a smarter alternative

most of you might have seen the smart bro prepaid ad and are wondering if it really is too good to be true. the starter kit is priced at php4500 preloaded with php30. broadband internet use is php10 for every 30 minutes. afterwards, your usage will be based on your purchasing power for a prepaid card. i was able to give it a try and believe me, you're better off using dial-up. i'm not going into details on how slow the service is. just imagine, i accessed friendster and it took 10 minutes to load the login page. not a smart choice at all.

but here's a better alternative from smart if you really want wireless internet with "tolerable" speed. yes, i'm saying tolerable, not broadband. if you have a nokia 3g phone, you're off to a good start. the thing is, smart bro prepaid uses the same signal that carries their 3g services (video call, video streaming, wap). all you have to do is install the nokia pc suite (it comes with your phone kit) on your pc, plug your phone via usb, connect to the net and wallah, you're all set. but don't expect this to have the same speed that you have when browsing at the office. it's far better than dial-up but it won't compare to dsl. if you want dsl, go get dsl, period. it has the same rate as using your 3g phone as internet modem.


although i say this as a better alternative, there's a downside when using your 3g phone as a modem. though you can still receive call and sms, the lifespan of your phone will be dramatically affected as it is used everytime it needs to connect to the internet. better have your charger with you all the time when doing this. you can either use your 3g phone as a modem, or buy the kit from them and use that as an internet modem. same rate, no lock-in period.

chill...

i have seen several inventions but never as ingenious as this one. who would have thought you can have your very own mini fridge plugged into your pc. it's called the usb fridge.

this tiny little red fridge plugs into the pc's usb port and within minutes is chilled down to a frosty 47 F, which is more than sufficient to keep that can of coke light or pepsi max cold and ready to drink at your desk without having to spend a fortune on a mini-fridge for your cubicle. it's plug and play meaning no drivers required. just take it out of the box and keep that soda or any other 12 oz canned beverage nice and chilled.

now that's cool! ^_^

boo ifilm!

since youtube was totally blocked here in the office, i tried looking for an alternative. then ifilm came to the rescue and so i tried to upload the same music video that i made when we went to the beach. now, i know that it will take a few minutes as the video will be processed and some people from ifilm will check if the video is good to go. so after like 30 minutes, i checked my inbox and 1 new message caught my attention:

Subject: Your Video, 'Sunburn' has been rejected

Your video "Sunburn" has not met IFILM's standards for User Video.

Common reasons for rejection of video uploads include:

i. incompatible file format
ii. copyright infringement
iii. pornographic or obscene video

take note of the 3rd one. i'll get into that later.


ok. first of all, they noted that the file types that they accept are: XVID, DAT, 3GP, ASF, AVI, DV, GVI, FLV, MOV, MP4, MPEG, MPG, QT and WMV (in short, lots of formats). the file format that i used was MOV and i'm pretty sure that it's compatible because i used it on my ipod and it works (plus it uses an apple codec so this is definitely a common format **nuff with the geek stuff**).

second, i'm not in the mood for the copyright infringement thingy so i'll pass on to that (haha)

now, the third one that made me raise an eyebrow.. since when did wearing shirts and shorts become obscene??? i reviewed every second of the video and i really don't find anything pornographic. man, nobody was even wearing a two-piece! (and i will never ever wear trunks!). no wonder youtube's more popular. oh well, i guess i have to stick with youtube. peace out!

desktop

since i don't have any topic in mind, i'll just post a screenshot of my desktop.


nope, it's not windows vista. here's what i used:

style xp: it's a program designed to modify the graphical user interface of win xp. with this you can modify your themes, explorer bar, backgrounds, logon screens, icons, boot screens, transparency, cursors and screensavers.

desktop sidebar: a freeware which places a user-friendly sidebar docked to the right or left side of the computer screen. you can easily access utilities such as a calculator, analogue clock, an image slideshow, windows media player, winamp, msn messenger, web search, or a command prompt. and if you're an ipod user, yes they support itunes! just added a few tools and tweaks that made it look like a vista copycat. hihihi