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Showing posts from 2012

Report-a-Potty

In line with the nationwide Sanitation Hackathon organized by several organizations here in the philippines and abroad, I mentored for one of the GDG chapters here in Davao. After my presentation yesterday, I myself attempted to do a quick hack on how to help in the sanitation problems faced here and abroad. Using Google Maps Javascript API and a supposedly a little bit of PHP (but I became to busy to continue the rest of the application) I've created a webapp which does a simple basic thing: get your current location and report/tag it as an offender. This is in hoping that the corresponding establishments and local government units to improve the sanitation of their provided restroom facilities. Unfortunately, since im one of the mentors for the Davao participants, I wont be able to join the submission of entries. Its a nice proof of concept though :)  The source code could be viewed (since its all just a bunch of HTML and JavaScript. The app is available at htt

LTE and the Unlocked iPhone 5

So heres the deal, theres a new iPhone out there and its got the new blazing LTE. If you're planning to get one buying from countries which have unlocked options (Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong) doesnt necessarily merit that you'll get LTE compatibility wherever you go. In the iPhone 5 website, theres a little asterisk there. Pretty sneaky if you ask me, that they have created 2 different models probably using 2 different LTE chips. GSM model A1428*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 4 and 17)  GSM model A1429*: UMTS/HSPA+/DC-HSDPA (850, 900, 1900, 2100 MHz); GSM/EDGE (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz); LTE (Bands 1, 3, 5) - From: http://www.apple.com/iphone/specs.html So what does this mean? If you're planning to get an unlocked unit from other country, LTE speeds might not be compatible with yours. From Wikpedia , theres a working list of LTE bands per country. With me residing in the Philippines it seems t

Comparing Prepaid Data Plans from Globe, Smart and Sun

Recently I have been thinking about those minor differences when it comes to subscribing to a data plan here in the country. So far we're fortunate that we have lots of options but apparently, it takes some discerning as to what to subscribe to given the situation. I have been in several instances wherein, I was at the beach with friends for 3 days. I would be getting a better deal if I subscribed into an unlimited data for 3 days rather than 1 day and resubscribe every time. Thinking about my consumption, since I didnt bring my laptop then (hey, it was Boracay!) the only thing I do with my iPhone was to check my mail and check in to 4square. Maybe an MB based subscription might be better. On a recent trip, I was on the road going to the beach (again) but this time I have with me my laptop with the intention of squeezing in some work during the long travel time. I opted to subscribe for a 1 day unlimited since I knew for a fact that I would't be working on the way back. S

Data Disaster

Several years ago, I was issued a white Macbook for work which I typically use for everything. I have my work files there, I have my personal files there and it has been part of my life. A colleague  who was issued the same Macbook model woke up with an error with his Mac hard drive.  Photo credit from here As part of my work, I tried to recover whatever is recoverable in his drive. We had a Network Access Storage (NAS) which is seldom used but most of his files are in his Mac hard drive. Tough luck, after doing whatever I can to recover, I declared it dead. It was lucky that it was still under warranty but the files lost, or the time devoted to writing those files or creating those files will never be replaced.  Soon enough, despite that warning, mine gave out. Died. Same error. Despite that earlier warning, I didnt back up either to the NAS or to any other storage. If felt like my life has been wiped clean. Source codes, documents, pictures, my life. Its hard to accept l