By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net

IT started as a joke. But just over the weekend some Filipino activists have started uploading a new mobile phone ring tone as an act of protest against the controversial $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 “ZTE deal.”

Jose De Venecia III, the proponent of losing bidder Amsterdam Holdings Inc. (AHI), has accused Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos of allegedly trying to bribe him to get out of the deal. De Venecia, son of current House Speaker Jose De Venecia Jr., also alleged during a Senate hearing that First Gentleman Mike Arroyo also told him to “back off” from the deal.

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IPTV firm DAVE Networks and 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 Presario consumer notebooks. A version of the service, however, will also be available for download shortly after the launch to the general public. You can already 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 users will be able to watch the channels on their TVs by hooking up their HP laptops. 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 next 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 P25,490 for the 16 gigabyte version, Li said.

The new iPod touch will still cater to the iPod-loving consumers who can now surf using the same device. It is 8 mm thick, features a 3.5-inch display, and has 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 anymore since data can be stored in tiny flash memory drives in many forms like this 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-recommended place that’s sort of HK’s 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. I’d still go for the one above because a smaller 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 they’re able to fit 1GB of memory. USB drives these days can have as much as 8GB already. (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 supposed 64GB flash drive. Here’s a CNET review though of the 16GB and 64GB Kanguru flash drive.)

By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

SEAGATE was the first to pioneer the large-capacity external hard drive in the last few years and most were well-built, truly protecting the sensitive hard disk 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 old 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 includes mobile, entry level and professional level drives.

Seagate FreeAgent, distributed by Millennium Computer Technology Corp., has been totally redesigned from the ground up. That’s no surprise considering the fact that competitors have begun innovating. What’s more, some China-made new drive enclosures have provided budget-conscious techies alternative modes to have external drives.

The FreeAgent comes in four variants: the FreeAgent Go Small (12 Gigabytes) FreeAgent Go (80 to 160 Gb), FreeAgent Desktop (250 to 500 Gb) and the FreeAgent PRO (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.

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