The Akashic Field Chronicle

Click here to read other Pick-of-the-Week (POW) entries

Okay, so I’m having trouble maintaining a regular posting schedule for this blog. What with all the work that being a teacher entails, and even more importantly, how much time doing a masteral thesis actually eats up. All the same, I will try a bit harder to put in a post once in a while. Starting now!

I recently replaced my cellphone, a Motorola Razr v3i, with a Nokia 6500 Slide. The Razr has served me well all throughout college (undergrad) and I thought it was time to finally get a new one. So for my Pick-of-the-Week I give you, the Nokia 6500 Slide. Tadaa!

The Nokia 6500 Slide

Why I bought it

I was basically on the look out for a replacement for my flip phone (Razr v3i). Slider phones have been quite in fashion right now (don’t you just love those ultra-thin Samsung sliders?), so I decided to narrow down my search and look for a good slider. Here are the key features I was looking for before I bought:

• Slider – of course
• Compactness – something that would comfortably fit in my pocket. After the Razr, it’s really hard to go back to big and bulky phones
• 3G – the local service providers in the Philippines are all 3G (Highspeed) enabled so this is definitely a must for a new phone, in my opinion. However, it’s quite hard to find a compact handset that has 3G too.
• Not that new - gadgets are just so exorbitantly priced when they’ve just been introduced in the market and I really don’t have money to spare for a shiny new phone.
• User-friendly - the Motorola interface (for the v3i) is just plain crappy so I wanted something a little more geared towards usability. Because at the end of the day, looks are just looks. They wear out and you’re left with an unusable piece of bling.

A Comparison

So how does it stack up? Well, for one thing it’s quite stylish. I wouldn’t call it “sexy” as I would the Razr, but it definitely has a stylish masculine appeal. It’s even more pronounced when you consider its very sleek exterior and minimalist design.

As for usability, I really didn’t have any doubt it would beat the Razr in every aspect. Nokia phones are just so darn user-friendly. They stick to their tried and tested functionality and make very small incremental changes. I’m all for this kind of development. Just small changes to polish up an already good system.

Ok, so it’s not a smartphone (symbian, etc.) but I wouldn’t call it stupid either. It’s just a decent balance of features without the speed overhead very common to a lot of smartphones I’ve seen. If you’re not really into the extra PDA-like functionality, this phone will do the job.

The Bad

All in all, it’s a great phone, but it wouldn’t be a fair review if all I said were good things. Here are some minor issues:

1. Battery life – could have been better. 2 days on the average. 1 day if you’re using all the features (music, 3g surfing, games).
2. Slider – not the slider per se, but the way the keys are scratched a little bit everytime you slide it open. It’s only been a week and I can see lines on the keypad. It’s even more obvious with the black version.
3. No HSDPA - as I’ve said before, it’s 3G, not 3.5G. So the maximum speed you’ll get is 300+ kbps I think.
4. Start-up - there seems to be a bug in the software so that when it’s turned on, it seems like a very fast boot-up, but if you try to do anything right away, it kinda stalls for a few seconds and without any indication that it hasn’t hanged yet. It does eventually work after waiting a bit.

Linuxability

I don’t think that’s a real word though. Since I do all my work in Ubuntu, linux compatibility is definitely a big plus for me. Good thing Nokia decided to include Mass Storage support (similar to flash disks). This way, I don’t really need their software to get pictures, files, and programs to and from the PC.

I was also able to surf the net over the 3G connection of Globe telecom by following the instructions from the Globe website and this tutorial. Just a warning though, the default settings from Globe don’t work for prepaid users straight away. You have to change the APN from internet.globe.com.ph to html.globe.com.ph. It will allow you to surf using the built-in browser but it won’t allow your installed programs (Opera, Gmail, Yahoo Go) to connect using 3G. I think this also applies for all 3G handsets under the Globe prepaid service.

At 5 pesos / 15 mins, it’s quite a good offer. You just have to find a strong 3G signal. It isn’t much of a problem in the metro but becomes quite irritating in the provinces. If you don’t have a laptop with you though, I recommend browsing using Opera Mini in your cellphone.

The uber-funny manual

Here’s an excerpt from the manual that came with the phone (no editing was done):

Hello

Hindi halata ngunit sa kaakit-akit sa mata, ang iyong bagong Nokia 6500 ay makabago ng estilo at pagiging makabago. Sa pamamagitan ng isang nakaka-engganyong disenyo at isang eleganteng kaha na yari sa stainless steel at protektado sa gasgas ay nagsasanib ang salat at hitsura sa isang paraang talagang nagbibigay-pagkilanlan…

–used without permission

Ummm… Good thing there’s an english version. If you understand Filipino, then you’re probably laughing out loud right about now. I think the folks at Nokia translated the english manual word-for-word and probably didn’t even hire a decent translator. Funny!

Nokia Tagalog Manual —-> FAIL!

Click here to read other Pick-of-the-Week (POW) entries

Click here to read other Pick-of-the-Week (POW) entries

For my 2nd Pick-of-the-Week post, I’m picking the Creative Zen (Portable Media Player)

My Creative Zen (4gb)

Ok, so maybe everyone who has an iPod (in any of its various flavors), or at least anyone who has tried them out a bit, would say that it’s the best portable media player out in the market. Well I have to agree. There’s no doubt that in terms of sound-quality, user-friendliness, and overall fashion-sense, it’s clearly the best right now and probably for a long time to come.

There are however some other players out there that have something to offer those brave enough (broke enough), willing to have a go at anything but an iPod.

Why I bought it

I did have an iPod Video (80gb) which I bought about a year ago. Unfortunately, I don’t have it anymore, due to a very unfortunate jeepney accident. Ok, maybe stupid jeepney accident would describe it better. I fell asleep after an all-nighter for some gradschool project. Crap. Never ever sleep alone in a jeep! That was a long time ago of course, and its just a funny story now (hmmm… maybe still not so funny).

Last semester, I had a classmate in one of my graduate classes (digital communications) who always carried a digital voice recorder. He recorded all the lectures he attended so he could listen to them when reviewing. I thought it was a brilliant idea, seeing as I always seem to space-out during night classes. This way, even if I miss something important, I could always listen to it again. Mass storage is so cheap nowadays that there really isn’t any reason not to record everything. Except for laziness maybe.

So during summer vacation, I started looking for a decent voice recorder. I was initially looking for one of those really cheap 1gb models, but I always found myself attracted more to the full-pledged mp3 players (maybe because I listen to music a lot). To make a long story short, I ended up buying the Creative Zen. It’s a great player and voice recorder, perfect! But wait, there’s more! On top of all that, it also plays crystal clear video.

Creative Zen Features

The Zen is jam-packed with features at a price comparable to the iPod nano. It plays music, video, pictures, and of course has a very good built-in voice recorder. I actually thought of buying an iPod at first, but remembered that there wasn’t any built-in voice recorder. You have to pay a lot to add that simple feature.

I don’t regret the choice though. The Zen can do everything the iPod can do (except be fashionable I guess). Plus, at a similar price to the iPod nano, it packs a screen as big as an iPod Classic.

Screen size is similar to iPod Classic

This means you can watch video and not worry about having an uber-tiny picture. I guess we owe all of these features to the competition presented by the iPod. Other manufacturers just have trouble competing with the iPod that they have to price very low and still pack more features to attract buyers.

Some of my most favorite features include:

• SD Card Expansion Slot – Tired of 4gb internal flash? How ’bout another 4gb, just by adding an SD card.
• Built-in Voice Recorder – This is of course very welcome since my original plan was to use it as a recorder.
• Standard MiniUSB port – similar to the ones used in most digicams, so there’s no need to worry about replacing your cable
• Themes + Customizability - you can tweak the look of the interface a lot and even put in your own wallpaper
• Very Compact - always good for any portable device. I think it’s as large as a standard credit card.

Stuff I hate:

• Glossy Screen – not very scratch-resistant, so you should definitely find a case or screen protector. It’s not an easy feat though, since everyone’s making accessories for the iPod.
• SD and Internal Memory aren’t integrated – the two memories can not be used from a single interface. What I do is to just put all the video in the SD card.
• Buttons - what can I say, nothing beats the touch-sensitive wheel of the iPod

If you’re looking for a cheap alternative to the iPod, with good sound quality and a boatload of features, the Creative Zen is definitely worth checking out.

Click here to read other Pick-of-the-Week (POW) entries

This post is a continuation of my previous post about stock trading.

As I’ve mentioned on Part I, I started experimenting on stock trading just a few weeks ago. I had absolutely no prior knowledge about stocks, or any kind of formal investment for that matter. Everything I know, I learned from the web and from this one-time free seminar conducted by CitisecOnline. My primary motivation isn’t really to make a lot of money (that would be great though), but to learn how the system works. Considering the minuscule amount of money I’ve invested, I don’t think there really is much to gain besides experience.

The plan is very simple:

“Learn as much as you can without losing too much, and by the time you do have enough money to get serious, you’ve already learned enough not to lose a lot”.

- A Friend of Mine, on trading stocks (paraphrased)

Swing Trading

There are different types of stock traders in the market. I’ve decided early on that to keep it simple, a single strategy would be best. Having too many considerations when making a decision is a great way to get confused and find yourself in deep shit. These are just a couple of styles you can choose from (lifted from swing-trade-stocks.com):

1. Position Trader - These are usually institutions, or large investing bodies that hold on to a stock for a very long time. I takes a lot of money to be a position trader and also a lot of patience since your money will be frozen for a very long time.
2. Momentum Trader – These are short-term investors that start investing when a stock is showing momentum (i.e. going up and going fast). Once they see the momentum is running out, they sell immediately and therefore make only a little profit. To compensate, they do this a lot of times, even within a single trading day.
3. Swing Trader – This is my preferred strategy since it involves less time and effort than momentum trader. I can’t really devote too much time on this, because I’m also trying to finish grad school and teaching at the same time. To explain what swing trading is, I think it’s best to give an actual true-to-life example. Here is my very first (hopefully successful) swing trade:

Philex Mining Recent Trend

About a week ago, I bought a few Philex Mining Stocks (Stock Code : PX). It was showing a decent amount of up trend and I decided to hop on board.

The key to swing trading is to look for uptrending stocks similar to PX. I drew a makeshift trend-line (blue) to illustrate my point. After you find an uptrend stock, you don’t go ahead and buy! (I was stupid enough to commit that mistake very early and I’ve learned my lesson now, thank you very much)

What you do instead, is to wait for a pullback. This is when the stock price starts to fall during an uptrend. There is very high probability that when it starts to climb up again it will try to stick to the previous uptrend. It’s amazingly simple really. You buy it at a low price (therefore lower risk) and you buy it during an uptrend (higher chance of success).

Of course you can’t be 100% sure that it will indeed go up again. For the keen observers out there, you probably saw on the graph that just a few days ago, I was looking at a potential loss if I decided to sell, since PX was falling until the end of the week. If everything goes as planned, this lowered price would attract demand and therefore possibly pull back the price next week. Fingers crossed.

CitisecOnline Features

The plotting software I used in the graph above is just one of the many nifty features of CitisecOnline (my online broker). It’s a java applet that can run on any properly enabled browser. I use Firefox 3 in Ubuntu Linux and everything works great.

Some of the other very useful features include:

1. Regular Reports - There’s a ton of news clips and other information right at your finger tips that could potentially guide you on which stocks to avoid and which ones to buy.
2. Investment Guide – The site ranks various stocks as either good or bad and offer a recommendation on whether to buy or not. I think this is probably more useful to Position Traders and not short term traders like me.
3. Technical Guide – Now this is what you’d want to look at if your a swing trader. It’s a list of active stocks and whether their in an uptrend, downtrend, or sideways trend. There’s a lot more information there including support, resistance, etc. (You can learn about these terms on any swing trading site).
4. Forums - Discuss with fellow traders about your opinions regarding market stuff.
5. There’s a lot lot more, so just go over to the CitisecOnline site and get a free trial password.

The Real Deal

So far, I’ve been very positive about trying out the stock market. I just like to end this post with a warning. You can, and will, lose money when you trade stocks. I’ve only been at it for a few weeks and I’ve already lost some (albeit, a very small amount). So don’t come running back here and blaming me for encouraging you to try it out. Remember, any good investment has its risks and its corresponding rewards. The more potential rewards, the more risk there is.

My suggestion to the reader, would be to learn as much as you can before putting in any money. There’s a lot of stuff lying around that could get you up and started. There are even simulated stock markets. These are online games (not as flashy as Ragnarok though), where you can start to trade on the PSE using fake money. Head on over to the PSE Stock Trading Game or CitisecOnline’s Virtual Tycoon if you want to give it a go.

Good luck! See you on the trading floor.

(just drop a line if you have any questions)

I got this idea from The RubeTube (kudos to Punzki). Since the AFC is a relatively new blog, I thought it would be great to start a post series as soon as possible. Besides giving this blog some structure, it also motivates me to post regularly. In this case, at least once a week.

The P.O.W.

As I’ve mentioned, this is in no way an original idea. Even the name of the series isn’t original. What’s the point of creating something from scratch when there’s a completely good alternative that has already been tested. Even the acronym POW (also copied) fits perfectly in this case, since my nickname when I was a kid was POW.

I never really got why my parents spelled it that way, instead of the more socially accepted version which is Pau. I have never spelled it “pow” voluntarily, but my parents always insisted on keeping it that way. Now that I think about it, it’s probably better that way because of the individuality. There’s probably a million guys in the Philippines named Pau, but I have yet to meet anyone named POW.

Actually, it kinda reminds me of the Mario Brothers game (not the sidescrolling version) which had a POW block at the center. When you bump your head into the POW you kill the turtles (or whatever those guys were) at the same time.

Old School Mario Bros.

I couldn’t find a screenshot of the original game I’m talking about. This one will have to do for now (Are those crabs?!!).

Pick Of the Week (POW)

The pick of the week is basically a venue for recommending absolutely anything that I find interesting. It could be a show, a movie, favorite websites, great software, and a whole lot more. Every week, I’ll pick something I like and then post it in the AFC.

For my first POW, I’m picking… “Kung Fu Panda”. Woohoo! If you haven’t watched it yet, I seriously recommend that you do. The only thing I regret about watching it is not getting tickets earlier. My friends and I basically ended up watching it at the very front of a Trinoma Cinema. Besides the neck pains afterwards, it just sucks watching too closely. I had a headache everytime the scene was panning or the characters were moving too fast.

The rendering is simply stunning. The characters are well thought out and are so realistically cartoonish. Okay, maybe realistic and cartoonish don’t go along very well, but that’s the only way I can describe it. It’s cartoonish in it’s movements but realistic when it comes to shadows, reflections, and flowing hair/fur. You’ll just have to see it for yourself to actually get what I mean.

I also loved the way the backgrounds were rendered to look as if they were from a clay-mation film. It looks so solid (ala Wallace and Gromit) but I think it’s still CG though. It’s probably the amount of detail they gave to texturing different materials that gives the solid feeling.

The story isn’t that groundbreaking, but the way it’s told through humorous punchlines and over-the-top animation is more than enough reason to watch this movie for a second time. Probably way out at the back of the cinema next time though.

Thumbs-up to the 3-d animators out there. They just simply keep getting better and better.

(Have you watched Kung Fu Panda? Whatchathink?)

Links:

• IMDB – Kung Fu Panda
• The RubeTube’s PoW – where I “copied” the PoW concept

Click here to read other Pick-of-the-Week (POW) entries

It’s simply amazing how easy it is today to start trading stocks in the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) and how very little money it takes to start investing. Just a month ago I had absolutely zero knowledge about the stock market. Except maybe for the fact that a lot of people make money on it and even more people end up losing their shirts. Through a series of serendipitous events (or maybe just a series of coincidences, depending on how you look at it), I found myself learning more and more about stock trading. Now, I’m sitting on top of a few stocks in my portfolio and writing a little about how I started.

The Pursuit of Happyness

This might sound lame, but the spark that started it all was this movie with Will Smith and his kid. It’s funny since it’s not even new and I just happened to catch a screening of it in HBO. The Pursuit of Happyness is a movie based on the true story of Chris Gardner, who basically went from rags to riches and now has his own brokerage firm. It’s a really great movie, both touching and inspiring.

After having seen it for the second time (I happen to catch it again and couldn’t resist), I thought, “Hmmm.. I could do that… I’m good with numbers!”. So I Googled “Philippine Stock Exchange” and started reading about what it actually takes to trade stocks. There’s so much about it on the net, but I found the following particularly useful:

1. Philippine Stock Exchange – This is the website of the only stock market in the Philippines and there’s enough information here to get you started.
2. How I Started My Online Stock Trading Activities – This Multiply Blog describes how you can start trading with minimal capital using BPITrade (more about that later).
3. PinoyMoneyTalk.com – Learn the basics of the stock market. What is a stock? How do people make money? Or even more important, how do they lose money?
4. Swing-Trade-Stocks.com – Probably my favorite site about stocks. It details one strategy that offers low risk with reasonably good returns (Swing Trading). The author writes very clearly and is very easy to understand. I recommend that you read this if you want to start with stocks.

CitisecOnline

The first thing you do after deciding you want to get into the stock market is to choose a broker. A broker (like Will Smith’s character) is a person (usually a whole bunch of them) who will file your buy and sell orders for you. These are the guys you’ve seen in movies shouting and waving at each other on the market floor. It’s a bit expensive to hire a live broker (an actual person) to trade for you. Especially for guys like me with only a little money to start with. The Internet to the rescue!

I decided that an online broker is more to my liking. You just need a computer and a connection to start filing your orders. After reading #2 on my links, I though I should open an account with BPITrade since I already have a BPI bank account and the starting money (5000Php) is so small. After a little more research, I quickly discovered that a lot of people don’t like BPITrade and besides the small starting capital, there really isn’t any reason to choose this broker. I also tried their test account and the user interface is archaic html or something. It sucked.

Just a few days after that, a friend of mine texted me if I wanted to go to this free seminar by CitisecOnline about starting in the stock market. He had absolutely no knowledge of my sudden interest on the market and I guess the timing was pure coincidence. He basically heard it from a friend, who also heard it from a friend. So we went to the seminar which is housed in the same building as the PSE in Ortigas. The seminar is FREE and there is no obligation to start an account. Plus, they give you free drinks (C2) and Dewberry biscuits.

After the seminar, we opened a free 7-day trial account to test out their services. You can go ahead and do that by heading on to their website and clicking the trial account button in the login page. Their site is so much better than BPITrade and considering that this is where you’ll be doing most of your trades, user-friendliness is definitely a priority.

Once the 7-day trial was over, my friend and I decided that it was time to start with real money. It takes 25,000Php to start an account with them. Note that this is usable capital. It’s what you use to buy stocks. It isn’t payment, so you still own that money.

But wait!!! They also have a student discount (if your a student in a university or something, even gradschool), wherein you can start with just 5,000Php! How’s that for small capital?! Good thing we already went to the seminar so we had application forms and everything. We just had to file our requirements and come up with the money.

Click here to read Part II of this post.

(If you have questions, just post a comment)