With the weekend came the news that Apple had won its case against Samsung. An American jury found that the South Korean company had violated several of its patents. As a Samsung Galaxy user, I find that ruling extremely distasteful.
Only a fool would mistake the Samsung Galaxy for an iPhone. While there are some similarities, I would say that some of Apple's arguments are pretty dumb. I mean, suing over the shape of the phone is really pushing the envelope here.
This ruling limits consumer choices. Although it really doesn't affect what's happening here in Asia, it may in the future, seeing how some courts copy rulings in the United States. Apple is dictatorial in the sense that it is trying to ram their iPhone down our collective throat. If they wanted to sell more of their products, they ought to do it by lowering their prices, NOT by limiting consumers.
The real loser here is the consumer, the person who wants a smartphone but cannot pay the PhP 38,000 a new iPhone costs. The real loser is the person who simply does not want to idolize Apple products, but doesn't want Windows Phones or Blackberry handsets either.
I will never purchase an Apple product, even if I end up having enough money to do so.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Salamat san sa gabos, Secretary Robredo
I first heard of Secretary Jesse Robredo in college. He was one of the people our orientors said was a Lasallian we could be proud of. I never really was aware of his achievements, though, until they came to light this week.
It's funny how people whom you never met can have an impact on your life, and Mr. Robredo certainly had that positive impact on me after I heard his story. A devoted family man, he went straight from an official function to be with his daughter, who had just won a swimming competition. To the very end, he showed his love for his family. Admirable.
It's a moment of infinite loss. I will always remember where I was when I first heard that his plane crashed: at my girlfriend's house, about to eat out. It was a breaking news flash on ABS-CBN. I thought to myself, "It's going to be alright. It will work out just fine." I was wrong.
For three days, the nation was focused on the search for Robredo, in the vain hope that he was still alive. After all, stranger things had happened. Maybe the secretary had by some miracle escaped and was in fact on an isolated island. Maybe he was floating on the sea, barely clinging to life.
All those hopes were dashed with the discovery of his body. And I felt a moment of loss. How could someone so good at what he does be taken away? How could the positive future of this country's politics have died? Questions, questions, questions. With no answers.
The truth is, I can think of hundreds of politicians who should have been on that plane instead of Robredo. It seemed like he was one of those people who was not corrupted by power and money, who still led a simple life with his family and friends. His final act says a lot about that.
If there's anything to be learned here, I daresay that Mr. Robredo's dedication allows us to hope that there's a better future for Philippine politics. It opened up the fact that not all politicians are dirty crooks. Some of them are just like the rest of us, trying to get by, loving our families, dreaming of a bright future, working as hard as humanly possible.
Some of them are just like Jesse Robredo.
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| courtesy of TheLaSallian (www.facebook.com/thelasallian) |
It's a moment of infinite loss. I will always remember where I was when I first heard that his plane crashed: at my girlfriend's house, about to eat out. It was a breaking news flash on ABS-CBN. I thought to myself, "It's going to be alright. It will work out just fine." I was wrong.
For three days, the nation was focused on the search for Robredo, in the vain hope that he was still alive. After all, stranger things had happened. Maybe the secretary had by some miracle escaped and was in fact on an isolated island. Maybe he was floating on the sea, barely clinging to life.
All those hopes were dashed with the discovery of his body. And I felt a moment of loss. How could someone so good at what he does be taken away? How could the positive future of this country's politics have died? Questions, questions, questions. With no answers.
The truth is, I can think of hundreds of politicians who should have been on that plane instead of Robredo. It seemed like he was one of those people who was not corrupted by power and money, who still led a simple life with his family and friends. His final act says a lot about that.
If there's anything to be learned here, I daresay that Mr. Robredo's dedication allows us to hope that there's a better future for Philippine politics. It opened up the fact that not all politicians are dirty crooks. Some of them are just like the rest of us, trying to get by, loving our families, dreaming of a bright future, working as hard as humanly possible.
Some of them are just like Jesse Robredo.
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Ubuntu, Linux, and Free Software
After months of trying out Linux Mint (and after more than a year of using Ubuntu), I buckled and reinstalled Ubuntu on my PC again yesterday. I'm no techie, of course, so don't go judging me here. I simply went by my consumerist instincts and went for what I felt was the best product.
First of all, Ubuntu is backed by Canonical, which also offers the OS plus support-for-a-fee to companies worldwide. The OS on its own, however, is free, as are most Linux-based operating systems. That's great for me because I don't want to spend a dime on Microsoft software. And THAT really is expensive.
Linux Mint is a great OS. It provides out-of-the-box functionality for most everything you need to do. You get Flash and different audio and video codecs. I get that. However, as I evaluated it for a few months, I decided that Ubuntu has the best support system.
First of all, Ubuntu is backed by Canonical, which also offers the OS plus support-for-a-fee to companies worldwide. The OS on its own, however, is free, as are most Linux-based operating systems. That's great for me because I don't want to spend a dime on Microsoft software. And THAT really is expensive.
Both Linux Mint and Ubuntu are great. They provide non-techie users like myself a way to get work done quickly and to browse the web safely. I ultimately chose Ubuntu, though, because of the possibility of more software and greater support. It is, after all, the most popular Linux distribution.
That's what's so great about free software. You get to choose the OS you want. It's "free" in the sense that you don't have to pay anything for most distros, and in fact you can create multiple copies of these distros to share with friends. You really can't do that with other operating systems, now, can you?
However, in the free software community, "free" also refers to freedom from restrictive software licenses. That means people who want to modify free software can do so without fear of litigation.
However, in the free software community, "free" also refers to freedom from restrictive software licenses. That means people who want to modify free software can do so without fear of litigation.
The possibility of openly modifying software benefits all of us, I believe. It leads to more innovation and more possibilities. For us end users, it gives us more choices in software. That way, we are not chained to Microsoft or Apple, which really don't give us much of a choice.
This is why I would encourage everyone to use Linux software and operating systems. Frankly, I don't care whether you use Fedora, openSUSE, Ubuntu, or Linux Mint (or a host of others). If you are not dependent on Microsoft or if you want to move away from it, I suggest you use Linux. There's a slight learning curve, of course, but generally these distributions work quite well.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Home Along Da Riber
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| Even the roads in front of SM were flooded. |
And that wasn't even a storm.
Can you imagine what a storm like 2007's Milenyo would have done? I'll tell you what would have happened: thousands of shanties would have been obliterated, swept away by raging waters. Hundreds if not thousands of people would be dead right now.
What happened here? There was a time when Metro Manila rarely got flooded. I remember such a time, and that was certainly a cleaner time. Now, however, it seems that we Filipinos have been trapped by our greed.
Two weeks ago, I watched a very interesting take on this from journalist Ted Failon. There isn't a single entity to be blamed for the recent flooding, or for all the floods in the recent past for that matter. Rather, it seems that it's a confluence of actions that is causing billions in damage.
Real estate developers are certainly one of the groups that should be blamed here. Many buildings are built on what used to be esteros, which were great drainage systems. So I guess the price of expansion includes the lives of thousands of Filipinos. Many of these developers aren't interested in filling a need. They're interested in lining their pockets.
Squatters are another group that should be blamed. Many of these people live near or at drainage systems. Their waste and trash contributes a lot to clogging. Why can't the national government do something about them? They should be relocated to another place. And they should be taught that living on land that isn't theirs (and insisting on their so-called "rights" to that land) is really land theft, even though some namby-pamby politicians try to say otherwise.
Factories are also at fault. The tons of waste that are dumped into rivers are a surefire way of making those same rivers overflow. That waste should be disposed of in a responsible way, and dumping them into rivers and other bodies of water is grossly irresponsible and should be treated as a major crime. Perhaps if some big shot factory owner goes to jail for something like that, these factories would stop doing that cold turkey.
As much as I hate to say it, though, I'm afraid WE ALL are at fault. Yes, we the citizenry. WE fail to keep our eyes on the state of the environment. WE sometimes (or many times) throw our trash anywhere we please. WE allow real estate developers, squatters, and factories to do whatever they want to do. In other words, WE are our biggest problem.
Enough is enough.
Real estate developers are certainly one of the groups that should be blamed here. Many buildings are built on what used to be esteros, which were great drainage systems. So I guess the price of expansion includes the lives of thousands of Filipinos. Many of these developers aren't interested in filling a need. They're interested in lining their pockets.
Squatters are another group that should be blamed. Many of these people live near or at drainage systems. Their waste and trash contributes a lot to clogging. Why can't the national government do something about them? They should be relocated to another place. And they should be taught that living on land that isn't theirs (and insisting on their so-called "rights" to that land) is really land theft, even though some namby-pamby politicians try to say otherwise.
Factories are also at fault. The tons of waste that are dumped into rivers are a surefire way of making those same rivers overflow. That waste should be disposed of in a responsible way, and dumping them into rivers and other bodies of water is grossly irresponsible and should be treated as a major crime. Perhaps if some big shot factory owner goes to jail for something like that, these factories would stop doing that cold turkey.
As much as I hate to say it, though, I'm afraid WE ALL are at fault. Yes, we the citizenry. WE fail to keep our eyes on the state of the environment. WE sometimes (or many times) throw our trash anywhere we please. WE allow real estate developers, squatters, and factories to do whatever they want to do. In other words, WE are our biggest problem.
Enough is enough.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
NBA power play?
This is something I've been wanting to get off my chest for quite some time.
Since before the Olympics began, NBA Commissioner David Stern and some of his cohorts have been planning to create a "World Cup of Basketball" (whatever the heck THAT means). They say the Olympic basketball tournament should be for those under 23 years old, and in fact want to engineer just that.
To me, that's just a dumb play.
First off, a disclaimer: I have absolutely no stake in the drama. Filipino ball players haven't played a single game in the Olympics since 1972. That's 40 years of Olympic basketball absence! Seriously, we really should get our act together. But I digress.
This plan by the NBA is about money, there's no getting around that fact. And that's why they want to create a basketball world cup -- with all or at least most of the proceeds going directly to the NBA. If they want to do that, fine, be my guest, and good riddance.
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Photo courtesy of my name is dan on flickr.com
We all love the NBA.
We just don't want it dictating the rules of the Olympic basketball games.
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But to make Olympic basketball for those below 23 years old? You have got to be kidding me! As a fan, I want to watch the absolute best that the world has to offer when I watch the Olympics. I don't want to see a bunch of virtually young boys playing. I want to see THE BEST.
Believe it or not, the world has caught up to the US men's basketball team. They can no longer be called the Dream Team (which beat their opponents by about 40 points every single game). They can still win, no doubt about that. But Spain and Argentina have become more competitive. The final game was no nailbiter, but it was a fairly good game.
And Stern wants to take away all that?
If the IOC actually approves this proposal (no updates on that just yet), it will ruin the whole concept of the Olympics. Who wants to watch a bunch of kids play college-level (or even high school level) ball when there are professionals who play SO MUCH BETTER. It's not like NBA players are asking for this, either.
There ought to be a bigger uproar over this, and already some European countries are grumbling. No one's protesting yet, because this isn't a formal proposal just yet. But hopefully there will be, because the NBA should not be allowed to flex its muscles at the expense of all the other Olympic basketball teams.
Yes, this reeks of expansionism of a different kind.
No Way But Up
The LA Lakers had a horrible season. As a Laker fan, any season in which the team doesn't go deep into the playoffs is an abysmal failure. Trading D-Fish, losing Lamar Odom, and bowing out to the Thunder doesn't sound like Laker basketball at all.
This offseason, all that changed.
EVERYBODY complained about the heavy-handedness of the commissioner when he nixed the trade that would've sent Chris Paul to the Lakers. Now, I think everyone's gotten over that -- mainly because Steve Nash is now on the team.Following that, Grant Hill came to the Lakers. Now THOSE were two pretty big offseason acquisitions.
And then just last week came the stunning announcement that Dwight Howard had been traded to the Lakers. Suddenly, the dynamic has changed, and questions need to be answered. Can Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard coexist? Can Steve Nash do the same things he did in Phoenix for the past six-odd years?
We won't know the answer unless the season actually begins. So let the fireworks begin. Because there's no way but up.
Erratum: Grant Hill did NOT join the Lakers, as I mistakenly wrote. He joined the LA Clippers. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
This offseason, all that changed.
EVERYBODY complained about the heavy-handedness of the commissioner when he nixed the trade that would've sent Chris Paul to the Lakers. Now, I think everyone's gotten over that -- mainly because Steve Nash is now on the team.
And then just last week came the stunning announcement that Dwight Howard had been traded to the Lakers. Suddenly, the dynamic has changed, and questions need to be answered. Can Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard coexist? Can Steve Nash do the same things he did in Phoenix for the past six-odd years?
We won't know the answer unless the season actually begins. So let the fireworks begin. Because there's no way but up.
Erratum: Grant Hill did NOT join the Lakers, as I mistakenly wrote. He joined the LA Clippers. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Olympic Fever
Last night (or rather, this morning, if you're keeping score in the Philippines) marked the end of the 2012 London Olympics. It began with a rock n' roll intro featuring Queen Elizabeth stepping out of character and Sir Paul McCartney enjoining the crowd to sing along to "Hey Jude." It ended with the Spice Girls and the remaining members of Queen (sans Freddie Mercury) again singing to the heart's content of many a music lover.
In the midst of it all were records, achievements, and storylines. Michael Phelps cemented his claim to the title of greatest swimmer of all time when he bagged his 22nd Olympic medal, including his 18th gold medal (both records which may never be broken). Usain Bolt invited some controversy by his disrespect of Carl Lewis, thereby diminishing whatever goodwill he might have been wanting in the U.S.
Some Filipinos, of course, are incensed by the fact that the national delegation did not win a single medal. There was one protest in boxing, a protest which had some merit, given that it was questionable. However, the Olympic boxing committee thought otherwise.
The U.S. Men's Basketball team won in the final against Spain, a hard-fought match, seeing as Spain had Marc and Pau Gasol. Did the Howard trade overshadow the Olympics? Maybe so, but a lot of people still anticipated this game, and the teams did not disappoint. It was a good match, although not the nailbiter that I would have preferred.
And what did we learn from these Olympics? Well, for one thing, that greatness can be fleeting. No matter how great you think you are, your records and your achievements will fall one day.
Another lesson is that time eventually catches up with us all. You see the Argentinean basketball team, whose members may have suit up together for the last time. Some of them won't be together in Rio, that's for sure.
The next time the Olympics are held, a lot of things will have changed. For all you know, the Men's Basketball event may become an under-23 tourney, which most people (including myself) find reprehensible. Olympic events should not be put under age restrictions, after all.
Goodbye London. Hello Rio.
In the midst of it all were records, achievements, and storylines. Michael Phelps cemented his claim to the title of greatest swimmer of all time when he bagged his 22nd Olympic medal, including his 18th gold medal (both records which may never be broken). Usain Bolt invited some controversy by his disrespect of Carl Lewis, thereby diminishing whatever goodwill he might have been wanting in the U.S.
Some Filipinos, of course, are incensed by the fact that the national delegation did not win a single medal. There was one protest in boxing, a protest which had some merit, given that it was questionable. However, the Olympic boxing committee thought otherwise.
The U.S. Men's Basketball team won in the final against Spain, a hard-fought match, seeing as Spain had Marc and Pau Gasol. Did the Howard trade overshadow the Olympics? Maybe so, but a lot of people still anticipated this game, and the teams did not disappoint. It was a good match, although not the nailbiter that I would have preferred.
And what did we learn from these Olympics? Well, for one thing, that greatness can be fleeting. No matter how great you think you are, your records and your achievements will fall one day.
Another lesson is that time eventually catches up with us all. You see the Argentinean basketball team, whose members may have suit up together for the last time. Some of them won't be together in Rio, that's for sure.
The next time the Olympics are held, a lot of things will have changed. For all you know, the Men's Basketball event may become an under-23 tourney, which most people (including myself) find reprehensible. Olympic events should not be put under age restrictions, after all.
Goodbye London. Hello Rio.
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