ONE of my favorite shops  is Cd-r King, mainly because it’s interesting to check out which cheap and cool gadgets will be available there next.

“Designer” tech brands are all well and good, but you have to admit there’s also a thrill in finding a bargain — cheap gadgets like the P80 card reader I got from Cd-r King. I’m actually mulling getting one of those MP4 players (not really sure why, though,  ‘coz I can always watch movies on my phone)  and DV cameras. If someone’s tried them out, maybe you could give feedback on these products.

In a world that’s increasingly becoming homogenized and dominated by malls (I call it the Ayala-fication of the Philippines, personally, heh), it’s actually comforting to go to places like smaller computer stores or Raon. Hey, no matter how seedy it was, I miss the old Virra Mall — in fact, the seediness was part of its cyberpunkish charm, now lost in the antiseptic V-Mall (though of course pirated stuff is still for sale there; why did they bother displacing the old tenants at all?).

GOOGLE is great. Now they’ve gotten better.

Google wants to give you everything you need in one page with the launch of its Universal Search service. Here’s an excerpt from the Reuters story in CNN:

Universal Search means that standard Google searches will draw results from separate properties covering books, local information, images, news, and video, said Marissa Mayer, vice president of search and user experience.

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SOMEBODY should tell National Movement for Free Elections chairman Edward Go that you’re just asking for it when you talk about being “hacker-proof.”

Ask any techie. There’s no such animal. No matter how good your security is, you can’t really say it’s 100% hacker-proof.  And hackers, being what they are, might take that as a challenge.

Here’s an excerpt from the Philippine Daily Inquirer reporter Cathy Yamsuan’s story:

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OK, obviously Microsoft has to counter Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick by buying aQuantive, but man, $6 billion?

Check out the Reuters story. Here’s an excerpt:

NEW YORK–Microsoft Corp. said on Friday it would buy aQuantive Inc. for about $6 billion, or $66.50 a share, an 85 percent premium to the online advertising company’s closing price on Thursday.

Shares of aQuantive shot to $63.95 in pre-opening trade, following news of the deal.

The all-cash deal tops a dramatic one-month consolidation spree across the online advertising market sparked when Google Inc. agreed to buy DoubleClick for $3.1 billion.

THE INTEREST generated by our online coverage of the May 14 elections has been overwhelming, and we’d like to thank all our readers for their support.

INQUIRER.net editor in chief JV Rufino wrote about how the election coverage has generated even more traffic for INQUIRER.net.

Here’s an excerpt:

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