Alleba Blog

December 7th, 2010

The Google Nexus S – Full Specs and Price

Google officially announced the successor to the Nexus One — The Google Nexus S, a sleek, contoured phone developed in collaboration with cellular phone giant Samsung. The Nexus S is the maiden device installed with the Android 2.3/Gingerbread OS, promising quicker performance, user interface refinements, NFC support, a new keyboard and text selection tool, Internet (VoIP/SIP) calling, improved copy/paste functionality and gyroscope sensor support.

One of the notable physical attributes of the Nexus S is its slightly curved body. The phone neatly tucks in the palm of your hand and facial contours, unlike many phones that feel like chiseled blocks of technology. The 4″ screen features a super AMOLED display, something that I have actually seen only in another phone, the Samsung Galaxy S (which is a good choice if you’re looking at prepaid T-Mobile phones). Super AMOLED makes looking at your phone a visual experience in itself. Icons and pictures are sharper in detail, and colors are much more vivid. The 1GHz Hummingbird processor is nothing to be scoffed at either; although coming from the same manufacturer, it’s even snappier than the iPhone 4′s A4 processor (hurrah!).

The Google Nexus S will be available in the USA starting December 16 and in the UK December 20. It will be priced at $529. I *hope* they won’t leave out the Philippines in their list of available countries this time.

Full specs are as follows:
(more…)

Posted in Android, Google Nexus One | 1 Comment »

December 5th, 2010

Life With Ria is My Bloggers’ Choice Award Nominee

My nominee for the Philippine Blog Awards 2010 Bloggers Choice category is none other than my cousin Ria’s blog, Life with Ria.

Why? Coz not only does she write with passion, she’s also a great leader, spearheading initiatives to further the cause of Mindanao and the interests of its bloggers. Above all else, Ria is the winner in my books.

Posted in Blogging | 1 Comment »

December 3rd, 2010

Hedcut Portraits: Internet Tycoons

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg

Wordpress’s Matt Mullenweg

Apple’s Steve Jobs

Amazon’s Jeff Bezos

Google’s Sergey Brin and Larry Page (this one I did a long time ago)

To create these portraits, I used most of the techniques that I outlined in my Photoshop Hedcut Tutorial.

Posted in Hedcut, Photoshop | 6 Comments »

September 29th, 2010

WordPress Plugin: WP Pic Tagger

As somebody who dabbles in photography and blogging, adding captions to identify who or what are in my photos can sometimes be tedious. For the past month, I’ve been working on a WordPress plugin that allows me to add captions and tags to my pictures in a simple yet intuitive way. The picture above exhibits what this new plugin can do. It shows four people (I’m the second from left), each tagged with his or her name. If you hover your mouse over a face or name in the caption, it reveals the person’s name and position in the picture.
(more…)

Posted in Wordpress, Wordpress Plugins | 33 Comments »

August 12th, 2010

Google Pilipinas Zeitgeist for July 2010

Google published a list of the most popular news searches made by Filipinos last July, 2010. What’s different now is alongside this list, a video was produced by Pinoy Googlers to highlight it.

Here are the terms that made it to the top of our list:

1. Pacquiao – No surprise there. The most famous international boxer is now a Congressman of the Philippines!
2. Charice Pempengco – The Youtube sensation has been dodging rumors about being included in the cast of the second season of Glee, until she grew tired and admitted it on Twitter.
3. Panfilo Lacson – The most wanted fugitive in the Philippines might just be able to come home now that GMA sits next to Pacquiao.
4. Basyang – Ondoy definitely left a lasting impression on Pinoys after killing thousands last year and causing billions of pesos in damage. Basyang, the Philippines’ first typhoon in 2010, is nothing to scoff at either. It left about a hundred people dead and destroyed bridges and roads.
5. 73rd Season of UAAP – College basketball addicts made a killing of their own when the latest season of the UAAP commenced.

Watch the video:

Posted in Google | No Comments »

July 28th, 2010

I’m Going to WordCamp Philippines 2010

As one of the organizers of WordCamp Philippines 2010, I’m cordially inviting you to be in attendance on October 2, 2010 at the College of St. Benilde, Manila, Philippines. A ton of awesome stuff is in the works, you can’t miss this one! Geeks in the form of bloggers, yuppies, developers, designers will converge in this one-day event. It is your chance to mingle with the local techie crowd. Categorized talks will keep you busy in the morning, followed by plenary talks in the afternoon, including one by Matt Mullenweg. As of this writing, our records reveal that only 60+ slots are available. Don’t wait till it’s too late. Register now!

Posted in Wordcamp | 3 Comments »

July 25th, 2010

My Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs of 2010

Here are my nominees for the Top Ten Emerging Influential Blogs of 2010:

Project 52 Weeks – Mica Rodriguez’s project where she aims to create and showcase 52 new short films in a year. She’s doing a terrific job so far.

Kusina Maria – Ria Jose’s cooking blog. She shares her experiences in the kitchen cooking for her family and friends.

Tea, Completely – A blog of Andrew dela Serna and Aileen Apolo. Both of us are tea addicts and it’s only right that we blog about this addiction!

Davao Bloggers – Official blog of Davao City’s blogging community. Check this site out for our latest events and projects.

Avatar Media – Official website of Avatar Media, a new media company making its mark in Davao City. They are also this year’s organizers of WordCamp Philippines.

Plurk Designs – Lyle Santos gallery of excellently designed themes for your Plurk account.

Get Prettified – Brendel’s beauty blog with emphasis on practical tips and good buys.

Ganda Ever So Much – Orman Manansala’s entertaining and funny blog about life.

Mabuhay ang Bagong Kasal – Aileen and Jay De Jesus’s blog documenting their lives as a newly married couple. Offers tips on cooking, pest control (lol), gardening and a lot more.

Version Mine – Jay De Jesus’ collection of videos of popular song covers done by amateurs.

Posted in Asides | 4 Comments »

July 3rd, 2010

How to Manually Update your Nexus One to Froyo

Today I said to myself, “I’ve had enough of the delays in receiving the over-the-air (OTA) Froyo (Android 2.2) update to my Nexus One phone!” My friend Aileen got hers weeks ago and it makes me wonder why because we got our phones only a week (or two) apart. Another buddy of mine Winston prodded me to update mine manually like he did. I hooked up my phone to my PC, did this and that, and presto… my Nexus One is *finally* up-to-date.

Here’s what I did.

1. I downloaded this 44mb Froyo update file to my PC and renamed it to “update.zip”.
2. I copied the file to the root/main/first level folder of my Nexus One’s SD card.
3. I turned off my phone.
4. I booted my phone to recovery mode by holding down the trackball, and pressing the power button.
5. Using the power button, I chose Bootloader from the menu.
5. Using the Volume button I scroll down and chose Recovery from the menu.
6. The phone will restart. The Android mascot appears on my screen beside a street sign with a big exclamation mark. I then press the Volume Up and Power buttons at the same time.
7. Using the trackball, I chose Apply sdcard:update.zip.
8. The phone will start updating itself. I waited about 5-7 minutes for it to complete.
9. The Android mascot will appear about two times more before the phone finishes the update and restarts.
10. When that happens, congratulate yourself for successfully updating your phone.

Now, the funny thing is during the initial power on, some applications will not work correctly. When I tried to use the Camera and Calendar, I got an error saying these apps are not installed. I also noticed that their icons were all wrong. I panicked, but I thought perhaps the update was still happening. And I was right. I waited a bit more until the apps got their old icons back, and they worked perfectly. I love the new camera. Its options are now onscreen, rather than in the clunky old side menu that I hated. The main interface didn’t change much, except for the Phone and Internet icons docked beneath the home screen. I noticed that the response of the touchscreen is snappier. I was expecting more live wallpapers, but didn’t find any. Too bad. I’m loving this update though. Hope you will too.

Posted in Google Nexus One | 1 Comment »

June 18th, 2010

WordPress 3.0 “Thelonious” Released

The much awaited version of WordPress, version 3.0 “Thelonious”, is released.

Major changes and features:

• New default theme Twenty Ten
• New APIs that allow theme developers to easily implement custom backgrounds, headers, shortlinks, menus, post types, and taxonomies
• New multi-site functionality (merge of MU culminates here)
• New lighter interface
• Contextual help on every screen
• 1,217 bug fixes

For more, read Matt’s announcement on his blog. Download the new release here or update your installation automatically via admin.

On a side note, Matt is coming to Wordcamp Philippines 2010. For more details regarding this event, visit the official Facebook page. More announcements will be made very soon.

Posted in Wordcamp, Wordpress | 1 Comment »

June 17th, 2010

Great (and Free) MP3 Finds

Searching for excellent MP3′s to download? Look no further! After rummaging the Internet for a couple hours, I found a trove of awesome songs that are freely and legally downloadable. Enjoy!

• DJ Earworm – This guy is my absolute favorite remix artist. His work, My Life Would Suck Without You In My Place, that combines songs by Kelly Clarkson and Coldplay is an instant classic. Check out his 2008 and 2009 anthems to those years’ hit songs. And don’t miss his latest genius, Like OMG, Baby, that uses individual voice recordings of the artists including Usher and Justin Bieber (IKR).

• Coldplay – If you’re a Coldplay fan, you simply could not ignore downloading their free live album, LeftRightLeftRightLeft. It includes an all-time favorite song of mine, Viva La Vida, also Fix You and Clocks. The recording includes screaming fans and obligatory applause, but nonetheless outstanding.

• Damien Rice – Witness Rice’s warm, understated style in this song collection. It’s a shame that Blower’s Daughter wasn’t included in the list.

• Postal Service – Offers a few free songs on their site. They have that Owl City vibe, but darker. I wish they get out of their hiatus, fast.

Posted in Music | 1 Comment »