The Beanster Blog

So I got a new SIM card w/ better data rates & free WiFi (where available) Unfortunately inserting the new SIM card broke tethering on my iPhone 4. Using tethering on an iPhone is easy. Enabling it is a whole different story. Not awake enough to get on the horn with customer service this early in the morning. May be a bit later? http://about.me/bnycastro

1. Victorinox midnite mini champ 2. Keys 3. Cigarettes / Lighter / Ashtray 4. Jabra Chill wired headset 5. LMF Spork 6. BluePack S8 7. mophie juicepack plus 8. Lip balm 9. Vicks inhaler 10. Tissue 11. Wet Wipes 12. Plantronics Savor M1100 13. Pen & Pad 14. ID 15. Folding stand 16. SanDisk cruzer USB stick 17. Foldable bag 18. Wallet 19. Coin purse 20. Cables (sync, charge, audio) 21. Air sickness bags http://about.me/bnycastro

I bought a pair of JBL reference 255 yesterday from Digital Hub V-Mall, I realized today that I didn't like the feel of the set. In-ear = uncomfortable. I think I’ve worn them for a total of 15-20 minutes only. They have a good set of specs and package, hopefully I can have them exchanged when I get back from HKG next week, because these aren’t cheap (PhP 3990) I guess it’s my problem that I can’t stand in-ear headsets… GUNDAM FRAKING BUYER’S REMORSE So to perpetuate the vicious cycle I decided to shop for another set this afternoon when I arrived in HKG. I ended up with two choices: Jabra Chill for 198HKD Plantronics Backbeat 116 for 398HKD Both were wired headsets because I wanted to replace the ITB (in-the-box) Apple headset included with the iPhone 4. Unfortunately, a tester and testing was not allowed in the store (it was a Fortress). I decided to pull the trigger on the Jabra Chill since it was way way cheaper. So I paid the clerk, ran the wire thru my...

We really do have some of the best produce in the region.  -- http://about.me/bnycastro

Very manageable in the morning... Will find out later if I need to break out my sleeves in the evening  -- http://about.me/bnycastro

Timothy Allan - Angry Birds Remix [Free!] by timothyallan

One of my fave podcasts from TWIT is NSFW show  one of the listeners made this site 105.9 the cat!!! it's a site that collects videos of memes, and some clips from the show.

Geez it took them long enough but the folks up there at the Googleplex finally enabled mobile friendly views on Blogger blogs. you can activate it by going to http://www.draft.blogger.com under settings, email & mobile of course it’s in beta ;o) now the question for me is: will this stop me from closing out this blog? we shall see.

Testing mobile view. Posted via email w/ image

I really haven't been posting as much as I want. I guess micro-blogging has taken over my need to over share. http://about.me/bnycastro

Ok 9 hours in and I am still fuming about this tweet. You commemorate the Kersh by bashing George? Seriously, this  guy is supposed to be funny or die, if he is this lazy punching up his tweets then he should be dead. I am really getting fed up with all the GL bashing that’s going around the internet. Hey I don’t like everything he does but it’s no reason to default to bashing him every chance you get. George did not rape your childhood. You can still like the original trilogy even if you don’t like the prequel trilogy. And while you’re complaining that he’s sold out because of all the merchandising. Remember he has pledged most his wealth to charity, and he has advanced film making and is still advancing film making with that money. Do you think 20th century fox if they had retained the rights, would donate the money they earned from merch out of the goodness of their heart? Stop it with the unnecessary GL bashing.

The second cheapo mount I’ve placed beside my bed…

I'm using this cheap car mount from CDR KING. Don't know if this will survive daily use but it's fairly cheap.

(links go to Amazon) Plantronics Voyager PRO+ Bluetooth Headset Plantronics Savor M1100 Bluetooth Headset LEGO Star Wars Hoth Wampa Set (8089) Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II Collector's Edition Light My Fire Titanium Spork Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One (TV Series) [Blu-ray] Star Wars The Clone Wars: The Complete Season Two Star Wars Clone Wars [Blu-ray] The Making of Star Wars (TM): The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film The Making of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back of course cash is also accepted

So I am looking into using VPN to be able to access sites when I am travelling in China. I am currently looking at  http://www.usaip.eu/en/index.php I really don't know too much about VPN but I think it is a good investment if it means I can go over the Great Firewall of China. Another concern is running VPN on a mobile device like my iPhone4 or my TreoPro. They have a free service for bloggers. So this post is actually for that. So my question is has anyone tried VPN or USAIP's services in China? How did you get it to work on your mobile devices?

Ok so I got another unit. Of course I had to pay a lot more because I got it from your friendly parallel importer in Vmall. Fortunately this unit is working quite well. Really like the screen. I do wish more apps get updated to Retina graphics though. I lost all my game data because I had accidentally deleted my 3GS backups… oh well I guess I have to play thru all those games… toink! I also broke the mobile authenticator link for battlenet so I am stuck in playing SC2 in guest mode. I am currently in communication with blizzard support to have the authenticator removed from my battlenet account. Tip: don’t delete your backups and remember to un-link your battlenet accounts before moving to a new device.

It's not mobile friendly still. I think google should work on it asap. Mobile is the future. http://twitter.com/bnycastro

Ok so this is day 2 of “using” an iPhone4… The unit I got seems to be a lemon and has been rebooting at random. The Apple logo would show the screen would go dark then a reboot would occur. Yesterday it rebooted 8x. The last being the worse because it did not power back on. I decided to plug it in and went to bed. At around 630AM I woke up to check and it was on. So I plug it in to the computer and it does another reboot. After it booted up I did a backup. Definitely returning this device. I don’t think this might be fixed with a firmware / software patch So the Gadgets God have frowned upon me and decided to give me a lemon. I cannot get a unit from Globe because those are locked and I don’t want to deal with jailbreaking. Also I’ve sold my 3GS already so… I am stressing to say the least. 

After a “passionate” phone call and email to Microsoft Support. I have come to the conclusion that moving from WindowsMobile to WindowsPhone7 is just not advisable for residents of the Philippines. If you’ve been following my blog you know that I’ve been using WindowsMobile since 2001 (that’s 9 years). Around November last year Microsoft launched WindowsMobile MarketPlace (for WM6.1, earlier for 6.5) at the time Philippine credit cards were not accepted so you could get free apps but there was no way to purchase paid apps. 11 months later Philippine credit cards are still not accepted on MarketPlace. I decided to ring Microsoft and write an email expressing my concerns. Today I got a follow up email stating that WindowsPhone7 MarketPlace will also not support the Philippines and that it is unsure when support would be added. This is from “Rizal” of Microsoft Support: Additionally, for the new Windows Phone 7 marketplace, the list of supported countries is still the same; Singa...

So I’ve been on sort of a buying spree of STAR WARS titles lately.I got STAR WARS YEAR BY YEAR last month in Hong Kong. I pre-ordered JEDI PATH from Amazon which shipped a week or so ago, and about 2 days ago I ordered 2 more books STAR WARS VISIONS and SOUNDS OF STARWARS... those shipped today. These titles along with my COMPLETE VADER, STAR WARS ENCYCLOPEDIA, and VISUAL GUIDES I’ve also been hoarding my audible credits and will probably get The FORCE UNLEASHED 2 (1 credit) novelization, and maybe REVENGE OF THE SITH (2 credits) if I don’t use em on some other titles I’ve noticed that these books are all large format (i.e. coffee table books) is this a sign of my age? I seem to be attracted to these sorts of things more. I have been meaning to transition my collecting into art instead of toys… But I guess I a hampered by 1) availability, 2) cost 3) space. I did buy 3 big LEGO sets. Suffice to say my wallet is doing a Wilhelm scream reminiscent of those blaster fodder imps from A...

The menu is a bit sparse and from the name they specialize in ramen. They have a few small dishes. I ordered the Kakuni Buns which is actually Char Siu (Chasyu) Cua Pao it has a very tasty sauce, the pork was tender juicy and thick. It was drizzled with mayonnaise. I had it scraped off. Who the fuck puts mayo on a cuapao anyway? 180 bucks for 2 buns well worth it except for the mayo. I also tried the Karaage which is fried boneless chicken. 3 big pieces tasty and not dry but I don't think 155 is the proper price tag. Clearly this place is on the expensive side. Which is curious because they use the cheapest kind of disposable chopsticks. The least you could do is get higher quality disposable chopsticks. For the ramen I decided toniest the Super Chasyu Ramen P380. This was the most disappointing dish of the whole meal. I will go into the 3 components I look at in ramen. Toppings – the chasyu slices were 1/4 the thickness of the chasyu in the kakuni bun. a lot of slices but very...

So a few weeks back I decided to finally go legit on all the programs I use on my computer. I’ve been using legit copies of Windows XP, Vista, and now Windows 7 for the past years and my conscience finally caught up and I decided to go legit on all my software including games. I’ve found that my system runs better and I get peace of mind knowing I get all the updates. Well let’s start with games. I must admit that my desktop gaming (and even console gaming, I have a PS3) have declined in recent years I’ve been doing most my gaming on my iPhone actually. However there are some games that you can’t get on the mobile platform. I bought a ton of classic LucasArts titles from steam ( http://store.steampowered.com/ ). I also bought StarCraft2 from Blizzard ( http://sea.blizzard.com/en-sg/ ) direct. So far those are the games I have on my system. Most companies sell digital copies and of course you can buy physical media as well. Enough playing around let’s get on to the productivity ...

HTC just wrapped their event in London. So what did the Taiwanese based smartphone maker show this time? For starters they showed off the way way way more powerful HTC Sense. The custom UI they lay on top of Android (and WindowsMobile not WindowsPhone7) Things that grabbed my attention: Maps caching (no more waiting to download maps as you navigate... might save on data cost if you do it before your trip over wifi) Phone Locator Remote Wipe Web Access to your phone Two new Android devices (a shame there were no WindowsPhone7 devices) HTC Desire Z specs: http://android.modaco.com/content/android-news/317889/htc-launch-the-desire-z-formerly-known-as-the-htc-vision/ HTC Desire HD specs: http://android.modaco.com/content/android-news/317890/htc-launch-the-desire-hd-formerly-known-as-the-htc-ace/ Looks like HTC wants to differentiate itself even more from the multitudes of Android devices out there by improving HTC sense. I think HTC sense is the best ...

13-Sep-2010 -- -- Tritonal - Driftoff v1 HQ - m4r // mp3 -- A very uplifting trancer from Tritonal... enjoy!

Gadget sites are reporting that WindowsPhone7 (WP7) will be dropping on 11-October-2010… they should have made it 10-10-10 and give it a spin w/ marketing it as the best effort from Microsoft’s mobile division.

  If you have 25USD and the need to get torrents on your Windows Mobile device check this link:  http://www.wmtorrent.com/home_index.html

[mine is colored dark grey]   hey I’m selling my netbook. very good condition. Comes with Windows XP Home SP3 and a 9cell battery instead or 3 or 6. I get about 8hrs + on a charge w/ aggressive power management. Got this bad boy for 32K originally (bumped RAM to 2Gb & 9cell battery) It has a built-in 3G modem (SIM card not included) so you can have internet access as long as you have cellular access. BTW it also works on GPRS & EDGE Here are some more specs: Intel Atom processor N280 (1.66GHz) Intel 945GSE+ICH7M Windows XP Home Edition SP3 10 inch 1,024×600 WSVGA 2GB RAM Intel GMA950 160GB HDD 1.3MP webcam Card reader (SDHC/SD/MMC/memory stick/memory stick PRO) WiFi (b/g/n) Bluetooth2.0+EDR LAN: 10/100Base-TX LAN VGA×1 (D-Sub15 pin) USB2.0 port ×3 Microphone input ×1 Headphone output ×1 RJ45 Ethernet connector ×1 3/6-cell battery Width 260× depth 180× height 19.75-33 (mm) Weight 1kg with 3-cell It’s a ca...

BRAINS!!! ENGLISH JAPANESE

Above & Beyond vs Kyau & Albert Anphonic v1 Anphonic v2 Get your trance on…

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 ...

remember your device should have at least 80% charge. sd card should be fat32 rename the NBH file properly

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…  

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

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

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.

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  

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.

A few days ago I was successfully able to load 3 different OS on my resurrected MSI Wind U123H. These were: Mac OSX 10.6.2 Snow Leopard Windows 7 Home Premium 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)  

A very nice track… Nitrous Oxide - Far Away (Club Mix)

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. Mac OSX 10.6.1 Windows 7 Starter 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

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

Men’s Basketball Schedule Round 1 via Google Calendar Standings (will be updated as frequently as possible)

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 co...

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

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.

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. Does anyone have actual experience using a Blackberry device in China? Can you really access the whole interwebs (with your own SIM...

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

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...

Hope everyone is having a great trance Tuesday. This is my fave track at the moment so it’s but natural that I make it into a ringtone. I did two versions: one without (v1) and the other with vocals (v2)… TinT kiddies! Download: DNS Project Feat. Johanna – Mindful (DNS Project Whiteglow Vocal Mix) version 1 : instrumental version 2 : with vocals **Apple iPhone format available upon request

I’m back with some free Ringtones Ashley Wallbridge – Melodies – Original Mix Ashley Wallbridge – Harmonies – Intro Edit Susana feat Omnia & The Blizzard - Closer – Radio Mix