Me and the Computer

PayMaya is a convenient tool to use for purchasing goods online. Usually, vendors would require a credit card for you to be able to buy a product or a service. PayMaya can act as your credit / debit card. You don't need to fill in a long application to apply. All you need is a smartphone and the PayMaya app. How to Load money to your PayMaya virtual card at 7-Eleven 1. You need to send a text message to 292907969. The content of the message should be: addmoney 711 [amount you will load] example: addmoney 711 2000 If I want to load 2000 pesos on my PayMaya account. 2. After sending the text wait for a reply. PayMaya will send you a seven digit money code. 3. Enter this code at the 7-Eleven kioks. Along with the amount you are going to load. Make sure the amount is the same with what you provided in the text or else it will get rejected in the counter. 4. Get the kioks receipt and give it to the counter. 5. Pay the amount in the counter.They will scan the kioks receipt...

Device makers and Internet Service Providers are gearing up to roll out 5G. Tech geeks seemed excited though I think 5G won't be fully implement until after 3 to 5 years. But what's the most significant advantage does 5G promises? A PC Magazine article states that standard bodies involved with 5G are aiming for a data transfer of 20Gbps speed and 1 ms latency. 1 millisecond ping rate is huge. It means we will have instantaneous response from one end of the network to another. I can see video gamers being happy about this improvement. Currently, 4G Networks deliver response at about 45 to 75 milliseconds. And people still do complain about lag. Another group that would benefit from 5G are video streamers. Other future uses being floated around is for robotics, remote surgery, and self driving vehicles — anything that would benefit from very low latency. Still, devices compatible with 5G will still have to be made and the networks still have upgraded implem...

January 7, 2019. Good morning. This is the first Monday of the year. The first full working week. There's so many days still up ahead. I wonder where we will be by December. I hope we are more successful. New Year’s resolutions. Everybody makes one. Usually by New Year’s Eve. But everyone manages to break them just after a week or a month. But it is always good to aim for something. Let’s do our best to keep them. My New Year’s resolution is — to work harder and smarter. It’s pretty easy to remember and it should help keep me motivated for the rest of the year. And so we begin ...

Instagram recently rolled out a cool new update. It allowed its users to follow their favorite hashtags. How to Follow Hashtags 1. use the search button and type the hashtag. 2. as soon as the hashtag result is displayed you will see a follow button. 3. Simpy click the button and that's it. You will begin to see updates about the hashtag in your timeline along with the accounts that you follow. Some Other things You can Do with Hashtags: You can view hashtag stories and you will be able to check what hashtags other people are following in their profile

How fast time flies. It's been so long since I wrote on this blog. Years? This blog has been a personal technical reference for me in the past. I wrote here so I could remember solutions to some technical problems I encountered while going about my work. I also wrote here updates and observations about the gadgets I happen to have my hands on, software development, and other things related to technology. A lot of things have changed since then. I think one of my favorite technology, Adobe Flash, is almost dead.  It's been replaced by a combination of HTML5, Javascript, and CSS.  I wonder if anybody is still using it for animation. Anyway, I have decided to be active here again. I think I need to update the layout. Because this current one is not good for mobile devices. That has been one on the big changes that has happened in the past couple of years. These days more people are viewing websites on mobile phones than on desktop computers. I will get around to it. U...

One problem with Android Phones is that they are data hogs. If you leave the phones to their default settings they will suck up the bandwidth.  If you have atleast four of those devices using the WiFi in the house everything will grind to a halt.  You won’t be able to browse the internet properly. But What is Causing Android Phones to Use Up All the Bandwidth If you go to the App Store. And you check on the settings. You will see that it is set to automatically update your apps. That is the problem. All the apps on the phone would release updates several times during the week. So your phone or your tablet are constantly updating everyday without you being aware of it. Imagine several devices updating at the same time over your WiFi. How to Stop Android from Automatically Updating Apps 1. Open the App Store 2. Click on Settings 3. You will see that Auto-Update Apps is set to Automatically Update over WiFi 4. Set this to Do Not Auto-Update Apps 5. Yo...

For a long time we've contemplated having a cable tv connection. But the problem is we are so far from the street that regular cable companies would usually say that it is impractical because they would need a very long cable to service us and that the quality degrades as the cable gets longer. So one day someone came along offering Satellite based TV (Cignal) and we decided to subscribe. Cignal Digital TV Advantages 1. No more need for long cables because the service is satellite based. 2. Video quality is better than other cable providers. You are only given a few HD channel depending upon your subscription but even the normal channels look so good, you would think they are also HD. 3. Comprehensive Channel Guide that is built into your remote control. You will find a button on your remote that reads “Guide”. After you press it. It will list the current channel you are watching and you will see what program or movie will come next and the hours. You can slide the g...

My Old AOC CRT Monitor began to show signs of dying. It would occasionally black out for a few seconds. Sometimes lightning streaks  would run across the screen. I bought that monitor way back in 2006. It served me well for 5 years. It was very durable and AOC is a good brand. And so I had no choice but to buy myself a new monitor. I would have preferred another CRT Monitor but they were no longer available. Even the more recent LCD screens are being phased out in favor a the newer LED monitors. LG FLATRON E2041 (This was not my first choice but it was the next best thing available in the computer store I visited). 1600 X 900 Resolution (16:9 Aspect Ratio) Contrast Ratio: 5,000,000:1 Brightness: 250 Cd/m2 Dimensions W/Stand (WHD): 17.44" X 13.78" X 6.54" My Feedback This monitor comes with two connectors VGA and DVI. It comes with a CD that is supposed to contain the manual and monitor drivers. However, when you install the monitor driver contain...

If someone had access to everything you have posted all over the internet they will know who you really are - perhaps even more than many of your close friends. Imagine me as this person. I know who your elementary, highschool, and college classmates. I know who your former and current officemates are. I know your preferences and your interest based on the websites you visit. I know your hobbies based on the photos that you shared and the organizations and clubs that you've joined. I know your favorite hangouts based on the statuses that you posted. I know your Social Security Number, your Bank account, and your Credit Card information – every data about you. I could use this information for something harmless as giving them to commercial companies so they could send you offers that you will probably like because they are based on your personal data. Or this data could get leaked to individuals who have more malicious intention. What are the bad ways your personal dat...

If you download Internet Explorer 9 , Firefox 4 , Google Chrome , and Opera 11 you will find out that they all look the same. It feels weird really that find myself confused which internet browser I am currently losing. The differences of course is under the hood and they are very subtle. For me Opera is the best when it comes to downloading large files. It allows you to resume downloading from where you left off when you turned off your pc or logged off the Internet. Firefox is the best when it comes to add ons. My favorite is Firebug. It is a very good add on if you are a developer. Chrome is of course the original clean browser. Internet Explorer 9 recently followed the interface design of the other internet browsers. It boasts a feature that will prevent advertising companies from tracking your surfing behavior. The only browser to have this feature at the moment. But as I have said earlier, they all now look the same. It’s kind of funny. I never thought I would see th...

As I have posted earlier, VirtualBox is a virtualization software . What it does is allow you to install multiple operating systems in one PC or server. An update, VirtualBox 4.0.4 was recently released on February 17, 2011. To upgrade VirtualBox 4.0.3 to the latest version: 1. Download VirtualBox 4.0.4 from the official website. 2. Uninstall your existing VirtualBox. Don't worry this will not erase your currently installed Operating Systems. 3. Restart your computer. You will be asked to restart your computer after uninstalling the existing software. 4. Install VirtualBox 4.0.4. Your previous OS installations should still be there.

MySQL log files can help you track warnings and errors as well as optimize slow queries. To find the directories where MySQL keeps them, just type the SQL statement: SHOW VARIABLES LIKE '%log_file%'; This will show where your MySQL server keeps the log files.

For a long time I was unable to brush up my skills in Linux because there was no available computer to install it. I did not want to make my PC dual booth since in the past it proved to come with a lot of hassle. Sometimes if something goes wrong with one OS it also affected my other OS. That is why I did want to do that anymore. Fortunately, I recently stumbled upon VirtualBox . I was helping a friend create a forked process in her program and we needed to do it in Linux. And instead of installing Linux on a separate partion, we decided to use a virtual machine software instead. VMWare is the most popular virtualization software but I wanted to look for something that is opensource and free. Luckily there is VirtualBox. VirtualBox is the only free and opensource virtualization software. It is licensed under GPL 2. Development is currently being spearheaded by Oracle. It works with Intel and AMD processors. I am currently using it to run Ubuntu 10.10 and Kubuntu 10.4. I am hopi...

When it comes to rendering web pages, I think Firefox is the best. Sometimes when I am using Opera or Chrome Browser there are some javascript codes that does not function correctly but seems to work fine when I am using Firefox. But if you are going to download large files, I would recommend using Opera. Opera is able to continue from where it last stopped after you paused the download. Firefox, on the other hand would often restart the whole process.

One of the things I like about Windows 7 is the new Media Player. The interface has been simplified so you get more screen space when you are watching a movie. As you can see from the above picture, the program does not display the controls when you don't need them. But if you need the controls simply hover your mouse over the program.  It will display only the most essential buttons that you will need. If you want to see the more advanced controls, just right click over Media Player. You will see the option to chance the Visualization or Enhancements like in the previous Media Player versions. Another great thing about Windows Media Player 12 is that it supports more video and audio format like Divx right off the bat.

Windows XP is a good Operating System. By August 2011 it will be a decade old. But many find it hard to switch to Windows Vista or Windows 7. This is further testament to its popularity. However, users of Windows XP will no longer be able to take advantage of newer hardware technologies since Microsoft has decided to stop selling last October 22, 2010 and the support is only available until April 2014. Windows 7 is the latest release of Microsoft Windows. It came shortly after Windows Vista has gathered a lot of unfavorable reviews. You maybe asking yourself, how is Windows 7 compared to Windows XP? And is it bad like Windows Vista? Actually, Windows 7 is good too. In the office I have seen a Duron 2800+ with just 512mb of RAM run Windows 7 without any problem. I myself am running it on a newer PC. If I would compare Windows 7 to Windows XP, I would say Windows 7 crashes less than Windows XP plus it recovers better. When running computer games, it is just as fast as XP. Jus...

Windows 7 has its own Sticky Notes application. It does not have as many features as Morun's Sticky Notes like: you can't hide a selected note, you can't put a title on each notes, and you can't make the fonts bold or italic. But you can change the color of the notes and it is useful enough though it seems bare in terms of features.

I am a fan of the Free Software and also the Opensource movement. But one must realized that not all free software are good for you. Here is why: Usability. I realized that you should not choose to use an FOSS software just because it is free. Because a software maybe so unusable that what you save in money will cost you time. For me time is more valuable than money. Don't we all think that way? So I am trying to discipline myself to use the “best of the breed” approach for choosing software Instead of going with what is free. Having said that these are the free software I can recommend: Inkscape, Wings3D, Flex, Jquery, PHP, Apache, Codeigniter, and MyPaint. They are very easy to use. They have intuitive user interfaces. No. You won't find yourself pulling your hair when you are using them. They are great. As for the other prominent free software out there, I won't mention them cause some of their supporters can be frighteningly sensitive and fanatical. Warning...

There are some issues you may encounter when you are installing Adobe CS5 Collection. The installer will run and accept the serial number. But it will abruptly end saying - Inconsistency in Installer Database . What happened here is that the file were Adobe keeps the list of programs got corrupted. To fix the problem go to: C:\Program Files(x86)\Common Files\Adobe Then look for the caps directory. Delete this directory and reinstall Adobe.

It is a good idea to save your browser bookmarks in a safe place. It will come in handy incase you need to reinstall the browser when your OS gets corrupted or your browser gets corrupted. In Mozilla Firefox, You can do this by clicking on Bookmarks on the menu. And then click on Organize Bookmarks. The bookmark management window will be displayed. Click on Import and Backup on the menu. Then click on Backup. The program will asked you where to save your bookmarks list. It is a good idea to save this in a different hard disk or in your USB stick. To restore, repeat the whole process except choose Restore during the last step.