New Phone

Finally, my Sun Cellular postpaid plan application was approved. It took 1 month before it was approved. On top of it, if I didn't go to their office, I won't know that my application was approved. That's fine, as long as I have my new phone now - Samsung Galaxy Y.

Inno3d GEForce GT 220 1GB

August 15, 2010 - Finally, I was able to buy my computer a video card. I bought this Inno3d GEForce GT 220 1gb ddr2 128bit HDMI at PC Express in the North Reclamation area, just in front of SM City Cebu. It costs P3000.00. I'm not a full time gamer, but I decided to buy this so that I can play Disciples III. 

Here are the complete specifications and features of this video card.

Specifications GeForce GT 220 Processor Cores 48 GPU Clock (MHz) 625 Processor Clock (MHz) 1360 Memory Amount 1GB Memory Interface 128 bit

Key Features:-

NVIDIA® Unified Architecture

NVIDIA® CUDA™ technology

Microsoft Windows 7 Support

DirectCompute Support

OpenCL Support

NVIDIA® PureVideo® HD technology

High Definition 1080p Display Support

NVIDIA® PhysX® technology

Dual-link DVI, VGA & HDMI 1.3a output

Dual-link HDCP Capable

PCI Express 2.0 support

Microsoft DirectX 10.1, Shader Model 4.1 support

OpenGL 3.1 support

Superb Graphics

Modern games and 3D applications demand more graphic performance than every before and Intel integrated graphics simply isn’t enough. The Inno3D® GeForce® GT 220 packs 48 processing cores into a compact power efficient design delivering up to 30x the performance of Intel integrated solutions. In order to play today’s top PC games it is essential to equip your PC with the Inno3D® GeForce® GT 220 & GeForce® 210.

Fantastic Video

Get all the video processing power that your digital lifestyle requires. Edit your home video and post it to Facebook or YouTube 4x faster with the Inno3D® GeForce® GT 220 & GeForce® 210. Convert your video and put it on your iPod in minutes instead of hours or make your DVDs look like HD.

Premium Windows 7 Experience

Graphics processing units (GPUs) are an essential element of today’s PCs, enabling more visual and more interactive experiences. As a leader in visual computing and the inventor of the GeForce GPU, NVIDIA worked closely with Microsoft on the development of Windows 7 to ensure that its GPUs take full advantage of the great new features and functionality. If you use your PC to enhance photos, watch or edit videos, play games, or if you simply desire a fast and efficient graphical interface, Inno3D offers a premium experience with Windows 7.

New Facebook Homepage sucks

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - – Legions of Facebook users united in protest, demanding that the world's most popular social-networking service undo recent changes to its home page.

A "Change Facebook Back to Normal" group at the website claimed slightly more than a million members as once again, Facebook's penchant for change triggered ire among users that prefer things remain the same.

"If it ain't broke, don't fix it," a Facebook user with the screen name Carlos Deleon wrote on a protest group chat page.

On Friday, Facebook modified its news feed feature to let members of the world's leading social-networking service catch up on tidbits they may have missed while away from the website.

Facebook now lets members switch between getting real time streams of news or activities taking place, and highlights of what friends have shared online in the preceding 24 hours.

News Feed picks re-cap stories based on factors including how many friends have liked and commented on them.

The Live Feed option funnels updates and news about online friends' activities to Facebook home pages as the information surfaces.

"When we redesigned the Facebook home page last March, we heard from millions of users whose feedback was gathered and considered in developing News Feed and Live Feed," Facebook said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

"Whenever we launch new products, we listen carefully to our users about what specific changes we can make to improve their experiences on the site."

Some Facebook users on Monday posted instructions describing a way to reset the former news feed mode to home pages by making "status updates" a default option.

"We encourage people to continue to send us constructive, detailed feedback and are committed to using it to inform how we build and improve the site for everyone," Facebook said.

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20091027/ttc-us-it-internet-facebook-0de2eff.html

----

My thoughts:

Yes.. I'm starting to hate this new facebook. I'm not getting the live updates from my friends. The loading is so slow. Most of my friends are no longer sharing videos.

Bring back the old Facebook please!!!

Are you a Facebook addict? - Yahoo! Philippines News

Are you a Facebook addict? - Yahoo! Philippines News

"Like most activities, moderation and integration are key. Those that may seriously label and treat FAD as a behavioral addiction will clearly need to use context in determining if a behavior has become demonstrably harmful to overall social, work, or face-to-face interpersonal efficacy," Fenichel added.

You are a Facebook addict if...

According to Joanna Lipari, a clinical psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles who was interviewed for a CNN report, here are some signs that you are addicted to Facebook:

1. You lose sleep over Facebook. When using Facebook becomes a compulsion and you spend entire nights logged on to the site, causing you to become tired the next day.

2. You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook. Lipari said it is difficult to define how much is too much when it comes to Facebook usage, but that an average person need only spend half an hour on the site.

3. You become obsessed with old loves or exes you reconnect with on Facebook.

4. You ignore work in favor of Facebook. This means you do not do your job in order to sneak time on Facebook.

5. The thought of getting off Facebook leaves you in cold sweat. If you try going a day without Facebook and it causes you stress and anxiety, this means you need help.

Neobux First Cashout

I just received my first payout in Neobux.com. This PTC site is really paying and I've received the $2.02 right away in my Alertpay account.

Here's my proof of payment via AlertPay:

If you want to join Neobux, just click the banner below:

First Online Payment

I’m wondering why I haven’t received my bills yet for my internet connection. I have received my first bill, however, the courier told my boardmate that the address I provided was wrong, so he gave me the correct address. I don’t know why I haven’t received any bills yet. It’s been a month already. Good thing, I received my ATM card today. I’m browsing the brochure and also the website of my bank. I found out that I could pay my bills online using my ATM card. I visited my balance statement online at www.smart.com.ph/connect. I found out that my 2 bills for the month of August and September were already sent. I then went to http://www.bancnetonline.com/ and paid my August bill of 997.20 php. There’s no charge for this transaction and another good thing is, I won’t for a long queue just to get this taken cared of. This is my first time doing this and it feels great.

http://sharkfire.i.ph

sharkfire.i.ph

I've just created another blog sharkfire.i.ph. I decided to create another blog with .ph domain wherein I would be comfortable posting entries using my mother tongue. Although I know I could post my thoughts here using my language, it would be better that I would continue to use the English language. When I used the Live Traffic Feed widget, I've noticed that most of the visitors of this blog aren't from Philippines. For them to understand my entries, I would continue to use English.

jrortega.wordpress.com now up

I've just finished creating Kuya Jayson's blog-slash-website. I have chosen wordpress to be our CMS since we have plans of upgrading it and getting a domain name. I'm not yet done studying Dreamweaver and Php. Well, Kuya's birthday is approaching and I promised him that I'll create a site for him before his birthday. This would work, for now.

Click the banner to visit site or just click here.

My new browser - Google Chrome

I've just installed Google Chrome and I think this is a good browser. The interface is good and it feels like I'm using a customized AOL browser with Firefox' touch. It loads webpages faster compared to Internet Explorer and Firefox. I believe I'll get along with this browser. :D

Sharkfire.com No more

Bad news. The domain name sharkfire.com was already taken. If I'm going to upgrade this blog, of course I'll choose sharkfire.com to be my domain name. Sharkfire is my code name. I created "sharkfire" myself and I never thought that anyone else in this world could also think of the same name. Anyway, that's alright but I always wanted that my dream personal website would be named sharkfire.com. I guess I'll just take sharkfire.org since it is still available.

I'm just wondering why would the author of sharkfire.com choose this name if they're site is about saving sharks. It doesn't make sense.

SWF & FLV Toolbox Free License

Eltima and Brothersoft is giving away free licenses of SWF& FLV Toolbox.

SWF & FLV Toolbox converts individual or batches of Flash SWF/FLV files into Projector EXE, AVI, frame-by-frame JPG/GIF/BMP image series, or single animated GIF.

SWF & FLV Toolbox features an extremely useful Advanced Projector specialty, that lets creating EXE files out of any SWF / FLV, thus making it possible to watch SWF / FLV movies using handy controls and without installing Flash Player on a PC.

The program is available for $39.95, but it will be free for our friends as a time-limited offer.

Get it here.

MegaWoosh Video - Fake or Real?

You decide. See for yourself.

PTC Sites

Bux.to



Clixsense



TheClickers.net




WordLinx

Bux.gs

ASUS P5KPL-AM SE motherboard

ASUS P5KPL-AM SE motherboard


FSB O.C. 1600
- Stable overclocking with Front side Bus 1600 MHz

PCI Express X16
- PCI Express X16 bus performs much better than AGP 8X in applications such as 3D Gaming

Azalia Audio
- Enjoy high-end sound system on your PC

LGA775, Intel G31 + ICH7, Intel Core2 CPU ready, FSB 1600(OC), D-CH DDR2 1066 (0C), 6-CH HD Audio, 8 USB 2.0, Crash Free Bios, 10/100M LAN, Q-Fan, Mylogo 2, Vista Basic.RoHS Compliant, SATA 3Gb/s

My Powerful Desktop

June 15, 2009

Day off. This was the only time that I can buy a computer. I thought it was very easy to buy a good computer. Just identify what part you need, choose the brand, and pay. I thought that's what all it is about. I've got only 20500php cash in hand and I need to purchase all that I need to complete a running desktop: Motherboard, Processor, Hard Drive, Memory, DVD-RW, CPU casing, and monitor. I'll just purchase a video card in some later time if I got cash. I'm thinking whether I'll buy at PC Express or at PC Quickbuys. PC Express is very popular, but PC Quickbuys' prices were cheaper and I'm considering the cash at hand. So after hours of deciding, computing and thinking where will I go, I finally made up my mind to purchase all the parts at PC Quickbuys. Actually, Kuya Jayson wanted me to purchase these at PC Express but I don't think that I'll be able to buy all if I do so. Anyway, I'm just thinking they've got same parts, same brands, but different prices, so I'll go for the cheaper :D..

And I ended up buying these parts...

Processor: Intel(R) Core (TM)2 Quad CPU Q8200 @ 2.33 GHz (4 CPUs)
Motherboard: ASUS P5KPL-AM SE
Memory: Kingston 2GB RAM
Hard Drive: 320 GB Seagate Barracuda
Optical Drive: SONY DVD RW
Monitor: Likom CRT
CPU Casing: Mars

Pretty good specs, but the Monitor is so humiliating. Hahahaha.. I would've bought an LCD Monitor but the remaining cash after I completed the system unit is insufficient. Anyway, I'll probably buy an LCD Monitor in the future, unless Kuya gave one.. Hahaha.. But I'll do upgrade this by adding a video card and I'll also try to hook up an internet connection. Well this will all depend on my salary.

I'm indeed lucky that I've got a very generous and unselfish best friend :D.. Anyway, we have deal to make a project. It's a website and we'll earn through ads. I hope I could make it because I don't want to fail him and that's basically the reason why he decided to give me cash to purchase this desktop. So I'm gonna put my best foot forward to make that project possible and I'll take good care of this PC. I hope that this won't have the same fate as the laptop that he also gave me. And I hope that someday, I will be able to return all the favors he done for me. I know I will.

Free Downloads at brothersoft.com

I've recently discovered, brothersoft.com, one of the leading download sites providing a huge collection of sharewares and freewares for downloads. If you register to become a member of brothersoft.com, you can take advantage of downloading lots known softwares for free.


If you're interested of becoming a member, just go to brothersoft.com and click the Sign Up link, or just click here.

My Take on MMORPGs

I'm back on my game again! MMORPG or Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game is a genre of online game wherein you role-play a character, kill monsters until you level up. While leveling up, you gain more useful and powerful skills that will aid you in your leveling journey to a particular virtual world. And this is not all about leveling up, because you are playing with other players from different part of the country. You can organize a party so that it's not only you will be fighting with those monsters. More heads are better than one, right? Dealing with other persons that you don't know but you share the same interest is so much fun, and that made me love playing online games more.

Though you need to spare more time, effort and perhaps money for you to achieve your desired level, the undeniable fun is unmistakably irreplaceable. There's a saying that goes, "The time you enjoyed wasting is not a wasted time."

Online gaming is just like what's happening in the real world. You start from level 1, and you continue to face challenges. You gain experience and you're leveling up, which makes you a better, stronger and smarter person. Sometimes, you need somebody to support you as you face your quests, that's your party!

It's time to Level up!

ROBO - CART

Our main requirement for graduation was our design project. We'll apply all the concepts and lessons we have acquired in the entire Computer Engineering course. We called our design projet 'ROBO-CART'. It's like a pushcart/shopping cart that will just follow its user instead of pushing it. We used IR LEDs as the transmitter and photodiode as the receiver.

Yamz did the electronic side of the project.. Wow I'm amazed, he made this project running. Kuya Jayson did most of the work with the prototype, not to mention the budget that he provided. And I did the software part of the project, I made the program and wrote it using the Assembly Language. It's not an easy language to understand. In fact, I just used all the basic concepts. I also need to understand it by myself. Good thing, I've written the right codes although it's not perfect and there's so much to improve.

I had a hard time writing the correct code for the direction of the cart. It's hard to control the cart's direction whether it will turn right or left and when will the turn stop when it reached the maximum turning point. To make it stop, we needed to create another set of circuit that will detect if the maximum turning point was achieved and will stop the turn eventually. And it worked. Now the problem is how turn the controller back to the center. Unfornutately, I failed to write the correct code for that. Now, the fallback plan has been decided to be used. And that's the manual turning of the controller - what a pathetic move. But it worked!!!

Well it's not easy to make a running project. With limited time, limited resources and limited knowledge, we don't know what we need to make this project successful. Thanks for all those who helped us and imparted their knowledge. Thanks to TEKNICA and ADVANCED ELECTRONICS - our source of the electronic equipments that we need.

This project is not 100% working. I think, 70% of the project is working properly. We passed though. Thanks to Sir Jan!!!