Globe is doing a promo on their Tattoo Prepaid Kit. Get a Php1,000 discount for every purchase of a kit — that’s just Php895 from the regular price of Php1,895.
The catch — well, promo period is only until October 31, 2009. The Globe Broadband Tattoo prepaid kit still comes with free 5 hours of mobile 3G worth Php100. Kits are available at Globe Stores and authorized dealers nationwide.
Note: SmartBro Prepaid kit also costs Php995 now.
Notebook Cooling Base, available in July, will cost $30.
(Credit: Microsoft)
Microsoft is introducing a new technology to help keep laptops cooler. Unfortunately, it's not software.
The company on Tuesday introduced its first Notebook Cooling Base, an inch-thick stand with built-in fan. Available in white and black, the laptop-chiller is powered over a USB connection.
The product will sell for $30 when it hits the market in July and represents a new direction for Microsoft's hardware unit, which is best known for its mice and keyboards.
At one point, the company sold wireless networking gear, though it got out of that business in 2004.
Microsoft on Tuesday also announced new colors for its trendy-looking Arc Mouse. Later this month, the $50 mouse will be available in the decidedly non-beige shades of frost white, eggplant purple, deep olive green, and marine blue. It's already on the market in red and black.
The $50 Arc Mouse will be available in frost white, eggplant purple, deep olive green, and marine blue.
(Credit: Microsoft )
Microsoft Corp is expected to post a quarterly profit that misses its own target and announce thousands of job cuts this week as the global economic slump hurts even the technology industry's biggest players. When the leading software maker reports fiscal second quarter results on Thursday, investors are likely to press for comments on its outlook and on Yahoo Inc, whose search business has been the object of Microsoft's desires.
The report comes against a backdrop of a wounded global economy that has stifled demand for everything from personal computers to business software and video games, all markets in which Microsoft is a significant player.
"All eyes are on the forecast," said Jefferies & Co analyst Katherine Egbert. "Expectations for the guidance are pretty low."
Analysts on average put Microsoft's profit at 49 cents a share for the quarter ended December 31, which includes a U.S. holiday shopping season that has been called the worst in at least four decades. The Redmond, Washington-based company had forecast a per-share profit of 51 cents to 53 cents for the quarter.
Wall Street is looking for quarterly revenue of $17.1 billion, according to Reuters Estimates, also short of Microsoft's own target of $17.3 billion to $17.8 billion.
Egbert says she expects Microsoft to report sales of its Windows software for PCs and laptops to drop 3 percent from a year earlier, making it the toughest quarter in eight years. She blames the shortfall on weak consumer sales, noting that businesses have yet to cut back as much as retail shoppers.
Wall Street's expectations for Microsoft's performance for its fiscal year ending in June 2009 have declined since it last reported results three months ago.
Analyst forecasts for full-year net income have dropped 10 percent to $17.77 billion, while revenue projections are down 4.4 percent at $63.68 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
POSSIBLE JOB CUTS
With an eye on reducing costs, Microsoft is widely expected to announce that it will cut jobs, following similar moves by other tech firms, including AT&T Inc, Dell Inc, Motorola Inc and Advance Micro Devices Inc.
"Checks indicate that Microsoft is likely to engage in headcount reductions to the tune of 6,000 to 8,000 employees or 6 percent to 8 percent of its 95,000 workforce," said McAdams Wright Ragen analyst Sid Parakh. "Our checks also revealed some speculation over the potential for a second round of cuts in some groups sometime later in the year."
Other analysts suggest the cost reductions may occur in the next few weeks and could also include more targeted cutbacks and attrition, rather than the big number of layoffs that some have speculated.
Microsoft has declined to comment on any likelihood of job cuts. Its shares have dropped 41 percent over the past year, while shares in another technology bellwether, IBM, have lost 16 percent. The S&P 500 Index has dropped 38 percent during the same period.
Analysts are also expected to pepper Chief Executive Steve Ballmer with questions about the status of the company's relationship with Yahoo, now that the Internet company has named Carol Bartz as its new CEO.
Bartz told employees earlier this week that she had a phone conversation with Ballmer, who has repeatedly said he remains interested in pursuing a search partnership with Yahoo but does not intend to renew an offer for the whole company.
Microsoft made a bid for Yahoo last year, but walked away after they disagreed on price. Investors have been skeptical about whether the software company can win online advertising revenue away from Google and Yahoo, which are both stronger than Microsoft in the Internet search market.
Intel Corp., the world's biggest computer chip maker, announced plans on Wednesday to close facilities in Malaysia, the Philippines and the United States.The Santa Clara, California-based company said the moves were expected to affect between 5,000 and 6,000 employees worldwide.
"However, not all employees will leave Intel," the company said in a statement. "Some may be offered positions at other facilities."
Intel said it will close two assembly test facilities in Penang, Malaysia, and one in Cavite, Philippines, in addition to wafer production facilities in Santa Clara and Hillsboro, Oregon.
The closures, Intel said, will take place between now and the end of 2009.
The moves were designed to "align its manufacturing capacity to current market conditions," the company added.
Intel reported last week that the economic slowdown and slumping demand for personal computers sent net profit sharply lower in the fourth quarter of the year.
It said net profit in the last three months of the year plunged to 234 million dollars, down 90 percent from a year ago.
Intel has also warned that it expects even worse results this quarter than the previous three months, with an expected revenue of seven billion dollars.
In what could be a preview of the not-so-distant future of Apple, Steve Jobs has stepped down as Apple CEO in order to take a medical leave until June of this year.
Here’s a copy of the letter he sent to Apple employees explaining his decision:
“Team,
I am sure all of you saw my letter last week sharing something very personal with the Apple community. Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well. In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.
In order to take myself out of the limelight and focus on my health, and to allow everyone at Apple to focus on delivering extraordinary products, I have decided to take a medical leave of absence until the end of June.
I have asked Tim Cook to be responsible for Apple’s day to day operations, and I know he and the rest of the executive management team will do a great job. As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out. Our board of directors fully supports this plan.
I look forward to seeing all of you this summer.
Steve”
Even though the people behind the technology and success of Apple’s products are still there, the absence of Steve Jobs will surely raise some concern especially from an investor’s standpoint. Nevertheless, it’s business as usual over at the Cupertino-based company, and to be quite honest, I don’t see this latest development having any immediate effect at the consumer level. However, we cannot discount the fact that people will react to this news. As to what extent Steve Jobs’ medical leave will affect Apple as a company, we’ll just have to wait and see how things will turn out in the next couple of months.
Get well soon, Steve, as I’m sure everyone will rest more easy when you’re back at the helm at Apple.
Laptops are one of the hottest gadgets these days, both figuratively and literally. With more features than ever before, laptops are becoming more versatile and powerful, but at the same time, heat has always been an issue. Due the growing demand for smaller and thinner devices, the small form factor of present day laptops leave little room for proper ventilation for heat to circulate and escape.
It’s a good thing, though, that we have products such as the Targus Chill Mat to cool down our laptops and protect our laps from literally getting burned. It supports laptops of up to 17-inch in size and connects via USB for power. It’s an ideal partner to a Macbook Pro laptop thanks to its design and color scheme, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t work with any laptop regardless of brand.
The Targus Chill Mat is retailing for P2225 and is exclusively distributed by MSI-ECS in the Philippines. For more product information and other inquiries, you may contact Jonas Lim at 688-3732, email jlim@msi-ecs.com.ph, or visit www.msi-ecs.com.ph.
In the latest report by InternetworldStats, the Philippines took the #10 spot with the most number of internet users at 14 Million, just 900k lower than Malaysia at #9.
That number represents 15.1% of the total population of the Philippines {via}. That’s still a low internet usage density though.
China tops the list at 253 Million followed by Japan at 94 Million and India at 60 Million.
As for internet penetration, the Philippines is still way down the line, esp. in South East Asia:
Japan: 73.8%
South Korea: 70.7%
Hong Kong: 69.5%
Taiwan: 67.2%
Malaysia: 59%
Singapore: 58.6%
Macau: 51.6%
Brunei: 46.2%
Vietnam: 23.4%
Thailand: 20.5
Philippines: 15.1%
What’s surprising again is that Vietnam (86M), which has almost the same population as the Philippines (92M), has higher number of users and internet penetration.
No wonder why Vietnam took the top spot in SEA during the Firefox 3 Download Day.
While Globe may have managed to snag some precious air time on television with their Watyawannawin campaign, Smart was apparently the first to offer such a service for their subscribers.
So what’s unique in Smart Rewards? Well, for starter, once you register, you automatically get free 500 points instantly. Smart also provides you with a convenient way of checking your earned points online with a dedicated website just for this service. There’s also no indication of how long it will run which more or less means that it’s here to stay unlike Globe’s offer which will end next year. No grand raffles here, though, but you can, however, use your earned points to get free text messages, bill rebates or handset discounts.
For more information, you can check out the Smart Rewards website. Register now so you can earn back every peso you’ve spend on your Smart subscription.
If you’re on Globe, regardless if you’re on postpaid or prepaid, you can make every peso you consume work for you.
Globe has an ongoing promo called Watyawannawin where every P5 you use, whether it be on a prepaid load or your postpaid monthly bill, you earn 1 point, and after accumulating a certain amount of points, you can then either redeem it as a rebate or use it as raffle entries to win great prizes such as iPods, Macbooks, and even P1 Million cash. This promo will run until February 28, 2009. So better register now, so that you can do more with the money you spend on your Globe subscription than just calling and texting. For more details, head on over to Globe’s site.
With the heated rivalry between Globe and Smart, I won’t be surprised if the latter comes out with a similar promo of their own for their loyal subscribers.
For its clarity and strength, tempered glass is the choice material for timeless style
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 resi
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.
The weather is quite unpredictable nowadays; very hot and sunny in the morning, then it’s suddenly raining cats and dogs in the afternoon. It’s times like these that you should have the right bag to protect your electronic gear, and the Targus Dash backpack is just what we would recommend.
There’s also a hidden rain cover that you can pull out to add that extra protective layer when the need arises. A built-in cable, security pocket, contoured padded backing and ergonomic shoulder straps provide that balance between security and comfort that is essential in the bags of today.
The Targus Dash backpack will set you back P3800 and comes with a lifetime warranty. It might seem a bit expensive for a bag, but think of it as an investment as it’ll surely protect whatever stuff you put in it from the elements. Targus products are exclusively distributed by MSI-ECS in the Philippines.
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)
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.
