Microsoft Philippines launched this morning in Cebu the Windows Server 2008 Foundation, its server solution for small and medium businesses.

Microsoft Philippines Geo-Expansion Lead Boy Bawal said the product will help small companies grow their businesses and boost their competitiveness.

Windows Server 2008 Foundation is a server solution that allows a company with less than 15 computer users to set up a network with file and print sharing, remote access, security and other general server capabilities. It comes bundled with server hardware that can cost as low as P57,000. Bawal said this is the first time that a server software is offered at this price point.

The product, Microsoft officials say, is targeted at first time server users.

For the first time, Bawal said companies no longer have to pay client access license for each user of the system.

SERVER FOR SMALL COMPANIES. Boy Bawal of Microsoft Philippines says that Windows Server 2008 Foundation is the first time that a server software is offered as a hardware bundle for as low as P57,000. He said the product will help small companies grow their businesses and boost their competitiveness.

Continue reading ‘Microsoft launches Windows Server 2008 Foundation in Cebu’

LAST Thursday, I got the phone number of an elementary school friend I haven’t had contact with in more than a decade. After saving the contact info in the cellphone I am currently testing, a Nokia 5800, I immediately synchronized my phonebook with Zyb.

Zyb is a web-based service that stores your contact data. It has social networking features that plug into such sites as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

But Zyb’s core function is to make sure you have an updated (and backed up) copy of all your contact details. It is a very useful service especially when you get a new phone or use several units.

To make sure you always have the latest contact details of people, Zyb regularly reminds you to synchronize your phone book with its servers.

SYNCHRONIZING WITH ZYB. Zyb holds the latest copy of my phone contacts. The service regularly reminds you to synchronize your phonebook to make sure you have the latest copy of your phone contacts.

Continue reading ‘In the cloud? What if it all goes up in smoke? The case of my missing phone numbers’

Like Saul, my conversion happened on the road.

I was on my way to a meeting and needed to constantly check my e-mail as well as keep my instant messaging (IM) accounts online when it hit me, like the Biblical blinding light, that the Nokia E71 is the best mobile Internet device I’ve used.

It isn’t just the ease by which the device is able to use multiple Internet access points—from various wi-fi hot spots with different security settings to HSPA —it is also the dependability of the device in keeping that connection.

In the two weeks that I was asked to test an E71 review unit, I’ve never experienced having difficulty going online and staying there.

When I was asked by Nokia to test the E71, I was a rabid Sony Ericsson fan boy. But a decade of using Sony Ericsson phones was no match with just a fortnight with the E71. By the end of the test, I had decided to shift to an Eseries device later this year.

Continue reading ‘Why I’m leaving Sony Ericsson for Nokia’

I WAS bewitched by Elaine Page in the middle of the night in enchanting Siquijor Island.

Bothered by the grumbling of my stomach because I skipped dinner to catch up on sleep, I woke up bewildered at midnight.

It took me a minute to realize how I ended up where I was last Friday midnight—on a strange bed in an unfamiliar room at the center of Siquijor town in mystical Siquijor Island. I was invited by Smart to test the High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) network it deployed late last year in Siquijor and Dumaguete City.

There are places where it would be fun to find yourself in at midnight. Siquijor is not one of them.

After a quick bite in what I suspect was the only open store at that time in the island—a Park ‘N Go bakery—I made of to explore the town. But less than a block on, I realized no one was up. And knowing where I was, I wasn’t so sure I’d be excited to see someone up that late.

Continue reading ‘Surfing the mobile Web in Siquijor, Dumaguete’

SONY Ericsson has unveiled a new model in its Walkman line—the Sony Ericsson W205. The W205 is a slider phone and by its form, looks to be the progeny of the first slider Walkman, the W850i.

According to a company press statement, the “W205 makes the Walkman phone experience more accessible to consumers and is perfect for those who want all the classic Sony Ericsson mobile phone features while enjoying music on the go.”

Continue reading ‘Sony Ericsson unveils W205 Walkman phone’

Serendipity brought me to the YouTube page of the video of Bob Dylan’s first concert performance with an electric guitar. The high-quality BBC video clip shows the crowd at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 booing Dylan before he launched into an electric guitar version of Like A Rolling Stone.

In the YouTube page were links to a playlist of Dylan’s Newport performances, including his earlier acoustic work when he was the aural embodiment of the voice in the wilderness.

I have most of Bob Dylan’s albums but none of these high-quality BBC clips on YouTube of his performances. After hours of repeated listening, I wanted to download the video clips into my phone to listen whenever I wanted to.

BEST LOVE SONG, EVER. Bob Dylan plays Love Minus Zero/No Limit in this video clip that I’ve downloaded and converted to play in my Sony Ericsson P1i.

Continue reading ‘Downloading videos from YouTube to play in your phone’