Smart intros new Unli Call & Text Plan 599

So Smart’s putting unlimited calling and texting on their postpaid plan for just Php599 per month with the Unli Call & Text Plan 599.

If you’re not into calling, they also have another Unli Text Plan 299 just for unlimited texting. The plan also comes with a free handset (Samsung E1080 or Nokia C1-01).

The unlimited calls and text are applicable within Smart’s own network (Red, TnT and Smart).

For only P299 a month, UNLI Text Plan 299 is the perfect entry-level postpaid package for heavy texters. Not only does it let users send unlimited local texts to any of the 46.6 million subscribers on Smart, Talk N Text, and Red Mobile’s networks, it also comes with a free Samsung E1080 GSM handset.
For those who are also into calling, UNLI Call & Text Plan 599 takes the UNLI experience a step further with unlimited local calls and a more premium Nokia C1-01 handset.

This doesn’t look to be a permanent plan as it will only be offered until October 7, 2011 at the following Smart branches: SM North EDSA, SM Megamall, Smart Tower Ayala, Robinsons Place Manila, SM South Mall and SM Cebu.

This article originally appeared at - yugatech

Multiply reinvents itself as a digital shopping hub

With Facebook becoming the social networking site of choice among most Filipinos, Multiply found itself needing to change into something different yet useful. One of the major reasons why Multiply is still alive today is its healthy social marketplace and they capitalized on that by giving sellers and buyers the support they need for a an easy yet secure shopping experience.

Recently, Multiply formally opened the country’s biggest digital mall at the Art Center at the 4th Floor of Gateway Mall. The launch event hosted by celebrity host and avid Multiply shopper Lia Cruz allowed guests to digitally shop and browse thousands of Multiply stores with just a click.

Unlike malls that operate within set hours, Multiply is open 24/7 for shoppers to browse its 88,000 stores in the comforts of their own homes. But more than convenience and variety, Multiply also offers a secure, easy-to-follow payment scheme through its partnerships with BDO Virtual Card, BPI, Paypal and G-Cash. To lessen purchasing disputes, Multiply also has a Buyer Protection Program for merchants that protects their customers’ purchases.

Unlike malls that operate within set hours, Multiply is open 24/7 for shoppers to browse its 88,000 stores in the comforts of their own homes. But more than convenience and variety, Multiply also offers a secure, easy-to-follow payment scheme through its partnerships with BDO Virtual Card, BPI, Paypal and G-Cash. To lessen purchasing disputes, Multiply also has a Buyer Protection Program for merchants that protects their customers’ purchases.

What started out as a social networking site evolved into a digital shopping portal, thanks to entrepreneurial Filipinos who utilized the site’s popular Photo Album feature to showcase products and wares that briskly sold to netizens.  Taking its cue from this growing trend, Multiply harnessed the opportunity to rework the site with a fully-functioning e-commerce platform to ensure a safe and hassle-free digital shopping experience for its users. Now with 88,000 categories (and counting), Multiply houses the widest variety of stores in the Philippine on-line world.

Secure and Convenient

Multiply Senior Marketing Manager Paulo del Puerto

Unlike malls that operate within set hours, Multiply is open 24/7 for shoppers to browse its 88,000 stores in the comforts of their own homes. But more than convenience and variety, Multiply also offers a secure, easy-to-follow payment scheme through its partnerships with BDO Virtual Card, BPI, Paypal and G-Cash. To lessen purchasing disputes, Multiply also has a Buyer Protection Program for merchants that protects their customers’ purchases.

Promoting Filipino entrepreneurship

Successful Multiply merchants Alwin Aguirre, Jonie Cheng and Suyen Rivera-Lopez were invited to share their individual stories and how Multiply helped their business grow.

Multiply Merchants Suyen Rivera-Lopez, Jonie Cheng, and Alwin Aguirre

“When I began, I was hesitant on making a big investment because I wasn’t that familiar yet with the mommy and baby market. Starting with little inventory, I now release two collections a year,” said Jonie Cheng who has been running her digital shop, mamaway.multiply.com for two years now. “Our debts from when we started the business have been cleared and we are on track on getting a bigger return on our investments.”

Alwin Aguirre whose site toughbratbags.multiply.com focuses on customized men’s bags agrees that Multiply has been very profitable source of income. He shared, “Since setting up my business in 2008, I was able to get a regular stream of orders and  build a substantial customer base. Because of this, I decided to quit my day job and become a fulltime Multiply merchant.”

Suyen Rivera-Lopez of houseofflair.multiply.com allows people to pre-order the latest products from popular apparel and cosmetics stores in the US without shipping and handling fees since 2009. “I was able to build my brand through Multiply and I feel that my business wouldn’t have done as well if I set up shop elsewhere. My digital store grew mostly through viral networking and word-of-mouth,” she said.

This article originally appeared at - pinoytechblog

Cherry Mobile outs R7 Vigor & R9 Tough phones

Local phone manufacturer Cherry Mobile has introduced two new really tough and rugged dual-SIM phones yesterday — the candybar R7 Vigor and the full qwerty R9 Tough.

The R7 Vigor and R9 Tough phones are designed specifically for rugged environments and can stand a bit more man-handling than any usual handset can take.

The Cherry Mobile R7 Vigor retails for Php1,999.

The Cherry Mobile R9 Touch has a suggested retail price of Php2,399. You should see these handsets in any Cherry Mobile retail stores nationwide. 

This article originally appeared at - yugatech

Nokia is the number one brand in the Philippines

According to a recent survey on consumer preferences conducted by Nielsen, Nokia is the Top Brand in the Philippines. Not the top brand among mobile phones but top brand overall, besting other popular brands such as Jollibee. It may have a dwindling market in North America but Nokia is still quite popular here in the Philippines. Brand loyalty by Filipinos since the days of the 5110 and 3210s.

According to the survey, Nokia is the dominant market leader in the country, besting other top brands that are mostly categorized as Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG). Other brands included in the list are generally local and established brands which are leaders in their respective product categories.

The exclusive Top 10 brands report was compiled by Nielsen to offer insights into the country’s consumer base, as part of a monthly focus on individual markets across the region.

One thousand respondents in randomly selected urban areas nationwide were asked through a face-to-face interview which one (1) brand of a specific product category they consider as their favorite brand. The ranking was then determined through the number of respondents who chose the brand.

The other brand giants that made it in Nielsen’s Top 10 brands list were Nescafe, Lucky Me, Energizer, Jollibee, Selecta, C2, Gatorade, Cobra, and SM Malls.

This article originally appeared at - pinoytechblog

Alcatel One Touch Blaze 990 lands, priced

Announced back in February, the Alcatel One Touch Blaze 990 was only released in the Philippines this July and it looks like it’s being positioned as a mid-range Android smartphone.

We received our review unit of the Alcatel One Touch Blaze 990 early last week but have not un-boxed it until the other day due to a long line of review units we have at the YugaTech HQ.

With some decent specs and screen size, the One Touch Blaze could be an alternative smarpthone for those looking at their first affordable Android phone.

Alcatel One Touch Blaze 990
3.5″ capacitive display @ 320×480 pixels
600 MHz processor
200MB internal storage
up to 32GB via microSD
3G/HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi hotspot
Bluetooth 3.0
5MP autofocus camera w/ LED flash
Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS w/ aGPS support
Li-Ion 1300mAh battery

The Alcatel OT Blaze 990 has a suggested retail price of around Php15k but they’re offering an introductory promo price of just Php9,999. Full review by next week.

This article originally appeared at - yugatech

Smart brings you new postpaid plans for unlimited call and texting

Two new postpaid plans are being offered by Smart which allows you to call and/or text as much as you want within the telco’s network. I think this would be a perfect monthly solution for dual-sim users.

Plan 299

For only P299 a month, UNLI Text Plan 299 is the perfect entry-level postpaid package for heavy texters. Not only does it let users send unlimited local texts to any of the 46.6 million subscribers on Smart, Talk N Text, and Red Mobile’s networks, it also comes with a free Samsung E1080 GSM handset. This is not a consumable plan so calls within the network is P6.50 while outside the network is P7.50. Text to other networks is P1.

Plan 599

For those who are also into calling, UNLI Call & Text Plan 599 takes the UNLI experience a step further with unlimited local calls and a more premium Nokia C1-01 handset. Text messages under this plan to other networks is P1 while calls is P7.50

Both plans are available until October 7, 2011 at the following Smart branches: SM North EDSA, SM Megamall, Smart Tower Ayala, Robinsons Place Manila, SM South Mall and SM Cebu. After that date, it’s still unsure whether Smart will continue offering it to new subscribers so if you really want it better act fast. 

This article originally appeared at - pinoytechblog

Nokia beats Apple, Google as top brand in Philippines

A recent survey by Nielsen and Campaign revealed that Nokia is the top brand in the Philippines, across all markets (not just tech), beating Apple and Google.

The report, published last month (full story requires paid subscription here) puts Nokia as the #1 favorite brand in the country.

The top 10 brands that made it to the list are the ff.

Top 10 Favorite Brands
Nokia – 84%
Nescafe – 80%
Lucky Me – 75%
Energizer – 73%
Jollibee – 65%
Selecta – 57%
C2 – 51%
Gatorade – 51%
Cobra – 49%
SM Malls – 49%

Interestingly, Nokia is also the only tech brand that’s on the list. Not even Apple or Google, which usually get very good ratings in the US, made it to the top 10.

The survey was conducted from a random sample of 1,000 respondents in urban areas in the Philippines.

This article originally appeared at - yugatech

Sony Philippines sets up another center in Davao

It seems that one Sony Centre is not enough for the overwhelming Davaoeno’s clamor for the latest consumer electronic products. Well here it is, Sony Philippines together with Metro Plaza opens its second Sony Centre branch in Davao. Located at the 3rd level of the newly opened Abreeza Mall (along JP Laurel Ave), this specialized store will surely address the fast paced technological needs of more Filipinos.

L-R: Mr. Takao Kuroda, President and Managing Director, Sony Philippines, Ms. Cathy Bangayan, Metro Plaza owner, Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, Davao City, Mr. Reuben Bangayan, Metro Plaza owner during the ribbon cutting of the new Sony Centre in Abreeza Mall, Dava City

The new Sony Centre Abreeza Mall by Metro Plaza holds the complete Sony product line-up of all the models and accessories offered here in the Philippines.  Everyone will be able to touch, try and enjoy the newest technological offerings in the Bravia TVs, Cyber-shot Digital Cameras, Handycam Camcorders, Alpha DSLRs, VAIO computers, WALKMAN mp3 players and even the PlayStation with all its accessories.  They can even experience the 3D, projector and internet capabilities of the new product lines.

“We are really excited to open our second Sony full line-up store in Davao, Sony fans in this province plus its nearby cities can find the perfect home and personal entertainment products through actual first hand experience”, says Twinkle Rafael, Director for Retail Management, Sony Philippines. “That is why all our Sony Centres have an experiential approach with our consumers. We make sure that they find the Sony that best suits their requirements.  Now, we have reached more Filipinos, they can see the brilliance of the Sony technology in terms of 3D entertainment.” 

This article originally appeared at - pinoytechblog

LG does its own BlackBerry imitation with the Optimus Pro

Android smartphones are pre-dominantly full touchscreen-based but there’s still a market for devices having a portrait keyboard. Like BlackBerry or Nokia E-series users who wants to make the switch to Android. Right now, popular Android phones sporting the Blackberry-esque front QWERTY keyboard are the Samsung Galaxy Pro and the recently launched HTC ChaCha.

Right now, LG is joining the fray with their LG Optimus Pro. Not yet launched here but knowing LG’s propensity for keeping up with the big brands, expect to hear about it soon.

The LG Optimus Pro is a QWERTY phone sporting a 2.8″ landscape display and will be happily chugging along with its 800MHz processor. It will come with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and a 3-megapixel camera. Other than that, things are pretty ordinary but check out the concaved keypad which makes for smoother thumb-typing.

This is just a heads up for those who are in the market for mid-range QWERTY Android and we can expect LG to price it very competitively. We’ll give you more details as soon as LG officially launches it here.



This article originally appeared at - pinoytechblog

Razer brings back the Mouse Bungee to gamers

Back in the mid-90′s in the days of Quake when there weren’t a lot of options yet for gaming mice and keyboard, FPS players heavily rely on skill. Then the mouse bungee was created to give similarly skilled players some sort of advantage over the other. Well because getting your mouse cord snag onto something as you line up that headshot is a bit frustrating especially if you end up on the other side of the scoreboard because of it.

We don’t know why it took 15 years later for Razer to bring a mouse bungee in its stable of gaming accessories but here it is. The Razer Mouse Bungee in a more hi-tech and kick-ass design complementing the bad-ass gaming gear your desktop is full of. It is an update to an old-school mouse cord management that Razer acquired.

The Razer Mouse Bungee  will hold your mouse cable in place without causing friction against your tabletop and won’t get in the way of other clutter in your desk. If you think you will feel tension as you move your mouse on a wide arc, well it won’t. It’s like some invisible guy is holding your mouse cord for you and feeding you just the right slack with every mouse movement. Neat huh? It also has a sturdy base so that you won’t accidentally drag the Mouse Bungee which was a problem with the old bungee.

If you’re the competitive hardcore gamer, you can order the Razer Mouse Bungee online for $19.99 and have it delivered to your doorstep (yes, they ship to Philippines) while it makes it way to stores soon. 

This article originally appeared at - pinoytechblog

LG Optimus Pro to challenge Chacha and Galaxy Pro

LG has also announced their very own full qwerty Android phone with the Optimus Pro targeting the same market as the HTC Chacha and the Samsung Galaxy Pro.

At the moment, we have the Galaxy Pro B7150 and the HTC Chacha in this category already available in the market.

LG Optimus Pro C660
800MHz processor
Qualcomm MSM7227T chipset
2.8-inch display @ 240 x 320 pixels
QWERTY keyboard
150MB storage
256MB RAM
up to 32GB via microSD, 2GB included
3G/HSDPA 3.6Mbps
WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, WiFi hotspot
Bluetooth 3.0
3.15 MP fixed-focus camera
GPS w/ aGPS support
Li-Ion 1500mAh
Android OS, v2.3.3

This article originally appeared at - yugatech

HTC ChaCha on SMART, 4 Days Left to Pre-Order

HTC ChaCha, the smart phone designed for Facebook users, is already here in the Philippines.

The phone is exclusively available to SMART subscribers and those who want to pre-order the handset, you still have 4 days to do it. HTC ChaCha will retail at Php 15,500 for prepaid plan, and is free at Plan 1500 or Plan 1000. Plan 1500 comes with unlimited internet while Plan 1000 is capped at 100MB per month.

HTC ChaCha is an Android Gingerbread device featuring HTC Sense UI. It flaunts 2.6-inch touchscreen display and QWERTY keypad. Also under its hood include 800 MHz processor, 512MB ROM, 512MB RAM, microSD storage support up to 32GB, 5MP camera with autofocus and LED Flash, VGA front-facing camera, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, 3G support, Bluetooth 3.0, micro-USB, GPS, and 1250 mAh Li-Ion battery. HTC ChaCha comes in White, Purple, and Black colors.

If you’re the type of user who indulge much activities on Facebook, this phone is for you. If not, better to find another phone at the same price range. I’m sure you’ll find a better deal, just saying.

This article originally appeared at - cebutechblogger

Cherry Mobile Tryo Q60 at 50% Off? No, Not Exactly… Just 1K Less!

Okay. The homegrown brand, Cherry Mobile, will turn 2 come July 16th; and part of its celebration is a 1-day nationwide sale of its triple SIM phone – the Tryo Q60.

Php 4,999? It should be Php 3,499.

A friend of mine actually tipped me off last week about the promo, but decided not to publish anything here ‘coz I believe it doesn’t completely make sense, not unless the poster is revised. Seriously, when consumers are offered with "50% discount" on units at a very short period of time (10AM to 7PM on this case) – it tends to create hype that sometimes lead into frustration.

Straight to the point, I think Cherry Mobile doesn’t have to advertise the forthcoming sale of its Tryo Q60, as if it’s indeed 50% off from the original price. It’s deceptive and misleading. I’m aware that Tryo Q60 once had a price tag of Php 4,999 before, but I’m also aware the price was changed already to just Php 3,499 with FREE back covers. In fact, they posted its latest price list effective June 21st, 2011.

Tryo Q60 Current Price: Php 3,499 with FREE Back Covers

The point is, the cross-marked P4,999 on posters should have been replaced with P3,499. At least that would be fair for consumers, knowing how much exactly they will get in the promo. Am I right?

This article originally appeared at - cebutechblogger

The Samsung Central Station LED monitor helps you organize your workspace

Samsung recently introduced a monitor that will help you organize your workspace by decluttering cables and providing you with extra USB slots built-in on the monitor.

The Samsung Central Station C23A750X is not just your ordinary 23″ LED monitor. It has a docking base that acts as a central hub for all your devices. Imagine this scenario, whenever you bring your laptop back to your workspace, you connect all sorts of devices back to it: monitor, mouse, keyboard, external drive, etc.. And when you prepare to bring your laptop somewhere else, you will be leaving dangling cables alll over your desk.

What if your monitor can take the burden of connecting and disconnecting those devices for you? That’s what the Samsung Central Station monitor does. It has USB ports where you can connect your keyboard, mouse, disk drives and it even has a LAN port to connect to your network. What you need to connect to your laptop is the small wireless USB adapter, so that when you wish to use your devices with your laptop or  all you need to do is bring it close to the monitor. And when you want to disconnect, simply walk away.

The Central Station also has USB 3.0 ports for faster file transfer. With the LAN port, your external drives connected to it can also act as a networked file storage. Then you can also use the USB ports as a charger for your phones or iPod even when the monitor is turned off. It has an audio out by the way so go ahead and plug your speakers onto it.

This 23-inch LED monitor comes with the usual features as other Samsung monitors. It has a 1920 x 1080 resolution, a mega dynamic contrast ratio, a wide 170°/160° Viewing Angle and Samsung’s MagicColor, MagicAngle, MagicBright Picture Controls.

The Samsung Central Station C23A750X monitor, which will be available in August, will retail for Php19,990 and comes with a 3-year standard warranty.

Samsung Central Station C23A750X Specs:

• 23″ Screen Size
• 1920×1080 Resolution
• 2ms (GTG) Response Time
• Mega ∞ Dynamic Contrast Ratio
• 170°/160° Viewing Angle
• Wireles connection to PC
• Wireless range 5 ft.
• Dual-hinge height adjustable design
• VGA (D-Sub), HDMI
• 4 USB device inputs for docking mode (2x USB 2.0, 2x USB 3.0/2.0
• 1 USB 3.0/2.0 link to PC for wired docking mode
• Megabit Ethernet LAN
• Stereo audio out (3.5 mm)
• Samsung MagicColor, MagicAngle, MagicBright Picture Controls
• SRP: Php19,900 by August 2011

This article originally appeared at - pinoytechblog

BMW M5 2012 runs Twitter and Facebook Apps

Was watching Top Gear UK (S17, Ep3) last night when they featured the new 2012 BMW M5 and one of the hosts mentioned the car also runs Facebook and Twitter apps.

So I pulled up the BMW website and downloaded the M5 catalogue but there was nothing there. Looked for some photos of the interior but coud not find any that shows FB or Twitter on the dashboard screen.

The press release does mention it though:

Extensive range of driver assistance systems and mobility services from BMW ConnectedDrive unmatched by competitors in this segment and beyond: M-specific Head-Up Display (standard), Adaptive Headlights for standard xenon light, High-Beam Assistant, BMW Night Vision with pedestrian recognition, Lane Change Warning System, Lane Departure Warning System, Surround View, Speed Limit Info, internet usage, extended integration of smartphones and music players, real-time traffic information and apps for receiving Web Radio and using Facebook and Twitter.

In any case, I’m sure it’s there (along with the GPS navigation system) — it’s not just highlighted that much — which makes me wonder if this is the first sedan (and sports car) to have FB and Twitter on board.

The BMW M5 was announced in June 15, 2011 and is powered by an S360 twin-turbo V8 engine capable of chugging up to 540HP and runs from zero to 100km/ph in 4.4 seconds. The BMW M5 will sell for an estimated Php6.2 million before taxes. 

This article originally appeared at - yugatech

Learn the basics of iOS app development from Power Mac Center for FREE

Wanna learn how to develop apps or games for the iOS but don’t know where to start? Well you’re in luck because Power Mac Center is giving a seminar on the basics of iOS app development in their Greenbelt 3 branch on July 23, Saturday, 6 PM.

Speaking would be Ramon “Bong” Pastor, Managing Partner of Numlock Business Solutions Co., which is a mobile development company in the Philippines specializing in the development of applications for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad (iOS) and Android devices. They’re reponsible for the mobile app called StreetSmart (iOS and Android) which allows users to view and share traffic updates in Metro Manila on a real-time basis.

Participants will get to hear topics covering the basics of iOS development:

• Intro to Cocoa Touch & iOS SDK
• Intro to Objective C
• Intro to Frameworks: Foundation & UIKit
• Intro to Tools: Xcode 4

For those who are interested, you can e-mail training@powermaccenter.com for a slot. Remember, it’s next Saturday, July 23 at Greenbelt 3, 6 PM. 

This article originally appeared at - pinoytechblog

Does your Galaxy S2 have that yellowish tint too?

Learned about numerous reports of the yellowish tint on the display of the Samsung Galaxy S2 a couple of weeks ago but since I no longer have my review unit with me, I wan’t able to personally check it out and thought it was just an isolated case.

However, since the release of the SGS2 by Globe and after the 300 pre-ordered units were shipped out last July 2, more people have been reporting the problem.

A very long thread on TipidPC discusses the issue here, as well as in another local forum over at Istorya.net 

One of our readers has been following this issue very closely and adds:

My personal testing and store scouting gave me an insight that all units are affected some severely others not, so far I’ve test over 20 units and I’ve found only one that barely affected.
The artificial conditions like darkroom or zero brightness or even grey screens were not required during my testing as they were very evident in white images (unless its over 50% brightness) very noticeable on the virtual keypad, quite annoying in movies actually since my 2nd unit has this issue quite severely, apps/websites that use white or grey colors on the left side will show this issue.
Other screen related issues are random white spots on grey colors, visible dark rings on light colors, strong red tinting almost over the entire red screen and massive color shift due to the glass coating (rare issue but I had this on my first phone).
I’ve tested/seen over 20 units from different stores, out of 20, maybe 6-7 have minimal yellow tinting.
- Earl Benson

I am told Samsung Philippines have been informed of this issue but they have not publicly responded nor acknowledge it as such.

In any case, if you have a Galaxy S2 now, do share with us if you also see that yellowish tint on your device. 

This article originally appeared at - yugatech

The red security box donates Php4M to selected schools in the country

Yesterday, Watchguard in partnership with Lamco International and iPlus Intelligent Network, Inc. donated PhP4 Million worth of network security products to selected schools in the Philippines.

In an exclusive media briefing held in Makati City, Philippines, Watchguard VP for International Sales Terry Haas personally turned over Firebox X55e-w firewall to the recipients. The Firebox X55e-W is an entry level firewall that can handle 10 – 15 users; and it is the wireless version. The box retails at about PhP50,000.00 according the representative of iPlus.

The schools in Metro Manila get the first batch of the donations which includes De Lasalle Univeristy, San Beda College, Technological University Of The Philippines, University of the East and University of Makati among others.

Other schools throughout the Philippines will also benefit from this donation, the next batch will be done in Cebu and Davao City.

Here’s the quick specs of Watchguard X55e-W:

WatchGuard Model	FireboxEdge X55e-W
Ideal For	Branch offices and single-location businesses with up to 50 users requiring an affordable, reliable appliance capable of fully integrated unified threat management.
Hardware
Model Upgradeable	N/A
Interfaces	6: 10/100 1: DB-9 Serial802.11b/g Wireless
DMZs	1
Security
Application Proxies	HTTP, HTTPS, SMTP, FTP, POP3, SIP, H.323, TFTP
Intrusion Prevention (DOS, DDOS, PAD, port scanning, spoofing attacks, address space probes, and more)
Wireless Guest Services	802.11b/g, WPA, WPA2, WEP
User Authentication with transparent Windows authentication
Performance
Firewall Throughput	100 Mbps
VPN Throughput	35 Mbps
Concurrent Sessions	10,000
VPN Tunnels
Branch Office VPN Tunnels (Max.)	25
Mobile VPN with SSL Incl/Max	55/55
Mobile VPN with IPSec Client Licenses (Bundled)	5
Mobile VPN with IPSec Tunnels (Max.)	55
VPN Authentication
Management
Centralized (Multibox) Management. Optional licenses enable Drag and Drop VPN and one-touch Edge updates.
Networking Features
Dynamic NAT
Static NAT
One to One NAT
VLAN	50
Policy-Based Routing
WAN Failover
Multi-WAN Load Balancing
Server Load Balancing
Traffic Management/QoS
High Availability (Active/Active) (Active/Passive)	N/A
Dynamic Routing	N/A
VoIP (SIP and H.323) Support
Additional Security Subscriptions
spamBlocker with Virus Outbreak Detection	3-Year UTM Bundle Service Subscription
Gateway AV/IPS with Virus Quarantine	3-Year UTM Bundle Service Subscription
WebBlocker with HTTPS URL filtering	3-Year UTM Bundle Service Subscription
LiveSecurity Service	3-Year UTM Bundle Service Subscription

This article originally appeared at - pinoytechblog

LinkedIN IPO pumps $9.8 Billion Market Cap

The social network for professionals, LinkedIN, was listed yesterday at the New York Stock Exchange and has now grown to $9.8 billion market cap from an expected $3 billion prior to the listing.

The starting share price of LinkedIN was among the biggest in Web 2.0 history, near that of Google’s back in 2004.

Having been a member of LinkedIN back since 2003, I find it amazing that the site has endured the drought of the first Web 2.0 wave. LinkedIN came out around the time of Friendster, MySpace, Digg and Technorati.

LinkedIN recently reached 100 million users and the CEO of the company emailed the first million users back in March, including me.

Dear Abe,
I want to personally thank you because you were one of LinkedIn’s first million members (member number 326,333 in fact!*). In any technology adoption lifecycle, there are the early adopters, those who help lead the way. That was you.
We hit a big milestone at LinkedIn this week when our 100 millionth member joined the site.
Reid Hoffman
Co-founder and Chairman
LinkedIn

A recent comScore study reveals that while Facebook has the biggest online penetration in the Philippines, LinkedIn on the other hand only had under 2% share.

Anybody out there on LinkedIN and was among the first millionth member? 

This article originally appeared at - yugatech

Globe tightens fair-use policy by implementing a 1GB/day cap

Back in December, NTC along with local telcos proposed to cap the bandwidth on internet broadband to improve their service in terms of speed and uptime. It was met with a lot of objections from consumers and this prompted NTC to hold a public forum in January that resulted to the scrapping of the idea.

However, we just learned that Globe recently implemented a 1GB daily bandwidth cap on their broadband services as part of their fair-use policy. This fair-use policy is not new to mobile broadband subscribers especially prepaid ones who uses unlimited deals. In fact there’s already an 800MB daily bandwidth cap in their Unlisurf promo, but that’s fairly understandable since mobile internet is commonly used for light and personal consumption.

This 1GB cap is for all their broadband services to eliminate abusive subscribers who uses their network bandwidth to download pirated content such as softwares and videos. The problem here is that those who use the internet to download legal stuff such as distros and legally paid softwares/games, view YouTube HD content or those from a large household will surely be affected.

Globe says that about 5% of their subscribers uses 80% of the network’s bandwidth and the 95% of the remaining users are left with only 20% of their capacity.

“Globe implemented a policy that promotes a more responsible way of using the Internet that will ensure fair and optimum usage of its broadband services across all subscribers,” the company said.
The usage cap, it said, would affect only users who download data in excess of 1 gigabyte a day, or the equivalent of about 250 MP3 songs.

1 GB daily is just not enough. For personal use maybe but once you hit two or three concurrent users, that 1 GB will easily be consumed. This would greatly affect gamers who legally download content online (e.g. Steam users) or those who wish to download huge iPad games from the App Store. Or how about those freelance designers that deals with high-res content and constantly upload them to the cloud for storage or submission.

There will be a lot of unhappy Globe subscribers. I’m thinking that Globe broadband internet will only be the home of casual internet users or for single-use only.

How do you think Globe could fix this? Increase the cap limit? Bucket pricing? Remove the cap altogether? Do share your ideas.

This article originally appeared at - pinoytechblog

MetroDeal buys Bigalaang Lakad Fan Page?

New group-buying site, Metro Deal, buys popular Facebook Fan Page of “Buti Pa Ang Biglaang Lakad Natutuloy; Ang Planado, Hindi!” with over 500,000 fans. Ok we’re not really sure if there’s a sale but MetroDeal has already taken control of the FB Page since it launched.

The biggest challenge for new group-buying sites is attracting new email subscribers, Twitter followers and Facebook Fans. The usual approach is to do ad campaigns on FB, Google Adwords and other ad networks which is very expensive, just like what Ensogo did.

Buying an already popular FB Fan Page is definitely a cheaper and much faster alternative. For how much was the 500,000-strong Fan Page was bought is another question that remains to be answered. 

This article originally appeared at - yugatech

Globe HSPA+ Speed Test Demo

Earlier I went to Heritage Hotel in Pasay where Globe did a demo of their HSPA+ network. The HSPA+ network is technically considered 4G already since it provides up to 6 – 7 times speed improvement over the current 3G network. Globe said on its initial state, it can do a max of 21 Mbps and upgraded version can do twice that speed and so on for each upgrade. Just like Tower Defense games.

In a simple sense, it’s basically an upgraded version of existing 3G networks so current 3G subscribers near an HSPA+ network would also feel a slight improvement on their speed.

Currently there’s only one HSPA+ base station in Pasay City and that’s in Heritage Hotel (EDSA corner Roxas Blvd.) so we did the demo there. There’s also one base station in Makati but maybe it’s too congested with 3G subscribers that’s why we opted for Pasay.

Anyhow on to the speed test demo. Here are the Speedtest results of laptops running on your current Globe Tattoo stick, a SmartBro stick, a Sun Cellular stick and a Globe HSPA+ stick which is soon to be available.

Regular Globe Tattoo stick within an HSPA+ covered area registered 2.55Mbps

Smart Bro stick got 1.11 Mbps (not bad)

Sun Wireless stick got 0.83Mbps

Globa HSPA+ stick gets 7.51Mbps

7.51 Mbps download speed on a mobile dongle. How does that reflect to an actual torrent download? Here’s uTorrent downloading a 914MB movie.

Download speed is hitting 517 kB/s which translates to around 5Mbps. This means torrent downloading of standard definition 700MB movies will only take around 30 minutes or less (depending on seeder quality of course).

The real strength of such speed is on concurrent downloads. See what happens if you download a dozen files all at once in uTorrent.

Click to view a larger version

Total download speed is hitting 1.4 MB/s. And in your Globe Tattoo launcher you will see that it translates to around 10.86 Mbps which is way faster than the SpeedTest result.

Download heaven don’t you think? Well you have to consider the location. We’re under a freaking base station and there’s probably only one HSPA+ user (which was us) and a handful of 3G users in the area so there’s a lot of bandwidth we can play with.

Pricing and availability for HSPA+ plans and devices are still on the works so we don’t have info on that yet but it will probably be finalized next month. We asked about bandwidth capping or throttling for HSPA+ and they can’t say anything concrete about it.

What Globe is saying is that with the roll-out of these HSPA+ stations, current 3G users will expect an improvement in service without having to upgrade devices nor incur additional costs or switch plans. Everything is as is including the 800MB daily cap for prepaid SuperSURF subscribers.

Any questions? I will be creating an FAQ regarding this HSPA+ but I still have to verify it with Globe personnel. 

This article originally appeared at - pinoytechblog

Disputing Unauthorized Transactions on Paypal

So my Paypal account was hacked at exactly 10:01am this morning. In the many years that I have been doing online transactions, I’ve gotten used to frauds and hacks but this one from Paypal (Unauthorized Transaction) is the biggest so far.

Just woken up before 10am this morning and was checking the blog when I received an email alert from Paypal (thanks to the GMail pop-up alert plugin). The heading says something like “Password Reset” so I immediately logged into my email and check what it was.

Realizing that someone tried to submit a “Forgot Password” request, I went to Paypal and logged in. After 2 failed attempts, I concluded someone got in and changed my password. But how? First came to mind was one of the email accounts attached to my Paypal account was hacked and used to reset the password.

Knowing that my GMail is still working (and is my primary Paypal account), I hurriedly went and did another password reset. Good thing I had my bank account details ready.

After being able to log back again, I found that funds were transferred to another account (that was fast! it only took him minutes). Unfortunately, it was a sizable amount.

The first thing I did was remove all the other email accounts linked to Paypal so the hacker can’t request another password change. I also changed my passwords and details.

I then filed for Dispute with Paypal. I thought this would be easy and will be resolved in my favor. Besides, I am the one claiming the transaction was un-authorized — the burden is on the recipient to prove otherwise. I had confidence it will be alright and done with.

Around 30 to 45 minutes later, I received an email from Paypal stating the transaction is valid. What? The recipient had a Non-US, Un-verified account. Paypal did not give any details why they decided against the claimant (me) and approved the transaction and closed the dispute.

There was no other way to re-open the case so I tried calling Paypal US but the Web PIN they gave me doesn’t work and I could not get thru.

Still thinking of ways to re-open that dispute. Will update once I get things cleared.

Update: Hacker got back again using password reset. They also changed my primary email so I am locked out now (it looks like they added a new email, onlinebuys@yahoo.com, and then made it primary email then deleted my email accounts). Already send an email to PayPal support, DMed @AskPaypal and tried calling the US number many times to no avail.

Update 2: I believe it was my fault that I did not immediately changed my GMail account. It was the one that was compromised although the password on the email was not changed the first time around that’s why I did not suspect the initial breach to come from there. I have since added the 2-step authentication method which also requires a PIN sent thru my mobile phone via SMS.

I also called my credit card company and asked if there were any charges passed on thru Paypal and glad that there have been none. I alerted them of the possibility though and they suggested I monitor it from time to time.

Update 3: After a few exchanges with @askpaypal over Twitter, a Paypal US rep called me last night over the phone and helped me restore my account. I have since gained back my original Paypal account. The 2 fund transfers made are also now under investigation.

Update 4: I just got an email stating that my claim for un-authorized transfer has been denied due to lack of evidence. I thought that after establishing that my account was hacked, it would have been evidence enough. I’m making an appeal.

Update 5: Both of the un-authorized transfers have now been reversed and everything is back to normal. Thanks to Paypal for the quick response and to all those who extended the help (local PR, agency, fellow tweeps and especially @askpaypal). That’s 32 hours from incident to resolution. 

This article originally appeared at - yugatech