play, download, and comment on the audio files below!!!
UPDATES!!!
- Radio Ad prod by USJR masscom students @ MASSCOMWorks
- Latest Post: “New FACEBOOK Home Page“
- Newer Post: “Personas” (updated!!!)
- Updated Post: “China Phone X1000“
- Mar Roxas update: “A Tribute to Cory Aquino by Mar Roxas“
- Updated Post: “Hidden Cam and Hayden Cam” (ABS-CBN policy on hidden cam)
- Older Post: “Evading” the Anti-Wire Tapping Law
- Updated Post: “Avoiding Libel on Facebook“
New FACEBOOK Home Page
There is no stopping for changes in Facebook. It is meant to harness our facebooking daily (or hourly). Zuckerberg’s Facebook has announced the changes in the home page where user interfaces are much easier.
“Personas”
My Firefox browser is clad with Personas from WordPress. Personas is like a skin to show off design in your browser.
China Phone X1000
Using Prefix numbers for Pulse-Rate Charge Calls–YES or NO?
Two of the bold moves of the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in 2009 were the forced implementation of the Extended Prepaid Load Validity and the Pulse-Rate Charging for all mobile phones.
The Pulse-Rate Charging is contain in the NTC Memorandum Circular No. 05-07-2009 (Guidelines on Unit of Billing of Mobile Voice Service) mandating the new call charging scheme beginning December 6, 2009.
We thought, as i also thought, it was happy-for-all development. 
However, i was mesmerized of believing that it works for the good of us without any hassle. Look, the Pulse-Rate Charging scheme is JUST A CALL FEATURE like in call forwarding and teleconferencing.
Poll Survey Result: “What is Your New Tech-Gadget this Christmas?”
It turned out that Personal Computer is the popular choice for people to acquire in times they have extra money. Laptop lags behind obviously because it is an extra thing for us. Why buy a laptop when you’re not an on-the-go type of person?
Some say they have no new gadget this Christmas. Better luck next time. 
Thank you for joining our Poll Survey. Join us in our next Poll Survey– “Using Prefix numbers for Pulse-Rate Charge Calls–YES or NO?“
Visit my related post for the Poll Survey topic.
Thank You 2009, Welcome 2010!
I have started blogging in wordpress.com in November 2007 after migrating from Friendster’s blog. The original intention for this blog site is to complement with my radio shows in DYAB1512 of the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation.
My radio listeners are being drawn into my site to get more information of what i have had discussed in the shows. Complementary are some of the pages here where my radio listeners can listen to the on-air-recordings of my shows–”Hi-Tech ‘Ta Bai“, “Kapamilya Negosyo Na“, and “Merkado Patrol“; troubleshooting guides, downloadables, on-call computer-cellphone technicians, computer tips, and more…
From a mere 46 views at the start of this blog, now my blog has more than 46-thousand views peaking on November 2009.
“Trese”
13 is a natural number next to 12 and before 14
13 images of people found at the back and front of the 500-piso bill
13 Round and Sweet Fruits for the New Year’s Eve bring more wealth and luck and prosperity for the new year.
Dispose of your Tech-Gadget Waste Properly!
The pictures below speak a thousand words. Just in case you don’t know where it is– it’s located between the Apple Store and the HP Shop at the Cyber Zone in SM City.
My New Tech-Gadgets this Christmas
I’ve got some tech-gadgets this Christmas. Thank God for the gifts amidst my cataract eye surgery this week.
Xenon 22-inch LCD TV-PC Monitor
Of course, my ultimate gadget now is the ARTIFICIAL LENS on my right eye… I’m a cyborg!!!
How about you? What are your Tech-Gadgets this Christmas? Vote in our Poll Survey. Go to the Poll Survey widget at the sidebar.
POLL SURVEY RESULT: Are You a Facebook Addict?
After weeks of posting it here, many confessed that they are Facebook addicts. Here’s the result of our Poll Survey: Are You a Facebook Addict?
Thank you for joining our Poll Survey. Please join again in our next Poll Survey: What is Your New Tech-Gadget this Christmas? Go to the poll survey widget at the side bar of this blog to vote.
My Cataract Surgery
“Your cataract is difficult to operate since it’s white“, my eye surgeon told me as i was lying yesterday on the operating table. OMG! was my silent reaction. I wasn’t afraid nor tense but i felt apprehensive upon hearing what my surgeon was telling me.
All through out the procedure i was awake and knew every step executed on my right eye. There was no pain because of the topical anesthesia applied every now and then to my eye but there were times i had to hold the bed because of the tingling and sensation i felt.
I’d Sent a 97.49MB Files in YahooMail
Sending large files, as much as 100MB, attached to an email is now possible in YahooMail. So, practically you can send an entire music album. I tried it by sending to my listeners the 2-Disc music album–”Always and Forever” of Kenny Roger. It’s a 97.49MB file. YahooMail uses third-party applications within its email service like drop.io and My Drive. I’m using drop.io in sending the Kenny Roger’s album to our Kapamilya. MyDrive is more of a mobile storage for large files where you can store up to 1gig of files but you can only upload 100MB at a time.
D-I-Y: Using Google DNS
I’d tried openDNS service but it has so many site-restrictions like you can’t open some sites. I also discovered that openDNS can’t logon to SmartBRO server in your next boot.
So, i resorted to my ISP’s DNS and put my internet protocol setting at “Obtain DNS server address automatically“.
The DNS (Domain Name System) is used to identify you computer when connected to the net. It’s like a phone book in the internet where host names are translated to IP addresses.
Last week Google launches it public DNS and it proves fast and efficient as i tried it to my PLDT DSL connection. Google’s public DNS addresses are easy to remember: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as preferred and alternate respectively.
Follow the step-by-step procedure below…
Biggest Tech-Stories in 2009
It’s been said that the fastest development now in history is the invention and innovation of science and technology. I’ve been collating these developments as i need it in my radio show–”Hi-Tech Ta Bai” every Sunday over DYAB1512.
Here are some of the sci-tech events/developments that should be recalled here:
- Per-Pulse-Rate Charging for Mobile Calls
- Extended Prepaid Load Validity
- Facebook Cramming, Madness, and Addiction
- Conficker Worms Invaded ‘Pinas
- Windows 7 Now on-Sale in our Sidewalks
- More “branded” China Phones are Coming in
Friendster is Alive!!!!
Friendster isn’t dead yet. As a matter of fact, it changes look and promises a faster loading of its cleaner and simpler pages. Friendster has been overtaken nowadays in the Philippines by its rival Facebook in terms of growth.
If you open your FS account, you’ll be welcomed by a new homepage that looks like Facebook and Twitter with a status message box asking “Tell Your Friends What You’re Doing Right Now“.
Killing Almanahe, et al!!!!
Viruses are killers of our PCs and laptops! Last week my laptop was infected with an annoying virus called “almanahe” worm.
Almanahe attacks all windows write executable files.
McAfee described almanahe worm as a parasitic worm that resides under a rootkit protection in our computers. It does not only reside under stealth it also self-replicates and propagating itself within a network or to other systems through removable disk, rewritable CDs and USB sticks. It will connect to the net and download more malwares from a number of sites.
Only McAfee Anti-Virus Enterprise 8.5 or later and… can remove almanahe directly.
“2012″
Year 2012 is another BEST YEAR for me. It’s the Year of the (Water) Dragon. It’s a leap year of the Gregorian Calendar. Being a year of the dragon, 2012 has so many attributes to a person: innovative, enterprising, flexible, self-assured, brave, passionate, conceited, tactless, scrutinizing, unanticipated, and quick-tempered.
In contrast, being a leap year 2012 has doubts of being an unlucky year for some. Though, i always have this optimism in life but i have reservations if 2012 will be similar to 1988 (Year of the Earth Dragon) and 2000 (Year of the Metal Dragon).
2012 is something different. Many times i’ve read about 2012. I watched last night, with my family, the highly-anticipated film “2012” in SM Cinema. In the film, the year is catastrophic–end of the world where lots of water and flood submerged the earth like the time of Noah. The earth’s leaders are ready–they built a modern Noah’s Ark. It’s a powerful ship that is built at the border of Tibet and China where it is expected to be the last to be hit by the catastrophe. But unlike Noah, only a selected people are allowed to board the ships and will form the new civilization of a new Earth.
2012 is said the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar which would last 5,125 years or the Earth’s life will end on December 21 or 23, 2012. Many things have been told about the 2012 phenomenon–from mythology to prophecies and are spread through books and documentaries and over several web sites.
One of the most discussed but mostly ridiculed 2012 story is the Nibiru Collission Theory which says that a big planet (X-Planet) will come close to Earth’s orbit and proposes an alien transfer to Earth. Watch the video:
My Globe Visibility (Tattoo) Now Connects
I’ve been saying most of the time in the past that 3G modem for internet connectivity sinks.
In my reviews on the performance of Globe Visibility (Tattoo) and Smart PlugIt, internet connection is usually unstable. Though it can reach the more than 1Mbps strength, as the telcos have promised, but it only stays there for a while. I said “for a while“– about 2-5 seconds. 
But lately my 3G connection, using Globe Visibility (Tattoo), is improving…
The Receive Rate (lower right of the Globe Visibility app manager) reflects a 1.2Mbps speed while the Transport Rate is only at more than 20kbps. However, the internet speed as measured by www.speedtest.net is at 270kbps download and 100kbps upload. Also, in the screen shot, the signal strength as received by my 3G modem is at 4 bars (it used to be at 3 bars only).
Gloo– to glow?
Globe opens today a new social networking site from a developer who won in the Globe Labs Challenge in August 2008 providing an alternative to Facebook, Friendster, and others.
It’s the Gloo. A place where you and your friends can share video from YouTube, Facebook pictures, and web images in real time. See the screen shot of the homepage below:
Getting Rid of Duplicated Files in our PC
One of the messes in my laptop is duplicated music file– same songs in different folders. It’s so tasking to look for duplicated files manually. There must be a program to do it for me. I then remember the PC REPAIR SYSTEM that contains a program–DOUBLE KILLER, sounds like a murderer!
Double Killer is one of the 37 utility softwares that are found in the PC Repair System…
Twitter: What are you using?
There are many twitter clients–either desktop or browser-based application– to send your tweets to micro-blogging network–
.
Of course, you can directly tweet at the Twitter site which everyone of us did it for the first time. I’ve tried at least two Twitter clients but settled down to Twitterfox–an extension of the Mozilla Firefox browser. Twitterfox has changed its name to Echofon. Click here to download Echofon.
Here are the features of the Echofon as detailed in Mozilla.org with some screen shots of my browser’s Echofon app:
A New Battery Pack and a Recycled Portable Hard Drive
Maybe i’m one of the luckiest guy today–why? I’ve got a brand new battery pack for my laptop and a recycled portable hard drive. The catch–it’s all free. Thanks to my brother Rolly who just arrived from China in time for his birthday today–Nov. 2.
The original battery pack of my lap top has been damaged for few months now. It’s an ASUS Li-Ion Battery Pack A32-F3 (Rating: 11.1v; 4800mAh). During the time it’s not being replaced, i can’t use my laptop without using the AC adapter.
Is Your PC Windows 7-ready?
I tried checking whether my Asus F3H Series laptop is ready for the latest Microsoft operating software-Windows 7. My current system is Windows XP Professional Version 2002 Service Pack 2 with Intel Celeron M CPU 520 @ 1.60GHz, 1.48G RAM.
First, i had to download the Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor from the Microsoft official site and install it to my system. The executable file is 8.26MB.
After installing it, i’ve got this shortcut icon on my desktop.
My Struggle Over Internet Speed
I was shocked reading an item in a news letter stating that “their internet charge of P150/hour is very much affordable with a free cup of coffee“. Huh? P150/hr in an internet cafe? I continue reading the article and it seemed the item is consistent with the figure–P150/hr.
Not contented, i went over the banner and saw the year the publication was published–1996. I was reading a very old issue of a newsletter. Anyway, it gives me some sort of info how costly was the internet surfing over 10 years ago.
On Thursday/October 29 was the 40th birthday of the Internet. Here are some facts about the net:
A Retractable USB Optical Mouse–my First Time Experience
My laptop has been with me for more than two years now and it has suffered major crash once in 2008. Although this story is not about my ASUS F3H series laptop, it is worth to note that it has already spent three optical mouse devices.
First to retire was the ASUS-brand mouse which was part of the original package of my laptop. Then, i harbored a JetTech-brand optical mouse from my PC which i bought from FastWin Enterprises. It didn’t last a year in my laptop. The third mouse i used was a Lenovo-brand which is also a part of the Lenovo laptop package of my niece. I had been using it until Tuesday night when it finally ran out of steam. All of the three mouse devices are made in China.
Now, for the first time, i am using a retractable USB optical mouse i bought from multi-media store CD-R King for only P150. Obviously, it’s again from China. It’s a CD-R King TM-8025 Retractable USB Optical Mouse with 3 buttons and 1 wheel.
Are You a Facebook Addict?
If you spend at least an hour a day in Facebook, then you have a FAD (Facebook Addiction Disorder).
Psychologist Dr. Michael Fenichel stated in his site–FAD Online–that users spent more time and energy on Facebook without knowing they exceeded over their regular tasks like waking up, answering phone and checking emails.
Dr. Fenichel’s post is “Facebook Addiction Disorder- A New Challenge?”
Poll Survey Result: Which Cell Phone Call Charging Do You Prefer?
I think people got tired of the Per Minute Charging our telcos are billing us in our cell phone calls. They favored on the proposed Pulse Rate Charging which is scheduled to be implemented January 2010.
As i surmised in my previous article–“Cell Phone Call: Minute Charging or Pulse Rate Charging” it would appear that the proposed Pulse Rate Charging would be costly hence the telcos are allowed to collect a flag down rate for the first two pulses or 12-seconds of call. What if the telcos shall be allowed to collect P5 as its flag down rate and P1 for every succeeding pulse? Then, it would appear that a minute call is worth P13–more costly than the prevailing rate now of P6.50 per minute call.
Anyway, we’ll wait for the National Telecommunications Commission to set the final rate for the Pulse Rate Charging.
Thank you for joining the Poll Survey. Vote again in our next survey– “Are You a Facebook Addict?“
JUNTARIMAN @ BlogAction Day 2009
Below is the Bloggers Kapihan rounding up the blog posts from the Philippines on Blog Action Day 2009. There were thousands of blogs from 150 countries around the world discussing about climate change.
My blog site is mentioned in the list below linking to the post i have created on Blog Action Day 2009. As i promised, i’ll be updating the post once i got hold of some sci-tech innovations here in Cebu about preserving and protecting the environment.
Blog Action Day 2009
I have registered this blog with the Blog Action Day 2009 which will take place today around the world. I am posting in here a sci-tech item hoping i could contribute to this year’s theme–Climate Change.
I’m quoting below from the Blog Action Day 2009 official web site of what is Blog Action Day:
“Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices.“
The organizers have chosen climate change as this year’s topic to express support for the unwavering efforts to find a sustainable solution to the climate crisis which causes severe flooding in several places around the world including the Philippines.
Blog Action Day 2009 encourages bloggers to write a post relevant to their niche. On my part–Science and Technology–which may include stories about “emerging clean tech and how innovative companies might be able to help address the problem of climate change”.
Here are some practices in Cebu, Philippines that i have spotted:
SM City’s My Own Bag every Wednesday where shoppers are asked to bring their reusable ”green bag” for them to carry their grocery items which are being packed by SM in a paper bag (”bulsita” in Cebuano).
Dot-TK is a Phishing Site???
I am surprised to see my site (blog) in a different look when i browsed it today using juntariman.tk. It was a different site. See screen shot below:
I’d tried browsing it early today in another PC not connected with the ABS-CBN intra-network and still the site it opened is a sort of a phishing site–full of links to some business sites.
It wasn’t me who registered my site with the dot.tk …
The Science Behind Cooking with Beer
I had attended the Cooking Demonstration at the 1521 Penthouse of San Miguel Corporation during the Press Freedom Week celebration on September 26, 2009.
What is unique with the food demo was that the dishes prepared were flavored with San Miguel Pale Pilsen beer. What is in the beer that suits for cooking food?
RP IT Competitiveness Downed in 2009
The Philippines’ IT competitiveness index is downed this year from 2008’s figures as shown by the latest survey done by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU)–a division of the Canadian-based publication Economist.
From 10th place in 2008, RP is now at 12th among the 17 Asia-Pacific countries that are included in the survey. Also, the country fell to 56th place from 47th last year among 66 countries worldwide.
Here’s the top 10 in the Asia-Pacific region:
Cell Phone Call: Minute Charging or Pulse Rate Charging?
The country’s two big mobile phone operators–Smart Communications and Globe Telecoms– have proposed to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) a flag down rate ranging from P3 to P8 for the first 12 seconds or two pulses of a cellular call.
In their position papers, sister companies Smart Communications and Cure ask the NTC for a flag down rate of P3 to P6 while Globe Telecom’s proposal is P3 to P8.
Guarding your USB Stick
From time-to-time i have been encountering problems on my USB sticks, especially after i have inserted my sticks into other PC units. However, all virus and spyware threats from my USB sticks were all thwarted by my reliable McAfee anti-virus program by the time i plug my sticks into my laptop.
“Hi-Tech ‘Ta Bai!” listener Jtons had suggested me discussing about USB vaccine which i readily featured in last Sunday’s episode.
I have stumbled a free application offering vaccine on USB sticks. It’s the Panda USB vaccine. I tried it and it works. It can “vaccinate” your PC and your USB sticks and ultimately disable the autorun feature. By disabling the autorun feature, your system will not automatically open any USB stick and any CD inserted into your machine. I have already discussed it here how to disable the autorun/autoplay feature of Windows XP. The Panda USB vaccine is easier and it does the disabling of the autorun in seconds.
Amazing FB Toolbar for Firefox
Above is the screen shot of my Mozilla Firefox 3.5 browser showing only two rows of the tool bar to minimize space while giving enough room for the page browser. It has only the standard Navigation Toolbar and the Search Box.
However, i opted FB Toolbar rather than the Yahoo Toolbar in the second row hence the former has more useful features.
LG “long” Chocolate Candybar Cellphone
LG has once again edged the rest of the mobile phone manufacturers by reportedly introducing the longest and widest cellphone display.
The LG Chocolate is rumored to have a 4-inch wide screen–the longest so far for a cellphone display–with 345 by 800-pixel display, good for an ultra-wide aspect ratio of 21:9.
Engadget reported some rumored specs of the BL40 Black Label phone, including a five-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, an FM transmitter, and a microSD memory slot.
Here’s a teaser video of the new LG Chocolate–BL40 Black Label phone posted at youtube.
Money in Blogging
I’ve been asked many times if there’s money in blogging and if ever it has, how to raise it.
The first time we discussed about blogging was in 2008 when the group of Kevin Ray Chua and the rest of the members of the Cebu Bloggers Society visited “Hi-Tech Ta Bai!” radio show.
CBS confirmed there’s money in blogging if done appropriately with search engine optimization and links with other bloggers.
Professional blogger–Abe Olandres of yugatech.com says he’s making blogging as his main source of income.
Prepaid Load–Extended!!!!
Good news for all of us prepaid mobile users. The telcos have finally gave in to the great clamor of the consuming public to extend the shelf life of the prepaid load credits.
This, however, came out upon the prodding of some Senators who grilled the National Telecommunications Commission and the telecommunication companies during the recent hearings of the complaint raised by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
Here’s the new validity period for prepaid load credits…
“Never Sick Again” Food
I’ve got a copy of this food tip from somewhere in the net. Click the image to open the PDF copy.
Update: “Load Theft” Hearing
Just read this article from the Philippine Daily Inquirer– “AMID CASE OF MISSING ‘LOAD’
NTC: Telcos fought rules to protect consumers“.
My attention is being catched by the article hence i have been actively advocating for the stoppage of the disappearance of prepaid card credits (”load theft“) from the subscribers’ cellphone accounts. I had once filed a complaint against Smart Communications in 2007. Read my previous post: “Gikawatan ko’g Smart Load“.
As if they’re trying to prove they’re not remiss of their job, an official of the National Telecommunication Commission told the joint Senate Committee on Public Service and Trade and Commerce that as early as year 2000, NTC could have been prevented “Load Theft” and imposed stiffer penalties against erring telcos to protect consumers.
Why We Need an Advertising Code of the Philippines?
Education Secretary Jesli Lapus caused for the pull out of the “Spelling Bee” TV ads of air cargo forwarding service LBC Express Inc. in May after “it drew a flak from local officials and parents over its wrong message”.
There were two versions of the TV ad before it was pulled out by LBC from the air. The “remittance” and the “affordable” versions where both spelling bee participants answered “LBC” as the spelling for “remittance” and “affordable”.
Many times i’d told my advertising class that the rule always applied in advertising is “always tweak the rule“.
“Hidden Cam” and “Hayden Cam”
note: this post has been updated!!!!
“Hidden Cam”
We used to label news footage taken without the knowledge of our news sources as “Stolen Shots”. But since the phrase has a negative connotation being the shot a stolen one—the newsroom had decided to rename it to “Actual Shots”.
The footage in coverages that are planned to be taken with cameras hid from the people around the location shoot was named as “Hidden Cam” shots.
“Hayden Cam”
Actress Katrina Halili and Dr. Hayden Kho dancing in this video recording.
As regards to the sex video recordings of Dr. Hayden Kho with at least three of his former girlfriends—psychologists consider it as sexual voyeurism.
Asus Ultimate Overclocking Show
Even with the absence of a formal invitation, my journalistic traits just dictated me to appear during the first ever computer overclocking competition in Cebu Saturday afternoon at the SM Entertainment Plaza.
Two groups vied for the title of being the best overclockers–Cebu Extreme Overclockers and the Sugbo Elite Overclockers.
Globe’s HSDPA Areas in Cebu
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| How is your Globe Visibility connection? Is it doing well? Here are the areas/places in Cebu that according to Globe Telecom it has 3G/HSDPA signals.Please check your Globe connection and help me complete this table by listing down in the COMMENT BOX the details of your connection: signal strength and actual internet speed. |
| Continue reading this post…PLACES/AREAS SIGNAL STRENGTH ACTUAL INTERNET SPEED ArgaoAsturiasBalamban |
| Bogo |
| Carmen |
| Carcar |
| Cebu City |
| Consolacion |
| Cordova |
| Daan Bantayan |
| Danao City |
| Dumanjug |
| Lapulapu City |
| Liloan (Yati,Liloan) No/Ltd Service- 1 bar 1kbps to 100kbps+ |
| Mandaue City |
| Minglanilla |
| Naga |
| San Fernando |
| San Francisco, Camotes |
| San Remegio |
| Sibonga |
| Sogod |
| Talisay |
| ToledoThis table shall be updated once new inputs from Globe Visibility users will come in. |
Conficker Eye Chart
If you can see all six images in the boxes below, then you’ve got no worry of Conficker worm in your PC or laptop.
Conficker Eye Chart – Baylor Mirror
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McGruff SAFEGUARD Unguarding 3G-modem PC
My online activities on my laptop at the time it is connected with the internet via the 3G wireless modem are not recorded.
I have observed this for several instances when i checked my online activities at my McGruff account. While the rest of my online activities when i am connected using broadband or DSL lines are all intact at the McGruff site.
McGruff is a computer-monitoring software that records all online activities designed to protect children from predators. It can record chat messages, emails, visited web pages and can even grab passwords.
A Blind Man’s Mobile Speaks…
“Mobile Speak” is a screen reader software installed on a mobile phone or personal digital assistant (PDA) that enables the user to hear, in speech form, whatever information displayed on the screen. The application greatly helps blind persons. It has also an interface for Braille devices.
Mobile Speak is created and developed by Code Factory.
I’ve been trying to help some blind persons who approached me to install on their mobile phones a screen reader. Finally, i’ve installed a full version of the Mobile Speak into the Nokia 6600 of a blind man–Jojo Mendoza. He’s very happy now he could hear the messages on his mobile phone.
For supported phones, click here.
Call me if you want a Mobile Speak installation on your mobile phone. (pldt portable: 5183097; mobile: 09195088589)
