It has been a few months since I purchased Bruce, my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic phone, and after a few software upgrades, I notice that performance and usability has been improved. That, or I simply got used to the user interface. So far, I’m happy with it. With the launch of the Ovi Store, Nokia’s application site, I can now further enhance and extend Bruce’s usability.

One of the apps I installed was Nokia Messaging, a free application that lets you “send and receive email automatically from up to 10 personal email accounts, each in its own easy-to-use mailbox.” When I launched it, it asked me if I wanted to connect to the network. I said Yes, and it connected via 3G. I have a WiFi network at home, and was puzzled by it not asking me how I want to connect to the network. I cancelled the configuration and put it in the back burner for a while. Until today.

So I recently configured my Ovi Mail account with Nokia Messaging. Take note that the two are entirely different services. After a few minutes, it was up and running. I was confused with the email I received when I decided to activate my Nokia Messaging account, something I wasn’t expecting to do for an app. I mean, why should I need to activate an app that is basically a simple email client? The email also mentioned that I’m currently using Nokia Messaging on a trial basis. This confused me further. An app that was listed as free in the Ovi Store now says I’m using it in a trial basis.

However, after some research, I found out that what I installed on Bruce, the Nokia Messaging App, is free, while the account that was activated was the Nokia Messaging Service, in which the latter will be offered by the Operator in the future. Here’s where my speculation starts: the Operator will handle data transfers of emails, checking the 10 personal email accounts that was set up in the Nokia Messaging site, and then pushed to the App. So essentially, this app is free, while the service of checking those emails and letting you know if there’s new email by connecting to the app, is still on trial basis and will eventually be bundled with an Operator’s subscription plan.

In my humble opinion (and know that only my opinion is humble), the Nokia Messaging service shouldn’t be bundled with subscription plans as I assume it will use push email, and a lot of S60-based Nokia phones still aren’t capable of handling this. At least, that’s how I think it works.

All in all, I’ll just enjoy this ride while it lasts.

Source: Nokia Messaging FAQ

A lot of people can’t help answering quizzes on Facebook. Heck, some people on my Friends list do nothing there but answer every single one. I, for one, answered some of them, but I vowed not to do it anymore since it doesn’t really add substance to the activity stream of my news feed. I really can’t blame them, and neither should you, because there may be a quiz in there that would really pique your interest and intrigue to the brink of insanity if you didn’t even think about trying to answer the question “what would the result be?”

However, for some people, it sometimes gets too annoying to see results of quizzes that are simply juvenile and mediocre. Sure you can “Hide” whatever you want to hide from your News Feed, but it becomes a chore that you may not be enjoying the experience anymore. Further more, Facebook, with all its bells and whistles, aren’t really transparent with all the changes and improvements they somehow implement without notice. One of which is the Filter list. The filter list is the one on the left side, as shown below.

By default, the first item on the list is the News Feed. This filter lists the activity stream of your friends, whether they posted a note, uploaded a picture, answered a quiz, or simply updated their status. This filter can sometimes get too noisy, what with all the quizzes your friends answered, videos they linked to, etc. For those who just want the status updates of their friends, simply drag and drop the filter for Status Updates to the top of the Filter list. Whenever you open your Facebook home page, it will display ONLY your friends’ Status Updates. If you prefer to see notes, videos, or photos posted by your friends, simply drag and drop the filter apropos to what you want to see. Hey, I used the word apropos appropriately. I think.

Essentially, whatever is on top of the Filter list will be displayed by default whenever you open up your Facebook home page. You can further explore Facebook’s filtering system by creating custom filters, but it is quite limited to what you can actually filter, meaning you can only filter WHO will appear on your activity stream. For now.

What do you do to prevent information overload?

Just in case you were wondering when it all began and how long the unfilmable film was in development hell, the below was last modified June of 2005.

Who watches the Watchmen?

It was all a joke. The Comedian was right all along. April Fools.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was tweaking my desktops, both Windows XP and Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex. I was supposed to post screenshots of my desktops but something delayed me in doing so. That something was Windows 7 Beta. I was finally able to install it on my system, and I now have a triple-boot system (XP, 7 Beta, and Intrepid). I made the mistake of installing the 64-bit version of 7 Beta, and I’m glad I did. It was definitely a lot faster compared to the 32-bit version of XP, but it wouldn’t make much difference if both were 64-bit. So far, the beta version of Windows 7 is living up to the hype. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s been a week since I got my phone, a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, and after some real-world testing, I can, almost confidently, write a somewhat decent review about it. There’s just so much I want to write about this phone, which I shall call Bruce, in honor of the fictional multi-billionaire.

I’ve been waiting since November of 2008 to get my hands on this thing. What first piqued my curiosity is when I saw it in a movie. The movie, of course, is The Dark Knight, hence, the name Bruce. I noticed it was a Nokia, but I didn’t know what model it was, and I didn’t think Nokia would release it to the public. A few months passed when I read somewhere that it was being developed by Nokia for public release. One thing went through my mind then: I have to have it. The reason being is that it was good enough for Bats to use, and that’s all the reason I needed. Further reading and researching about it, I learned that it will not be using a keypad, thereby mimicking Apple’s iPhone. That’s a nice bonus. And knowing Nokia, it would be affordable for my measly salary bracket. Nokia didn’t fail me, as it is about half the retail price of the iPhone. Nokia also made sure that other things the iPhone didn’t offer, feature-wise or by optional add-on, would be a standard on the 5800, like 3G, GPS, video recording and night mode camera, proximity sensors, a Flash-supported web browser, among other things. And it supported video calling, which was tested and successfully tried, hence, the phone. Long story short, The Dark Knight and features the iPhone didn’t have made me want this phone, and I made sure I got one.

Two cents or less
Physically, the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, or 5800, is easier to hold in one hand than the iPhone. I mean, what else do you compare it with but the iPhone? Anyway, it feels sturdy enough that you wouldn’t worry about breaking it if you hold it too tight. It is a bit thick, but it is quite comfortable to use with one hand. The screen is pressure-sensitive, meaning it is not just a touch screen, you have to apply some pressure when touching the screen. It has tactile feedback, so it vibrates ever so lightly, with the option to turn it off or make it vibrate stronger, when pressing on apps’ icons. The disadvantage of having a small screen, well, smaller than the iPhone’s, is that you have to use the tip of your fingers instead of its pads. But you can use the stylus or the plectrum, a guitar pick-shaped stylus attached to the wrist strap. As for the screen’s durability, I’m quite impressed as I have been switching from touch to stylus to plectrum every now and then, and it is still as glossy as it was first unboxed. There may be some scratches, but I don’t see any. It makes me wonder if I need to get a screen protector film of some sort.

As for its functionality, the 5800 is packed with a lot of features that a number of them would be left unused, ignored, or both. For messaging, it can send and receive text, multimedia messages, and emails, as well as forward them. It also has support for instant messaging. The GUI is quite accommodating as it lets you choose from using an Alphanumeric keypad, which is best for one-hand typing, a mini QWERTY keyboard for portrait-oriented stylus/plectrum typing, a full QWERTY keyboard for two-hand typing viewed in landscape orientation only, or by handwriting recognition software using the stylus. The handwriting recognition software reminds me of my Sony Clie PDA powered by Palm OS 5, which is gathering dust ever since smartphones became more affordable.

As I’ve mentioned earlier, it can play multimedia files such as MP3 and AAC audio files, as well as play MP4 and WMV video files. The web browser supports Flash-enabled websites and supports streaming videos other than YouTube, which means you can also watch videos from other video sites. The sound quality is awesome, as expected from an XpressMusic phone, but the video quality would depend greatly on how the video is encoded.

The 5800 is essentially a phone and, of course, it allows you to make and receive calls. It has a built-in proximity sensor that works only when on a call, and it turns off the screen when the phone is placed near your ear, thereby preventing accidental screen presses. It also allows you to place and receive video calls by using the secondary videocall camera, but you have the option to use one-way or two-way video calls. Good for those hiding from someone and telling them, in a different voice, that you left your phone and that you’re his or her roommate or whatever. The primary camera of the 5800 is a 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, equipped with two-bulb LED flash, and allows you to shoot still pictures at 2048×1536 pixels and shoot video at VGA resolution. I haven’t tried shooting video, but the pictures are decent enough. A lot more decent compared to some camera phones that I’ve tried before. At least, for my standards.

The battery of the 5800 is, also, decent. Standby and talk times are long enough for my taste. As for PC connectivity, it can use Bluetooth or a USB cable. I mainly use the USB cable to connect it to my desktop as it is more dummy-friendly. That, and I don’t have Bluetooth on my desktop. The 5800 is also the only Nokia phone that I use with the Nokia PC suite extensively, simply because PC suite is needed to easily and properly manage the phone and its contents. I now have a routine to backup my phone and its contents almost every other day. It only makes sense. And it complements the phone’s features and capabilities, allowing you to add Music, Images, Videos, and Maps. Through the PC suite, you can also use the phone as a 3G modem so you can still connect to the Internet when your broadband connection goes down. Just pray that your carrier doesn’t go down too. And since I’m on a pay-as-you-go data plan, it’s a very economical backup connection.

The GUI isn’t as useful and intuitive as the iPhone. It’s pretty much as vanilla as it can get. Apps aren’t displayed upfront on the home screen, which is counter-productive in my opinion. You would have to dig down in the menu screen to find the app you want to use. The 5800 uses Symbian’s S60 version 5, or S60v5, and as its first OS in Touch technology, I think, it has a lot of room for improvement. A lot.

As announced before, Nokia opened an app store where you can get apps to further extend the capabilities of your phone. However, most of the apps that provide basic functionality are NOT free. AND those paid apps are NOT cheap. This is a total bummer for S60 users. There are a number of Java apps that are free, but I’m not a big fan of Java apps. To make the GUI of my 5800, Bruce, more productive and intuitive, I looked for apps that made it so. There were apps that made the home screen look more like the iPhone, but it doesn’t make sense to use it as it is a Nokia. If I wanted it to look like an iPhone, I would’ve instead bought the real thing. To each his own, I guess. And then I found Handy Shell from Epocware, and it does make the GUI more intuitive and productive. It does extend the 5800’s capability. Unfortunately, it comes with a $44.95 price tag bundled with Handy Weather. Not really a bank-breaker, but it does make me cringe. Good thing about it is that you can try most of the paid apps for a limited time before deciding if you want to buy it or uninstall it, which is what I’m doing.

All in all, I’m very satisfied with the 5800. It’s packed with features that rivals my previous E90, is a lot cooler than any Nokia phone, IMHO, and a lot cheaper than the iPhone. That, and it is good enough for Batman.

Although there are websites that review movies, seldom have I found a website that reviews movie houses, especially in the Philippines. I’ve seen movies in different movie houses, some of which I often come back to because of the place, other times, of accessibility. There are many factors to consider in reviewing a movie house, or a cinema house, or a theater, or whatever politically correct name it should be referred to, but for all intents and purposes, I’m going to call it a cinema, since a theater is for plays, ballets, and operas, and a movie house may refer to the cinemas and the mall outside it, or simply a house made of movies. But call it with whatever floats your boat.

Greenbelt 1 Cinemas, Makati City
One of the oldest stomping grounds for kids in high school and college, this cinema has evolved in many ways, from a simple movie house, to one of a series of malls with specialty shops. First time I watched a movie here was when I was in high school, which was in the late 80s. They have remodeled the mall and cinemas since then. Now, there are better and nicer chairs that are very comfy, and the price is not too steep, an inexpensive way to escape reality. Leg room is ample enough for most tall people. Getting a ticket is easy but you have to take the escalator or stairs to go to the cinema itself as the ticket booth is at the ground floor whereas the cinema is at the second. I wouldn’t mind making this my regular cinema to watch my highly-anticipated movies. The only downside is that there are only two cinemas inside this movie house. It kinda limits your options. Whatever movie you choose to watch, you’ll be comfortable and won’t regret paying the price of admission. Jologs encounter probability: 4 out of 10

Greenbelt 3 Cinemas, Makati City
A somewhat better version of the Greenbelt 1 Cinemas, these cinemas are equipped with nicer chairs and can accomodate more people. Leg room is about the same. Digital sound has become a standard in cinemas, such as THX, SDDS, DTS, etc. Price is a bit higher, though, than Greenbelt 1 cinemas, but I fail to see the difference. I don’t see why I should be paying more for a different ambiance when all I want to pay for is to be comfortable while watching a movie. In the dark. Where I won’t be appreciating the ambiance, anyway. Jologs encounter probability: 3 out of 10

Glorietta 1 Cinemas, Makati City
Formerly Quad cinemas, these cinemas are almost as old as Greenbelt 1’s and has undergone the same evolution as Greenbelt 1. But it has a lower Jologs encounter probability rating because they moved to Glorietta 4. Jologs encounter probability: 3 out of 10

Glorietta 4 Cinemas, Makati City
Chairs are comfortable, and much like the ones used in Greenbelt 3 cinemas. Again, digital surround sound is a standard. Jologs encounter probability: 4 out of 10

Robinsons Galleria Cinemas, Pasig City
It’s been quite a while since I last saw a movie at this mall, but I always enjoyed going there, and the seats are nice. When Glorietta and Greenbelt were refurbishing their cinemas with new chairs, Galleria already had them. That’s all I can say about it. Jologs encounter probability: 4 out of 10

Robinsons Place Ermita Cinemas, Manila
When this mall was new, the cinemas were great. However, they were neglected and were in disarray for a while. There was this weird smell you only…smell…with old cinemas. Good thing the Midtown wing was opened, which housed three more cinemas that are at par with the Makati cinemas. I’m hoping it stays that way. Jologs encounter probability: 6 out of 10

Gateway Cinemas 1 – 9, Cubao, Quezon City
Nice chairs, good sound, and ample seating capacity, Gateway cinemas are much alike Glorietta 4 cinemas. Jologs encounter probability: 5 out of 10

Gateway Cinema 10, Cubao, Quezon City
If you’re the type of person who can’t watch a movie without a comfortable chair, Gateway’s Cinema 10 has you covered. Aside from a limited 40 person seating capacity, digital surround sound, and free and unlimited popcorn and soda, this cinema has La-Z-Boy chairs. And if you’re not in the mood for popcorn and soda, they have a snack menu to choose from, for a fee. Only downside for this cinema is the price. But if it’s exclusivity you want, this is the cinema for you. Jologs encounter probability: 1 out of 10

Waltermart Cinemas, Makati City
A sleeper hit, if there ever was one for cinemas. Same price as the Greenbelt 1 cinemas, but better chairs with folding armrests. What’s better is that it is closer to my place than the Greenbelt 1 cinemas. Only downside I can think of is that they open late, and only 4 or 5 screenings per movie. Jologs encounter probability: 4 out of 10

The Promenade Cinemas, Greenhills Shopping Center, San Juan
I’m having mixed feelings with this cinema. It has high-backed reclining chairs with folding armrests, which is the same chair used in the United States cinemas I’ve been to, that I’m sure I also saw in other cinemas but forgot where it was, but not in the previously mentioned cinemas above. The price makes it even greater as it is also in the same ballpark as the Greenbelt 1 and Waltermart Cinemas. What prevented me from making this cinema my favorite is the fact that there were pieces of gum stuck underneath the folding armrests, which my shirt fell victim to. It reflects the people who watch movies there, and it casts a bad light on them. Jologs encounter probability: 5 out of 10

SM Mall of Asia Cinemas 1 – 6, Pasay City
Let’s see, leg room isn’t ample enough that you bump your knees at the back of the chairs in front of you every time you slouch, comfort level is at an all-time low, chairs aren’t really comfortable because of the lack of ample leg room, and the crowd you’re with isn’t really a crowd you’d want to associate yourself with outside the cinema. But, seating is always reserved. Obviously, this isn’t my favorite place to see a movie, but I did see a number of movies simply because I had no choice, the commander-in-chief said so. Many a time have I shushed people for talking too loudly, with their cellphone or themselves, in this moviehouse. It would be a miracle if you don’t hear a cellphone going off for a text message during a movie. Jologs encounter probability: 8 out of 10

Although I wanted to for a long time, I still haven’t seen a movie in IMAX. And there are new cinemas at Cash & Carry that I would also like to try, although I think it wouldn’t have any difference compared with Waltermart’s or Greenbelt 1’s. Location, however, will always be a factor when choosing where to watch a movie. And of course, the movie itself, if it is screening at your chosen moviehouse.

On a post script note, the Jologs encounter probability is just a made up rating. The closer it is to 10, the more likely you’ll be sitting beside someone talking loudly on their cellphone or amongst themselves, as if they were in their own living room, which means you would be pissed off watching the movie, missing out on the whole experience of the story because you were shushing left and right at the inconsiderate people around you. Those insolent pricks.

Or at least, Google Reader. I read my feeds thru Google Reader, you see. Little did I know that it would spur the green-eyed monster in me. I am envious after I clicked Home. This is what I saw.

How I wish it was my blog that was featured in the Recommendations section. Aileen, how do I make my blog appear on the Google Reader recommended section? Any tips?

I just read the best blog post ever. Well, the best blog post related to careers and employment, that is. The post is entitled “Beware of turning hobbies into jobs” and is probably the best advice anyone can get because of the value of what it says. Anyone looking for a way out and gathering their guts to quit their day job and go the self-employed way should read this post before they do something stupid.

Anyone wanting to turn their hobbies into an income-generating career should start looking for another hobby. Without a new hobby to replace the void left by the hobby-turned-career will be filled, unknowingly, by something most likely undesirable.

Okay, I just made Hugh’s post as generic as can be. But still, I never fail to pick something useful and enlightening from reading Hugh Macleod’s posts, and his cartoons “drawn at the back of business cards” are truly witful art.

On December 6, 2007, if you come in to any Starbucks store from 5 – 7 PM, you can enjoy your favorite Starbucks coffee, on the house.

Available in the Philippines only. I think. And if this isn’t a hoax, then good for them.

Habbo Hotel needs to beef up their security as a Dutch teen gets arrested for stealing virtual furniture.