Hey gadgets lovers, our May issue is now out on newsstands, and we have the simply stunning cosplay queen herself, Alodia Gosiengfiao as our cover! The May issue is chock full of gadget reviews, product features and a spotlight on Alodia’s favorite eco Facebook game, Alter Space. Pick up a copy now!
G-Form demonstrated their new Extreme Sleeve for laptops by throwing it from a 20 foot high balcony with a MacBook inside of it. Miraculously the laptop was retrieved without a single hint of damage. See the video here.
How does it work? These sleeves are made of PORON XRD, a lightweight and lithe substance that has the amazing ability to absorb 90 percent of the energy generated from impact.
G-Form, a company known primarily for manufacturing skateboarding knee pads, has gained internet notoriety for their extreme demonstrations of their products. In fact, they tested their Extreme Sleeve for the iPad by throwing it off an airplane that was 500 feet high in the air.
The Extreme Sleeve for laptops is available for pre-ordering at G-Form’s website.
Source: Engadget
After the malicious attack that brought the PSN network down, we’re finally piecing together what happened in one of the biggest data breaches in history. According to a letter sent by Sony’s Chairman of the Board of Directors of SCEA Kazuo Hirai to the subcommittee hearing of congress last May 4 (in which Sony was absent), Sony was a victim of a “of a very carefully planned, very professional, highly sophisticated criminal cyber attack.”
In addition, Hirai says that in his letter that the intruders had planted a file on one of our Sony Online Entertainment servers named “Anonymous” with the words “We are Legion”” – a common calling card left after the groups’ attack. He further explains that previous DDoS attacks from the group served as fuel to the fire, with the malicious entry happening “at or around the same time as these servers were experiencing a series of denial of service attacks.”
The letter also tells of Sony’s detection of the attacks around April 19, 2011 at around 4:15 PDT, with the discovery of unauthorized transfer of data (possibly user account information) occurring on April 20, 2011. The delay between detection, confirmation and announcement to the public that their accounts have been compromised was a direct result of the scope of the intrusion and the software and hardware involved – 77 million accounts, 130 servers and 50 software programs.
Source: Playstation Blog
There was a time when I was a kid that I was absolutely crazy about tanks. I mean, who wouldn’t be? Being able to command 30 tons of steel and weaponry combined with the massive boom that comes with firing a tanks’ main gun is every pre-teen boy’s fantasy. Now there’s been a few tank simulators in the past, and some first person shooters have made tank levels on their titles, but there’s never really been a true tank based, massively multiplayer game until World of Tanks arrived.
World of Tanks is a free to play game that allows players to compete in a PvP setting with 2 groups of 15 players duking it out in a variety of maps, from close quarter city battles to sprawling deserts and hills. There’s a variety of tanks available from 3 main factions – the Germans, Russians and Allies. There are 3 classes to choose from regular tanks, tank destroyers and self propelled artillery. Regular tanks do most of the hard work, and depending on your tier (level), you can use light tanks (arty spotters and recon specialists), medium tanks and heavy tanks. Tank destroyers are direct fire and ambush specialist, able to penetrate armor from afar. Self propelled arty rain indirect fire, though they can be used to shoot at other tanks directly if need be.
The game requires a delicate balance of different tanks to work, and teamwork to win. There’s a definite learning curve involved in playing the game and just like any other free to play online game, there’s a lot of grinding involved. You start of in 3 light tanks from each faction, which you can upgrade by researching new parts and eventually unlock new tanks from the tech tree. Your tank is also manned by different crew members, depending on the tank. My Russian AT-1 TD needed a crew of 3 – a gunner, commander and a driver.
There’s a unique damage system in place in WoT. Each shot is computed depending on a bunch of factors – the overall damage capability of the gun firing, the ammo loaded (regular anti-tank, high explosive anti-tank and premium rounds), the armor of the target and the angle of the tank being fired upon. This is where some of the tank classes differentiate themselves – a TD usually has high frontal armor and a powerful main gun but lacks the mobility to go toe to toe with regular tanks, etc. In addition, several tank modules can get damaged by shots, from the tracks and engine getting hit resulting in your tank being immobilized to your crew being injured and/or killed due to spalling damage.
The game survives on micro-transactions, and there are several benefits of buying gold in exchange for some real money. One, it allows your account to become a premium account, which allows you to organize parties and earn more experience and money than a regular account. Gold also allows you to unlock some premium tanks without having to go and research them. You can also exchange gold for in-game currency to beef up your purchasing power.
Probably the biggest flaw in the game is its matchmaking system. Since free accounts don’t have the ability to create parties, you’ll always be assigned to a team with strangers. This makes teamwork tricky, especially since the game is so focused on working together to win. Another annoying issue is that you’ll sometimes be pitted against other tanks that you won’t be able to damage with your gun.
Still, WoT has proved to be an enjoyable experience, especially when you opt to make your account a premium one. It does have some flaws, but the game is constantly evolving, and it’s definitely worth a download. You can download the 1.8GB installer from www.worldoftanks.com.
School’s out and summer’s in full swing. People are all about going out, whether to the beach or to a much cooler vacation spot, and would probably want nothing more than to spend some much deserved quality time with friends and family. Samsung may know just how to help. Stay connected, stylish, and sizzling this summer with Samsung, as they bring mobile phones that make your vacation a more worthwhile experience.
United Graphics Mobile’s Kenneth Sytin with Samsung Product Manager Mylene Gabriel, HHP Director Glenn Glinoga and Management Trainee Adriene Rivera
Samsung Electronics Philippines Corporation (SEPCO) launches just in time for summer its hottest mobile phones – perfect for getting in touch while staying in style under the scorching summer sun.
First in the line up of its newest mobile phones launched this summer is the Samsung Corby II. Banking on the success of the first Corby mobile phone, SEPCO celebrated the funky style and the ultra functionality of the Samsung Corby II with Corbyville 2: Fashion Nation for the stylish yet feature savvy individual. A whole-day event marked with busy booths such as a hair and makeup booth, a styling closet by Forever 21, a coffee shop with Wi-Fi access and a photo booth brought the Corby II phone to life, highlighting its faster Wi-Fi connectivity (WiFi b/g/n) and stylish Form Factor (3.14” screen and 1.17 cm thin form factor).
TV and radio personality Rizza Diaz hosted the colorful and fashionable event while Caren Marangan, Audry Dionisio and Alex Montemayor, members of the all-girl band General Luna, together with celebrities Boom Gonzales and Aaron Atayde, walked down the runway, each with their favourite color of the Samsung Corby II.
In a separate event called Galaxy AppNation, held at the Trinoma activity center, Samsung’s latest additions to its array of Android-powered smart phones were launched – the Samsung Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Pro, Galaxy Fit and Galaxy Mini. All powered by the Android 2.2 OS, the Samsung Galaxy Phones bring smarter mobile phone experience.
Fabio Ide, Steff Prescott, Kelly Misa and Hideo Muraoka showing off their favorite Samsung Galaxy Smart Phone
Samsung Galaxy AppNation gathered four different personalities who fell in love with the different Samsung Galaxy Phones. Young celebrity entrepreneur Kelly Misa loves the Samsung Galaxy Fit which offers functional user experience and smooth web browsing on the go. Funky and stylish young star Steff Prescott chose the Samsung Galaxy Mini for its great productivity and performance while boasting a magnificent display. Brapanese TV personality and model Fabio Ide had a lot of fun with the Samsung Galaxy Pro which is a one-of-a-kind smartphone which combines a physical QWERTY keypad with a touch screen display. And one of the most promising male models today Hideo Muraoka enjoyed the premium smart phone experience with the Samsung Galaxy Ace – a compact and comfortable handset that does not compromise on capabilities.
All the Samsung Galaxy phones give more access to thousands of Android applications, which currently has more than 100,000 apps. It also comes with Social Hub which seamlessly integrates all social networking site updates, instant messenger, emails, and calendar accounts in one page. Plus, users can customize their social media experience the way they want it.
The summer season’s slew of activities requires new, better and more reliable gadgets and Samsung offers a great variation of smarter and funkier mobile phones with higher functionality. All these new mobile phones are now available in all Samsung Mobile authorized dealers nationwide.
Former Senator Nikki Coseteng has taken great strides in transforming Diliman Preparatory School (DPS) into one of the Philippine’s top educational institutions. Not only does she believe in a fundamentally sound curriculum, but the former Senator (who is also CEO and President of the school), also proposes that a student’s surroundings contributes greatly to their learning. Instead of simply redecorating the architecture and interior of the campus however, she decided to team up with HP in making the DPS the first “Green-Designed” school in the Philippines.
Through the use of HP’s revolutionary and environmentally friendly Latex technology and large format printers (including the HP Scitex LX600 and HP Designjet L65500), the classroom walls were decorated with odorless PVC-free wallpaper. Since there was no air pollutants in the materials used, the classroom could literally be occupied by its students right after the wallpaper was put up, which unbelievably only took one day.
Today, DPS showcased their achievements to the media and other visitors. There were several guest speakers as well, such as DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo and Congresswoman Naida Angpin, who both praised the DPS for their achievements in promoting a green Philippines. The keynote speaker was the business development officer of HP, Mr. Shaun See, who outlined the various ways in which companies, institutions and individuals can further implement environmentally friendly practices in their daily lives.
(A more in-depth article regarding this matter will appear in the print version of Gadgets Magazine)
I had spent a lot of time with the Samsung NX10, as I was fortunate enough to use one during a particularly long event coverage. The compact nature mirrorless cameras lend itself well to ease of use and transport, and Sammy’s interpretation is no different. We managed to get our hands on a retail version of the NX11, the successor to the NX10. The NX11 comes in a nice little box that holds the power cable, the lens and NX11 body.
The bad boy itself. The NX11 closely resembles the layout of a traditional DSLR, so users who are migrating or upgrading won’t have trouble adjusting.
The NX11 features a 3-inch AMOLED display on the back and due to the nature of the design, has an electronic viewfinder.
Side view of the NX11, with a traditional DSLR thrown in to compare the overall depth.
Front view of the NX11. Here you can see the difference of the mirrorless and the traditional DSLR design. The NX11 uses a 14.6-megapixel APS-C sized CMOS sensor and an image engine that can shoot images from ISOs of 100 to 3200.
The NX11 uses Samsung’s own lenses, dubbed i-Fn. The particular lens included in the package is a 18-55mm deal with OIS. It’s a decent lens for the package.
And that’s it. Watch for our review of the NX11 in the coming days.
Apple has slipped an update for the iOS, with the new patch 4.3.3 fixing some of the issues with the location cache that caused such an uproar a month ago. Listed on the official apple website, the patch reduces the size of the cache used to store the data, and removes the automatic backup of the cache into iTunes. In addition, the new patch also deletes the entire cache when a user opts to turn the location services off.
Source: Apple
Being a Honda owner for several years now, I know that with it comes a smooth, refreshing driving experience. Whether in the city or those long roadtrips out to the countryside, you’re assured a pleasant, comfortable and enjoyable ride. Here, Honda continues the legacy.
Honda Cars Phils., Inc. (HCPI), one of the leading automotive manufacturers in the country, announces the appointment of Tatsuya Natsume as its new President and General Manager effective April 1, 2011.
Prior to his assignment in the Philippines, Mr. Natsume was the marketing director of Honda Siel Cars, India, Ltd. (HCSI). Now on his fourth overseas assignment, Mr. Natsume also held posts in Germany and Italy.
Mr. Natsume’s Philippine assignment marks a significant chapter in his career as he celebrates his 25th anniversary in Honda. Mr. Natsume joined Honda Motor Co., Ltd. right after graduation in 1986, “My first car was a Honda Civic. I fell in love with its excellent performance and put high regard in the brand. This strongly motivated me to join the company,” said Mr. Natsume.
In his 25 fruitful years in Honda, Mr. Natsume has been considerably versed with several overseas operations. Apart from his assignments outside Japan, he also handled the Latin America, Middle East, Africa, Asia – Oceania and China operations from Honda Motor’s headquarters in Tokyo.
Mr. Natsume shares his enthusiasm to his new post. He said, “I am very excited to get to know the Filipinos better. Ten years ago, I visited the Philippines to conduct a market study. And now, as president of HCPI, my goal is to assess and have a deeper understanding of the market in order to provide the finest products and services the Filipino customers are looking for.”
After months of looking longingly at LG’s product pages in other countries, local consumers can finally partake in some dual core smartphone goodness. LG Philippines have announced the local availability of the Optimus 2X and Optimus Black.
The Optimus 2X barely needs introduction, but we’ll do it just the same for the people not in the know. This pretty little thing is certified by the Guinness Book of World records as the world’s first dual core smartphone, sporting a dual core Tegra 2 processor running at 1GHz. The 4-inch IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen is nice and bright, and again is pretty darn responsive.
The device has very little physical keys.
Disappointingly, the Optimus 2X is only armed with Froyo (Android 2.2). LG execs assure me that it’s able to take Gingerbread, but did not specify when the OTA for it would come.
The Optimus 2X has an 8 megapixel camera. It also has a front facing 1.3 megapixel camera.
The Optimus 2X is pretty responsive, and we wasted no time getting down and dirty with it. We downloaded Neocore, a smartphone benchmarking tool from the Android market, and ran it on the Optimus 2X. Unsurprisingly, the Optimus 2X netted an impressive benchmark of 75.6 FPS.
Also unveiled at the event was the LG Optimus Black, one of the skinniest and brightest smartphones around. Sporting a 700 nit screen which, according to LG, is brighter than “Competitor B” (*cough*iPhone*cough*) which only has 518 nit screen. The 4-inch NOVA screen is supposedly proprietary to LG.
Like the Optimus 2X, the Optimus Black is equipped with Froyo, with an option to upgrade to Gingerbread later.
The Optimus Black has a 5 megapixel camera.
Side views of the Optimus Black.
The LG Optimus 2X and Optimus Black will launch next week with a Php 27,990 and Php 19,990 sticker price respectively, and will initially be available at LG’s concept stores.
Indeed Samsung has made amazing innovations in the industry. Over the years, many have recognized the originality and advancement of Samsung, and now even Hohenstein Institute Germany has recognized the performance of its home appliances.
Hohenstein Institute is an internationally recognized research and service center for hygiene and biotechnology. They tested Samsung microwaves and validated its anti-bacterial performance. This makes Samsung Microwaves the very first to get a certification mark for anti-bacterial technology, recognizing its ceramic enamel cavity inside.
The ceramic enamel cavity in Samsung microwaves do not turn rusty or crack as they age and prevents it from being dirty and collecting bacteria. It does not discolor in high temperatures and prevents bacteria from proliferation. The institute also accredited Samsung’s anti-bacterial agents which have high durability against corrosion.
Korean Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) acknowledged that Samsung Electronics’ anti-bacterial ceramic enamel cavity ensures a level of durability that is at least 7.5 times higher than iron plate to which epoxy coating is applied.
“Our antibacterial ceramic enamel cavity is created the way pottery is produced,” said Mr. Chang Wan Hong, executive vice president of the Samsung Digital Appliances business. “We apply antibacterial porcelain enamel that is produced in high temperatures – up to 830 degrees Celsius – to the inside of a microwave. The result is a high-class material that has a smooth, shiny surface like that of a piece of pottery. We’re the only company in the world to have such a feature in microwave ovens,” he added.
Samsung plans to apply its antibacterial technology to all their microwave products to provide consumers healthier tools for cooking.
source: samsunghub
As our lives revolve around our growing addiction with collecting different forms of multimedia, the rapidly increasing demand for more storage capacity is also at hand.
Fortunately, Seagate has made a revolutionary advancement in this department, by creating the world’s first 3.5” hard drive to break the 1TB areal density barrier, ultimately resulting in a 3TB HDD. Not only will this add much needed space for storage, but it will also vastly improve performance as well.
Official shipping dates are still TBA.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer just made an appearance at the Blackberry World conference to announce that Microsoft and RIM are bringing Bing search to BlackBerry devices. What’s surprising about the move is while Bing will be an app for Blackberry devices currently in the market, it’s going to be embedded in the code itself to allow for deeper integration for future devices. As a result, new BlackBerry smartphones and the PlayBook tablet will default to using Bing for search and mapping.
This puts Microsoft at a delicate position, as it also has it’s own smartphone ambitions. In one hand, it needs to take steps to try and stop Google from gaining the same search monopoly it achieved on the PC space. On the other hand, Microsoft also has its own OS, Phone 7, which directly competes with RIM’s Blackberry devices.
Source: Engadget
Alright, so UPS devices aren’t the most glamorous gadgets in the world. Truth is, they’re not very interesting. That ambivalence towards these products lasts until the power cuts out and you’re left with nothing but a candle in your hands. Emerson’s newest UPS, the Liebert GXT3 gives IT managers the option of packing higher power capacities into smaller spaces. The new UPS comes in 5 to 10kVA models. The Liebert GXT3 can be installed in a rack or tower configuration, with a rotating LED display panel that adjusts accordingly. The Liebert UPS features replaceable, hot-swappable internal batteries that provide four or more minutes of runtime at full load, with higher backup time available at typical loading conditions. The 5kVA and 6kVA models require only 5U of space, while the 10kVA models require only 6U of space. Optional battery cabinets, adding just 3U to 4U of rack space, provide additional runtime via the plug-and-play connections on the rear panel of the UPS.
Petron Student Art Competition now open for entries
Everyone’s Vision Petron is an exhibition and competition for all young and budding artists. Themed Lakbay Pinoy —Journeys to Remember, Pathways to Rediscover, this year’s competition focuses on life journeys expressed symbolically by roads, highways and byways. It can be a mountain path representing a journey to success, or a zigzag lane symbolizing seasons of change. It can be a forest trail sparking childhood memories, or a nostalgic route conjuring reminiscences of student life.
Petron believes that everyone has his/her own unique perspective on things and that this uniqueness can be expressed in so many different ways. This is the inspiration behind Everyone’s Vision Petron — the belief that free artistic expression remains intrinsic to nation-building.
Everyone’s Vision Petron is open to all talented students enrolled in a regular university or college course, or in tutorial and photography classes. Student artists may compete in three categories: Painting (oil and water-based media), photography, and t-shirt design.
In the painting category, six Grand Prize winners will each receive P50,000; for the colored photography category, six Grand Prize winners will each receive P30,000; and in the t-shirt design category, three Grand Prize winners will each receive P30,000. All winners will also receive a trophy/plaque designed by National Artist Napoleon Abueva.
Application forms are available at participating Petron service stations and bulk plants nationwide, or from the Secretariat Office (c/o Studio 5 Designs, 28 Paseo de Roxas cor Jupiter St, Bel-Air Village, Makati City, telephone 02-8909318). The form may also be downloaded from the website: www.visionpetron.com.
Deadline for submission of entries is 18 July 2011 at Petron bulk plants nationwide or 25 July 2011 at the Project Secretariat.
