Nearly killed myself in a Jollibee store

You read that right, I nearly killed myself in a Jollibee store this morning. The culprit? Those cheap chairs with the broken backrests that Jollibee refuses to throw out. What makes these chairs more dangerous is that those backrests do not totally break off, making it the perfect trap.

Had it not been for my quick reflexes, I would have fallen, back of my head first, right smack onto the concrete floor. I checked the other chairs and found another four of these chairs with the broken backrests in the same Jollibee store. Leading me to think that I am not the first customer to have almost been seriously injured. 

Should I have complained? But then again, complained about what? The sad reality is these corporate giants play by the rule "no harm, no foul". Until someone gets seriously injured and sues Jollibee for damages, these chairs will remain in use. 

So customers be warned, watch your kids, watch your backs, you are not safe in a Jollibee store. 

Notice the two cracks on this chair being used in a Jollibee store.

Google Maps More Complete Than iOS 6 Apple Maps

The new iOS 6 maps application lacks information when it comes to side streets. This will be very upsetting to the majority of people in the Philippines who heavily rely on their iPhones for navigation.

This has been planned by Apple several years back. Apple bought 3 mapping companies in the past 3 years. The current map info used by Apple is by TomTom. If you visit the TomTom website you will see that they are also selling their own GPS devices. A small pebble in the road for Apple, they just really had to get rid of that Google Map service asap. :-)

Unless Apple is prepared to spend for a whole fleet of Subaru cars to ply the streets... Google Maps is still king!

iOS 6 Compared To Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

While the disenchantment with iPhone 5 and iOS 6 is deafening, Android 4.1 is still nowhere near iOS 6 in terms of market penetration. Based on reports, the current Android operating system, Jelly Bean 4.1, is only used by 1.2% of all Android phone users globally. You can read about it on this Wikipedia entry dated September 2012.

iOS 6 on the other hand is available on all iOS devices. On all iPads, iPhones, and iPods. It's available NOW.

The typical waiting time for Android users is 9 months to get the latest update. This is due to the huge backlog of Android devices that need to be updated. If you can imagine, after Google releases the source code to the public, the manufacturers have to re-adjust to the new updated source code. And this takes time depending on how many phone models the brand is carrying. This means that if you have the latest Android phone model now, you will probably be getting the latest operating system late next year.

At home, we have 5 Android devices. Since these are mid-range gadgets we don't mind having a not so advanced OS. The latest Android competitor to the iPhone is priced almost the same. I've done my own hands-on and I am not getting the latest Android phone for 2 reasons only.

OVER-RATED TECHNICAL SPECS and UNRELIABLE OPERATING SYSTEM.

On paper the Android phone specs is superb! On paper that is. After testing several demo units, I still find my iPhone 4S faster, smoother, and without a hiccup. The camera of the iPhone 4S is one of the most obvious subsystem that benefits from a super phone. From camera activation time to low-light sensitivity, the iPhone 4S wins over the latest high-end Android Phone. I should be comparing the iPhone 5 but I don't have one yet. Handicapped or not the iPhone still wins.

Crazy lazy policy of Maynilad

For the next 5 months my water bill is going to be charged 92 Php more than what I actually consume. Why? Simply because I live in a housing complex with a Homeowners' Association that Maynilad chooses to bill, instead of  going house to house, billing individual residents. You know, the way NAWASA used to do it.

Maynilad have chosen the easy lazy way.

In theory, this should be no problem. It would be more convenient I suppose. In theory, that is. But in practice, this creates a lot of headaches for the individual residents.

Why are my delinquent neighbors suddenly my problem? I pay my water bills on time. Why am I being made to suffer, Maynilad? And oh, that leak a good 50 meters away from my water meter is my problem now too? Aren't these problems supposed to be your problems, Maynilad? I pay for the water that I consume, that should be the end of it. But no, because my Homeowners' Association owes, I am made to suffer "water rationing", and on top of that, now this 92 Php surcharge.

And because Maynilad is a public utility company with NO COMPETITION, like the rest of us poor citizens, I have no choice but to take it on the chin, grin and bear it.

Third-world problems, because Maynilad profits from your misery.

Minecraft Revolution

What do you get when people get tired of high definition, high resolution, extreme frame rates, super sampled textures, anti aliased, triple buffered, multi gigabyte games? Minecraft! This stone age game is taking the game industry by storm with its pixelated textures and simplistic objective. It all started with a free downloadable demo. The demo version of the game reached 4 million downloads! Gamers loved it! Then the developers started selling it at US$26.95. You don't have to be a math expert to add all the six zeroes. The website says they have 7,000,000 paid downloads already. This does not include iPhone and android sales.

This was a sideline programming project by one person only in 2009. Now it's continually polished by just a handful of developers.

The game recently launched on Xbox and sold 400,000 downloads in the first hour!

Search YouTube for minecraft and you'll see the enormous amount of videos created by its fans.

Diablo 3 Not For Asians

Diablo 3 is only for players located in the USA. The game developer Blizzard, increased the game's difficulty to make it more engaging to players who have been buying items sold in the Real Money Auction House (RMAH). Unfortunately RMAH is only available to people who's IP is traceable to the USA. If you're like me who lives in the Philippines your account will be suspended if you try to participate in the auctions.

Underwhelmed by Chow King delivery

The one time I had food delivered by Chow King via chowkingdelivery.com, even my lowered expectations was severely disappointed. And no, I am not that difficult customer who demands 5 star service from a fast food joint. Chow King is fast food. But at more than 300 Php for an order that would satisfy two adults, cost-wise, Chow King should be at the upper-end of the fast food totem-pole.

First, they delivered the food late. No excuses here, not even for a first time delivery. I provide the same delivery information to other fast food delivery services and they deliver on time. And because it is late, it is also cold. Chow King is not that great to begin with, but cold, Chow King lauriat is nearly inedible. And you paid more than 300 Php for that nearly inedible cold mush that has been tossed about in it's poorly constructed delivery package.

I made the mistake once. I have no plans to make the mistake again.

Smart's confusing promos/bundles

I am a prepaid subscriber of Smart for 5 years non-stop. I have not gone back to Globe, nor have I tried any other carrier being over-all satisfied with Smart's cellphone service. Primary reason being that Smart's cellphone signal is by far, as advertised, the widest coverage in the Philippines. I would know, I travel to a lot of barrios as a job requirement.

If there is a fly on this ointment however, is the constant text messages of promos that Smart bombards you with everyday. When I pasa-load to my wife, Smart is like the overly attached cellphone carrier that texts you back something like 3 pages of often unrelated messages, instead of just confirming that the transaction has been completed. And then when you do subscribe to one of these promos, ironically, Smart will not text you a clear mechanics of that promo. They never tire of promoting it. But once you avail of it, you are left to your own devices to try and decipher the often cryptic mechanics of these promo bundles.

One time, I registered for an unlimited text, call, data package bundle. Smart texted back that I was indeed registered, but oh so conveniently forgot that you have to append the cellphone number of the Smart or TNT number you would call with *22-something-then-11-digit-number. Only found out after my load had run out. I called their customer service and told them what had happened. I was told that the mechanics was in one of the text messages. Ok, I said, I often ignore those, I might have missed it, so that would be my fault. But when I went back to check my messages, none of the 4 or so text messages from Smart that I got for that day, said anything about appending the secret magic numbers to avail of the call part of the bundle.

I called back Smart's customer service and related how one of them, just a minute before, had flatly lied to me about the mechanics being in the text message. I explained that I wasn't too angry about losing the load, but being lied to in my face, I had to scream that they are a multi-billion dollar company who lies to filch from their customers.

I do hope that my conversation was recorded, because that is the message that I want delivered to Smart's higher-ups. Stop with all these confusing promos. Text message us the clear mechanics. And for crissakes stop lying to your customers.

Microsoft Explorer Touch Mouse

The new touch-based scroll mechanism does not work. We humans have moist fingers. Some of us are more wet than the rest of the population. Replacing the traditional wheel with a touch sensitive strip pad is a bad idea. Microsoft engineers probably wanted to steer clear of the Apple Magic Mouse.

Globe iPhone 5 Reservations

Globe teases subscribers with their latest iPhone 5 reservation text blast. If you're like me who's been a Globe subscriber for many years, it's a reassuring feeling that your telco continues to be "the leader in postpaid".

I've already made sure and still working on making sure that I will be getting the iPhone 5 review in the Philippine blog scene first.

In the last iPhone 4s launch I was so excited that I had too much coffee and wasn't able to sleep! Only to find out that the 4s looked exactly the same as the previous model. My wife had the "hehehe" look for the whole week.

A week later I had the hehehe look every time I talked to Siri inside coffee shops. My fingers seem to keep double clicking that button which keeps Siri talking. In the airport, at the supermarket, during client meetings -- this went on for weeks. It was like college all over again. Walking around campus with the prettiest girl in your hand! Some of you can probably relate.

PayPal

I was first forced to create a PayPal account when I had a client from the USA. Initially, I requested to get paid via Western Union. But after several attempts, somehow, the client was just unable to make the necessary fund transfer. And so instead, he just asked me to register a PayPal account. While the client waited on the other side of  the great internet divide, I registered my PayPal account in about 10 minutes or so. And within two minutes of giving the client my email address linked to the freshly created PayPal account, I could confirm that he had made the payment. If only I knew that PayPal would be this painless.

From the PayPal account, I linked my Bank of the Philippine Islands peso deposit account so I could withdraw my money. PayPal auto-converts from USD to PHP using the official exchange rate at the moment of the transaction. Transactions of less than 7K Php are charged 50 Php while transactions over 7K Php are free. PayPal's website declares that fund transfers are completed in about 2-4 business days. All my completed transactions, thus far, has not exceeded 2 business days.

Remember that PayPal auto-converts from USD to PHP. I made the mistake of trying to withdraw from a PayPal USD balance into my USD bank account in the Philippines and this was not allowed. PayPal customer service explained to me via email that this has something to do with the Philippines' anti-money laundering laws, you cannot withdraw from a PayPal USD balance into a Philippine USD bank account. Take note that before making the fund transfer attempt I asked my local bank, Banco de Oro, whether the USD to USD transaction would be allowed and they answered in the affirmative.

Failed/returned fund transfers are charged 250 Php penalty. But in my case, PayPal waived the penalty as a "one time courtesy". That's great customer service right there. And not only that, while I was tracking down my money during the failed fund transfer fiasco, PayPal's customer service never failed to respond to my email queries within 8 hours or so. They are very polite and gives you detailed information. I was almost embarrassed that I was getting this great service from PayPal considering the small amounts I was dealing with.

iPhone 5 Philippines

The time has come for us to start advertising our iPhone 4S "For Sale" on Sulit.com.ph. I was one of the few who flashed around the then new iPhone 4S barely a few weeks after it was launched in the US. I even had beauty shots of it on my Facebook page.

I will be updating this page every 5 minutes during iPhone 5 launch on September 12. Be sure you're online. The iPhone 5 will have a taller screen, faster processor, longer-lasting battery, will have iOS6, improved Siri, a new map application and much more. Apple is also removing the Youtube.com native built-in app and replacing it with their own map app.

Jollibee delivers

It's not the stuff of gourmet delights worthy of a Facebook status update. This is industrial fast food at mass production's most efficient best. If you are stuck in the office, however, doing overtime work, or you are just too lazy to prepare your own food at home, a Jollibee order might just be the ticket to carry you through to the next meal.

Just go to their website jollibeedelivery.com, register once so that the next orders will be a lot easier, then order away. And in 30 minutes or less, as advertised, the order will be at your door.

Ironically, I would say that Jollibee takes so much pride in this delivery service that it has become even better than their in-store service. Your hot food will be delivered still hot and your soft-ice cream desserts still frozen. Just qualify for the minimum 200 Php order and there is no reason why you would want to suffer the long lines at the Jollibee store.

This, of course, is Metro Manila. I have not ordered Jollibee from outside the Metro and therefore can not comment on their service in other parts of the country.

Right now, Jollibee delivery is my default fast food ticket whenever we are too busy to prepare a meal at home. In the past 3 years or so that I've been a customer, I can recall of only one time that they missed the 30 minute deadline. Missed it by less than 5 minutes. And I was given free coupons for vanilla twirls for being made to suffer those extra two or three minutes.

Wi Tribe 4G

Where is "PANA - Truth in Advertising" when you need them? When I was in elementary school all ads had this logo but now it breaks my heart every time I see a Wi Tribe billboard. I feel like going up the billboard and shout at it. That would really make me feel better after they screwed me many months ago.

Their latest ad "Why Wi Tribe? Because Facebook loads in your face!" I can't seem to feel their presence in Facebook. If you can search for Wi Tribe let me know via comments below. All I see is the Pakistan Wi Tribe.

I've read several blogs that complain about their service but Wi Tribe seems not affected at all. So this might be just a shout in the dark, but the mere fact that you are here reading this means Google led you here when you searched wi tribe.

4th paragraph and here is my report on this service. It's slow anywhere in the Metro. It just works inside the Wi Tribe office. When you take it out, it takes minutes to load a Facebook page. The company invested in billboards and advertising instead of 4G infrastructure.

Globe Tattoo

Choosing your internet service provider in the Philippines that comes in the quick and hassle-free usb plug-it package, largely depends on your location. Some areas are Smart, some are Globe, with Sun, still just a minor character in the mix. Much as I would prefer Sun to avail of the cheapest surfing packages, that really depends where you're located. In fairness to Sun, when I tried to buy a usb plug-it from them, they asked me where I was going to use it and was politely told that Sun's signal  at that particular location crawls. So thanks to that honesty, I saved a few hundred bucks.

When I relocated to Cavite for a while, I was forced to switch from Smart to Globe. Cavite is Globe territory. To be fair to Globe, they're not all that bad. In fact, I would say that Globe is faster than Smart. Globe at its best versus Smart at its best, judging by nothing else but speed and Globe wins by a definite margin. It was with Globe Tattoo that I first breached 2 mbps using a usb internet plug-it.

But the thing with Globe is, you never know. One day you are getting great service, the next day you have nothing. This is the reason I do not register for anything more than a 50 Php for one day surfing package with Globe.

Then there is the fact that Globe Tattoo signal dies when the power is out. I don't know how it is in other areas, but as far Cavite goes, when the power is out, the internet is out. This means that the two hour battery life of my laptop is useless as far as getting news from the web.

Then there is Globe Tattoo's customer service. One year into buying my Tattoo plug-it, Globe decided that my sim card was obsolete. I must have bought from an old stock or something,  all I know is that one day, for no apparent reason at all, I just couldn't register for any surfing packages with Globe Tattoo. I tried their customer service, they were useless. I only found the solution from other users who've had the same experience when I posted my complaint on internet forums. Changed the sim card and I was back in business again. So that's 100 Php out of my pocket just because Globe's programmers decided my sim numbers aren't cool anymore.

And then finally, the reason I loathe Globe service with a passion, was that fateful day when Globe decided to cap their unlimited surfing package to 1 gig. And they still had the gall to call it unlimited. With  the same one day package with Smart Bro, I can download 3 movies in the background that would be worth around at least 2 gigs. That's unlimited. Not this crap that Globe is trying to peddle.

It's really sad. Globe Tattoo could be a great product, the potential is there. You can almost see it. If only they treated their subscribers as customers and not like victims.

Samsung Galaxy Mini

From a Nokia phone model that gave me nothing but call and text functions, I jumped right into the smartphone age with the Samsung Galaxy Mini. Costing almost 9 K Php total for the basic unit jazzed up with the essential add-ons -- that means a 16 gig memory card, scratch proof plastic cover, jelly casing, and a carry-on pouch, the Mini is by no means the deep end of the Galaxy pool. It is a starter unit. And it feels like one. You get one camera with passable quality but no flash. It is that kind of a deal.

But you buy the Mini, because it is the cheapest in the Galaxy family. You get almost all the functionalities of its bigger more expensive Galaxy brothers but without breaking the bank. Sure, you have a much smaller 3.14 inch screen display, but then again, you have a smaller phone. And I am one of those who still like small phones.

You get a smartphone for less than 10K Php and that's really the point of the Mini. You get to surf the net, and more importantly, you get to install apps from the Google Play store. And that really is what it's all about, the Andriod apps. But even here, the Mini falls a little bit short. Condemned to eternal mediocrity with an Android Froyo OS, the Mini is okay with most of the utilitarian apps, but not with the heavy graphic games. If you can live with that then the Mini might just be the smartphone for you.

3G Wireless-N Broadband Router

Because I am a Smart Bro prepaid usb plug-it subscriber, it became necessary for me to find a way to split my internet service once we had more than one computer in the house. Luckily, CDR King had such a device. The named for it's function "3G Wireless-N Broadband Router".

At 1,380.00 Php, this device has paid for itself as it has served me well for more than a year now. And yes, it is still working just fine. You do not get to insert that CDR King joke in here. Not for this device at least.

The initial set-up, however, can be a little tricky. This is not plug and play. As for the instructions that come with the device, it was like it was written originally in Chinese then poorly translated into English. And I have only so much patience.

Thankfully there aren't too many customers at the CDR King Robinson's Fairview mall where I bought mine. And their technical support was only too happy to set it up for me. Do not forget to have the technician also install a password. The declared range of this small wifi router is 100 meters. So unless you feel your neighbors deserve the free wifi, a password is in order. Anyway, you only need to input the password key once for each computer.

Smart Bro

I've been a Smart Bro pre-paid user for the last 3 years or so. I bought my Smart Bro usb plug-it right after they halved the introductory price, if I remember correctly, to around 900 php a pop. This was the original version, way before they introduced these new generation of  Smart Bro plug-it variants. In fairness to Smart they have not pushed out my old generic usb into obsolesence. Original sim card and all, the old plug-it still works just fine.

I usually go for the 200 php unlimited surfing package which is good for 5 days. At 40 php a day, I was hoping I would get a little more speed.  There are days when it breaches 1.5 mbps, but those are the rare days. On average, I'd say it hovers at around 500 kbps, at least here at the Novaliches-Fairview area. 500 kbps means youtube videos at 320p lags pretty bad. You can watch it, you just have to be willing to watch it stop and go.

From personal experience, Friday and Saturday nights, from around 5 pm to around 9 pm, and you can expect Smart Bro signal to get pretty clogged up. I know, the guy at the store told you that this wouldn't happen, it's a different technology they said, yeah right. But here I am telling you now, it can be a pain to squeeze out anything more than the basic internet functions at these times.

On the plus side, Smart Bro signal is pretty stable. Even during stormy weather and the whole of Metro Manila suffering from a total black-out, you can still expect Smart Bro to be there with you, so you can surf the latest news on the web with your laptop.

Overall, I am pretty pleased with Smart Bro. If only it was just that much faster and that little bit cheaper, then I'd be perfectly happy.