’t even find any info about their opening in Metro Manila from their official website (these guys have yet a lot to learn about SEO, I mean look at the search results for deco’s lapaz batchoy, you’ll find their site at the second spot, but there are no descriptions whatsoever. Theirs is built on adobe flash that takes some time to load or nothing at all if you’re on a slow connection. Adobe Flash is maybe the thing for Hollywood movies website, but not for those who want themselves to be found by search engines for pertinent keywords, e.g. batchoy).

Anyway, I’m just glad we, Ilonggos in Metro Manila, now know where to go when we have the craving for this famous Ilonggo delicacy, or simply missed that *FREE* extra caldo!

Oops! I wasn’t able to catch myself. I missed taking a picture of the served bowl of batchoy before I even started eating. Sorry. LOL.

If you don’t mind, just check out the photo I took in Deco’s in Robinson’s Iloilo back in September 2008:

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Obeertym: a Yahoo! Basketball Fantasy League, Season 2

deuts — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:33:23 +0000

Locked and loaded! The league is ready for kick-off. 15 teams are in for the battle for their right to the crown. 15 teams, out of which 9 were carried over from the premiere season, while 5 dropped out of the race. 6 new franchises in second season.

Let’s take a look at the progress of the league from the last season. The teams below are ranked according to the standings of the 2008 season.

As the Commissioner, I say welcome to the newcomers, and to the rest of the teams — GOODLUCK!

P.S. And to El Galacticos and BolBol (aka DecimusQuintus), I can see you!

2 Nikon and a Sigma (Nikon Mount) Lenses for Sale

deuts — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:38:08 +0000

More photography stuffs for sale. If you are on the Nikon line, you’d better check out these deals:

AF Nikkor 70-300mm f/4-5.6 D Nikon ED SOLD

In mint condition, the asking price for this lens is P3,000. Check out Ken Rockwell’s review about this lens.

Nikkor AF-S DX 18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR SOLD

This lens came with the Nikon D90 body purchased less than a year ago. Photozone had a review here. Asking price is P11,500.

Sigma 18-50 mm F2.8 EX DC Macro

This was purchased in HongKong 3 months ago (July 2009). It is compatible with Nikon DSLR bodies only (Nikon mount). It’ll come with the box and its own lens bag/case (as shown in this photo). Check out Photozone’s review. Asking price is P22,000.

Summary

The owner is upgrading his line of lenses, that’s why the sale. We are willing to entertain transactions within Metro Manila only. The asking prices stated above are negotiable. For further inquiries, kindly post them in the comment section below.

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NBA2K10 Now Available in Stores in the Philippines

deuts — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:43:32 +0000

NBA2K10, which was released October 6 in the US, arrived at Philippine stores today, and they’re selling like hotcakes. I was glad I was able to grab a copy from Datablitz in Rockwell.

I was too excited I probably won’t be able to sleep tonight (LOL). A new game from my favorite series, there are a lot of adjustments to make. Hopefully, they’d be all for the better enjoyment of the game.

I’ve read a lot of reviews, negative and positive, about this new installment from 2K Sports. As a matter of fact, the 2K Sports forums are swarmed with whinings, complaints, and issues about the game, some valid while some are about simple aesthetics.

For me, it’s still fresh from the store. I’m gonna hold off with the review until maybe a week of play, both offline and online. I hope I can come up with a comprehensive review, I’ll surely post it here. Meantime, I’ll enjoy the weekend with my new game.

P.S. By the way, I got a Region 1 BLUS copy of the title, and it’s working great with my standard TV.

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They Used My Photo Without My Permission

deuts — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:49:59 +0000

I never thought I would fall victim to these widespread photo grabbing activities by big media publications without permission and not even a credit.

Here’s what I discovered today from Inquirer Sports’ “RP chess great in BBC-HBO documentary“. They posted a photo that I took of Asia’s first Grandmaster Eugene Torre during the Battle of GM’s in May 2008.

Here’s the screenshot of the webpage taken some minutes ago (click on the image to enlarge):

The same photo I originally posted with my article entitled, “Victorious So in the Battle of GM’s“:

I wouldn’t have required compensation for the use of this photo, and any other photos I posted here at Deuts.NET or in flickr. A simple courtesy would have sufficed. These people, it seems, they don’t know how to show respect! They do deserve some whipping…BAD!