The Beanster Blog

My palm Treo 750 has been acting up lately… so I asked my shobe to get me one when she was in SG over the weekend. It’s here now I haven’t opened the box yet but I hope it has a screen protector or I won’t be able to use it till I get one installed. It came out way way way cheaper than the parallel imported TP I saw in GH which was selling for 42,0000 PhP. I got my TP for 930SGD which is approx. 26,900 PhP and they included a 4Gb SanDisk Class 2 microSDHC card with it… A steal if I dare say so myself! I think this is the cheapest Windows Mobile Pro device I’ve bought. w00t! I’ve read the surface is a finger print magnet and is easily scratched so I am looking into getting a bodyguardz or invisible shield for it. I hope it arrives fast though… I am not the most patient person and I baby my devices.

It’s 2 days before we all say goodbye to 2008… I guess it’s inevitable that we all look back at the past 12 months and reflect upon what happened to us. This year has been a year of revelations for me. I would not say that all of these revelations have been positive… We all know life isn’t that easy. Looking At The Green Grass… I think I need to take a cue from my Chinese Zodiac Sign [Sheep, 羊] and start looking at the green grass instead of the patches of dirt. Looking at the grass though I should also be on the look out for potential snakes in there. Towards The Green Grass… Of course it’s not enough to look at the green grass. I have to go towards it, easier said than done of course. But as master Yoda says: Do or Do Not, There is No Try May the FORCE Be All of You This Coming Year.

Finally was able to swing by GSC to get the 6 cell battery for my Wind. I’ve slapped it on and am currently charging it. Of course it adds a bit of weight and bulk to my lil machine but hey if it gives me more than 1:45 of uptime I’m all for it. As an added bonus it elevates the Wind’s rear a bit which not only gives it a nice tilt for typing but also better airflow. Even with the 6 cell this baby is not heavy at all. Thanks to manong valet of Chili’s who recognized me and let me park at Chili’s while I was going around for the 2nd time to look for parking.

My uncle got himself an 8Gb unlocked 3G iPhone from HKG. I decided to check the FW version and saw that it came with 2.1 so I updated it to 2.2 with his PowerBook. I noticed that iTunes performs better in Apple OS vs Windows… Sabotage perhaps… I will never know since I’ve said goodbye to iTunes earlier this year. We tried buying a few apps on the device and on his notebook. The App Store is an amazing component for the success of the iPhone. Anyway I was setting up his email and copied his SIM contacts to the iPhone. Everything was very intuitive, the mark of a great UI. Still data entry was my main gripe with this touch screen only device. I had a difficult time with the on screen keyboard both with the auto-correction on and off [after the 2.2 update]. I was tapping letters as much as I was deleting them, not good. NB: his device was having trouble receiving and making calls whilst the 3G was on both before and after updating to 2.2 firmware. So this is something definitely netwo...

Oh yeah! Venice & Elaine FTW ;o) Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Mr. & Mrs. Zalveen & Ice Chua Originally uploaded by bnycastro Congratulations. Best wishes. And May the FORCE Be With You... Always! Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

I have never been one to keep my devices *as is* when it comes to the OS/Firmware… This 2nd Treo 750 will be no different. So I dusted off my old Cheetah files [trivia: the Treo 750 is codenamed HTC Cheetah] and decided to HARD SPL [this allows for non-carrier branded ROMs to be loaded] and flashed it to a Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM. Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen… and the ROM loaded without any issues. I did notice that Microsoft Voice Command 1.6 was not included in this ROM not really a problem since I own the software as well.  I’m currently syncing my PIM data and will be installing my apps over the next few days.

.: CEBUPACIFIC grounds 10 Deaf Passengers :. [the story is dated in the early part of this year it is not clear if cebu pacific has done something about this]

I've been using Windows Mobile devices since 2001, back then they were called Pocket PCs. I then moved to converged devices with the Phone Edition. I guess you could call me a semi-fan boy... I'd definitely recommend the platform to people who want to be power users. I do tend to recommend feature phones or semi-smartphones to the rest. I'd rather people not use WM vs them using it and giving a poor review just because they lacked the patience to really dive deep and make it work the way they like it. That being said I think Microsoft is giving us loyal users the shaft... Yup the new version of IE mobile is for new devices only. Boo! Hopefully the amazing folks at xda-dev can do something about this. I've been tempted to get an iPhone just to play with the OS and apps but honestly I could not justify getting an unlocked & brand new unit just to play with. Maybe if I see a cheap 2nd hand unit but then I'd have to jailbreak it and then deal with iTunes (friggin...

I think I'm back in the Treo groove... I'm typing as fast as I did when I first owned the device last year and am really enjoying the qwerty bar form factor. TBH I wish the Treo Pro comes soon, wouldn't mind having dual Treos as my devices... Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my palm Treo 750 Windows® Mobile phone

So my mom is still out of the country, my brother and sister are busy with a store opening and guests from MY. So I am left to watch over the office with my dad. He is re-arranging the office and has been a PITA for 2 weeks about it. He has been pestering me to move to my new desk. So I finally move and guess what there is no allotment for power, phone, and network. GALING!!!

I like the panic button but I think it's too chunky and complex for daily use. They do plan to make a rugedized version may be for sale to the military... Dunno if this will make it to consumers though... seems a bit too pricey! according to the tech specs [http://themedicalphone.com/tech.html] it should be running Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional but from the renders/device shots it is sporting sliding panels only seen in WM6.1 Standard.

I had the Beef Noodles and Tiu had the Maki Noodles. We tasted the Pork Adobo, Adobong Tofu, and Kiampong. Nothing especially earth shattering about the food but the prices were fair. They have a small area with Taiwanese goods [Noodles, sauces, snacks, etc]. I wasn’t able to get their number but the small canteen style resto is at Madison Square along Wilson St., in San Juan [beside: Tuna to Go].

  Last Saturday I accompanied Tiu and Rey [of freshmanila] to Komikon at UP’s Bahay ng Alumni. It was a small event and we only stayed for a bit. A lot of pinoy komiks aficionado…   [ Alfredo P. Alcala ’s STAR WARS comics! Too bad it wasn’t available or even there!!! Boo!] Anyway fresh sold some stuff. Tiu’s cousin was there and he got his mini Munny signed by Pol Medina Jr. [creator of Pugad Baboy]. You can contact fresh here: Blog (toy releases/breaking news): http://freshmanila.blogspot.com/ Multiply (events): http://freshmanila.multiply.com/ Webstore (duh!): http://freshmanila.com/

I’ve been rambling about going back to the QWERTY bar form factor. I was eyeing the palm Treo Pro but it isn’t out locally yet and there have been some issues with units getting hairline cracks [tsk tsk palm and HTC]… Anyway I decided to sell my TyTN II and get a 2nd hand palm Treo 750. It was already updated to Windows Mobile 6 and is in pretty good condition except I think I got a crap battery. Might get a new battery [and probably a screen protector too] for it within the week. I’ve synced up my data but am not going crazy with apps. Just the essentials for now. I don’t think I will miss WiFi as much since I have that on my HTC S730, I will miss the 3.2MP auto-focus camera and GPS on the TyTN II.

Our Fortuner just got out of the shop after my dad's accident. Yesterday my uncle was driving it and he got into an accident! It is completely un-drivable and is waiting to be towed to the shop. Major accidents: * Driver hit a log, wrecked bumper = cosmetic damage * I fell asleep, wrecked mags = cosmetic damage * Dad fell asleep, wrecked the front tire, bumper, head lights = un-drivable * Uncle, wrecked the front tire, bumper, head light, side mirror = un-drivable 3 words: BENTA NA TO! Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

You read it right! 800Mhz on a PDA! Now that is some serious horse power… Aside from this though you get the run of the mill stuff in most WM Pro devices. Oh and no love for the US 3G data band… specs: 2.8" TFT, Touch Screen, 65,000-color, 480 x 640 pixels Marvell PXA930 800MHz Processor 128Mb RAM / 256 ROM microSDHC HSDPA 3.6Mbps, UMTS 2100, EDGE/GPRS/GSM 900/1800/1900 MHz WiFi/Bluetooth 3MP + 0.3MP Cameras 1300mAh Battery Windows Mobile Professional 6.1 c/o WMExperts

A few years back I decided to make sub email accounts. I had 1 main Gmail account, 1 account for my mobile phone, and 1 account for forums. I also had 1 Hotmail and yahoo account for services powered by MSN/Yahoo. I think it is time to centralize my GMail accounts again. I don't feel the need for multiple accounts anymore. So I am terminating my forums and mobile accounts. To be sure that everything is transferred I'll keep on checking them until December before closing them down. I might move the forum duty to Hotmail and leave Yahoo as my spam catcher and my main account will double for my mobile. Since I use IMAP my account is pretty much in sync across my HTC TyTN 2, my Wind, and the web.

    Hello hello! This was composed in Windows Live Writer :P Grab it and other neat stuff here ---- Edit: Attempt to edit the most recent post.

About 2 months since I bought the MSI Wind U100, a nice little machine. I've been running XP for the most part [currently on Windows 7 pre-beta, for the past 2 weeks] and have been quite happy with my purchase.  So far I have found no need to get a separate DVD drive as I don't install apps via CD/DVD daily nor do I rip/burn CD/DVDs. To get my data off my office PC, I used one of those DIY SATA/IDE enclosures plus my desktop's 2ndary HDD [320Gb 7200RPM Seagate]. With the same enclosure I also used my desktop's DVD-R/W drive [24x LITE-ON] to install from CD/DVD. An USB DVD-R/W drive is 3,500 PhP. I think UMPCs [ultra mobile PCs] are pricing themeselves out of existence... As a testament to this most manufacturers are producing netbooks but not all of them are making UMPCs. Come to think of it netbooks can be classified under UMPCs. As of now price, OS, screen resolution differentiate them. What I would like to see on the next crop of netbooks: On-board WWAN [wireless wid...

Still no sign of the Treo Pro locally. The palm PH portal doesn't have it either. It's been months since it's announcement and release in the US/EU and it's now available in nearby HKG and SG . Since I haven't had the chance to go over to both HKG and SG I was hoping that local parallel importers would've picked up this device by now. No joy... YET! -- Again both my HTC TyTN 2 [10/2007] and HTC S730 [07/2008] are still quiet capable but my hands are getting itchy... I want a new device!

Over the weekend I went to SMART Wireless Center in GH and downgraded my 1200 PhP Addict Mobile Consumable plan to an 800PhP consumable SMART Gold Lite plan. The only difference with these plans is the cheaper within network calling 2PhP vs 6PhP on other plans. I'll be locked to this plan for 6 months only [since I did not avail of a mobile]. -- SMART GOLD LITE --

Ok try these out on your unlocked Protected Features build 6801 of Windows 7 pre beta... -- Whilst Clicked on a Window bring it up to the Top Edge of the Screen, you will see sort of a water drop effect and when you release the mouse button the window will be maximized. -- Aero Shake - While grabbing a Window go left and right with your mouse and it will minimize other Windows and leave current one open. -- AWESOME! Use this and the Win7 keyboard shortcuts and take control of your machine now!

I was listening to TWiW [This Week in Windows] - and one of the topics discussed was keyboard shortcuts. I immediately started tapping around my keyboard and here is what I've come up with... Really useful! ---- Windows Key + -- Tab = Aero [press Tab to cycle between Windows] E = Windows Explorer R = Run Command F = Search X = Mobility Center L = Lock Computer U = Ease of Access P = Projector T = Cycle Super Taskbar Items S = OneNote Screen Clipping Tool [requires OneNote] M = Minimize All Windows D = Show/Hide Desktop Up = Maximize Current Window Down = Restore Down / Minimize Current Windows Left = Tile Current Window to the Left Right = Tile Current Windows to the Right # = Quicklaunch = = Magnifier -- In Windows Explorer -- Alt + Up = Go up one level Alt + Left = Back Alt + Right = Forward ---- I think some of these will work on older versions like XP and Vista, go try it out on your PC/Notebook/Netbook and let me know how you like it.

Yesterday afternoon fuel by my weekend geekout success of loading Win7 on an old MSI MEGABOOK M645. I decided to load Windows 7 Pre-beta Build 6081 on my MSI Wind. -- NB: Windows 7 Pre-beta was released last October 28, 2008 at Microsoft's PDC and has subsequently been leaked out on the net. It is valid until Aug 2009. -- Just to recap: MSI Wind U100 Intel ATOM 1.6Ghz 2Gb RAM Intel 945GM Chipset WiFi 802.11b/g Bluetooth 160Gb 5400RPM HDD -- Installation went smoothly and everything has been detected by the disc I made or by Windows Update. I installed it in the 40Gb OS partition of the Wind U100, of course making a recovery DVD first so I could go back. I went to http://www.withinwindows.com to get the superbar and other features working. -- I am enjoying the Super Taskbar and it makes navigation and using the Wind much better. The downside is now I am wishing that my Wind had a touchscreen. -- I put IE8 on the back burner in favor of Firefox and Chrome. -- I am still getting used...

MS CEO Steve Ballmer just confirmed Windows Mobile 6.5 would be coming next year. We haven't seen any thing else about it so this just might be marketing spin to keep the geeks at bay. MS certainly received a lot of criticism for pushing back WM7 to 2010. Since there are barely any details about it. It's time to do some wish listing :) #1 Merge Professional / Classic / Standard ~ this will lessen confusion. Get groups of people who actually use these devices day in and day out [I am volunteering] for both touchscreen and non-touchscreen, then take their input to... streamline the UI to make it both finger friendly but still easily manipulated via hardware buttons. I love touchscreen devices for ease of navigation but prefer hardware keyboards for data input. We should have the option for both please please please don't go touch only, remember when hw keyboards 1st appeared on pocket pcs? sales went way way way up! AGAIN: Keep it Simple Steve! #2 Slap Zune Media Software ins...

Waiting for Windows Seven pre-beta release to finish installing on my very first notebook an aging MSI MEGABOOK M645 it's Centrino 1.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM (should be 1024Mb but one of the sticks was causing BSODs), a DVD-rw drive, WiFi. I am installing it on a 2nd partition. I'm curious to see how well (or bad) it will run Seven, and may be try to unlock the taskbar features. Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

HTC Touch Pro - 49,500 HTC Touch Diamond - 45,000 T-Mobile G1 - 39,500 palm Treo Pro - 39,500 Blackberry Bold 9000 - 40,000 -- Where do I sell my kidneys??? Parallel imported devices arrive WAY before local distributors [if ever they do] and they really do try to milk it!

Since I woke up early and had nothing better to do I decided to hit GSC [Greenhills Shopping Center] to grab a some coffee and look for accessories for the Wind and possibly a Treo Pro [more on those later]... -- Well since I was there and a SMART Wireless Center was in the vicinity I thought I'd pop in and inquire about adding Blackberry service or possibly getting a retention plan and BB handset. At my plan Addict Mobile PhP 1,200.00 consumable plan I can get a Blackberry Curve 8320 for PhP 9,300 cash out + PhP 350.00 additional per month for the service, with a lock of 24 months. If I wanted the BB 9000 aka Bold it would be 20,000.00 cash out. -- Since I was there I decided to bring up the slow data speeds that I have been getting absurdly slow speed on SMART's 3G network. -- [@ the office, Marikina City] -- [@ Starbucks Theatermall, San Juan City] -- The service rep suggested that I pop out my SIM and use a USB modem to do speed tests on my notebook which is absolutely sill...

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I have been without an internet connection at the office for a little over 3 weeks now. It's been tough but at least I get less distracted. I've been borrowing PCs randomly to check email or what not or tethering my TyTN2 to get some access. I fear that my data costs will sky rocket this billing cycle though considering of course that smart has über cheap data at 10PHP per 30 minutes of browsing. I am getting weary of smart's seemingly capped speeds though... I get 60 to 80kbps or if I'm lucky hit the low 100s. This is basically GPRS/EDGE speeds. WTF smart?! Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

via TheForce.NET http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809424382/video/10509645

palm's official distributor Microwarehouse still doesn't have the Treo Pro in stock. palm's PH site also doesn't have it yet. The Treo Pro has already been selling for a little over a month in other territories like HKG and SG, I wonder when we will see it locally. I think Mircowarehouse has too many brands to really take care of them properly.

Went to NBC Tent last Friday October 31st for Russell Peters & Jo Koy show. RP went on 1st and I was doubled over laughing. He is one really talented comic. Was glad to see some new material not on youtube or his 'Outsourced' DVD. JK went next and all I knew about him was that he's Fil-Am. He had good energy and Pinoy oriented jokes. As he was doing his thing but some asshole was distracting him (and the audience) by shouting un-intelligible crap. Suffice to say I think it changed his rhythm and he switched to more mature jokes. He was still funny and had good energy but I think a good comic should be able to power thru hecklers. For the last bit of his act JK asked for volunteers for a 'talent show' so I went up on stage and sang a few lines from 'My Way' I got a DVD and shirt for my troubles. Haven't had the chance to check out the DVD yet. Thanks to my bro's GF Aileen for scoring us tickets and thanks to Aileen's dad fo claiming my prize. ...

October is almost over which means my HTC TyTN2 is already a year old (got it mid October of 2007) this is probably the longest I've gone without changing my primary device. I could say that I'm proud of not changing my device prior to my previous longest duration which was 10 months with the palm Treo 750v however a sense of disappointment also looms over this. I have been quite vocal about wanting to go back to the QWERTY bar form factor but to be honest there are too few manufacturers giving me choices ATM. palm, hp, Samsung come to mind but the problem is they only have one model each for this particular form factor. Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Technology is supposed to help us make things easier however sometimes it gives headaches as well. Here's a few reminders on how to lessen tech stress specially nowadays with viri, malware, trojans etc. I wrote about this in May '07 but it is still relevant today! --- READ ON ---

LOL!

As you can see... I've been posting less on less on my blog... I think this is due to the fact that I've been micro-blogging a lot and I just feel it would be redundant to post again on what I've micro-blogged about. I don't think this blog is dead though. I'm sure I'll still be posting to it but may be less frequent vs before. Vincent Benedict Py Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always... -- via Google webmail

I was tech talking with my friend By yesterday and am now having 2nd thoughts on purchasing a Treo Pro for my dated but not obsolete TyTN2. We were discussing various applications and came upon the topic of screen resolutions. He has a Samsung SGH-i780 and it has a 320x320 screen like the Treo Pro, he mentioned that some apps do not display so well on the not so standard resolution. I rely heavily on 3rd party apps and so I think I will hold off on getting the TP for now. Still my friend Chinang will be going to HKG tomorrow so I'll ask him to do a price check for me... hehehe Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Apple has refreshed it's notebook lines and have a brand new manufacturing process of the body being cut from a block of aluminum. Supposedly this process makes the notebooks more durable. The touchpad is made of glass and is multi-touch. LED screens. Beefier processors and graphics. The rumored netbook did not appear though. Good product evolution... not too impressed though.

Turned 29 yesterday. Had ice cream sandwiches for dessert at the office [thanks shobe Steph], for dinner the family went to our all time fave restaurant Kimpura for some Japanese. All in all a simple and food filled way to celebrate my 29th. Unlike previous years I've decided not to throw a party this year.

Happy Birthday -- Jench Chua Happy David Steph del Rosario -- May the FORCE Be With You… Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always... Sent via MSI Wind U100

October 4, 2008 -- My youngest sister graduated Bachelor of Science in Bio Chemistry from De La Salle University Manila. Magna Cum Laude and Jose Rizal Award (Academic Consistency). Nice one shobe! :D Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Happy Birthday -- Jenny Olayvar Ira Dee -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Happy Birthday -- Anna Castro Joe Celdran -- May the FORCE Be With You...

Half Evil Shirt Originally uploaded by bnycastro My uncle is wearing this shirt LOL! Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Happy Birthday -- Stephanie Castro Catherine Castro Christian Cheng Jennifer Tan -- May the FORCE Be With You...

Review|Burger King Triple Stack Whopper Meal Originally uploaded by bnycastro This burger is just huge opted for the large coke and fries. I think I will skip lunch today. Damage PhP 309.00 Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

My friend Chinang gave this to me a few weeks back and I've been meaning to post about it but managed to put it off for some reason. Here is the 1st PDA I've ever owned a Compaq iPAQ h3870 [IIRC the last iPAQ before hp bought Compaq]. It's a beast of a device compared to today's relatively tiny PDA phones. It brings back a lot of memories of fiddling with the Windows Mobile Classic OS [formerly Pocket PC], this actually got me hooked on WM and was pretty high tech for it's time. Alas this old fossil's battery which is both internal and non user replaceable is now dead. It still works if I plug it into AC power though. These old devices didn't have NVFS [non volatile file store] and lost data when you lost power, a definite bummer for sure but I've learned to do power management and the importance of backups through this early limitation. I'd like to point out however that today's devices do have NVFS which is great, modern devices also have swapp...

May pass kami, tayo wala BANG! Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC S730 Windows Mobile® phone.

Eating at Capricciosa Originally uploaded by bnycastro With the high school barkada. Good vibes. Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC S730 Windows Mobile® phone.

Happy Birthday -- Paolo Canivel Ria Suiza -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict Py Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always... -- via Google webmail

Happy Birthday -- Philipp Llave Pats Co -- May the FORCE Be With You...

Review|McDonald's French Fries Originally uploaded by bnycastro At PhP 42.00 per order (which is a medium size for other territories) it is an ultra expensive snack and not very filling at that. I guess it's been too long since I ordered just fries everyone just usually gets a meal and I was confused when the drive thru lady asked for 42 I was like 42? Really? Crunchy salty and oily... Love ko toh? Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Happy Birthday -- Fergus Lao Chistine Uy -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Enthusiast sites are reporting that Windows Mobile 7 has been delayed to early or mid 2009. With Google releasing it's 1st Android phone a few hours ago. Apple's Mac OS for phones, Symbian, RIM all in the mobile OS race it comes to a surprise that MS isn't pushing for an earlier release. I do think that a late but great release is better than a fast yet buggy release. There is no question that WM has room for improvement. Let's hope the elves at Redmond are working night and day to improve my mobile OS of choice. We can't really be too hard on MS for releasing the next version 0.5 or even 1.5 years late... look at palm OS it's been 4 years since they released anything [although rumor has it NOVA is due out Apr 09]. I think WM should evolve or it will suffer the fate of palm. Consumers want ease of use, multimedia, fast browser, messaging whilst the Enterprise wants these with security. I think MS can do it they just need more time.

Let this be a lesson to your my fellow gadget fiends [yes we are fiends, admit it!] -- DO NOT FRIGGIN' WATCH UNBOXINGS AND VIDEO REVIEWS OF HIGH END DEVICES THAT ARE NOT IN THE MARKET YET. -- That being said if you still want to salivate over HTC's latest top of the line slider... Head on over to mobilitysite's video unboxing and review HERE -- I had previously put this device in the 'DO NOT BUY' section of my list... I keep a mental list of devices that can replace my current 6 months into owning it [if it lasts that long that is] well the TyTN2 is well over the 6 month period and I had resigned myself to getting back into the QWERTY bar herd with either A) a palm Treo Pro or B) an hp iPAQ 914c with the Treo Pro inching out on a slim lead because it is just plain sexy!  -- That all changed a few minutes ago when I saw the video I linked to above.  -- The screen is just... drool worthy and the response time on the Touch Pro is really impressive. My graphics driver l...

Happy Birthday -- Karlo Gloria Joyce Tiu Susan Sy Maia Lazo Leland Fong -- May the FORCE Be With You… Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always... Sent via MSI Wind U100

I decided to converge my devices in late 2003. I wanted to combine my PDA [a Pocket PC] and my mobile phone. I reckoned that having an all in device would be more convenient and economical. I would only need to carry one charger, one data cable [or none at all if I use Bluetooth]. Fast forward 5 years of having a converged device and here I am and I still have 2 devices because I have 2 lines a SMART and SUN line. My 2 devices [ATM] are both Windows Mobile powered. HTC TyTN 2 Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional HTC S730 Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard Both may be considered as converged devices. I can do all the things that are important to me. Make calls, sms, email, get and listen to podcasts, listen to music, watch videos, play games, do some docs or spreadsheets, surf the www, snap photos and video. Sounds impressive right? Well you bet it is... But here's the dilemma: Although a converged device may be a 'jack of all trades' it may not be a 'king' of any. Personally I...

Happy Birthday -- Ricky Gabionza Garry Gabionza Rosabelle Nadal Fe Veran -- May the FORCE Be With You… Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always... Sent via MSI Wind U100

It would be great if someone bought me this USD 18,000.00 bronze statue and smuggled it to the PH. Better start practicing my jedi mind trick… Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always... Sent via MSI Wind U100

-- Get a better view here: WIRED.com

YAIK - Yet Another iPhone Killer HTC's newest shot accross the iPhone bow is the HTC Touch HD which started to make it's appearance last week is now official on HTC's site. This touch-centric device is clearly designed to subvert the iPhone. Here's some specs and some images of the Touch HD. 3.8in TFT 800x480 WVGA flushed touch screen Qualcomm® MSM 7201A™ 528 MHz RAM: 288Mb ROM: 512Mb HSDPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz Dimensions: 115 mm x 62.8 mm x 12 mm (4.35 in x 2.5 in x 0.47 in) Weight: 146.4 grams (5.164 ounces) with battery Bluetooth® 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g HTC ExtUSB™ (11-pin mini-USB 2.0) Built-in 3.5 mm audio jack, microphone, speaker, and FM radio Battery: 1350 mAh microSDHC 5MP AF / 0.3MP Camera FM Radio, G-Sensor Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional -- What's Hot: 3.8in 800x480 WVGA 3.5mm Stereo jack 528MHz Processor 5MP Camera What's Not: No Flash f...

I'm liking the Microsoft "I'm a PC" Advert :) --

Review|Burger King Triple Stack Whopper Meal Originally uploaded by bnycastro This PhP 185.00 meal is definitely filling but I got a sense of being pwned by BK… The picture was nowhere near how the actual burger looked like. Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always... Sent via MSI Wind U100

I think it is really stupid that all these WM device manufacturers are trying to *kill* the iPhone with all these touch only devices. I for one want a front facing QWERTY bar device. We all know that the choices for these are very very limited as of this writing. I do hope that this changes in the very near future. Please please please don't kill the QWERTY bar form factor. -- At the moment both my devices are QWERTY sliders and I've blogged before that I want to go back to the QWERTY bar form factor. -- I am still waiting for the Treo Pro to reach Manila soil... I am still undecided if I will get rid of the TyTN2 or S730 or keep em all and relegate one as a spare device. -- I do feel that there aren't any new WM6.1 standard QWERTY bar devices being announced. -- Hey manufacturers are you listening???

Engadget is reporting that Taiwan based MSI is developing their second gust for their Wind line of notebooks... The U91 and U120 might get the Atom 330 [dual core], HSDPA [woot], and Vista [meh!]. I hope it doesn't come out too soon because I just got my Wind! Ha! -- Click HERE for Engadget's story.

Every time I get a new gadget I usually also accessorize it. It is no different with the Wind. Here's a snap of my brand new mouse. It's a Logitech V470 Bluetooth Laser Mouse. I wanted something that was wireless and with this I was able to keep the USB ports clear. I got this last weekend and it's the 1st accessory that I've bought specifically for the Wind. I plan to look for a better slip case or notebook bag for the Wind over this coming weekend. I just feel the free case that came with the Wind is just ok for carrying the notebook and not much else. I still intend to look for a 6 cell battery Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

If you follow my humble blog then you'd know that I haven't had a personal computer at home since late October 2007, when I sold my SONY VAIO UX280P. Well that has all change last week when I finally decided to get myself an MSI Wind U100. I've owned quite a few notebooks in the past few years 2 of them MSI so I wasn't unfamiliar with the brand at all. I actually recommend it to people who are on a budget but still want relatively good quality [a Taiwan brand is better than the China brands like APEX ]. Here's a rundown on the notebooks I've owned: -- MSI M645 - 15.4 inch - 2005 MSI S262 - 12.1 inch - 2006 SONY VAIO UX280P - 4.5inch - 2007 MSI Wind U100 - 10inch -- Let's go thru the specifications of the Wind: Intel® Atom™ N270 Processor 1.6Ghz Intel® 945GSE+ICH7M Chipset 10in Widescreen LED Backlit 1024x600 2Gb RAM 160Gb 5400RPM HDD WiFi 802.11b+g Bluetooth 2.0 EDR Graphics Card Output (15-pin, D-Sub) X 1 USB2.0 Port X 3 Mic-in Port X 1/L...

Happy Birthday -- Sara Denise Mendoza -- May the FORCE Be With You… Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always… Sent via MSI Wind U100

Happy Birthday -- Bryant Chu Ralph Chua Sy Hong Gue -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Rest in Peace TTP Originally uploaded by bnycastro Venice's Angkong passed away last Sunday morning. He's in a better place and now one with the Force. Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Happy Birthday -- Al Brian Yap -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict Py Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always... -- via Google webmail

Happy Birthday -- Beatrice Arano Rachel Carpio -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict Py Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always... -- via Google webmail

Happy Birthday. -- Noelle Wang -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Happy Birthday -- Marie Afuang -- May the FORCE Be With You...

I love this tune...

For that special someone... :P STAR WARS SHOP

Happy Birthday -- Rosemarie Boyle Andrew Chua -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict Py Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always... -- via Google webmail

Happy Birthday -- Michael Sun Paraiso Bautista Tanya Cuaso -- May the FORCE Be With You... 

Apple Let's Rock Event concluded last night... Here's the summary of what's new from Cupertino: -- NEW iPod Nano NEW iPod Touch NEW iTunes Version NEW iPod / iPhone Firmware NEW Accessories HD TV Shows NBC Shows -- APPLE -- The iPod Nano gets a glass front / aluminum back and a curved finish which makes it look and feel thinner. The nano went on a diet and got taller... -- The iPod Touch gets a refresh as well. It gets volume controls, speakers, and Nike+ [with 2.1.1] -- The iPhone also gets a FW update, with all the complaints we are hearing about the iPhone it is good that they are constantly pushing out updates. -- iTunes 8 is out. It has a new Genius option [also found on the new iPods] which acts as a media suggestion engine [ala last.fm] -- New Accessories for the above goodies. -- Content is not really applicable to the PH which is why I still won't be getting an iPod. ---- Overall I think fanbois and girls will go crazy over these...

Here's an image of what's rumored to be the new look and user interface for Apple's ultra popular DMP. Apple's Let's Rock Event will be starting in a few minutes. I guess we will see if this rumor holds true pretty soon. via Gizmodo GIZMODO LIVE BLOG : APPLE LET'S ROCK EVENT

So far I am liking my 1st day with the Wind :D It's running Windows XP Home SP3 out of the box. The heart of the device is Intel's N270 [aka ATOM] 1.6Ghz processor which runs the OS without hiccup so far. Remember though that my system has 2Gb of RAM and 160Gb HDD. A note on the HDD: mine came with 3 partitions -- 40 OS / 110 Storage / 10 Hidden for OS. I like the fact that it is not the anemic SSDs which are usually loaded in some mini/netbooks. The notebook also has WiFi and Bluetooth, a card reader, and a webcam. The power brick is tiny as well. I'd like to say that the build quality on this MSI is really really nice. The screen is bright and crisp. Typing on the keyboard is comfortable and not really a strain for me. If I do have a complaint it would be the single unit design of the key bellow the track pad. It is really hard to press and register a click. One can easily add a usb mouse, rf or bt mouse though. Overall I am not missing the media drive at the moment, ...

Happy Birthday -- Charmaine Lui Pio Eric Paraiso Brian Mariano -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict Py Castro / Bny / 王清河 The FORCE Will Be With You Always... -- via Google webmail

MSI Wind 1st Boot Originally uploaded by bnycastro I slapped on the battery and powered on the wind and it's doing a 1st boot thing. It's the 1st notebook I've owned with this cause usually I install XP myself Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

I have been blabbering on about getting a notebook for quite awhile now today I finally broke down and decided to get an MSI Wind U100 in Empire Black. I shot my friend Danny of ACENET an SMS and he said that a unit with 2Gb of RAM and 160Gb of HDD space is available. That actually has double the memory and capacity of the model on MSI's site... NICE! It's running XP Home which is fine by me. I'll be swinging by V-Mall after work so I can get my mitts on my new toy er...  tool. I've already filled my Pirate Nero 4Gb drive with some installers of essential apps the rest I'll just get off the net. I'll be sure to share my experiences with the wind right here on the Beanster Blog so check back soon.

Final score: DLSU 57 - 65 ADMU Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Happy Birthday. -- Enrique Yoingco -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Happy Birthday -- Vanessa Paras -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

The NY Times is reporting that the iPod line from Apple Inc will be getting a refresh (and probably price cuts for older models). September 9, 2008. iPod Fanbois/gurls have a few days to get their drool on... NY Times Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

If you've been following me on plurk or twitter you'd know that I'm attending a 4 day Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) Basic Training Course for Pollution Control Officers (PCO) for our company. Basically the PCO is tasked to make sure that the business is complying to the laws of the land in regards to the environment. The good... There are laws in place for safe guarding our air, water, land quality. That's AWESOME! Captain Planet is getting a big boost. The bad... It seems that this seminar is focused more on MONEY. I don't know why I am surprised it's government. Most of the compliance discussions have been about getting permits, fines, penalties. I could not take it anymore so I asked the lecturer. What could we do to bring down emissions and minimize waste water. His response: Our mandate is to check for compliance, maybe you should ask the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) on what can be done. NICE! It would've ...

Happy Birthday -- Grace Sy -- May the FORCE Be With You... Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

[Jek and Jaime Antonio] -- Yesterday a whole bunch of good friends went for Jaime Antonio M. Inocencio's christening. Papa Jek and Mama Jec thanks for picking me as a god father. It was great to see everyone again. Jaime Antonio is so cute like me!!! :D Hahaha -- photo courtesy of: Maui

I have been reading the reviews that have been posted about my [at the moment] future device, the palm Treo Pro. -- Mobile Gadgeteer TreoCentral -- the more I read, the more I want. :P

Happy Birthday -- Christien Lim Bliss Mabini Aisa Yap-Wenceslao -- May the FORCE Be With You... Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Happy Birthday. -- Aileen Go -- May the FORCE Be With You... Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

It is that time of the year again when devices are being announced and are coming to market. But at the moment I don't have a whole lot of choices. So far it's neck to neck for the hp iPAQ 900 series and the palm Treo Pro both devices have impressive specifications but these specifications are almost identical to my current device the HTC TyTN2. We can interpret this 2 ways. 1 the TyTN2 is an awesome device which is hard to replace. 2 device makers are resting on their rumps and not innovating. I think it will be a mix of both trains of thought. So why am I even considering plunking down the moohlah to buy a new device if the specs are not so different from my current device? Well the answer is in the form factor... and because I like new and shiny toys [errr... tools]. With my TyTN2 I had a bigger keyboard but it definitely required 2 hands to operate efficiently. I do love the tilting screen and use it on a daily basis. I would like to report that after close to 10 months of ...

HTC Taiwanese super company HTC has the following devices either in the stores or in the works: HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Touch Diamond Pro, HTC S740. These are all updates to their devices. I am not too sold on the square and hard edge fingerprint magnet finish of these new devices. I am curious if they will be updating the Shift line. HTC is a really aggressive Windows Mobile device maker so their devices will be a part of their total business. It is interesting to see that they have been selected to make the Google Android powered T-mobile device codename: HTC Dream. palm palm is coming out with a shiny new Treo for GSM markets in the Treo Pro [Treo 850] and the web is a buzz with this newest Treo. While this device has shined the limelight albeit momentarily on the palm camp I don't think this is enough for them to be competitive again. I really think they should put out their next OS and get ODMs to license it, if not may be they should close the OS part of the business and start...

Happy Birthday -- John Chua Tiffany Huang -- May the FORCE Be With You... Sent from my HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile® phone.

Snickers Dark Originally uploaded by bnycastro Yummy! Vincent Benedict P. Castro / Bny / 王清河 Sent from my HTC S730 Windows Mobile® phone.

via WMExperts

Happy Birthday -- Lesley Nocom Gerald Co -- May the FORCE Be With You...

Happy Birthday -- Lesley Nocom Gerald Co -- May the FORCE Be With You...

Review|HTC S730 By: Vincent Benedict P. Castro http://bnycastro.blogspot.com I was in Hong Kong a few weeks back and decided to buy an HTC S730 aka HTC Wings not to be confused with the T-mobile Wing which is also made by HTC. This is a Windows Mobile Standard device which in layman's terms simply means non-touch screen. -- Specifications: Windows Mobile® 6 Standard Qualcomm MSM 7200 400Mhz 64Mb RAM / 256Mb ROM 2.4in 240x320 non touch screen 802.11b/g WiFi GSM/GPRS/EDGE [850/900/1800/1900] UMTS [2100] Bluetooth 2.0 EDR [A2DP/AVRCP] 12 Key Keypad / QWERTY Sliding Keyboard 0.3MP [front] + 2MP [rear] Camera HTC ExtUSB microSDHC expansion 1050 mAH battery Weight: 150g with battery Dimensions: 105.8mm x 51 mm 19.4 mm -- Package Contents: HTC S730 1050 mAH battery USB Sync Cable Autovolt AC Adapter [HKG/UK plug] Wired Headset Carry Pouch Documentation Getting Started CD Spritebackup CD -- Foreword: I bought the HKG WW...