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30-30-30

I’ve been having problem with my Globe Tattoo Mobile WiFi for the past few days. I tried everything: reboot, tweaking the settings (with and without tech support), transferring the SIM to different devices, to no avail. So I applied for a 15-day trial of SKYbroadband with the intent to switch if it proves to be good.

This morning, the SKYbroadband team arrived and quickly set up the cable modem. When they left, I went to work and configured my Buffalo AirStation with DD-WRT. I set the router to DHCP and connected the modem. It wouldn’t work! I tried reboots, resets, pre-configuring the TCP/IP settings, downgrading up to two DD-WRT versions back, etc. All to no avail.

Finally, after some research, I found out that there seems to be a bug where the old settings are retained and read. The solution is simple: 30-30-30 aka Hard Reset:

  1. While the router is powered on, hold down its reset button for 30 seconds
  2. While still holding down the reset button, unplug the router and hold for an additional 30 seconds
  3. While still holding down the reset button, plug in the router and hold for 30 more seconds

When the router booted up, it immediately grabbed a WAN IP and I was finally able to able to use my SKYbroadband trial. And can I just say I’m loving it.

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Reversing The Flow

If America is was the land of opportunity for the world, then Metro Manila is the land of opportunity for the Philippines. People would go to Metro Manila for the education and work opportunities it presents. This has resulted in a population of 12M, and a daytime population of 14M. This is out of the 97M Philippine population (12.3%!).

Indeed there are lots of opportunities but at the same time there’s a price to pay: high population density, tight living spaces, long commutes, monster malls, high prices, traffic congestion, pollution, … and these often interacting with each other for worse.

It’s way past time for at least some of the 12M to disperse back to the provinces and other cities where there are opportunities thanks to vastly improved trade, commerce, communications, peace, and order. And doing so can create even more opportunities. That is an ingredient for continued and inclusive economic growth.

So as an incentive, maybe the government shouldn’t subsidize MRT fares and just let market forces do their work :P

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Wearable Computing

Wearable computing isn’t new and its utility is not up to debate. Athletes are wearing them to monitor or even enhance performance. Patients are wearing them to monitor health vitals. The same goes for soldiers, astronauts, etc.

Then there are those people wearing those Bluetooth earpieces, Oakley Thumps, smart watches like the Pebble, wrist-mounted iPod nanos, and Google Glasses. There are (were?) even people wearing backpack computers with heads-up displays and on-hand keyboards

On an average day, by and large those people look nerdy at best, and dorky at worst. Certainly not fashionable. For wearable computing to go mainstream , the key obviously is for the devices to become fashionable. Either by changing shape and form. Or by changing the norms of fashion. This is what the more successful companies are doing.

Take watches, it’s not a debate that on an average day they are jewelry first, and timekeeping device second. And so “dumb watches” are arguably more successful than smart watches. Supposedly, they’re “dumbness” and “lack of innovation” is actually what’s helping them sell. I think it’s actually more because these dumb watches are fashionable.

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MacBook Air

macbookair

Michelle needed a computer for her research, and Jeanne iPad mini just doesn’t cut it. So we decided that I get her an early ;) Christmas present: A MacBook Air.  It’s small and light, the perfect ultraportable. As expected, build quality of the aluminum unibody is excellent. It has a 1.3GHz dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of SSD storage. And most importantly for an ultraportable, it uses the Intel Haswell architecture which has been especially great in terms of battery life.

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This Should Brighten Everyone’s Day

iphone_sep10_event_invite

Apple has sent out invites to their much anticipated September 10 event. This should brighten everyone’s day. Well it, did make my day more colorful. And I expect September 10 to be colorful, too. The new iPhone 5S, the iPhone 5C as well as iOS 7, of course, is expected to be revealed. Based on rumors, I thinks the two will bring in many colors. The iPhone 5S will come in Black/Slate, White/Silver, and White/Gold. The iPhone 5C will come in even more colors: Black, White, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange, Pink, and Red. I guess C in 5C stands not only for China or Cheap but also Colorful!