iPhone in the Philippines?

Last week, while watching Pinoy Big Brother (I know, but since this is for the Filipino masses blog, I have to watch that show too), I noticed something that made me giggle. To my surprise, Toni's cellphone is none other than the iPhone. Wow, I said to myself, iPhone is now available in the country. But then I remembered, Apple said that iPhone will not be available in Asia until next year, so the question is how did she 'acquired' that phone?

Strolling down the mall, I noticed that some cellphone shops actually sells iPhone. I asked for the price, PHP 29,000 for the 8GB iPhone, hmmm expensive I cringed. I asked if they have those phased out 4GB, unfortunately they don't have those in stocks. Finally I asked them if this was open lined already and they answered me with a big YES. But then I wondered, how the hell did they unlocked it with such a breeze and yet those in the USA or even Europe are having a hard time unlocking those things?

After the initial amazement of iPhone - I asked myself even though they assured me that the warranty is up to a year - how can I be personally assured that this thing will not be bricked if iPhone firmware updates? What if I installed 3rd party apps e.g. jailbraking the iPhone, will I still be covered with their warranty? After that, the realization sets in, it is not worthy right now to buy this gadget at this current state of uncertainty. PHP 29K is no joke and I don't want to brick it nor give them to snatchers. Have to wait for the official release here in the Philippines, who knows it might be open line.

Leopard coming this October 26!

It has finally arrive, the most anticipated release of Apple's most visually stunning OS to date, the Mac OS X Leopard. After 2 years since the released of the famed, Mac OS X Tiger, Apple has managed to once again up the ante in the OS Wars. I think this year will be a blowout year for all the OSes. Microsoft just launched early this year their 5 years-in-the-making Windows Vista and as Linux OS such as the high-rise Ubuntu began picking up steam in the alternative OS department, Apple certainly doesn't want to be left behind in this year battle of the OS.

Apple boasts around 300 new exciting features in their upcoming Leopard. Ranging from the most obvious revamp of the desktop, to slick applications such as Time Machine and Spaces, to the completely overhauled Finder, great additions such as Quick Look, and to various development tools this will certainly be an anticipated release for the Apple users worldwide.

To all Apple users and would-be switchers, don't forget to line up on the 26th of October at your favorite Apple store. Well I am still hoping I could buy a new Apple laptop with this OS inside by the end of this year.

10 Years of Thinking Different

This is the full text of the "Think Different" Apple campaign launched last 1997. The video of which always send shiver down my spine. As a history lover, it is always good to note the big figures being shown in that Apple commercial. Although I don't own a Mac, just an iPod, I wish Apple will once again starts to Think Different and cater back to their customer.

Here’s to the crazy ones.
The misfits.
The rebels.
The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently.
They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They push the human race forward.
And while some see them as the crazy ones,
We see genius.
Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
Are the ones who do

I want iPod Touch

Wow! Apple just revamped the whole iPod line-up. Their new iPods are the new iPod nano, the new iPod classic, and the very brand new iPod Touch.

The New iPods

The iPod nano brings video (finally!) to the nano family, with capacity still at 4GB and 8GB. The iPod classic boasts of capacity up to 160 GB. The iPod touch on the other hand boasts the same functionality as the original iPhone minus of course the phone functionality. Capacity also is limited to 8GB and 16GB but I'll be damned that is one slick device.

Having owned a 1st Gen iPod Nano device I can say that Apple creates very intuitive product. Next purchase for the holiday season, hmmm, iPod touch!

What is FTW?

FTW is an Internet slang that stands for "For The Win".

It is usually added at the end of a message or a post to show enthusiasm on the subject.

USAGE

Guy1: Have you seen the new iMac?
Guy2: new iMac FTW!

Guy1 asked if anyone has seen the new iMac, Guy2 reaffirmed this. Whether or not the response of Guy2 was genuine or sarcastic depends on how we interpet it.

On the other hand, FTL - which is the exact opposite of FTW - stands for "For the Lose".

Video of the Week: Gates vs Jobs

A very funny video featuring two of the most respected icons in technology. Enjoy the video!

Who wants Pownce?

Today I received an invite to try out the new Web 2.0 app by Kevin Rose - the guy that founded Digg. The new web app is called Pownce. According to their site "Pownce is a way to send stuff to your friends. What kind of stuff? You can send just about anything: music, photos, messages, links, events, and more". Basically when you think about it, it is just a glorified FTP client with a slick graphical interface. You can use their web-app or download the Pownce desktop software.

How it was created

According to their site, Pownce was created using Django which is Python powered. The database is MySQL running on Linux Debian servers and web servers powered by a combination of Apache and Perlbal. Well, it is good to know that all of these are Open Source software.

The desktop client is written in Flex from Adobe's AIR platform. Which might be a deal breaker for some because as of now it only supports Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS X platforms.

Invites

I have 4 invites remaining to be given away. So anyone who wants to try it out, just post a shout out. And don't forget to add me up.

Picture of the Week: Leopard demo wallpaper

This is one cool wallpaper (see below). Click the picture to view and download the large version (1600x1200). It is the desktop wallpaper for the new Apple Mac OS X Leopard demo. Click here to view the demo.

Sexy Girl + Gadget = Profit?

Who would have thought that this will be the killer combination to get geeks and non-geeks alike to buy a magazine. Just look at T3 magazines lately! All their covers feature sexy and pretty girls holding/promoting a gadget or two. So far, I do believe their magazine is selling well, judging by the loyalty of my housemate to purchase one of those every month.

Well, it's not bad that they illustrate these gorgeous girls as gadget lovers, sure there maybe some of them who really use these kind of stuffs but for the rest of them, hmmm, do they really tinker some of those gadgets? I'm hoping though that in the future they will feature a really technophile geek girl. There are a lot of those girls out there, just visit Macenstein to view their "real" Mac chicks. They should also feature a one-on-one interview (if they haven't done this) about how the technology affects them and if they really use those gadgets which they are flashing in the cover.

Would that idea sell well? I don't really know. Think about this, would you buy a magazine that features a geeky girl holding up an iPhone and telling the world how she loves it or would you rather see this in the front cover (see below)? Your answer is as good as mine.

The Vista Charm

Yesterday I chatted with my girlfriend and she showed me a screenshot of her cousin's desktop that features Microsoft's new operating system, Windows Vista. Here is the excerpt of our conversation.

• Chi: I wanna share a photo with your (using YM here).
• Jan2x: Cool, what is that all about?
• Chi: It's kuya ryan's new desktop, I love it! I wanna have Windows Vista!
• Jan2x: Really? I thought you like Mac? Here go to www.apple.com and take a look at their new OS.
• Chi: Wow! I also love Leopard, but I couldn't afford it, I can only afford Vista.

Well done Microsoft! This is not the first time I heard someone liking Windows Vista by its look alone, there are other of people who also wanted to have Vista and these people are the techie types. Aesthetically, Windows Vista is not the doom and gloom that many people wanted to portray, it actually looks good. From the new and improved Start button, to the Gadgets and to the glossy effects of Windows, people are liking it.

I have never tried full-time Windows Vista (my laptop only has the Windows XP MCE) but judging by the satisfaction of my housemate who uses Vista exclusively in his laptop - although there are minor driver issues - he feels that it is a better than Windows XP.

Apple releases Safari browser

Apple's MacOSX's default web browser is now availabe for download for Microsoft Windows OS. Click here to download it. This is a very exciting news for all web developers and web graphics designer out there. As it stands now there are 4 major web browsers in the market today, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari and Opera browser. This means that if you are creating your web application in Windows, you can simultaneously view your created web app using the 4 major browsers without the need to buy a Mac. You may ask why? Why do I need to view my webapp using Safari? Well as it stands now, any web customers that you deny access to your site is a loss revenue. With 5% usage share, that is still a lot of potential customers, approximately 18.5 million of them. 

Safari is based on WebKit with KHTML as default HTML renderer. This is also a good news for web developers who wants consistency in all the web browsers. WebKit is open source and so does the Gecko engine of Firefox. 

Performance Testing

HTML Performance on Windows XP for Apple Safari is 2.2 seconds, Firefox comes in second with 3.7 and Internet Explorer comes in with 4.6. That's twice the speed to render HTML on Safari than on Firefox. I'm using Safari right now and it is indeed much faster in terms of HTML rendering. But I'm hoping they throw Opera in there.

Javascript Performance on Windows XP for Internet Explorer is 2.4 seconds, Firefox with 1.6 and Safari with .9 of a second. 

Conclusion

As I said earlier it is important to note that Safari and Firefox are based on open source technology and will implement open standards on the internet. This will ensure that no more special HTML, javascript, etc. hacks between different browsers. And so much more time devoted for developing and designing wonderful sites rather than debugging. 

I also found out that everything in Safari appears crispy, down to the graphics and texts. But as for now I will still be rooting for Mozilla Firefox because of its enormous library of plugins.

Apple iPhone TV Ads - anything special?

Well, THE Apple iPhone will be available in the USA in June 29, 2007. I cannot wait for the technical and unbiased review of possibly the most hyped thing for the past years. Will they exceed our expectations or will be crushed under its hyped weight? Two things are clear, many people are anticipating this product and many people wants to have this product. But before anything else let us watch and dissect without overanalyzing the iPhone TV Ads.

Never Been an iPod

It basically tells us that the iPhone is an iPod, a widescreen iPod video, an iPod photoviewer and on top of it a phone. Well from the looks of it Apple pretty much demonstrated what the iPhone is all about but it didn't feature exactly how many space it will hold, but hell yeah, the common masa doesn't want to get that intricate about hard disk spaces or if it's a hard disk or a flash drive as long as it can store movies and music. And from their point of view, well if it's an iPod then it must have large capacity!

How To

Basically it demonstrates the other functionalities of the iPhone and ending it up that iPhone is really a phone. Which is what the iPhone is all about.

Calamari

Now this commercial shows us the beautiful integration of iPhone's features. Just amazing. From watching movies, to locating places with the Google map, to THE touch typing, and to calling the desired restaurant mapped by Google. And can we expect that cohesiveness here in our country? I think not, Google map can't yet provide much in-depth view of places here in the Philippines how much more locating food establishments, it's a long shot but Google can partner with a local firm to provide those functionalities.

Watered Down

Now this is what I am excited about. Have you tried surfing the net using a PDA? It sucks! With this it will bring the PC web experience on the palm of our hands. Very nice implementation.

Well, I hope iPhone will be successful and will be priced competitively here in our country. Asia-Pacific will have its iPhone by next year, so start saving your precious money. Here's hoping that Apple will reignite people's interest in smartphone, because even though I don't own one it will be the future of mobile devices.

Microsoft's Surface is hot!

Microsoft just unveiled its Surface, a ground-breaking technology and a new user-interface evolution. It's a touch-based screen that lets users use hand gestures, touch, and/or physical object to interact with the surface computer. Sounds too good to be true right? And coming from Microsoft? All I can say is wow! Great times for technology indeed. Now Apple has the multi-touch digital phone and Microsoft has the surface computer, whats next? Well the next level should be, how we can all benefit from this technology.

What does it bring to the table, no pun intended, for Filipinos especially local programmers? The answer is - it will bring tremendous opportunity for all of us! One of my friends reaction when he first saw the video is "thanks Microsoft! invent more technologies so that programmers like us have future jobs". Well its a bit stretch, but he did raised a good point. And Philippines, being one of the countries where technology is being applied in a rapid pace, from cellphones to televisions to computers, it will just be a matter of time before touch-based devices will flood the market. I say, good times indeed.