Today I got my Geeksphone Keon a developer preview device of  Mozilla with the new mobile operating system named  Firefox OS.  The device is not yet available  on the consumer market but you can buy it at Geeksphone online store for about Php5000. It would take about 3-4 business days shipping thru UPS going here in the Philippines, don’t worry UPS got a cool online tracking system for the package.

Package Design
I already had a preview of the design and was really excited to have this unboxing experience. Using a minimalistic design with just a print on a box. The orange color being the dominant in the design with some use of the grays is just awesome. The overall packaging have the feel of organic design that I really admire being a designer myself.

The box has a lot of scotch tape on the bottom part to secure the contents inside that you may need to put it in a flat surface just to make sure it won’t drop.

The phone itself is in bright Firefox orange with a matte or rubber back plate finish that prevents it from slipping in my hand.  The screen attract a lot of fingerprints just like any other phones but the display is clear and bright, I enjoyed playing the tower jelly game that has a lot of saturated colors.

Supplied Accesories
Just like any other phone the basic items are included in the box, a charger with a detachable USB cable, stereo headphones and the supplied 1580 mAh battery. It has an initial charge so I’ve got to play with it for sometime before charging it, as you can see you may need a power adapter to fit in our power outlets. I’ve tried using the camera but it’s asking for an external memory card, a micoSD card that unfortunately you need to grab one.

Technical Specifications

That’s it for now! Do you have an app ready for liftoff? Web developers that wants to work on a new platform can submit their apps at the Firefox Marketplace Developer Hub or join our local community Mozilla Philippines to get the latest updates for FirefoxOS.

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Samsung Mobile just released the firmware update 4.1.2 for Jelly Bean for Samsung Galaxy S3 GT-I9300, my device is from Globe Telecom here in the Philippines. I’m not sure if there is an update for other versions so check yours. Do you really need to update? I think we all should do it for security and bug fixes, new features are worth the wait although there in one feature that I really don’t like. The placement of the Multi-View is a bit awkward.
It’s blocking the screen also the color is not that appealing to me, glad that there is an option to disable it. Anyways here are some of the features you might like.

Jelly Bean features

• Android 4.1.2
• Multi-View
• Page Buddy
• New Gallery App
• Notification Panel can be now customized
• Brightness slider in Notification Panel can be disabled
• Smart Rotation
• Continuous Input in Samsung Keyboard
• Paper Artist App
• Group Cast App

Download it using Wi-Fi to avoid all the hassle of the 43.02MB file. I used to install updates using Samsung Kies but with all the drivers and a need for a computer I’ve ditched that method.
Samsung fans out there download it today.

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I’ve used a lot of Android-based smartphones boasting topnotch speeds and awesome features, but LG’s Nexus 4 probably wins the cake. Think of Android’s true raw power and this will probably the closest you can get at this time. It’s a gadget for true geeks who wish to maximize the use of their smartphones. Heck, you wouldn’t even call it a phone anymore with the many things it can do for you. Here’s a closer look:

Design

The smartphone measures 5.27 inches long and 2.70 inches wide. It’s a bit thicker than the Galaxy S3 with its 0.36 inch thickness. On the front, LG’s reiteration of the Nexus may look no different to Samsung’s, but how it’s made is what makes it a step-up. For protection, the Nexus 4 uses Corning Gorilla Glass 2 that stretches right to the edges of the phone. Flip it over and you’ll see a beautiful shimmering effect as if it’s made with diamonds. But do be warned, since it’s glass from the back and the front, you have to be careful not to drop it. It’s best to use a jelly or a leather case to protect it.

Display

The display of LG’s Nexus 4 is a little bit smaller than the Galaxy SIII. With 4.7 inch display and a resolution of 1280×768, you’ll get 320 PPI for a sharp and vibrant display. That means better text reading and superior graphic display when playing games like Shadow Gun, Dead Trigger, and Death Dome, and without any lags to boot.

Features

According to Google, it’s the fastest phone on the planet, and it really does boast some amazing specs. It’s powered with a Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro clocked at 1.5GHz with 2GB of RAM. The Jelly Bean also runs stock on the phone. For storage, it comes in 8GB and 16GB versions. Sadly, there’s no microSD slot for more capacity. So you have to be careful not to swamp your phone’s storage with apps and data.

Take great snapshots using an 8MP camera with an LED flash. But what’s really amazing about the phone is its new camera software. There’s the Photo Sphere feature that lets you take full 360-degree snapshots in a flash. You’ll also get better photo-editing software that comes on stock. For its front-facing camera, you’ll get a 1.3MP one that you can use for the usual Skype calls or other apps that support video messaging.

Considering the phone’s display, the phone’s battery life is very impressive.  It’s juiced by a Li-Po 2100 mAh battery that can last 15 hours of talk time and 390 hours on standby. Of course, the longevity still depends on the usage. But nonetheless, it’s enough to last you for a day even if you use processor intensive apps.

Verdict

The Nexus 4 really performs very well even when using processor intensive apps. And with its price of $299 for 8GB and $349, it’s no surprise it’s the best in the market to date. Heck, the iPhone 5 costs $699 and the Galaxy SIII is worth $599. And make no mistake, the Nexus 4 can go head-to-head against them, and win without fail.

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Happy Birthday Firefox or Maligayang Kaarawan Firefox in Tagalog as we celebrate today around the world or depending on the timezone of course.

The hashtag for Twitter is #FxTurns8, you can also use it in Flickr for your photos celebrating the event today. Use this avatar image for different social media like Facebook and the like. We have a Twibbon campaign to spread in Twitter and Facebook, also if you’re on Tumblr you can reblog or follow this post.  Please feel free to localize messages and post any language posts on the Tumblr. If you’re a fan of Firefox make sure to participate!

We will have a birthday party on Monday, November 12 in Valero Park Makati City at 6:00 pm with other Mozillians and volunteers. Also we have a special guest from Mozilla US to discuss about WebFWD an incubator for open source startup project. So see you there guys!

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A great find on how to contact the Senators of the 15th congress of the Philippines is on Github, I suppose the guy behind this is a web developer. He compiled all the communication channels of the Senators like mailing address, phone numbers, emails and website. The cool thing I like is the issue tracker that he can update it with history, another creative way of using Github.

This tips can help you get a better result in fighting for the CyberCrime Law and not just by shouting out, burst out anger. If there is anything you can add in this list feel free to do so.

• When sending emails, make sure to send it to all the listed email addresses for each senator. You can’t be sure which ones are active and which ones aren’t.
• Refrain from sending hate mail and other forms of personal attacks. These will not help. Consider making constructive criticism instead, and communicating why the issue is important to you.
• If you get bounced emails or wrong numbers, leave a comment on the issue tracker so I can update this list.
• If a senator here has no Facebook page linked, it probably means that any Facebook pages you’ll find associated with them are fake/unofficial.
• Try to contact them through more than one medium. Facebook posts alone will not be very effective; try to at least send snail mail to their Senate office addresses. A face-to-face meeting (if you can manage it!) will have a better potential than a letter; a letter, more than a phone call; a phone call, more than an e-mail or FB/Twitter post.
• Encourage your friends to send letters as well. The more people send in their concerns, the more you can convince senators (and their staff) that the issues you raise are relevant to their constituents.
• When sending emails/letters:
  • Address the senators, even if your letter is most likely going to be read by his/her staff.
  • Address the senators by their full name (eg, Sen. Vicente Sotto III), not their popular name (eg, Tito Sotto).
• When you call:
  • Direct lines are usually better than trunk lines.
  • Say your name, where you’re from, and what you’re calling about. For example: “ako po si Rico Sta Cruz mula sa Makati city. Tumatawag po ako tungkol sa isyu ng _____.”
  • Try to ask the staffer about the senator’s stance on the issue you’re calling about.
  • follow up with an email.

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Show your support for the Internet Freedom and Freedom of Speech in the Philippines spread this message that the government will take actions to review the Cybercrime Law ʀᴀ ɴᴏ. 10175. I also got this information on Facebook and Twitter and I’m just sharing it here on my blog. Here is one example of the call to action.

TODAY, 02 October 2012, the Supreme Court sitting en banc is set to hear several petitions for prohibition against the Cybercrime Prevention Law.

If you’re active on social media you can change your social media profiles and show your friends, followers about this law suppressing Internet freedom. If you have your own website or blog follow the instructions here on how to participate on Website Blackout Protest self hosted blogs, Blogger and Tumblr is supported by the script. Show your online support now!

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A Smartphone is a mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a regular mobile phone. Smartphones have become very popular and about 18% of the global population uses Smartphone. The current models combine the functions of portable media players, low-end compact digital cameras, pocket video cameras, and GPS navigation units.. Some of the popular smartphones available in the market are Apple, Motorola, HP, HTC, Nokia, Samsung, RIM, LG, Palm and Sony Ericsson.

Some of the exclusive features in a Smartphone include a unique operating system to run the applications.. A Smartphone has an exhaustive list of applications. It is very easy to download and use any available application. It can be used for accessing Microsoft Office documents or composing a playlist of digital tunes or as an electronic book reader or to play games. The technological advancements have resulted in great devices like Smartphone, but have also brought out a flurry of cybercrimes. This required the need for mobile monitoring software. There are available many such mobile applications. Some of them are Mobile Spy, Mobistealth, FlexiSpy, Spybubble, and Cellspy to name a few popular ones. Cell Phone Spy is the first mobile Smartphone monitoring software with a trusted customer base of 100,000 worldwide.
Installing Mobile Monitoring apps

To track any kind of Smartphone, the user needs to install any one of the above mentioned monitoring apps on the Smartphone. The user has the facility to create an online account with app website through which the user can track the day to day activities of the Smartphone. Almost all kinds of mobile monitoring apps work in stealth mode which is an advantage when the buyer has to monitor the activities of kids, partner, and employee.

To monitor a Smartphone the mobile app users can check details like:
•    Call Log: With this Smartphone monitoring feature a parent or an employer can find details regarding the calls made/received and the time and duration of the child or employee.
•    SMS Texting: It is highly essential to monitor child’s Smartphone for sexting. Children would be abused and hence very essential for parents to monitor the contents of messages with full texts.
•    Email tracking: Helps to know the contents of the mail and also the contacts from and to whom the mails are sent and received. It would help employers to know if any company sensitive information is being compromised   by any employee.
•    Web History: This feature maintains the URL addresses of all the web sites accessed. This would help the parent to know if the child was viewing any inappropriate information.
•    Photo and Video Log: Child pornography is on the rise along with the increasing number of pedophiles. This makes it necessary to monitor the videos and pictures taken or recorded using the phone.
•    GPS location: The GPS tracking feature helps to know the location of your child and ensures his safety. It is also beneficial for employers to know if the field staffs are at designated locations.

The functionality of all monitoring software is almost the same except for a few additional features in some of them. The ultimate goal of all is to uncover the truth. The very purpose of installing such applications is to nab the culprits.

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I got an email from PayPal that their  Merchant Referral Bonus Program will be discontinued. The bad thing is I haven’t received any single pay out since joining the program. If you have any plan to join, better read this email and find other program.

Thank you for your participation in PayPal’s Merchant Referral Bonus Program. The program will be discontinued on August 15, 2012.

Effective on August 15, 2012:

• New referrals will no longer be tracked
• Bonus accrual payments will be stopped

Your PayPal account will not in any way be impacted by the discontinuation of this program.

Any final accrued bonus balance from your referrals through August 15, 2012 will be paid to your PayPal account in accordance with the standard 30 day payout cycle.

All links you have created will still work and will redirect to a PayPal sign up page. However, referrals will not be tracked or accumulate toward this bonus program.

For further assistance, please go to our PayPal.com website and click the “Contact Us” link at the bottom of any PayPal page.

Sincerely,

PayPal

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How I started out with poker, you might ask. I was 17-18 that time, and I started without any idea on how it’s done online. It was TripleJack.com that rang my bell. That time, they were giving out capitals for starters without having to make bank deposits. I was lucky, both with the way I play and the friends that gas me up with online chips.

I got tired of the routine for it, but I never lost my heart to playing poker. On times that I don’t play online poker, I go out with friends. And with the lifestyle I had, I met people having the same interest as mine and they were responsible to making me get exclusive invites around the locale.

Poker became a way of life and I just love the competition it feeds me. It satisfied my appetite for competition. Gambling will always be gambling, and with every win you crave for more, and with every loss did you desire more to get back what you’ve lost where you may succeed, worse loose more. I soon found out that it has somewhat became an addiction, I just found out a substitute to rub off my competitive itch, I guess. I have an obsessive personality, and when I find something that tickles my interest, I swing my fullest. I got so obsessed that sometimes, even inside the campus we’d start a game. Had our arses kicked many times, and it just gave us a good overall feel for it.

Back then, I never worry about my finances. My folks give me an allotment for a week, and I have nothing to spend them on so I gamble with it. For every play, I give myself a point of when to quit already, a limit where you classify yourself as all beaten up, and to me that would be a 2 week allowance short. On the winnings, on the other hand, you can’t just quit after winning a pot. For me I tell everyone on the table that I’d have to go to another place after an hour and just have to avoid losing the money I’ve won.

Now, having to pay for everything I need, have I felt the need to cutting down on things I won’t need like gambling. Oh well, a little extra won’t stop me from feeling invincible once again. Good thing they have online poker where I can play without having to dispense my future’s budget. Online poker as it implies is a fixture of poker that gets a hold of most people addicted to the pleasure of having to contend for a certain amount of money, giving them an immense feeling every time they outwit, out gamble and outplay everyone else on the table. It’s a feeling that I get once again upon getting across PartyPoker.com.

The graphics at gives the players a 3-d view of the table. The entire poker experience is captured in a smooth and intuitive game play that perfectly portrays the world of live poker. Everything in a game is perfectly placed so even a novice can pick it up by first sight. In addition to the graphics, there are cool player avatars and changeable table tops. Part of a poker player’s routine is listening to the right music when playing. I think that music can really change your mood and game play, so it is very important for the players to have the right type of music playing all the time. It incorporated iTunes into their site, to offer a variety of music choice and make them easier to find. No unusual hardware to play the game is required; a mouse would do with a working left click button. Left click would be the default and only key to play the game. I doubt it if the controls are customizable.

The competition was getting more thrilling.  My drive was kicking more powerful.  The graphics was becoming more real.

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As a matter of fact, smartphones such as Android and iPhone are more prone to security threats than desktops and laptops, especially while using their WiFi feature. As more and more people are embracing smartphones, these intelligent gadgets are becoming the hit targets of hackers who always seek to spy for stealing critical information. However, with the advancement in the technology, these smartphones are now supporting more and more security features so that the risk of different threats is minimized. Right from the built-in security features to the third-party protective apps, the smartphone technology has really challenged the intruders and even the owners to misuse the phone in the presence of these security options. So, here are some of the most reliable ways to secure your smartphone.

Set up a Password
As usual, securing the phone with a password even today is the easiest way to start. Today, a majority of smartphones have a built-in password protection feature that allows locking your phone. However, there are different ways of password protecting your phone. For example, any Android phone, except for 2.2 Froyo, comes with a swipe grid pattern wherein you connect the dots to form your own pattern to lock the phone. Irrespective of style and type, the password-protect method will only be successful if you choose a complex phrase or pattern.

Install an antivirus
This is the most common way of securing your smartphone from viruses, bad apps, malware, and unauthenticated access. The desktop rulers such as McAfee, Norton, and AVG have already come up with their own unique antivirus version for smartphones, which are either available for free or at reasonable price. Do check out the Android market or iPhone store for apps! And yes, after installing, ensure that you keep updating the antivirus app. This is because the latest patches make it possible for the app to deal with new threats.

Install an advanced spying app
In case you want to track a lost smartphone or wish to keep an eye on what is happening on your kid’s phone to ensure her/his security, get an advanced spying app. The most admirable feature of such an app is that it works in an invisible mode after installation so that your kid or the robber does not come to know about your spying activity.  Moreover, you can keep an eye on the calls, e-mails, SMSs, MMSs, downloaded or captured multimedia, and live GPS location from a remote place just with the help of a PC or mobile Web browser. Some apps, such as phone spy, give you a complete control of the phone’s live screen via a Live Control Panel on its official site so that you can stop the risk activities.

Take a Backup
Many times, the only way to deal with a virus is to format the phone’s memory. Therefore, it is wise to take backups of your phone book, apps, photos, videos, and messages on regular intervals.  Disable Wi-Fi or Bluetooth As a rule of thumb, you should always turn off the wireless features whenever you are at a crowded or strange place. If they are kept on, hackers can easily gain access to your phone from a remote location. Even if you want to use the features, ensure that the data you exchange is encrypted.

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