One Day at a Time

How to Spot a Fake Casio F-91W in 2019

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Thu, 11 Apr 2019 08:29:00 +0000

I ordered online the classic Casio F-91W. It took 3 weeks to arrive in the Philippines from the overseas provider.

It was a long wait and when it arrived, I noticed instantly that the display of the numbers were perfectly vertical instead of usual slightly slanted or italicized numbers on Casio watches. A red flag for me.

The box it came with had the F-91W displayed but it also had on big letters announcing it as an "Analog" watch where in fact it is most popular "digital" watch in the world even for terrorists that after almost 3 decades of production since 1991, still sells around 3 million units a year for Casio. In fact, Barack Obama and Osama Bin Laden both own this watch. For terrorists, if you wear a Casio F-91W or its metal variant A-158W, it means you have the skills to use it to time a bomb.

So I tried these two tests:

Long press on the 12h/24h button. It displayed "CASIo" - PASSED
Long press all three buttons. All the LCD segments activated. - PASSED

It passed both tests that many YouTube videos suggested on how to determine it you have a fake or original F-91W. Well I guess the counterfeiters also watched those videos and learned from it.

But upon closer inspection of the LCD segments, there are font serifs missing on the day display that an original F-91W should have. Then the second digit of the minute numbers should have two segments at the top "8" segment. Only 1 solid segment was there. I encircled these two differences in LCD segment details in the fake watch image below.

These plus some other minor observations confirmed that what I got was a fake Casio F-91W.
I returned it and got my refund thankfully.

I don't know if there are other counterfeiters out there are able to copy these small details in the LCD segmentation. They are really getting better.

Be careful when buying. Cheers!

Sparc TechBook S1 In Depth Review

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Tue, 08 Aug 2017 02:24:00 +0000

Box:

A pretty simple box. Only a thin clear front plastic cover and bubble wrap protects the laptop. Unlike mall branded laptops with full on corrugated cardboard box and foam on all sides. But it was delivered damaged free naman.

Specs:

It's Intel Atom Z8350 processor with Intel HD Graphics is faster than Atom Z3735 series processor on the more expensive 10-incher Cherry Mobile Cubix CubeBook or 2015 Acer Switch 10 laptops. Local laptops with the same processor cost more. The latest Acer branded laptops with Z83xx series processor costs 24,000 and up.
1366 x 768 resolution TN display
2GB RAM, 32GB storage expandable by SD card (64GB max)
1 full size USB 2.0
1 full size USB 3.0
1 mini HDMI port
Wi-Fi b/g/n
Bluetooth 4.0
0.3MP front camera
Large multitouch touchpad
Full size keys, non-illuminated
Windows 10 Home, 64-bit

First boot:

It took 2 hours in blue screen with spinning dots before the login screen appeared. Then another hour of busy cursor after logging in as Admin where you can’t do anything but wiggle the cursor from time to time. Nabato after 1 hour at nag long press na sa power button for forced shutdown. The succeeding Windows boot took less than 30 seconds na consistently. Fast boot.

Available user space:

17.8 GB free before any software install.

Can install 64GB SD card max and configure Windows to use it for future installs and file saves. Of course this depends if the app for install supports storage selection.

Power supply:

Power brick is small, parang pang cellphone. Cord length is short. Di ka makalayo sa outlet compared to those extra long cables ng conventional laptops.

Trickle charging lang if plugged in while turned ON. To expedite charging you need to turn it off.

Battery life is 8 hours. Longer if wifi and bluetooth off.

Screen:

Comes with a screen protector with side 1 already attached. Just peel off side 2 plastic.

Screen brightness good and sufficient even when outdoors. No dead pixels.

Horizontal viewing angles are good. Vertical viewing angle is confined which is expected of TN panels. It's not IPS so expect what TN panels offer. Very good for its price and size.

Illumination flickers sometime. Sana wag mag black out later.

Audio:

Speaker volume is audible but tinny. Zero mids and lows. Headphone jack works.

2 noise cancelling microphones are sensitive enough for Cortana to hear me and respond when I give her tasks.

Bluetooth:

Zippy connection to BT speakers. Clean output.

USB ports:

1 full size USB 2.0 and 1 full size USB 3.0. The USB ports are upside down compared to “normal” laptops. Ingat connecting your USB thingy baka pwersahin nyo pag di pumasok. Just flip it over.

HDMI port:

Mini HDMI port works well with TV, projectors and extended monitors.

Wireless display connection:

Can wirelessly connect to a SmartTV with wireless display or Miracast support. Just press windows+P then select connect to a wireless display. Works great. No wires.

Thermals:

No noisy fan. No hot spots while in use. Warm lang. Di makakaluto ng itlog.

LCD back panel illuminated logo:

Looks cool when dark. When against the light (example, morning sun) and you have a black wallpaper, the logo outline is visible from the front. Lipat ka na nag ng pwesto.

Weight:

Magaan. Sarap dalhin.

Dimensions:

Similar to 1st generation Macbook Air in thickness. Looks cool. Bagay itabi sa iPhone.

Program loading and response:

Fast response for MS Office 2016 applications, iTunes and email apps. Light gaming ok. Very usable for school/office work, web browsing, social media, YouTube, downloading and playing movies and music.

Live USB:

Can boot to Linux and other live OS.

External HDD:

OK. Can read/write.

Windows update:

First few tries to update were fails. Downloaded Windows update troubleshooter from Microsoft and it fixed it. Windows update was a breeze afterwards. Was able to upgrade legitimately to Windows Fall Creators Update (version 1709). Be sure to do Windows disk cleanup to free up disk space once the update is completed.

For a price similar to a Cherry Mobile budget phone, it’s a very good deal indeed. Same performance as well branded smaller 10” windows laptop with the same processor and memory config. But those cost more.

Baguio in 3 days (Part 3)

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:52:00 +0000

My parents woke up early to have a hot cup of coffee and my brothers took an early morning bath to knock the cold away. We packed up our stuffs after breakfast and checked out of Assumption for our final pasyal point and the long drive home. We went out late in the morning but traffic was still heavy from Baguio to La Trinidad.

We just admired how houses were sticking out of the mountains with very steep stairs to go up and down. We wondered how they bring big appliances way up the steep stairs to where their live.

An hour before lunch we reached Benguet State University strawberry farm. We made this our last stop so we can take home strawberries and other vegetable produce and reach home while they are still fresh.

My mom was surprised on how a strawberry plant looked like. It was her first time to see it and she quipped "nakakita rin ako ng totoong strawberry na halaman. Ganyan lang pala yan."

We started our drive home right after buying some produce and eating strawberry ice cream, lumpia and strawberry pie. "Di masarap ang strawberry pie" sabi ni Ian.

And as promised, we headed back to S.O.U.L. Cafe for a relaxed lunch and for papa's papaitan. He said it was good and "ilokanong ilocano ang lasa."

The rest of us had our choice of steaks while Hannah of course had her all-time anytime anywhere favorite - cheese burger. Along the way home we bought tupig which is also a first time my parents and brothers. Good thing Lilia thought of stopping by one the kids selling tupig along the road.

Dinner was in Shell of Asia along NLEX, less than 20 Km away from Balintawak. We opted for Mang Inasal because about a month ago I discovered that papa and mama have not tried Mang Inasal yet.

It was a long drive home so we spent the night in papa and mama's house before heading home to our own house the next day.

3 days - 789 kilometers - all good fun

thank you God

Baguio in 3 days (Part 2)

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:06:00 +0000

Our first night in Baguio was a big change from our nights at home. No need for air-con or electric fan in Baguio. The temperature dropped to 17 degrees C that summer night. And unlike home, no way to throttle the temp to a cozy 23 to 24 degrees C. It was a good experience for my parents and brothers as their first time.

Sunday began early with a 7:30 AM Holy Mass in Assumption. We came in early just as the others are coming in. It was followed by breakfast then LnP worship then Lunch.

Group pictures were taken before everyone went on separate ways for the rest of the weekend. Some already needed to go back home with an optional detour to Our Lady of Manaoag while some stayed to experience more of Baguio.

Mines View on a Sunday is crowded with people. Parking was along the streets only because no parking area is available.

There are a lot of pasalubong stalls all around including the classic wooden barrel man with the big surprise. There are also photo ops with horses that have pink manes or Saint Bernard dogs wearing shades.

For pasalubong and take home goodies we passed by Good Shepherd Convent that is located near Mines View Park. The price is a bit higher but aside from their good quality products, you get the good feeling that part of what you pay for goes to the education of the convent's scholars. You can see some of them in the upper left corner of the photo above. Their ube Jam is very smooth and creamy. You can make home-made ube hopia by spreading this on pan de sal. They don't have an ube jam version with chunky bits in it. Their peanut brittle really deserve the name "peanut brittle" because it easily breaks when bitten lightly - no stress or effort needed, just the joy in consuming caramelized finely ground peanuts. It is far better than some other peanut brittle that should be more appropriately named "peanut rocks". Lengua de Gato was out of stocks.

Merienda was next. We had it in Cafe by the Ruins which is very close to our next point of interest.

A merienda of croissant, fancy turon, leche flan and Jose Rizal's favorite tsokolate-e.

Last stop for the day was a cool leisurely late afternoon stroll in Burnham Park. The man-made lake reminded me of the lake in NUVALI. But instead of boat riding, NUVALI lake have another purpose.

Some of the sunflowers were already starting to wilt so I guess late March is the best time to see all of them in full bloom. Sunflower bloom signal the start of summer. As the sun said goodbye, we headed back to Assumption for dinner.

Assumption make very good hototay soup and it made me return to get some more - twice. The dinner and hot soup was a good combo before settling in for the cold night.

Baguio in 3 days (Part 1)

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 08:11:00 +0000

A few weeks after PAGASA declared the beginning of Philippine Summer of 2013 and a week after Holy Week, my family and friends from Ligaya ng Panginoon catholic community went on a Baguio Summer outing. It was a 3-day mixed catholic community out of town prayer meeting and personal vacation.

We were a bunch of 8 packed in one car with our bags, driving 300 Km from Southern Luzon and climbing up to an altitude of 1.5 Km to Baguio. It was my mom and brother's first time to go to Baguio and my father's revisit of Baguio after more than two decades.

All need to be perfect. I had the car's preventive maintenance done two weeks before the trip, washed and vacuum cleaned 8 hours before the trip, car fluids filled, tire pressure increased for fully laden weight and placed water bottles and snacks for all 7 passengers plus mine.

For navigation, I used my trusty old Nokia 5800 phone which at present I have stripped off the job of being my primary phone but kept lovingly as my GPS navigator and underwater camera sidekick when coupled with a waterproof bag. Nokia still makes the best GPS navigation software to date. Google Maps have great maps, street view and terrain layers. But voice navigation is robotic and needs an always on internet connection. Nokia on the other hand (both Symbian and Windows phone) offers natural voice GPS navigation, whole country road maps saved inside your phone (no need internet connection whatsoever), points of interest with offline search, vehicle speed tracking, over speeding warnings, route and stop over planning. All that a driver needs. A week earlier, I programmed on my Nokia phone our route and all stop overs to, within and from Baguio. The good news is that it never failed me. We got to Baguio and back trusting all our routes to that little old phone. Thanks Nokia.

We left home on Saturday 1:00 AM, enabled Nokia GPS Navigation, said our travel prayers and took a leisurely drive towards Baguio and never going more than 100 kph along the way. No hurry. All is cool. It is a vacation after all. And after it, I do not want to feel too tired and wanting another vacation from this Baguio vacation.

The 1:00 AM drive, nature breaks and short stops along the way were just right to bring us to Shell gasoline station in La Union at 6:15 AM. This point is about a kilometer away from the road fork separating Baguio-bound vehicles taking Kennon Road or Marcos Hi-Way. I planned it this way because S.O.U.L. Cafe, our breakfast stopover, opens at 6:30 AM (I called them 2 days earlier to confirm what time they will open that Saturday). After a Shell fuel top up, we went in and had our breakfast.

At this early we were the first and only customer. It was fun hearing my father talk in Ilokano with the staff. He ordered kinilaw na kambing while the rest of us took our own pick of dinaing na espada with egg, longganisa with egg, batchoy, pinakbet, lumpia shanghai and spaghetti. The chef arrives around 10:00 AM so the full menu with gourmet pasta and steaks were not yet available.

Each set of breakfast meal came with a hot cup of chocolate de batirol. Their version are in small cups the size for espresso shots. It is a rich and thick native chocolate blend that is a good morning kick starter. Smaller cups of milk are also served to mix in as desired. After a good meal and with a promise to go back to S.O.U.L. Cafe when we make our trip back home, we continued or journey to Baguio. We took the route along Pugo-Rosario Road then turned right at its intersection with Ben Palispis Highway (also known as Jose Aspiras Highway or Marcos Highway). Marcos' bust is just a wreck of it's former self when we my wife and I first went up Baguio 10 years ago when it still had a recognizable face. I wish they kept it intact for history's sake like Bataan and Corregidor.

Our first and foremost Baguio point of interest target of the day is Fort del Pilar of PMA (Philippine Military Academy). I know it is way off and over the other points of interest but there is no stopping at any other location.

Because it is only on Saturday mornings when PMA cadets go out to the parade grounds and treat visitors to an hour long program.

The cadets performed their silent drill mixed with pattern formations and three live rifle shots that surprised the audience. The show ended with a fun dance number of the cadets to show their soft side to the tune of Gangnam Style, Harlem Shake and Teach me How to Dougie. It is a show that a PMA visitor must try to catch to add more meaning to the PMA visit.

By the way, visitors in ordinary slippers are not allowed inside. So wear sandals or shoes. Here are some of the other pics we took in PMA.

The sun is up and the skies are bright blue but the breeze is cool and relaxing. Standing under a shady tree will instantly give you the feeling how cool it is compared to Laguna. The temperature that day was 24 degrees C and it was almost noon. It was the typical comfy aircon temperature setting you use at home - not hot, not too cold, just right. At night, the temperature dropped to 17 degrees C during our stay in Baguio - colder than the coldest setting of air-cons and enough to force our daughter to use a blanket the whole night for the first time.

Next stop was Camp John Hay. We strolled for a while on the hill where the small Statue of Liberty was located. There were a lot of families having fun and taking an early picnic or barbecue lunch and almost all the picnic tables were occupied.

We paid for the entrance fee and went inside Camp John Hay Historical Core to see more of the previous rest and recreation area of the US Army in the Philippines. Inside it is the Amphitheater. Ten years ago it was free to access this place. A wedding reception catered by Mario's, a popular restaurant in Baguio, was being set up when we were there.

Other parts in the Historical Core are the Secret Garden, Cemetery of Negativism, History Trail, Liberty Loop and Bell House where you go inside the house of Major General Franklin Bell. A portrait of then Philippine Secretary of State John Milton Hay is displayed inside the house.

Having a rest inside the part of History Trail overlooking The Manor.

We had a late lunch in Choco-late de Batirol located in the Igorot Garden near Gate 2.

It is a famous destination. The time was just right and the place was not crowded. Lunch time for most people just ended and it was an hour before the next wave of crowd come in for merienda.

We had the best place. A cool and private garden nook surrounded by plants and wood carvings. Just right for 8 persons.

Lunch was very good then we ended it with suman sa lihia, bibingka and chocolate de batirol. Their version of chocolate de batirol was not as thick and not as sweet as S.O.U.L. Cafe and it came in a normal sized mugs. It had a slight bitter and nutty flavor most likely due by adding finely crushed peanuts. I like more the chocolate de batirol we had for breakfast earlier.

Just as the crowd came in for merienda, we headed to The Mansion and Wright Park. No more time for merienda as we were still full but for visitors staying longer in Wright Park, the recommended eating place is just a short walk to Ketchup Food Community along Romulo Drive near Pacdal Circle.

Late in the afternoon it was time to check-in to the retreat house. A year earlier, LNP reserved Assumption Sabbath Place for the Baguio outing. It was a very early reservation because it is always fully booked. We did not check-in early in order to catch the PMA program and also to let the previous occupants check-out and for the rooms to be prepared. After our stay, nuns from Xavier University of Cagayan de Oro were next in line.

The rooms surrounded a naturally lit, naturally ventilated, covered central area where gatherings and activities can be held. Surrounding it are two levels of rooms of different types and sizes. Some have their own toilet and bath and some share a common toilet & bath where there are plenty of cubicles and shower rooms. We settled in our rooms and rested for a while before the night's events.

At 6:00 PM we had the Lord's Day celebration with LNP community followed by dinner and fellowship night of games and fun.

Lilia won the longest ear, Hannah the smallest biceps and me the longest distance from eye to eye in the Pinaka contests. A good way to end our first day in Baguio.

CatchFire 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Are you happy? sad? afraid? lost? in search of something? wanting change?

Then come and join CatchFire Rally 2012.

No matter what state you're in, here's a big energy boost and an Experience for you & me.

Be energized, be inspired.... in a gathering of families, friends and peers.

CatchFire 2012

November 25, 2012 (Sunday)

1:00 PM to 6:00 PM

PhilSports Arena (ULTRA)

Last year's first-ever CatchFire Rally pooled in and inspired more than 8,000 persons.

More will come this year.

CatchFire Rally Homepage

CatchFire in Facebook

A piece of 2011 history:

Last November 20, 2011, Christ the King Sunday, more than 8,000 people trooped to the Philsports Arena (ULTRA) for the first-ever CATCHFIRE, an inspirational rally, which was spearheaded by the Pathways Ministries of Ang Ligaya ng Panginoon Community (LNP).

With the theme,“One King. One People. One Mission.”, CATCHFIRE served as a major gathering in recent years of various religious groups, which included, aside from LNP, other trans-parochial communities like Couples for Christ (CFC), Brotherhood of Christian Businessmen and Professionals (BCBP), FAMILIA, Tahanan ng Panginoon, and singles/youth communities like Christ’s Youth in Action (CYA), Ang Lingkod ng Panginoon and Singles for Christ (SFC), among many others.

CATCHFIRE kicked-off with a grand motorcade that started from three (3) different points in Metro Manila – the Ligaya Center in Taguig City, the Servants of the Word House in Quezon City, and the East Asian Pastoral Institute (EAPI) in Ateneo campus, Quezon City.

CATCHFIRE opened with a Eucharistic Celebration presided by Fr. Herb Schneider, S.J., who is the spiritual director of various Catholic renewal communities, Fr. Dave Concepcion of the Holy Apostles Senior Seminary, and Fr. Gio Santos of the Salesian Order.

According to Fr. Dave Concepcion, “With CATCHFIRE, we hope to rally our people to catch the fire, hold on to it, and pass it on to others!”

The Mass was followed by an exciting afternoon of loud cheers, songs and dances in honor of Christ the King, life-giving personal sharings from chosen members of certain communities, and an inspirational talk entitled, “FIRE for the World!” from CATCHFIRE spokesperson and lay-preacher, Bro. Bobby Quitain. His talk rallied the people to proclaiming and spreading the Good News of salvation in and through Jesus Christ in their own personal mission fields.

At the end of CATCHFIRE, the rallyists prayed for the renewal of one another, for guidance and protection of the leaders of participating religious groups, for inspiration and courage of specific government officials who are members of the communities present, and hope for the entire country. Present during the event were DPWH Secretary Rogelio Singson, PCSO Chairperson Margarita Juico, and her husband, former PSC Chairman and DAR Secretary Philip Juico.

With more than 8,000 people in attendance, CATCHFIRE hopes to have renewed and enlivened the faith of Filipinos living in Metro Manila. In the future, it hopes to spread the “fire” across the entire nation. (via)

Exploring Sagada

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Sagada is a cool, quiet and serene Philippine mountain region that travelers in Luzon can experience for a few days. Its elevation is twice as high as Tagaytay and roughly the same as that of Baguio at one and a half kilometers above sea level more or less. My wife and her friends went there a few years back and here's what they did.

The night before Labor Day, they started the 6-hour commute from Manila to Baguio and another 6-hour commute to Sagada. Even though they took a non-aircon bus from Baguio to Sagada, the cool fresh air was enough to keep them comfy.

Upon arrival, they checked in to Sagada Guest House (reserved a week in advance), rested for a while, took a nice bath and ate lunch happily at the first restaurant they found. What can be more closer that the cafeteria right inside Sagada Guest House.

Day one, May 1, was planned to be a light day of strolling around the town center of Sagada. The long commute drained a lot of energy and a light first day can help recharge the mind and body for the bigger and more challenging day two.

The Episcopal Church of Saint Mary the Virgin.

The most photographed church bell of Sagada stamped A.D. 1921.

This wheel was placed on Sagada on October 11, 2001 as a centennial marker for 100 years of mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines. The wheel was previously part of a sawmill brought by the United States to Sagada. When the mill stopped operating, the wheel was discarded and left lying on the ground for almost a century. It found its second life in showbiz as a famous Sagada landmark as pictured above.

A few minutes walk from the church is Sagada cemetery. Panag-Apoy ritual takes place in this cemetery every 1st of November where instead of lighting candles near the graves, they burn pinewood previously blessed in the church.

Gazing out to the hanging coffins on Sagada

What to do in Echo Valley. Take a good guess.

Day one ended with a dinner in Yoghurt House.

The second day started early. By 8:00 AM they already had breakfast, asked the front desk for help finding a jeep to rent for the whole day, took the private jeepney ride and got off the starting point of their morning trek downhill.

The trek down took almost one and a half hours.

With views like this. A beautiful but unknown waterfalls to me.

Let me call it wiwi falls.

Crossing make-shift bridges...

... and clearing away gigantic boulders along the way...

... to get to Bomod-Ok falls (a.k.a. Big Falls of Sagada)...

... to have an hour dip in its cool waters.

The trek back up took a bit longer with gravity holding them back.

But it's time well spent for the healthy heart and enormous eye-candy such as this.

Their visit to Sagada was in good timing as it coincided with the celebration of Barangay Poblacion's first ever Fiesta (May 2, 2008). The celebration started with a parade then a thanksgiving mass in the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin.

Two pieces of etag hanging between native hand-woven backpacks. Etag is a native delicacy of smoked or dried pork meat.

After lunch, they drove to Sumaguing Cave.

It's a dark, wet place illuminated only by lanterns and camera flash as you take photos.

It's cold and mist such as this get's captured easily in pictures.

A Kodak moment.
By the way, Kodak already filed for bankruptcy. But their tag line remains.

It took three full wet hours for them to go down the cave and back up. Tiring but a really memorable experience with what my wife commented she did once this time but most likely never again :)

Dinner took them back to the same place...

... Yoghurt House.

After dinner, past 9:00 PM, the first ever fiesta celebration still continued with the night shift dancers taking the place of the day shift dancers. My wife can't sleep because even at 3:00 AM they were not finished. Understandable though as this is their first fiesta.

The next day was time to go home. A parting shot of not the typical rice terraces, but of vegetable terraces.

3rd PyroMusical Competition - South Korea & Malta

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 06:40:00 +0000

The 3rd Philippine International PyroMusical Competition kicked off it's first night yesterday in Mall of Asia. This year, there are 12 countries participating in the event. Joining the Philippines are South Korea, Malta, United Kingdom, Spain, Finland, Portugal, China, Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Italy. Each country is given 20 minutes to display their fireworks that are closely timed to songs they selected.

Held every Saturday from February 11 to March 17, this is a big crowd drawer for Mall of Asia. So we did not bother bringing a car to MOA. We just took the 5-minute walk from Sea Residences to MOA then looked for a good deal in one of the restaurants facing Manila Bay where the fireworks barges are floating. In the previous years we were either standing in the bay walk or in the vacant lot (where One e-Com now stands) holding a bottle of water, a tripod, a camera and eating waffles or burgers while mostly standing up even though we brought portable stools. Fun but tiring. So our priority in watching the events this year is a relaxed al fresco dinner served to us on comfy table and chairs while we watch the fireworks.

We found a reasonable 250 pesos per person consumable offer and grabbed it immediately. It was an easy choice for us: a 300 pesos ticket to be near the bay without free food or a 250 pesos consumable fee in a proper restaurant. By 6:30pm we were already properly seated waiting for our food to be served.

In front of us are crowds eagerly waiting for the events to begin. Here are some of the pics I snapped.

These heart-shaped fireworks drew cheers from the spectators as well as the smiley face fireworks which I was not quick enough to take a photo of.

These looked like sparkling water cascading down waterfalls.

Official tickets range from 100 to 1500 pesos. Or you can find a restaurant facing Manila bay and eat dinner there while the fireworks light up the sky.

3rd International PyroMusical in MOA

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:06:00 +0000

The dates have been set.

The 3rd Philippine International Pyromusical Competition will be held in SM Mall of Asia from Feb 11, 2012 to March 17, 2012 with twelve countries participating. Last year's winner was China.

Before the birth of the annual Pyromusical Competition in MOA, there was also a yearly international event called the World Pyro Olympics.

Relive the World Pyro Olympics by clicking these links:

Every Friday and Saturday at 7:00pm, SM MOA gives MOA folks a free five minute pyrotechnics show. Here is how it looks like from SM Sea Residences condo located in front of SM Mall of Asia.

Sea Residences Orientation

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 03:12:00 +0000

My wife and I can't stop thinking that our view and accept of the SM Sea Residences condo is only a few days away. It came to a point that on a Saturday morning we decided to gate crash on the house rules orientation even though we were not on the list for that day. It is our first experience to buy a condo and we can't get it off our minds.

Sea Residences is located in Mall of Asia Complex and is just a few steps away from MOA.

I remember our experience in the World Pyro Olympics in MOA, the fantastic fireworks and the unbelievably long time it took us to get back home. I guess in the back of our minds, this was one of the reasons why we decided to buy a property there.

A big arena and concert ground is near the area as well as PAGCOR City and a new Nayong Pilipino I also read somewhere that SM is negotiating to have some of the NBA games held in MOA Complex.

Ours is a simple single bedroom unit with balcony where a maximum of 3 occupants is allowed. The picture above was taken from the model unit. Our unit will be furnished and designed by my wife.

The kitchen is pretty decent with built-in electric stove on the granite countertop and a range hood above it (photo of the model unit also).

Keys, keys, keys. A mailbox for each condo unit.

We don't have any condo owner down and dirty rules experience in the past so the house rules orientation is a big thing to us.

Here are some of the highlights based on what us who attended raised.

During a power failure, the main electrical switch must be manually switched from Meralco power to the building generator. It is not automatic. So my mental note self: install a wall mounted emergency light. It's normal, I believe. Even hotels and malls have wall mounted emergency lights powered by rechargeable batteries. To protect the company I worked for from power failure, the whole plant ran on it's own energy center that houses several giant Myanmar generators 24/7. It was like this for more than a decade. Too much fuel used, Petron very happy. Then we decided to invest on UPS. But it is a very serious investment that needed tons on money.

The generator can't supply power to all lights and electrical outlets. It will supply power to only a select few. Requested that those lights and outlets be identified.

No garbage chute. Trash must be collected by unit owners, placed in bags and placed outside the front door on specific times. This stirred up the emotions of the attendees and images of hallways lined with stinky garbage bags floated in the air. This must be on top of the improvement items list of the the Home Owner's Association - us.

1.5 hp max air con capacity. Everyone was interested to know what the other max ratings are. But no direct answer was given.

Allowed delivery window for items to be moved in is 9am to 5pm, Mon to Sat.

Swimming not yet allowed in the swimming pools, although already filled with water and cleaned daily.

Underground parking have no identification numbers yet so parking slot owners will be given random parking slots but it does not mean it will be their permanent slot.

No service elevator. All stuffs you bring inside will use the elevators in the lobby. If your stuffs won't fit, use the stairs.

After the orientation, I peeked at the label in the main electrical switch. Max ratings I saw there:

Water heater = 3.3 KW
Air con = 1.5 hp
Range/Range hood = 3.5 KW
Washing machine = 1.5 KW

There was also a note there that the emergency generator will supply power to the living room and bedroom lights and the outlet assigned to the refrigerator. So I guess that indirectly answers one of the concern above.

No earth shaking news in the orientation. Valid and typical concerns.

A few work items to be ironed out by the future home owners.
But I am really interested on how other condos manage their trash.

Can somebody share?

Thanks.

2012 Toyota Innova and Toyota Fortuner

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 04:50:00 +0000

The first generation Toyota Innova and Toyota Fortuner were launched in the Philippines in 2005. Three years later, it received its mid life kicker in the form of a facelift of the bumpers and new rear combination lights. Now its life is coming to an end (the average Pinoy car's model life is 6 years with a minor facelift in the middle). So late this year or in early 2012, the 2nd generation Toyota Innova and Toyota Fortuner will be introduced in the Philippines.

Toyota Astra is already starting to slowly update their website to the second generation Toyota Innova and Toyota Fortuner. These models were already on display in the recently concluded International Motor Show in Indonesia. So the pics below are fairly accurate on what to expect here in the Philippines, plus or minus some features.

The new Innova and Fortuner borrowed some genes from the Toyota Altis in the form of more horizontal grilles and the protruding headlights. The Toyota family resemblance is unmistakable and is now spread across most of their product lines.

A friend was planning to replace their car. But for now, they will patiently wait for the release of the new models. Because if they buy now, it will quickly look obsolete next year. Waah, I also want one.

Next Generation Toyota Innova (2012)

Next Generation Toyota Fortuner (2012)

CD-R King 7" Android Tablet - FastPad

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 11:28:00 +0000

CD-R King just introduced a 7" Android Tablet that they named FastPad. And it costs only 8,800 pesos.
The specs of their Android Tablet are pretty decent for its price.

1 Ghz Arm Cortex A8 - based Samsung S5PV210 processor
4 GB internal storage expandable to 32 GB
512 MB DDR2 RAM
7 inch 800x480 resolution capacitive touch screen
Android 2.2 (Froyo) with Flash 10.1 support
Android Marketplace
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g
1 HDMI port, 2 USB ports, 3.5" audio port, memory card slot
Built-in microphone and stereo speakers
3MP front facing camera
Accelerometer for screen orientation and motion sensing apps and games
Video: 1080p HD, MPEG4, H.264, H.263, VC1, RMVB, RM, 3GP, AVI, MKV, MOV
Audio: MP3, WMA, WAV, AAC, AAC+
Image: JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF
Ebook: UMD, TXT, PDF
Quickoffice support

The only things missing are GPS/A-GPS, bluetooth and 3G SIM card slot.

My guess is it's a re-branded DroPad A8.
Click here for extensive web reviews.

If this is indeed a DroPad, one neat feature is ability to connect a keyboard & mouse to the USB port. With these connected you vitually have a pretty well equipped netbook similar to an ASUS EeePad Transformer. The USB port also accepts 3G USB internet sticks (available from Smart, Globe or Sun) to have internet connection on the go. So the absence of a SIM card slot has a work around.

Good bang for the buck!

MMDA Online Traffic Update

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 11:10:00 +0000

I envy the Google Maps version in the US with the up to date layer of traffic info that can tell you where traffic congestions are and suggest alternate routes for your destination.

MMDA and TV5 launched a beta version of a traffic update service for 6 main roads in Metro Manila (EDSA, Quezon Avenue, Espana, C5, Roxas Boulevard and SLEX). It's years behind whats available in Google Maps US and GPS navigators there, but it's still a good start for Manila than nothing at all.

Traffic congestion levels are color coded red, yellow and green. System view, line view and Google Map views are available. The traffic condition is updated every 5 to 10 minutes between 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM.

I hope they get full integration will Google Maps for mobile phones so that Google Maps GPS navigation in Manila would be even better. For now you can access their website using either your PC or Phone connected to a wi-fi or 3G network.

System view of the traffic condition of parts of EDSA, Quezon Avenue and C5

Google Maps view of the traffic condition in EDSA

Home 3D Imaging Without The Glasses

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 07:17:00 +0000

There are a variety of ways to view 3D images and videos depending on how the media content was created.

A pair of color films, one for the left eye and one for the right eye then optics to direct each of the to each eye. The viewing aparatus is fashioned like a binocular like those View Master toys.
3D glasses where one lens is tinted blue and the other is tinted red. This is common in children's books.
Passive polarized 3D glasses like the ones used in SM 3D cinemas, Enchanted Kingdom 4D Theater and the IMAX theater in Mall of Asia.
Active shutter 3D glasses like those used in Sony, LG and Samsung LCD and LED backlit LCD TVs.
Holograms such as the authentication logo stickers on credit cards of Visa/Mastercard, Nokia batteries and HP ink refills.
Lenticular screens with a parallax barrier that splits images for the left and right eye like those used in the Nintendo 3DS and HTC Evo 3D.

There's another method that you can use and play around with at home. No fancy gadget needed. See the samples below.

This is an old photo taken in the 16th infantry camp in the Philippines a long time ago. It is a good photograph but you can make it even better. Turn it to 3D !

The photo above is actually a scan of an old stereographic card that was originally taken using a stereoscopic camera (a kind of old camera with two lens separated the same distance as the human eye). A special apparatus was then used to view the two images simultaneously in the stereographic cards similar to what View Master toys do.

But there's another way to view these stereoscopic cards without a need for fancy gadgets. It is called wiggle spectroscophy. To demonstrate, I combined the two images above and came up with this image where you can have a feel of the depth of the image and gives more umph to the old photograph.

It resembles that Matrix movie look on the scene when Trinity jumped and made her Karate Kid pose as time slowed down. This effect made my jaw drop the first time I saw it. You can do this at home using an ordinary camera or cellphone by taking multiple photos of the subject at slightly different angles then merging them like what I did with the wiggle 3D images below.

If you happen to see me taking photos while kinda dancing left and right, you may have just caught me framing my next wiggle 3D photo.

This wiggly stuff can be made easier. If current 3D gadgets like the Nintendo 3DS and HTC Evo develop an app that process the 3D image taken by the 3D camera to generate the wiggle image automatically.

A level higher in gadget development would be to combine the motion sensing algorithm of the XBox Kinect and the front facing camera of today's phones plus an app that tracks the user's head then adjusts the wiggle image displayed on the screen correspondingly. With this in place, you can take a slight peek of what's behind an image simply by tilting your head.

Of course for hard core photography, you can buy a Loreo 3D Lens in a Cap that fit popular DSLR cameras. Costs $93 to $150. Or buy a Fuji Finepix Real 3D camera, a Minoru 3D webcam. CD-R King displayed a 3D webcam a few months ago. or any of the soon to be released 3D smartphones and tablets such as the LG Optimus 3D, HTC Evo 3D or LG Optimus Pad 3D.

Lytro: Picture Revolution

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 07:20:00 +0000

It it not often that a technology comes along that has huge impact to the industry and to consumers - what we call as "the best thing since sliced bread."

Before sliced bread there was the invention of the wheel. Then some notable disruptive technologies after sliced bread are pasteurization, the internet, iPhone/iPad and now... Lytro.

What's so special about Lytro? It completely changes how we do photography since the word photography was coined and the camera device was invented. Up to now what we do to take a picture is point on the selected subject, focus manually or automatically, then press a button to capture the image. Lytro makes the focusing step obsolete during picture taking. You just shoot without care using a Lytro camera. What's great about it is that all images taken looks like it was taken by an SLR camera with a shallow depth of field (DOF) lens. When you view the image at home, you can select which part of the photo is focused and its background and foreground automatically becomes blurred. Then click again on another part of the photo then the image will re-focus automatically. No need for editing in PhotoShop or Picasa to get that blur effect. This is what I call "a true point and shoot camera" unlike today's camera that are actually "point and focus and shoot camera."

Shown below is a single shot taken with a Lytro camera veiwed depending on what part of the image you want to be in focus. Clicking on the tip of the spear results to the image on the left while clicking on the person produces the image on the right. No editing needed - the picture is fully interactive - just click any part of the image then the focus immediately changes to it.

Go to their website and browse the picture gallery. Each photo you find there are interactive Lytro images. Just click on an area of a photo and observe with mouth open what happens. I bet even Steve Jobs himself will call this "magical."

Chick-Boy Chicken and Baboy

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 13:58:00 +0000

While passing by GMA Cavite a few weeks back, I saw an eye catching restaurant being constructed called Chick-Boy. So when it opened, we were there a few days later. I love Cebu and Iligan lechon baboy. I haven't found that same lechon experience in Luzon where the meat is tender and tasty without a need for a lechon sauce - I call it the autonomous lechon. The love and quest for that kind of lechon brought us to Chick-Boy. Their lechon are roasted as meat slabs, not as whole pigs. Served as cutlets of crispy lechon with rice wrapped in banana leaves.

The meat has that saltiness and flavor that goes well with the vinegar sauce that comes with it. This is the style of eating lechon down south (Visayas and Mindanao).

All tables have a bottle of the sweet lechon liver sauce that's popular in Luzon and a bottle of crispy garlic so no problem making your own garlic rice.

Chick-Boy's lechon is closer to the lechon Cebu taste than what other Cebu lechon stalls you find out there. Now I have a go to place whenever I crave for lechon.

An order of a soup dish pairs well with lechon and rice. In our first visit we tried a bowl of batchoy.

For dessert we tried their leche flan and turones de leche. I though the turones de leche was some sort of fried Mazapan sweets called turones. But they were actually mini turon - thus the name turones. It's made of long strips of banana wrapped in turon wrapper to about the same size as your average lumpia shanghai, deep fried then served with some kind of gooey yema dip. Sarap! I'll have these again for sure the next time.

Next visit I'll have their lechon manok and sample their other soup dishes.

There are three Chick-Boy restaurants along Governor's drive in Cavite. One in GMA where we ate, another one is under construction in Manggahan, General Trias and another one will soon rise in Terraza of Robinsons Dasmarinas.

Pinoy Shabu-Shabu

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:36:00 +0000

Written by Lilia B. Unite

I have been staying away from shabu-shabu for quite sometime after my funny experience years ago in Chengdu, China:

It was already late at night when I went out with one of my colleagues for dinner. Most of the restaurants we saw were selling unfamiliar Chinese cuisines. We were a little bit relieved when we saw an English Shabu-Shabu restaurant sign. Unfortunately, their menu were all in Chinese without any picture to give us a clue what they mean. None of their staffs knew how to speak English. After 15 minutes of struggling with charades and pictionary style communication, we decided to just let the waitress order for us. Confused on what we wanted and to be safe, she ordered all of the possible ingredients available leaving my friend and I with a table full of familiar and exotic raw foods enough to feed an army battalion and enough for me not to crave for shabu-shabu for a long time.

Then came last week when we passed by the newly opened Seferino shabu-shabu restaurant in Robinson’s Dasmarinas.

Seferino’s ambiance was quiet and not smelly unlike other shabu-shabu restaurants I went to. It’s a great place to go for chit chat while having a good meal. On top of shabu-shabu, they also offer different Asian and Filipino cuisines. If you are ordering other meals, their shabu-shabu solo will be enough for two persons to share.

One thing I like about having shabu-shabu is seeing your food prepared and cooked in front of you and the variety of ingredients you can choose from.

At Seferino, they have a pre-selected set of ingredients when you order shabu-shabu that's a combination of seafoods like fish, squid, shrimp, squid balls, crab meat mixed with strips of thinly sliced pork, beef and lots of green pechay and cabbage. It's a good break from the typical fried foods we eat in fast food restos.

Surprisingly, my picky eater daughter liked it too. This prompted me to create our home made version of shabu-shabu using common ingredients in our kitchen.

Ingredients:
Lucky Me Pork Ribs Instant Noodles
Fresh pork bacon cuts
Squid balls
Siomai
Sweet corn
Pechay
Cabbage
Carrots
Tomato (whole or big slices)
Banana (the variety for cooking)
Soy sauce (depending on how you like the soup base to taste)

Procedure:
1. Prepare all the ingredients and place them in a platter.

2. Prepare the soup base by mixing Lucky Me Pork Ribs seasoning mix in boiling water. Set aside the noodles for now. You can use the noodles as alternative for shabu-shabu noodle if you don’t have any. Add soy sauce to taste. Let it boil for 1-2 minutes.

3. Put the meat, squid balls, siomai and corn and let it boil. When they're half cooked, add in the sliced carrots and banana.

4. When almost done, lower the heat and add in the noodles, tomato, pechay and cabbage then simmer for 2 minutes. Do not overcook the vegetables. Then serve immediately and enjoy eating.

Subic 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 12:56:00 +0000

From the 16th hot air balloon fiesta in Clark, we had a quick breakfast and proceeded to Subic.

We arrived just in time for the start of the morning shows.

The hilarious Sea Lion Marine Patrol Show.

A Walk on the Wild Side for a quick jungle survival tutorial and animal show.

The Adventure of Olongapo Jones that features the Basura Boys who are great trampoline acrobats. And lastly the dolphin show that was as good as ever. We finished all shows by lunch time. At 2pm we left Ocean Adventure and went to the hotel for an afternoon rest. The short rest was just enough to energize us again because we were up an about since 1:30am that day when we started our long ourney from Laguna to Clark's Hot Air Balloon Fiesta then to Subic.

Dinner was in Meat Plus for steaks and their banana fritters that I've been craving for.

Le Mans Go Kart was closed so after dinner we went back to the hotel. It was actually my mom's first time to visit Subic and to stay in a hotel for a night and she was very thankful. And this made me happy.

The next day was at a more relaxing to just savor Subic, being out of town, the scenery, shopping, dining and being together.

By 2pm Sunday, we were already in Makati. We were supposed meet my wife there before her afternoon class in AIM but she was still on her way to Makati.

We ate in Pepper Lunch then had gelato for dessert which were first time tries for my brothers.

It was a fun 2-day vacation and a memorable one for my mom.

16th Philippine Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:19:00 +0000

I brought my mom and brothers to the 16th Philippine hot air balloon fiesta. My dad was not able to join due to stuffs he need to do in Visayas. We left home at 1:30am and when we got there at 4am, there was already a long line in the ticket booth and the parking was starting to get busy.

At 5:30am the jeeps pulling the balloons started to position themselves in the wide lawn of the airport.

The sporadic flames from the burners lit the early morning skies.

There was no flag jump this time from an airplane. Instead there were these powered parachutes that carried the flag to open the Saturday balloon fiesta events.

Then they started firing up the burners to inflate the balloons.

The burners were not turned on everytime. They mix just the right amount of normal air and warm air to control the air temp in the balloons to inflate it and give just the right lift.

Hot air balloons of variety of shapes.

This balloon did not have a gondola. Just a rig to hold the fuel tank and a small chair for the lonely occupant to sit on. No girlfriend allowed.

The rise of Darth Vader - literally.

A couple having their pre-nuptial photos taken.

As the balloons rose so do the frequency of shooting and clicking from the ground.

The Festo balloons were nice. They were the pair of balloons in the upper right that were tied together and where one of them looked like an upsidedown flying balloon.

Tents and picnic mats were everywhere and reminded me of those old Woodstock pictures I see in old music magazines. We left Clark early to catch the morning shows in Subic.

Treveia NUVALI - the GPS Trace

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 02:05:00 +0000

I had to work last Sunday. It's a long drive so to put some spice into it, I decided to pass by Treveia NUVALI . There was no picture yet of Treveia in Google Earth and no roads drawn in Google Maps so I turned on the GPS of my Nokia device and started road tracing from SLEX Mamplasan exit to Treveia. When I got there, almost all roads of Phases 1 & 2 were already open. I took pictures of the lot we bought there then made a long and comprehensive road trace of Treveia by driving on all the roads and letting my phone record my track.

From the GPS trace log, I plotted the elevation from SLEX Mamplasan to Treveia. Good news is that Treveia is on a higher elevation compared to SLEX, Laguna Technopark, Solenad and Paseo de Santa Rosa.

I then uploaded the GPS trace in Openstreetmap and drew the roads in Treveia.

You can now view it Openstreetmap and Wikimapia. I also made a short drive around Solenad and drew the roads here.

I hope Google Earth is updated soon. They already updated Eton's South Lake Village and the islands are already visible. I hope NUVALI is next.

7-11 Microwaveable Chicharon

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 04:01:00 +0000

I have this fondness for microwaveable foods. It's like cooking but without the hassle of food prep and washing of utensils afterwards. It's also amazing to see something cook right in front of you in just a few minutes. I saw this microwaveable chicharon in 7-11 and felt the urge to pop it in the microwave. It's also my excuse to eat some high cholesterol chicharon.

The uncooked chicharon felt and looked like those uncooked Besuto Prawn Crackers that you deep fry in oil - thin and hard like plastic flakes.

You place it in the microwave oven like what you do with microwaveable popcorn.

The instruction is to cook it for 3 minutes. I started doubting my chicharon when the bag started inflating but I heard no pop or sizzle. It's just the hum of the microwave as the carousel turn. I had the negative thought of those chicharon strips getting hot but staying thin as it is and only producing water vapor that inflated the bag. Sad. There goes my chance to eat chicharon.

I sadly opened the bag but to my surprise, it was full of yummy looking, fully popped chicharon that started to pop lightly as soon as I opened the bag and exposed it to cool air.

How did it taste? Good! The saltiness is just right and it was really crunchy. I just wish they have a version with laman (meat) in it.

In a Mango Orchard

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:36:00 +0000

A very good friend, Cynthia, invited us to visit their mango orchard.

It was a great getaway for us and our daughter experienced a lot of firsts there. So let me give this page to our daughter as another first - blogging.

We are encouraging her to write short essays of her experiences to help develop her writing skills. It also serves as time machine snapshots that she can read again when she gets older. Forgive the word construct and appreciate the thoughts of our 7-year old little lady. Presenting you (drumroll) her first blog:

The Thing that I like in The Farm

In the farm my mother told me to climb the tree but I said "I don't like I'm scared!" Daddy just carried me to the tree so I don't need to climb the tree. Daddy pretended that the tree was tall but it was only short. Daddy told me to stand on the tree. Daddy was holding me while I'm standing on the tree.

I was a little scared because the branch is still thin, that's why I'm scared when I'm standing on the branch. After that I decided to just swing on the branch. It was fun and the branch did not fall too.

Mommy said to go to the top of the tree and stand up and raise one leg. I was scared and I just raised my leg very low. Only up to 10 inches.

Mommy just told me to sit down on the top of the tree so I won't be scared now.

After that we sat on a chair that was made of wood to rest.

After rest we picked some mangoes on the tree.

We also took pictures with the mangoes too.

There are dogs with us to protect us from snakes.

Mommy also gave me a stick to pinch the other snakes by myself.

Even if it's just a stick I still like it. I always play with it. I pretend that it's a shovel. I use it everyday in the farm.

At night we had a bonfire, marshmallow and a stick.

We placed the marshmallows on the stick, place it in the bonfire and ate it. It was very yummy!

After we woke up, we saw a white crane and two baby goats, one is color black and the other is brown and white.

We went to a river. We also swam in the river. We took pictures too.

We also picked stones in the river. They were many and colorful.

One of the stones looked like a chocolate, its the very small stone that we found.

I also swam in the river. Mommy was just holding me with the towel because I was scared I might not float.

Some of them bring carpet to sit on. They also brought some food and tricycle.

The river is also clean, there are no garbage.

I saw kids diving in the river.

GPS in the Philippines

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:14:00 +0000

Two years had passed since I took home my trusty mobile phone as part of Smart Communications customer retention plan. It was again time for me to claim a brand new free cellphone unit or get a more expensive phone with a big discount.

This retention round I chose a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. It costs 15,000 in malls but I got it for only 7,300 under Smart's retention plan. Yehey! I chose it because of the high resolution video recording with 30 fps frame rate, Auto focus lens with macro mode for those close up shots, Vario Tessar focusing system, Wi-fi to connect our home's network and the thing I've always wanted to play around - GPS (Global Positioning System).

This year is a good time to buy a GPS capable phone because shortly after Google announced the availability of free turn by turn voice navigation in the US for their Nexus One phone, Nokia, to protect their worldwide leadership I guess, announced that it will stop asking payments for GPS voice guided navigation and will now give it away for free in all their GPS capable phones all over the world including the Philippines. I read that stock prices of GPS navigation devices dropped after this announcement. Good thing also that Nokia announced it early this year because I was eagerly awaiting for the GPS Navigation Systems that will soon arrive in CD-R King Stores. Now I don't need to buy it because my new phone already has it. Voice guided drive navigation and pedestrian navigation. Woohoo! I downloaded the British female voice as my voice navigator. So when the phone announces the driving directions, it's like being in James Bond's car complete with the British accent - bloody cool! hehe.

I owe much to CD-R King with their low cost consumer products so I bought from them the car mount for the phone.

Now let's take this new phone for a ride and see and hear what Nokia OVI Maps can do. I tied a safety cord to the car mount inspired by the harness we used in Dahilayan Adventure Park's longest dual zip line in Asia. It took 3 minutes for the GPS receiver to lock on to the satellites and determine where we're at.

We drove to NUVALI with the GPS navigation on and visited Treveia. Nokia OVI Maps has a navigation window that displays a real-time compass showing which direction you're headed, how long you've been driving and your current speed. The speed was actually very close to the car's speedometer. Those satellites up there looking at me sure have clear eyes!

The trip distance window shows real-time numbers and statistics of your trip. Now this is a good trip meter!

This is the view of Treveia's Phase 2 taken from the central park with a cloudy view of Mount Makiling.

And this is the altitude and GPS location of Treveia's Central Park.

The voice guided navigation displays where you are, street names, current speed, compass, how far you are to the next turn, total distance traveled and marks where the gasoline stations are located.

One thing funny happened is that when we were on top of the overpass crossing SLEX, it told us to turn left and jump off the overpass to get to SLEX. But if you don't do it for obvious reasons, it auto re-calculated our route and kindly told us to take the cloverleaf toll road instead. Never believe in it a hundred percent.

This is the dashboard window info while voice guided navigation is turned on.

This is what the screen looks like at night to lessen night driving disruption.

All in all, a Nokia phone with Nokia OVI Maps installed is a good GPS for a newbie like me. The whole Philippine roadmap is just a 12MB file that you can download at home and use on the road without the need to connect to the internet then pay 3G/HSPDA charges. When I tried using Google Maps for Mobile 4.0, it needed 3G/HSPDA/Wi-fi connection to download maps while you drive so it will cost you money. It also saves downloaded maps to the phone memory without an option to save them to the memory card. But one good thing with Google Maps is that they have more updated street maps than Nokia and Navteq. I hope Nokia catches up soon in this respect.

What's missing in Nokia OVI Maps for the Philippines are the POI or points of interest. After some searching I came across a Java based open source application than can run on any gadget that allows running Java apps including your PSP. The graphics is not as good as Nokia OVI Maps or Garmin Mobile but all the important and meaty guts are there - comprehensive POI all over the Philippines that's updated weekly thanks to Openstreetmaps.org, altitude, speed, compass, the ability to define roads & POI of uncharted areas, uploading to Openstreetmaps.org and voice navigation.

Driving along Governor's drive with visible POI.

Complete POI details of a part of Makati including traffic directions.

Zooming in will give you the names of each building.

Driving along an uncharted area. So what do you do?

Well, be an explorer like Magellan and define the roads as you drive by. Upload it later to Openstreetmaps so others will benefit from your exploration.

Uploading my first GPS tracks for an uncharted part of the Philippines in Openstreetmaps.

Before charting.

After charting.

Awesome!

Amaia Scapes Calamba - An Ayala Land Project

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 03:59:00 +0000

Ayala Land enters a new phase in their land development and offers affordable homes to more Filipinos with the same high standards that Ayala is known for.Time for you to get that dream home and good real estate investment.

Ayala properties are know to have above average property appreciation rate.
Amaia Scapes is located in Calamba City near SLEX Batino Exit.
Seven house designs to choose from. Price starts P600,000.
All homes sold comes with 1 year workmanship warranty.
Amaia Scapes will be continuously managed by Ayala Properties Management Corporation so you can be assured the village rules and restrictions will really be enforced similar to what they still do in Ayala Alabang Village, Forbes Park, Santa Rosa Estates and now in NUVALI.

Serious buyers can contact Lilia Unite at 09088637715 or lilia.unite@gmail.com for inquiries and reservations.

Still in pre-selling stage so hurry!

Click here for a satellite view (Wikimapia, Google Earth)

Dahilayan Adventure Park - Unfinished Business

noreply@blogger.com (Hermie) — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:27:00 +0000

It's time to return to Dahilayan Adventure Park for some unfinished business.

We had a great time on our first visit. The ride going there, the 320-meter and 150-meter zips were great but sadly we were not able to try the 840-meter line due to the long queue.

So this time we went there earlier and brought along more excited faces, snacks, lunch, hot and cold drinks. We're ready and nothing will stop us now from conquering that almost-a-kilometer cable.

Majority of the vehicles brought there are these big ones but that did not stop us from bringing a sedan. It was able to keep up with the two Rev-O in our group even on rough roads.

We went straight to the flight center to confirm our reservation and lined up for the 320-meter and 150-meter zip lines.

Now it's me and my wife's turn. Woohoo!

It's our second time in these lines so we had more time to enjoy the ride than trying to hold to dear life the first few seconds when we were here the first time. My wife even found time to wave at her fans :)

Jumping with joy - We made it! And plenty of time left for the finale ride!

But first, we went to the woods... spooky...

... for some demure shots...

a Twilight movie shot...

and Jollibee lunch.

After we recharged ourselves, we're looking at this long and high contraption of thrill and excitement.

This is a zoomed in view of the starting point.

It's time to go up there. And go up there in rugged safari style!

Woohoo! Smile muna!

The ride up was fast and bumpy like you're on a roller coaster with cold mountain air in your face.

Here we are at last.

The flight deck going down.

Zoomed in view of the landing area down below.

Finally, it's almost our turn. Can't wait. Nothing will stop us now!

Then the clouds came in, and with it came the rain. It became so foggy that you can't see anymore the adjacent mountain range.

But still, this did not stop us. "Naligo na naman kami." It's just water. Who's afraid of zipping in high altitude, in low visibility rainy weather, cold rain on your back and cold air to give you chills to the bones. Not us!

The flight deck crew strapped us in, two at a time.

While we try to see the best we can where the landing pad is.

Meanwhile, the landing crew had no idea if someone's landing or not. So they wait there in the foggy rain looking at nothing.

But thanks for their patience to wait for all of us to land.

It really was a great experience.

Come join us as one of the many who experienced the longest dual zip line in Asia.

From Cagayan de Oro, take the Davao-Bukidnon Highway, right on the Alae Junction, proceed 25 kms to Baranggay Dahilayan past Camp Phillips and the pineapple fields via Mampayag. Book online here.

Here are some tips:

Don't gate crash. Book online or call them days ahead. Walk-in adventurers rarely get a chance to ride. The line for groups with reservations are long enough for the day.
Bring a jacket if you go there on cold months.
Bring drinks, snacks and packed lunch. Plenty of benches in the woods. Hot water, choco and coffee is good to have.
Horseback riding and ATV rides are available.