Month: December 2008

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Mostly Everything

Loadmomma is the “second half” of Red Mobile: Free affiliate load sending!

loadmomma_red_mobile

The summary: Loadmomma from Red Mobile combines social media and viral marketing with a prepaid load distribution.

The cat is finally out of the bag. Several weeks ago, customer service reps from uMobile (formerly CURE) called their former subscribers hinting of a new service on the rise. A lot of bloggers caught sight of this and have speculated their thoughts. This new telco, as we now know is Red Mobile. The ads are all over Facebook and the local Internet. However, there’s more to Red Mobile than just cheaper rates.

So here we go! Introducing … Loadmomma, the second half of Red Mobile and what seems to be the key missing piece. Loadmomma is a social phenomenon that challenges the way we send out load. Instead of buying load – why not earn it from other Red Mobile subscribers via a social network platform? Of course, you can always buy credits!

Quoted from the FAQ:

Anyone can be a part of the red mobile online community. All you have to do is log on to www.loadmomma.com, register your personal details and recruit as many of your friends to join the load momma community. As the referror, you will be considered the “load momma.” Make sure that your friends all register—each successful referral means that you can get P10 worth of red mobile prepaid credits, which is equal to 20 minutes worth of voice calls or 20 text messages (red mobile to red mobile). [source]

A strong social network component?

getting-invites-loadmomma

Interesting as well – the account management page lets you add friends in your email address books and social networks as well (see above). Under your account management page, you can send messages, view your friends (yes, Load Momma also has profile pages like social networks) and check your load statistics. There’s also a referral link which you can use to display on your blog for load affiliate credits.

loadmomma-social-network

And yeah – based on the menagerie of alerts you can customize above, it IS a social network and you can even customize the CSS for your profile page.

In other words, what we’re looking at is potentially free load depending on the number of friends we recruit on a daily basis (not yet sure how this works in practice but nonetheless worth a try!). So yeah, it’s not only cheaper than 24/7 Unlimited, the long term costs are cheaper as well with its current rates. I guess this is why they have the “It’s better than unlimited” tag line on the web page.

Can I be your LOADMOMMA?

[Disclosed: BlogBank, a company I own, is running the Loadmomma campaign across its network]

Categories
Mostly Everything

TORQUE C100 Review: Bluetooth and camera for P2,199

torque-blc5

EDIT: If you’re looking for more TORQUE products, check out the cheapest dual SIM phone in the market, the TORQUE D100.

There’s a different philosophy behind reviewing entry level phones – more than features, people tend to look at price, but with the way the mobile phone market is becoming more and more sophisticated, even low end phones have to be distinguished by some creative features. Today, I have a brand new TORQUE straight from the box. The TORQUE C100 is the China made entry level phone that has been out for a few days in your favorite mobile phone flea market. Read on for my hands on.

Continue reading “TORQUE C100 Review: Bluetooth and camera for P2,199”
Categories
Mostly Everything

Nokia E63 retails for P14,200 in the Philippines

A few weeks ago I won a Nokia N79 from a raffle from Nokia. Having really wanted the semi-brand new E71 in its stead, I bargained for a swap since the latter was a tad cheaper in price mainly due to an earlier release date. The E71 is a fantastic QWERTY business device and my one and I guess biggest complaint is the dropping of support for BlackBerry Connect. If this is a software issue, I hope Nokia can release a firmware upgrade in the future so it can support both Intellisync and BlackBerry Connect.

A few weeks after the E71’s release, Nokia announces a lower end enterprise phone – the Nokia E63 which is basically the same in most respects except for its slightly less conservative form factor. As seen above, the Nokia E63 resembles much of the E71 and is in fact cheaper by a mile – only P14,200 whereas the E71 retails between P19,500 to P22,000. The main difference between the two is really more on the form factor and “lower end” 2.0MP camera – which is really relative as the E71 comes with a 3.2MP camera.

Who said cheaper meant worse specs? The E63 comes with support for 3.5mm headsets while my E71 supports 2.5mm connectivity – I’d need to use an adapter to use regular earphones. Bluetooth, WiFi, Share on Ovi, a really good browser, and fast UI make this phone a definite winner if you don’t need HSDPA! More specs available here.

The Nokia E63 is available NOW for only P14,200. This is the most affordable mass market enterprise level phone of Nokia and I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t consider it for Christmas.

Categories
Mostly Everything

“Flowers from the Rubble”

I can’t help but be sentimental as its nearing the end of the year. And today I’d like to talk about remembering your roots.

The best TV appearance I ever made was in a recent show of a friend whom I met at the UA&P. His name is John D Borra and aside from running a huge events place and blogging at Flowers from the Rubble, he moonlights as a host for an engaging talk show called Juan on Juan (Zoe TV). The 50 live minutes struck a chord as it was a pretty defining moment to have two old friends together in front of the camera. The guy in the middle is Jason de Villa, current editor in chief of Mobile Philippines and someone who I’ve worked with in many ways since 2003. It was during the first 5 minutes of the running camera that I realized how Jason paved the way for John D’s teaching career and my career as well in the glossies. We discussed, in cramped length the joys of traditional and new media all having been involved in both for the past 5 years (Jason appeared in the front page of Digg recently).

And it is with that where I borrow John D’s blog title for this post. I think that being in the media for the better part of my youth allowed me to be more sentimental about career. It was in an animated series – I honestly forgot what it was, pardon me – where the protagonist’s mentor told him to never forget your roots in times of doubt. And, I guess it is with those same roots that established writing that is fearlessly fair, and loving what you do. Love is defined as the selfless gift of self (or “the gift of self giving”), and loving what you do as a blogger means more than just writing a post, but mastering your niche.

When I go back to my roots as a blogger, the answer to many important questions becomes more apparent. 🙂

I hope it is for you too! Welcome to the Christmas season!

[photo c/o Phoebe | my tummy c/o Cheetos]

Unboxing Crumpler Loo Roll with Road Test: Two thumbs up!

As a niche leader in comfortable bags, Crumpler also produces some of the most bizzare schwag. Thanks to the generosity of Charlie Paw at last night’s PhilMUG party we have the chance to do an official unboxing and and first impression run of the Loo Roll, Crumpler’s tissue roll that doubles as a paint by number coloring pad.

In depth review after the break.

Continue reading “Unboxing Crumpler Loo Roll with Road Test: Two thumbs up!”