General

Apple EarPods: One Less Reason to Get an iPhone 5

By on Monday, October 1, 2012

Grabbed a pair of EarPods yesterday. They were out of stock in quite a few stores but I finally got lucky.

The EarPods come in a case that acts as a cable wrap and is really pretty and, more importantly, functional. The earphones themselves are just as beautiful. It’s got a curvy organic look. Supposedly it was designed for the human ear. They’re not in-ear headphones but they are shaped in such a way as to deliver the sound directly into the ear canal.

The sound is definitely better compared to the old Apple earphones. The sound is not as tinny as before. Definitely there was an improvement in the mid and low range. The bass is definitely not the thumping, at least in the ear, kind of way but I guess they also had to consider voice.

I’m quite pleased with them. Too bad, because now that I have them, there’s one less reason for getting an iPhone 5 :P

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General

A Great Day

By on Sunday, September 30, 2012

“It’s a great day!” Jeanne declared as we were leaving the mall. And I indeed it was.

The day started off as most Sunday mornings, i.e. lazy. But after a small brunch, we headed off to our favorite picnic grounds: UP. On the way, we stopped by the roadside for some corn. Then we stopped by Petron for barbecue from Ineng’s Special BBQ (barbecue cooked just right), halo-halo from Chow King, as well as drinks.

It was sunny when we got to UP. But not hot and there’s a cool breeze blowing. We set up our picnic mat under the shade of a tree and had late lunch, dessert, and snacks in quick succession. After resting a bit, we then went to the chapel for mass.

After mass, we headed over to the mall. While Michelle went shopping, Jeanne and I went to look at some electronica then to the bookstore to read a few books. We ended up also getting a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit. After the bookstore, we went to the grocery and bought some essentials. James caught up with us as we were paying. We then went to Yoshinoya for dinner, where Michelle rejoined us, before heading home.

Yes, Jeanne. It was a great day!

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General

Investing In The Philippines

By on Friday, September 28, 2012

After the riots in China, both the FoxConn factory  and the anti-Japanese riots, US and Japanese companies are finding out about the true costs of being in China. Maybe it’s time they focus more on the Philippines. There may be separatists down south and corruption everywhere but at least workers, and people in general, don’t have the tendency riot the way they do in China. Yes, not even with all that corruption.

For the US, the Philippines has been one of the destinations for business process outsourcing, why not manufacturing, too? For Japan, it has been one of the destinations for outsourcing manufacturing. And has something in common with: disputes with China over sovereign territory :P

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General

Books

By on Sunday, September 23, 2012

I love books. My siblings and I grew up on a steady diet of Dr. Seuss and The Bernstein Bears. This was followed by a whole lot of books from my parents’ bookshelf. There’s The Book of Knowledge, The Fascinating World of Animals, the dictionary (which I tried and failed to read from A to Zymurgy), a whole bunch of Reader’s Digest Condensed Books, and so much more. You can say that that bookshelf to me then was what the Internet is to me today.

At around 7 years of age, I found and read The Hobbit. Followed soon after by the full Lord of the Rings Trilogy. I don’t know exactly when I finished it but I recall when I was 9, I was telling my schoolmates about lembas during recess. That means I could be in The Two Towers or The Return of the King by then. I even tried to read The Silmarilion. I’ve read many more novels since but nothing ever came close to JRR Tolkien’s books. They have a special place in my heart. And I sure hope Jeanne will read them someday, too.

Yes, books definitely were a huge part of my childhood. So I’ve always worked towards instilling Jeanne a love for books. I give her books once in a while and we read them during bedtime. Sometimes, on trips to the mall, we visit the bookstore. Today, we went there again, I sat down and she got book after book from the shelves and we read and read them. And she enjoyed it so much she didn’t want to leave. It’s great to see progress in your parenting.

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General

Fragmentation

By on Thursday, September 20, 2012

One word that Apple always uses against Android is the F word. Not the one that rhymes with ‘Duck’. I’m referring to ‘Fragmentation’. They’re referring to so many Android phones from so many manufacturers with so many different features (e.g. screen sizes), and to top it off, so many versions of the core OS with different “skins” applied by manufacturers to, you know, differentiate themselves. They say it like it’s what will bring about the end of Android and that Apple doesn’t have it.

But fragmentation has already been with iOS since the original iPad release back in April 2010. It’s just that iOS 3.2 then came with a built-in mechanism for supporting apps with non-dynamic UIs (upscaling). The same mechanism was used by iOS 4 when the iPhone 4 and its 640×960 display came out.

Most developers quickly came up with updates that target the iPad and the iPhone Retina display. Now with the iPhone 5 and its 640×1136 display it will be the same: iOS 6 comes with a built-in mechanism (letterboxing) and developers will quickly come up with updates that target the new display.

For most developers and even some customers, fragmentation is not a big deal. It’s nothing new. Just look back at Windows and PCs: A huge variety of hardware? Use device drivers. An assortment of resolutions? Use dynamic layouting. Different graphics chips? Use OpenGL or Direct3D. Been there, done that. Survived.

For many customers, it is a big deal and quite scary. But that’s just what fragmentation is: a scare word that Apple marketing came up with. If you’re afraid, maybe you can use a better word: ‘Diversity’. Doesn’t sound scary anymore, yeah?

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