Yikes! iPhone 2.0.2 is not secure.

Password-protect your iPhone 2.0.2... and you end up exposing information coming from your Mail, SMS, and Contacts. Plus a web-browsing freebie via Safari. It turns out sliding the unlock key, even if you password protect it, will really "unlock" the iPhone.

I am just not sure if the engineers at Cupertino missed this or this was according to the phone's design (?). I don't know. Who knows? One thing I'm sure of, 2.0.3's coming will arrive ahead of schedule. Read the full story over at Gizmodo.

Nuffnang. Weird sound of money.

Nuffnang, Asia's First Blog Advertising Community, is already here! I heard about this from a blogger friend so I immediately signed up just so I could read more about it. And here's what I found out from their website:

After its massive success in Malaysia and Singapore with over 45,000 bloggers signing up in which most of them are enjoying the perks of serving ads to multinational companies like Nike, Citibank, Honda, Nokia, F&N, AirAsia and many more, Nuffnang.com.ph is officially online!

I think Nuffnang's kewl! Don't you think so? I guess I would need to up my posts a bit so I can get me some Nike ads. That's just my favorite brand of shoes, and always has been synonymous with first-choice... can't wait!

So what has sounded weird just lately? I think it's money and you get to hear the words blog, entre, adsense and (now) nuffnang. And you know what, when I ran a Google search for Nuffnang, I just find it more weird to have even seen a blog with this address: why-nuffnang-will-fail dot blogspot dot com. Weird day for me I guess.

Nuff said, nang it!

US Basketball: Worth A Pair Of Olympic Golds

Spain put on an a good show. But out in the Olympics, good just isn't good enough. Having said that, the US Men's Basketball team dubbed The Redeem Team closed out the 2008 Olympics Basketball tourney with a perfect 8-0 record and held off the Gasol brothers with a 118-107 victory to clinch the gold.

The US Women's Basketball team had also won the gold via a 92-65 beating over Australia yesterday. It's been said, and I'll say it again, the US Basketball Team is worth a pair of golds. 

For the full stories, you can head on over to NBA.com.

Know When Your Time Is Up

While scour-ing today for some random things, I came across this sort of calculator (or meter) that measures the approximate date when the Grim Reaper would have to ask you out. All you've got to do is head over to this site, provide answers to a few personal questions. When you're done, the table gets turned, and the answer to your question (take note: you must ask yourself first before you ever try this!) will be provided.

If you want to know when my time is up, this was what I got:

6/22/2053. On a Sunday? Yikes! I'd die unhappy if I ever live long enough to reach that. I would be over 70 by then. I would never wanna see me with my skin all loosed up. I don't know. Well at least the link made me wonder... and laugh.

How about you? When do you think the guy with the scythe would come to see you?

US vs. Spain and Australia

Two countries would have to bring their A+ games to beat the US basketball teams. It all begins tonight at 10:00PM (GMT +8:00) when the 2008 Olympics Women's Basketball gold medal will be settled by a game between Australia and the US. Since I don't pay attention to anything WNBA, I have no idea who the other stars are on the US Women's Basketball team other than Lisa Leslie. I'm not even sure if she's on the team this time. Well I just hope they win to hype up the men's team.

Tomorrow afternoon, 2:30PM (GMT +8:00), the US Men's Basketball team will play Spain. Again. This time, and as hinted, it will be about nothing else but for the gold medal. Spain lost to the US when they first met during group elimination play. I think it was a blow out.

Having said that, I think it's going to be easy for Lebron, Kobe and company--unless of course if Pau would prove me wrong. Tomorrow. I'll be glued to the tube by then as I'll be off work come jump-ball time.

New iPods. Soon.

I have no idea why I'm starting to title my posts like that. But anyway, that's not what this post is about. Ok so I just stumbled upon news about the next iPods that might come out of Cupertino. And this is how it might look like:

Any comments? Personally, I think it looks more like a cellphone than an iPod. Except for the click-wheel, of course. But I don't know. There's no confirmation yet. But I would think this would come out as close to the real deal as possible. The source of this tidbit? Kevin Rose. I'm guessing he's credible enough. Head on over to his blog for the full story.

Search. Earn. Scour.

I've heard about Scour a long time ago from a pro-blogger friend. It's only today that I decided I need to start working with Scour--dubbed "The Social Search Engine." It's easy. Just search, and you earn points. Earn 6500 of those and you get a $25 PayPal check. Now that's easy.

Now I'm not saying you don't have to use Google anymore, I am just letting you in on an option. It could be a better alternative. Who knows? So start scouring now! There's lots more you could do with Scour. Scour this, scour that. So click THIS and start earning extra dough!

Rogers BlackBerry Bold, Today

If you've been paying attention to the BlackBerry blogosphere, you should be pretty excited about today. It's August 21st, and it's been confirmed that the BlackBerry Bold will be coming out of Rogers... yes, today (am I even right?).

We'll see what we'll find out about the news today as the Canadians should be able to get their hands on a BlackBerry that has been through a lot of delays, after delays, after delays. Stay tuned...

Was Busy Last Week

The last time I made a post on this blog was about a week ago. And all I could say is: yeah, I was busy. Busy with work, busy with family... basically busy with life. I've been on the forums (BlackBerryForums, PhilMUG, MacRumors, CDOCentral) and what not but I've only been lurking mostly and reading some threads of attention without actually replying to any of them.

I guess I was just paying too much attention to the Olympics. But what do you expect? It's supposedly the greatest sporting event every four years. I think Olympics 2K8 will best be remembered for Michael Phelps and how he managed to bag 8 gold medals. That's quite a story right there. The last time 7 gold medals went to an individual was about 4 decades ago (or 36 years to be exact) when fellow American Mark Spitz swam for it at the '72 Munich Games. And here's what Mark had to say when Michael got gold #7 at Beijing:

Epic. It goes to show you that not only is this guy the greatest swimmer of all time and the greatest Olympian of all time, he's maybe the greatest athlete of all time. He's the greatest racer who ever walked the planet.

For the latest news about the Beijing Olympics, head on over to official website > The Official Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. I think China's going to run away with the most golds. But I am not saying anything beyond that though.

UPDATE: Globelines Issues, FIXED!

After calling Globelines' tech support every single day over the last 7 days or so due to my connection issue (read: slow), two guys finally dropped by today, along with their Asus EeePC, to check and validate how real slow my connection really is/was since the day it got installed. Right... they fixed it!

They didn't stay long though BUT they figured the issue was with the Sphairon Turbolink modem. They started their troubleshooting by running speedtests (off speedtest.net) on the small black ultraportable. After failing to at least complete a single speedtest result, they both agreed to try a different modem. Bingo! With the new shiny black Prolink ADSL2+ modem, I got these speeds and it's been pretty consistent eversince.


So thank you Globelines, especially to the two guys who came here earlier (sorry I didn't catch your names) You can now close the third trouble ticket numbered 919792. I can forget about the past, and move on as all I ever wanted to begin with was what had I signed up for and what I will be paying for--broadband Internet. Thanks Globelines. Case closed. More power!!!

A Kagayanon's Journey to Canada

While I was browsing the CDOCentral forums earlier today, I stumbled upon member name kicker and his blog about how he and his wife worked together to get to Canada, the legal way. The exodus story is just inspiring, at least for me. If you read it from the first post up, for sure you would re-realize (you already know this) that nothing in life ever comes easy.

You can go check out his blog at burlingtonjourney.blogspot.com. Learn more about migrating to Canada. And be inspired.

...AND it's ridiculously getting slower

It seems my ordeal with Globe Broadband a.k.a. Globelines isn't just about over yet. My Internet is getting slower each day (it's just been two days). Check the Speedtest result above, my connection is WAY SLOWER than dial-up. Believe it. I've been doing speedtests since I woke up today, hoping to get at least a different result. But they're all the same, the average speed didn't even come close to dial-up! WTF!

I did call the hotline yesterday AM, and two guys from Globelines (entirely different from the install crew who came here last Tuesday afternoon) came over to check the connection and speed later in the afternoon. Yes, all from yesterday Wednesday. And all they ever said was simple and quick: [translated] "Sir, this is r-e-a-l-l-y slow. We'll try to re-set the connection from the main center to fix this." Then they went off, speeding...


Now, a little over 20 hours past and there's no change whatsoever. I am going to give one final call shortly and if this doesn't get fixed at all, it's over. I can't go on being mocked like this at all, it's not funny...


*Photo courtesy of Speedtest.

Globe Telecom & iPhone 3G on August 22nd

So the news is out, Globe Telecom will be releasing the iPhone 3G on August 22nd. That's good news for iPhone fans all over the archipelago. Yup, the Philippines is finally part of something big at least in the tech world scene as the date also marks batch #2 of iPhone releases slated in other countries as well.

Head on over to the Globe iPhone 3G page for more info about the subscription plans and how much they cost. The one thing that I didn't like with all the pricing hoopla was the fact that there wasn't any unlimited data plan at all. Postpaid plans start at 1,599 with these allocations: 100 local minutes, 350 text messages, 20 Wiz Wi-Fi hours (available only in Metro Manila for now, I think) and a measly local mobile internet airtime of only 40 hours--don't forget: there's 720 hours in a month. With that plan, the 8GB variant would cost PhP 16,800 while the 16GB would be at PhP 22,300. You need to be on the 4,999 plan to get the iPhone 3G 8GB for free (PhP 5,500 for the 16GB) and you get 750 minutes, 650 SMS, unlimited Wiz Wi-Fi hours and 100 hours of internet data. The usual 24-month lock-in period applies.


If you find the subscription plans appallingly expensive, you can always get the prepaid kits on installment at 0% interest up to 12 months with most banks' credit cards. With PhP 41,889, you get the 8GB. PhP 48,899 would get you the 16GB model. Now the question is? Am I going to be getting one for myself? Answer: I will just pass for now. I am extremely satisfied with my BlackBerry 8320 along with my current Globe BlackBerry data plan, so that's why. 3G isn't even widespread where I'm at, much less EDGE.


But we'll see what happens as we move forward as the iPhone is a really great gadget to have. Read the ongoing discussion about this development over at PhilMUG, specifically in this thread. Be informed.


*Photo courtesy of myGlobe iPhone.

Online BUT Stuck!

If you examine the photo above, you should be able to tell that I'm online now. I've got my weather updates in (too bad there's none for CDO) along with my WAN IP as well. The Globelines folks have finally hooked me up at the new apartment late yesterday afternoon. But that's just the good news. News always comes in twos. Now the bad news is--the connection has been so slow ever since! To make matters worse, I only figured that out when the install crew had already left the area.

So did you want to know how slow this thing is? Well, it's way under the considerable speed even for dial-up! You may want to check the image ^^ again, click it. It's really ADSL eh? Take a closer look at the download versus upload speeds, there you go. Now I got those values from Speedtest and from my #1 widget, iStat Pro (get the latest version here). The download speed, the most important, is not even in 3 digits!

I guess it's just not my time these past few days BUT I've got to bounce back. With that said, I already gave the Globelines tech support guys a call early this morning and I got a reference number for the record. They said there could be something wrong with the facility or the main center where my line comes out from. At least he agreed there's something wrong! I just hope they would act on this no sooner than a month! Remember "the wait" I had to burn candles for just for the installation? It now appears the pain wasn't worth it at all.

Stay tuned...