YugaTech | Philippines, Technology News & Reviews

Viliv S5 Premium 3G in the flesh!

yuga — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 07:02:26 +0000

First time I ever heard of the Viliv MID was right around CES last year and never really expected it would be introduced here in the Philippines.

So it was a bit of a surprise when I was contacted by their distributor, CosmoTech, to check out their Viliv line-up.

They showed me the 7-inch Viliv X70 mobile internet device last week and was able to borrow the 5-inch model, the Viliv S5. This neat little device sits between a smartphone and a netbook and comes with all the features you’d hope for.

Specs: Viliv S5 Premium 3G
4.8″ touch screen @ 1024×600 pixels
Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz
1GB DDR2 RAM
32GB SSD
WiFi 802.11 b/g
3G/HSPA
Bluetooth 2.0
GPS
USB, TV & VGA out

The Viliv S5 runs Windows XP out of the box and has a 30Wh battery that promises 200 hours of standby time or 6 hours of video playback.

So far, the MID performs really well and very responsive running Windows XP and the screen got haptic feedback. I still need to play around with it for some time before I can post a full review. The suggested retail price of the Viliv S5 3G is Php49,990 while the Viliv S70 is Php56,990.

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GCash, Boku to do Mobile Payments on FB

yuga — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:23:40 +0000

In a press conference today, Globe and Boku explained their deal to provide a mobile payment platform for GCash users using Paymo.

This means you can now buy virtual goods on FarmVille, make your stalls in Restaurant City more spiffy or top up your chips on Poker using your Globe GCash. That’s on top of other current options such as Facebook credits, credit cards and Paypal.

Starting March 24, 2010 you will see Boku/Paymo as an option to purchase virtual goods on Facebook games operated by Zynga and PlayFish. When you used “Mobile Payments” as an option, it will allow you to choose Globe GCash and then you can just top up any amount (max of Php40,000 per day) using you GCash MPIN.

Popular Zynga games on Facebook includes FarmVille, Mafia Wars, Cafe World, FishVille and Poker. Popular games by PlayFish includes Restaurant City and Pet Society.

Globe has over 1 million GCash users with a gross monthly transactions of 3.5 billion to 4 billion. GCash users can also do transactions on any other sites or games that are powered by Boku/Paymo. It remains to be seen how much transactions will be generated with GCash/Boku over Facebook games. Zynga made an estimated $300 million in revenues in 2009.

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Wi-Tribe doubles up bandwidth to 6GB

yuga — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 07:31:01 +0000

Had a talk over the phone with one of Wi-Tribe’s representatives last Saturday and we discussed about the 3GB monthly bandwidth allocation which we reported last month.

They said that they’ve considered the merits and clarified a number of issues, including that 1am to 7am open window (which is actually still logged by at just 25% of actual usage, though I am told it’s not final/implemented yet).

Moreover, starting Monday (yesterday), they’ve already increased the monthly allocation to 6GB. However, once that allocation is used up, the accounts will still work but the speed will be adjusted down. Existing subscribers should have received notice about this by now. That allocation can/will still be adjusted in the future depending on the performance of the network and the usage of the subscribers.

They’ve added that since Wi-Tribe is still in its “soft launch” stage, they’re still figuring out a better way to provide a more, should I say, equitable and socialized internet service.

So,you guys think 6GB is enough?

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Asus UL20 Review

yuga — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:48:25 +0000

Asus’ premium ultraportable notebooks fall under the UL (ultra-light) series and the Asus UL20 is the smallest and lightest of the lot at 12.1 inches.

The the thin and light notebook comes in a silver, brushed-metal finish with black glossy bezel. Its got a thin form factor and light weight comparable to the cheaper but plastic-built Asus Eee PC 1201T and 1201N. The UL20 has a more solid built and not prone to smudges and finger-prints, unlike the Seashell series.

The chiclet-type keys are appropriately sized and spaced although I’d prefer the keyboard styling Asus did with the Seashell models. The trackpad is contiguous with the palm-rest and the only demarcation are pimple-holes which also provides ample friction to the touch.

The clickers are also not split but is wide enough that you don’t get confused between the left and the right click.

The 12-inch screen has a glossy display; and while its got some pretty bright and crisp resolution (1366×768 pixels), it’s also prone to glare when outdoors are against bright light sources.

As for performance, the UL20 is one of the best performing CULV notebooks I’ve tested with a Windows Experience Index base score of 3.4 (GPU) while the CPU scored 4.1 (the additional 0.1 from our chart is due to the 64-bit OS).

The notebook can easily play HD videos locally and handles YouTube HD 720p just fine (YouTube HD 1080p is already choppy though). Full benchmarks of the Asus UL20 is published on the PCLabs blog.

(Top) Asus UL20A vs (bottom) Asus Eee PC 1201T. It will be interesting to match the UL20 with the Acer Timeline 1810tz.

The UL20 comes with a 2GB DDR2 RAM but I was able to bump it up to 4GB. The 320GB HDD is also more than enough. For connectivity, it’s got WiFi 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1 (absent in the 1201 models). Standard ports include a VGA port, 3 USB ports and an SD card reader. The absence of an HDMI port is a little disappointing.

As for battery life, the unit has 6-cell Li-Ion battery rated at 4400mAh which is similar to the one used in the Eee PC 1201T and 1201N (they’re practically inter-changeable). BatteryBar gives it a decent 3 hours 40 minutes on regular use but I can stretch that to 4.5 to 5 hours if I dial down the display brightness (or run the Asus Power4Gear Hybrid utility).

I can forgive the battery capacity on the cheaper 1201 models but for a notebook twice the price, I was hoping Asus had put in a higher capacity 6-cell pack. Something like a 5600mAh 6-cell battery could probably push this rig to at least 6 hours on a single charge.

The Asus UL20A started out with a whooping retail price of Php49,990 which is on the higher end of the price spectrum. Fortunately, they dropped it to Php37,990 in February. That puts it on the top of the contenders in the 12-inch CULV category.

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YugaTech Giveaway Winners Round 2!

yuga — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 03:37:23 +0000

Congratulations to everyone who joined. It’s been fun looking at all the entries submitted. So here are our best submissions and dozens of other lucky winners. Check out if your photos are on the list of winners below.

To those who blogged about the giveaway, here are the 10 winners:

1. imkleber
2. Jonathan Lee
3. blankPixels
4. Joanne Gonzales
5. Rem
6. NemOry
7. JeffZ
8. Don
9. Glenn
10. The Teknisyan

To those who tweeted about the giveaway, here’s another set of 10 winners:
1. @gadgetmeister
2. @eguar51
3. @pehpot
4. @dailyfind
5. @ilovemaru
6. @rowell_lee
7. @WebAlerts
8. @2itterist
9. @imajoj
10. @jhayrocas

Those who submitted via Globe PixLink:

1. Sanctuarian06
2. Lalaine
3. jepoy
4. sylv3rblade
5. miharu

Here are winners on Facebook with the most “Likes”:

1. Colwin Tanhehco (66 Likes)
2. Irish De Leon (11 Likes)
3. Ronnel Vergel de Dios (44 Likes)
4. Rowell Bacongco (11 Likes)
5. Ann Saturno (22 Likes)
6. Ria Malonzo (40 Likes)
7. Lalaine Orozco (30 Likes)
8. Randie Rana (7 Likes)
9. Denise Marie Cruz (6 Likes)
10. Kai Molina (3 Likes)

(Note: I might have missed an entry or two so just email me with the link if you think you made it to the top 10 Likes.)

Those who blogged about their photo entries:

1. Mike Mamaril
2. daddynator
3. Vivian
4. eonzerimar
5. Ai-Ai
6. Josephine Bahala
7. Lodessa Velasco
8. Fedhz
9. Sahara Moralita
10. Richard Mamuyac

I tried the Google Image Search but nothing came up. I think it needs more time to be indexed by Google. So, I have extra prizes and I’m still giving them away. Here are the entries I thought that were the oddest or cutest (Php500 Globe Call Card).

Underwater in Boracay. During a plane flight. On a huge projector during a student gathering.

Wallpaper on all PCs in a net cafe. The Predator at the MRT. Top of the hat.

Tattoo on the MRT and Inside the operating room.

Note: Just like before, we only give the higher prize to those who won with several entries. We’ll then pick more winners from the extra prizes. The more winners, the merrier. =)

Here are our Top 5 Finalists:

And the winner, as selected by our guest judge @tjmanotoc, is:

Congratulations to all winners and thank you to everyone who joined! Don’t forget to thank @talk2globe for sponsoring our giveaways!

How to claim your prize?

For the lot with 10 winners, first 5 (#1-5) gets the Globe Tattoo and 2nd 5 (#6-10) gets the Php500 Globe Call card.

Just fill out this form and we’ll inform you once it has been shipped.

For our grand prize winner of the MSI Wind U123, we’ll have a short formal awarding so I can hand over the prize.

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

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Asus MS236 LCD Monitor gets slim & stylish

yuga — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:21:56 +0000

Asus’ new LCD monitors are getting slim and stylish, starting with the MS series. We got this 23.6-inch Asus MS236 LCD monitor to test out and play with.

It’s so slim at just 16.5mm and wighs only under 4kg. It’s got a glossy, piano-black bezel and instead of the usual wine-glass type of stand, this one uses a unique ring-stand at the back panel.

The LCD monitor is capable of full HD 1080p resolution (1920×1080 pixels) and hooks up via an HDMI port or VGA port at the back. Dynamic contrast ratio maxes out at just 50,000:1 but it’s got a 2ms response rate which is also pretty good for video games. I also like that Asus used a power adaptor similar to those of their netbooks/laptops and not the old, bulky ones.

I’m not sure about the pricing but I remember it right, the price is in the vicinity of Php13,990.

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The Sony Bloggie HD has arrived

yuga — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 08:34:07 +0000

So the Sony Bloggie HD that we won during the amazing race event we had with Sony in Boracay has arrived. This is one of the first few units available and should be out in stores this month.

So, what comes out of the box? The Bloggie, 4GB memory stick, RCA cable, 960mAh battery, carrying pouch, USB cable extender and an extra 360-degree camera lens (that easiyl attaches on the built-in swivel lens).

The Bloggie can do several HD movie recording — 720p @ 30fps, 720p @ 60 fps and 1080p @ 30fps. My favorite part is the 60fps to get that slow-mo recording. The interesting feature is the 360-degree video recording mode. Will have to test that out along with the slow-mo. Will publish a full review soon.

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Are you still addicted to FarmVille?

yuga — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:36:17 +0000

On Facebook, FarmVille is the top game this year with over 26 Million active users, 3 times biggest than the second most active, Cafe World.

Last December, I asked readers how long they’d think Facebook becomes old, and a lot of the responses points to the games as a major attracting feature. No wonder Zynga keeps on buying Facebook App Development companies out there.

Since FarmVille is the largest random sampling for Facebook activity, we can somewhat use it as a yardstick to monitor the trend of usage on the social networking site.

If that 26 Million daily active users keep on growing or if a new game emerges and surpasses that number, then the growth is still moving up. With over 8 million Facebook ~~users~~ accounts from the Philippines, we could be seeing a plateau really soon (this was in the vicinity of the number of Friendster users when it also plateaued). Nevertheless, telcos will continue to feel the pain of losing millions of pesos due to shifting communication channels (FB messages over SMS).

So, going back to the question — Are you still addicted to FarmVille? I stopped tending to my farm like months ago.

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How laptop battery life is computed?

yuga — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:13:08 +0000

For some time now, claims of more than 10 hours of battery life on netbooks are often times unbelievable and not really achievable in real world tests. So, where do these numbers come from? We look at one possible computation.

Laptops and netbooks consume a certain amount of power depending on which peripherals are turned-on or active. The CPU, graphics, hard drive and LED display constitute the biggest share of that consumption.

On the other end, the battery pack supplies the power and the capacity is measured in watt-hour (Wh) or more popularly as miliamp-hour (mAh). For our purposes, we’ll use the mAh which you can see in the sticker in your laptop’s battery (to convert Wh to mAh, just follow this formula — mAh = Wh / V * 1000).

Depending on the settings and usage of the laptop, the discharge rate varies. What I did was set several condition on the laptop and check the discharge rate. I used BatteryBar to monitor the discharge rate.

Notebook is idle, WiFi is On and LED brightness at lowest setting.

Notebook is active, WiFi is On, iTunes playing and LED brightness at highest setting.

Notebook is active, WiFi is On, VLC playing a movie (1/4 screen) and LED brightness at highest setting.

You will notice the discharge rate increases from -7,986mW on idle to -13,068mW on audio playback and -14,498mW on video playback.

The 6-cell battery of the laptop I used is 4,400mAh (47,300mWh at 10.8V rating). Converted, the discharge rates are -739 mAh, -1,210 mAh and -1,342 mAh.

So, on idle the maximum battery life of the laptop is 4,400/739 or close to 6 hours while on audio playback it’s 3.6 hours and 3.25 hours on video playback.

Using the same formula, is a netbook manufacturer alleges 12 hours on a single charge, we look at the battery capacity and figure out how low the discharge rate can go. For example, Samsung promises 12 hours on its N220 with a 6-cell 5,900mAh battery. To reach 12 hours, the discharge rate should be -492 milliamps.

You should try this on your laptop or netbook too and share with us here how low you can get the discharge rate.

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Samsung launches N150, N220 Netbooks

yuga — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:26:04 +0000

Samsung Philippines has finally brought their netbooks to the Philippines and we got to check out the two models they’ve introduced today — the Samsung N220 and N150.

Samsung realized the growing demand for netbooks in the Philippines so they decided to come in and join the bandwagon. Both netbooks are in the 10-inch category and runs the latest Intel Atom N450 processor.

The first one is this Samsung N150 netbook coming in with the usual specs — Intel Atom N450, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD. It’s got WiFi 802.11n but no Bluetooth. The 6-cell battery (4400mAh) promises up to 8 hours on a single charge.

Available in black and white colors, the N150 will be available in stores by next week for Php21,990.

The Samsung N220 looks more stylish with a crystal finish on the lid comes in red or green colors. Specs are a bit better than the N150 with an Intel Atom N450, 1GB RAM, 250GB HDD, WiFi 802.11n and Bluetooth. The high-capacity 6-cell (5900mAh) battery can last up to 12 hours.

Both netbooks have Windows 7 Starter pre-installed. Samsung also included a fast-boot HyperSpace feature to dual-boot between Windows 7. The Samsung N220 will retail for Php24,990.

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Olympus outs Pen E-PL1 Micro Four Thirds

yuga — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 01:12:22 +0000

Local distributor Axis Global yesterday launched a slew of new Olympus digital cameras, including the much-anticipated Olympus Pen E-PL1 Micro Four Thirds system.

The Olympus E-PL1 is positioned as an entry-level model in the micro four-thirds category. It is the 3rd model in the Olympus Pen series, having the compact size and light weight of a point and shoot camera but the lens flexibility and image quality of dSLR.

Like its predecessor, the EP-1 and EP-2, E-PL1 is compact and has inter-changeable lens system and comes with the M. Zuiko Digital ED 14-42mm f/3.5-5.6 lens kit.

Powered by a 4/3-inch, 12.3-megapixel high speed Live MOS sensor and TruePic V image processing engine, the digital camera can also do 720p HD videos. The E-PL1 also has a Live Guide user interface, HDMI output and of course, the built-in image stabilization (IS) that Olympus is known for.

The camera is available in white, champagne gold and black body colors. The Olympus Pen E-PL1 has a suggested retail price of Php39,999.

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MSI Wind U135 gets previewed

yuga — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:32:26 +0000

First time we saw this netbook from MSI was back in December when Intel announced the Pine Trail platform and the new Atom N450 processor. We got this MSI WInd U135 to unbox yesterday and here are my first impressions of the unit.

There are several improvements done with this re-freshed model of this MSI Wind line.

Although the over-all form factor especially the thickness has not changed, the Wind U135 design has somewhat become stylish. This could be a reaction to the lifestyle approach originally made by HP and Sony, followed by other netbook manufacturers like Lenovo and Asus.

The chiclet-type style of keys are becoming popular so it’s nice to see the U135 has it too. The specs are pretty standard — 10-inch display, Atom N450, Intel GMA 3150, 250GB HDD, 1GB RAM and WiFi 802.11n.

MSI promises up to 7.5 hours on the 6-cell battery but that has yet to be tested. With a suggested retail price of Php21,990, the Wind U135 is looking to be an affordable contender in the Pine Trail pack. Watch out for the full review soon.

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Sony Vaio Y unboxed, in the flesh

yuga — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:59:28 +0000

We got another laptop to unbox last night and it’s one of Sony’s new Vaio line. The Sony Vaio Y is the Japanese company’s entry to the growing CULV market.

Like most other thin and light CULV notebooks, the Vaio Y sports an Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor running at 1.3GHz. Complete specs below:

Sony Vaio Y
13.3″ display @ 1366×768 pixels
Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 @ 1.3GHz
Intel GMA 4500M 829MB (128MB dedicated, 701MB shared)
2GB DDR2 RAM
320GB HDD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
Gigabit LAN
EpxressCard 3/4 slot
HDMI port
Memory Stick PRO / SD Card reader

It comes pre-installed with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. The unit has a 6-cell 5,000mAh (54Wh) Li-Ion battery and weighs just about 3.9lbs.

And like Acer’s Timelime series, the Sony Vaio Y also promises a maximum of 8 hours battery life on the 6-cell pack. We’ll have to see how far it can go in our full review. More un-boxing photos in the gallery.

Update: Suggested retail price is Php54,999.

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Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t First Impressions

yuga — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:16:03 +0000

We got a review unit of the tablet netbook from Lenovo. The IdeaPad S10-3t is the 3rd generation of Lenovo’s netbook line and is one of the most affordable tablet netbook today.

Among the dozen or so netbooks that have recently been released, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3t is one of the most anticipated unit in my list, primarily because it’s in a tablet form factor. Now that I’d had time to play around with it, I’d like to share my first impressions about it.

The S10-3t has a nice form factor — slim, light and a bit wider, giving it somewhat a cinematic 16:9 aspect ratio. Running the latest Intel Atom N450 and Windows 7 could be an ideal combination for an all-around tablet.

The unit is glossy all over which is a serious finger-print magnet but for a tablet which requires you to do multi-touch gestures, I guess that’s tolerable. The nicest part about it is that there’s a dedicated button on the side of the screen that rotates the orientation of the screen so you can set it horizontally or vertically.

One concern I have is the battery life since it only has a small 4-cell pack. I know a 6 or 8-cell battery could ruin the flat bottom surface but I hope there’s option for that. Will have to see how much time we can squeeze on this one.

So far, I’m impressed with the design and form factor as well as the price point (Php29,900). Watch out for the full review by the end of the week. You can see the entire unboxing photos here.

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The Intel Core i3 Laptops are here!

yuga — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 04:03:03 +0000

This quarter could be the best time to upgrade your age-old laptop as most manufacturers already have their Intel Core i3 laptops in stores. We loo at a number of them and compare the specs and price.

We got the following models sold within the Php40k price range.

Asus K52JR
Asus K42JR
Acer Aspire 4740G
Lenovo G460
Fujitsu LifeBook LH530

Click on thumbnail to see bigger image.

Of the 5 models on our list, the Asus K52JR is the only one with 15.6″ display while all the rest are at 14″. On the other hand, only the Fujitsu laptop uses the built-in Intel GMA HD graphics while the rest uses either an nVidia GeForce 310M or ATI Radeon HD 5470. The nVidia GPU has 512MB dedicated RAM while the ATI GPU has 1GB RAM.

Based on the combination of CPU, GPU and RAM, it looks like the Asus Asus K42JR is the best in terms of price to specs. Lenovo’s G460 is a very close 2nd spot together with the Acer Aspire.

Follow YugaTech on Twitter: http://twitter.com/abeolandres

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MSI Wind U160 promises 15-Hour Battery

yuga — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:24:41 +0000

MSI has released a couple of new netbooks with upgrades to the Pine Trail Atom N450 processor, including the cheap and re-freshed Wind U130 and the Wind U135 — but the most intriguing is this slim MSI Wind U160 with 15 hours of battery life.

How that 15-hour battery life was achieved with a 6-cell pack is still a big question. Nevertheless, even if real-world tests gives it just 8 hours, that’s already something.

MSI Wind U160

10″ screen @ 1024×600 pixels
Intel Atom N450 @ 1.66GHz
2GB DDR2 RAM
Intel GMA 3150
250GB HDD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
1.3MP webcam
SD Card reader

From the specs sheet alone, I cannot see the difference between the MSI Wind U160 and the MSI Wind U135 except for some design and color option. Although if you look closely, the U160 is much thinner at 19.8-25.4m compared to the U135 at 19 to 31.5mm.

Maybe that’s why the U160 is more expensive by Php2,000 with a suggested retail price of Php23,990.

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Why is 4G/WiMax in the Philippines slow?

yuga — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:40:54 +0000

While WiMax has been introduced in the country for some time now, people are still complaining it’s not really fast. So, yes, 1MBps isn’t really fast but can we really afford 10Mbps right now?

Both Liberty Telecoms and Globe Telecom are offering 4G or WiMax but for the most part, the packages are between 512Kbps and 1Mbps. And as far as I know, each one of the Globe WiMax towers is maxed out at 8Mbps. If ever Globe offers an 8Mbps plan in the future, I think it will be in the Php5,000 range.

Come to think of it — if telcos will offer 10Mbps WiMax for Php5k, will people switch to it?

The only reason I can think of now why they’re not offering really fast connection packages is that they don’t want to eat into their own market. Probably the same reason why a 384mL can of Coke is more expensive than a 384mL bottle of Coke (nomadic vs. fixed).

So, if you’re looking for a 10Mbps or 100Mbps connection, you need to shell out Php3,995 (10Mbps) and Php14,995 (100Mbps). I think that 10Mbps for Php3,995 is a sweet deal. Problem though is that Globe only offers the service to posh villages like Forbes Park, Serendra, Bel-Air Village and Urdaneta Village. I believe PLDT has a similar offering in Alabang for a number of years now.

For the rest of us that’s not rich enough to live in those areas, we’ll have to settle with 12Mbps of Sky Broadband.

I remember, about 5 years ago, it was great news to see ZPDee Cable offering 64Kbps for only Php690 a month. Today, for the same amount, you get up to 2Mbps. That’s 30 times the speed for the same price. If we follow that trend, I reckon we could get 60Mbps for the same price by year 2015.

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The STV Auto Rally Experience

yuga — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 10:46:33 +0000

Had to wake up very early yesterday (around 4:30am) to head off to Subic for the first Sunshine TV Auto Rally. It was my first time to join such a competition with over 60 cars from 13 brands involved.

Sunshine TV organized the event inviting all car manufacturers and dealers for an auto rally. It’s not really a race for speed but more of race for accuracy.

We were invited by Honda to be one of their 5 teams and drove a Honda Jazz 1.5. Other big cars were also there — Ford, Lexus, Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Toyota, Porsche, Isuzu, Kia, Mazda, Chevrolet, BMW, Nissan and Subaru.

The rules seemed simple at first but it becomes confusing and complicated when you’re already running the race. We were given a series of directional instructions together with the distance (in 0.1km intervals), landmark and suggested speed. We then have to compute how much time (in seconds) we need to get there and have to drive accurately so we get to the checkpoints on time.

If we arrived late, we get penalty points and at the same time, if we were early, we also get some penalty. So this is like a precision driving competition.

Unfortunately, because of some confusion with the maps, we got lost and got off-roads into the forest. Worst part is we (somewhat) crashed our vehicle which rendered it un-usable (this is like part of a series of unlucky incidents happening to me in the past several weeks now).

We had to switch and use another car (a Honda City) just to finish the rest of the leg of our race. We still don’t know which team won but it will be a miracle if our team average will even get us some good over-all ranking.

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Mark Z asks Suze Orman if he can buy Twitter

yuga — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 04:09:01 +0000

I’ve been following the Suze Orman show thru her podcast for some time now and one of my favorite segment is the “Can I Afford it?”. There’s this one episode where a certain Mark Z. calls up Suze and asks if he can buy Twitter for $1.5 Billion.

So you think Mark Z. can afford to buy Twitter?

Just check out this 2 and a half minute phone call and see if Suze approved or denied Mark Z to buy Twitter. You’d be surprised.

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Watchpad preps for Pacquiao-Clottey Fight

yuga — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:18:32 +0000

Those looking to watch the upcoming Pacquiao-Clottey boxing match this March 14 will be glad to know that they can do so via PLDT myDSL Watchpad for free.

Now, PLDT myDSL Watchpad is all geared up for the biggest entertainment event of the year – the Pacquiao-Clottey Fight on March 14, 2010. The live streaming of this event will be absolutely FREE to all myDSL Subscribers.*

If you want to get the best seats in the house, in front of your PC, register now to the the Pacquiao-Clottey Fight by logging on to your Watchpad. Logging on will also update your Watchpad Player for a better viewing experience.

We now have 18 channels that you can enjoy for free. You can download the Online Streaming Player at www.pldtwatchpad.com

I’ve tried the myDSL Watchpad before during the last Pacquiao fight and it didn’t really worked nicely. I was told that they’ve gathered all the feedback and have corrected the system accordingly. This time around, PLDT hopes to redeem itself by offering the live online streaming for free to all myDSL subscribers.

Disclosure: PLDT has just signed up as advertiser on this blog.

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Thanks to all the YugaTech Contest Entries!

yuga — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:42:46 +0000

Just an update to everyone who joined our recent YugaTech Photo Contest. I know all of you are excited to know who won the MSI Wind U123 so here’s an update and some highlights.

There were so many entries, in the hundreds — I think it’s over 1,000 photo submissions all in all. All week long, I had to go thru each photo, download a copy and pick my early favorites.

I have to say I had a blast checking out all the photo submissions. People making t-shirt designs, body tattoos, huge tarps, projectors and going to huge events like the Hot Air Balloon, Century Tuna SuperBod Marathon and all the big malls, churches, amusement parks, political rallies, festivals. I can’t give hints right now but all I can say is wow!

My Top 5 Photos are still not final as there are so many entries to choose from. If I can’t still narrow them down, I might just give all the good submissions some sort of prizes too (that’s should pressure me to pick my top 5). I’ll send my finalist pick to @tjmanotoc who agreed to be one of our judges for choosing the grand prize winner.

I also have the winners for the Tweet, Google Image and Blog segments. Will have to wait for the other winners so I can announce them all at once. I haven’t finished tallying the Facebook “Likes” though.

Hopefully, I’ll have the complete set of winners and grand prize winners by early next week (as early as Monday, I hope) so stay tuned!

Important: I’ve uploaded all the photo submissions in the YugaTech Gallery. I might have missed some entries so please check if your submissions are there.

I know, I’m excited too! Can’t wait to give away this MSI Wind U123 (Just tried it now and it’s got a 9-cell battery that can do 8.5 hours!). I saw some pretty daring and creative stuff. They ought to get some special prizes too.

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Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 gets priced

yuga — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 04:29:41 +0000

Fujitsu’s very own version of a pocket computer, the Lifebook UH900, has a 5.6-inch touch screen and weighs only half a kilo.

Fujitsu LifeBook UH900 specs:
5.6-inch screen @ 1280×800 pixels
Intel Atom Processor Z530 1.6GHz
Intel GMA 500
2GB DDR2 RAM
62GB SSD
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1 w/ A2DP
0.78 MP webcam
SD/SDHC Slot

It’s supposed to have an optional 3G/HSDPA modem too. The built-in battery is also good for u to 3 hours (same as the one with the Vaio P). Runs Windows 7 Home Premium with a suggested retail price of Php69,995.

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Flip Ultra HD unboxed and tested

yuga — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 04:58:51 +0000

We’re able to get our hands on the new Flip Ultra HD and it was only for a couple of days so all I did was unboxed it and tested the recording capability.

The Flip Ultra HD pocket-sized camcorder is a little bulky but works perfectly for video recording.

The interface is pretty simple, straight-forward and easy to understand. Nothing too fancy and gets the job done fast. It also powers-up/boot-up very quick.

It can do 120 minutes of 720p HD video on the 8GB built-in memory. There’s an HDMI port for video output and the device has an attached USB connector when hooking up to the PC and transferring files.

Powering the device are 2 rechargeable AA batteries that recharges when you attach the device to the USB port. Took a short video clip above and uploaded it on YouTube.

Not sure if it’s available locally but this model sells for $199 in the US.

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Asus EeePC 1201N vs. 1201T

yuga — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:50:28 +0000

During the last Asus event the other night, we were able to play with the Asus EeePC 1201N and got some additional information about it that we can compare with the 1201T.

These two models basically have the same exteriors and the difference is between the CPU and GPU.

So we compare how they perform using the simple Windows Experience Index and got these results:

Of course, there’s the difference in battery performance because of the TDP of the CPU+GPU combo. The Atom N330 with GeForce 9400M has a total TDP of 20 watts (8w + 12w) while the Athlon Neo MV-40 alone is already at 15 watts. But then again, the numbers on WEI isn’t really that far off.

The Asus Eee PC 1201N sells for Php27,000 (Windows 7) while the Eee PC 1201T sells for only Php22,000 (no OS).

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Asus shows 9″ DR-900 e-Reader at CeBIT

yuga — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:03:06 +0000

Asus just showed off its DR-900 e-Reader at the CeBIT 2010 convention in Hanover, Germany.

Almost similar to the size of of the Kindle DX, the Asus DR-900 eReader boasts of very long battery life — up to 10,000 page turns on a single charge.

The 9-inch screen has a resolution of 1024×768 pixels and support for PDF, ePub and HTML files.

The device comes with WiFi connectivity with an optional 3G/HSDPA slot as well. There’s a 2GB and 4GB built-in storage with SD card slot for expansion as well as a USB port and 3.5mm jack.

No word from Asus how much these would sell for and when they’ll be out but it’s good to see some Kindle alternatives out there (hopefully, way cheaper too!).

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On Tour: LG 3D, Broadband and OLED TVs

yuga — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 04:40:59 +0000

If you want to check out the cool OLED TVs and the wireless LED TVs we saw during our visit to LG Electronics in Korea last month, then watch out for them this month until July across the country.

LG will be bringing the entire cast of LED TVs to several major cities nationwide. The line-up includes all of the following upcoming models. The tour starts on February 25 until the first week of July 2010.

LG LH50 3D
LG LE9500
LG LE7500
LG LD650 Broadband
LG EL9500 OLED TV

This is just a showcase tour and aren’t yet officially launched so we don’t have the retail prices. However, that 15-inch paper-thin OLED TV is reportedly shipping to Europe this May for a whooping $2,725.

Join the Norton Inner Circle and get the chance to win a new Lenovo ThinkPad Edge: http://bit.ly/aupah7

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Asus outs Karim Rashid Eee PC SeaShell

yuga — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:32:22 +0000

Asus is looking to invade the fashion-accented market of HP netbooks. So move aside Vivienne Tam and Tord Boontje — Karim Rashid is here.

This is basically the Asus EeePC 1008P with Intel’s Atom Pine Trail.

Intel Atom N450
10.1-inch display @1024×600
1GB of DDR2 RAM
250GB HDD
WiFi 802.11n
Gigabit LAN
Bluetooth 2.1
1.3 megapixel camera
3-cell battery

And it looks like they put some effort in the design of the lids (it’s not just a paint finish but a textured one as well).

The Karim Rashid Collection is available in Hot Pink and Coffee Brown colors and will sell for Php25,900.

Join the Norton Inner Circle and get the chance to win a new Lenovo ThinkPad Edge: http://bit.ly/aupah7

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Nokia C5: Smartphone for the Masses?

yuga — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:39:42 +0000

Nokia’s new C-Series phone is out with its first model — the Nokia C5, powered by S60 platform which we normally see in high-end, full-featured smartphones from Nokia.

Nokia C5
2.2″ screen @ 240×320 pixels
up to 16GB via microSD (2GB included)
HSDPA 10.2 Mbps, HSUPA 2 Mbps
Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP
3.15MP autofocus camera, LED flash
Symbian OS v9.3 Series 60 rel. 3.2
Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS with aGPS support and Ovi Maps 3.0

What’s conspicuously missing is WiFi connectivity. Li-Ion battery is also rated at just 860mAh.

Is the Nokia C5 an attempt to bring the smartphone to the masses? If the expected retail price of Php8,500 is any indication, it looks like it. Should be out before end of 2nd quarter.

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Sony’s new Cybershot TX5, TX7 and Bloggie

yuga — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 06:29:44 +0000

Sony’s latest Cybershots have changed my wish list for a new range finder camera. Up high on the list is the all-around Cyber-shot TX5 made for rugged and extreme conditions.

During the Sony event at Shangri-la, Boracay, we were able to use all these new toys for the team competition. Unfortunately, I was too engrossed in the race I completely forgot to take photos and sample shots.

Coming in from the Cyber-shot TX1 model, Sony’s TX5 is the waterproof (10 feet), shockproof (5 feet), dustproof, and freeze-proof (14°-104 °F) version. Its got a 10.2MP sensor, a 3.0″ touch screen display, and able to do 720p HD (1280×720) movies at 30 fps.

One of its nicest feature is the intelligent Sweep Panorama Mode — just shoot in a swiping direction (sideways or downwards) and it will automatically generate a panoramic shot. This is a departure from the 3-shot stitching function we’ve seen in other models.

On the other hand, the Sony Cyber-shot TX7 is a similar model with the same 10.2MP sensor (25mm equivalent), 4x optical zoom, 1080i AVCHD Movie Mode, with a special 10-frames-per-second shooting mode (burst mode) and Sweep Panorama Mode. It’s also got a bigger 3.5″ touch screen display and an ISO of up to 3200.

Sony also introduced it’s own Bloggie camera (MHS-PM5/V) for shooting short HD videos. This is their answer to the popular Flip Mino HD.

The Bloggie takes full HD 1080p videos at MPEG4 AVC/H.264 (MP4) format. I can also do still images at 5MP. Storage is via Memory Stick PRO Duo 4GD with another slot for SD card for expansion (SRP: Php14,999). The camera lens rotates a good 270-degree and comes with a secondary lens attachment that can record a full 360-degrees all at once.

Our team actually won this during the competition so I should be able to demonstrate that 360-degree shooting mode once they ship it to us. See photos of the Shangri-la Boracay Spa & Resort here.

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Redfox WizBook Razor XR133 Review

yuga — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:19:04 +0000

With all the laptop manufacturers introducing their own CULV line of notebooks, it’s becoming harder to choose from among a dozen or so contenders. Redfox’s Razor XR133 also wants to be near the top of the heap so we look at how it fares.

Among the CULV line, the most prominent feature of a notebook that’s been sacrificed is the optical disk drive (ODD). Redfox wants to prove you don’t need to drop the DVD drive altogether and the WizBook Razor XR133 comes with a built-in DVD+RW. The only other model I know of that has an internal ODD is Sony’s Php120k Vaio T.

The two-tone black and silver matte finish of the WizBook Razor gives it a nice looking appeal (the logo kicks ass too) that also prevents the surface from smudges and fingerprints. It’s thin but a bit on the heavy side (3.67lbs) probably because of the ODD, with a wide and comfortable palmrest and a trackpad.

The keyboard layout is nicely oriented, thanks to the well-proportioned keys for the Shift, Backspace, Ctrl and arrow keys as well as the extra-large Enter key. I think this is one of the nicest laptop keyboard I’ve ever used in terms of orientation and key size — Redfox really maximized the space here.

Like most other ultraportable notebooks in the 13.3″ category, the Razor XR133 is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo SU 7300 running at 1.3GHz. The specs are really pretty standard with 2GB of DDR2 RAM, an Intel GMA 4500MHD and 320GB HDD.

And because they’ve included an ODD, there’s little space left for the 2 USB ports, an HDMI port, and SD card reader on the side.

However, there’s an empty slot of the left side which I think could be as cradle for a 3G SIM card slot (probably an optional upgrade).

The screen is glossy and while that allows for a clearer and more crisp display, it’s really hard to use it in the outdoors when there’s glare. The screen resolution is also maxed out at 1280×800 pixels and not the usual 1366×768.

In terms of performance, we took a screenshot of the Windows Experience Index and got this. Results are pretty the same compared to a similarly spec-ed Neo Edge Z3265 we reviewed earlier.

The complete PassMark benchmarks are posted here.

The 6-cell battery is rated at 4400mAh and gives a decent 3.5 hours. Not that impressive but not bad at all.

The Razor XR133 also has a 1.3MP webcam and WiFi 802.11N but seems to be missing the Bluetooth (the specs say it’s Bluetooth capable so that must be an option).

For a price tag of Php42,999, the Redfox WizBook XR133 is competitively priced (about Php3,000 to Php7,000 less expensive than similarly spec-ed Asus UX30 and Lenovo U350). It’s definitely an option to consider. That missing Bluetooth is a bummer though and the cheaper 11.6″ version (XR116) is also interesting since they say it’s 3G-ready .

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