Palm-podding… Pod-palming… Sunday May 21, 2006
Posted by Maco in Flip-pinoy, I Have A Life!, Tech Ahhh.4 comments
It's G-Day again (as in G for GEEK!). This time it's a joint meeting between the tappers (Palm users) and the click wheelers (Ipod users). The meeting of course is a mayhem of all sorts… well in a geek sort of way of course.
Wearing the whites were the Podders and those in blacks were the Palmers. Since I am a member of both groups (yeah… geek… so geek… rub it in!) and I can't find a zebra shirt to wear for that occasion, I wore blue instead. The meeting was held 4pm at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf at Greenbelt 3. I arrived at 5 pm… Filipino time.
I arrived just in time for the Ques-tune game, a name-that-song game. I joined the group of some Mapalad oldies (meaning not newbies… and … uhmmm.. nevermind), it turns out we were too old for some new songs and we are too forgetful-old in guessing the titles of the old songs. They played some Polish Polka and German Love songs for us to guess the titles… kidding! Hey we did good in the OPM Oldies… ayt!
The joint meetings aim is to extend camaraderie with other tech user groups. We did it once with the Windows Mobile Users group (yup Palm and Windows Mobile users can co-exist in one place), and now with Ipod users community.
What's next? Hmm… we'll wait what is in store for the June meeting… but for now am interested in the GEEK IN THE PINK song of Jason Mraz. 
Meebo : A Place To Talk Wednesday May 17, 2006
Posted by Maco in Tech Ahhh.add a comment
This has actually been around from sometime. It was only recently that I got to know this when I borrowed my sister's company laptop when my home desktop computer was in a comma. Having a need to talk immediately to some online friends, I immediately searched for YM (Yahoo Messenger). It turns out they aren't allowed to use it in their office, YM ports are blocked by their network.
Of course, there's a workaround and that's what Meebo is all about.
Meebo is an online IM service (I think its an AJAX-ian messenger to be exact) which allows you to emulate Yahoo Messenger, MSN Messenger, Jabber/Gtalk and AIM/ICQ right on your browser (meaning passing messages on the regular port your browser is using (bypassing of course the usual IM ports that in most networks are blocked).
Hallelujah! It’s Alive! Sunday May 14, 2006
Posted by Maco in Tech Ahhh.add a comment
Wipppieeee!!! Finally Force is alive again (now I named him Force Phoenix)!
Despite the typhoon yesterday, I single handedly carried my CPU at the nearest PCX for diagnostics (yes… that is what those muscles are really meant for). Of course since I already have the idea that it would be a motherboard problem I braced myself for the price I have to pay to keep my Force alive.
After a few diagnostic tests, I was right, it was the main board and my power supply was causing the problem. Right that instant I bought a new MSI motherboard which is compatible with my old processor and memory modules and a new 350W power supply. I let the technician do the trouble of assembling my CPU, of course for a fee.
In less than 2 hours I shaved of exactly P4000 bucks… darn… I am poor again…
Anyways, I've spent literally the whole stormy saturday in my room, reinstalling my new system. I lost my windows My Document folder where most my picture albums are. I guess I just have to find my backup cd's to restore them. Thank god my MP3 collection is intact. I don't want to loose 2500++ collected songs.
Oh well at least It was worth it I guess. Some people can't leave without some things, and mine is my computer.
www.marcmgeronimo.com Wednesday May 10, 2006
Posted by Maco in Tech Ahhh, Tech Bytes.4 comments
I woke up early this morning and saw this Yahoo! Ad on their site. I grabbed the opportunity of buying my own domain name (it is like having an address in the cyberspace). I bought my own domain name for a cheap price of $3 (Php 150) via credit card. Yehey! … I mean… Yahoo!
Now you can also access this blog thru http://www.marcmgeronimo.com
Hmmm… I need a free web hosting now… nuninu…
Who’s Reading My Blog? Wednesday April 19, 2006
Posted by Maco in Tech Ahhh, Tech Bytes.3 comments
What I love about WordPress is that continually adds more plug-ins and features for WordPress bloggers use for free. Two features I love viewing are the Blog Stats and the recently added Feed Stats.
So who's reading my blog?
My Blog Stats actually shows the number of times my page was accessed during the day and the access history for the last 30 days. It also shows from what url my link was clicked. From the snapshot above my page was clicked from two blogs sites, one from my friend Cherry (sakuramindspeak.blogspot.com) and from my Australian friend Eden (completetosh.blogspot.com).
How are they accessing my blog?
Since there are many ways of accessing blogs (examples are browsers and RSS aggregators), the Feed Stat of WordPress shows these statistics. The contents of the page are self explanatory. =)
I am using Flock browser btw.
Plogit : An Open Source PalmOS Blogging Client Tuesday April 4, 2006
Posted by Maco in Tech Ahhh, Tech Bytes.1 comment so far
I am blogging again… but this time I am tapping endlessly on the screen of my more than a year old Palm Tungsten T3 as I walk through the sidewalks of Ayala Avenue in Makati. Off to gym… but blogging along the way. Comin' thru! Comin' thru!
[This section has been edited using my home PC... and yes, my Smart WIFI connection has been restored... but that is a different story]
In a few weeks I'll be going to my first trip outside the country and as excited as I am of coure I'd like to blog the things that will happen during my trip. I don't know if I'll have a chance to get connected during my trip, I have no laptop… but I have my ever reliable and handy Palm T3. I did some googling again and found a couple of blogging clients for palm mostly commercials and only one Open source – Plogit.
Plogit is an open source PalmOs blogging client. It directly transfers the blog entries you wrote in your Palm directly to your website via Palm connection capabilities (either by Bluetooth LAN Connection or PPP Lan Connection). It can also download some of the blog entries already publised in your blogsite and view or edit it in your Palm. If you have accounts in Blogger, MetaWeblog and MovableType (and a Palm powered PDA of course!) then this is for you… and I'd like to add that it can also be used in WordPress but of course with some limitations.
Plogit's last stable version was released last February 2004 which is quite like centuries ago. It has never been updated again. WordPress came in late and is never meant to be supported by Plogit, but I tried it anyways and it sync-ed seamlessly. It doesn't support other new features of blogging like uploading photos, categories etc. but for plain text blogging functionality it works great, besides you can always edit/format your blog once you have uploaded it to your site.
If you are using a WordPress type of blog just configure it this way :
Blog Type : MovableType
Username : your-username
Password : your-password
Hostname : url of your website without the "http://" (i.e. questionmarc.wordpress.com)
Path to RPC : /xmlrpc.php
Happy blogging!
P.S. : Don't blog while you are walking, besides the weird looks that you will be getting, you might stumble into some inanimate objects along the way i.e. lamp posts! Ouch!
Technosexual Monday March 27, 2006
Posted by Maco in Interesting, Tech Ahhh, Tech Bytes.7 comments
I came across the word "TECHNOSEXUAL" when I was browsing a not so popular local IT magazine early this morning, which was published last October 2005.
According to Wiki :
Technosexual (a portmanteau word combining "technological" and "metrosexual"), previously used to refer to an individual with a sexual attraction to machinery, is a term recently redefined to describe a person (usually a male) with a strong aesthetic sense and a love of gadgets.
So it is basically a combination of vanity and technology. Me, being a gadget freak, a little dandy-ish and vain qualifies me to be one. Well, who isn't?
Hmm… everything is getting sexual these days. People are started to get more and more jaded and will usually "sexuallize" everything they can put their hands on. At first, I thought the word was referring to a type of perversion where a person is sexually stimulized, aroused or gets sexual satisfaction from gadgets… lolz, I guess I know too much.
Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 Tuesday March 21, 2006
Posted by Maco in Tech Ahhh, Tech Bytes.1 comment so far
I just downloaded this today, the Beta 2 version of Microsoft Internet Explorer 7. Here’s a rundown of observation after 10 minutes of tinkering with Microsoft’s new browser :
- As soon as it was installed a new feature (pop-up) will ask you about “phising” security. If you are only an ordinary guy with only dreams of connecting to the internet check your mail and run… you’ll go and say… “What the hell is PHISING?”… if doesn’t pisses you off… continue…
- Graphical interface is simple and more iconic (graphical) in nature. Main toolbars like File, Edit, View etc are missing in in their usual places not until you press… uhmm… F10… or F11… oh… there you go… F9.
- Like what mozilla and other open source browser has started, it now incorporates the Feeds (RSS) feature.
- It now has a search page using Yahoo! Search by default and other search pages such as… uhmm… Yahoo! is also available.
- Tab browsing feature is great, no need to do the File->New Tab options in the toolbar. Instead clicking on the last empty tab on the tab panel, opens up a new empty tab.
- Oooh!!! I love this one, the Quick tabs option, creates a preview (like thumbnails) of all your open tab and display it on a single page. I like this… I like this… paging Flock developers… can you add this one?
- Pop-up blocker is still available together with the “Phising” filter which is a security feature.
Well that is it for now. I love the new Tab features (quick opening of Tab and the Tab preview). The looks can still be improved. I’ll still continue with using my favorite browser for now ( FLOCK! – I never really loved using IE anyways… peace!) and hope IE 7 will come up with a “wow” factor.
Oops… I almost forgot… you need to have a Microsoft Genuine Advantage to install this new browser (I thought this was for free?)…
To download : Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 Home page
PLUG (Philippine Linux User’s Group) 2nd Quarter FREE Seminar Series Thursday March 16, 2006
Posted by Maco in Linux, Tech Ahhh, Tech Bytes.4 comments
The Philippine Linux Users’ Group is inviting everyone to attend the PLUG 2nd Quarter Free Seminar series scheduled on the 8th of April 2006 at Asia Pacific College, Makati City, from 9AM to 5PM.
Tentative topics and speakers include:
1) Ruby on Rails, by Cyril Ucron David. Discussion and application building using the popular Rails framework by 37signals. Cyril Ucron David is one of the founding members of UPStrat Inc, an upstart development firm using Ruby and Rails.
2) GPL 3.0, by Atty. Bong Dizon. Salient points in the newly released GPL 3.0, explained in layman’s terms. Atty. Dizon is a corporate lawyer specializing in copyright and intellectual property laws.
3) Press Relations, by Gary Mercado. How to deal with the press, how to conduct oneself in an interview, how to explain Linux to the layman, and other tips.
4) Technopreneurship, by Jay Bernardo and/or Richie Cruz. How to build a business plan around a technical idea, how to get funding, how to bring it to market. Jay Bernardo and Richie Cruz are professors at AIM.
For more info send mail to : plug@lists.linux.org.ph
