Digitally Transforming the Filipino Haggling Tradition

Yesterday, my sister and I went to Divisoria. We were searching for a certain curtain design for their bedroom. As you all know, Divisoria is the place to go when buying anything and everything at an extremely cheap price. The streets were lined with stalls that were filled with hanging Christmas decors, drapes, and--I repeat--anything under the sun.

The Divisoria Experience

After having to deal with the traffic from Recto to Divi, we maneuvered the busy stalls of Puregold to reach Tabora. In Tabora, we checked every single stall, kiosk, and selling space that sold curtains. To our dismay, we didn't find the particular design. Although a little disappointed, we got some great deals on a few yards of U.S. cotton textile. Yes, like any other Filipino, we ended up haggling for the 7 yards of Winnie the Pooh and some other cartoony-designed bed sheet-to-be.

U.S. Cotton sheets cost 85-130 php/yard

Haggling

Haggling has always been part of our culture. We always here phrases like "Last price?" or "No Discount?" or "I'll buy it by bulk if you give it to me at _____". Honestly, even online sellers from OLX/ Sulit, Ayos Dito, and eBay receive text messages like the ones I mentioned above. It's a typical behavior that's neither good nor bad, depending on the haggler's technique and style.

Selling on eBay used to be as easy as bidding and winning.

Filipino Online Shopping

Nowadays, a lot of us have enjoyed the benefits of buying online. For one, you wouldn't have to deal with the heat, the crowded streets, and the pollution of going to Divi. You also save on precious time and fare because the items get delivered at your doorstep (especially in the Manila area). Some online items are even being sold at a cheaper price than in malls. So, it's really no surprise that a lot of us are now going to websites like Lazada and Zalora.

My first Lazada purchase...

Can't Haggle When it's Sold Online

However, like buying an item from a mall or a superstore, all prices are fixed. There's no haggling allowed, because all prices are final. We don't get the opportunity to talk to the online shop's owner, and it can be a bit frustrating at times. Fortunately for us, we are a resourceful race. Some of us wait for sales or marked-downs; others end up using coupons (usually encoded prior to online checkout).

All it Takes is a Keyphrase

iPrice is a site for the thrifty, budget-conscious Filipino. When all the coupons are at your fingertips, readily available at a click of a button, online shopping definitely gets better. So why bother scouring every single blog/website via Google Search when you can go to a single website for the keywords that can slash a price down to a better bargain?

Is Using a Coupon the Same as Haggling?

It's not. However, these two techniques result to a single outcome. We get what we want at a bargain deal.

Some helpful links:

My Lazada Buying Experience
How to Commute to Divisoria
The EBAY Experience: Pros, Cons and some Tips in Buying and Selling

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5 Ways to Deal with a Slow Yahoo Mail

Ever since Yahoo Mail's update (where Yahoo CEO, Marissa Mayer, say it's all faster, easier to navigate and better looking), it's brought nothing but frustrations and agitations to a lot of end-users. 

In fact, a lot of Yahoo Mail loyalists have switched because not only is it extremely slow,  but the ads seem to hog more resource than the mails. Furthermore, after Yahoo Mail Classic was discontinued, the company put out a glitchy, unreliable and often times inaccessible Yahoo mail which seems to only focus on their advertisers rather than their user.

Have you experienced problems with your Yahoo Mail?

1. Has your Yahoo Mail been extremely slow?

2. Does Yahoo Mail seem to lag in a perfectly fast computer?

3. Do you have problems opening your email in Yahoo Mail?

4. Are you having problems with download and uploading email attachment from Yahoo's Mail?

5. Have some of your friends mentioned not receiving emails you've sent?

6. Heaven forbid, did you get hacked?!?

Well, welcome to the club. You're the only one experiencing these problems with Yahoo. It's actually a world-wide plague.

Oh, Yahoo Mail, why so slow?!?

Scrolling down is labored. Opening mails take forever. There's a giant ad asking you to sign up when you already are.

So what do we do? Just a fair warning, this isn't anything technical... it won't resolve the Yahoo Mail issue either... They're simply steps to alleviate the problem.

How to Deal with a Slow Yahoo Mail? Switch!

But before that try these first.

My top choices in browsing capabilities

1. Use a different browser. 

If you're still sticking with Internet Explorer, you should consider switching. Some people prefer Chrome, others Firefox. The difference between Chrome and Firefox is that Chrome loads faster while Firefox loads pages more reliably.

2. Try using an email client like Mozilla Thunderbird or Outlook.  

Need to avoid those annoying ads, try Thunderbird. All you need to do is set it up and you're free from having to deal with Yahoo Mail's annoying ads.

Mozilla Thunderbird archives, stores and syncs Yahoo Mail.

Note: If your email has a suffix other than yahoo.com e.g. abc@yahoo.com.sg, then you might need to set it up properly. Start with this thread on how to set-up Thunderbird with Yahoo Mail.

3. Delete ancient emails because they take up space. 

So you might be the type to store emails from the late 1990's to the early 2000's. Back them up and delete the ones that are no longer important.

How to Back-Up Yahoo Mail locally.

Once you've gotten Thunderbird installed and set-up, download the ImportExportTools through Thunderbird's Add-ons Manager and right-click on a folder/ mail and do the steps as pictured below.

4. Use a different attachment uploader/ online storage. 

*cough" Dropbox. Why bother doing attachments when you can use Dropbox. All you have to do is make an account, install Dropbox into your computer, select a folder to store hard copies of your uploaded files and Viola. You're set!

Using Dropbox is as easy as putting your files into the Dropbox folder.

Note: The green check on the Dropbox folder indicates that whatever is in that folder has already been successfully stored online. All you have to do is get the link.

5. Finally, switch emails providers and have your Yahoo emails forwarded to it. 

For instance, Mail.com offers a Mail Collector that users can take advantage of for FREE.

If you need to use one account for Gmail and Yahoo, consider using Mail.com.

So there you have it... 

Sure this may not be a solution to fix your buggy Yahoo Mail, but it helps keeping your options open.

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Smartphone Usage Statistics Highlight Its Importance In Our Lives

Smartphone Ownership Infographic

This Infographic is produced by Coupon Audit (provides Toms promo code) and Digital Brew.

<br /> <img style="max-width: 100%;" src="http://www.couponaudit.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Smartphone-Usage-Statistics-Highlight-Its-Importance-In-Our-Lives.jpg" alt="Smartphone Usage Statistics Highlight Its Importance In Our Lives" /></p> <p> </a></p> <p> This Infographic is produced by <a href="http://www.couponaudit.com/coupons/toms">Coupon Audit (provides Toms promo code) </a> and <a href="http://digitalbrew.blogspot.com">Digital Brew</a> </p> .<br />

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How to Change Sim 1 & Sim 2 Message Ringtone in Cherry Mobile Flare (with Pics)

 This is a follow-up to one of the questions asked in my post regarding the Cherry Mobile Flare Update

Chilo Chua commented...

Bossing is it possible ba na magkaroon ng magka-ibang message alert tone ang sim 1 and sim 2?

Since I wasn't a big fan of reading manuals, I decided to search for an Android app that could do this. To which I failed in epic proportions!

Well, here's the thing. I just found out about it awhile ago (BY ACCIDENT). LOL. Forgive me for my ignorance.

Anyway, for those who are asking how to change Cherry Mobile Flare's message ringtone for Sim 1 and Sim 2, here it is.

1. Press the message icon to access your SMS.

Feel free to ignore the adorable looking puppy that's enjoying our slippers.

2. Press the highlighted icon (based on the Flare image below) so you can press on the "settings" tab next.

Changing the Cherry Mobile Flare SMS Ringtone Settings Step 2.

3. Press "Settings" and scroll down.

This one's a little blurry. 

4. Under "Notifications" you will find "Select SIM1 ringtone" and "Select SIM2 ringtone"

Finally, a chance to change Sim 1 and Sim 2 message ringtone.

There you can select between Cherry Mobile Flare's music and your own Media Music collection.

Media Music, anyone?

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Updating Cherry Mobile Flare with Pics (Newbie Guide)

So, we all know that the Cherry Mobile Flare came with a lot of perks...and flaws. For instance, the FM Radio app wasn't present in its initial build. And there were problems with the G-Sensor and SMS Auto-Rotate.

Some hours ago, I found out that the update to fix these Cherry Mobile Flare issues has been released. Of course, everybody who wanted it badly went through Cherry Mobile's link to Drop Box.

Which turned out to be an epic failure...

Note: I just dropped by Cherry Mobile's site and was glad to see that they finally uploaded it there and a Mirror Site (*cough* Drop Box). 

I have to admit, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. So even with the simplest instructions quoted below, I still had to do it twice before I got it right.

1. Save the update file to the root of the SD card. Turn off the phone.  Make sure phone is charged at least 15%. 2. Press and hold Power+volume Up for a few seconds. It will display first a green screen.

3. Release the button after the screen shows a red display to show the Android sytem revocery.

4. Select apply update from external storage' and select the update file. Use volume keys to select and power key to confirm.

5. The phone will update. After update is finish, select reboot system now. 

Source

Here's some additional information on the entire process. Hopefully, I'd be able to help others who are in the same predicament as I was.

UPDATING CHERRY MOBILE FLARE STEP 1 FAQ. Where the hell is this root?

After tethering your phone to your PC, this message should pop out.  Once you click on "Open device to view files", that folder will be the root.

Note: USB mode is expected to be on MTP.

Flare will have the label S100. This is where you're supposed to copy the file that you just downloaded from Cherry Mobile.

UPDATING CHERRY MOBILE FLARE STEP 2 WARNING. Make sure to read all the steps before doing the procedure. I let go of the buttons at step 2 reason why my phone didn't go red as mentioned in Step 3. UPDATING CHERRY MOBILE FLARE STEP 3. Once your screen turns red (mine was reddish pink than red), that's when you should let go. Now, wait for the screen shown below to appear.

Use the volume key to navigate your way to "apply update from external storage" and press the power button for confirmation

UPDATING CHERRY MOBILE FLARE STEP 4. If my memory serves me right, you'd still need to look for the msm7627a-ota-TBW59.... item (which will probably be the first choice on the next screen) and confirm.

UPDATING CHERRY MOBILE FLARE STEP 5. The phone will update.

Just like this...

Once you get the "Install from sdcard complete." message, just select  "reboot system now".

When your phone is  done rebooting, you should see something like this on your "About phone" menu.

Finally!

I hope this has helped. Please take note that I am no Android expert. Heck, it took me two tries before I got it right. Good luck!

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The Lazada (lazada.com.ph) Buying Experience

I was a little hesitant on doing my first online purchase. I've done EBAY and Sulit, but never before have I purchased from an online shop... so Lazada was a first for me.

The Lazada Shopping Experience

I browsed through Lazada with one thing in mind... the much-coveted Cherry Mobile Flare Android phone which they were selling at 3,999 php (discounted at 26% from the original price). Yesterday we came across a Cherry Mobile kiosk and much to our dismay, they were selling the Flare at 4,499 php (or was it 4,599 php). Fortunately for me, I had already done my ordering. (Product Status: Pending ^^)

I would've posted my invoice, but I forgot to do so due to the excitement.

The Lazada Shipping Experience

I ordered the CM Flare phone last Sunday, January 13, 2013 at about 9 or 10 in the evening. I received it at about 4 PM today (January 15, 2013).  Not bad for a 5-day waiting period, don't you think?

The box is sealed with a white sticker etched with the word "VOID". Once you remove that sticker, the word "VOID" will remain on box thereby giving customers the assurance that it was not opened or tampered with.

So mine was delivered at my door step and I paid upon delivery.

What's in the Cherry Mobile Flare box...

Cherry Mobile Flare at my Fingertips

I got my phone in good fully-functional condition (so far, so good). And I just love it (for its price, performance, and my online shopping experience, anyway!).

What you see is what you get! No hidden charges or issues with mishandling.

So just remember, to keep that tax invoice and consignee slip in case something "undesirable" happens (I dare not to mention!).

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The Pros and Cons of Using Uload

Has anybody heard of Uload? It's one of those automated machines where you can purchase different prepaid loads from 5 of the most widely used networks.

It was getting too late and I have forgotten to reload my phone. Since there'd been one of them near a pharmacy close to the hospital, I decided to give it a try. I guess it was because I was no longer satisfied with curiously staring at it.

The interface was pretty simple. Coupled with a talking voice saying instructions in tagalog, the Philippines' universal language, it wasn't that difficult to learn how to navigate the touch-based contraption.

To cut things short, here are the pros and cons I've observed with the Uload.

PROS

1. Since it's fully automated, there's no need for human interface. The humans can 'go offline' and the machine would still be fully functional.

2. You'll be assured that you won't be overcharged due to proximity or time constraints. For example, loading at an unholy hour or a location near hospitals where the available places to purchase prepaid credits charge additional fees ranging from 5php to 30php.

3. You won't need to worry about human errors because if there'd be one, it probably would have been yours.

4. Before completing a transaction, a short review is shown on the screen to finalize your load request.

5. It accepts paper bills.

6. It has all the different promos available on the screen, an 'Iba pa' option appears if there are other services available.

7. Did I forget to mention that it's touchscreen? It's just like using a tablet or a touch phone.

CONS

1. No choice for English instructions. That's perfectly understandable since we're in the Philippines, but it would be better if it had such an option.

2. It would probably need a software upgrade or downgrade if new types of promos were to arise.

3. No change. You need to provide exact change because it won't give back any excess credit.

4. Power outage issues. I'm not sure how the Uload machine will react if you were accidentally inserting your money and the power goes out. I certainly hope it has UPS.

5. The possibility of dead pixels after daily wear and tear.

It's pretty obvious that the pros outweigh the cons,it's now simply a matter of whether the regular joe is willing to try it out.

posted from Bloggeroid

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Simply Busy: Agent. NEC.Worm and MORE!!!

Have you ever felt as if you're running out of time. And that waking up at 7 am in the morning and sleeping at 4 am in the morning just isn't enough for you to finish your tasks.

Well, here's the thing, I'm having such an episode now. I'm currently staying up this late due to waiting for a virus scan to finish. Who would've thought a computer could have so many viruses and worms left unattended.

Some persons simply don't care when their computer gets viruses. Take for example this laptop I'm currently trying to file transfer. One of the worm it had was an Agent. Nec.Worm.

Just my luck, it hides the files and distributes the folder names with a replicated application having the same name e.g. the bookeeping folder will no longer appear, however a bookeeping.exe does. Once the person unknowingly clicks on it, it replicates itself until you're left with a hard drive filled with it.

If the virus scanner deletes or quarantines all those exe files. Worry not! This worm simply hides those folders so that you won't be able to see him.

SOLUTION: 

1. Open Command Prompt (Start>Run> Type in CMD

2. In the Command Prompt, type in the directory where the files were currently located. If the infected thumb drive is F: Type cd .. (until you're left with C:\ and type in F:\)

3. Then type this after F:\ -attrib -s -h /s /d *.* (this will remove the hidden attribute of those folders and files, so they all show up.

Not only do I have to deal with this, but there were more viruses in that computer than viruses in my computer for the entire time I've owned a computer... Imagine scanning more than 453 viruses, trojans and worms in the Document Folder alone(97 of which were successfully cleaned)... And that's only the tip of the iceberg. We have ALS\Busted.E.virus, Brontok S.worm, Win32/Agent. BFJDRPI trojan, ScrInject.B.Gen virus, JS/ TrojanClicker,Agent.NCQ trojan and AutoRun.Autoit.BJ.worm.

I couldn't even install an anti-virus because a Error 1500 keeps on popping out. And Housecall and Kaspersky free antivirus scanner didn't do a thing. You might be wondering what I had done to have a partial list of these malware. I removed the hard drive and scanned it into another computer running on my favorite AV program.

I've even tried going to the registries to delete the value contained in the string of  "InProgress" and disabling and switching to manual the Windows Installer through services.msc.

Seriously. Not only is this computer really old, but it was running pretty slow.

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Blogger, why are you so slow?

I've been having issues in the past with Blogger but never having to wonder it's loading so slowly.

I've been trying hard to forego replying to some comments because of the slow loading time last night and the night before, but you can't just expect me to wait forever.

These are my two assumptions why Blogger is being slow on my end.

One is probably I am using an ISP that doesn't like Blogger as Youtube is pretty fast.

And two, is because Blogger has so many posts to cater to that bandwidth allocation is scarce.

posted from Bloggeroid

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SOPA and PIPA Battle Numbers

So I was reading the latest news on SOPA and PIPA and have just found out that more members of the Senate have pulled out their the support for the said bill. At the moment, the current count is 33 YES, 37 NO, and 40 UNDECIDED.

There are some comments in the web suggesting that one of ideas on how these bills were formulated was based on the strategies done by the Chinese government to censor its media.

Approximately 160 sites have confirmed their attendance to the blackout this Wednesday.

According to sopastrike.com, 75,000 sites are already participating on fight against SOPA.

On the contrary their are 354 companies officially supporting SOPA, but I wouldn't be surprised if this number will start to dwindle with more of the major SOPA players being hacked by a group who call themselves Anonymous. Their latest attacks took down the sites belonging to the Universal Music Group, DOJ, FBI, Sony, RIAA, MPAA and lastly the Warner Music Group.

posted from Bloggeroid

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Will the supporters of SOPA and PIPA finally fold?

We all know how SOPA and PIPA can badly affect the internet. With the sheer number of 50,000 signatures on the petition against it and its currently 'shelved' state, when will the people pursuing the passing of this bill stop?

What to expect in the following days for the fight against PIPA? Possible black outs from the following websites:

Reddit
Boing Boing
The entire Cheezburger network
Wikipedia
Mojang
And more to come.

It's a dead given that the Internet is a powerful tool. It's been proven to have greatly influenced the decisions of entities such as the White House ang Go Daddy.

posted from Bloggeroid

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Is Blogging a Thing of the Past?

I've just received news that Adgitze is closing down. Previously it had been CMFads. Now, it's Adgitize.

Does this mean the blogging world is dying? Surprisingly, forums seem to be the current trend in the online community. It's odd how quick the turn over from one thing to another is inevitable. Does this mean most bloggers will now start creating forums?

Either way, for those who depend on their online income to keep them afloat, change is already expected to be the constant thing in this world. Which simply means finding the next money making gimmick is constantly sought after.

Happy blogging.

posted from Bloggeroid

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Freerice.com: Donate Rice Through Playing

Getting bored of Facebook games? Having spare time to play a game for charity? Visit www.freerice.com. It's a word game wherein the player guesses the definition of the word in order to advance to the next level.

Free Rice 2.0

Not only will you be able to enhance your vocabulary, but you will also be helping feed children in impoverish nations. 

For every right answer you give, 10 grains of rice of are donated to the United Nations World Food Program. Check it out

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Site Updates

After making use of Blogger for some time, I’ve decided to try WordPress as well. It’s driving me crazy not knowing the basic customization. I hope this is all worth it for the sake of being able to use Commentluv.

I’ve spent practically the entire day editing my posts to make it look simpler and better in WordPress. Since I have approximately 89 posts at the moment, I still have a long way to go.I’m hungry at the moment. See you at table. If you come, I’ll give you a slice of chocolate cake.

News Flash: I just went back begging to Google. Haha!

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