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.

The New KFC Queuing System

For dinner today, I went to the nearest branch of KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) to indulge myself in my favorite large Hotshots plus rice. As it always happened in any KFC I was expecting a long queue at the order counter, but to my surprise this time there was none.

It appears they employed a new queuing system so that 3 or 4 counters are only taking orders while another dedicated counter for serving them. And I believe they got it right. Read more to know why »

What Goes into the Minds of Grandmasters?

A Grandmaster makes the best moves because they are based on what he wants the board to look like ten or twenty moves in the future. This doesn’t require the calculation of countless twenty-move variations. He evaluates where his fortunes lie in the position and establishes objectives. Then he works out the step-by-step moves to accomplish those aims.

— Garry Kasparov (on his book “How Life Imitates Chess: Making the Right Moves, from the Board to the Boardroom)