Tag: gadgets

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USB 2.0 to SATA/IDE Adapter

This one is one of those indispensable techie tools. It’s a 3-in-1 external drive adapter from large IDE, small IDE, and SATA interface to USB 2.0. This means that with only one kit, you can connect practically ANY disk-based storage device via high-speed USB 2.0 to your PC. That would be 5.25″ form-factor CD and DVD drives, 3.5″ desktop hard drives, and 2.5″ notebook hard drives. You can also connect both a SATA and an IDE device at the SAME time. And here’s the clincher: there’s no fancy shmancy casings. Only exposed wires and circuit boards. How geek cool is that?

It’s available in most computer shops (I got mine from AWD at Robinson’s Galleria) or online (including, of course, the famous Brando).

Here is a more comprehensive review.

Rating: 4/5

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Notebook Malfunction

Encountered a malfunction with my new Thinkpad T60. When I got to work this morning, I plugged it in and opened the lid. Normally, this should wake it up from standby mode. Nothing. So I pressed on the power button to power it down. Nothing. I unplugged it, removed and reinstalled the battery, plugged it back in and pressed the power button. It started up and started making beeping sounds. Not good. Jon and I thought it’s a memory issue, so I opened the notebook up, removed and reinstalled the memory but to no avail. I called up the supplier and they, to their credit, immediately sent in a technician to fix it. Apparently I didn’t try hard enough, because it turned out that a loose memory module was indeed the culprit. How it got loose (bumps? vibrations?) I don’t know. I certainly expected more robustness from a notebook and a Thinkpad to boot. Is this a deterioration of quality due to the handover by IBM to Lenovo? I certainly hope not.

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The Soul Of A New Machine

I finished migrating all (I hope) of my data from Selene, my personal Thinkpad X22, to Ilsa, my new office Thinkpad T60. The migration itself was rather painless but then again, I’ve done it quite a few times already.

So far everything seems to be running well and I don’t seem to be missing any data. But to be sure, I’ll be monitoring the data next week before I completely sanitize the copy on Selene. We don’t want anyone finding incriminating evidence now, do we?

I actually much prefer carrying and using the smaller and lighter Selene but I’ll be lending her to a dear friend of mine who will be going to the US for a month. He doesn’t have a notebook and being the nice person that I am I volunteered to lend him one. Hahaha.

I, of course, I have another, more pragmatic, reason. I’m again dabbling into software development and the X-series was not really designed for such things. The T-series, on the other hand, is a real problem-solving, number-crunching, data-processing machine so it should help things go faster.

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2007 May 5 to 6 Puerto Galera, Mindoro

IMGP1651Went with the IT Department to Puerto Galera in Mindoro last weekend. I decided to drive to make it more convenient for the girls as well as for GPS data gathering. So with my Garmin Foretrex GPS unit recording a track, I picked up the girls from various points early in the morning. The rest of the boys took the bus.

The trip took about 3 hours taking us through the South Luzon Expressway, the Star Tollway, several national roads, and finally to the Batangas Port where we caught the 5AM boat.

We were informed that boats are scheduled at 15-minute intervals. To our– and the other passengers’– irritation, “15-minute intervals” actually was just one boat waiting for a whole hour! Thankfully, the boat eventually filled up and finally left the pier and in about 2 hours we were in White Beach in Puerto Galera. Aby– who organized the trip (Thanks Aby!)– and her friend Maica welcomed us to our accommodations.

Continue reading “2007 May 5 to 6 Puerto Galera, Mindoro”

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Food Delivery On Credit

Finally! Shakey’s Pizza has made available pizza delivery via credit card. Val had told me about it a week or so ago and tonight I decided to try it. I ordered pizza and told them I want to pay via credit card. After a while, the rider came in, delivered the pizza, and swiped my card using a handheld device that wirelessly contacted the approver. I still had to do some signing on slips printed by the same device but it was otherwise very convenient. I hope the Jollibee group does the same.