Author: deuts

Airtable: You can now group Views into Sections

I requested for this feature for a while now in the Airtable Community:

I’ve seen a lot of topics and/or feature requests to hide tables within a base. I want that as well. But on top of that, I don’t see topics here about hiding view items that you’ve actually created, not just those created and made personal view by other users. I’m not referring to how to toggle on and off the Views pane. I mean the different views that you’ve created, whether they be Grid, Form, Calendar, Gallery or Kanban, can they be hidden to declutter the Views pane, or better yet, maybe have the ability to group them in folders?

I have created several views of the same table and they somehow already cluttered my Views pane. I don’t want to delete them because I have certain use for each of them.

And today, look, you can now group views into Sections:

Thank you Airtable for listening to your users. Now I wish I could have the ability to hide this “Create a vew” pane/section.

How BDO deserves the trash

Can you imagine receiving a marketing email, and the only method to opt out of such emails you’ll have to call their hotline?

That’s how brainless BDO is to do such a stupid thing to its customers. No 1-click unsubscribe link, you must call their customer contact center, expect to get through for God knows how long, and expect the person at the other end of the line to sell you more of their stupid products!

That’s how BDO deserves the trash. Even more — report as SPAM! I’ll set up a filter so that all their emails go directly to spam folder.

No, BDO deserves to be reported as spam, so that Google knows they are a bank full of spam!

How to: enroll for a second Pag-ibig MP2 savings account

So you already have an existing Modified Pag-IBIG 2 (MP2) savings account. Perhaps, you recently checked your Virtual Pag-IBIG account and noted your account has been credited with your 6.12% dividend for your 2020 contributions to your MP2 savings. Or, maybe, you’re still waiting for your first dividend.

But one MP2 account is not enough. When that account matures in five years from the time of your first contribution, you can’t wait for another five years to collect your next MP2 savings. You’ve read in the FAQ that you can indeed open and maintain multiple MP2 Savings Accounts:

According to Pag-IBIG’s FAQ, you are allowed to open and maintain multiple MP2 Savings Accounts.

Perhaps, you want to time your multiple MP2 accounts to mature one year after the other — for your liquidity, or maybe just to reward yourself every year.

But how? It’s not in the FAQ, or anywhere in the Pag-IBG website. Lucky you, I have done just that, and I’ll share to you what I did. Read more to find out →

Driving School for Theoretical and Practical Driving Courses

Starting August 2020, LTO mandated applicants for new student permits to undergo mandatory 15-hour driving seminar. If you are living around Makati, Taguig, Pateros, and other neighboring areas, here’s a driving school near you that’s accredited by LTO to conduct Theoretical Driving and Practical Driving Courses: iLean Driving School.

Continue reading Driving School for Theoretical and Practical Driving Courses

OnePlus 9 Series Fast Charging

Dear OnePlus,

There is a diminishing return beyond a certain point when it comes to how fast we can charge our phones. My OnePlus 8 Pro recharges fast enough using its stock cable and adapter for my taste. I’m sure everyone feels the same way. Please focus your energy in improving other features instead.

Thank you,
From a OnePlus fan

The Smart Magic Data is how Smart alienates postpaid subscribers in favor of prepaid

Smart is not so sure whether to actually offer their Smart Magic Data or not. For one, the addon mechanics cannot be found in any page of Smart. You can only avail from the Giga Life app. And it’s available only to prepaid subscribers. There have been instances where users reported that the Magic Data disappeared from available upgrade options in the Giga Life app.

One thing is for sure, that Smart is not sure whether to continue with this offering. With the Magic Data addons, Smart is encouraging its postpaid subscribers to switch to prepaid instead.

As a response to GOMO, Smart now has MAGIC DATA

With the coming of DITO and introduction of Globe’s GOMO, it’s Smart’s move. And they come up with: Smart MAGIC DATA:

The Magic Data appears for now to be available only to Smart’s prepaid subscribers, and it seems to be not so competitive compared to GOMO, but this development is welcome anyway, especially if you frequent an area where you find Globe’s network connection to be spotty.

You can subscribe to Smart’s Magic Data by going to their Gigalife mobile app.

Philippine Banks and Their Technology

Banks should be in the bleeding edge of technology. But in the Philippines, they might not be as advanced as we’d like them to be.

Take for example the experience I had while managing my account with BDO Online Banking. Every so often, their system requires password change.

Their password change page details the valid password that the system can accept. The third item says passwords must contain uppercase, lowercase, number and special characters. But then, special characters such as [!#$%^&';"] are not allowed.

My questions:

  • Why not allow the characters: [!#$%^&';"]?
  • Wouldn’t it have been more helpful if you enumerated the set of special characters I can choose from to use in my password instead?
  • I use a password manager. After copying my password from my password manager, why don’t you allow pasting into these fields from my clipboard?

My concerns may seem so trivial, but trivial things like these make or break a great online banking experience.

OnePlus 8 Pro Camera Takes Amazing Night Shots

I must have been living under a rock for the last 3 or so years, enjoying so much my Samsung Galaxy Note 8, that it’s only now that I realized how night-time photography has improved recently. I know for a fact that this improvement in the camera system is not unique to my OnePlus 8 Pro, I’ve watched YouTube reviews taking the sides of the iPhone 12 series or the Samsung Galaxy S20 or Note 20 series cameras over OnePlus 8 Pro’s when it comes to night-time photography.

Nevertheless, I’m impressed with my OnePlus 8 Pro camera’s Nightscape mode. To my bare eyes, the streets and the skies are almost pitch black, but the phone’s camera, under the Nightscape mode, sees another way. Here are samples of night shots I took (note: except for the black line to hide the car’s plate number, I didn’t apply any further processing or modifications to the pictures. They are how they came out straight from the camera phone): Check out sample shots here →

OnePlus 8 Pro vs Galaxy Note 20 Ultra

Here’s the comparison of the Snapdragon OnePlus 8 Pro vs. the Exynos Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra:

Apparently, I made a good decision with my OnePlus 8 Pro. Time for Samsung to drop Exynos altogether. Otherwise, they’ll lose me for good. Watch the full comparative video below: