Tag: Philippines

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Geek

Remembering the days we used to review WiFi hotspots

I’m reposting a piece I wrote together with Eva Gubat from 2006. This was a time when the blue & black Linksys routers were a status symbol at home because the “next frontier” was being able to add WiFi to your home. It was the age of Apple’s iBooks and PowerBooks — of being able to flex working from a coffee shop. I remember browsing PinoyExchange or MaPalad and the forums would have a list of “friendly” establishments that had free WiFi and allowed you to plug your laptop.

Many phones didn’t have WiFi back then so getting online on a portable device meant having to use a PocketPC or something that ran Palm OS. These were the final days of Symbian S60 and Nokia, which Steve Jobs would then deliver the final blow with the launch of the first iPhone a few months later.

This piece was part of an ongoing series that featured such friendly establishments offering free WiFi. Tech magazines at the time didn’t cross into lifestyle, but publishers soon realized that it was the lifestyle sections that attracted the budgets, so we had to be fashionably geek. Oh how times have changed.

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Geek

A Blogging Journey Across 5 Years (and more)

There was a magical time in my professional life. It was between the years of 2007 to 2011. I was in my mid 20’s (and early 30’s). I felt invincible. I was brazen enough to quit my day job to become my own boss. I remember it clearly. I was stuck in a routine 9-5 job. It was a Saturday at the office (I know right!) and I was online looking at blogs from the US. I honestly do not remember the website, but I do remember that there was “a call for bloggers” listed on it and it involved something unique and different. There were interesting names behind it. Darren Rowse of rising ProBlogger fame was there. Duncan Riley. Jeremy Wright. These were the netizens of 2006, making their way through the WWW  x 2 (the wild wild west of the world wide web). 

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Best of Digressions

‘Tala’ is a locally made fountain pen ink that shimmers like the night sky

I am relatively new to the hobby of fountain pens. Like any curious tourist that take a peek at what’s below the cliff, sometimes you bend too much and fall in.

In this case, I’ve fallen into the rabbit hole of fountain pens. And what a joyous fall it was. The hobby is a pragmatic one, as I do find it odd to spend an arm and a leg for a writing instrument, but the upgrade from a ball point to a nib makes my writing feel like I am gliding along silk.

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Geek

My new normal with the Fitbit Charge 2

All I really wanted was a watch. But the more I kept this thing strapped on my wrist, I got sucked into that all too familiar trap of seeing my life as a series of numbers and charts, and the inevitable competitive sport of “social walking.”

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Geek

Libon features cheap calls to and from the Philippines

So it’s been a while, but Libon has really been making waves from the other side of the pond. “Traditionally” speaking, VoIP apps are always third-party, coming from familiar services such as WhatsApp and Viber. But Libon is different because it hails directly from a telco, which is a bold move as they recognize the market for messaging-based apps and VoIP versus the traditional call and SMS. Libon, which is short for “Life is Better On” is made by French’s Orange but is available worldwide to anybody, as an “Over-the-Top” app.

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