September 2007 Archives

GET to know sexy and sassy MTV VJ Andi Manzano, who graces the cover of the Sep tember-October issue of Mobile Ph ilippines. Here are more details about this issue from the Mobile Philippines team of our sister company, Hinge Inquirer Publ ications.

Get our roster of hands-on reviews featuring Nextbase SDV185-SD, H TC Touch, Sanyo Xacti VPC-HD1A, Nokia 5700, LG KU-250, Toshiba M200, Olympus FE -240, plus tons more. The battle of the minis rages between the Apple second-gen shuffle and Creative Zen Stone. Mobile also gives you the top 11 coolest (or weirdest) and smallest gadgets imaginable. While you're at it, read our step by step on how to maximi ze DMP storage by reducing the size of your MP3s. Grab your latest copy of Mobile Philippines available in your favorite newsstan ds for only 100 pesos.

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net "STAND with the Burmese Protesters," says an online petition inviting people around th e world to support the ongoing protests in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, ag ainst the junta. Hundreds of protesters, mostly monks, have been arrested and one Japanese natio nal has already been reported killed after thousands of protesters took to the streets 10 days ago. Led by Avaaz.org, the on line protest hopes to gather about 150, 000 signatures, which would be submitte d to the United Nations Security Council members and the media. At this writing, online petition has already gathered over 100,000 supporters w orldwide. Avaaz.org is a global civic advocacy group founded by Res Publica. It has also been involved in Internet advocacy in the United States. Res Publica is community of public sector professionals promoting good governan ce, civic virtue and deliberative democracy, its website said. "After decades of military dictatorship, the people of Burma are rising -- and they need our help. Marches begun by monks and nuns have snowballed, bringing h undreds of thousands to the streets. Now the crackdown has begun," the Azaaz.or g online petition read. The online petition urges supporters to provide contact information, including their name, e-mail address, mobile phone number, and country of origin. After s igning up, it also encourages supporters to pass on the invite to friends. "When the Burmese last marched in 1988, the military massacred thousands. But i f the world stands up and supports their struggle, this time they could succeed . We'll send our petition to United Nations Security Council members (including the dictatorship's main backer China) and to media at the UN, while also alert ing the Burmese to our support," the online petition said.

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net WEIRD AL YANKOVIC, yes th e guy behind all those spoof songs, is infecting people with his own dose of a viral vide o posted on YouTube. Aptly titled, Virus Alert, Weird Al's video (posted th ree days ago) is about, er, the computer virus and its impact on mankind. Mike Abundo writes in the b5media Technology channel:

For nearly a decade, Weird Al Yankovic has successfully a ppealed to geek culture. Over the last year, that success has only exploded with his clueful use of the rising social m edia. His latest video Virus Alert features a game tie-in, a Gmail visual reference, and a nod to social media pioneer Newgrounds.

Here's the video.

By Associated Press PULLMAN, Washington--Looking to recruit more women, and perhaps date some soror ity girls, the largest computer club at Washington State University hopes to ho ld a "nerd auction." The idea is to trade their computer skills to sorority gir ls in exchange for a makeover and, possibly, a date. "You can buy a nerd and he'll fix your computer, help you with stats homework, or if you're really adventurous, take you to dinner!" Ben Ford, president of th e Linux Users Group, said on i ts website recently. Ford acknowledged that some of the group's 213 registered members may not be re ady for the auction block. "The problem is that we're all still nerds. Let's face it, guys. If anyone's go ing to bid on us, we'll need some spicing up," he wrote. "And who better to hel p with that than sorority girls who like nothing better than a makeover?" This all began as an effort to recruit more women into computer science program s, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News reported Tuesday. A public relations class dec ided to help by studying the social dynamics of the Linux group, which focuses on the use of the computer operating system. The students interviewed Ford and some others and created an online survey of L UG members, evaluating how they heard about the club, how they perceived the gr oup and their reasons for being active or inactive. "Our conclusion was that they need to promote themselves better, then specific ideas were presented to them," said professor Moon Lee, who taught the public r elations class. "They made suggestions to work with specific groups such as sor orities. Sorority groups tend to have a very good social network." Ford initially was skeptical. "When they said we should have a social with a sorority," he said. "I thought t hat was a joke." Ford, who has an undergraduate degree in computer science and is pursuing a mas ter's in business management, said the idea for the nerd auction came to him in the shower. "Here's the current plan: We'll choose a handful of brave nerds to take one for the team," Ford wrote. "The girls get to have their way with them and we'll do cument each makeover. "We'll make a snazzy video and show it over dinner. After the dinner, we'll auc tion off the now studly nerds," a hopeful Ford wrote. The plan is to have the auction open to the general student population and co-s ponsored by a sorority. Ford has spoken to several sororities, but so far none has committed to the pro ject, which he wants to do in October or November. A call to the Center for Fra ternity and Sorority Life at WSU by The Associated Press was not immediately re turned. Professor Carl Hauser has talked with LUG members about trying to increase the number of women in computer science at WSU. "In our computer science program as well as in programs across the country, the percentage of women is at an all-time low," Hauser said. "Nobody understands what this is all about." He has doubts about the nerd auction, though. "We'll see," he said. "It's going to be fun, but its effectiveness -- I don't k now if it will increase the number of women in the program."

IT'S a powerful vision that has now become a re ality, even though the $100 laptop now costs almost twice that amount. Still, this is a very significant milestone. The "Give 1 Get 1" campaign of the One Laptop per Child movement is a great idea for helping empower the world's children -- those who don't have the money to enjo y the technology that a lucky few have been blessed with and sometimes even tak e for granted. Here's a presentation Nicholas Negroponte gave la st year in the TED Talks series to share the vision of the non-profit OLPC proj ect. Let's hope more of the digital haves will do their best to help the digital hav e-nots, until one day, we'll all enjoy the benefits of ICT.

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net IT started as a joke. But just over the weekend some Filipino activists have st arted uploading a new mobile phone ring tone as an act of protest against the c ontroversial $329-million national broadband network project. The ring tone, which is based on a satirical video clip posted on YouTube, pokes fun at some personalities linked to the controversial project, now known as the "ZT E deal." Jose De Venecia III, the proponent of losing bidder Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AH I), has accused Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos of allegedly t rying to bribe him to get out of the deal. De Venecia, son of current House Spe aker Jose De Venecia Jr., also alleged during a Senate hearing that First Gentl eman Mike Arroyo also told him to "back off" from the deal. The ring tone was uploaded by mobile activist group TXTPower Sunday night on th e Internet, according to Anthony Ian Cruz, president of the group, in an e-mail message. Cruz said the "AB-ZTE-FG" protest ring tone calls on the public to remain vigil ant over the $329-million alleged scam involving persons closely linked to Pres ident Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Trade Secretary Peter Favila announced over the weekend that the government was suspending the NBN project, days after the Department of Transportation and Communications along with several Cabinet memb ers defended the project. Transportation Secretary Leandro Mendoza, however, said Monday the government i s not ready to terminate the deal. "Let our call for truth and transparency ring across the country," said Cruz, w ho also posted links to download the ring tone on his blog. In 2005, TXTPower popularized the "Hello Garci" ring tone based on the audiotap ed telephone conversations allegedly between President Arroyo and then Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

IPTV firm DAVE Networks an d Hewlett-Packard have joined forces to launch a new service called NEXT.TV. The service will initially be launched in October on HP Pavilion and Compaq Pre sario consumer notebooks. A version of the service, however, will also be avail able for download shortly after the launch to the general public. You can alrea dy sign up for that private beta by going to the NEXT.TV site. NEXT.TV is supposed to bridge the gap between the computer and TV, as NEXT.TV u sers will be able to watch the channels on their TVs by hooking up their HP lap tops. This new online service will offer more than 50 channels, and everything will be free because the content will be ad-supported.

By Erwin Oliva INQUIRER.net THE NEW iPod touch will make its debut in the Philippines in October, an Apple executive said. The multi-touch, wireless fidelity-enabled iPod will be sold in local stores ne xt month, said Tony Li, director for product marketing of Apple in Asia Pacific . The iPod touch will retail for P19,090 for the 8 gigabyte version, and P25,49 0 for the 16 gigabyte version, Li said. The new iPod touch will still cater to the iPod-loving consumers who can now su rf using the same device. It is 8 mm thick, features a 3.5-inch display, and ha s wi-fi support. It runs the safari browser, and can play YouTube videos using the H2.64 format that is supported by the iPod, Li added. Apple has sold over 100 million iPods worldwide. No figures were given for the Philippines. The debut of the iPod touch is being timed with the coming holiday season when sales for gadgets are high, Li said. Li also introduced the new iPod shuffle and nano models in the local market. No word yet on the local release of the iPhone in the country.

By Lawrence Casiraya INQUIRER.net WATCHING video on your wristwatch may sound like sci-fi stuff. Not so sci-fi an ymore since data can be stored in tiny flash memory drives in many forms like t his wristwatch that plays MP4 videos. The screen is as big as that of any mobile phone and since I see people toting big, chunky watches, this size should not be too out-of- this-world. I spotted this one in a store in Building 298 in Wan Chai Road in Hong Kong -- a well-rec ommended place thatâs sort of HKâs version of Sim Lim Square in Singapore. If you think the screen on that one is too large, there are more normal-looking MP4 watches like the ones below. Iâd still go for the one above because a smal ler screen may mean squinting your eyes some more. At around HK$100 or P6, 000, these MP4 watches are still quite expensive. They should cost less once theyâr e able to fit 1GB of memory. USB drives these days can have as much as 8GB alre ady. (Editor's note: Actually, the largest capacity for USB flash drives is supposed to be 64GB, such as this Buslink flash drive that's also being sold on Amazon.com . But I don't personally know anyone who has already tried and tested the suppo sed 64GB flash drive. Here's a CNET review though of the 16GB and 64GB Kanguru flash drive.)

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net SEAGA TE was the first to pioneer the large-capacity external hard drive in the l ast few years and most were well-built, truly protecting the sensitive hard dis k inside. However, at the time, their external drives were expensive and still slower in performance compared to internal drives. It took a while before the o ld version of the USB was replaced by the faster performing USB 2.0, which has a transfer rate of 480 megabits per second compared to just 1.5 Mbps in USB 1.0 . A few years later, Seagate starts to change their external hard disk business . This time, they launch a new model called the FreeAgent series, which include s mobile, entry level and professional level drives. Seagate FreeAgent, distributed by Millennium Computer Technology Corp., has been totally redesigne d from the ground up. Thatâs no surprise considering the fact that competitors have begun innovating. Whatâs more, some China-made new drive enclosures have p rovided budget-conscious techies alternative modes to have external drives. The FreeAgent comes in four variants: the FreeAgent Go Small (12 Gigabytes) Fre eAgent Go (80 to 160 Gb), FreeAgent Desktop (250 to 500 Gb) and the FreeAgent P RO (320 to 750 Gb). Apart from the sizes, there are a few differences in terms of extra features, though the Pro variant is the only one with automatic backup software as well as an online backup service. The test was for the Desktop and Pro variants. While all of the variants have a lmost the same look, the FreeAgent Desktop and FreeAgent Pro are the ones with nearly the same design. Both are encased in hard but smooth black aluminum with orange LEDs running down along one side. These are also put straight up on one of their narrow sides on top of a solid base that has the output plugs for the power supply and the USB or Firewire cables. The base itself is not directly c onnected to the aluminum enclosure, making it look like the unit can tip over. However the design is both aesthetic and functional. The difference between the two units is that the FreeAgent Desktop is just basi cally an external hard drive. Connect it to a USB plug and a power source the u nit will be identified by Windows XP or Windows Vista as an external drive, muc h like attaching a USB flash drive into it. After it is identified, the user ca n start copying and pasting content from the PC hard drive to the FreeAgent Des ktop. However, if the user has a third-party backup software, the FreeAgent Des ktop can be used as the primary location for the backup, as long as itâs powere d up. Meanwhile, the FreeAgent Pro works similarly, except for several exclusive feat ures such as the bundled backup software called Memeo, which works pretty well but is almost no different from other backup applications. Memeo, however, has one advantage and that is the Internet Drive option, which allows the user to h ave a 30-day free trial of an online backup and storage service, assuming the c omputer is connected to the Internet. The user can set the FreeAgent Pro to connect and upload files online whenever it is backing up. There is a maximum capacity of 500 megabytes of online space when using the online service. Of course, it is not forever free and after the 30-day trial, users will have to pay around $30 for the same 500 Mb space. The biggest space that can be offered is 5 Gb, worth $120. While the cost of the se rvice may be high, there is no limit to the size of each file that can be uploa ded; thus, it becomes useful for FreeAgent owners who are in the multimedia bus iness where files are usually very large. Other features of the FreeAgent Pro are an extra Firewire and e-SATA plug, depe nding on the connectivity need of the user. Going back to the design, the FreeAgent Pro and Desktop can both last for hours even at room temperature without ever heating up. The only part that does heat up is the stand. As the designers have dictated it, the heat is transferred do wnwards via a series of heatsinks, making the bottom side hot but ensuring that the hard disks are not affected (heat is the worst enemy of hard disks). There are no fans in any of the FreeAgents, unlike in PCs where heat is sucked out b y small fans, thus the unitsâ operations are quiet. The online time there is so und from the external drives is when the plates are rotating, which is almost i naudible as well. The base is extremely solid, enabling the hard disks to stand upright, drawing heat away from the hard disks. Overall, the FreeAgent line of external hard disks is perhaps the best in the b randed category. They have the sleekest designs and deliver performance as prom ised. However, they still face competition from external hard disk enclosure ma kers, some of which have added extra features such as direct play to a TV set. Perhaps Seagate could count on the long-term performance of their device. Iâve personally tested some of the third-party external drive enclosures and there a re times when my hard disk fails due to lack of proper heat dissipation. Seagat e might still win this.

By Associated Press CLAREMONT, California--Here's a dream-come-true for Web addicts: college credit for watching YouTube. Pitzer College this fall began offering what may be the first course about the video-sharing site. About 35 students meet in a classroom but work mostly onlin e, where they view YouTube content and post their comments. Class lessons also are posted and students are encouraged to post videos. One c lass member, for instance, posted a 1:36-minute video of himself juggling. Alexandra Juhasz, a media studies professor at the liberal arts college, said s he was "underwhelmed" by the content on YouTube but set up the course, "Learnin g from YouTube," to explore the role of the popular site. Class members control most of the class content and YouTube watchers from aroun d the world are encouraged to comment, Juhasz said. She hopes the course will raise serious issues about YouTube, such as the role of "corporate-sponsored democratic media expression." YouTube is "a phenomenon that should be studied," student Darren Grose said. "Y ou can learn a lot about American culture and just Internet culture in general. "

By Joey Alarilla INQUIRER.net WILL "Losing My Religion" now be the theme song of Sun Microsystems? For a company that once led a crusade against Microsoft and built a religion ar ound Java, Sun has certainly changed its tune. The industry's abuzz with Sun's newfound love for Microsoft which sees it reselling W indows on its servers. In other news, Hell has frozen over. The most amusing story I've seen so far comes from Forbes, which included a Top 10 list of the finest cracks Sun chairman and co-founder (and former CEO) Scott McNealy has made over the years against Bill Gates and Microsoft. Here are numbers 10 to 8:

10. "Probably the most dangerous and powerful indu strialist of our age." (On Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.) 9. ".Not Yet."(Referring to Microsoft's .Net development strat egy.) 8. "Microsoft is now talking about the digital nervous system. I guess I would be nervous if my system was built on their technology too."

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net FEW digital camera companies make produc ts that are resistant to shock. Fewer still make camera models that are waterpr oof. The rare breeds make digital cameras that are shock- and waterpro of. Japanese firm Olympus already had a product that could be truly called a bring-anyt ime-anywhere digital camera, the Mju Stylus 720SW, launched a year ago. However, Olympus took it a notch higher when it released the Mju Stylus 770SW a year later. This particular model retains much of the same form factor as its older brethren, the 720SW, but now it comes in three types of industrial type c olors (titanium gray, bronze and royal blue). Likewise, the 770SW also has much of the same features as the 720SW with a lot of new add-ons, particularly its antifreeze feature that allows the 770SW to work in weather as cold as 10 degre es below zero without its internal electronic components ever freezing up or it s lens and LCD cracking. The first thing one would notice with the 770SW is its solid but surprisingly l ightweight body. For such a small device (91.8 millimeters by 59.2 mm by 20.6 m m) it can withstand external forces most digital cameras its size and even bigg er could not. Olympus makes several claims regarding the unit, particularly bei ng shock-proof at a height of five feet, waterproof at 33 feet, freeze-proof at negative 10 degrees Celsius and crush-proof at 100 kilograms (thatâs the weigh t of almost two men). Normally, no one would want to do extreme stress testing on any electronic device unless allowed by the manufacturer (in my case, distri butor Axis Global) but I was tempted to do so -- of course with a little control. For the waterproof test, the 770SW was sunk in water for about 20 minutes in of f mode, then turned on while still underwater, taking pictures and some videos. It worked as if it were still on dry land. In fact, the 770SW has one pre-set scene function that allows it to snap images underwater, which makes it extra-a dvantageous to use. Clear water and available sunlight, however, are necessary to get better images and usually the subject has to be at least six feet from t he camera to get a decent shot. Nonetheless, the 770SW does a good job in an un derwater setting. Next was the shock- and crush-proof test: the camera, while turned on, was drop ped from a height of five feet. Of course, it was wrapped in its cotton bag to prevent scratches, and, if disaster strikes, prevent debris from flying all ove r. So far, the unit was still intact and in good working condition. Then I step ped on it for a brief three seconds to test its crush resistance. Still working . Both tests were never done again. Why? I canât risk intentionally destroying a P30, 000 digital camera in the name of proving Olympus claims. I give Olympus the benefit of the doubt. For the freeze-proof claim, the best testing ground for that is none other than a refrigerator. My freezer goes below negative 5 degrees Celsius and can make ice in about 45 minutes. The 770SW was placed inside the freezer while it was p owered down and left for about five minutes. Afterwards, the unit was switched on and left inside for another five minutes (take note that the LCD monitor tur ns off after one minute if not used to save battery). Fearing that Iâve frozen the unit, I took it out after five minutes and switched it on. If it had a mind of its own, it would have told me, âYouâre pwnd.â I was also tempted to do a heat resistance test out of curiosity. Of course, I couldnât expose the 770SW to an open flame unless approved by the manufacturer or distributor. Nor did I let it be electrified to see its resistance to electr ic shock, but then I donât have a way to do so without risking injury to myself . Those tests, despite being somewhat controlled, do prove that the 770SW does an outstanding job in protecting itself from normally dangerous incidents that co uld be fatal for any electronic device, much less a digital camera. Some digital camera users lose their units for several reasons, mostly due to f atal five-foot drops or electrical shock due to water seeping into the sensitiv e components. The 770SWâs body is made up of solid metal plates perfectly screw ed together and blocked with rubber lining inside to prevent water seepage. Eve n potential entry points (the gaps between the buttons, the battery/memory card slot, video output, lens and speaker holes) are perfectly covered to keep wate r out. What still makes me curious is how the huge 2.5-inch LCD screen remains in perfect working condition despite all the stress tests. Normally, this would be the first to go during extreme temperature changes or sudden drops. Perhaps itâs the thick plastic glass that is appropriately screwed down. Nevertheless, the manufacturer did a pretty good job of protecting the entire unit. But the 770SW as a digital camera also has brains apart from brawn. It has seve ral key digital camera features that are mostly found in mid-level models. Basically, the Mju Stylus 770SW has a resolution of up to 7.1 megapixels, a 3x optical zoom (mechanical parts are neatly stored inside the small frame), a 5x digital zoom; speedy shutter speed of 0.5-1/1000; 15 frames per second video r ecording with resolution of 640x480; ISO Auto from 80, 100, 200 and 400 and man ual from 800 to 1600. The 770SW also has pre-set 24 scene modes depending on the scenery and availabl e light. This allows the user to just activate a mode appropriate to the scene. These include landscape, portrait, nigh scene, sunset, fireworks, behind glass , documents, underwater and snow, among others. The camera also has a redeye fi x to remove those freaky red spots on the eyes of your subjects. The main menu shows all the camera functions, from playback, slideshows, calend ar, photo erasing/transfer and favorites. It does take a while to learn the int erface -- the learning curve is about one to two hours. For a camera with so many internal features, the 770SW makes sure that everythi ng is light and simple. It has no more than nine separate buttons (including th e round multi-directional button). Normally, the rest of the buttons have only one function but the Menu, Function and Photo mode buttons have two and can be activated by either holding them down or pressing twice consecutively. The Olympus Mju Stylus 770SW deserves the praise of digital users who want a si mple yet ready-to-go unit. It has most of the high-end functions that would sat isfy amateur photographers but is tough enough to survive being dropped on a ha rd surface, drowned in water or frozen for minutes on end. It is a bit expensiv e at around P30, 000, but being tough does come at a price.

By Lawrence Casiraya INQUIRER.net IT'S all i n the flip, says a lady friend, a fiercely loyal Motorola Razr user. "It's got attitude, like when you'r e angry at someone, for example," she continues, timing a crisp "I hate you" wh ile flipping her Razr back to a close. I hate to say this but I'd have to agree with her. I've never used a Razr befor e but the sound of the "flip" sure is quite addictive. Apart from the sound of this clamshell phone "clamming up," the new Razr V8 has new features Razr users would find impressive, like the shiny-metal outer finish. Try pressing it and you can actually see your thumbprint. I found myself rubbing the damn phone on my shirt to keep it shiny. And making a mental note to rub it anywhere but my c hest. Also a significant improvement from the old Razr models is the bigger, color ex ternal screen that allows you to read and reply to SMS using the shortcut keys on the side. Be careful about fiddling with side keys, though, since this new R azr is thinner and so can slip easily in the grasp of less nimble fingers. The large external display also doubles as a touchscreen when playing MP3s so t here's no need to flip the phone -- just press your thumb on rewind, pause or f orward. What I find puzzling, though, is why they didn't enable the touchscreen to view and flip through pictures as well so there's no need to open the phone . Pressing a side key also activates the camera, so camera whores can discreetly take snapshots of themselves while pretending to read a message. The Razr V8 co mes with built-in 512MB of memory (a more expensive model has 2GB) unlike previ ous models that require additional memory cards. While it doubles as a music pl ayer -- speaking of, is this the end for Motorola's Rokr music phone? -- there' s no earphone jack, which means it streams music via Bluetooth earphones. Whic h you have to buy separately. Darn. The V8 sure scores high on aesthetics. Not much of a change in the user interfa ce, though. Unless you're a long-time Motorola user, navigating the phone's fun ctions -- including finding your pictures and music -- takes a few more fiddlin g since there are no shortcut icons on the home screen. For a phone that's endorsed by David Beckham and Fergie -- also bear in mind th at previous pricey, gold-color Dolce and Gabbana Razr -- sexiness is on the out side. Like my friend was saying, it's about attitude. Suggested retail price is P19,000. So, what's the verdict? The new Razr V8 look s sexier all right so it should be drool-worthy for existing Razr users. It m ay not appeal to the smart phone set, though -- you know, the type of people wh o want 3G and GPS.

BOY, NBC sure didn't spend a lot of time getting over Apple. Just days after ending its love affair with App le's iTunes service, NBC has announced that it's mov ing in with Amazon. Who do you think will end up the bigger loser?

By Alex Villafania INQUIRER.net TAIWANESE firms are up to the task when it comes t o personal digital assistants. Take, for example, Dopod and their new owners HT C, who were both making their own PDA phones before recently tying the knot, so to speak. Both companies churned out new models against the dominance of HP (i Paq) and even RIM (Blackberry). Most of the PDA phones that come out of Taiwan are actually appealing to the mass market. However, there are a few firms that still have some way to go before cutting the grade in the cutthroat PDA phone m arket. One of the new entrants to the PDA manufacturing market is Asus, one of the big gest PC components manufacturers from Taiwan. They only started coming out with a PDA a few years back. Their latest is the P735, a mid-level PDA phone that c ompetes in the same category as Dopod and O2. The P735 boasts of several featur es not normally seen in the same mid-level model category. For most buyers of PDAs, it's function over form but usually the design of the PDA becomes a major giveaway. For the P735, the design is as good as a brick. M ostly housed in plastic, the P735 is colored brushed silver metal and dark gray silver in some parts, making it look like it just came out of sheet metal manu facturing. While the buttons are neatly laid out with their functions engraved into the metal, it seems as if the designer has yet to do some tweaking with th e final look of the buttons. Even the front speaker doesn't show as much simple flair as its other Taiwanse brethren. The P735's speaker is merely a slat on t op of the screen. But usually, beauty is just skin-deep and in the case of the P735, it's just th e cover. Asus may have taken away the design factor but it did stock up the P73 5 with a number of features usually reserved for the elite models of other bran ds. The P735 is one of the first PDA phones to have Windows Mobile version 6. T his allows the P735 to function like a real PDA phone as it can connect to a lo cal cellular provider depending on the SIM card that has been inserted. If the cellular network provider supports UMTS, the P735 can easily access the Interne t. It also boasts of WLAN and Bluetooth connectivity, which can be toggled on a nd off easily through the unit. On the other hand, the model does not support H SDPA, which is a much faster wireless connectivity. However, the UMTS connectio n still does the trick. Besides, the only time anyone could appreciate HSDPA is when they are downloading large files or viewing videos. Speaking of which, Windows Mobile 6 features its own multimedia player that can run more common types of videos, such as MPEG and AVI files. Downloading codec s for the Windows Media Player would allow more users to view other types of vi deo formats on the P735. One of the applications present in this model is the Remote Presenter that can turn the P735 into a remote control for multimedia presentation projected from a PC or laptop that has Bluetooth. Another application is the My Secrets applic ation that encrypts certain files to prevent it from being viewed when the PDA phone is accessed by another person. It also has the WorldCard Mobile applicati on that captures the content of business cards taken by its digital camera. Ano ther bundled application is Skype Mobile, which makes the P735 doubly useful as it can connect to other Skype users through voice over IP. The P735âs digital camera is also one that it can boast about as it has 2 megap ixel resolution and also has its own auto-focus and a flash. The camera has a p reset number of shooting modes corresponding to the need of the photographer an d the availability of light. Of course, it has its own video recording capabili ty but the video is limited only to 320 by 240. Going back to the buttons, the unit has 11 of them. Perhaps the designers did i ntentionally make the buttons "disappear" into the casing of the unit to give i t a nice simple look. The front side has six of the buttons, two of which have a double-purpose. There are the call/end call keys on either side of the unit, the four-way button, the enter button in the middle, the video call button on t he left side, the task switcher on the right and two programmable function butt ons on the upper left and right side. Meanwhile, a volume control button is on the left side along with a digital shutter button for the camera. The left side has hold and voice recorder buttons, which are new features in a PDA phone. The P735 uses an Intel (now Marvell) 520 Mhz processor with 256MB or RAM, a far cry from the 400Mhz Xscale of Intel and 64MB RAM in some PDAs in its class. Th is makes the P735 among the fastest PDA phones in the market. Design-wise, the Asus P735 is as stiff as a brick and its color scheme makes it seem like a prototype unit that has yet to come up with a proper casing. It is surprising, though, that with the great big number of Windows Mobile-based PDA s out there, Asus has yet to come up with one that would turn heads and make pe ople ask what it is. Still, what it lacks in good looks, it compensates for wit h great functionality.

AS INQUIRER.net reporter Erwin Oliva wrote for Infotech, "Saging lang ang may puso" has become a YouTube hit. Check out the clip below to hear a ctor Mark Lapid's immortal lines. Here's an excerpt from Erwin's article:

MANILA, Philippines -- JP Tolledo still remembers the day he posted an 11-second movie trailer of Mark Lapid's now famous "Saging lang ang may pus o!" line from a Filipino movie released in 2003. Known as "Deyey" on Youtube, Tolledo posted the short video clip in November 2006, wi th the caption: "Ito ang best line ever delivered in a Pinoy film. Watch the gu y na may hawak sa kanya...kakatuwa! (Watch the guy holding him. It's funny!)." To date, the video clip has been viewed more than 80,000 times on YouTube. Filipino music deconstructionist Dense "Deemo" Modesto later picked up the popu lar video clip and created several dance remixes which he uploaded to his Multiply website.