Startup Weekend Manila: No Talk, All Action

StartupWeekend received warm welcome from Filipino technopreneurs in the recently held Startup Weekend held at the MINT College, McKinley Hill Taguig. 
Startup Weekend is one of the most successful start-up accelerator programs from the United States. The concept that quickly became a global movement to generate breakthrough ideas in communities all over the world, taking digital start-ups

Active 3D vs Passive 3D…Final Round

Active and passive 3D duking it out is like the Ali and Frazier series. Just when you thought passive won it, active would come back with ferocity but in the end, passive would come and smash active to pieces, or at least it seems so now.

Dr. Raymond M. Soneira, President of DisplayMate Technology Co. has conducted the most in-depth review of these two technologies that I have seen on the internet. It is evident throughout the review that favoritism is at the absolute minimum and facts and results are what his opinions are based on.

This review covers everything, top to bottom and the only conclusive arguments I can think of are based on personal preference over facts. These are some of the many things covered:

-Brightness

-Flicker

-Left-Right Crosstalk and Ghosting

-Crosstalk and Ghosting with Viewing Angle and Position

-Crosstalk, Ghosting with Head Tilt

-3D imaging, Resolution and Sharpness Viewing Tests

-Recommendations for Viewing 3D TVs

This review seems to deal a heavy blow to active 3D claims over its superior imaging over passive 3D. You should check the article out for yourself. You can find the article here.

Coffinternet... it will happen

Imagine yourself in a coffee shop ordering your favorite Iced Latte variation. The time it takes from chattering up the cute barista girl up until she solidifies her interest in you with a genuine wink, flies by so quickly that even the slightest thought about looking at the time might leave your coffee after lunch a bit stale. Now let’s back track to the beginning. What if you could order a fresh cup of Vanilla Iced Mocha Brave, a grande size that is, in less than 10 seconds. You would have your hands instantly wrapped around that warm paper shape that our palms have subconsciously reinforced; the caffeine craving. A sudden upgrade of such magnitude would surely increase the sales of coffee, hardly soporific, no pun intended. I like to compare this thought to the internet. Coffee and the Internet have become synonymous in many ways. For example, we want our coffee to be hot; internet to be ready, (no logging in, inputting password). Next, we want our coffee tasting somewhat pleasant, at least for the $5 you would’ve have otherwise spent on a gallon of gas to take the long way home from work after a bad day. This I would refer to as Internet connectivity; disconnects, sudden bandwidth issues, reliability. And finally the time it takes to receive your fresh cup as speed, pure internet speed.

Hehehe. Sorry for all this Coffee talk, let’s get down to brass tax. British scientists have discovered a way of using Graphene, the thinnest material in the world, to capture and convert light than any other material used for the same technology; internet speed. The process could increase performance capacity of current speeds (avg: 100mps) by over 200 times. That means you could download a 2 gigabyte file, in one second. 

In previous experiments, a solar cell that generates electricity was created by laying out two closely spaced metallic wires on top of grapheme and exposing it to light. This process however was found to be low efficient as grapheme only absorbs 3% of light.

Fortunately, a research team in England has solved this problem by combining graphene with tiny plasmonic nanostructures. This enhanced the performance of graphene by 20 times. Although still at its infant stage, this is a brand new step for the future of the internet.

Linux Anniversary

Many have only heard of it, some may have used it once, others use it every day. Finally, the operating system that has started as a hobby has become the system used all over the world.

Yesterday on August 25^th marks the 20^th year anniversary of Linux, an operating system originally created out of hobby without any professional purposes. The creator is Linus Torvalds.

This system is favored by the hackers, elite, all the top expert users in computers because of its extreme mobility and the current restricted functions mainstream OS users face.

3D Printing

3D, which generally depicts three dimensions of matter is now becoming mainstream through TV and many other gadgets. A new addition to this list is 3D printing. Think about the situation when simple commands over the computer can print a solid 3D gift item for your friend’s birthday or your friend just emails you a flower pot.  Yes, this all will be possible by an innovative technology called 3D printing.

This unbelievable technology will have a huge impact in the world.  In the future, we can expect to be able to download and print ordered purchases through the internet.

The development of 3D printers is in continuous process through its initial phase. Now there are several 3D printers available in the market which can easily convert any virtual 3D object into a physical 3D object.

This magical 3D printing technology works on simple additive manufacturing technology where the three dimensional object is made by laying down many successive layers of material. 3D printing in the future will not only have impact on prototyping, but also in medicine, arts, auto parts, and even outer space.

AOC Razor Monitors Unveil Its Thinnest Monitors

With increasing year-on-year sales for monitors, AOC sees a shift in market preference to bigger and clearer monitors as secondary screen usage at home and the office. With these in mind, they earlier unveiled the new AOC Monitors 43, 51, and 53 Razor series.

43-series

The 43-series monitors or Razor LEDs are available 18.5” to 23-inches screen sizes. All models are equipped with multiple power

LG Optimus Black Released

LG Electronics finally introduces a sleek, slim and light smartphone - the LG Optimus Black. Weighing only 109g, it is one of the lightest phones around. Its thinnest portion at the ends of the unit measure at 6 mm while its thickest portion is only 9.2 mm.

The LG Optimus Black has a bright display care of NOVA which delivers optimal brightness and readability under any lighting conditions. The

Fujitsu Launches Lifebooks for Spring 2011

Fujitsu introduced recently its Spring 2011 line-up of notebook and laptops with eleven LIFEBOOK, eight of which are powered with the latest 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ platform.

Engineered for higher performance, visual, and mobile computing experience, Fujitsu PC Asia Pacific takes pride in its latest Lifebook and Esprimo EH300 that features the 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ processor and AMD

Apple iPad 2 Official Release in the Philippines Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the day every tech-savvy being in the Philippines is waiting for...to have their hands on the newest Apple product that is the iPad 2!

The iPad 2 will have its official release in the Philippines and a number of other countries on April 29, 2011.

I bumped into Abe Olandres of Yugatech.com in a recent gathering, and for the first time, I saw the iPad2 in the flesh. Of course, I

‘A New HP World' of Notebooks and PCs Introduced

HP revealed a new lineup of redesigned consumer notebooks, PCs, and monitors at the recent ‘A New HP World' in Manila that seem to complete an HP computing ecosystem.

Opening with welcome remarks was HP Philippines Country General Manager Albert Mateo (Personal Systems Group).

This was immediately followed by a representative of Intel who discussed the new Intel microarchitecture with 2nd Gen

Sexy PC Redefined with the Samsung Notebook Series 9

Samsung redefined 'Sexy PC' when it launched their sexiest notebook ever - the new Samsung Notebook Series 9, last March 22 at the Peninsula Manila Hotel in Makati.

In a gathering of the metro's most syltish people and celebrities, Samsung Electronics Philippines introduced their Series 9 notebook in the country.

And what better way to host an evening of style and sophistication but with a

Sony VAIO Craftsmanship Revelead in Art of VAIO

Sony VAIO has always exuded creativity and style in its craftsmanship, from the materials used, to the colors, and overall finish. The other night, Sony proved this further in the ‘Art of VAIO’.

Sony launched its first VAIO Spring collection for 2011 in the event ‘Art of VAIO’ at the Ayala Museum in Makati as it unveiled new models that have long been in anticipation.

The new models were

Samsung Notebook 9 Series Featherlight

Sleek, steel and lightweight. That's how the new Samsung Notebook 9 Series can be described as the photos seem to evoke its design while packed with power specs.


Samsung Electronics Co (SEPCO) recently unveiled the Samsung Notebook 9 Series at the International Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas at only 1.31kg (2.88lbs.) weight. It measures 16.3mm (0.64inches) thick with a screen size of 13

Excited for Google's Android 3.0 / Honeycomb (Official Video)

Touted as the future's tablet OS to watch out for, Google has released the Android 3.0 "Honeycomb" official video providing a sneak peak for its spectators.

The Google Android 3.0 / "Honeycomb" tablet OS promises features such as larger screen displays and enhanced multi-tasking capabilities.

In addition to the usual expected upgrades of interactive widgets, web-browser, and Android Market, a

New BlackBerry Torch Smartphone is Power-Packed

RIM launched the BlackBerry Torch Smartphone in the Philippines mid of last month in time for the holidays. Featuring the new BlackBerry 6, it combines touch screen feature and use of keyboard.


“The new BlackBerry Torch smartphone builds on the familiar and powerful capabilities of the BlackBerry platform to provide the features that are ideal for socially connected consumers while also

A Look at the HP G Series

The HP G Series was released earlier this last quarter as the latest addition to the HP notebook line. They considers this as their value performance mobile-consumer Notebook PCs.

“With this new range of consumer notebooks, we want to provide something to suit every lifestyle needs and usage patterns for consumers.” said Paul Donovan, vice president of the Category Organization, HP Personal

Samsung Wave 525 Focuses on Social Networking

Samsung launched the Wave 525 (S5253) as their latest Bada smart phone a few months ago. Bada is Samsung’s open mobile platform. Samsung Wave 525 features breakthrough connectivity in popular social networking sites using the Social Hub technology.

Samsung’s Social Hub integrates all contact details, social networks, and email services into one phonebook. It makes connection and sharing

PLDT TelPad = Landline + DSL + Touch-Screen tablet

Offering a diverse range of information and telecommunications technology including fixed line and wireless, PLDT pushes the envelope further with its new and world's first innovation - the PLDT TelPad.

Just when you thought trendy iPads and in-style Android tablets were only for businessmen, celebrities, and fashion icons, PLDT turns the ordinary household landline into a PLDT TelPad with a

Chikka Text to Win Raffle Promo Mechanics

Chikka, an online and mobile application locally developed for exchanging text and online instant messages, has a new "Text to Win" raffle promo which gives its users the chance to win an iPad™ or a iPod nano® whenever they send messages from the mobile phone to online buddies via Chikka technology.

Promo Mechanics:

1. Chikka Text to Win Raffle Promo duration is from November 15 to December 15

Polycom Endorses "UC Everywhere;" Strengthens Philippines Presence with ATI

With the advent of the Internet in 1989, technologies and applications have evolved to maximize the potential of communication within this medium. Polycom, one of the world's leading unified-communications innovator and telepresence leader, highlighted this aspect in a media conference last week.

Held at Conti's restaurant in Makati City, the program started with a technology introduction from