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

I’ve recently rekindled my passion for all things automotive, and among these is one of my own sites, www.pinoyautoblog.com.

The site has actually been online for some time now, but it’s only now that I’m able to fill it in with actual practical tips and news. Just recently, I’ve been able to review a Toyota Vios and test-drive a Nissan Grand Livina and a Ford Everest.

I’m fortunate enough to be able to do a full review of the Vios. However, as it probably is with most auto dealers locally, it’s perhaps not as easy to get media units for review, like other gadget manufacturers (such as mobile phone and laptops). But we do welcome review requests. In fact, we’d be glad to oblige!

I’ve been running Pinoy Auto Blog for a few months now, but it’s not such an active site yet. I’d like the site to get serious traction soon. If anyone’s interested in contributing to the site, please get in touch with me!

I’m selling these for relatives.

Honda Civic (update: sold already)

1993 Honda Civic ESi – 1.6 L, Automatic transmission, Power-assisted steering, power: windows, locks, mirrors, antenna. Mileage: 120,000 Km.

License plate starting X, ending 6 (was previously registered as an Officially Excempt Vehicle, or with diplomatic papers, and was registered as a green-plate two years ago, hence the X prefix).

Asking price: PhP 150,000. This is a rush sale, so price is negotiable. Owner is leaving the country this week, so this week-end is the best time to deal.

Mazda 323 (Astina)

2000 Mazda 323 Astina – 1.6L Automatic transmission, power-assist steering, power locks, windows, mirrors. Mileage: 71.6 Km.

License plate starting W, ending 3. First-owned.

Asking price: PhP 225,000, negotiable. I earlier twittered an ad for this, but for a lower price, but apparently the vehicle had been appraised by Mazda/insurance and the value came at approximately the asking price cited above.

You can view the cars anytime. Just contact me by email or text (faster) so I can forward you the contact information.

Is it just me or are my gadgets deciding to overheat at the same time?

The car

Last week, I noticed my car’s temperature meter getting higher than usual. It usually maxes out at 90 degrees Centigrade when idle, but that time it was reaching up to 100 and even 110. My observation was that when the car was running, the temperature lowers, and when the car is idling (say at intersections or during heavy traffic), the needle goes up.

I checked the auxiliary fan and my guess proved to be correct. It wasn’t working. That meant the radiator gets a cooling-down effect from the onrush of air while the car runs, but there was no fan to help regulate the temperature while stationary.

The last straw was when we went for a checkup at our family doctor’s (a 1.5 hour travel from Quezon City to Manila) in moderate to heavy traffic. I had to keep an eye on the needle just to make sure it doesn’t readline (which is really, really bad for the engine as the pistons tend to bend when overheated).

So I had the fan’s motor replaced that afternoon. Cost me an arm and a leg. Okay, not really an arm and a leg, but an unexpected expense nonetheless. At any rate, what can one expect from a 10-year old car? But still, it’s a Toyota (and with a 4A-FE engine at that, which should be reliable as heck), so I expected it to be less of a hassle to maintain than other brand vehicles would be.

The laptop

The Compaq Presario V2000 laptop I bought last year had been exhibiting signs of wear externally. Its outer finish is a bit faded, particularly on the palm rest. Blame it on acidic sweat (and also sub-par paint/finishing on Compaq’s part). It still ran like a charm, though—that was until last week. I noticed that a “thermal throttling” warning had been popping up constantly, throttling down my CPU clock speed so it won’t overheat. I had a throttling utility installed after all (since being a Celeron-M it doesn’t throttle by itself via SpeedStep).

These days laptop fans aren’t on constantly, and they just turn on when increased CPU load causes the microprocessor to heat up. But I noticed a while back that my fan had not been running smoothly than usual, and that there were clunks whenever it was turning.

I realized my fan had stopped running altogether when the CPU thermal warning was constantly popping up after about 10 minutes into the laptop’s use. I turned off the throttling utility and the laptop would automatically turn off without notice—this I believe is the internal protection mechanism that the CPU uses so it doesn’t burn up when things get too hot.

I thought of opening up the machine myself to check, but I decided against it because I knew I still had a few weeks warranty left. but then I checked the receipt and realized I bought the laptop last July 3, 2006. Holey moley! That meant I had only up to July 3rd (that’s Tuesday this week) to have the laptop serviced before warranty lapsed.

I called the shop I bought it from (Complink in Megamall), but they said they still had to schedule pick-up, and lead time might be two to three weeks. I wasn’t not going to wait a month before getting my laptop back. I’m okay with parting with it for that duration (since I have the PowerBook to work/play on), but I was thinking all that transporting, storage and handlin might do harm to the computer. And they were quite vague on the handling of warranty—they said that the distributor might consider the date of pick up as the reckoning date, so in case they picked up my laptop after Tuesday it would have already been past warranty coverage.

Good thing the folks over at MSI-ECS (an authorized service center and dealer of HP/Compaq and other brands like Acer, Lenovo, etc., which Complink referred to me) were accommodating enough to say if I dropped by Monday they can give the diagnosis within a day’s time, and even fix the computer by that time if they had parts.

So I brought the Presario this noontime, and I was told I could most likely get it back within the week. I did ask for some cosmetic fixes, and they said they would have to seek HP’s authorization on that one, just to make sure it can still be considered under warranty’s coverage. I might have to wait a bit longer (which is okay with me).

So moral of the story: when buying gadgets and devices with steep price tags, be sure you have warranty. For all I know, it could be the Presario’s motherboard or CPU that was problematic, and not just the fan. That would cost a ton.

As for the car, well, it’s a car. Every car owner should be prepared to shell a few bucks for emergency maintenance. But I think I had better talk about this and other driving/auto maintenance tips over at Study Driving.

It’s been a busy week, or rather a very busy two weeks. So if you’re wondering why I haven’t been posting here lately, it’s because I’m either posting elsewhere (like the Blog Herald, JOAB and my other network blogs), building up a blog empire (soft-launched, but not yet officially launched), or taking care of some offline things. So for now, I’ll post in the good ol’ bullet points, like the usual when I’m busy.

My mother bought a MacBook. She almost bought another brand laptop (HP, which is not bad, but hey it’s not an Apple). But I told her for that price, she could already get a MacBook. PhP 62K for a Core 2 Duo Presario V2000 with a DVD-RW vs PhP 64k for a Core 2 Duo MacBook with Combo drive Not as high spec’d, when it comes to the add-ons/peripherals like the optical drive and the card readers but the Mac is still a better buy, in my opinion.

We checked out stores at SM Cyberzone, but ended up at Ynzal instead because of the really big discount their Business Dev Manager, Mr. Jojo Magallanes, gave us. We got it for PhP 60K plus some freebies.

Here’s her story.

Lesson learned: mothers, listen to your sons!

WeRoam saves the day. When I first tested PLDT’s WeRoam service in 2005 when I was still with dotPH I thought the speed was really crappy. We were at the Ortigas area then, and we couldn’t get an EDGE signal. So that means regular GPRS speeds, at 30 something kbps (sucks, I know). These days though, I think they have faster, 3G speeds. And you could always go for Globe Visibility HSDPA. You could theoretically get 1.8 Mbps (and 400 to 800 Kbps in real world applications).

But I’m a penny pincher at times, especially these days that I foresee big expenses upcoming.

So I bought myself a used Sierra AirCard 775 from a fellow BNC member so I could surf while mobile. I do have an unlimited Airborne Access account, but there are places I visit that don’t have hotspots of any kind. And since I foresee the need for untethered Internet access, I thought of this option instead.

It doesn’t come with a subscription. I just plug in a prepaid Smart SIM card, and I can enjoy surfing for PhP 10 per 30 minutes (PLDT WeRoam uses the Smart network). It’s really slow, but when you need to get things done, these things are a life saver. (And yes, I was able to configure my PowerBook to use the AirCard. The PC laptop was easy enough.)

Thing is, I usually only get a GPRS signal, and not EDGE. So it’s 30+ Kbps instead of the marketed 200 Kbps of EDGE. I guess I could have opted for a 3G phone instead, or a faster AirCard (or other brands), since Smart also offers the same rate for 3G access. But that would be loads more expensive in terms of equipment cost.

I initially wanted to buy a used WiFi-enabled PDA so I could surf at the malls without having to bring my laptop (or even at home—in the bathroom, perhaps?). But then I thought I would have more utility from being able to surf practically anywhere than having a more portable device for surfing at hotspots.

Last January, Max Limpag was also thankful for WeRoam saving his day. So I guess it goes the same for me. WeRoam is my last resort—I’ll use it when there are no other connectivity options. It’s for those emergency days. It’s like a backup parachute. Or a side-arm (when my primary weapon runs out of ammo, so to speak).

But if there’s anyone out there with an old WiFi-enabled PDA for sale (or loan, or donation, heheh), give me a good deal, and I’ll see if I’ll bite.

Bayantel DSL is Slow. Bayantel DSL is slow these days. I’ve been getting very bad speedtest.net results, like 500+ ms ping times, and 100kbps speeds. And I’m using a 384kbps connection (which goes up to 768 because I use a really nifty trick to increase my speed).

Car expenses. I got my AdSense check in the mail a couple of weeks ago, but I ended up spending most of it in car repairs and maintenance. Who knew that a new battery + alternator replacement would cost so much. They’re not from the casa or OEM Toyota, but they’re still expensive.

Oh, and I had an oil change, to boot. The mechanic at the Caltex service station corner of Kalayaan and Kamias was good—he pointed out to me the stuff I had to replace with my suspension (whereas some other shops wanted to change it all, which would cost me a whopping PhP 15k). I’m not really a Caltex guy (I prefer Petron Blaze), but this time I think I’ll come back to them come maintenance/repair/tune up time.

Community Blogs to Launch Soon. Three out of four of the community blogs I’m setting up are already up and running. Do check them out. I will make a formal announcement on the Blog Herald when the fourth one is up. Froodee is for lifestyle, living, news and business. Gadzooki is for gadgets, software, technology, and cars. Blog Tutorials is for blog design, reviews, writing tips.