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

June is nearing and it’s the season for Hollywood blockbuster movies. With family-friendly films slated for theatrical release this coming June — Cars 2, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, X-Men First Class, Captain America, Green Lantern and Hangover II, who wouldn’t want to spend the tail-end of summer relaxing and watching a movie?

(OK, forget the Hangover as “family friendly,” but if your family is mature enough then go ahead.)

That’s why this blog, in cooperation with Globe My Super Circle and Sumo Sam, is running a photo contest that will showcase family connectedness using today’s high-tech (or even low-tech) tools.

The mechanics are simple:

• Take a wacky, funny, interesting or artsy photo of how you and your family members stay in touch.
• You can submit your entry through any of the following: (1) Post your photo on your blog or photo-sharing account, and link to this post, (2) Tweet a link to your Photo and mention @jangelo; or (3) Share your photo on Facebook, include a link to this post, and tag my account – J Angelo Racoma
• Photos may not be edited/Photoshopped except to improve the contrast/levels and to resize.
• To ensure I don’t miss your entries, send me an email at jangelo (at) gmail (dot) com with a link. If the photo is accessible from a photo-sharing site, do write a comment on this post with a link.
• Submission of entries will run from today, May 31, until 11:59 PM of Friday, June 10, 2010. I’ll be updating this post to include official entries.

I will then choose a list of 10 finalists, from which I will raffle off the entries using a randomizing application. Winner will be announced this Independence Day, June 12.

Note: I’ve extended the contest up to June 17, and I’ll announce winners by June 19, due to reader requests.

So get your camera out and take shots of your siblings, spouse, friends, relatives, pets, yourself, and whoever you hold dear. Prizes at stake are tickets for 8 people at Shangri-La Cineplex and a PhP 5,000 dinner at Sumo Sam.

This contest assumes the winner can claim and use the prize (i.e., located or living in the Philippines), but if your entry wins and you can’t physically claim/use it, then you can assign it to someone who can.

Globe Telecom Inc. is set to have its wireless landline services expanded to remote and rural areas.

The communication services provider has announced its expansion of Globe DUO coverage to eight more provinces all over the country.

DUO is a two-in-one service that lets a Globe subscriber use a single SIM for one mobile phone to make unlimited calls from the Globe number to any landline number and from Globe to Globe.

Since Globe DUO has been launched two years ago, a number of provinces has already benefited from its great offers. Globe DUO coverage includes Antique, Batangas, Bulacan, Capiz, Cavite, Cebu, Davao del Sur, Laguna, Leyte, Metro Manila, Negros Oriental, Northern Samar, Pangasinan, Rizal, and South Cotabato.

[via TeleGeography]

Do you want to enjoy the services of Globe Prepaid your way?

As an answer to the surge of requests regarding free text and free surf, Globe Prepaid is now offering Superfree Weekends!

Starting January 17, Globe Prepaid subscribers can get 200 texts to all networks plus 1 hour of mobile internet for free during Saturday and Sunday through Superfree Weekends. All you need to do is to accumulate at least P199 worth of cellphone load anytime during weekdays (Monday to Friday).

All channels for reload such as AutoLoad Max and prepaid card are included in the Superfree Weekends promo except for Share-A-Load.

Once you have accumulated at least P199 worth of load, you can redeem your free 200 texts to all networks and 1 hour of cellphone internet during Saturday only.

Simply text SUPERFREE to 8888.

P1 maintaining balance is required to enjoy Superfree Weekends.

Superfree Weekends runs from January 17 to February 16, 2011. For more information, text SUPERFREE INFO to 8888.

[via Globe]

The ads are everywhere about the Supersurf50 promo of Globe. My friends always tell me that they are registered to the “1-day unlimited internet mobile browsing” as offered by Globe’s Supersurf50, so I climbed on the bandwagon.

The registration for Supersurf50 was fast. In the confirmation text, it said

Enjoy unlimited internet surfing for 1 day

But after a few hours of making the most out of the 50 pesos I paid for the service, I received a text message from Globe:

Globe Advisory: Your account has reached 1GB in usage today. Subject to Globe Fair Use Policy, your internet service has been temporarily deactivated and will resume tomorrow. This promo is intended for moderate use. For heavy browsing, please upgrade to our Tattoo Postpaid plans. Thank you.

I managed to go look up for the said “Globe Fair Use Policy”, and I ended up reading Globe’s Fair Use Policy.

The intention of the policy seems to be reasonable; however, the content of Globe’s Fair Use Policy obviously lacks clarity and specifications. I asked my friends who use Globe’s Supersurf50 and I was no longer surprised with their frustrations about the misleading “unlimited” services of Globe.

Have you experienced the same with regards to the usage of the limited “unlimited” services of Globe?

If there are “limits” to the service, why call it an “unlimited” service in the first place? Isn’t this a plain and dirty way of fooling and tricking Globe users?

Ask yourself again: Is Globe’s Supersurf unlimited Internet promo really unlimited?

I’m an avid user of Globe Telecom’s Immortal TXT service, which essentially extends your PhP 10 prepaid load into 50 + 10 SMS messages (50 within Globe networks and 10 to other networks). Globe has recently come up with a new “immortal” scheme, which now includes voice calls. Dubbed Immortal Call, the service will give you 50 SMS within Globe networks (including Touch mobile and Tattoo mobile) and 5 minutes worth of Globe network calls. Cost is PhP 15, and you can activate this by sending IMMORTAL15 to 8888.

In effect, you will be extending your PhP 15 to PhP 50 + PhP 6.50 x 5 (since each voice minute costs PhP 6.50), for a total of PhP 82.50.

I’m not using Immortal Call, though, since I’ve activated Super DUO last month (now since lapsed, but will activate it again soon, before my local number expires). But I do think that Globe’s per-second charging (using the “232″ prefix instead of “0″) may actually be cheaper at PhP 0.10 per second, given my telephone calling habits, which rarely go a few seconds each call. Therefore I prefer the Immortal TXT service. But if you’re a heavier caller, then Immortal Call + would be cheap, at PhP 1 per minute.