UVVRP EXEMPTION: It Was Good While It Lasted

Mandaluyong city traffic cop at the corner of EDSA & Shaw Blvd. eyes were glimmering when he saw that I had an exemption, he headed in my direction (pay dirt!)… Too bad he didn’t notice that bukas pa ako coding! Sorry jackass… tomorrow baka may breakfast ka on me… not today. You may wipe that smirk of your face now.

Last day of MMDA UVVRP exemption is tomorrow 31-July-2010… the “new” government cancelling ALL exemptions issued by the past MMDA leadership. In effect, this contract between MMDA & the exempted person has only run 1/3 of it’s course (1 month out of 3 months)

1) disrespect to the previous MMDA leadership (or “I didn’t get in on that deal, time to re-negotiate”)

2) the government is willing to cancel contracts before they expire (political will or fanaticism?)

Even though I am negatively affected by this course of action… I am trying to see the silver lining, Baby Noy (to the tune of “Bayyyybeeee Jaaaaaames” of course) is showing that everyone is equal and is trying to lead by example (operational word: trying)

No I am not becoming idealistic, I am in tune with reality. I still know that corruption is rampant in our government, I know that these bastards and bitches in power will still pocket money and squeeze us for more instead of taking less, wake up (yes I enjoyed Inception) it’s happening right now but hey it is good to have some hope.

HEY ASSHOLES YOU COULD STEAL A LITTLE LESS AND GIVE A LITTLE MORE BACK TO THE PEOPLE WHO ELECTED YOU AND TRUST YOU TO DO YOUR FUCKING JOBS PROPERLY FOR FUCK’S SAKE

I hope that this new administration doesn’t become fanatic though. The new admin should void contracts or deals that are not beneficial to the nation, and leave the good ones (even if they were made by the past administration) in.

Sounds like a common sense approach yes? But hey common sense goes out the window when people get fanatical and vindictive. Let’s keep it professional…  those with cancelled contracts or deals that don’t like it can of course take legal action against this administration (yeah good luck with that). That’s their right of course.

Me: I will wake up earlier or commute to work or take a chance now that I am no longer immune to UVVRP your chances for free breakfast have dramatically improved Mr. Traffic Cop, you may paint back that smirk on your face now.

Tips on Flashing ROMs via SD card

remember your device should have at least 80% charge.

sd card should be fat32

rename the NBH file properly

Save the Lars Homestead…

Star Wars fan? Got paypal? Then head on over to http://www.markdermul.be/tatooine/savelars.html and help in whatever way you can to preserve one of the most iconic movie sets ever.

I'm talking about the Lars Homestead (Star Wars: A New Hope) located in Tunisia. This fan powered initiative is just awesome. So lend your support in whatever amount you can

May the FORCE Be With You…

 

STAR WARS in pop culture!

heard about this from The Forcecast (starwars podcast) , 1st 20 seconds :)

Some SITH-G-I Goodnes

after the heroic jedi Steve Jobs defeated Darth Microsoft he falls to the darkside himself!

Photos from: Official Star Wars Blog flickr page
Here is the antenna gate video in all it’s SITH-G-I glory

Horrible SMART 3G Performance

2008

2009 October – During a typhoon

2010 July – After a typhoon (best speed tonight: 251kb up / 36kb down)

As we can see performance took a real nose dive. Again as with all things network related YMMV.

Review // Anphonic

Category: Music
Genre: Dance/DJ
Artists: Above & Beyond / Kyau & Albert

A really excellent collab from Above & Beyond (@aboveandbeyond) and Kyau & Albert (@kyauandalbert). So far I think this is the biggest team up for trance (in 2010 that is).
The production on this track is just top notch. YOU WILL LOVE THE BREAKDOWN. I really love the Arty Remix. I must say Arty/Alpha9 is becoming one of my fave remixers. The Russian’s got talent.
If you must get only a single track this month… make it this one.
Released on Anjunabeats Catalogue No.: ANJ167D discogs
You may listen to a sample below and click on the badge to get it from @trackitdown

 

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Early Download

Thanks to @carloople & his blog I found out that you could get the eagerly anticipated RTS, StarCraft II:: Wings of Liberty early directly from Blizzard.

Here is the link:

http://beta-sea.battle.net/en/info/digital-purchase

It’s a huge download at 6.99Gb and you still can’t play it:

According to Battle.net

Digital copies will be live on: 07/28/2010 3:00 AM AEST (Australia East Standard Time) that’s 07/28/10 1:00AM Manila Time

No pricing was posted so I don’t know if this will be cheaper vs the retail box that will be sold locally.

So if you can’t get on DATABLITZ pre-order list, don’t have time or are too lazy to go to the store you can download now. pay and play later.

Quadboot Project // Because I Can ;-)

A few days ago I was successfully able to load 3 different OS on my resurrected MSI Wind U123H.

These were:

1. Mac OSX 10.6.2 Snow Leopard
2. Windows 7 Home Premium
3. MeeGo 1.0

Tonight I have decided a 4th OS to my netbook. You might be wondering why I would do this… and the simple answer is because I can. Yep that old geeky tinkerer’s mantra… I have chosen Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx netbook remix for the 4th OS.

I used this guide (thanks to the OP)

Here is how I have my HDD partitioned:

Partition 1 Primary 117Gb is Windows 7 Home Premium

Partition 2 Primary 97Gb is OSX

Partition 3 Primary 298Mb is GRUB (bootloader)

Partition 0 Extended 17Gb

Partition 4 Logical 6Gb is for MeeGo

Partition 5 Logical 8Gb is for Ubuntu 10.04 netbook remix

Partition 6 Logical 4Gb is Swap for Ubuntu / MeeGo (recommended as x2 of your system RAM)

Some useful links:

Ubuntu

MeeGo

SnowyWindOSX (google it)

 

Ringtones // Far Away

A very nice track…

Nitrous Oxide - Far Away (Club Mix)

Wind U123H // The Triple Boot Project

Since my netbook is back from the shop and it’s as if it’s brand new. Well you all know what that means… It is time to tinker with it. Right now my Wind U123H is running Windows XP SP3 (which it came with). I don’t think I can stand XP anymore. After using Windows 7 you just can’t go back.

The Wind is packing a 250Gb HDD and I think that is more than enough space for three OS. I will be trying to do a triple boot system.

1. Mac OSX 10.6.1
2. Windows 7 Starter
3. MeeGo 1.0.1

I will be installing in the order above and hopefully it all works out. I will be sure to report on how the install goes

GPRS settings for various Telcos

FS // XBOX 360 // 7,000 PhP

Posting this for my friend:

FOR SALE AT Php 7,000

-Xbox 360 Pro
-20gb HD
-Date manufactured: 11/07
-Date purchased: 12/07
-U.S. version (never converted)
-Falcon chipset
-AC 110V
-Never experienced TRL
-Power cube and AV cable are included
-Original headset and one wireless controller included
-Unit can still create 1 Xbox live gold account good for one month
-Box included
-LAN cable included
-includes 3 games (old titles such as NBA 2k9, Halo 3, Call of Duty 4)

If you're interested contact Fergus via fongky1 at yahoo dot com

UAAP73 Men's Basketball Schedule and Standings

Men’s Basketball Schedule Round 1 via Google Calendar


Standings (will be updated as frequently as possible)

Blackberry Pricing: Globe vs Sun, SMART: screw a porcupine.

I’ve finished my research on Blackberry and even though I cannot get one because I am locked to contracts on both Globe & Sun, and adding Blackberry service is either too expensive or outright not offered for my plan. I have decided to share what I’ve learned

SMART also offers Blackberry service but they have been excluded from this comparison because they are EVIL and you shouldn’t sign a contract with them anyway

This is for SIM only postpaid subscription. I compared plans that offered the same features. This is the lowest plans you can go on while getting unlimited blackberry + data service. Clearly Sun offers it cheaper but price is not the only consideration, keep in mind that Sun is #3 network, so I did some speedtests this morning.

3G Data Speed / Marikina City / AM

• Sun 300Kb
• Globe = 1.76Mb
• PLDT DSL (Business plan) = 1.51Mb

As always YMMV. Speed will depend on location, network traffic, signal strength, device etc etc.

Verdict:

Globe for coverage, reliability & speed. Since Globe now offers Call & SMS unlimited within their network (& TouchMobile) there is no reason to get a Blackberry (or any device) on Sun except for budget concerns or if all your contacts have Sun.

Will probably terminate my Sun Call & Surf Unlimited plan this coming October (unless they improve their service) when my contract ends. I will probably not get another Sun line.

Feed Modified to Include Audio/Video

just a small update to the feed (future proofing perhaps?) shouldn’t affect subscribers but let me know if it does!

Ringtones // Don’t Give Up

Definitely one of the tracks that shaped my early EDM journey is Chicane - Don’t Give Up (featuring Bryan Adams). The track was released as a single in 2000 (yep that’s ten years ago)… to commemorate this I made a ringtone of the classic. Enjoy!

Chicane – Don’t Give Up (ft. Bryan Adams)

As always all my ringtones are free! Please don’t pay for them. Apple iPhone format available upon request.

Blackberry Questions… Help Please!

My palm Treo pro is dying, while it hasn’t completely conked out it has been with me for more than 1 year (the longest ever for any device). I would like to retire it while it is still working.

So I did some initial canvassing and the prices seems fair for an unlocked device. For a Blackberry Bold 9700 around PhP 28,000.00 and for a Blackberry Curve 8520 around PhP 12,000.00

So why would I try the oldest and honestly the crappiest looking, hardest to navigate mobile OS in the market? Well the short answer is CENSORSHIP, or circumventing censorship to be more precise. I learned recently that everything you do with your BB has to go thru RIMs servers in Canadia! Meaning if I were in China and using a China Mobile SIM or hotel wifi. I will still be able to punch thru the Great Firewall of China. Well that is the plan or working theory for the moment.

1. Does anyone have actual experience using a Blackberry device in China? Can you really access the whole interwebs (with your own SIM doesn’t count as that’s roaming, I mean with China WiFi or local China SIM)?
2. Chinese input (read as minimum, read & write preferred of course) – just in case I would be needing this.
3. Swapping SIM cards and registering the device with Blackberry servers – Is this possible? I have lot’s of SIM cards that is why I prefer unlocked devices (it is cheaper to get a local SIM from the country you’re visiting vs roaming), how easy or difficult is this?
4. Using Blackberry Messenger (BBM) without-Blackberry plan – I am going to use my Sun Cellular SIM (and plan) on this device when in the Philippines. I have an unlimited data plan but I don’t know if BBM will work without a Blackberry plan.

I am still undecided if I should go with a cheapo Curve 8520 or go with the 3G enabled Bold 9700.

With the Curve, aside from being cheaper and lighter. China mobile doesn’t have the same 3G as ours, so I would have no use for 3G when in China. However most of the time I am in the Philippines where we do have 3G which is a point for the Bold.

But before purchasing the device I would appreciate some answers or any more insights you might have about using Blackberry’s to get over the Great Firewall of China.

Sound off in the comments or send me a tweet/email if you have some answers.

Ringtones // DNS Project Feat. Johanna – Mindful (Radio Edit)

More versions… TinT

DNS Project Feat. Johanna – Mindful (Radio Edit) v3
DNS Project Feat. Johanna – Mindful (Radio Edit) v4

**Apple iPhone format available upon request

Microsoft is Driving Me Away from WindowsPhone

For the record: I have been using Microsoft mobile devices since 2001, currently my primary device is an Apple iPhone 3GS, and my secondary device is a palm Treo Pro WindowsMobile 6.1 Pro device.

Microsoft KIN

Today Microsoft announced that KIN is dead. Goddamit it should never have been born! The still born (lacking features, bastard child of WindowsPhone7) should never have been released in the first place. Microsoft wasted resources on KIN when they could’ve folded in what they learned or acquired from Sidekick into WindowsPhone7. FUCKING STUPID!

WindowsMobile

I have Windows Mobile Marketplace on my TreoPro. GREAT right? WELL NO! It has been more than 6 months since I’ve had it on my device and I still cannot add my credit card and purchase apps. Yep the behemoth that is Microsoft can’t get it’s act together to allow Philippine credit cards. Of course I can side load but that doesn’t have all my apps in one central location and updates have to be checked and applied by me, 1 by 1.

Zune, Xbox, Bing Maps

Zune and Xbox are not available, while Bing Maps is almost empty for the Philippines.

WindowsPhone7

Will be launching holiday 2010 (no solid date yet)… ZERO backwards compatibility with WindowsMobile. ZERO support for Zune, Xbox, Bing Maps (for the Philippines) as of this writing. It will be launching with LESS features vs WindowsMobile (i.e. copy & paste, multi-tasking might not be available at launch).

Conclusion

So it seems that Microsoft is hell bent on driving me away from Windows powered mobile devices. Yeah 9 years (and counting) of using, supporting, promoting Windows Mobile will be coming to a bitter end soon. Microsoft you really know how to screw with your fans don’t you?

Aside