The Four-eyed Journal

Good riddance for the Globe iToolbar

jhay — Sat, 19 May 2012 09:46:37 +0000

Yesterday was a complete PR disaster for Globe when they surprised their mobile internet subscribers with their annoying, obtrusive and uncalled for Globe iToolbar.

Check out the screencaps courtesy of Yuga:

I noticed it yesterday morning but was able to blog about it just now. Over the years, these annoying pop-ups and toolbars have taught me to search for the “x” or close button to get rid of it. Easily enough, I was able to find that button the iToolbar but lo and behold, it didn’t completely disappear. It just collapsed to one side yet it was still taking a significant amount of screen space. It purple color was a major distraction to your browsing experience.

What the hell is Globe iToolbar? According to Globe:

“[it is]to make your Mobile Internet experience much more convenient. You can now enjoy quick and easy access to your favorite Globe and Internet services.”

Really?! The only service I need from Globe is that they make sure that they keep their end of the Service Agreement by providing reliable and consistent Internet service, not an annoying, obtrusive and practically useless pop-up.

Who ever thought that this was a great idea should have his/her head examined. Globe subscribers who experienced this, some are even on corporate accounts, have been annoyed big time.

The good news is that Globe has discontinued the iToolbar, as I wrote this post on a Globe Tattoo stick, the annoying toolbar was no where to be seen.

Global Voices in Filipino Launches

jhay — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:38:09 +0000

A wonderful news came from one of Editors of Global Voices Online – it is the launch of the Global Voices in Filipino portal. That’s right! Global Voices is now available in the Filipino languages so that more Pinoys everywhere would have more access to the citizen-generated content from around the world. This is under the Global Voices Lingua site program wherein localized versions of Global Voices are made available to non-English speaking readers and netizens.

Stories and features from other non-English Global Voices portals would be translated into Filipino allowing more Pinoys to join in the global conversation. With this, I am pleased and honored to join the translation team to help in keeping the portal up and running.

For those who are interested to join the Lingua volunteer team for Global Voices in Filipino are invited to fill up the application form here.

Filipino readers are also invited to come and visit the portal as there are already tons of content readily available to read in our own language.

We are also inviting enthusiasts, fellow bloggers, netizens and readers to help in spreading word about Global Voices in Filipino.

As we say in Global Voices in Filipino, ‘nagsasalita ang mundo, nakikinig ka ba?‘ (The world is talking, are you listening?)

Watchword: Braggadocio

jhay — Wed, 09 May 2012 16:54:41 +0000

A break from a blogging hiatus and blogging about tech related topics, one word has caught my fancy while catching up on the latest local news which centers on two hot issues: the stand-off between China and the Philippines over the Scarborough shoal and the recent brawl between Raymart Santiago and mediaman Ramon Tulfo.

One word that connects the stories – braggadocio.

Merriam-Webster defines it as braggart, empty boasting, arrogant pretension or cockiness.

After the airport brawl between Raymart Santiago and Ramon Tulfo, you all know the story so I’ll skip those details, the other Tulfos: Erwin, Raffy and Ben in an episode of “T3 Kapatid Sagot Kita” on Monday night virtually vowed to exact revenge on Santiago for what happened to their elder brother. Which was no surprise at all knowing that the Tulfo brothers are known for, what else, being braggadocio.

It seems that PNoy is no different from the Tulfos in his handling of the Scarborough shoal stand-off between China.

Journalist and former Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Presidential Spokesperson Rigoberto Tiglao explained how PNoy blew away the chance of peacefully resolving the Scarborough stand-off by sending the Philippine Navy’s flagship BRP Gregorio del Pilar to scare off unarmed Chinese fishing vessels in the Panatag shoal.

Tiglao points out that the move gave the Chinese the opportunity the moral high ground that it was the Philippines who sparked the now volatile situation in the West Philippine sea. It was PNoy who escalated the situation and with his officials from the Cabinet and the Armed Forces blabbering regularly how the United States would come to aid us in case of an outbreak of armed conflict is nothing else but, you guessed it: braggadocio.

With the Tulfos facing a possible sanction by the MTRCB over their tirades on TV and the United States having said no word that it will side with the Philippines on the Scarborough shoal stand-off, it was only our own Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin who interpreted it that way, we will soon see how long this braggadocio will last. More importantly, where it would lead us all.

Signing up for Google Drive

jhay — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 18:25:41 +0000

Alright, bear with me. It’s been more than a month since my last update on this blog it feels like I’ve forgotten how to go about this whole exercise.

Moving on to the topic, the internet is abuzz with the news that Google will launch its much-awaited and might-be-too-late cloud storage service, Google Drive next week. Google fans say it with me, Yay!

I’ll tell you honestly that once it is open for sign-up, I’d sign-up right away. For a Google fan like myself, it is the logical move. I use Gmail, Calendar and Docs, but up until next week, I’ve wandered between non-Google online storage services like Box.net, Ubuntu One and my least favorite, DropBox.

And it seems that the universe has conspired with Google to make this decision for me because hopefully, next week too, I’d be back to using an Android phone. Coincidence? I call it destiny.

Google Drive’s 5GB of free storage is more than enough for me and since it’s tied up with other Google services, the mess that is my digital files would be put into order. Finally!

While some privacy issues have already popped up, I am confident that a Google Drive will see a healthy wave of sign-ups once it opens next week.

How about you? Would you sign up for Google Drive and dump your current cloud storage service?

Windows 8 Consumer Preview Now Available

jhay — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 02:09:43 +0000

Excited for Windows 8? Or you’re still content with Windows 7? Either way, the wait for getting a demo/preview version of the next operating system from Microsoft is now over as the the Windows 8 Consumer Preview is now available for public download.

Just bear in mind of the system specifications required to run Windows 8 Consumer Preview:

Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster
RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device or higher
To use touch, you need a tablet or monitor that supports multitouch
To access Windows Store and to download and run apps, you need an active Internet connection and a screen resolution of at least 1024 x 768
To snap apps, you need a screen resolution of at least 1366 x 768

The specifications are the same needed to run Windows 7, so if you’re running it right now, you’d have a smooth time installing and running Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Download Windows 8 64-bit here (3.3GB).

Download Windows 8 32-bit here (2.5GB).

Windows 8 Product Key: DNJXJ-7XBW8-2378T-X22TX-BKG7J

You check out more information here on Windows 8 Consumer Preview download page here as well as versions available in other languages.

So, would you give Windows 8 a spin? To be honest, I’m a bit curious myself, though I’d still need a touch-capable PC or tablet device in order to fully appreciate its capabilities.

Have fun and enjoy!