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With 3G, Mobile TV and other mobile technologies fast becoming common terminologies in our country, you’d think that we're living the modern high-tech life now, wouldn’t you? Well, let’s try to put things into perspective and take a look at a close-by neighbor of ours: Korea. CNN recently devoted a series of shows focusing on South Korea and it’s amazing how technology has not only gained immense popularity, but made significant contributions to society as well in the land of Kimchi. A run down of facts about Digital Korea makes us realize how far away we are from digital utopia. Though our present conditions are far better than before, there is a lot of room for improvement as we can see when compared with our neighboring country. While more and more Koreans are flocking here for educational purposes, it wouldn’t hurt if we too learn a thing or two from them on how technology has flourished and how it helped in the development of their country as well.

They say a picture paints a thousand words. What more a thousand pictures? Well, get ready for Lommolokal. A joint project of Lomomanila, the local lomography community, and Team Manila, a multi-disciplinary graphic design studio known for making funky and cool merchandise, this exhibit aims to provide visitors with a different perspective on Philippine culture captured through the lomo lens that encompasses everything that is Filipino, ranging from the ever so familiar jeepney to the favorite snack of the common citizen, the fishball and isaw. This showcase of talent will run from October 26 to November 16, 2007 at Team Manila, 146B Jupiter Ave. Makati City, Philippines. Admission is free. All Lomomanila members are enjoined to participate by either sending in photos or by helping put up the exhibit. For more information, visit the LomoManila forums. Take a break from your usual mundane routine and visit this unique photo exhibit and get a fresh outlook on Filipino life. As they say, you're never too old or young to appreciate a great photo.

Places such as Time Zone and Worlds of Fun have become favorite hangouts of teenagers and kids-at-heart for the many games they offer, and the prizes they can win from either tickets they collect or the assortment of crane games available. Come on, don’t tell you’ve never tried those crane games before, trying to win a huge stuffed toy for your girlfriend or a Nintendo Gameboy Advance for yourself? Well, in New Jersey, they’ve taken this game to a whole new level by including the Nintendo Wii and the much coveted iPhone as prizes. You heard me right, those crazy dudes in the US decided use those gadgets as bait for arcade junkies of all ages. Maybe it’s a long shot, but if you do get lucky, think of how much you’ll save by just playing a crane game? Maybe the folks at Time Zone will take their lead or maybe world peace will be achieved next month. Hey, we’re free to dream, right?

I thought the whole point of the shuffle was to make the most affordable, minimalist digital music player around, but apparently some folk think otherwise. See the Heyerdahl special edition diamond-encrusted, pink and white gold iPod shuffle called the iDiamond. Currently on display in Oslo until October 1, the not-for-sale, one-of-a-kind digital music player's casing and earbuds are made of white and pink gold and are studded with 430 diamonds (they'd have fitted it with more, I think, but it was too small.) It's currently valued at US$41,000, or almost PHP1.9M. Would be a mighty shame to load this up with pirated MP3. More details here. (Cross-posted in Mac-A-Doodle)

Ha. The pic got your attention, didn't it? I think this marks the first time underwear is prominently featured in the Mobile blog - legitimately, mind you. A company called Cramer Japan has created peek-proof underwear for women. In recent years night-vision features on today's cameras have been modified to be able to see through dresses and clothes to get a peek at underwear, and is a popular mobile geek-perv pasttime in the land of used-underwear-vending machines. This is done using special filters and lenses that attach to video and digital still cameras that work in conjunction with the infra-red light that modern cameras emit to enable people to see in the dark - or in this case, see through clothes. While the resulting pictures are dark and unclear and not titillating at all, some folk still find a cheap thrill in achieving this dubious trick. In Japan, women are constantly on guard against sexual harrassment of this sort, especially in crowded trains or lonely city streets. Cramer Japan has developed ShotGuard Inner Shorts, beige-colored panties made of a special polyurethane-nylon material impervious to perverts. The cameras are unable to penetrate the clothes and distinguish between outer and inner wear. Cramer Japan is now working on a similar brassiere to protect the upper regions of the fairer sex.

Art Ilano is trying to get you to shake your booty - by getting you to set your phone to vibrate. The fact is, he says, "the ring tone on your MP3-enabled phone that you think is so cute is actually annoying to just about everyone else around you." Well, Art, this bit of news just might kill you - now you can make your ringtone play on the phones of the people you call. Nope, this isn't the ringback option offered by our local telcos - you don't listen to the ringing tone set by the person you're calling. This is an entirely different animal. Emotive's Push Ringer "allows a caller to push an outgoing ringtone to a receiving phone allowing the caller, not the called person, to set the tone and override the phone's pre-set ringer." Yup, you can call somebody and force them to listen to your favorite love ballads until they answer you call. The service isn't available here yet, but I'm dreading it already.

Let’s face it, the ring tone on your MP3-enabled phone that you think is so cute is actually annoying to just about everyone else around you. They’re just too polite to say anything. So more and more business folks are doing the smart thing, which is to permanently set their phones on silent/vibrate mode. That means always keeping your phone on your person and just feeling the calls and text messages as they come in, so to speak. Not just when in a meeting, but practically throughout your entire working day. The people behind the ring tones business may not like this trend, but if it gathers steam, then it will make for more peaceful offices and public places. There will be less of those horrifying boy band tunes popping up while you’re absorbed in a particularly intense moment in the movie house. No, wait, it’s the kids who do that, so don’t expect this trend to catch on with them. It ain’t foolproof though. Vibrate works best if you’re wearing tight jeans and your phone’s pressed right against your thigh. Or if you’re wearing a fit shirt with a pocket. Unfortunately, vibrate won’t be your thing if you still wear hip-hop baggy pants or your flab’s just way too thick too feel anything anymore (Adel, how's vibrate working for ya? --DUCK!). I’m all for this though. After all, I and the people around me have all grown tired of listening to the same old R2D2 tweet that my phone does whenever a text message comes in.