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    Makati looking to be the first free “WiFi” city

    Gadgets Team
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    Makati looking to be the first free “WiFi” city
    Image credit: http://makatioffice.com/

    The local government of Makati has just set some lofty goals for itself. In a post in it’s official website, the local government of Makati has installed multiple free wireless hotspots in selected in the Makati City hall, in cooperation with PLDT. This is a first in the Philippines, and current Mayor Jejomar Erwin S. Binay isn’t stopping there.

    “We are planning to pursue citywide wi-fi connectivity, and City Hall is a good place to start.  Then we will select two pilot barangays first before gradually covering the entire city,” Binay said. “We thank our private sector partner, PLDT, for helping us take this first step towards becoming the country’s first WiFi City, which will significantly speed up the delivery of services and benefits to our constituents and stakeholders,” he added.

    It’s a big goal, but if there ever was a city that could pull this off, it’s Makati – the revenue from all the businesses based there makes a project of this size possible. Hopefully other cities follow suit as well.

    Source: Makati City Government

    ZTE Skate officially unveiled, 4.3-inch Android smartphone for only Php 13,990

    Gadgets Team
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    0
    ZTE Skate officially unveiled, 4.3-inch Android smartphone for only Php 13,990

     

    ZTE has officially launched their midend-ish smartphone, the Skate in an event earlier today. The Skate is a 4.3-inch smartphone with a resolution of 480 x 800 that packs a 1GHz Qualcomm processor. Granted thw specifications arent that great, its main appeal is its price – at Php 13,990, the price is hard to ignore. Unfortunately, the Skate runs on Android 2.3, with no clear upgrade path (ICS or otherwise) given during the presscon. Possibly the main draw for users to grab the Skate is the price – it’s very reasonably priced at Php13,990, which makes it one of the most affordable 4.3-inch smartphones out today. MSI-ECS is the exclusive distributor for ZTE mobile products.

    Google Nexus 7 will be sold in the Philippines but only the 16GB version, more expensive than US price

    Gadgets Team
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    14
    Google Nexus 7 will be sold in the Philippines but only the 16GB version, more expensive than US price

    We’ve just confirmed from an Asus rep (which wished to remain anonymous) that the Google Nexus 7 will be sold locally soon. Before you all celebrate, there’s a catch – it seems that they will only be selling the 16GB version of the device and not the 8GB version that is going to be sold in the US for $199 (about Php 8338). And since we’re already talking about price, here’s another catch – the 16GB version may be priced higher than the promised $250 (about 10 475) price tag that it carries in the US for a simple reason – subsidy.  According to our source, Google subsidizes the cost of the device in the US, as the company will primarily make money from the sales of content (like movies, TV shows and magazines) in their Google Play store, something that’s not available for customers outside of the US.

    If you remember, a teardown of the device by TechInsights estimates that it cost $185 to make an 8GB version of the device, and about $194 to make the 16GB version. In contrast, Apple’s new iPad  (32GB with LTE) cost $375.10 to make and sells it at retail for $729, nabbing the company a larger, $354 profit. It makes sense for Asus to raise prices to recoup costs, as they’re not exactly a charity. As a direct result, you can expect the Nexus 7 to be sold at a higher price here even after taxes and all that. If we had to guess, you’ll probably end up shelling out around Php 12,500 to 14,500 – which is still pretty cheap considering the prices of other devices.

    450,000 passwords from Yahoo’s Voice service posted online

    Gadgets Team
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    0
    450,000 passwords from Yahoo’s Voice service posted online

    Are you a Yahoo Voice user? You might want to take the time to change your password right now. Mashable is reporting that there has been a security breach with Yahoo’s Voice service, with the unfortunate result of 450,000 emails and passwords being posted on the website https://d33ds.co/archive/yahoo-disclosure.txt. A group called the D33Ds is seemingly responsible for the breach, and has remarked on the end of the document that contains the information that the breach that the act was more of a wake-up call than anything else.

    “We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call, and not as a threat,” the document says. “There have been many security holes exploited in webservers belonging to Yahoo! Inc. that have caused far greater damage than our disclosure. Please do not take them lightly. The subdomain and vulnerable parameters have not been posted to avoid further damage.”

    If you are a Yahoo Voice subscriber, probably the first thing you should do right now is change your Yahoo Voice password. If you’re one of the people who make it a habit to use a single password for everything (which you shouldn’t be doing), it’s also a good idea to change all the passwords you have right now just to be on the safe side.

    Source: Mashable

    The return of HP’s Great Computer Sale!

    Gadgets Team
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    The return of HP’s Great Computer Sale!

    Can’t get enough of awesome gadget deals? HP is giving you another chance to enjoy big discounts on its hottest gadgets with the extended run of the Great Computer Sale.

    “Because of the buzz that we created during the first HP Great Computer Sale, we have decided to extend the run to give customers more chances to avail of our products at the best value. We invite customers to drop by at the World Trade Center to check out our best deals!” said HP Printers and Personal Systems Country General Manager Albert Mateo.

    Consumers enjoyed who attended the first event enjoyed awesome deals for high-end and powerful desktop and laptop systems. We mentioned some of their offers in our post about the first event. Bestsellers included the HPE h8 Entertainment PC, the Pavilion G4 notebook and HP Ink Advantage printers.

    The extended run will only be from July 12 to 15, so those who want to catch these sweet deals should hurry—this is a rare opportunity to get that premium HP product you’ve been eyeing at a bargain price!

    Image Source: Here.

    Cisco Connect Cloud Concerns Clarified

    Ren Alcantara
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    0
    Cisco Connect Cloud Concerns Clarified

    Cisco recently launched a new cloud-based service that takes user control to a new level with Cisco Connect Cloud. Unfortunately, the terms of service (TOS) used what was perceived as shady language, and many users were lead to think that the company was using the software and the routers to monitor their internet usage. What’s more, the TOS went as far as to say that users’ connections to the Internet could be shut down if they didn’t comply with what Cisco viewed as “proper use.” One can then imagine the uproar when, after a recent firmware update, users found themselves forced to sign up to the cloud service to control the routers they had paid for with their own money. Cisco has since revised their TOS and issued a statement apologizing for the confusion and allowing users to roll back to the previous, non-cloud admin page for their Linksys routers. Still, this has left something of a bad taste in the mouths of hurt users. It’s actually a shame, since the cloud connect administration service is pretty convenient, particularly for less-hardcore users. If you are consumer affected by the recent Cisco cloud storm, head over to their PAGE to read up on the matter, and find out how you can undo the firmware update.

    Samsung WB100 lands in the Philippines, priced at Php 9990

    Gadgets Team
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    3
    Samsung WB100 lands in the Philippines, priced at Php 9990

    Remember that deliciously zoomable Sasmung WB100  that we talked about a few days ago? Well, it seems that it’s managed to successfully navigate the complexities of international trade and has finally landed in the Philippines. If you don’t know what the WB100 is, let us refresh your memory – it’s Samsung’s latest digital shooter that boasts a 26x optical zoom,  22.3mm Ultra Wide Angle Lens and a 16-megapixel sensor. The best part is the price – Samsung has officially placed a Php 9990 price tag on the device, so you’re not emptying out your savings when you decide to get one.

    [album: https://gadgetsmagazine.com.ph/wp-content/plugins/dm-albums/dm-albums.php?currdir=/wp-content/uploads/dm-albums/[email protected]/WB100/]

    Android console Ouya out to flip the table on console gaming, promises “free-to-play” games

    Gadgets Team
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    0
    Android console Ouya out to flip the table on console gaming, promises “free-to-play” games

    Console gaming has pretty much had the same evolution track since it began back in the 70’s – better hardware, bigger brighter games, more expensive console and titles. But the people behind Ouya said “screw that” and created something that’s never been done before – an inexpensive, open-source console that allows people to play games for free, or at the very least, try them before buying.

    You’re probably asking, what is Ouya? Well, Ouya is a consol that’s the brainchild of Yves Béhar, and promises to deliver all that we talked about earlier in a price that’s palatable to normal users. In the Kickstarter page for Ouya, the lowest price you can grab an Ouya is $95, which has since sold out, with only the $99 version available. Ouya doesn’t have the beefiest of hardware – it’s only going to be powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 3 processor and use Android as the primary OS – but that’s not the point of it. It was made to be open-source and completely hackable, which means potential developers for the machine won’t have to hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars for a machine for development, literally smashing the price of admission into nothing, making it easy for almost anyone with the proper know-how to make games. Right now the project has completed it’s funding goal and currently sits at $2,462,006 bucks with 28 days remaining so you guys can still make a pledge for the console. The people behind Ouya promise to get this console to the hands of the backers by Q1 2013.

    Source: Kickstarter

    Supposed iPad Mini and iPhone 5 designs show up in China

    Gadgets Team
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    1
    Supposed iPad Mini and iPhone 5 designs show up in China

    Before we start discussing what may or may not be pre-production models of the iPad Minio and iPhone 5, we ask you to be extremely skeptical of the following images that you’re about to see. Got it? Good. Let’s get on with it.

    It seems that two pre-production models of the long rumored iPad Mini and the iPhone 5 has shown up in a manufacturing plant in China. The first picture shows a plastic model for the 7.85-inch iPad Mini, which seems to be touting the new, 19-pin dock connector that’s supposedly being made to replace the old one. From the pictures, it looks like that the iPad Mini will be thinner than the current iPad.

    Next up is supposed aluminum model for the iPhone 5. There’s not really much to infer from the photos (aside from the fact that whatever manufacturing process the new iPhone will go through, it definitely involves a lot of heat) aside from the fact that it will have the same width and will be slightly taller than the old one.

    Source: GottaBeMobile (1), (2)

    Sony Xperia neo L officially launched in the Philippines, priced at Php 12,490

    Gadgets Team
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    2
    Sony Xperia neo L officially launched in the Philippines, priced at Php 12,490

    Aside from the top of the line Xperia ion, Sony also launched their Xperia neo L today. This smaller device is aimed at the mid-end segment of the market, and its specs reflect that – 4-inch 480 x 854 resolution screen, 1GHz single-core processor and 5-megapixel camera. What puzzles us a bit is that the Xperia neo L comes out of the gate with Android 4.0 ICS, while it’s bigger, better sibling, the Xperia ion, will only get ICS as an update.

    From what we could gather, the Xperia neo L is a fashionable little smartphone, and while it’s specifications isn’t as good as other devices currently out of the market, its styling and pedigree may be enough to convince most to drop money on it.

     

    Sony Xperia ion launched, priced at Php 29,990

    Gadgets Team
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    1
    Sony Xperia ion launched, priced at Php 29,990

    Sony has just launched their flagship Android smartphone, the Xperia ion at an event earlier today. The Xperia ion is the newest member of their Xperia line of devices, and sports a 4.6-inch 720 x 1280 resolution display, a thin 133 x 68 x 10.8 mm body and sports a dual-core, 1.5GHz processor.

    The ion comes with a number of Sony’s enhanced media functionality, such as their Walkman media player and Xperia Timescape for both Twitter and Facebook. The Xperia ion also boasts one of the beefiest camera sensors currently on the market – a 12.1 megapixel camera that’s able to take HD videos.

    Unfortunately, the Xperia ion ships with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) out of the box, but Sony has said that an ICS upgrade is coming soon, as evidenced by the beta ICS builds running on the demo units we used during the event. Sony has set the price of the Xperia ion at Php 29,990.

     

    The frustrations of wireless service may have a solution

    Gadgets Team
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    0
    The frustrations of wireless service may have a solution

    Imagine this scenario: you try to take a picture of your favorite band or singer at a concert or your favorite athlete at a sports event, and upload it to Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to show to your friends, and nothing happens. Only after multiple attempts or a long wait does the upload go through, frustrating those at the event.

    Here’s the reason why: overburdened networks. Although the solution may seem obvious, setting up more giant cell towers is very expensive, especially here in the Philippines. To add to that stumbling block, they are also seen as aesthetically unpleasing. The problem exists in other areas in the world as well: a study of a Boston Red Sox game showed that the average speed of one carrier at the venue, AT&T, slowed to a dismal crawl during the game because thousands of people were attempting to access the Internet at the same time. Two other carriers, Sprint and Verizon, were practically unusable, with speeds below 100kbps. For those of you who endured the marvel of dial-up Internet, think about those speeds for a second—that fast.

    However, a low-cost solution has been in the works: small cells. These essentially have all the functions of a giant cell tower, but take up less space. With current wireless networks, one has to seek out a wireless network with their smartphone or laptop, remember the credentials, and sign in. When small cells are deployed, carriers will automatically sign your devices in to the network. According to Nomura analyst Stuart Jeffrey, small cells will make up 90% of total cell tower deployments by 2015, and reduce the need for giant cell towers.

    Review: Samsung W

    Gadgets Team
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    Review: Samsung W

    [This review originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of Gadgets Magazine]

    by M.R. Gavin

     

    I am not really a fan of touchscreen phones. For someone who texts every minute of the day, I find it a bit tedious to type my messages. This, until the Samsung Galaxy W came my way and proved me wrong.

     

    My first impression of the Samsung Galaxy W is that it’s light weight and fits perfectly in your hands. Samsung never failed to come up with beautifully designed phones and the Galaxy W is one pretty phone—and along its beautiful design is an equally impressive performance.

     

    My previous Samsung phones all had metal back covers but the Galaxy W has a plastic back cover and a rubbery texture on the sides. On the right side is the Power/Lock button and on the left side are the Volume controls. The top side had three ports for USB, charger and a 3.55mm jack.

     

    Running on Android Gingerbread 2.3, the Galaxy W gives users a fast and pleasant performance. It has a 1.4GHz processor, ready to power-up your applications and games. You also have a flash-enabled browser, giving you instant access to sites that has Flash without having to install plug-ins.

     

    The Galaxy W has a 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen display that gives you very bright, clear and crisp images. Even when you adjust the brightness, you will still get a good experience whil navigating through your phone. The touchscreen display enables you to tap, pull, swipe and pinch to zoom, giving you choices on how to navigate through your phone.

     

    The good performance of the display however takes toll on your battery life, even when you adjust brightness and other display settings. Even on full charge, I can only use the phone for half a day. The display, Wi-Fi and apps tend to use up battery juice, so you need to carry around that USB cable in case your phone dies on you in the middle of the day.

     

    The Galaxy W comes with the Samsung touchwiz, giving you total control of everything that goes to your home screen. This is ideal for me because I can put notes on my homescreen. It can be separated whether for work, home, business or everything else. It gives me a little planner right on my home screen.

     

    Aside from the Android market, there are exclusive perks for Samsung handset owners. The Samsung W includes a new gaming hub and music hub, where there are 11 million tracks to choose from and to discover what’s best for your smartphone from another 200,000 apps.

     

    I also need a phone that can handle social networking and some serious business. I need to stay online 24/7, I need to check my email, Facebook and Tweeter accounts as often as I can so the Samsung Social Hub helps me do that. I can also view documents with the document editor which can support Word, Excel, PowerPoint and PDF. It’s like having your own computer inside your phone.

     

    I had a small issue with the Galaxy W, though, as the test unit lags when multi-tasking. It tends to stop for a second before finally responding. I also lose widgets and shortcuts I placed on my homescreen.

     

    Finding a smartphone these days is a hefty business. The Samsung  Galaxy W is one phone that stands up from the rest, it lets you have fun and be productive all at the same time.

     

    Specs
    Dimensions: 116 x 60 x 11.55mm
    Weight: 115g
    Display: 3.7 inches AMOLED touchscreen
    Band: GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
    Camera: CMOS, 5.0 Megapixel
    Memory: microSD (up to 32GB)

     

    Whats Hot?
    AMOLED screen
    Samsung proprietary hubs

     

    Whats Not?
    phone lag when multi-tasking
    plastic back cover

     

    Bottomline
    If you want a smartphone that can go from personal to business, then the Samsung Galaxy W is your go-to phone. It can help you organize your life with its apps and a personalized homescreens.

     

    Buy meter:
    8.2

     

     

     

    RIM CEO talks about what went wrong with RIM, hints at January release for BB10 devices

    Gadgets Team
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    0
    RIM CEO talks about what went wrong with RIM, hints at January release for BB10 devices

    While many consider RIM as a company circling the drain, CEO Thorstein Heinz isn’t about to give up. In an interview with CIO.com, the CEO acknoledged some of the mistakes that RIM made during the emergence of the smartphone. He says that “in 2007, 2008, 2009, the market just opened up, and BlackBerry had kind of created what would later be called the smartphone segment. That meant we had to build a regional portfolio and had to really go after the market. And that led to undeniable success of the company.” That meant that the company didn’t have its focus on the US market, where the CEO admits they weren’t able to focus on the new, innovative technologies in developing in the US at the time.

    In regards to BlackBerry 10, Thorstein Heinz was extremely confident and outlines the reason why they decided to push back the release of BB10 from Q4 of 2012 to Januray of 2013. “The delay is because our software groups were actually so successful in coding the various feature components and building blocks that […] we got overwhelmed by integration efforts. I had to make a decision. I could actually have kept the schedule, if I had made a sacrifice on quality and on platform stability. And I decided not to do that, because I need to make sure that when we deliver a BlackBerry, it is best quality.” Translated, that means that there were so many features in BB10 that the company needed more time to integrate all of them into a seamless user experience.

    Source: CIO.com via Engadget

     

    Here’s another reason to upgrade to Windows 8 – Windows To Go

    Gadgets Team
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    0
    Here’s another reason to upgrade to Windows 8 – Windows To Go

    Here’s another reason to upgrade to Windows 8 when it finally becomes available (especially if you’re someone who’s as upwardly mobile as we are): Windws To Go. Essentially, it allows users to store their files, apps, settings and Windows 8 itself (yes, the OS) into a USB thumbdrive and then use that particular thumbdrive to run a full version of Windows 8 on any computer – yes, even PCs that have older Windows OS. This particular feature was unveiled during the Microsoft Worldwide Developer Conference in Toronto, and it essentially allows you to put your OS in a thumbdrive and use it on other PCs. Cool, ain’t it?

    Source: BGR

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