So the Sony and Ericsson affair has finally ended and the mobile tech world is waiting for Sony to reveal its pure blood offspring the way they would for the next pope. What Sony has released from its labs is far from anything that resembles a PlayStation-loving teenager. Carrying a 4.3” HD screen under a piano black glass that is mounted on a poly-carbonate black-matte body, they have sent out a man in an Armani suit. Check out our full review of the Sony Xperia S after the jump.
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TechLocal.com reports that there is a brewing plan for a bill to combat online piracy in the Philippines. A group is said to be lobbying in congress and the senate to pass a bill similar to SOPA or PIPA.
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Samsung very first tablet came out about 2 years ago. Since then, the Korean company has outed half a dozen other tablets with ranging sizes and form factors (from 5.0, 5.3 to 7.7, 8.9 & 10.1 inches). The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is basically a refresh of the very first model. Check out our full review after the jump.
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Apple’s newest iteration of the iPhone was greeted with mixed reactions from the market. A lot has been said, both praises and disappointments, about what it should have been in the first place. Since the local launch of the iPhone 4S with Globe and Smart is just a couple of days away, let me share with you what I think of this phone. Check out our iPhone 4S review after the jump.
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The HTC Evo 3D separates itself from the rest of the smartphone pack by including two 5MP rear cameras to produce stereoscopic 3D images and videos. Like the high-end LED TVs we’ve seen lately, the 3D rendering is either regarded as a gimmick or the next big thing in entertainment. Check out our full review of the HTC Evo 3D after the jump.
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The Sony-Ericsson Xperia Arc S did not deviate much from the original Arc except for the bump in processor speed (and the additional colored variant) so it’s not really a huge improvement, in my opinion. Nevertheless, those extra clock cycles will certainly be of help once your handset needs it. Check out our full review after the jump.
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The Nokia N9 arrived at my doorstep yesterday along with the Nokia 701 but I only got to unbox it today since I spent the night at a hotel reviewing Samsung’s 60-inch LED Smart TV. Posted my first impressions here back in June so this unboxing comes with the second impression.
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The Communicator is alive and has transformed into what is now the Nokia E7. It has gone a long way — slimmer, lighter and faster while retaining that signature form factor. Check out our full review of the Nokia E7 after the jump.
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Been in the boondocks for about a week now on a semi-vacation mode (and semi-retreat kind of way) so I’m not able to regularly publish new entries here. With a thousand miles away from mega Manila and a couple hundred more miles from the nearest city, my mountain resort hide-away is almost devoid of any internet coverage.
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Yesterday, Globe presented a round-up of their internet services for residential customers. One particular service I only learned of that day was GPON or the Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network, a fiber-to-the-home technology.
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It’s been a while since I’ve made a dedicated thank you post to our advertisers and sponsors here at YugaTech. Please do check them out below and see what promos they’re offering to readers here.
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I’d like to extend another round of thanks to our sponsors this holiday season. Support YugaTech by supporting our sponsors and checking out their offerings.
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I’d like to give another shout-out to our advertisers. They’ve been very supportive of me and this blog. Here’s hoping they’d continue to do so in the coming months and years.
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J Angelo wrote at the Blog Herald that he’s had a hard time explaining what he does for a living. To most people that he talks to, blogging or problogging isn’t even a career or is still nowhere near a form of livelihood. As for me, I’d always explain it in really simple terms that 99% of the people I talk to can understand — I’m in the Publishing business.
Here’s why:
- Think of me as a one-man newspaper. When I did a talk over at Nestle Philippines, I explained that as a problogger, there’s not much difference between me and say Manila Bulletin (print) or Inquirer.net. We’re all in the publishing business. They may have dedicated writers, editors, photographers, programmers, designers and an Editor-in-Chief. But I also have a writer, editor, photographer, programmer and designer on my blog. Just so happen that I alone do all those stuff and still manage to be the Editor-in-Chief and the Sales Manager as well.
- The business model is simple and has been around for centuries — advertising. Well, online advertising may be fairly new in this part of the region but everyone’s already familiar with traditional advertising. Let’s just say that the internet or new media is a growing platform, although I think the mobile media is way ahead of it in the Philippines. So, if you get a text message from Smart or Globe to download a ringtone or wallpaper, it’s no different from seeing an ad beside a blog entry. I think SMS ads are even worse since you can’t practically control what you get and when you get it. At least in blogs, you can choose not to read them or you can go and get the desensitized RSS version. Reminds me of Manny Pacquiao‘s boxing fights and how many advertisers wanted to have their logo stitched on his pants and jacket. Will that affect Manny’s performance inside the ring?
- The compensation package are almost the same. If bloggers get paid on a per post basis, magazine contributors are also paid the same. As a matter of fact, the going rates for bloggers on a per post basis is as good as a local magazine’s rate (that’s basing from experience with writing for both.) If sites like ReviewMe or PPP suggests what kind of review bloggers can write about a product or service, you’d be surprised that magazines also require an almost similar guideline. At least with ReviewMe, they don’t have the authority to edit your blog post. Your article contributions on a magazine will surely get one.
Ms. Malou Mangahas gave me a book about the media and journalism in the Philippines and I read there that there’s no governing body for media so anyone with money can put up their own newspaper. With blogging, the start-up capitalization in the publishing business has just become close to nil.
So to my fellow grassroot probloggers, when you’re asked what you do next time, just tell them you’re in the publishing business. 
I’m posting the title and the full body of the Press Release sent to me by one of Smart’s PR people. Will be having lunch with them next week so if you have specific questions you’d like me to throw their way, just leave a comment.
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