The Commission on Elections, through the office of its official spokesperson, just recently launched a dedicated website and mobile application for its election related information and education efforts. This aims to empower the electorate for this coming May elections and make everything about it easily accessible nationwide.
Christened “E-Leksyon 2013,” this free website and its mobile application were the brainchild of the COMELEC and an idealistic group of developers called Bitoopi from Smart Communications, Inc. and sanctioned by the same. This team of young programmers developed and donated the service to the COMELEC of their own volition. This will fast-pace the information campaign of the COMELEC this coming election.
Features
Features of the mobile app highlights how sample ballots are filled out through simulation. This will definitely aid voters on the proper way to fill out, particularly shading on, the ballot forms. Once they are familiarized with shading, the burden is considerably lessened because feeding the forms into the machine becomes the single challenging task left of what voters should do. And that’s a big relief.
Moreover, the website contains the relevant COMELEC rules for campaigning to inform voters in case they note any violations committed by any electoral party. It also has information about where the nearest precinct is for reporting such violations, or uploading violations reports and photos. When a report is uploaded and sent, COMELEC issues a validation code to the complainant for proper ID. COMELEC will publish online only validated ones. The site will be accessible with any Internet enabled devices through this address: www.report.mycomelec.tv.
Nokia disclosed recently its newest smartphone models and innovations at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Special highlights were Nokia Lumia 720, Nokia Lumia 520, Nokia 105, and Nokia 301, plus new feature innovations on HERE maps, imaging, navigation, and entertainment. Together with Microsoft, Nokia refocuses marketing efforts to draw more of its business clientele to Windows Phone.
Nokia Lumia 720
In the limelight was the introduction of Nokia Lumia 720 with its high-end features made available to more of Nokia’s crowd, everything at mid-range price. That’s no less than features the smartphone world today goes agog over—high-end camera, navigation, music, etc —with the special social experience afforded by Windows Phone 8.
The Nokia Lumia 720 cam came into focus, with its wide f/1.9 aperture combined with the Carl Zeiss optics exclusive to the gadget, delivering clear and bright images regardless of the time of day. Crowd picture shots are made extra quality with the wide-angle, 1.3 megapixel, front-facing camera—and there’s even the video calling feature to add more fun. Image enhancements are made better for stunning results and easy sharing, and that includes the Cinemagraph, Glam Me, and Smart Shoot.
A reinvention of smartphone—this was how the president of HTC-USA, Mike Woodward, described the hottest flagship Android phone of the Taiwanese company. Essentially, the HTC One is designed according to how people, or the so-called Generation Feed, actually use their smartphones today. It’s a practical One. And that could turn the smartphone world upside down, according to Woodward in announcement very recently.
Essential Features
The body is entirely of aluminum which took some years to construct and perfect. That’s quality enough—having an all-metal but light phone. But there are more new features. The full HD 1080p 4.7-inch screen is bracketed laterally by elongated speakers dubbed by HTC as Boomsound. With the Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor ticking at 1.7GHz, the HTC One certainly would perform fast and works powerfully in tandem with its 2GB DDR2 RAM.
HTC Cam Breaks the Tie
The HTC One camera is worthy of mention, said to be among the revolutionary features that set HTC One apart from the rest, and that’s not to mention its breakthrough Ultrapixel technology. Ultrapixel has two times what a megapixel has, permeating 300 times the light, Woodward said. And with the dual-axis stabilization, the cam feature is beyond compare. And if that seems outrageously brilliant, wait till you see how it’s possible to take shoots in low light even without a flash. No blown-out, flat pictures. The image quality is said to outdo iPhone cam images!
Enjoy rich and resonant music anywhere with the all-in gadget: Genius SP-i320 Portable Music Player. No need for additional or other supporting playing devices. It has a plug-and-play functionality. So, simply plug and play the desired music through the USB port supported with the combined advanced features of a portable MP3 (PMP) player and a loud speaker.
Control is simply sliding a knob for turning on or off the Genius, adjusting volume, or fiddling with functional keys to set music to the preferred acoustic balance, decibels, or music piece selection. There’s also a headphone portal for private and uninterrupted listening. The regular aux-in jack, or 3.5mm jack to be specific, enables easy connection for notebooks, tablets, mobile phones, iPods and music players, and other gadgets.
Nokia’s first Windows Phone 8—the Nokia Lumia 820—is now in all its stores in the Philippines. Available in black, white, yellow, and red — the handset retails with a price tag of P18,990. Like all of its WP predecessors, Lumia 820 is chic in style, and sits in the mid-range smartphone category, yet with promised quality performance and more unique and exciting features.
Specs
Nokia Lumia 820 boasts a 1.5 GHz dual-core SnapDragon S4 processor and shows off a 4.3-inch OLED ClearBlack easy-touch display. Obviously, the body would feel just right to the grip owing to the curved sides and handsomely trimmed off at the rounded corners. Then there’s the camera fitted with powerful 8 megapixels shooter. The body cover is actually a changeable shell for frequent new looks from a selection of lively colors. The extra shell room serves for wireless charging plus provision for a microSD card that can easily be slipped in. Fast data connections are made possible by LTE connectivity supported by local mobile networks.
This Windows Phone 8 handset can be personalized with preferred screen elements and designs, especially with the use of animated Live Tiles — in which case are new options for accessing real-time updates. Your choice of files, images, music, and videos is easily transferable from compatible tablets and PCs through the easy sync feature. If you’re a business guy, apps like Microsoft Office are available on the platform out of the box, supported by Internet Explorer 10; and there’s Lync, Adobe Reader, and SkyDrive support as well.
It’s the same yet quite different. In fact, it’s RIM’s new creation. BlackBerry 10 was launched yesterday as RIM’s fresh platform creation first made available on its two latest smartphones—BlackBerry Z10, which is all-touch and LTE-ready handset, and BlackBerry Q10, which flaunts a touch display plus they usual physical QWERTY keyboard. The result is a smarter, smoother, and definitely faster BlackBerry ever. Should I say the Z10 is a sexier BlackBerry, too? 
The launching happened simultaneously in New York, London, Toronto, Dubai, Paris, and Joahannesburg. RIM President and CEO Thorsten Heins stressed that the re-engineered, re-designed, and re-invented BlackBerry offers an “entirely” different mobile experience that will keep users on the go.
What’s So Special about BlackBerry 10?
Aside from the usual suave features that mark newly introduced smartphones, BlackBerry 10 has a “gestured interface” sure to excite users as they easily discover Disney features like “Where’s My Perry?” and “Bringing Where’s My Water?” Tim O’Brien, Disney Games VP for Business Development, also commented that BlackBerry 10 is sure to be the platform expanding their network of mobile players.
RIM or Research in Motion announced on Wednesday that it has renamed the company as simply just BlackBerry. The Canadian phone maker is now officially operating as BlackBerry worldwide.
The company decided to formally adopt the name of its brainchild, the BlackBerry smartphone, as its very own name, consolidating its brand into a single solid global identity. And that should make things simpler and easier to recall mentally, especially to the global market: BlackBerry by BlackBerry.
Now Trading as “BB”
BlackBerry will now trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange as simply but also eye-catchingly “BB.” On the NASDAQ however, it will be “BBRY.” All this will start on Monday, the 4th of February 2013.
Not only that. The company also changed its website URL from www.rim.com to www.blackberry.com. In case some people wonder why they’re not connecting to the company website, they’re probably using the old address. And as with the website URL change, so with the email address be in the offing—with the expected @blackberry.com suffix.
The update to iOS 6 is finally out to bolster “iDevices” integrated with LTE features. And that means particularly devices like the iPhone 5, iPad 4, and iPad Mini. iOS 6.1 however, still works with iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, iPhone 4S, iPad 2, The New iPad (iPad 3), iPod Touch 4G, and iPod Touch 5G. The latest iOS version to date is designed to smooth sail support for new LTE carriers offering the iPhone 5, something that should have been done long before to speed up the use of LTE connectivity.
Philippine Carriers Smart and Globe to Get Support
Needless to say, it’s the LTE connectivity that gets so much interest for iUsers given the fact that not all carriers support such feature on iPhone 5 or LTE-capable iPads out of the box. The Philippines is among the countries where 36 new carriers getting the LTE support are based. Both Smart and Globe were specifically granted with LTE support, and that means we can anticipate both telcos to layout transition plans, like offering new Plan packages not only for Postpaid subscribers but for Prepaid subscribers as well. This goes to say that we can expect price adjustments, data cap considerations and, of course, deciding the target launching date very, very soon – at least for areas outside Metro Manila.
iOS 6.1
Other features available on the latest iOS iteration includes downloading individual iCloud tracks in iTunes Match, and the addition of a new button for resetting the Advertising Identifier for blocking targeted ads of ad networks. That’s a welcome users’ privacy option.
The iOS 6.1 is expected to carry over the customary performance enhancements that place the service above its precursor, plus the usual bug fixes.
These days, using smartphones like iPhone and Android phones also mean being more productive in one way or another, as when managing finances in mobile. And for Nokia Lumia users, this was also made possible with a selection of apps for easy budgeting, bill payments, market news and stocks updates, and more. The apps designed for the Windows Phone platform and work seamlessly with Nokia Lumia line of handsets, most of which are free, are now offered at the Windows Phone Store. For curious and excited Lumia users, you may want to check these apps, whose features are summarized below.
Toshl Finance
This free tool is designed to assist users manage their income and expenses daily. Managing the family budget on a regular basis becomes easier with sufficient control on cash flows. Toshl helps users keep the balance of expenses and income in feasible proportions.
How about keeping a comparative history of cash ins and outs? This allows users to weigh and reconsider their cash flows. When traveling, Toshl can also help with currency conversion. And to ensure everything is private, users can create passcodes for money record safety.
It was supposed to make Twitter more fun but apparently other users have other things in mind. The new Vine app designed for video-sharing with iPod and iPhone is starting to have porn problems after just less than a week of being online. The use of the new app actually does not prohibit pornographic or adult content; unfortunately, Apple guidelines restrict applications with pornographic items on its App Store.
It’s Supposed to be More Fun
The app was given a go last Thursday (January 24, 2013) by Twitter as an additional video-fun feature users can enjoy. They may create six-second clips and share them immediately with their tweets. The unique way the videos run on Twitter makes it more exciting, presenting choice cuts or summaries of whole contents into short and swift clips.
But then other different minded users began using it for posting porn clips drawn through laptops and from some TV programs. Nick Bilton from New York Times had mentioned the fact about the plethora of porn and sex materials being easily available online, insinuating how easy it would be for users to post such videos on Twitter now that Vine is on—and especially without Vine mentioning anything about the matter in its terms of service.
Twitter is known to promote freedom of expression online, but having porn materials on its webpage can also mar its image of being a decent social network site. Vine is intended for “abbreviated” videos of stuff that make life good, like good experiences, exciting moments, happy instances. And Twitter counts on users’ good judgment when translating things that make life good into videos. But apparently, Twitter’s tacit expectation was misread by some.
Enjoy your tweets more with videos shared directly to your posted tweets through Vine. Twitter recently made official the available use of Vine-powered videos for better subscribers’ enjoyment of their twitter accounts. Vine was even teased by Twitter’s own CEO Dick Costolo using his own Twitter feed before its launch. Less than a day after that, Vine on Thursday, became official.
What’s Vine?
Vine is Twitter’s stand-alone iPhone app for video sharing on Twitter’s site. Twitter users can now share clips or videos six seconds long as tweets. These clips or videos play within tweets on a loop. Vine is now ready for iPhone and iPod Touch devices, available for download in iTunes App Store. Twitter reportedly plans to make the app available for more platforms.
The Vine app allows users to shoot six-second videos to be embedded in tweets, the same way photos are. The clips loop considerably, and are really more like a simple GIF creation tool rather than an actual video app. Vine’s history goes back to October last year prior to Twitter’s launching of the Vine product. But then, eventually the app fell into users’ hands anyway before long. Vine was then purchased by the popular social network company.
From erstwhile hypes, it was said to be a mega hit. Now that it’s finally here, immediately apparent are its effulgent design, smooth and fast processor power, big display, plus good battery life. At first glance, the Cherry Mobile Omega impresses you as a fine-featured, though a bit predictable, smartphone model. But then on closer look, there’s definitely more.
Cherry Mobile Omega Specs
It’s 3G capable of course for best mobile internet experience and fitted with Google’s Jelly Bean software out-of-the-box. Just you know, Android Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) is a definite improvement of its earlier version, the Ice Cream Sandwich. Omega is actually a dual-SIM and dual-core smartphone with a large 5.2-inch display. The large display makes checking and sending email easy and the same goes for browsing the net and watching videos or viewing photos by simply holding the Omega mobile in your hand.
On top of the 5MP main camera, there’s a front camera that allows you to do some video chat, operated using an ably VGA snapper. Also under its hood is 4GB of internal memory and a 512-RAM, not to mention its flexible memory card slot that allows you to expand storage up to 32GB. And the price? Just imagine getting all the mentioned smartphone goodies for just Php 6,699 – either in Black or White. Not bad for the newest Cherry Mobile phone, eh?
