Author: deuts

300 MB is So Much for My Use

I’ve mentioned that I subscribed to Globe PowerSurf 299, which is 300 MB good for 30 days. I’ve also mentioned that I have wifi both at home and in the office.

Now 22 days have already passed and I have not used even half of the data usage I was allotted with. I’ve used so far 143.51 MB or 47.8%. I hope Globe Telecom could come up with a lower plan, say like 200 MB for a cheaper price.

UPDATE: Or perhaps, these PowerSurf plans are not for me at all. I have an iPhone 4 at plan 299, where I don’t have a use for that P299 credit (for I have an office-issued phone unlimited Globe-to-Globe). If I opt out of the PowerSurf 299, I could use that P299 credit for hit-and-run mobile browsing at P5 per 15-minutes.

I just hope that Globe instead have a per MB charging deductible from the regular plan. Or, better yet, carry on with the Powersurf plans but don’t charge it on top of the Monthly Service Fee (MSF). Charge it against the consumable amount instead.

Twitter is about Delivering the Message in 140 Characters

Twitter limits you to express your thoughts in 140 characters or less. It actually encourages (if not teaches) you to be more creative in delivering your message by limiting the number of characters — thus, the limited number of words — in each tweet. This is in fact in congruence with the declining attention span of users/readers/followers, especially with the vast amount of information available in this digital age.

With services like Twitlonger, Deck.ly and the likes, users are allowed to override this 140-character limitation by cutting the message into 140 characters but allow the inclusion of a link that points to a page containing the full message (besides advertisements). These services are even integrated in apps like UberSocial and Tweetdeck. See how it defeats the purpose »

How Do You Use Your Smartphones?

I use my Sony PS3 game console for playing video games; my 32″ LCD TV + DVD Player or media player for watching movies and TV series; my personal computer and/or mac for personal computing like spreadsheets, word processing, media-editing, browsing flash-heavy websites, etc.; my Canon 30D DSLR for photography; and my smartphone/s for mobile computing, communications (e.g., calling, SMS and email, IM), on-the-go social networking, and some light internet browsing.

That being said, I don’t use my smartphone primarily as (or as an eligible alternative for a great) game console, movie player, personal computer, or camera. Furthermore, if all you do is texting and calling for a phone, you don’t need a shiny new smartphone.

Wishlist: DGT e-Board + Classic Chess Set + Digital Chess Clock

 

The plug & play DGT electronic chess board brings you the best of two worlds. The classical game of chess finaly merged with 21st century computer and internet technology.

The beautiful classic wooden DGT e-board easely connects to the USB port on your PC. With the DGT e-board you can play online at internet chess sites like PlayChess, Chess 21 and ICC. The ingenious e-board acts as input device for all major playing programs.

The DGT e-board is the ultimate chess-PC interface. It adds a new dimension to your chess fun. A typical DGT product. Innovative, designed for the real chess lover. High quality and value for money.

The giftbox comes with a special edition of the famous Fritz program and 100 days free access at playchess.com

Amazon Kindle Tablet

The coming of the Amazon Kindle Tablet it seems is inevitable, at least according to Techcrunch. It’ll be running on a highly customized version of Android. The best part– it’ll be priced at only $250 for the 7-inch version.

I do hope that the Amazon Kindle Tablet will be a hit. That way, my other wishes:

  • That the other Android tablet makers will realize that they have to sell their Android tablets at a price range way lower than the iPad in order to truly compete with the iPad; and
  • That Amazon will drop further the prices of the original Kindles with the e-ink display — because I really love to buy one;

The iPhone Evolution

The iPhone evolution described in infographic:

You have to bear in mind, though, that the iPhone 5 (or the 5th generation–that is, as it’s still indefinite what they’ll call it) specs are based on rumors circulating the web so far. Even the picture and form isn’t certain.

It’s good to see how the iPhone evolved through the years in just one look.

Globe Powersurf Plans 50MB for P99 Per Month

I told you so. Globe Telecom will come up with its own new pricing schemes to compete with Smart’s ‘Always On’ plans. And here it is:

Indeed Globe came up with a more competitive pricing. To compare the two, Globe offers 1GB for P499 vs. Smart at P750. Continue reading »

Running Fritz 12 on a Mac: VMWare vs. Boot Camp

Apple discussions:

If you are running software that are CPU intensive like some of our people are then boot camp is the way to go because you will have the native speed of the machine.

So, I guess I made the better decision with going with the Boot Camp way. Fritz 12 is definitely CPU-intensive, especially when utilizing all cores of your machine.

The Chess Explorer by Hiarcs

The Hiarcs page right now goes:

HIARCS Chess Explorer is an exciting new chess product which is under development and we hope will be available in the autumn 2011. More details on the new chess explorer application will be posted here when they are ready. We hope chess players of all chess abilities who really wish to explore and improve their chess will like the new HIARCS chess explorer software.

For me, this leaves more questions than answers:

  • Is this a GUI alternative to Chessbase’ Fritz 12?
  • Is this thing available for Windows and Mac?
  • Is this Hiarcs answer due to Sigma Chess not available to support OS X Lion?
  • Can I install other competing engines?
  • Will it have intuitive interface for game analysis?
  • Will I become a better player with this software?
  • Will this be free or shall be sold for a hefty amount?
  • Do you think it can beat Houdini?

I can go on and on, even with stupid questions, but really, that page is not helping a lot. Hope Hiarcs can come up with a concrete answer and hopefully fill that bridge for a good native chess program for the Mac.