The Beanster Blog

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...

.:LINK:.

undefined

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. ...