Technobiography: December 2004

Merry Christmas! G-mail Invites for grabs!

Merry Christmas! 'Tis the season to be giving! A bit late, but hey, it's Christmas everyday!

If you want a G-mail invite, post your name and email add at the comments area of this post.

While supplies last.

- Edwin

Audio Blog - Greeting from Christmas Past 1980

Check out this audio blog from way back 1980. A Christmas greeting captured on casette tape by a kulit kid.

It turns out I must have been kind of tech savvy when I was five years old, not to mention musically inclined too!

My pamangkins from Australia, Andrei (7yrs) and Cali (5yrs), entertained me with this sound clip when I caught up with them in Baguio. Maya says the voice in the audio clip sounds like Andrei.

Thanks dad for keeping this casette tape intact. Not many people have a record of their childhood voice.

To all, Merry Christmas and keep the Child in you alive!

Edwin

OT: and then I babbled ...

I have a couple of tech blogs to write pa. Among them

All that SIMs (Three part series)
Textiquette
Broadband over Power Line (BPL)
Dummy for the Snatcher
Merry Christmas, Darling

But I digress a while and allow myself to babble ... just a few tiny babbles...

I couldn't deny that I'm rather pleased about getting a citation from Philippine Blog Awards. But it also made me re-think what my blog and my blogging is all about.

Is it still fun? Shouldn't I be doing other things? Isn't my blog too informational? Isn't my writing too shallow? (note to self: be good to urself, bro! lighten up!)
I went blog hopping and have seen how much alive and kick-ass the pinoy blogosphere is. Which makes me agree with ka-awardee Batjay of KwentongTambay that many other bloggers deserve the award.
I observed how prolific many bloggers are. Shouldn't I be as prolific? But isn't that contrary to my idea of "Blog, don't clog"?

Who is to judge whether my blogging is meaningful?

Well, first - myself. Second - you, my readers.

Is my blogging meaningul to me? Is my blogging meaningful to you? And to fellow bloggers, is your blogging meaningful to you?
I also observed how humor draws crowds to a blog. Just take a look at Chona in the City and KwentongTambay. They've got a huge following as shown by the comments from their visitors. Kainggit! Mga iba kasi diyan, di nag-susulat, eh! (note to schizophrenic self: makisama ka naman!)
And then I still envy bloggers who are able to write about different themes. Like blogging veteran SassyLawyer and kaibigang Arnold Gamboa.

I'd love to write more about non-tech stuff without having to label it OT (Off-Topic). I'm still wishing blogger could catch up soon with TypePad and WordPress as far as features are concerned. I don't have the time nor energy to migrate.
And then I stumbled upon Wilson Ng's BizDrivenLife. Wonderful writing! Very insightful. Let me share excerpts of e-mails I sent to Wilson:
Hi Wilson,

"Pwede ba kitang maging idol?"

hehehe. isn't that enough to disarm you? ;-)

my brother and i read through your blog last night. ang dami naming nakuhang insights. thus, having even more insights of our own after reading your articles.

After going through a couple of blogs since yesterday (wanted to see how the pinoy blogosphere is doing), i'm thinking of moving on to more insightful blogs similar to yours. Ang galing eh. I feel it would be more gratifying than the present theme of my blog .... (another one i find insightful is http://haringliwanag.pansitan.net/ by jim paredes)

I'll be a regular visitor at your blog. Looking forward to more reflections!

Mabu-hey!

edwin
Excerpts from Wilson's reply:
Hi Edwin,

Thanks for your note. I learned a lot also from your blog, particularly cell phones, especially sun's offerings. We currently added 6 sun numbers to our office so some of us could call each other more often ...

Also thanks for Jim's links. I read his articles on the mag, and he is a great guy.

;-) Am glad may napulot din si Wilson sa blog ko.
So here's the babble:
I'll take a little time out from blogging on Technobiography. This is the right time for me to ease up on "extra-curricular" and focus more on my "day job" - learning. And I hope this tiny break I'm taking will lead to more insightful articles when I do come back.
Ang sarap siguro to be able to write like Wilson or Jim or Chona or BatJay. But of course, we start from where we are. We start from our reality, what we are now, where we are now.
Thus, instead of dreaming of being able to write what I cannot write yet(!), I'll start "slow by slow" (ika nga ng aking kuya). I'll start from Na-gets ("nuggets").
I invite everyone to visit my other blog, a little collection of na-gets. Insights and thoughts I pick up from school, from kids, from books, from life.

Thanks to Maya for all your patience. You make me less abnormal! :-D

Thanks to all readers and regular visitors. You know who you are. I'll be back on Technobiography by January... Or until I couldn't help but post! Ha! ;-)

In the meantime, have some na-gets!

Maligayang Pasko!

- Edwin
http://technobiography.blogspot.com -- Technobiography by Ka Edong

Converged Machines (Part II) - ec as wan tu tri

Another converged machine brings together cell card numbers and PINs of various pre-paid services into just one gadget. At 7-11 stores, you can purchase pre-paid cell"cards" of Globe, Smart, Sun Cellular and PLDT Teletipid/Telesulit...

Normally the PINs of these pre-paid cards are printed on plastic cards which you need to scratch to reveal the pertinet numbers. But with 7-11's ecPay, you receive a piece of paper which has the PIN printed on it. The paper is printed only upon your purchase. Numbers are hidden in between two sheets of paper.

image borrowed from ecPay without permission

Bottom-line: with ecPay's system, ANY pre-paid card could be peddled through 7-11. It's just a matter of integrating with the ecPay system.

Thus, ideally and theoretically, even internet cards, Level-up or Ragnarok game cards, any call card can be sold through the ecPay system.

For that matter, even G-Cash "cash-in" numbers can be sold there too. I give the 7-11 cashier P500 plus P10 service charge, the cashier gives me an ecPay receipt containing G-Cash numbers. I key in the number and PIN and viola! I've got G-cash!

That's G-Cash "money changing" without any additional POS, without any additional cashier cellphone nor any additional infrastructure.

- edwin
thinking out loud, blogging through my ayala center playground

Read the ups and downs of G-Cash's existing cash-in procedure G-Cash - my Accidental Friday G-mick (Part II)
Read: Converged Machines Part I
Search Technobiography: G-Cash
Visit: www.ecpay.com.ph (images borrowed from ecPay without permission)

Oooooppppssss!!!!

THE MOST INFORMATIVE BLOG SITE FOR 2004 : Technobiography.blogspot.com

I deny any wrongdoing!

Visit:

THE BEST BLOG SITE FOR 2004 : Kutitots.com -- great work!
THE BEST BLOGGER FOR 2004 : Kwentongtambay.nicanordavid.com -- hilarious!
THE MOST INFORMATIVE BLOG SITE FOR 2004 : Technobiography.blogspot.com -- ehem ...
www.philippineblogawards.com

Thanks, Philippine Blog Awards!
Wasn't expecting it. I-fe-frame ko ang premyo na yan!

Mabu-hey! ;-)

- edwin

Read: Technobiography - Finalist in the Philippine Blog Awards 2004, "Blog, don’t clog, says IT enthusiast" (Inq7.net)

Text Relief Drive - Text Donate (addendum)

(Sequel to: Text Relief Drive)

It could be formatted this way:

Text "Donate (Organization/Company Name) (Your Name)" and send to 12*4

Example. from my cellphone, I send:

Donate AirfagevClub Edwin

I receive:

Thank you Edwin for donating to the typhoon victims. Proceeds of your text-donation will help in the relief operations for the typhoon victims.

AirfagevClub's total text-donations as of 2 Dec 11:41pm: 13,392 text-donations. You can text-donate as much as you want.

Tell your friends to text-donate too. Tell them to text: "Donate AirfagevClub (Your Name)" and send to 12*4

Do you think the Telcos have the guts to implement this? Tell it to their CEOs.

- Edwin

Read about how Airfagev and other communities "raised funds" to support their Community for the Web Awards: Web Awards People's Choice - Vote ko 'to

Text Relief Drive

Here's an initiative I would love to see from our Telcos:

Buti ka pa, pa-text-text lang.
(insert picture of typhoon victims)

Help the victims of typhoon Winnie and Yoyong.

Text "Donate (your name)" and send to 12*4. (P2.50 per text)

Proceeds from each text message you send will help in the relief operations for victims of the typhoon.

You can also send your donations via G-Cash to cell number 0917-12345*7 or SmartMoney M-Com number 8353-1234-567*9.
Help is just a text away.

What will it take to see such an initiative from our telcos?

- edwin
cold stormy night at malakas
tnx to keric for the idea

Read: Text Relief Drive - Text Donate (addendum)
Visit: ‘Yoyong’ slams Catanduanes (Inq7.net)

Our weekend eSkype

I just tried out Skype for the first time and just for the heck of it.

Maya and I were at an internet cafe the other day to check mails. The cafe had a 512Kbps DSL connection, so I thought I'd download and install Skype.

Six minutes and a few minor tricks later (the PCs had software that tried to prevent users from installing new software), I was on Skype.

But who to call, who to call? I was sooo close to the answer - Maya! That's right, I'll make an IDD VOIP call to Maya through Skype! Brilliant!

Of course Maya was right beside me, but that's beside the point. :-p

Skype's interface was sleek and intuitive. The audio quality was good. No crackling, no perceptible lag, no breaks, no echoing. The conversation was clear both ways. I'm not sure though if the good quality audio was because of our proximity - 1.5 feet away.
Skype VOIP technology relies on peer-to-peer connections with PC's of other Skype members. Thus, it is conceivable that a Skype call to, say, Sydney might not be as clear as my call to my seatmate. That call to Sydney might need to pass through more than 5 other PC's to connect the calling parties.

I tried to find Warren Mira and kaibigang Nocs via Skype. Wasn't able to track them down. Another time, perhaps.

- edwin
Baguio

Read: Skype - Sky's the Limit on IDD calls
Visit: Skype