I’m looking for a sleek, minimalist timer app for iPhone that keeps the display from dimming or turning off completely while in use. Of course, I need to check how much time I have left when answering test questions.
Obviously, the stock Clock app won’t cut it as the display turns off automatically after a few minutes, and I need to unlock the screen everytime I need to check the time.
Suggestion, anyone?
Often you hear or read comments from bashers and non-bashers alike about how expensive Apple products are especially when there are new products released, just like the recent iPhone 5s. So the question is, does Apple really employ premium materials to their products that they’re worth that much?
I have a 3-year old, network-locked, 32GB (base model) iPhone 4 and a 2-year old unlocked Samsung Galaxy S II (SGS2). Both were selling at the same price level when they came out (~PHP32K). If you look closely at the spec sheets of both, SGS2 is the clear winner being a more recent smartphone and with a dual-core processor (see the comparison at the GSMArena). But today I can easily sell the iPhone 4 for PHP10,000 (~US$240) while the SGS2 for only PHP5,000 (~US$120). There goes your premium, ladies and gentlemen!
iPhone 5S officially announced!
Everytime there’s a new Apple product announcement, I can’t wait to read all the Apple-bashing comments by haters and trolls alike. It’s becoming a habit of mine. After all, you can’t read them at other new product announcements, right?
Subscribing to a new Globe Telecom postpaid plan today has never been complicated. Globe is trying to project that you are getting value for your money by making you go through their slow (and I mean slow and painful loading of their website) process of choosing the plan, gadget, combos, etc. The sad truth is — that is not the case.
If we are to simplify Globe’s postpaid plan and compare it to Smart Communications’, let’s take a look at the table below, assuming we are to get an iPhone 5 with 16GB capacity at both Plan 999:
| Globe | Smart | |
|---|---|---|
| Device | iPhone5 16GB | iPhone5 16GB |
| Monthly MSF* | ₱ 999 | ₱ 999 |
| Cash Out* | ₱ 19,200 | ₱ 19,000 |
| Free Data | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free Calls | nil | 40 mins. |
| Free SMS | nil | 100 texts |
| Remaining Consumable* | ₱ 101 | nil |
* In Philippine Peso
Globe uses Peso Value as unit of measure to be allocated/amortized among the cost of the gadget (e.g., iPhone 5), combos, and consumables. Yet, it appears (from the table above) that you really are not getting value for your peso.
Following the news about the Flickr redesign and 1TB of free storage, I tried logging in into my Flickr photostream using my Yahoo! credentials (note: I haven’t been logging in into Yahoo! that much recently) to check out the new interface. But upon log in I was greeted with this CAPTCHA verification:
AllThingsD reports: Yahoo! Board to Meet Sunday to Consider $1.1 Billion, All-Cash Deal to Acquire Tumblr.
I’d say no to this deal! Remember what happened to Delicious and Flickr, among others, after they were acquired by Yahoo!? Can you imagine if the next time you login to Tumblr you are greeted with a Yahoo! account authentication? I can’t!
UPDATE: Yahoo Tumblrs for Cool: Board Approves $1.1 Billion Deal as Expected
It appears that the deal indeed went through. But I have to wait for the changes before any drastic action is taken to my Tumblr blog.
From the Google Official Blog:
We launched Google Reader in 2005 in an effort to make it easy for people to discover and keep tabs on their favorite websites. While the product has a loyal following, over the years usage has declined. So, on July 1, 2013, we will retire Google Reader. Users and developers interested in RSS alternatives can export their data, including their subscriptions, with Google Takeout over the course of the next four months.
I’m an ardent user of Google Reader. I use it everyday to keep abreast of the latest news, from general news, tech, photography, videography, basketball, chess, personal financing, investing, etc. I access it directly from the web, or using desktop and mobile clients. The sync function facilitates tracking of read and unread articles across the various platforms.
I’ve come to know about feed aggregators when I came across the web-based service called ‘Netvibes‘ back in 2005. I’ve used that service since to follow my favorite blogs (which were few then) and also to discover new blogs. Until I came along Google Reader — same concept but carries the Google brand, a mark of a service that is here to stay.
Apparently, it was a grave mistake. Keep on Reading »
There are a lot of metrics to measure smartphone dominion among different smartphone brands and operating systems. Survey organizations use sales figures, net profit, internet traffic, apps ecosystem, etc., even broken down into different demographics and/or geography, to demonstrate the different systems’ leadership above the rest.
But, really, if you are going to be realistic about it, try going to restaurants, malls, and/or coffee shops around the metro, and observe which smartphones are predominantly in the hands of other people around you, you’ll find that these statistics are not quite accurate.
You can’t!
Not in the settings, not in the available view options, no — nothing.
Users need folders and subscriptions sorted alphabetically because that’s the optimal way to organize them — especially when you switch back and forth between the web-based Google Reader and the Reeder for Mac (Reeder). Google Reader folders and subscriptions are already sorted alphabetically, so getting around favorite feeds is a snap. Reeder’s, on the other hand, are sorted, I believe, by when the feeds were added and the folders created.
There are alternative Google Reader desktop apps for Mac — Caffeinated is a contender. I installed the trial version of this app, and tested until my trial period ran out. Caffeinated organizes folders and subscriptions alphabetically — fine, but it takes a while to update/sync feeds, particularly read and unread items. Font styles and sizes can be modified via Themes, but there are limited choices, as compared to Reeder. Worst of all, the app crashes rather more frequently, and at times when it manifests its erratic behavior, feeds are misplaced in different folders. In short — unreliable.
And I can’t afford paying for another Google Reader app that does almost entirely the same thing.
I posted a review of the Reeder in the Mac App Store, hopefully the developer/s will heed my pique. I also sent an email, tweet, but no response so far.
So I guess I’m stuck with the Reeder for Mac.
GeekyNights is a great podcast/vidcast about all things tech, gadgetry and other geekiness.
The problem is that their uploads to iTunes is so late their videos have become so irrelevant if you follow it from there.
Tech is a fast-paced game that if your latest update is about the release of the recent gadgets that were actually released 3-4 weeks ago, then what you have there is history already.
And you don’t actually expect us to catch your live broadcasts every time, right? And yeah, I can just watch the latest videos from UStream, but then the resolution is bad and I can’t play it on my TV.
