Real-Life Wall-E

Amazing Sand Art

Cosplay. Anyone?

image credit: 9GAG.com

Kratos from God of War

Wow! So this is how they make clay action figures. No wonder they cost that much! Just look at how intricate the details are:

Thanks to 9GAG for the images! :)

Android 4.0 - The Ice Cream Sandwich

So much was the hype for the most coveted installment of Android OS that everybody is lining up to see what's the fuss is all about. Introduced on the 2nd quarter of 2011 and released early on the 4th, the new Android version 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), was a spectacular phenomenon in the battleground of smartphone and tablet OSes. On the same year, Apple and Nokia also rolled-out upgraded OS versions for their flagship units but it was on Google Android's everybody's eyes were set on.

The ICS is perceived to be the missing link between smartphones and tablet Android operating systems and is aiming to unify both. The ICS is based on Gingerbread and Honeycomb versions with the intent to bring the whole tablet experience closer to the smartphone users. One benefit of this merger is the ease of porting updates on application developments for the device softwares, unquestionably good news on the developers' end. Although Android tablet users may not be much surprised with the features, the smartphone enthusiasts will definitely be caught in awe to see a totally revamped feature-rich tablet OS on their device. It is fast and sleek. To them, it will be Gingerbread on steroids!

Below are some of the features the new version has to offer:

Key features

• Optimized for smartphone and tablet use
• New user interface, with a new typeface called 'Roboto', updated animations, transition effects, multi-touch gestures and live wallpapers
• Improved multitasking
• New homescreen folders and favorites tray
• Improved lock screen with facial unlock
• Improved notification menu
• Resizable widgets, viewable through the application menu
• Built-in screenshot utility
• Improved text input and spell-checking
• Improved voice input
• Ability to monitor and control data usage
• Improved accessibility for disabled users
• New Peoples app
• Improved Gmail and Calendar app
• Improved web browser with ability to save web pages and incognito mode
• Visual voicemail
• Improved camera app with face detection and panorama mode
• Improved video recorder with continuous auto-focus, zooming while recording, snapshot while recording and time lapse mode
• Redesigned Gallery app with photo editor
• Android Beam for transferring data using NFC
• Wi-Fi Direct and Bluetooth HDP support

source: GSMArena

Initially bundled with the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus Prime, the ICS firmware upgrade will soon be available to a number of Android handsets and tablets of major players in hand-held devices manufacturing. Some of the newly released devices from other makers have already retailed the new operating system such as Ainol's NOVO7 tablet and Huawei's Ascend P1 S smartphone from China. So, hold on to your units as the ICS upgrade may just be around the corner and it will surely hold you back from buying a new gadget for a prolonged and indefinite period of time.

for the complete review, please see:

GSMArena Review: The Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

Happy Fiesta Señor Sto. Niño!

The Feast of Sto. Niño (considered to be the patron saint of Cebu, Aklan, Zamboanga, Iloilo and some parts of Manila) is usually held on the third Sunday of the first month of every year. There are 2 festivals in these regions being held annually to commemorate the feast, namely, the Sinulog Festival and the Ati-Atihan Festival.

~o0o~

The Sinulog Festival (Cebu City)

The Sinulog is a dance ritual of pre-Hispanic indigenous origin. The dancer moves two steps forward and one step backward to the rhythmic sound of drums. This movement resembles somewhat the current (sulog) of the river. Thus, the Cebuanos called it Sinulog. The event is being highlighted every year with street dance competitions among delegations from other parts of the island and neighboring provinces. The Sinulog Mardi Gras is considered to be one of the grandest festivals in the Philippines, attracting legions of visitors from other parts of the archipelago and tourists from other countries as well.

~o0o~

The Ati-Atihan Festival (Kalibo, Aklan and Manila)

The Ati-Atihan is a festival that consists of tribal dance, music, accompanied by indigenous costumes and weapons, and parade along the street. Christians, and non-Christians observe this day with religious processions. It is the mother of all Philippine Festivals because Sinulog Festival of Cebu and Dinagyang of Iloilo (held every fourth Sunday of January) are adaptations of the Kalibo Ati-Atihan Festival.

"Viva" means Long live! or more accurately may he/she live.

"Pit" from the original word sangpit which is Cebuano for to call upon or to plead with.

"Senyor or Señor" are greetings that we refer to Sto. Niño.

"Viva Pit Señor"

Come join the fun of street dancing and revelry in praise of the Sto. Niño!

source: Wikipedia and Google

Samsung Galaxy Note N7000

Tablets are the "in thing" nowadays. We are seeing top cellphone manufacturers sporting flagship tablets on their products roster. Larger screens, higher res and battery longevity are some of the reasons why they are more preferable on some tasks. These features are usually most sought by the majority of young professionals and middle class entrepreneurs as they are somewhat what they require from their gadgets. However, having both a smartphone and a tablet is likely not practical as they say, it seems a bit awkward to carry both devices along with you. And besides, carrying a tablet will definitely be a hand carry that needs additional baggage space.

Samsung Galaxy Note official photos

Introducing, the Samsung Galaxy Note. The Galaxy Note is a smartphone-tablet hybrid designed to bring something new to the cellular experience table of the gadget-conscious society of today. It is smaller than a tablet but is much bigger than a smartphone making it a superior choice among smartphone enthusiasts. The Samsung Galaxy Note brings the tablet experience closer to the consumers without restricting the features of the phone function. Although many would be skeptical saying the Note was picked up where the Dell Streak left off, but please take a peep first on it's quite impressive specs table:

Key features

• Quad-band GSM and quad-band 3G support
• 21 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 5.3" 16M-color Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen of WXGA resolution (800 x 1280 pixels)
• Android OS v2.3.5 with TouchWiz 4 launcher
• 1.4 GHz dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU, Mali-400MP GPU, Exynos chipset, 1GB of RAM
• Pre-bundled with the S Pen active stylus
• 8 MP wide-angle autofocus camera with LED flash, face, smile and blink detection
• Video recording of up to 1080p@30fps
• Dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g and n support; Wi-Fi Direct and Wi-Fi hotspot
• GPS with A-GPS connectivity; Digital compass
• 16/32GB internal storage, microSD slot
• Accelerometer, gyroscope and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Charging MHL microUSB port with USB host and TV-out (1080p through optional adapter) support
• Stereo Bluetooth v3.0
• FM radio with RDS
• Great audio quality
• 9.7 mm slim and weighs a reasonable 178g
• 2MP secondary video-call camera
• Full Flash support and GPU-acceleration for the web browser permit 1080p flash video playback
• NFC support (optional)
• Document editor
• File manager comes preinstalled
• Extremely rich audio and video format support
• 2500 mAh battery

Main disadvantages

• Won’t fit comfortably in every pocket
• Much harder for one-handed use than a regular smartphone
• All-plastic body
• No dedicated camera key
• HD screen uses PenTile matrix lowering perceived resolution
• Non-hot-swappable microSD card
• Sub-par loudspeaker volume

The Galaxy Note is the newest addition to the ever-growing Galaxy family showcasing a faster CPU (Exynos chipset), a million-pixel AMOLED screen and a 2500 mAh battery juice to quench the ever-thirsty Android OS of which any other smartphones cannot keep up with as impressively.

This tabphone or phoneblet (as others fondly call it) is also set to receive the latest firmware upgrade from Android, the Ice Cream Sandwich, to further enhance the user satisfaction experience.

for further reading, please see:

Samsung Galaxy Note N7000 review: Power play - GSMArena.com