eBay-ing

Last Sunday (May 25, 2008), I won the item at eBay. The seller and I agreed to settle the payment within two days and have it shipped right after the payment. Tuesday (May 27, 2008) afternoon, I officially owned the item after settling the payment. The seller had it shipped right away after confirming the payment. Since the package was shipped under LBC D1 package, it was expected to reach our home within twenty-four hours.

Banco de Oro Deposit Slip — receipt side

Spoiler — a sneak peak

The Laptop Adventures: Flying from Manila to General Santos

Tuesday night, I slept very early; not the usual 8am sleep. Early to sleep, early to rise. I woke up by 3am with my growling stomach. And so I fulfilled my stomach’s request. I tried tracking the package using LBC Track and Trace web application. I was not able to track it due to some ASP.net errors. I also tried emailing about 10 LBC outlets nationwide to track my package.

The sun rose and still I kept wasting my time surfing the Internet. Since the first commercial plane bound for GenSan arrives at 9:05am, I tried to call the local LBC outlet by 10:00am hoping for available information but to no avail. About 9:30am, I kept on refreshing the LBC Track and Trace page of my package and by 9:45am the information was already available. The results dumped that the package already reached Mindanao Exchange the previous day and it was already shipped to General Santos. By 10:00am, I received an email from one LBC branch I contacted stating that the package was already shipped to GenSan 11pm the previous day.

When my little brother woke up, I convinced him to watch Witch Yoo Hee on YouTube to waste some time. We enjoyed the series while waiting; woot!

Then the clock struck 11am. We were still waiting for Men in Red. Tik-tak-tik-tak. Watched the show again then by 11:51am, one of our household members told me that the Men in Red were already outside. I raaaaan my way out of the house and received the item by myself.

Unpacking

I’m tired of writing. A picture tells a thousand words. For those with slow internet connections, the pictures show how I wrestled with the very secure and hard-to-mutilate packaging.

Before Unpacking

FRAGILE!

Rumbling with the package!!!

I’m on my way!

Woah, can’t believe I’m lifting it!

First Boot, on my hands at least.

Let’s get some real TWISTING action!

Presenting my very own LAPTOP!

Last Picture

HP Pavillion TX1210AU vs Acer Aspire 5572WXMi (sizewise)

Concluding Paragraph

I’m ending this now. I’m tired of writing further. Wahehehehe. You may wonder why I posted it this late. It’s because I’m fresh from the hospital after the 34-hour hospital stay. I’m making a separate blog post for that anyway so subscribe to my blog. I’m making a more intensive review for this. For the specs, check this out.

I’ve been seriously considering HP Pavillion TX1210 as a laptop.

Photos from Amazon.com

Here are it’s specs.

• Processor: AMD Turion 64 X2 mobile technology TL-58 / 1.9GHz (64bit dual-core)
• Cache: 1MB L2 Cache
• Hard Disk: 160GB SATA-150
• Installed RAM: 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 SDRAM
• Optical Storage: DVD±RW (+R DL) / DVD-RAM — supports LightScribe
• Card Reader: 5-in-1 (supports Memory Stick, MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card, XD-Picture Card, Memory Stick Pro)
• Display: 12.1 TFT active matrix (max. resolution: 1280×800)
• Video: NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 video with 128mb dedicated video
• Audio Device: Altec Lansing + Dual Mic and Dual Audio Jacks
• Interfaces: Bluetooth with Enhanced Data Rate, 802.11n/b, Fast/Gigabit Ethernet, 3 x Hi-Speed USB – 4 pin USB Type A, 1 x Display / video – VGA – 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15), 1 x Display / video – S-video output, 1 x Modem – Phone line – RJ-11, 1 x Network – Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T – RJ-45, 1 x Remote control – Infrared, 1 x Docking / port replicator
• Other: Biometric fingerprint security, HP Remote Control

The laptop can also be converted to a tablet (stylus provided).

• Dimensions:12in x 8.8in x 1.5in
• Weight: 4.2lbs or 1.91kg

What do you think?

Here’s an excerpt from Globe Corporate Blog:

Globe, SingTel, Bharti Airtel and Optus to bring iPhone to the region
Manila, 12 May 2008 – Globe, SingTel, Bharti Airtel and Optus today announced that they have signed an agreement with Apple to bring the iPhone to the Philippines, Singapore, India, and Australia later this year.

More information will be released at a later date.

Woohoo! Smart should also have an agreement with Apple; especially now that 3G iPhones are being released.

[Build that Geek via Migs Mobile Network]

The update fixed the following items, as promised by their developers at PSPGEN:

• Fixed issue which crashed the PSP if you had vshmenu mode ‘None’.
• Fixed SNES emulator issues, now works fine.
• Fixed few homebrew issues with the Slim.
• Last version of the SNES emulator, PSPTube and many other homebrew using ME now work fine.

For everyone who wants to install 3.95 GEN, you must be on at least 3.71M33.

• Download the package with 3.95 GEN and the popsloader.
• Note: When installing, all your plug-ins will be disabled.
• Connect your PSP to your computer via USB.
• Extract the file you downloaded by right clicking and choosing the option ‘Extract Files To…’.
• Extract the files to your PSP’s assigned letter (for example, X).
• Leave USB Mode.
• Goto GAME > Memory Stick > 3.95 GEN

Here’s the download link: CFW 3.95 GEN-2.

Have fun!

It’s a Nokia 6230! It is slim and lightweight. Uber-slim that it’s thickness scores at 9.9mm; not even touching the centimeter range. It weighs 66g; far lighter than laptops! But seriously, it’s feather-light especially without the battery pack.

I tried to get the most out of it’s precharged battery juice. I played with it; from its Bluetooth connectivity down to its camera. Too bad I haven’t tried using it’s xHTML web browser; I wonder how my blog will look with my new phone?

It’s VGA camera can shoot up to 640×480 pixels for images and 128×96 pixels for video. All the images in this post were taken using the phone (the phone on the pictures is a different phone; but same phone model). The rendered images are decent; not bad and not that good.

It boasts its basic PDA functions: to-do lists, alarm clocks, currency converter, stopwatch, reminders and calendar. The phone was not too serious that it even bothered to have games!

Audiophiles, this is not for you. It’s built-in loudspeakers doesn’t sound good, just at par for a normal phone. Good thing it has a standard 35mm audio jack on its side; near the USB and charger ports.

It supports polyphonic (MIDI) and MP3 ringtones; you can load it up with your HamburJer and Janina San Miguel ringtones but beware it only has 11MB user-usable disk space! Another bad would be it’s memory is NOT expandable; a music library is a NO NO.

I don’t have anything to say now. If you’re interested to talk to me, just drop your SUN CELLULAR cellphone numbers on the comments and I’ll gladly meet someone on the phone.

This is my first cellphone review so please understand if it sucks! (offtopic: DreamHost coupon codes)

I’m now half-finished in brewing up my very own Sony PlayStation Portable. I used a PIC16F873 microcontroller courtesy of the super-kind and generous kuya Butch Tabios.

I’m not done yet programming my very own handheld device yet but I have tried putting a sample program in it. And yeah, it worked. The single green LED blinked at a constant interval.

The blinking of the LED alone made me uber-happy, but I guess its still a long way to go before I get a game work.

Have you ever heard of a Wi-Fi Detector shirt? It’s right, Wi-Fi detector shirt.

It’s been years when ThinkGeek started to sell such crazy stuff. This Wi-Fi detector shirt can actually gauge Wi-Fi signal strength. Cool eh, no need to open your laptop and wait for it to boot.

Here is an excerpt from Think Geek.

Here at ThinkGeek we’re pretty lazy when it comes to technology. We expect our gadgets to do all the busywork while we focus on the high level important tasks like reading blogs. That’s why we hate to have to crack open our laptops just to see if there is any wi-fi internet access about… and keychain wi-fi detectors, we would have to actually remove them from our pockets to look at them. But now thanks to the ingenious ThinkGeek robot monkeys you can display the current wi-fi signal strength to yourself and everyone around you with this stylish Wi-Fi Detector Shirt. The glowing bars on the front of the shirt dynamically change as the surrounding wi-fi signal strength fluctuates. Finally you can get the attention you deserve as others bow to you as their reverential wi-fi god, while geeky chicks swoon at your presence. You can thank us later.

Product Features

• Glowing animated shirt dynamically displays the current wi-fi signal strength.
• Shows signal strength for 802.11b or 802.11g
• Black 100% Cotton T-Shirt
• Animated Decal is Removable (with hook and loop fasteners) for Easy Washing
• Battery Pack is Concealed in a Small Pocket Sewn Inside the Shirt
• Runs for hours off three AAA Batteries (not included)

Source: ThinkGeek :: Wi-Fi Detector Shirt

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