ARM announces 2.5GHz Cortex-A15 MPCore (Dual Core Chip)

If you’re familiar with the 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 that powers the Samsung Wave, Galaxy S and iPhone 4 including the new Archos Android tablets, then it’s going to be easy to imagine what a dual Cortex-A15 running up to 2.5GHz would look like.

Samsung also announced a few days ago that they’re shipping their new dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 1GHz starting 4th quarter of this year.

The Cortex A15 MPCore processor can deliver up to 5 times the performance of current smartphone processors.

ARM’s dual-core Cortex-A15 MPCore can reach clock speeds of up to 2.5GHz and should be available by 2012. For the meantime, expect a lot of new smartphones and tablet to run the top-of-the-line ARM Cortex-A8 1GHz and possibly new Android smartphones from Samsung running their dual-core Cortex-A9 that’s capable of full HD 1080p playback.

ASUS shows flexible-OLED concept devices

ASUS is showing off its new Waveface family of concept devices. Two of these use flexible OLEDs. The Ultra is a wearable (on the wrist) mobile phone that is controlled with hand gestures or by touching the display.

ASUS Waveface Ultra

The Waveface Light has physical keyboard that pops up when folded up into the laptop form factor.

ASUS Waveface Light

Researchers propose using undersea internet cables to detect tsunamis

We've heard of a few inventive ideas for detecting tsunamis, and it looks like a group of researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (or NOAA) have now come up with another: put all those undersea internet cables to a second use. While they haven't moved beyond computer models just yet, the group has apparently found that voltmeters attached to the end of an undersea cable are able to detect the small electric field stirred up by tsunamis, which measure around 500 millivolts. As New Scientist reports, however, the idea does have some considerable limitations, including that it wouldn't be able to pinpoint the exact location or direction of a tsunami, and that any such system would first need to filter out noise caused by other natural events and even the cable itself. Other researchers also caution that it's just as important to develop a system to quickly pass on a warning to potentially affected areas once a tsunami has been detected.

Japanese gadget controls iPod in blink of an eye

TOKYO (AFP) — A wink, a smile or a raised eyebrow could soon change the music on your iPod or start up the washing machine, thanks to a new Japanese gadget.

The device looks like a normal set of headphones but is fitted with a set of infrared sensors that measure tiny movements inside the ear that result from different facial expressions.

The gizmo -- called the "Mimi Switch" or "Ear Switch" -- is connected to a micro-computer that can control electronic devices, essentially making it a hands-free remote control for anything.

"You will be able to turn on room lights or swing your washing machine into action with a quick twitch of your mouth," said its inventor, Kazuhiro Taniguchi of Osaka University.

"An iPod can start or stop music when the wearer sticks his tongue out, like in the famous Einstein picture. If he opens his eyes wide, the machine skips to the next tune. A wink with the right eye makes it go back.

"The machine can be programmed to run with various other facial expressions, such as a wriggle of the nose or a smile."

The Mimi Switch could also store and interpret data and get to know its user, said Taniguchi, chief researcher at Osaka University's Graduate School of Engineering Science in western Japan.

"It monitors natural movements of the face in everyday life and accumulates data," Taniguchi told AFP in an interview. "If it judges that you aren't smiling enough, it may play a cheerful song."

Some may use the device for relaxation -- perhaps by changing music hands-free while reading a book -- but Taniguchi said it could also have more serious applications to make people's lives safer and easier.

"If the system is mounted on a hearing aid for elderly people, it could tell how often they sneeze or whether they are eating regularly," he said.

"If it believes they are not well, it could send a warning message to relatives."

The device could also serve as a remote control for appliances for physically disabled people, from cameras and computers to air conditioners, or alert medical services if a person has a fit, he said.

The Ear Switch follows on from an earlier device called the Temple Switch that was small enough to fit inside a pair of eyeglasses and also read the flick of an eyelid.

"As the ear switch is put in the ears, its optical sensors are unaffected by sunlight," Taniguchi said.

He said he was planning to patent his new device in Japan and abroad, work on a wireless version, and seek corporate funding to market it for practical uses -- something he expected might take two or three years.

Survey indicates gaming has beneficial effects

ne of the major obstacles for us young kids and gamers are our Parents.

Not that they don’t want us to play games, but they want us to put more focus on our studies and perhaps do some little responsibilities around the house, which is fine with me at least.

We often hear parents saying "During our time, we don’t play those games. We study, we help clean the house, we help do the laundry, we help do a lot of things." My answer is simple "Mom / Dad, you don’t have xBox 360 before, you don’t PSP, PS3, Wii, DS before, so why complain?"

But no amount of explanation will convince them otherwise. Fortunately I came across a survey indicating that games that simulate aspects of civic and political life may well promote civic skills and civic engagement. Youth, parents, teachers, and others who work with youth should know about the wide diversity of video games – so they can take full advantage of games and their civic potential.

The survey was conducted by Pew Internet & American Life Project, an initiative of the Pew Research Center and was supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

The primary findings in the survey of 1,102 youth ages 12-17 include:

- Game playing is universal, with almost all teens playing games and at least half playing games on a given day.

- 97% of American teens ages 12-17 play some kind of video game.

- 99% of boys say they are gamers and 94% of girls report that they play games.

Game playing is social:

- 76% of gaming teens play games with others at least some of the time.

- 82% play games alone at least occasionally, though 71% of this group also plays games with others.

- 65% of gaming teens play with others in the same room.

Game playing can incorporate many aspects of civic and political life:

- 76% of youth report helping others while gaming.

- 44% report playing games where they learn about a problem in society.

Game playing sometimes involves exposure to mature content, with almost a third of teens playing games that are listed as appropriate only for people older than they are:

- 32% of youth 12-16 in this sample play games that are listed as appropriate only for people older than they are.

- 32% of gaming teens report that at least one of their favorite games is rated Mature or Adults Only.

- 12-14 year olds are equally as likely to play Mature and Adults Only rated games as their 15-17 year old counterparts.

Not only do many teens help others or learn about a problem in society during their game playing, they also encounter other social and civic experiences:

- 52% of gamers report playing games where they think about moral and ethical issues.

- 43% report playing games where they help make decisions about how a community, city or nation should be run.

- 40% report playing games where they learn about a social issue.

Even if the survey was conducted with American kids, I am pretty certain the result will somehow be the same if the same survey will be conducted here in the Philippines.

I hope this study will convince our parents that playing games is not that bad and has good benefits for us gamers. So have a heart, extend our playing time for three hours? Two hours? An hour? Please... No matter what, I love you so much Dad and Mom.

Why use tempered glass on a mobile phone?

For its clarity and strength, tempered glass is the choice material for timeless style

When visitors at the Grand Canyon Skywalk step out over the canyon rim, the only thing between them and bottom of the canyon 4,000 feet below is four inches of tempered glass. It was used for a reason, and the reason is that it’s the toughest glass around.

Once thought of as material used to fulfill building code safety requirements and auto industry crash test experiments, tempered glass is playing a larger role in everyday life for its incredible strength, durability and sleek transparency.

A typical household has more items made of tempered glass than one might think. In the kitchen, coffee carafes and glassware baking dishes are made of tempered glass because of its durable properties. In the living room, you’ll find tempered glass used on the television LCD screen and it is the main material for aquariums. You will also find it as the key material for the fireplace cover and the room’s skylight.

In the garage, tempered glass is found in the car windows where it has been used for years as the benchmark material for automobile safety. In the home office, one might work at a desktop made of tempered glass, and on the desk is a pair of fashionable eyeglasses and a luxury brand watch, both of which, use tempered glass for its scratch resistant qualities.

Recently tempered glass has been adopted for use in handsets which keeps the exterior always looking new and stylish thanks to its sleek and scratch resistant qualities.

Keen to consumer needs and desires, who want a look of timeless elegance for their  handset, LG Electronics, a worldwide technology and design leader in mobile communications, introduced its Secret an element of timelessness with its third handset of the successful Black Label Series, the LG Secret.

The tempered glass on the front panel of LG Secret is composed through chemical strengthening and is by far the strongest type of glass available to be implemented on mobile phones today.

"When we were designing the LG Secret our goal was to create a phone that never goes out of style, and things quickly go out of style when they start looking old. Everyone has seen scratched-up, paint-worn phones before and they get that way from heavy use. We wanted a handset that would always look new and tempered glass is the main material that achieves that goal." said Jon Santico, mobile division head of LG Electronics.

The strong and scratch resistant glass of LG Secret completes the luxurious exterior by keeping the whole body of the handset seek and also allows style-conscious consumers to be worry-free about making scratches on the screen. Also, the scratch-resistant tempered glass on the wide LCD screen provides totally clear multimedia experience.

Family history gets retouched in the age of Photoshop

Removing her ex-husband from more than a decade of memories may take a lifetime for Laura Horn, a police emergency dispatcher in Rochester, N.Y.

But removing him from a dozen years of vacation photographs took only hours, with some deft mouse work from a willing friend who was proficient in Photoshop, the popular digital-image editing program.

Like a Stalin-era technician in the Kremlin removing all traces of an out-of-favor official from state photos, the friend erased the husband from numerous cherished pictures taken on cruises and at Caribbean cottages, where he had been standing alongside Horn, now 50, and other traveling companions.

As image-editing software grows in sophistication and ubiquity, alterations go far beyond removing red-eye and whitening teeth. They include substituting head shots to achieve the best combination of smiles, deleting problematic personalities or adding family members who were unable to attend important events, performing virtual liposuction or hair restoration, even reanimating the dead. Revisionist history, it seems, can be practiced by just about anyone.

As people fiddle with the photos in their scrapbooks, the tug of emotion and vanity can win out over the objective truth. And in some cases, it can even alter memories -- Cousin Andy was at the wedding, right?

In an age of digital manipulation, many people believe that snapshots and family photos need no longer stand as a definitive record of what was, but instead, of what they wish it was.

"It used to be that photographs provided documentary evidence, and there was something sacrosanct about that," said Chris Johnson, a photography professor at California College of the Arts in the Bay Area.

If you wanted to remove an ex from an old snapshot, you had to use a Bic pen or pinking shears. But in the digital age, people treat photos like mash-ups in music, combining various elements to form a more pleasing whole.

"What we’re doing," Johnson said, "is fulfilling the wish that all of us have to make reality to our liking."

And he is no exception. When he photographed a wedding for his girlfriend’s family in upstate New York a few years ago, he left a space at the end of a big group shot for one member who was unable to attend. They caught up with him months later, snapped a head shot, and Johnson used Photoshop to paste him into the wedding photo.

Now, he said, everyone knows it is phony, but "this faked photograph actually created the assumption -- people kind of remember him as there."

The impulse to record family history that is more wishful than accurate is as old as photography itself. In the 19th century, people routinely posed with personal items, like purses or scarves, that belonged to absent or dead relatives to include them, emotionally, in the frame, said Mary Warner Marien, an art history professor at Syracuse University and the author of "Photography: A Cultural History."

In India, she said, it is a tradition to cut-and-paste head shots of absent family members into wedding photographs as a gesture of respect and inclusion. "Everyone understands that it’s not a trick," she said. "That’s the nature of the photograph. It’s a Western sense of reality that what is in front of the lens has to be true."

As recently as early in this decade, most people still recorded their family history primarily on film, photography experts said, meaning modifications were limited. Even among digital devotees, only professionals or ambitious amateurs typically would buy computer programs like Adobe Photoshop.

But now, with the professional-grade Photoshop CS3’s consumer-priced sibling, Photoshop Elements, often selling for under 0, its popularity is on the rise. Sales for the program have grown about 20 percent over the last year, said Kevin Connor, an Adobe vice president.

Similar software like GIMP (the GNU Image Manipulation Program ) is free on the Internet. Photo kiosks in supermarkets, as well as popular photo programs like iPhoto and Picasa, can also manipulate photographs. In addition, professional retouching services, which can dramatically alter photographs, are burgeoning, often advertising on the Internet. And professional photographers will also alter reality to suit a client’s tastes.(NYT)

Acer keeps top ranking in PC markets

Top computer manufacturer Acer (Philippines), Inc. managed to keep its dominance of the PC market in the Philippines by consistently outperforming its competitors due to the introduction of more quality-based yet affordable products.

Based on latest results released by international marketing and technology research group IDC, in its Asia-Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker Summary for the first quarter of 2008, Acer continued to dominate the consumer desktop and total notebook markets in the Philippines, an important market for the Taiwan-based computer maker.

For the consumer desktop segment, Acer led the pack by selling 6,911 units this quarter compared to only 4,468 units sold during the previous quarter. This translated to P6.3 million in value and thus capturing 11.9 percent of the market.

On the commercial notebook side, Acer also showed the way against its competitors for the first 3 months of the year by registering sales of 8,539 units for a 29-percent market share as against the previous quarter’s numbers of 6,516 units and a 27-percent share of the market, thus translating to about P11.3 million in value. And just like in the previous quarter in terms of total notebook units shipped, Acer again paced the market during the first three months of the year by selling a total of 24,673 units valued at P26.3 million compared to last quarter’s figures of 16,603 units sold.

For the consumer desktop and consumer notebook segments, Acer also led the way with 23,044 units sold for a 19.6-percent share of this segment compared to the last four months of last year with only 14,556 units (17.5 percent share) sold. These figures resulted into a total value of P21.4 million.

Summing up total results for the desktop and notebook categories, Acer again led the market, selling 37,131 units for a 13.2-percent share valued at P37.3 million compared to the previous quarter’s figures of 26,409 units and an 11.4-percent piece of the total pie.

"We still continue to lead the market overall for the past several quarters and this we attribute to our continued resolve to come up with significant and consumer-friendly products. And with the introduction of a new sub-notebook category, coupled with the launch of our new Acer Aspire One that will compete in this segment, we will continue to capture the Filipinos’ attention, and still they can be assured of top-quality and innovative products and consumer-focused service from us," explains Manuel Wong, Acer Philippines General Manager.

Exceeding earlier market forecasts, total PC shipments for the Philippines, according to the IDC, grew 21 percent sequentially and 33 percent year-on-year for the first quarter of this year due to strong consumer demand. Among IDC’s key assumptions and forecasts for 2008-2012 for the Philippines is continued expansion of demand for notebook computers in the Philippines, especially in the provinces due to lower and competitive price structures coupled with easy financing packages, and a noted increase in the number of WLAN hotspots around the country.

The XFX GeForce 9500 GT: The multi-media multi-tasker

While the movie industry continues to churn out sequels and other unoriginal hype, XFX offers up something new and exciting—the XFX GeForce 9500 GT, the ultimate multi-media multi-tasker that’s known for all it can take.

Take One: Like taking and sharing photos? The 9500 GT delivers an improved 3D experience with Microsoft Windows Media Center that allows users to offload tasks from the CPU, which increases productivity and enables users to share, edit and manage photos and videos better than ever before.

Take Two: The 9500 GT takes video playback to a new level, with advanced PureVideo HD technology that delivers jaw-dropping Blu-ray movie picture quality with reduced CPU utilization and low power consumption.

Take Three: Live to take out opponents? Offering a 3X performance increase over comparable 8 Series GPU and PCI Express 2.0 compatible cards, the 9500 GT delivers the most gaming horsepower available at this price point, and, since these cards are compatible with PCI Express and the new PCI Express 2.0 bus architecture, the 9500 GT ensures that users will be able to play all of today’s—and tomorrow’s—games the way they were meant to be played.

Take Four: All of these breath-taking features can be doubled. The XFX GeForce 9500 GT is SLI ready, which means that users can purchase two cards to deliver twice the performance of a single-card set-up.

Which is why we recommend that you take five and head for your nearest e-tailer or shop.

To learn more about the XFX GeForce 9500 GT, please visit www.xfxforce.com.

Intel cuts electric cords with wireless power system

Intel on Thursday showed off a wireless electric power system that analysts say could revolutionize modern life by freeing devices from transformers and wall outlets.

Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner demonstrated a Wireless Energy Resonant Link as he spoke at the California firm's annual developers forum in San Francisco.

Electricity was sent wirelessly to a lamp on stage, lighting a 60 watt bulb that uses more power than a typical laptop computer.

Most importantly, the electricity was transmitted without zapping anything or anyone that got between the sending and receiving units.

"The trick with wireless power is not can you do it; it's can you do it safely and efficiently," Intel researcher Josh Smith said in an online video explaining the breakthrough.

"It turns out the human body is not affected by magnetic fields; it is affected by electric fields. So what we are doing is transmitting energy using the magnetic field not the electric field."

Examples of potential applications include airports, offices or other buildings that could be rigged to supply power to laptops, mobile telephones or other devices toted into them.

The technology could also be built into plugged in computer components, such as monitors, to enable them to broadcast power to devices left on desks or carried into rooms, according to Smith.

"Initially it eliminates chargers and eventually it eliminates batteries all together," analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group said of Intel's wireless power system.

"That is potentially a world changing event. This is the closest we've had to something being commercially available in this class."

Previous wireless power systems consisted basically of firing lightning bolts from sending to receiving units.

Smith says Intel's wireless power system is still in an early stage of development and much research remains before it can be brought to market.

Rattner spoke of technological transformations he expects by the year 2050.

"You'd like to cut the last cord," Smith said.

"It's great that we have wireless email and wireless Internet and stuff like that but at the end of the day it would be nice to have wireless recharge as well."

Intel Nehalem next-gen CPU to be called Core i7?

Intel has revealed some details about its next-generation processor platform, which it has developed under the code name Nehalem.

According to an article on Expreview.com, the processors based on Nehalem architecture will be called Core i7, and Intel will introduce the Core i7 name next Monday. The significance of the i7 moniker is lost on me. Care to posit any theories, Crave readers?

Let's quickly recap Intel's tick-tock cadence model of shrinking the size of its chips with one release followed by the introduction of new chip architecture with the next release.

Tick: The latest Core 2 Duo processors are based on the 45-nanomater Penryn core, which was a die shrink (but using the same architecture) of previous-generation 65-namometer Core 2 Duo chips. Tock: Core i7 processors will introduce new chip architecture based on the same 45nm die and are expected to be released in Q4 of this year. The next tick is expected in 2009, when Intel shrink 45nm Nehalem chips to 32nm, which is currently being developed under the code name Westmere.

Technology change your kids.

As parents you became so good in guiding your kids on what movies or television shows to watch, what music to listen to, what clothes to wear because you are exposed to them, you see them, you read about them…in short you are well informed.

So, when it comes to video games how come you are often left "clueless"?

Let’s face it, gone are the days when you fully understand and actually play the video games your kids are playing. How could you, by the time you understand and actually play one game there comes another.

For some parents, playing a video game these days can be so overwhelming. Be it a PSP, Xbox, Play Station 3, Nintendo Wii, etc, you can’t keep up with the fast advancements in games.

So what do you know about these games? How will you know which games are appropriate or not for your kids? Fact is, kids are now turning to games rather than watching the television. They are glued on televisions alright but not watching TV shows that you have total control of but glued on video games. With so much games coming out and with so little time to fully understand (so as to play them), how can you as parents arm ourselves so that you could protect your kids from these "hypnotic" games?

Now here are some things to consider before rushing to the store armed with our hard-earned cash or credit cards.

First, know what games your child is interested in or what game does your child wants to play with. Most often than not, kids already know what game they will buy. If your child demands you to buy "Patapon" or "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" you should first check out what this game is about. Searching it online will give you adequate information. Popular websites such as Gamefaqs.com, Gamespot.com and Play-asia.com will give you an overview

of what the game is about.

These websites contain information such as the game’s features, description, ratings, reviews and sometimes its price.

Second, take note of its rating system. Just like the movies and television shows, video games also have its rating system. The Entertainment Software Rating Board or ESRB is an organization that guides the consumers, especially parents, as to the age-appropriateness and content of video games.

It helps you decide which games are suitable for your children. All games that you can possibly buy in the store are rated by the ESRB.

The ESRB rating system has 2 parts, the "rating symbol" (for age appropriateness of the game) found on the front of the box and the content descriptor (refers to the elements of the game that may have contributed to that rating) found on the back.

It’ll be of much help if you familiarize yourselves with the rating symbols.

· Games rated EC which stands for "early childhood" are games appropriate for ages 3 and older. Games such as Dora the Explorer, Elmo’s Number

Journey falls in to this category.

· Games rated E for "everyone" is appropriate for ages 6 and older. The New Super Mario Brothers, Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, and High School Musical: Sing It available in Wii are popular choices.

· E10+ for "everyone 10 and older" may contain more cartoon, fantasy or mild violence. Final Fantasy, Guitar Hero: On Tour, Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures are only a few of the most popular choices in this category.

· T for "teens" have contents that may be suitable for ages 13 and older. The game may contain violence, minimal blood, simulated gambling or infrequent use of strong language. Popular games include Iron Man available in Xbox360 and Rock Band 2 Special Edition available in PS3.

Content descriptors play a vital part in the rating of some games. Some games may contain blood and gore which refers to games that depict blood and mutilation of body parts; some may display violence or crude humor. These games belong to the category as follows:

· Titles rated M for "mature" only appropriate for ages 17 and older and contains intense violence, blood and gore and sexual content.

· "Adults only" or AO should only be played by ages 18 and older for these games contain prolonged scenes of intense violence and or graphic sexual content and nudity.

· Games rated with RP for "rating pending" are the games that are already submitted to ESRB and are in the process of final rating.

Tutorials for Math and Science subjects is now Online

A local version of an e-learning website that originated in Ireland was unveiled on July 16 to serve as an added technology tool for teachers to teach science and math subjects.

The portal, skoool.ph, was launched by Department of Education (DepEd) secretary Jesli Lapus and Intel Microelectronics Philippines country manager Ricky Banaag at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong City.

DepEd’s Bureau of Secondary Education (BSE) reviewed and evaluated the contents of skoool.com, originally developed by Intel Ireland, and selected the locally relevant lessons that aligned with DepEd’s curricula for high school levels.

Skoool is a native Celtic word that means school.

Banaag said the IP rights of the website have been licensed to DepEd at no extra cost. skoool.com is an Intel-driven initiative that has been implemented in other countries such as UK, Ireland, Sweden, and Thailand.

In a speech, Lapus said the website will not only function as a technology aid for teachers but also an online resource that will allow learning to be done outside the confined walls of the classroom.

"The Philippine education system needs to evolve from a teacher-led instructional model to one that is personalized and learnerfocused to meet the challenges of the 21st century," said Lapus.

He said technology has a major role in creating a new model that leverages on alternative learning spaces where education happens anytime and anywhere.

Lapus, however, said the web portal is just a supplement and will not replace the basic education method currently being used in the country. "If you’re a teacher who has a hard time teaching science and math concepts, then you may find this website helpful," he said.

John Macasio, chief technology officer of Stepdesk Phil, the company hired by DepEd and Intel to create the local edition of the website, said the objective of the portal is not to give grades but to make concepts clearer to the teachers and students.

"We did not reinvent the wheel by adopting the content that was relevant to us. We just strengthened the content," he said, adding that their next step is to integrate lesson plan templates which teachers can download for their use.

Macasio said the DepEd central office has trained teachers from 37 schools all over the country how to us the portal.

DepEd has an on-going ICT integration in education. It is eyeing to provide computer laboratory-equipped high schools with Internet connectivity.

Another Deped official, Paul Soriano, said the agency will be providing a mirror site of skoool.ph in the local server of schools which do not have permanent connection to the Internet.

DepEd said it is also digitizing its modules for its mobile teachers to enable them to have easier access to instructional materials and reach out to learners outside the formal school system.

The content of the skoool Philippines website consists of learning materials in high-school level mathematics and science covering algebra, geometry, trigonometry, statistics, biology, chemistry, and physics.

Each topic consists of lessons and exercises for students to test their comprehension, presented in the form of interactive animated graphics, video, and voice-over to make complex subjects like mathematics and science interesting and easier to understand.

Intel and the BSE developed the site’s content based on identified areas of difficulty in these subjects and tapped the expertise of top teachers in their fields for the ongoing development of its content.

The skoool web technologies are designed for use on all personal computers including Intel-based Classmate PCs. Available resources through skoool represented a worldwide investment of over million and over seven-year development, Intel said.

Technie Mom

I know that most kids have moms who have frantically asked them for tech support one way or another from operating the DVD player to working the computer, sending email or text messages. But hey, not all moms are clueless about technology.

My article today features other techie moms who absolutely swear that "this is the only way to fly" and fend in today’s world. Let’s take a look at how they deal with it.

Rosanna Pedraja, mother of three boys simply can’t live without technology. She considers being a house wife as a full-time, although unpaid, job. She juggles her time wisely, driving the kids to school in the morning, but not before she gives clear cut instructions to the mayordoma what to buy for the day’s meals. Once she gets home from taking the kids, she gets into her exercise gear and heads for the mini gym in the back house. Fifteen minutes on the treadmill, 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer then on to the sauna and a cold shower. After lunch, she then watches her fave shows on the Lifestyle channel then turns on her Mac book where she does her emails and blogs. This mom blogs for the fun of it, but soon got hooked and eventually started her online desk top publishing business. Three months running and her small online biz now does invites for any occasion as well as party favors.

Hazel Gamboa, A book keeper, is a mother of four kids, two girls and 2 boys, their ages ranging from 3 to 12. She works as a Bookkeeper while her husband is a CPA at a big firm. Their joint income pretty much covers all of their kids’ needs but what about mommy’s gadget whims? "I like to have the latest things. I make sure I upgrade my cell phone (she has an IPhone) at least every 6 months. We have a PC in the house where I supervise my 9 and 12 year olds’ usage and make sure they just use it to surf for answers to their homework. For the little one, I make sure he just goes online either in cartoonetwork.com or Barney site to learn the basics and play wholesome games."

Maui Raymundo, Account Executive and a single mother of two says she can’t live without a cell phone and a lap top. "I have a 15-year old daughter and a 5-year old son who I constantly keep tabs on. I can do this easily through a cell phone. Cell phones aren’t allowed in the classrooms but I feel pretty secure knowing that it’s in their bags and that I could get in touch with them via SMS or calling them on their break just to check. With regards to my lap top, I don’t think anyone who works doing sales and marketing should ever leave their homes without one. Presentations are more conveniently done and work made so much easier!"

As for me? Ever since I started writing for this paper and had this column, I seemingly have become some sort of a "resource on techiness for moms?" I can’t believe how many emails I get asking me which brand of appliances I think work best, what the latest cell phones are? Well, I now double the time I spend trying to figure out which is the best—if it’s between the new Nokia N Series and the latest Samsung or Motorola or which gadgets and gizmos are best for moms so I can include it in my next Mother’s Day shopping guide.

I wanna make sure my reviews are practical. Eventually, I wanna start a collective of mom bloggers. I think it’s a way to create a community for moms to connect with one another. Being a mom may be quite isolating that’s why I feel blogging is one way of "release" for us.

I do appreciate those who write in to ask me for advice but I also know that not all moms read the newspapers. There’s an increasing number of moms who spend more time on the computer and the Net that is why I’ve started writing and posting my articles on my Multiply and even Facebook. There ‘s a huge group of moms who are using Friendster, Multiply and Facebook. I want to get blogs or chats stirred up about technology and parenting too!

It may be hard to believe but studies show that mothers are often the ones making technology purchases for the home--even if dads are the ones typically geeking out about gadgets. I’ve been fascinated by technology and its development since day 1. I went through the transition from punch cards to mainframes. I was around when the Web started getting hot and when people used to have to pay for software.

I remember getting my very first laptop – it was a most exciting thing! Having had a job that entailed traveling a lot (this was in the US years back), it was so cool going on business trips with my lappy. I can’t imagine life without it.

WorldWide Telescope (WWT) Application

Microsoft unveiled a public beta of its WorldWide Telescope (WWT) web application that allows star gazers and astronomers deep into the universe Tuesday.

"The WorldWide Telescope is a powerful tool for science and education that makes it possible for everyone to explore the universe," said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. "Our hope is that it will inspire young people to explore astronomy and science, and help researchers in their quest to better understand the universe."

Users could surf the skies from their desktop via this software. The software creates an experience that users of all ages will find captivating, said Frank Reddy, a senior editor at Astronomy Magazine.

Powered by a mix of software and Web 2.0 services created with Microsoft's Visual Experience Engine, WorldWide Telescope uses a massive database containing several terabytes of high resolution images of stars, galaxies, and other heavenly bodies.

It combines terabytes of celestial images and other data that users can pan across using a viewer that employs Microsoft's Visual Experience Engine.

The images come from a variety of space- and Earth-based sources, including the Hubble Space Telescope, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory Center, and the Spitzer Space Telescope.

The service is free, and is dedicated to the memory of Microsoft researcher Jim Gray, who went missing at sea last year. Microsoft said much of the technology in WorldWide Telescope is built on Gray's original SkyServer project.


Download - http://content.worldwidetelescope.org/setup/setupwwt.exe

Official Site - http://worldwidetelescope.org/

EMC Storage tech course offer by DLSU

Concepts specific to storage technologies will soon be offered by the College of Computer Studies of De La Salle University as a result of the school’s partnership with EMC Computer Systems.

Bro. Bernard Oca, ViceChancellor for LaSallian Mission and External Relations, said the involvement of DLSU in the EMC Academic Alliance Program is in line with the university’s move "to be a notch higher to international standard level."

The EMC Storage Technology course will be offered initially as an elective course before it is integrated into the main curriculum, explained Rachel Edita Roxas, Dean, College of Computer Studies in DLSU Manila. The target offering date is the third trimester in January 2009.

She expressed confidence that the EMC-DLSU Alliance program will address the urgency of information infrastructure.

Thru the EMC Academic Alliance Program, EMC partners with leading colleges and universities to build a strong understanding of storage technologies, all at no cost to the participating colleges and universities that aims to educate tomorrow’s information technology leaders for the highest growth segment in IT information storage.

IDC research forecasts a staggering 988 billion gigabytes of digital information will be created in year 2010. By year 2012, the world will need over one million skilled information management and storage professionals.

EMC’s support in the Program is the provision of Instructor Preparedness program, a process to get professors/instructors trained on the materials. EMC will provide a Web site to support this program, from which institutes will find support items including documentation, contact information and more.