racoma.com.phJ. Angelo Racoma on technology, economics, writing, problogging, and getting things done

News in the recent weeks involved much of Asia, particularly China. For one, the New York Times ran several features on why every gadget seems to be made in China these days, and how the region has taken middle-class jobs away from the Americans. However, this comes at the price of harsh working conditions, although working in gadget factories in China seems to be the better choice than starve elsewhere.

Meanwhile, another news-worthy issue involving Asia and social media is Twitter’s plan to censor tweets selectively on a per-country basis. Twitter says they are not doing this for censorship, but rather to comply with local laws.

Speaking of Twitter, experts have found out that Generation-Y does not take social media marketing too seriously. Studies say that word of mouth and viral marketing are more likely to sell brands than a social media push.

While tweeting or posting from your smartphone, though, consider that mobile phones are now a big threat to enterprise security, with businesses now being concerned about employees losing their smartphones and tablets to loss or theft, which can compromise data, including customer lists, passwords, and the like.

Meanwhile, if you don’t have a tablet or e-reader yet, consider that tablet and ebook reader ownership in the U.S. has doubled in the 2011 holiday season alone. Don’t wait for next Christmas to get your own tablet. With prices falling these days — and with the Chinese selling a $99 Android Ice Cream Sandwich tablet — you’d be crazy not to get one for yourself.

Apple will launch the iPad officially this December 17th. Until then, I don’t think you should purchase iPads locally from third-party sellers, as you might be surprised how low the official price will be, compared to the grey market. The entry level iPad starts at PhP 23,999 for the 16 GB WiFi (no 3G) model.

WiFi only models

• 16 GB: PhP 23,990
• 32 GB: PhP 28,990
• 64 GB: PhP 33,990

WiFi + 3G models

• 16 GB: PhP 30,990
• 32 GB: PhP 32,990
• 64 GB: PhP 40,990

From what I’ve read, it also seems the Ateneo Apple store will be selling iPads at discounted price to students, staff and alumni, so expect a discount of about 5 to 10 percent or so.

Update: Yugatech posts Ateneo iPad prices:

MB292 iPad WiFi 16GB – Php23,000 (SRP: Php23,990)
MB293 iPad WiFi 32GB – Php27,500 (SRP: Php28,990)
MB293 iPad WiFi 32GB – Php32,000 (SRP: Php33,990)

MC349 iPad WiFi+3G 16GB – Php29,800 (SRP: Php30,990)
MC496 iPad WiFi+3G 32GB – Php33,800 (SRP: Php35,990)
MC497 iPad WiFi+3G 64GB – Php38,500 (SRP: Php40,990)

[via techpinas | Photo credit: Ryan Anson/AFP]

Textbooks are expensive, heavy, and they translate to a lot of trees being cut down for the paper. In a move to reduce paper usage, costs and strain on students’ backs (or their cars’ suspension systems, I think), St. Paul College is said to be on the lookout for Android tablet suppliers. This is supposedly for 5,000 textbooks, and St. Paul is considering suppliers who are to bid on specifications and price.

This is similar to initiatives in the US that I wrote about before. Colleges and universities are aware of the expense that students have to undertake just for decent textbooks, and so schools are switching to e-text. St. Paul is said to be including the cost of the Android tablet in the tuition/miscellaneous fees. If this pans out well, that would be a good deal, especially if they can bring the cost down to, say, PhP 10,000 (instead of the usual PhP 15,000 up for decent Android tablets). And parents can, of course, pay for it in installments.

Perhaps they can include the iPad in their choices, too. I hear the A.Store is doing an official launch locally this December. If parents can pay for the PhP 24,000+ price in installments, that would be a great deal.

[via Yugatech]

SonyEricsson’s local PR lent me an Xperia X8 to test drive for a few weeks. So far, I’m liking the phone. It’s a midrange Android phone at a reasonable price (PhP 11,600). The size is somewhere in between a candybar phone and the bigger Xperia X10.

The phone has a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen with a 320×480 resolution, a 3-megapixel fixed-focus camera, 600 MHz processor, 160MB of internal storage, up to 32 GB SDHC storage, and a whole lot of Android goodness.

The phone is white, but a black Xperia X8 is reported to be coming soon.

My only gripe at this point is that it only comes with Android 1.6 (Donut), whereas most Android phones these days come with Eclair (2.1) or FroYo (2.2). SonyEricsson promises an upgrade sometime before the year ends, so I’m hoping that’s sometime soon.

I’ll post a full review soon.

Perhaps you’ve seen the videos earlier this year showing how a nanny abused her charge. In the video, the nanny is seen hitting the toddler, and throwing him around. This is probably a big concern shared by parents who have to leave their kids with supposedly trustworthy individuals while they went out to make a living.

Or how about reports in the evening news about burglars making off with gadgets, jewelry or money, only to be caught later on because they were caught on surveillance video? It’s not only banks and retail shops that have hidden cameras these days. Even homes and offices usually have cameras hidden out of plain sight, sometimes motion-activated, and sometimes catching sight of the strangest of events.

A hidden camera can come in quite handy when you need to protect your interests. Whether these are vaults containing money, office equipment, or even people (such as your kids), having surveillance video can help detect potential problems, and even prevent these before they happen.

Last year, the quietness of our neighborhood was stirred with a few petty thefts. While the losses were small, the very idea of strangers coming into our fences and taking stuff was very jarring. We thought those small thefts might be precedents to more serious incidents in the future. I considered upgrading my car alarm, and installing a spy camera that can let me record surveillance video or even access these remotely through the Internet.

I haven’t come around to upgrading my security-related gadgets yet, but my family and I have been more vigilant in making sure we sleep more soundly by double-checking the door locks and car locks at night. We also bring in anything that might be of interest to thieves, no matter how small. Security, after all, is as much about attitude as it is about the tools and gadgets.

These days, when I visit a retail store, mall, bank, or any establishment, I try to figure out where their surveillance cameras are installed or hidden. I know I’ll never be as good as Jason Bourne in staking out the stakeout, but I do satisfy my fascination with gadgets and how people use these gadgets to watch other people from behind the safety of invisibility.