2018 v18n7 - THE MILLENNIAL ISSUE

Maribelle M. Alba

Managing Editor

#GIRLBOSS

Être fort pour être utile

@bellealba

@hisnameisren

THERESA ELORIAGA

ART DIRECTOR Garmonbozia.

@theresaeloriaga

JAEL MENDOZA

Sales Manager Account executive

@presy1121

Accounting manager Accounting Staff

MIA CARISSE BARRIENTOS

HR & ADMIN MANAGER Administration Staff

Amy Christine Giray Ramil Almojano Clifford Dela Paz

PR & MARKETING STAFF

Paula Candoy

Legal Counsel

EDITOR-AT-LARGE I don’t travel light, I lug too many gadgets, I can walk for miles exploring and I never say no to the local fare.

Junior Editor

She holds a sketchpad on one hand, and a music sheet on the other hand

A bibliophile fascinated with tech.

Also a walking fangirl dictionary.

@jaellaura_m

@miaissocoollike

ROBBY VAFLOR

GRAPHIC Artist

STAFF WRITER

100% Pusong Malabonian

“Biiiimb!”

@sailorapollo11

@afterhourscritic

GERRY GAVIOLA

CONTRIBUTOR

Jewel Sta. Ana

STAFF WRITER

Cineaste. Audiophile. Gadget addict.

A music and photography junkie who plays like a pirate.

facebook.com/gerry.gaviola.3

@monsterjewfloat

JOSE ALVAREZ

Maribelle Alba Marisa Consuelo Carol Agabin Shirley Libiong Maritess Pascua-Maulion Lorie Bernardo

Alba Law Office

GADGETS Magazine is published monthly by Great Minds Media Inc. Address all correspondence to Unit 801-802, The One Executive Office Bldg., #5 West Ave., 1104 Quezon City.

Our telephone number is: 288-8588 Our website is: www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

All unsolicited manuscripts, illustrations and photos submitted must be accompanied by a stamped self-addressed envelope if they are to be returned.

All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. Every care is taken to ensure that the content of Gadgets is fully accurate; however, the publisher and printer assume no responsibility for the effects arising therefrom. Gadgets Magazine is a registered trademark of Great Minds Media Inc.

Arvee Corpuz

CONTRIBUTOR

CONTRIBUTOR

Jose loves football, video games, computers, and history, but not necessarily in any order.

Economist. Audiophile. Otaku.

Has way too many hobbies for his own good.

@josealvarez

@r.v.cpz

MARCH 2018

President & CEO

PRESY ALBA

GRAPHIC Artist

RONEL BAUTISTA

2

Ren Alcantara

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

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CONTENTS

MARCH 2018 | Volume 18 No. 7

08

Parade

Gadgetry fresh from the MWC and beyond.

Gadgets Lab

The Wizards of West Avenue have been hard at work testing out these toys.

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Our covergirl + this issue = a match made in Siberia

Indulge us with a rundown of our dream gadgets.

Natella Kiseleva

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Travel Safe There are signs all around you.

But do you know what they mean?

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Millennial Starter Packs

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The Millennial Issue

It’s all about youth this month.

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Mobility

Test drives and news fresh from the mouth of the motoring industry.

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Clean never looked this cool.

Nokia has something to say about inadequate power reserves.

Dyson V8 Carbon Fibre

Battery Woes Be Gone

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Pioneer Big Heart Contest

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Exploring one of Cebu’s most interesting municipalities.

Craving for Thai? Then this place is for you.

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Showcasing the creativity of the youth and the spirit of the Filipino people.

Bulletpoints

We take a look at the Olight H1 Baton Mini and H1 Baton Mini HCRI.

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Active Lifestyle The Gadgets team went boatbuilding.

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Artist Corner We shine a light on the works of Jerold Sunga.

Destination: Oslob

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Bits & Bytes

Your monthly fix for consumer tech news.

Monster Hunter: World We can’t be the only ones excited for this.

Mango Tree Bistro

92 Relic

Hear that screeching? It’s the sweet sound of 56K dial-up.

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PARADE

Fitbit Aria 2

Smart Weighing Scale Fitbit’s Aria 2 Wi-Fi Smart Scale boasts best-in-class accuracy and easy setup via Bluetooth. Also compatible across Wi-Fi networks, the Aria 2 helps users track and understand their body composition–including weight, body fat percentage, lean mass, and BMI–in a matter of seconds, all of which can be viewed on its embedded bright display. Users can also conveniently sync data from the Aria 2 with the Fitbit app, for easy tracking of statistics. It has a sleek profile, an interface that now includes personalized icons and greetings for added motivation, along with the ability to recognize eight different users.

PHP 7,690

Fitbit Flyer

In-Ear Headphones Complete your fitness journey with the Fitbit Flyer. These wireless headphones seamlessly connect to your Fitbit Ionic or any other compatible device for an unrivaled workout. Built for fitness buffs, the Flyer has a durable, IP67-rated waterproof design for sweating it out indoors or outdoors. Its design allows it to fit snugly and stay in the ear while out and about and can be customized thanks to its interchangeable ear tips, wings, and fins. Apart from its workoutfriendly features, the Flyer also boasts premium sound, care of Waves sound technologies, Bluetooth 4.2, up to six hours playing time, three-button control box, dual microphones, sound setting, and more. The Fitbit Flyer is available in colors lunar grey and nightfall blue.

PHP 6,790

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MARCH 2018

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Jumpu Tsuyoi-S

Portable Wireless Speaker Japanese brand, Jumpu, debuts its compact audio device that will satisfy the needs of adrenaline-junkie audiophiles. Living up to its definition of power and strength, the Tsuyoi-S is built for rugged outdoor activities like biking. This wireless speaker is IP65 water-resistant, and gives superior bass. It can also be used in two ways: either through a 3.5 mm audio jack or via a Bluetooth connection up to a distance of 10 meters. Inside the speaker is a 15,000 mAh lithium battery that is enough for streaming your music playlist and making crystal clear calls directly from your mobile device, all day long.

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MARCH 2018

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Coexx Line 1 Lightning and Micro USB 2nd Gen Timer Cable Data and Lightning Cable

Here’s another addition to your digital toolbox. The Coexx Line 1 Lightning and Micro USB Cable gives double performance with its compatibility with both iOS and Android devices. Whether plugged from a wall socket or another device, this 2-in-1 charging and data cable offers the latest quick-charge technology through its 2.4 A of output power. The first of its kind, this product from the Japanese brand Coexx has an adjustable countdown timer and display that can charge various devices such a tablets, smartphones, cameras, and music players up to 9 hours. Protection for your gadgets is also ensured through its automatic stop feature that prevents overcharging and overheating. Its one-meter length also offers you the freedom to plug and transfer data seamlessly.

Coexx Line 1 USB Type-C 2nd Gen Timer Cable Data and Lightning Cable

The second generation of the Japanese brand cable, Coexx, is now made even better with the newest USB Type-C Timer Cable especially made for Android and Macbooks! Supporting the latest quick charge technology, the Coexx Line 1 USB Type-C 2nd Gen Timer Cable can power up your devices faster than before and can even be used to transfer data seamlessly. Featuring an automatic stop and charging time setting, monitoring your phone’s battery level is now easy. You can even plug it directly to a socket, a power bank, or a laptop. Made with sturdy materials that last, this is the perfect partner for your mobile device.

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MARCH 2018

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Asus ROG Strix Fusion 300 Headphones

The Strix Fusion 300 features a proprietary airtight chamber, large 50 mm Asus Essence drivers, built-in virtual 7.1-channel surround sound and soft, comfortable ROG Hybrid ear cushions, to give gamers that fully immersive experience while remaining uncompromisingly comfortable, at no compromise to sound quality. Compact and lightweight, the Fusion 300 stays comfortable throughout marathon gaming sessions by combining soft, sound-isolating faux leather and a breathable fabric mesh. The Strix Fusion 300 features both a USB 2.0 connector and a 3.5mm audio connector for compatibility with practically all existing gaming devices. Built-in 7.1-channel virtual surround sound eliminates the need for separate surround-sound or dongles, and can be easily activated with one click of a dedicated button.

PHP 6,530

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MARCH 2018

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Canon G3010 Printer

Like the G4010, the G3010 printer and copier has support for the Canon Print Service plugin, mobile device printing, and Wi-Fi connectivity. The printer has a 1.2-inch LCD display which makes copying and printing hassle-free. Printing speeds are similar to its big brother the G4010, and it also supports borderless photo printing for up to A4-sized paper.

PHP 9,195

Canon G4010 Printer

This all-in-one printer with fax is Canon’s flagship in the PIXMA G series. It supports Wi-Fi connectivity, AirPrint and the Canon Print Service plugin which offers driverless printing for phones and tablets running on Android. It has a document print speed of approximately 8.8 inches per minute for black and white and 5 inches per minute for colored prints. The photo print speed is approximately 60 seconds on average, allowing borderless printing for up to an A4-sized print.

PHP 12,995

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Fujifilm X-A5

Mirrorless Camera There’s a new snapper in town that everyone will surely love. As the newest entry-level camera in Fujifilm’s X-series and the first to feature power zoom, the X-A5 lets you shoot with confidence. Sporting a 24.2-megapixel APS-C image sensor, this lightweight and compact mirrorless camera has an automatic Bluetooth image transfer function that immediately sends your photos to your mobile device. Thanks to its auto-phase detection and 4K burst shooting, capturing moving subjects with clarity and precision is now extremely easy. YouTube vloggers and storytellers alike will adore its 4K video recording resolution, 180-degree tilting touchscreen, and its built-in microphone jack. Matched with a motorized X-mount power zoom lens, the XC15-45mm f/3.5-5.6 OIS PZ, creating colorful, creative and rich photographs with the Fujifilm X-A5 is something that photography enthusiasts will enjoy.

PHP 34,990

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+ Smartphones

If last year’s S8 series was all about the Infinity Display, this 2018, the Korean tech giant underscores camera technology—bells and whistles included. The newest iterations of Samsung’s highly-loved flagship series sport skillfully melded polycarbonate and aluminum form factors. A curved Super AMOLED display dominates the front with a tad space for the front camera, receiver, and Iris scanner atop. It has the same 18:5:9 aspect ratio as the S8 line, but with its bezels significantly slimmed down. On top of that, the S9 line comes with a deep-black screen to better give a sense of seamlessness build-wise. The Galaxy S9 has a Super Speed Dual Pixel 12 MP OIS rear camera with dual aperture (f1.5/f2.4) and an 8 MP autofocus front shooter with f1.7 aperture. Camera specs for both phones are pretty much the same.

The only difference is that the S9+ has an additional f2.4 12 MP OIS sensor to round out its dual rear camera system. On top of its quality sensors, the camera app is full to the brim with modes and features to give you the time of your life, including, but not limited to Super Slow-Mo mode which can shoot videos at professional-grade 960 fps, Art Bokeh, which can be accomplished through either the Select Focus (S9) or Live Focus (S9+), and dual aperture along with multi-frame noise reduction which functions like the human eye, automatically adjusting to whatever the lighting condition may be so that photos come out bright every time. The new S9 phones also come with the AR Emoji feature, which beyond embedding emojis and fun filters on your portraits and selfies, also allow you to create your own 3D avatar that mirrors your facial movements. Users can also make animated stickers from their own avatar.

The S9 line also comes with high-power stereo speakers tuned by audio leader AKG, an IP68-rated waterproof body, iris scanning or face recognition for added security, Bixby integration (with dedicated button), and more AR features.

PHP 45,990 (Samsung Galaxy S9) PHP 60,990 (Samsung Galaxy S9+, 256 GB) PHP 55,990 (Samsung Galaxy S9+, 128 GB) PHP 52,990 (Samsung Galaxy S9+, 264 GB)

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MARCH 2018

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Lenovo Yoga 730 2-in-1 Laptop

Announced at the MWC, the Yoga 730 is the updated version of its 700 line with a thinner profile and improved performance. The 730 comes equipped with up to an 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processor and an optional NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 graphics card (available only on the 15-inch version). The 730 is available in a UHD IPS touchscreen version, which can be used in conjunction with Lenovo’s Active Pen 2 with 4,096 levels of sensitivity as well as Windows Ink support.

With its new far-field microphones, the 730 integrates both Cortana and Alexa on the laptop. It also comes with a built-in fingerprint reader which uses Windows Hello.

ZTE Blade V9 and V9 Vita Smartphones

ZTE is aiming to make a bigger dent in the budget phone market with its competitively priced MWC offerings, the Blade V9 and Blade V9 Vita. Both phones sport 18:9 aspect ratio displays and run on Android Oreo 8.1. The V9 has a 5.7-inch, 2160 x 1080 display and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 octa-core processor clocking in at 1.8 GHz. It has dual rear cameras, a combination of 16-megapixel and 5-megapixel sensors, while the front camera is an 8-megapixel shooter. It is available in two variants: one with 3 GB of RAM with 32 GB of ROM; and one with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of ROM. Both versions have expandable memory via microSD slots, fingerprint scanners, and 3100 mAh batteries. The V9 Vita on the other hand has a 5.45-inch 2160 x 1080 display and is mated to a Qualcomm Snapdragon 435 octa-core processor with a clock speed of 1.4 GHz. The rear camera set-up is a duo of 13-megapixel and 2-megapixel sensors while the front camera is rated at 5 megapixels.

The Vita is available in 2 GB and 3 GB RAM versions with on-board storage of 16 and 32 GB, respectively which can be expanded via microSD slots.

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LG V30s ThinQ Smartphone

The gorgeous V30 has just received an update, making it a powerful combination of beauty and brains. The LG V30s ThinQ integrates new AI technologies to commonly used smartphone features. AI CAM analyzes subjects in the frame and recommends the optimal shooting mode for your photo, and analyzes shooting conditions to come up with the best possible photo. QLens takes a snapshot of an item’s QR code, and get the best deals online, or use it to capture food, a landmark, or other item of interest, and get detailed info about the subject. Voice AI allows users to run apps and change settings through voice commands alone. Working alongside Google Assistant, and lets you skip the additional steps to perform particular functions. Upgraded features that would satisfy even the most demanding customer. With 6 GB of RAM, smooth multitasking and faster performance is virtually guaranteed and storage capacities of 128 GB in the LG V30S ThinQ and 256 GB in the LG V30S+ ThinQ means that customers will never run out of space. In the rare event that does happen, the microSD slot provides even more storage, up to 2 TB.

Xiaomi MiJia Roborock 2 Robot Vacuum

The opening of the first official Mi Store in the Philippines did not disappoint, bringing more of Xiaomi’s product lines to the Philippine white market. This includes the Roborock 2 from the company’s MiJia smart lifestyle sublabel. The smart vacuum sports an improved 5200 mAh battery capacity compared to its predecessor, and supports suction, sweep, and mop functions. A built-in water reservoir constantly moistens the rapidly revolving bristles allowing the Roborock 2 to function continuously for 40 to 50 minutes. But the funnest feature perhaps of the Roborock 2 is the gamified control via the mobile app which maps out your entire floor area and lets you tap on a specific location where the robot will start cleaning. It even shows you what percentage of the home is already clean.

PHP 15,490

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MARCH 2018

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Sony Xperia XZ2 Smartphone

After many years and iterations, Sony has changed the design of the venerable Xperia line. The result is the Xperia XZ2, and we’re loving it. Billed as their most immersive smartphone to date, it gives you an extended 5.7-inch HDR Full HD+ display, powerful stereo speakers, plus a brand new Dynamic Vibration System that brings your content to life.

Add 4K HDR recording and a dual-camera system to the mix, and you have a smartphone that is a worthy standard-bearer for Sony. Powering the phone is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 chipset designed to deliver superior experiences and performance with Gigabit LTE download speeds to satisfy the most demanding technology enthusiasts. It is available in liquid silver, liquid black, deep green, and ash pink. Certified IP65/IP68, XZ2 is designed to withstand splashes and spills so you don’t have to think twice about answering your phone in the rain, or the shower.

Sony HT-ST5000 Sound Bar

A cinematic home theater experience isn’t quite there without cinematic sound. Sony, a brand that takes home entertainment very seriously, won’t let you suffer through a movie with just your TV speakers taking care of audio. Their new HT-ST5000 is a 7.1.2-channel soundbar with Dolby Atmos, 3D Sound Experience, is Hi-Res Audio rated, and has all of 10 speakers to give you unmatched performance whatever is on the telly. Sleek and stylish, the system utilizes a full set of speakers to give you the full cinema experience.

With three HDMI inputs, one HDMI ARC output, a USB input, Bluetooth, NFC, as well as digital optical and analog connections, there’s a connection for all your equipment. The HT-ST5000 maintains quality from source to screen with support for 4K and High Dynamic Range (HDR) content from major studios via HDMI HDCP 2.2, and also supports multi-room capability.

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Dyson V8 Carbon Fibre

Cordless Vacuum Cleaner

Say adieu to your inefficient tools and bonjour to the Dyson V8 Carbon Fibre. The latest in Dyson’s line of V8 vacuum cleaners, this small, compact device packs a lot of suction. Built within its durable body is Dyson’s most advanced V8 digital motor. This provides it spinning power that increases airflow to efficiently capture fine dust and debris. The Dyson V8 Carbon Fibre has 30-percent more air watts than previous V8 vacuum models, giving it 155 air watts of suction coupled with advanced filtration for no lost power. It is built with a battery that can run up to 40 minutes and comes with the Fluffy soft cleaner head and Direct Drive cleaner head both with carbon fiber for a more efficient clean.

PHP 47,500

Audio-Technica ATH-WS990BT Bluetooth Headphones

From the makers of world-class audio devices comes their best wireless over-ear headphones yet. The ATH-WS990BT houses 53 mm Deep Motion Drivers that produce extremely rich sound audiophiles will truly love. Showcasing noisecancelling and hear-through features that provides greater control for its users, this Bluetooth-powered headset also gives high-resolution audio through aptX technology. It also maximizes its entertainment performance with up to 30 hours of continuous wireless usage when fully charged. Thanks to its built-in button controls located on its left earcup, music playback, and taking calls through its mic is just within your touch.

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MARCH 2018

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Nokia 1

Smartphone The Nokia 1 is an entry-level smartphone with specs that make it perfect for the daily grind. It is an Android Go-run handset that is powered by a combination of a MediaTek processor that clocks 1.1 GHz, 1 GB RAM, and 8 GB of internal storage. Its small frame houses a 4.5-inch display and a 5 MP rear camera. For its back cover, there are various color options to choose from, and each can be readily changed to suit your mood.

Nokia 7 Plus Smartphone

The phone you’ll want to have on you is here. The Nokia 7 Plus sports an 18:9 aspect ratio on its Full HD+ 6-inch IPS display, perfect for heavy multi-media consumers. This is surrounded by aluminum chassis packaging it to the brand’s standard of premium. Running this powerhouse is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 SoC along with 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB onboard storage, allowing seamless processes and support for its 3800 mAh battery. Images are captured by its dual 12 MP and 13 MP rear camera system boosted by Carl Zeiss optics, meanwhile selfies are taken care of its 16 MP front-facing camera. What more can you want?

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Nokia 8 Sirocco Smartphone

The Nokia 8 Sirocco might be the brand’s ticket to reclaiming its seat on the mobile phone throne. This premium slab of steel and advanced technologies represent a new generation for Nokia phones. A 3D curved Gorilla Glass display which extends to its sides headline the Nokia 8 along with its 2K pOLED panel. Powering the device is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 chipset running alongside a whopping 6 GB RAM. It is also IP67-rated waterproof, comes with a 128 GB storage, wireless charging capabilities, and an advanced dual rear camera system. Now that’s premium.

Nokia 8810 4G Feature Phone

HMD has brought back another well-loved Nokia classic, and this time, it’s loaded with features that launch it as a phone to have in these modern times.

The new Nokia 8810 still sports its signature sliding protective cover, but a different design altogether. It is now curved for better handling and made with polycarbonate shell available stunning yellow or black. Now better than ever, this handset carries a 2.4-inch curved screen, Snake pre-loaded, 4G capabilities, powerful battery thanks to its Qualcomm 205 dual-core processor, 2 MP camera with LED flash, and Smart Feature powered by KaiOS.

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MARCH 2018

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Oppo A83

Smartphone The selfie-expert brand has officially launched its most affordable full-screen phone yet. Popularly known as the Oppo A83, this mid-ranger is equipped with the same specs you could find in a flagship phone with a 5.7-inch HD+ display. Its 8 MP front and 13 MP primary cameras enable AI Beautification technology which produces natural-looking images. Packed into its sleek and lightweight body is the latest speedy facial unlock which provides further security. Carrying a 3180 mAh battery, this smartphone for the thrifty can last up to 13.5 hours based on benchmark tests. Parading a powerful 2.5 GHz octa-core processor paired with 3 GB RAM, the A83 gives seamless multi-tasking plus an immersive gaming and entertainment experience.

PHP 9,990

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Huawei Matebook X Pro Laptop

The famous Chinese smartphone brand broadens its horizons with the unveiling of its game-changing laptop. Flaunting an ultra-slim 13.9-inch body with a touch-enabled 3K FullView Display screen that has thinner bezels compared to competitors, the Matebook X Pro is a beast. Inside its shell is an 8th Generation Intel Core i7 processor matched with an NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics card. With 2 GB of memory, Huawei’s latest addition to its own line of laptops can transfer, store, and make important files on-the-go. Impossibly thin and beautiful, this is THE laptop of 2018.

Huawei Mediapad M5 Tablet

The most anticipated mid-range Android slate is back in town! As the newest addition to Huawei’s lineup of tablets, the Mediapad 5 is available in two variants: 10.8-inch and 8.4-inch. Designed with an aluminum chassis, the tablet has a 2.5D glass screen powered with a 25000 x 1600 ClariVu IPS display which is a big improvement compared to its predecessors. Sleek and lightweight, the Mediapad 5 gives superb audio quality, thanks to its Harman Kardon-tuned speakers topped with Huawei Histen technology that delivers hi-fi sounds right in your ears. Available in 32, 64, or 128 GB of storage, with 4GB of internal memory and running on EMUI 8.0, this latest addition to the brand’s tablet line is truly value for money.

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MARCH 2018

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GADGETS LAB

Specifications: LCD panel type: VA LCD Backlight type: W-LED system Panel size: 40-inch / 101.6 cm Effective viewing area: 884.74 (H) x 497.66 (V) - at a 3000R curvature Aspect ratio: 16:9 Optimum resolution: 3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz Response time (typical): 4 ms (Gray to Gray) Brightness: 300 cd/m² Contrast ratio (typical): 4,000:1 SmartContrast: 20,000,000:1 Pixel pitch: 0.230 x 0.230 mm Pixel density: 110 PPI Display colors: Color support 1.07 billion colors (Dithered 10 bits) What’s Hot: - Beautiful design - Great image - Plenty of ports What’s Not: - You’re going to have to spend a bit for this

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Specifications: Screen size: 15.6 in Full HD (1920 x 1080) Processor: Intel Core i7-7700HQ 2.80 GHz Turbo Boost Technology up to 3.80 GHz Memory: 8GB DDR4 Hard drive size:1TB SSHD (ASUS FireCuda) + 128GB SSD Operating system: Windows 10 Pro, 64-bit Video: NVIDIA :GeForce GTX 1050 Ports: 1 USB 3.1 Type-C • 3 USB 3.0 • 1 USB 2.0 • 1 HDMI • 1 Mini DisplayPort • Headphone output/Microphone input • RJ-45 LAN jack for LAN insert (10/100/1000) Battery: 64WHr 4-cell lithium-ion Camera: HD webcam Wireless: 802.11ac Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.1 Dimensions 15.10 x 10.30 x 0.90 in (383.54 x 261.62 x 22.86 mm) Weight: 5.10 lbs (2.31 kg) What’s Hot: - Actually not a burden to carry - Solid performance - Great battery life What’s Not: - Loud fans

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Specifications: Operating System: Runs on ColorOS 3.2, based on Android 7.1 GPU: ARM Mali G71 MP2 770MHz Processor: Octa-core MT6763T processor RAM: 4GB Internal Storage: 32GB (Expandable up to 256GB) Cameras: 16-megapixel rear f/1.8 and 20-megapixel f/2.0 front-facing cameras (with AI beautification technology) Battery: 3200mAh Misc: Speedy Facial Unlock Colors: gold and black What’s Hot: - Large screen display with FHD+ resolution - Awesome camera performance (both rear and front) - Above average battery life - Elegant and professional-looking design - Smooth multitasking What’s Not: - Does not come with USB Type-C - Smaller internal memory compared to its competitors

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Specifications: Frequency response: 6 – 51000 Hz (- 10 dB) THD, total harmonic distortion: 0.02 % (1 kHz 1 Vrms) Contact pressure: ~ 3,4 N (± 0,3 N) Jack plug Jack stereo ¼” (6,3 mm) Cable length: 3 m Weight without cable: 330 g Nominal Impedance: 300 Ω What’s Hot: - Clarity and soundstage is world-class - Comfortable to be worn hours on end - Enjoyable and yet analytical to listen to music to - Cheaper than many other high end headphones - Mods to tweak the headphone are relatively easily available (like the SuperDupont Resonator Mod) - Locally available and thus, has local warranty What’s Not: - Not portable - Needs an amplifier - Leaking sound due to open design - Not bassy enough for certain genres and listeners - Pricey for the casual headphone buyer

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What’s Hot: - Everything about it is really hot – you will love using it.

- Lightweight and well-balanced - Shorter body for easy handling - Dries hair faster while smoothing and adding shine - Heat control won’t damage hair - A lot less noisy than other dryers - Attachments magnetically stick to the dryer - Has an easy to clean filter Compact enough for travel What’s Not: - Expensive - Only 220V, Not Autovolt

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PHOTO FEATURE

ART DIRECTION BY Ronel Bautista PHOTOGRAPHY BY Carlo Dans Isidoro HAIR AND MAKE-UP BY Pat Aquino STYLING BY Paula Candoy Charceline Quintana ASSISTED BY Theresa Eloriaga Jael Mendoza Mia Carisse Barrientos MODEL Natella Kiseleva of Women’s Folio Management

YOUNG BLOOD Words by Robby Vaflor

Millennials. Never has a term for a generation been so polarizing that it divided the room between those who choose to own the term with pride and those who use it with harsh, eye-rolling condescension.

But speaking as a member of that rough age group—for better or for worse—I appreciate the sentiment of both uses, as we are indeed a generation of wonderful contradiction.

Connected technologies have raised us to expect instant gratification, but we are huge fans of the tediously artisanal. We have the cutting edge technologies in audio-visual fidelity, yet we listen to Lo-Fi and put vintage film filters on our photos. We look to the future and all things new, but we wear our parents’ wardrobes as street fashion. We thrive in chaos, but we constantly seek quiet spaces. We value effort and hard work, but gauge it in output rather than hours put in. Our society has become rapidly globalized, but we’ve grown to embrace individuality and diversity.

This March, we celebrate youth and all things that make this generation great: the Millennial spirit that strives for acceptance, equality, and worthwhile pursuits. Even in a world of speed we have learned to discern purpose from distraction. If only our finances matched our ambitions, then this would have been the greatest generation ever.

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Top & Trousers by Topshop

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Oppo A83 Brilliant photos, excellent performance and a stunning screen for a fraction of the price.

Canon PIXMA G3010 Ignite your creative side with this high-yield, low-cost printer.

Dress by Topshop

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PEAKING THE SALAD DAYS Words by Robby Vaflor

It is rare to find someone who encapsulates the essence of a magazine issue’s theme completely; and for this month’s Millennial Issue we were lucky to find our perfect match: Russian model Natella Kiseleva.

She hails from sunny Siberia—not a common phrase to hear, but the southern part of the region actually gets about 320 days of sunshine according to her. And not unlike her hometown, she is warm and sunny and chill at the same time: she finds joy both in relaxing in exotic places (most recently in El Nido) and sitting around the dinner table with family and friends.

Having modeled for more than six years,the 22-year-old Natella has honed her creative eye, working on her photography in between modelling gigs. She describes herself as “almost professional.”

She adds: “As a photographer, I really like a lot of gadgets so I’m really happy to be featured in the magazine.”

Whenever she travels, she makes sure she has her iPhone, her Sony a6300, and a pair of headphones. And for headphones she has found a secret trove of cheap yet decent pairs at the local Miniso. “I keep losing them so it’s better to buy a lot,” she says.

Cheerful, outgoing, and extremely relatable, Natella is quintessentially of this generation. www.natellakiseleva.com Instagram: @natellla

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MI

EN COVER STORY

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In this month’s CoverStory, we take a look at some interests inspired by our favorite young characters from works of fiction. There’s no fun in telling you who we took inspiration from, but we’ve got something for everyone in here, whether you’re a mean kind of little lady, in a world of shambling undead, an awkward firecracker, or a pilgrim of your own comic book story, we take a look at the kind of gear you might have.

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FEBRUARY MARCH 2018

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U R V I V OR What’s in your bag, Carl the survivor Words by Ren Alcantara Art by Theresa Eloriaga

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R

Life today is hard enough for a kid without having to deal with the collapse of human society and the zombie menace. Being a young survivor in a world overrun requires a particular set of skills, and rock-solid determination. Of course, some useful gear would help a lot as well. Here’s some gear you might find in the bag of someone like Carl of The Walking Dead.

The bag

You’re going to want to get a bag that’s tough, but not overtly “tactical,” in the conventional sense.

Something obviously military-issued or the like will attract unwanted attention to the level of preparedness of its bearer. You really don’t want to be a target of a mugging when there’s already so much to be worried about in the world outside.

A lot of travel bags have plenty of room, durable materials, and sturdy construction, while keeping weight down. There are a lot of options out there, but something with sturdy fabric, maybe 400 denier nylon, if you can find it, would be a good start. Lots of internal storage space, maybe 30 liters so you don’t go over the top with cargo, and a few internal and external pockets would be good.

Should you need additional storage, external loops and carabiners do wonders for short hauling. Keep the pack simple, make it look harmless, and you’re on your way.

A knife

You’re likely going to have a folding knife in your pocket for all the little tasks that need a pointy end or sharp edge, but for anything more heavy-duty, you’ll want a knife that can take a beating. A fixed blade is something that’s a necessary part of hard outdoor living, and for our fledgeling survivor, we want a durable working blade that could be used as a weapon whether against a four-legged, two-legged, or shambling predator comes to visit.

Something large, but not over-the-top, with maybe a five- to seven-inch blade, with a beefy thickness at about a quarter-inch, and full-tang construction for durability would serve well. A plain edge from tip to heel will also be both easier to maintain, and catch less while working.

A monocular

We would have suggested binoculars, but if you’ve only got one eye to spare, get a monocular instead.

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Ideal for gathering intel about an area, observing locations, and generally knowing what you’re about to get into long before you get there, this is a great tool to let yourself be ready. Choose a monocular that balances weight and size with the magnification and lens size. Monoculars will have a key pair of numbers associated with them. Usually a number X another number, so 16 x 40 for example. The first number tells you the magnification, while the second tells you lense size. Larger lenses mean clearer, wider fields of view, but also increased weight and price. Find the balance that works for you, and take it with you each time you venture out.

A light

We aren’t really equipped for the darkness. As such, we need to bring our own light sources with us. A little apocalypse isn’t going to change that. Our survivor is going to need a light with easily replaceable batteries, able to survive the rigors of everyday use in a harsh, new world. Our hero would likely have a light that accepts the most common battery types—ideally AA, which can be found in remote controls, wall clocks, toys, and drugstores all over the world. It might not have the same output as specialty cells, but good luck finding anything other than AA cells when the shelves run dry. A nice clicky switch with momentary on will be great for quickly lighting up a spot and changing locations, so foes won’t get a bead on you, and a lanyard loop makes sure you won’t lose your light unless you want to.

A small survival kit

Sometimes things happen. You might get lost, or you could get separated from the group. Rather than having to make do with what you find, you should have the skills and materials to make your way back. A small survival kit with some basic hardware can help with that. A way to make

clean water, like a filter or even some iodine, a signaling device such as a whistle, a way to easily start a fire, and some basic medicine to fight pain, infection, or a bad stomach, as well as materials to treat minor injuries might be all that keeps you going when the going gets difficult.

Our hero would also already have the knowledge necessary to use the items available.

Some quick energy

Chocolates, candies, nuts, some jerky. Supplies might be hard to come by, but it’s always a good idea to have some ready. Weather, injury, or some other unplanned occurrence might keep you in one place for longer than you originally anticipated, and there might not be anything to scavenge nearby. You might be on a long walk, and need an energy boost. It’s always better to keep your energy up than start to weaken and have to play a game of catch-up later. You might not always get the chance to do so.

Comms

Mobile phones are great, but they rely too much on a lot of complicated infrastructure to keep them going. Small CB radios are an excellent way to keep in touch with your group, even outside of sight lines. Information shared makes everyone better equipped to handle changing situations, and allows plans to be synchronized and executed effectively. Even today, inexpensive options that are enough to get the job done, exist at online retail shops.

Pick one that’s small, keep it charged, know your channels, and keep it handy.

There’s a lot to consider when you’re one of the few survivors of an apocalypse, and while knowledge and determination are the most important things to have, the right gear certainly makes the whole ordeal easier.

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E B E BUZZ PHRASE IS DRIPPIN’ IN FINESSE Words by Mia Carisse Barrientos Art by Theresa Eloriaga

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N She’s always fierce. She’s a star. She’s the queen bee. If you have yet to come across one, allow us to fill you in and put into words everything that is this supreme being. Rumor has it their hair’s insured for at least USD 10,000. If you have locks that can rival Rapunzel’s, then go do you. We heard through the grapevine that these queens also do car commercials, in Japan is what they say. No objections here. They also occasionally run into stars on a plane, John Stamos being one of them. And more often than not, their flawlessness gets acknowledged.

From gorgeous looks, admirable physique, to confidence, the queen has it tee all down to a t.

Though painted as the human form of evil in the cult classic Mean Girls, she’s actual more than the movie gives her credit for. Over the years she’s even become a villain we all can’t help but love. I might even like the idea of her knuckles landing on my face. Not that would happen.

So what makes a queen bee good? She’s a leader.

It’s not everyday girls would follow you around and take what you say as their truth. That’s pure power—not from being exposed to radioactive waste or growing up with Amazons. She is so confident that she’s able to draw attention and command it. She’s very frank, which is not always a good thing, but comes handy when an annoyance needs to be shut down. She’s a strict follower of rules that she set. Admittedly, their confidence tend to paint them as being standoffish, but they’re actually accommodating once you’re able to tickle their curiosity.

If you identify with this glamorous clique and desire to channel your inner queen bee in her glorious youth, here’s a list of what should be in your essentials.

iPhone X

No queen bee ever steps out of the house without her phone. With her polished and decked out nails, the iPhone X is a natural match with its streamlined, sophisticated design and all-screen OLED display. The phone’s dual 12 MP rear cameras perfectly captures her most iconic wears

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and moments. At home, she would play around with Animoji and without a doubt make it a thing among her group of friends. It is also expected for Siri to compliment her good looks, any time of the day.

iPad Pro 12.9 (2017)

You won’t see a queen bee lug around a laptop, she has minions for that. The productivity device she’ll have on her is an iPad Pro 12.9. Stylish and slim enough to be stacked with books, it’s a sure confident woman item. Paired with a sleek chiclet keyboard, you’ll see her typing away or watching her favorite movie Varsity Blues on its generous Retina display. With a bountiful 64 GB configuration and an Apple Pencil, she will be kissing her burn book goodbye and start scribbling colorful thoughts on a stunning slate instead.

luggage. Housing her pinks is The Aluminum Carry-On’s 38 L capacity with an anti-odor lining and TSA-approved locks. She stays connected without turning to unsightly power banks with the luggage’s built-in fast charger. It also has no finicky outer zippers and rolls with whisper quiet wheels befitting of a queen.

Uber

A convertible is not a great option when in a city that doesn’t have the nicest weather and is infamous for traffic. She ditches her silver Lexus for more comfortable travel care of Uber—Uber Black in particular. Booking a ride with just a tap on her phone, she arrives at parties still with her make up pristine and perfume still fragrant. With a driver taking her from point a to b, she just sits back and relaxes like the queen she is.

Michael Kors Sofie Smartwatch

Social Media Accounts

A worthy accessory to wrap around a queen bee’s wrist is the Michael Kors Sofie smartwatch. This timepiece powered by androidwear comes with sparkly embellishments that would make any girl ogle in envy. With customisable watch faces and interchangeable straps, it’s like she has a new watch every day. To lose the weight given by Kalteen bars, she makes progress on her fitness goals and tracks development via this modish tech on her wrist. She is also able to keep tabs on updates as she is notified as they come.

A queen bee is most likely a social media influencer with millions of followers in tow.

She’ll post her gorgeous selfies on Instagram and teeny glimpses of her lavish lifestyle through carefully curated photos. On Snapchat, she’ll update her followers on her whereabouts by posting her activities by the minute, of course making use of the dog filter profusely.

And on Twitter, she turns into a guru on friendship, beauty, and fashion, which she relays in 280 characters or less.

Arlo Skye The Aluminum Carry-On

Now that you’ve got the queen bee essentials, go and make the world your oyster.

A queen bee travels in style with this premium

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Y D SA L

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A Celebration of the Remarkably Unremarkable Words by Robby Vaflor Art by Theresa Eloriaga

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Your aesthetic is permanently in limbo--offbeat, eclectic--the embodiment of a society undergoing constant change. Your fashion can be described as slackercore, normcore, and comfycore (with a dash of slobcore). You listen to everything from New Order to James Blake, Bombay Bicycle Club to Frank Ocean.

You are a walking paradox, living in a world of powerful processors, high-speed internet and instant gratification, and yet you enjoy needless tedium. Six-hour crock pot carnitas, 10-hour smoked brisket, 12-hour cold brew.

Your ideals and creative sensibilities are very much forward, but you absolutely love appropriated nostalgia. Your aesthetic is conspicuously generic: a mixture of the extremes of fashion, between brand-name and basic. But your appearance is so understated, it just begs to be pointed out.

Your Kit:

A rad backpack

Okay, maybe saying “rad” isn’t as rad as it was three years go. But who cares? If you think “rad” is rad, then it is. Just like the Fjållråven Re-Kånken made from 100 percent polyester recycled from plastic bottles. You’re literally carrying your ecofriendliness on your shoulders. Just don’t get too carried away with telling everyone about it. It’s available in 13 colors, but this one in emerald just looks amazeballs. Is “amazeballs” rad? I digress.

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An iPhone

A stylish laptop

A separate audio player

Analog and digital cameras

It doesn’t matter if you have a 4S wheezing through its last charge cycles or you have the newest, most expensive brick in Apple’s arsenal. You’re used to iOS and any argument of affordability or better performance will do nothing to sway you into using Android. End of discussion.

Audio quality aside, plugging into your blank, bezel-less slate to listen to music doesn’t quite do it for you. You need to feel something, if only for the short moments you pull out your audio player to skip a track. Luckily you’ve found an iPod Classic for sale on OLX and it’s a steal. Or, if you want something more obscure, you opt for a brand new Fiio M3. Here’s to hundreds of songs you will never get to on shuffle.

Retro headphones

You like high-fidelity audio and great isolation, and if it’s in a nice vintage shell, you are over the moon. Luckily a lot of brands are capitalizing on our fixation on old-looking things like this PRO4AA from Koss.

Your loyalty with Apple is more fluid when it comes to personal computers. Everyone is out to steal the crown and the veritable Game of Thrones has given birth to a bevy of good-looking and souped-up laptops. Take the Microsoft Surface Book for example.

Most days you just want a camera that you could use without having to make a second thought.

Something that could take excellent photos with barely any decisional input from the user. Just like this mirrorless Canon EOS M6 which gives you excellent quality photos for both manual and automatic modes. And when you can be bothered to be more hands on (and more rebloggable), you have a film camera at the ready: a Nikon FE2 if you’re practical; an M-series Leica if you’re rich; or if you want something really special, a Soviet-era Zorki compatible with Leica’s thread mount.

Have these in your inventory and you’re golden.

But of course, this checklist is merely suggestive.

You do you, snowflake; you do you.

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RH OYAL I H E S G N S Her Royal Highness’ Daily Arsenal Words by Jewel Sta. Ana Art by Theresa Eloriaga

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Every girl dreams of becoming a princess, and I freely admit to once being one of them. There are plenty of teen movies, which tackle the royal life of a monarch—some of these I’ve personally watched, but nothing appealed to me except one that featured a geeky girl who happened to be of royal blood.

Now imagine someone like her who’s born with a silver spoon in her mouth, living in the present, and breathing the same air that we breathe. In real life, there are a lot of beautiful and elegant damsels that live in a castle. It may not be literally but we all know that these young socialites are idolized by the youth in terms of fashion and technology which includes their day-to-day essentials. Here, I’ll run them down for you.

A flexible beast of a machine

European royal blood’s life became very relatable to tweens most especially from their struggles in school. Just like any commoner, these rich girls need a laptop that performs remarkably. The Dell XPS 2-in-1 laptop does just that. Boasting Intel’s newest hybrid chip partnered with an AMD Radeon M Vega video card, the 15-inch convertible machine has an edge-to-edge Infinity Display which supports 4K resolutions. Indeed, our royal highnesses can do their homeworks, stream Netflix, and play PC games seamlessly on this sleek device if they wish to.

Powerful flagship phone

Communication is a must for high-profile

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individuals. Millennials like you, as far as we know, are usually dependent on various gadgets, one of which is a smartphone. The best option for them is the majestic Oppo F5 6 GB Red. Packed with Artificial Beautification technology, capturing reallife selfies are now accurate and natural-looking.

Its speedy facial unlock and a roomy 6 GB RAM not to mention its 64 GB of internal storage makes this as the selfie-expert’s critically acclaimed flagship phone in the market. Its rear case has an elegant matte red finish that truly fits a queen’s style and confidence.

Stylish yet functional bag

Since they juggle their roles as an heir to a business empire or a kingdom, it’s necessary for them to own a basic bag that they can use casually for everyday use. Sporting a neutral shade of pale pink, the Nine West Tipping Point Satchel brings out the inner classy chic in you.

This man-made two-way leather bag has a roomy main compartment, detachable sling straps, as well as large internal and front pockets where you can store and secure all your important belongings like car keys, cell phone, and wallet without sacrificing style.

Useful hair styling tool

As icons who are always the subject of the public eye, their fashion sense is always in the radar of everyone. As someone like them who’s always exposed to the media, their facial appearance and hair is also not an exception from our naked eyes. Fictional or not, these gorgeous monarchs probably smooth their hair frizzes with the Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer. Helping protect the natural shine of their crowning glory, this mighty tool also styles and gives volume to their hair, making it softer and healthier. It also features fast-drying technology that provides control and high velocity airflow to its users. Crafted as a multipurpose hair tool, the Dyson Supersonic comes with three styling nozzles which gives them the freedom to experiment and try different hairstyles a la Disney princess.

There you have it, ladies! Honestly, it’s been a tough choice for me. But with the grace, glamour, and finesse that the sovereigns have, both as an ordinary citizen and as a princess of their country in the other side of the world, there’s nothing that these ladies can’t accomplish.

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H OW TO RO C K Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: A guide on how to rock Words by Gerry Gaviola Art by Theresa Eloriaga

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As one of my favorite movies puts it, it’s either you rock, or you suck. Don’t be the sucker that gets left out, strive to be the former!

If you’re anything like our here, then you’re pretty much set for life. You ooze with confidence and pretty much know your talent and place in a world that craves for uniqueness and value. You’re fine, that is until you find out that you have to battle the exes of the girl of your dreams. Don’t fret. Here’s a guide on how Scott pulled it off, and how you could too.

Invest in your musical skill

Purchase your own instrument In a world full or routine and repetition, it pays to be unique and valuable. Music is a way to pump up your personality, and is definite way to help you escape the dullness of school, or that 9 to 5 desk job that sucks the life out of you. If you’re serious about investing in talent, you should definitely consider investing in an instrument of your own. Find one, buy one, own it, name it, and be one with it! Trust me when I say that you’ll be doing yourself a favor.

Edit your material in post Once you’ve found your own tune, the next step is to make yourself heard. Record your solo tracks (or your band’s), edit, enhance, and distribute!

One of the best digital audio workstations and MIDI sequencer softwares out in the market is Logic Pro, so if you haven’t explored the program, do so at the soonest. And if you’re going solo, you could try Apple’s GarageBand and enjoy making a hell of a tune. GarageBand allows you to sync instruments, combine tunes, and make your own song. Experimentation is key, but if you find yourself lost with all the music softwares, remember that YouTube is your friend. Watching a few videos here and there will get you started.

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Look for inspiration There are plenty of “Greats” out there—some new, and some old. It never hurts to be inspired by the work of others. If you’re old school and enjoy music in its raw form, you can always go and buy Vinyls and CDs. If you’re the type that enjoys the convenience of music access, there’s Spotify and Apple Music.

Work hard, play hard, and do so with your friends.

Dance Dance Revolution Bonding is key. In the film, Ninja Ninja Revolution, a spin-off of Dance Dance Revolution, was a huge hit. There’s no reason why it wouldn’t be. If you haven’t set your foot on those arrow pads yet, then you’re missing out! Bonding is key, and trying out Dance Dance Revolution can be a fun and light way to bond and enjoy with your friends and, at the same time, burn calories along the way. Dance Dance Revolution can be played in your nearest arcade, as well as at home with the Wii, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. Rock Band It’s free to dream. If you’ve got some second

thoughts on purchasing an instrument and investing time to learn and master it, then you can always try out Rock Band and feel how it feels to rock. There’s drums, vocals, and guitar playing on this one, which should be perfect when played with friends.

Mortal Kombat Okay, okay. You might not need to literally battle your dream girl’s exes, Mortal Kombat style, but you could always find pleasure in playing one of the best fighting video game franchises out there, Mortal Kombat. Keep your game face on, and be prepared to bring out your competitive side.

A sound mind, in a sound body

Don’t be wimp and fall unprepared. In fulfilling the goal of defeating exes, Scott had to battle out ninjas, sucker punch exes, and go Mortal Kombat on them. You probably wouldn’t have to do the same, but it pays to be prepared.

Invest in parkour classes, mix martial art classes, and what not. And though you may never have to actually physically fight another to win someone’s heart, staying fit and healthy is a definite plus in becoming a better version of yourself for that special someone.

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MOBILITY

DESIGN The Click has always been an edgier little scoot: sharp lines across the front, pointed accents here and there, and a black paint job with neon green accents make for a bike that, while small, has its share of attitude. The Click has a wonderfully soft, pleasantly wide seat, that has plenty of room for a passenger, and massive under-seat storage that will easily hold a whole full-face lid with no problem. Overall, a little more exciting than your average scooter, and something I appreciate.

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V8

Carbon Fibre: A Design and Engineering Marvel Words by Mia Carisse Barrientos

Dyson is a brand synonymous with cutting-edge engineering technology. In the last 20 years, the company has been in the business of developing innovative products with each material integrated utilized to provide service beyond its value.

Dyson V8 Carbon Fibre Specifications: Bin Volume: 0.54L Weight: 2.55 kg Suction power: 155 AW (normal mode) Run time: 40 mins (low mode), 5 mins (high mode) Hygienic dirt ejector Post-motor filter Soft trigger Comes with a wall-mounted docking station Comes with Dyson-engineered tools

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At the helm of it all is James Dyson, propeller of cyclonic vacuum cleaners. Now a decade into their cord-free technology development and twenty years of its motor platform, the brand is more than ever committed to create products that solve problems and make life a lot easier. And a ÂŁ 2.5 billion investment into future technologies is just tip of the iceberg. While we await a new generation of pure ingenuity, Dyson has given us the V8 Carbon Fibre.

The Carbon Fibre sits within the V8 series of vacuum cleaners and has been improved to better the cleaning experience. We were in Bangkok, Thailand for the Southeast Asian launch of the Dyson V8 Carbon Fibre which we can say is an engineering marvel way ahead of its time, here are reasons why:

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Dyson V8 Digital Motor

At the core of the V8 Carbon Fibre is the company’s compact yet advanced V8 digital motor. It sits right in the handle, allowing the device’s modest-sized and balanced body perfect for one-hand use. The V8 digital motor lends to the V8 Carbon Fibre 425 watts of power and spinning capacity of up to 110,000 rpm, enabling the device’s 15 built-in cyclones that work in parallel across two tiers. These cyclones spin very fast to increase airflow and generate centrifugal forces to push air down to its bin. All of it attests to the V8 Carbon Fibre’s efficient capturing of dust particles and debris in a matter of seconds.

powerful suction no matter the battery level, even when the dust bin is full, regardless of the cleaning position, or even several years after the purchase.

Effortless Capturing of Fine Dust and Debris

Improved Suction Power

The V8 Carbon Fibre can remove up to 99.9 percent of dust down to those 0.3 microns in diameter—ultra-fine dust particles no longer visible to the human eye. While cleaning, its design and features allow it to lock and keep debris within the machine. This means no spec of dust escapes back into the air. And thanks to its post motor filter, the V8 Carbon Fibre’s exhaust surprisingly expels cleaner air than we breathe.

We can even go as far suggesting the idea that it might be an air purifier disguised as a vacuum cleaner (take this with a grain of salt).

This product now has 155 air watts of suction coupled with advanced filtration and no loss of suction. In use, this translates to maintained

This versatile machine pairs with either the soft cleaner head Fluffy, its Direct Drive cleaner head integrated, or its other bundled tools for cleaning every nook and cranny. The Fluffy has its signature nylon bristles for grabbing large debris such as chip crumbs while the Direct Drive has its own motor integrated for added suction power.

Enclosing the product are a mix polycarbonate, rubber, and foam excellently sealing in the system.

This, along with its motor, cyclone pack, and remapped motor control electronics, has given the Dyson V8 Carbon Fibre 30 percent more air watts compared to other V8 vacuum iterations while still significantly being quieter.

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What makes these cleaner heads unique to other V8 vacuum-bundled tools is carbon fibre.

The Fluffy comes with four strips and a strip for the Direct Drive. The integration of carbon fibre in the cleaner heads prevent static electricity build up on surfaces, which is like a magnet to dust particles. With the V8 Carbon Fibre, nothing gets left on surfaces you clean.

Fade-Free Cleaning Up to 40 Minutes

A nickel-cobalt-aluminium battery built in the V8 Carbon Fibre grants users up to 40 minutes of fade-free run time. The batteries are guaranteed to last the lifetime of the machine and permits users to easily and freely move around while cleaning without wires getting in the way.

The Dyson V8 Carbon Fibre is a true celebration of cordless and bagless vacuum engineering. It is available in Dyson stores in SM Aura Premier, Greenbelt 5, Century City Mall, and Greenhills Promenade. You can also find this cleaning solution at select branches of Rustan’s, True Value, Ansons, and Abenson for PHP 47,500.

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FEATURE

Interviewed by Mia Carisse Barrientos

At the Dyson HQ, advanced design engineer Sam Twist conceptualizes and turns all sorts of materials into devices that make easy work of chores.

Sam describes himself as an inquisitive kid.

He would enjoy taking things apart and going through each parts to understand how they work.

Growing up, he developed interest in architecture, having been gifted with drawing capabilities.

Meeting with architects in a firm, he shares being told not to pursue a career in this field. Coming out of this confused, Sam retraced things he’s good at which include math and physics. And so, entering design and engineering was the next most natural path to take.

As if plotted by the universe, the thrill of creating things—and sometimes setting them on fire— earned Sam a degree and soon a job at Dyson fresh out of uni in 2014.

Working at Dyson was a dream come true for this young engineer. Apart from face time with James Dyson and his son Jake, getting to discuss and share interesting ideas with these trailblazers, Sam felt at home in the tech-filled Dyson HQ. An incredible place to work at, Sam enthused over the high-tech facilities at Dyson available anytime at their disposal. These allow them to do everything to the Dyson standard. He also mentioned built-in identity confirming devices including one with finger vein technology made him feel like a super agent.

In his years at Dyson, he was able to work on various engineering projects including tackling challenges across the Floorcare category and eventually helping refine the V8 Carbon Fibre Fluffy cleaner head. Having explored various branches in different countries, he is now stationed in Japan, ensuring that Asian markets are well catered and suited for their future products.

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way to address them. With their vacuums, even cleaning position, angle, altitude, and air pressure where users may be are taken into consideration.

Dusts samples from Asia all the way to the UK are also observed. They’re in the business of clean, but they don’t mind getting dirty just to bring the best service to its market.

Dyson’s design process begins with identifying a problem and using technology solve it, Sam shares. They build their products around this notion, and coincidentally end up with really good-looking machines. They also pride themselves in products where no space is left unused, every single part contributes to further functionality. Though some of the products take a decade to develop, they take customer concerns into consideration and pioneer through and through allow them to create near-perfect products. What other companies shy away from, Dyson takes head on, particularly costs. When the benefit is significant, Sam says Dyson won’t second-doubt adding it to the product (e.g. carbon fiber). At Dyson, they don’t cut corners

and confidently add real consumer value to their offerings. They let their technology do the talking.

The Dyson Future

Sam emphasizes that the company has currently around 200 live projects. That’s 200 products being worked on across various areas. He further shared that though they seldom discuss the future, Dyson has a lot of exciting things for consumers. One is an electric vehicle set to launch in 2020. In this project, all technologies Dyson has been working on for years—airflow, battery chemistry, environmental control, and motors— come together to make for a vehicle that would truly represent its time.

Meanwhile, personally, Sam desires to work on prosthetics for people with disabilities and dispel people’s doubts on engineering. He hopes to continue what he has started in uni, and which the James Dyson foundation has helped him with. Together with Dyson, Sam is able to solve problems that truly matter. The future is looking up with these two in a team. www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

Nokia 2 Boasts 2-Day Battery Life Words by Mia Carisse Barrientos

Before the pleasure brought by apps on our smartphones, we enjoyed the convenience of longbattery life care of our feature phones. While most smartphones of today are virtually faultless, consumers still rally for better battery life—at least one that won’t run out amid a busy day. Nokia phones of old have long been associated with sturdy build and significantly long battery life. In keeping with this heritage, the brand has put out the Nokia 2.

The Nokia 2 makes the revered feature phones of yesterday proud with its two-day battery life.

With a 4100 mAh battery built-in, you won’t have to scramble to the nearest wall socket or fumble through your bag for your power pack, even at the tail end of the day, as the handset will keep going.

You might say its battery capacity is pretty normal for today’s smartphones, but it actually lasts longer thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon processor with four cores. While it is responsible for boosting the device’s performance, the cores also are hard at work keeping energy consumption on the low.

Its generous battery allows users to enjoy watching movies and TV shows, as well as browse social media accounts on its 5-inch HD display without a care. Users can also be sure that they have a reliable phone on hand with Android Nougat—upgradable to Oreo—running the lot.

Durability is another characteristic the Nokia 2 has. It flaunts a sleek frame precision-machined from aluminum with Corning Gorilla Glass wrapped over its display panel and a smooth polycarbonate back. It sits comfortably in the hand with its modest size, yet feels sturdy by its ergonomic build.

It offers a vanilla Android experience with no pre-installed applications or skins, giving way for storage of more content. Security is also a non-issue with updates coming in regularly. As for shutterbugs, the Nokia 2 makes use of an 8 www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph

MP rear camera with automatic scene detection and auto focus.

This grants users the ability to achieve fantastic shots without the need to post-process. It also has a 5 MP frontfacing camera for selfies that draw likes. These moments can be stored in the phone’s onboard 8 GB storage expandable through its memory card slot, ridding you of the struggles of having to scroll through the gallery for dispensable content.

Nokia is proud of their newest bet in the market with Juho Sarvikas, chief product officer of HMD Global sharing: “We created a smartphone that can power through when other devices need a pit stop. With the Nokia 2, we wanted to replicate the unique Android experience we’ve delivered so far that lives up to the long-lasting battery life so many users expect with Nokia phones. To make this a reality, every component of the Nokia 2—from the display to battery, chipset to system design—has been engineered to draw as little power as possible from the huge battery to give users a long-lasting phone they can rely on.”

Nokia 2 Specifications: • Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon, quad-core with VoLTE and VoWiFi support • Operating System: Android 7.1.1 Nougat • RAM: 1 GB LPPDDR 3 • Storage: 8 GB internal user memory with microSD card slot (up to 128 GB) • Display: 5-inch HD 1280 x 720 LTPS LCD, In-Cell Touch, Corning GorillaGlass 3 • Camera: 8 MP auto-focus rear with LED flash and 5 MP fixed focus front • Connectivity: 802.11b/g/n, BT 4.1, GPS/ AGPS/GLONASS/Beidou, FM/(RDS)/LTE • Sensors: Ambient light sensor, proximity sensor, accelerometer (G-sensor), e-compass • Battery: 4100 mAh • SIM slot: dual nano-SIM • Input/output: micro USB (USB 2.0), 3.5mm audio jack

On top of all these features, the Nokia 2 has a sticker price of only PHP 5,290 and is available in eye-catching pewter black and pewter white variants. You can get this value-for-money device at MemoXpress stores nationwide, online at argomall.com, and in Nokia stores, kiosks and exhibits nationwide.

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VISUAL SPACE

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GAMING

Words by Jose Alvarez Developer: Capcom Publisher: Capcom Platform(s): PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC

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The Monster Hunter franchise had a modest success on the PlayStation 2 when it came out in 2004, and found its way onto the PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo 3DS. You take on the role of a Hunter that protects a village and studies the monsters that roam near it. As in many action role-playing games, you equip weapons, armor and skills that enhance your character’s abilities.

The amount of customization is up to the player, and they can mix and match to beat specific monsters.

Players can also grind monsters for rare parts so that players can create the best items in the game.

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Monster Hunter: World sought to bring the franchise back to Western audiences, who complained about previous titles’ high learning curves. In Monster Hunter: World, humans and other races are drawn to the New World, a wilderness populated by powerful monsters that researchers seek to study. The player starts in the central command base of Astera, and quests to either kill or capture monsters for further study.

The character’s attributes are defined by the weapons, armor, charms and mantles that they equip. For weapons, you can choose between ordinary, long or dual blade swords, a shield, a hammer, a hunting horn, a lance, a gun lance, a switch axe, a charge blade, an insect glaive, a bow, a light or heavy bowgun, depending on whether you want to get up close and personal with the monsters you hunt or kill them from a distance.

You can also cause elemental damage and status effects with these weapons.

Armor enhances the attributes of the player character as well. By equipping up to four pieces of a particular set of armor, you can gain certain advantages as you hunt monsters. You can further mix and match with other basic skills. There are several types of armor: helms, chests, arms, waist, legs. In addition, there are unique armor sets, charms and decorations, which further boost your stats or skills. These can all be created by hunting down and killing monsters for parts. Mantles allow you to access special abilities such as concealing yourself from the enemy, increasing jump time, active time, and cooldown. You can even have a cat-like creature called a felyne, which is also known as a palico when in the employ of hunters, that can assist you in combat, providing either offensive, defensive, or restorative support. These palicoes can be outfitted with weapons, armor, and accessories themselves, and can even find items in the wild. A fun thing that palicoes can do in the game is gaining the assistance of other wild cats in bringing down monsters.

While completely optional, you can hunt monsters with friends in Multiplayer Mode. This helps you and your friends in forming strategies to take down monsters that may be difficult to beat by yourself. For those who like to collect DLC, there are Street Fighter and Horizon: Zero Dawn sets that you can acquire by completing missions of increasing difficulty or via purchase.

Monster Hunter: World is already shaping out to be one of the best games of 2018 and there is a lot of potential for the franchise. While the game is out right now for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the PC version of the game plans to ship later in 2018. Veterans and newcomers alike will enjoy its gameplay, with some veteran players establishing an “Adopt-A-Hunter” program to help newbies to the Monster Hunter series.

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BULLET POINTS

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TRAVEL

D E S T I N A T I O N :

Words and Photos by Presy Alba

Swimming with the whale sharks in Oslob, Cebu is not a new thing. People from all over the Philippines and abroad flock to this small town to see the whales. In past years, it has become so crowded that tourists literally bump heads underwater as they watch these bus-sized water creatures go by.

With the local government of Oslob controlling access, cooperation of local communities, and the almost guaranteed appearance of the whales each morning, it has become less hectic these days.

It might no longer be a novelty, and by feeding the whales, the locals have “tamed” them. It is still fascinating to see these giants up close and personal. The whale sharks come of their own free will because they know they will be fed, but they swim away after and explore the deep seas.

The whale sharks seem to magically appear early in the morning, starting at around dawn with more coming over as the sun rises. They seem to be familiar with the local boatmen who are the official “feeders” and tend to follow their favorites. They swim around the area not minding visitors, and mysteriously disappear around noon, reverting the coastline to being an ordinary place once more.

For first-time visitors, it is always a surprise when whale sharks come very near the shoreline. Their shadowy outlines are visible from the beach, and is just a short paddle boat ride to where they are.

The whales have certainly put the once sleepy town of Oslob on the tourist map, and tourism has improved the lives of the local communities.

It has also to be said that the local government and the surrounding communities have been very careful on how they engage with the whales–no motorized boats are allowed inside the area.

They have made sure that no harm is done to the whales and that they are allowed to swim freely.

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Each boat is allowed to stay up to 30 minutes including the time to swim near the whales, and take photographs with them. The local government control access by limiting the number of people who are allowed to go to the whales’ swim area. Visitors must also listen to a short introduction where the locals explain the house rules which includes the prohibition of touching the whales, and to move out of their way when they pass by to avoid getting hurt. They also give instructions that visitors who are wearing any kind of fragrance, lotion, or sunscreen must shower before getting into the water with the whales.

How to get there

For people going to Oslob from Manila, the usual route requires you to fly in Cebu, then rent a private van or take the four to five-hour bus ride to Oslob. This means a very early morning departure from Cebu or spend the night in Oslob.

But if you don’t want to spend long and tiring hours on the road, fly to Dumaguete, the capital of Negros Oriental. Small groups can rent a van in Dumaguete then take the barge to crossover in Santander, Cebu which is about 30 minutes, and then travel another 30 minutes going to Oslob where the whales are.

After swimming with the whales, you can even have enough time to explore the surrounds of Oslob before you have to take the barge back to Dumaguete, where you can sleep in comfortable yet reasonably priced accommodations.

If you’re still up for another adventure, the dolphin watching from Manjuyod or diving at Apo Island is just an hour’s drive away.

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FOOD

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ACTIVE

LIFESTLYE

Words by Jewel Sta. Ana Photos by Theresa Eloriaga

The weather is slowly getting hotter and this only marks one thing: summer is about to arrive in our tropical country. It’s that time of the year where numerous family outings and company excursions are being planned. Some of them go out of the country while those who are on a tight budget prefers DIY domestic trips. But for the Gadgets team, it seems like summer came early as we joined a one-of-a-kind activity: sailboat building.

Organized by Philippine Home Boatbuilders Yacht Club (PHBYC) in the country, the Family Boat Building Weekends (FBBW) happened last February 15 to 18, 2017 at Taal Lake Yacht Club.

Aiming to expose Filipino families in boat building

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while fostering camaraderie and creativity in a worthwhile and rewarding project, the program enables people to have a firsthand experience of assembling their own sailboat. The program originated in America which was pioneered by WoodenBoat Magazine.

groups were assigned with brilliant and skilled instructors who will guide them along their boatmaking journey. All of the tools were provided by the event sponsors such as Pioneer Epoxy, Polymer Products Philippines Inc., Hyde Sails, and Santa Rosa Marine Plywood.

10 groups from different families, organizations, and schools toiled and jammed on the tents as they participated in the three-day event.

Spearheaded by Mr. Roy Espiritu, one of the PHBYC’s member and the father of FBBW in the Philippines, the program started with a short yet concise discussion of assembling a sailboat. Mike O’Brien, the designer of the flat-bottom Cajunstyle pirogue, explained further the purpose of each parts of the boat.

If you’re thinking to join this unique outdoor activity, then I have to warn you about getting dirty and gritty. Pieces of wood were literally cut in pieces wherein members of our group should assemble it like a giant puzzle. It really tested everyone’s patience, hard work, attention, and teamwork as each and one of us should put and screw the wood pieces together, seal it perfectly with the epoxy, shred the excess wood,

Upon registration, each team was given some instruction booklets on how to build their own boat. Since this is purely a DIY project, different

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sand the plywood, glue the fiberglass, make some knots, and tie tightly the sail. But despite of these challenges, it’s fulfilling to see the result of our collective efforts.

Tough and rough, depending on how fast your team is, the labor to build a boat may take up to three days. Thinking that our group consists mostly of girls, our phasing was quite fast because it only took us two and a half days to complete everything. Thanks to our beloved instructors, we were able to finish just in time. On the otherhand, other troops unleashed their creative talents through designing their sailboat with enamel paint.

Since we’re too excited to sail, we decided to test our finished product in the blue, calm, and peaceful waters of Taal Lake. It did not disappoint us. With our sophisticated craftsmanship, our first and very own boat successfully sailed with might and glory. Maneuvering the sail and going against the wind was a thrilling experience. You can really feel the adrenaline rush as your boat go with the waves, shaking and tilting the whole small water vessel. The hardest part that we encountered was making a U-turn and getting back to the shore since it takes a strong man to pull the whole sail in the opposite direction of the wind while keeping it balanced. Falling down is inevitable and normal as professional sailors told us.

Nevertheless, everyone had a good time and we would surely forever cherish this memory in our hearts and minds. We hope that you can conquer your fears in water and try it too this summer!

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ENTERPRISE

Digital Transformation to Contribute US$8 Billion to The Philippines GDP by 2021 enable UnionBank to offer a more open and transparent system, which will help promote greater financial inclusion in the Philippines.

Organizations in Asia Pacific need to accelerate their digital transformation journey to reap the full benefits of their initiatives, and to address the invisible revolution brought about the mass adoption of AI. More importantly, companies need to focus on capitalizing their own data in order to gain new market insights, create new digital products and services, and monetize data through data sharing securely, and in collaboration with its ecosystem.

Microsoft recommends organizations to adopt the following strategies to become a digital transformation leader.

Symantec CTO for APAC Matthias Yeo presented the review in Manila last July

By 2021, digital transformation will add an estimated US$8 billion to the Philippines’ GDP, and increase the growth rate by 0.4 percent annually, according to a new business study released in February entitled, “Unlocking the Economic Impact of Digital Transformation in Asia Pacific,” was produced by Microsoft in partnership with IDC Asia/Pacific.

The study predicts a dramatic acceleration in the pace of digital transformation across Asia Pacific economies. In 2017, about 3 percent of the Philippines’ GDP was derived from digital products and services created directly through the use of digital technologies, such as mobility, cloud, Internet of Things (IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI).

“The Philippines is clearly on the digital transformation fast track. Within the next four years, we expect to see approximately 40 percent of the Philippines’ GDP to be derived from digital products and services,” said Hans Bayaborda, managing director of Microsoft Philippines. “At the same time, organizations in Asia Pacific are increasingly deploying emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence as part of their digital transformation initiatives, and that will accelerate growth even further.”

The survey conducted with 1,560 business decision makers in mid and large-sized organizations across 15 economies in the region highlights the rapid impact and widespread disruption that digital transformation is having on traditional business models.

The study, which included 100 respondents from the Philippines, identified five key benefits to their bottom line from digital transformation: higher

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profit margins, greater productivity, increased revenue from new products and services, improved customer advocacy, and increased cost reductions.

According to the research findings, organizations are seeing significant and tangible improvements from their digital transformation efforts across these benefits in the range of 6 percent to 12 percent today. Business leaders expect to see more than 50 percent improvements in those key areas by 2020, with the biggest jump expected in profit margin and productivity.

Ultimately, digital transformation will benefit consumers, and society as a whole. Respondents in the Philippines felt that 92 percent of jobs will be transformed in the next three years due to digital transformation, and 65 percent of the jobs in the market today will be redeployed to higher value roles, or reskilled to meet the needs of the digital age.

“The rise of digital transformation in Asia Pacific economies will affect the labour market where many types of jobs will evolve and change. What is encouraging is that 84 percent of respondents are confident that their employees already have future ready skills that will help them to transition to new roles,” said Bayaborda.

In the Philippines, Microsoft recently partnered with UnionBank to support its digital journey with blockchain technology on Azure, one of the first Southeast Asian banks to conduct such trials. Microsoft’s technology allows the bank to have wider coverage at a lower cost, lower risk, and greater efficiency. This will allow the bank to reach a big under-served market in rural areas of the Philippines. This blockchain technology will

Create a digital culture: An organization need to build a culture of collaboration where it is connected across business functions, and has a vibrant and mature ecosystem of customers and partners. Data can then be embraced across organization and functions, where better decisions can be made and ultimately serving the needs of customers and partners better.

Build an information ecosystem: In a digital world, organizations capture more volumes of data internally and externally. The key to becoming a leader is for organizations to be able to convert data into capital assets, and enable data sharing and collaboration internally and externally in an open yet trusted manner.

In addition, a proper data strategy will allow businesses to start their AI initiatives to identify connections, insights and trends.

Embrace micro-revolutions: In most cases, digital transformation efforts do not start with widespread change, but a series of microrevolutions. These are small, quick projects that deliver positive business outcomes and accrue to a bigger and bolder digital transformation initiatives.

Develop future ready skills for individuals and organizations: Organizations today must relook at training and reskilling its workforce so that workers are equipped with future ready skill sets such as complex problem solving, critical thinking and creativity for the digital economy.

More importantly, they need to rebalance the workforce to attain and attract key digital talents, as well as be open in creating a flexible work source model where they tap into skills-based marketplace. From a digital skills perspective, LinkedIn’s latest study outlines the ABCs of digital talents required for future economies in the region—artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing.

In the Philippines, the top in-demand skills are big data, cloud computing, and mobile development.

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Accenture Technology Vision 2018 Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies are accelerating the creation of intelligent enterprises and enabling companies to integrate themselves into people’s lives, according to Accenture Technology Vision 2018, the annual technology report from Accenture that predicts key technology trends. However, capitalizing on growth opportunities while also having a positive impact on society requires a new era of leadership that prioritizes trust and greater responsibility.

This year’s report, “Intelligent Enterprise Unleashed: Redefine Your Company Based on the Company You Keep,” highlights how rapid advancements in technologies—including artificial intelligence (AI), advanced analytics and the cloud—are enabling companies to not just create innovative products and services, but change the way people work and live. This, in turn, is changing companies’ relationships with their customers and business partners.

As part of the Technology Vision, Accenture surveyed more than 6,300 business and IT executives worldwide. 84 percent of the respondents agree that through technology, companies are weaving themselves seamlessly into the fabric of how people live today.

For example, Amazon—through not only its tremendous online presence but also its Echo device and AI assistant Alexa—has integrated itself into people’s everyday lives to such an extent that developers are building dedicated Amazon lockers into new apartment complexes and people are granting the company physical access to their homes via its smart lock system to let couriers make deliveries when no one is around.

“Technology is now firmly embedded throughout our everyday lives and is reshaping large parts of society,” said Paul Daugherty, Accenture’s chief technology and innovation officer. “Just as cities developed around ports and then railroads, or people rebuilt their lives around electricity, the world today is reimagining itself around digital innovation—and, by extension, the companies that provide those services. This requires a new type of relationship, built on trust and the sharing of large amounts of personal information.”

The report notes that this latest technological transformation is unique in that for the first time the change is a two-way street; people aren’t just using companies’ products and services, but feeding information and access back to them.

This level of “integrated innovation” and degree of trust requires a deeper relationship — a true partnership based not only on a company’s products, but also its goals and values. And with this two-way partnership come new responsibilities—to consumers, business partners

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and society at large—requiring leadership and commitment from the top.

Savvy organizations understand that these new societal expectations can be transformed into an enterprise strength. They’re using their increased interactions to build partnerships with customers, employees, government and the public. And this extends beyond the consumer or retail arena.

The Technology Vision identifies five emerging technology trends that companies must address if they are to build the partnerships needed to succeed in today’s digital economy: Citizen AI: Raising AI to Benefit Business and Society As artificial intelligence (AI) grows in its capabilities, so does its impact on people’s lives.

Businesses looking to capitalize on AI’s potential must acknowledge this impact, “raising” AI to act as responsible representatives of their business.

Extended Reality: The End of Distance Virtual and augmented reality technologies are transforming the ways people live and work by removing the distance to people, information and experiences.

Data Veracity: The Importance of Trust By transforming themselves to run on data, businesses now face a new kind of vulnerability:

inaccurate, manipulated and biased data that leads to corrupted business insights and skewed decisions. To address this challenge, companies must follow a dual mandate to maximize veracity and minimize incentives for data manipulation.

Frictionless Business: Built to Partner at Scale Businesses depend on technology-based partnerships for growth, but their own legacy systems aren’t designed to support partnerships at scale. To fully power the connected Intelligent Enterprise, companies must first re-design themselves.

Internet of Thinking: Creating Intelligent Distributed Systems Businesses are making big bets on intelligent environments via robotics, AI and immersive experiences, but bringing these intelligent environments to life will require not only adding key skills and workforce capabilities, but also modernizing current enterprise technology infrastructures.

“Through these new partnerships with customers, employees and business collaborators, companies are building greater trust and further integrating themselves into society, becoming more indispensable and fueling their own growth,” Daugherty said.

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PAYO Launches COD Platform in PH PAYO launched its new cash-on-delivery (COD) management platform last February 20, 2018 in a bid to help simplify and improve the productivity of online businesses in the Philippines, enabling them to fully take advantage of e-commerce.

E-commerce is rapidly growing in the country, due in part to Filipinos being online an average of 8.5 hours a day, with four hours and 17 minutes spent on social media platforms. Around 33.3 million of the population is connected through smartphones while a larger 69 million are active internet users. This gave way to a total of USD 1.5 billion in e-commerce revenue last 2016.

Ofri Kadosh, co-founder and CEO of PAYO noted that local merchants have to integrate COD as a payment option in their business models given that 93 percent of Filipinos still prefer to pay cash when buying online. A measly eight percent carry credit cards, while 72 percent do not even have bank accounts.

“We know the struggle of businesses operating in the e-commerce space and what they have to contend with particularly when it comes to integrating cash-on-delivery in their payment process. One of the main challenges are order cancellations, which happens to about 30 to 35 percent of their transactions. For merchants, this means an automatic loss of revenue,” said Kadosh.

PAYO developed the platform to allow both merchants and consumers to experience better and faster COD transactions. It works as an interface that can be integrated into the merchant’s online shopping carts. Once the consumers start placing orders, data scientists will then process the sale as well as record and analyze their order histories.

The data analysis builds credit history for COD consumers and employs fraud detection to isolate potentially problematic accounts which minimizes cancellation rates even before the orders leave the warehouse.

PAYO’s solution also includes courier optimization algorithms to select the most convenient and practical courier service to use from PAYO’s pool of trusted partners which includes LBC, 2GO, Black Arrow Express, Ninja Van, Honestbee, Zoom, Lalamove and Dalasia.

PAYO can also streamline the process of tracking orders and communicating with customers for updates on their orders. Once the delivery is completed, the service monitors money collection and remit the payment to the merchant.

Data insight collected from deliveries are also used to ensure immediate remittance, allowing merchants to manage cash flow and scale up their business faster.

PAYO was initialized last December 2016 as a solution developed for HLM, an e-commerce platform and call center business founded by Kadosh and his business partner Liron Gross, who serves as PAYO’s COO. The company continues to gain traction, handling COD transactions for large brands like National Bookstore, Sunnies and Sole Academy.

POSIBLE.NET Formally Launches in the Philippines POSIBLE.NET, a digital services aggregator, was officially launched last January 24 at the Holiday Inn and Suites in Makati.

Founded more than two years ago, POSIBLE. NET currently has 300 digital services on offer from over 1,600 retailers nationwide to more than a million Filipino consumers which has already generated approximately PHP 2 billion in transactions. “[...]We are excited for what 2018 has to offer to our growing number of retailers, consumers and partners, and I believe that now is the perfect time to tell everyone about how we are empowering the Filipino MSMEs,” said POSIBLE.NET president and CEO JG Puzon.

POSIBLE.NET is a digital transactions platform the aims to help empower small and medium enterprises in the country, which makes it the preferred partner of general merchandise stores, laundromats, small bakeries, barber shops and other community-based, independently-owned businesses.

The service can be accessed via the POSIBLE device, which gives users comprehensive services

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including payment for utilities and government fees, money services, micro-insurance, prepaid loading including gaming credits, and ticketing.

Every transaction comes with a confirmation receipt for record-keeping of consumers.

Venus Santos, a sari-sari store owner in Paco Manila for the past two years commented: “I am very happy about the change that it brought to my store. Now I can offer digital services that bring convenience to my customers.”

The POSIBLE team has been together since the last decade and has been responsible for serveral pioneering innovations in telecommunications and mobile commerce.

JG Puzon, President and CEO of POSIBLE.NET

“Our goal is to bring the innovations to the broader base of Filipinos, a type of inclusion wherein every Filipino enjoys the convenience and benefits of emerging technology,” added Puzon.

With this, the company is currently working on making the technology readily available to all barangays and community stores for Filipinos to be able to utilize the technology by spurring economic growth through digital transformation.

According to the central bank, about 36 percent of towns and cities in the Philippines still do not have access to banks and a consumer takes an average of 21 minutes to get to the nearest financial access point.

Because of this, POSIBLE.NET was recognized as one of the top 15 ventures in Asia at the DBS-NUS Social Venture Challenge held in Singapore last September 2017. It was the only Philippine entry in the Enterprise category.

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CHALLENGING THE FUTURE OF

POWER TOOLS

Words by Jewel Sta Ana

More than half of the country’s annual domestic income is contributed by the manufacturing sector, and it’s not a surprising fact at all. The genuine craftsmanship of Filipinos pave the way for the economic growth of the country. However, enterprises still have to invest on certain equipment to make their business more productive and competitive. In the local setting, there are only a handful of industrial tool distributors which make industrial and machinery products reachable to various people in the social strata. This is where Tomita Industrial & Machinery Inc. comes in, shaking up the local market.

Established in 2001 on the Philippines, Tomita is an importer of industrial products with a cdiverse line of power and hand tools, pumps, welders, engine and construction machineries.

The eponymous supplier, whose name comes from the Japanese word which means “rich fields,” focuses on industrial products used in agriculture, fishing, and construction.

Initially, the commercial and industrial equipment supplier started as a distributor of audio-video products. After 10 years, the company decided to expand to industrial power tools. Little by little, Japanese, American, and German brands were eventually acquired and distributed by Tomita as it continued to flourish, and eventually became one of the largest distributors of industrial tools and machinery in the country.

“We have two major categories that we’re bringing in the market. We categorize it as industrial and machinery. The former is runned by electricity while the latter, by engines,” said Wilson Sing, general managerof Tomita Industrial & Machinery Inc.

Sing stated: “18 from them are world-renowned while the remaining 12 are our private label brands. We do not manufacture it but we are the one who develops our own label. We partner with some reputable manufacturers in China, Taiwan, and Thailand for that.”

One of the company’s sources of pride, Zekoki, is the firm’s very own industrial brand which provides electrical-powered tools at a very affordable price. The brand’s etymology comes from two words: the Greek “Ze” which means “challenge the future” while the other is “Koki” which is Japanese for “power tools.”

As one of Tomita’s 12 privately-owned trade names, Zekoki aims to challenge the future of power tools by providing value-for-money equipment to the Filipinos.

“We do that by carefully selecting the products and rigorously testing them to ensure that our manufacturers make the necessary changes in the materials and workmanship if there’s anything needed to improve. With Tomita, bind together with manufacturers, we’re able to eliminate the middlemen and sell good and quality products in a very affordable price,” assured Sing.

Specific products of Zekoki include industrial and outdoor power equipments such as grinders, planers, cut-off machines, vacuum cleaners, and brush cutters. It also offers accessories like blades that contributes to its optimum performance. Happily serving the manufacturing and commercial sector for more than 10 years, all Zekoki products are covered by a three-month warranty as well as spare parts replacement.

Carrying approximately 30 brands under its banner, the importer has been the go-to place of every commercial business nationwide.

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In the near future, Tomita is planning to add more variations in its own Zekoki line and looks forward to providing low cost industrial solutions to our countrymen.

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BITS & BYTES

Acer Philippines Celebrates its 15th Anniversary with ePinnacle Awards Acer Philippines celebrated its 15th year in the country by awarding key business partners at its annual ePinnacle Awards.

“This celebration coincides with Acer’s ninth year as the country’s number one PC vendor and 12th year as number one notebook vendor. We wouldn’t be enjoying this success and the trust of Filipinos without the support of our partners and distributors,” said Manuel Wong, managing director of Acer Philippines Inc. Acer PH credits much of its growth and success as a company to their partners, with revenue shooting up to 50 times than what they had made since 2003.

A total of 46 partners were awarded at the celebration dubbed “La Fete” in the following categories: Acer Provider Awards, Marketing Awards, Associate Partner Awards, Commercial Partner Awards, Consumer Partner Awards, Acer Distributor Awards, and Partner of the Year Awards.

The tech giant also acknowledged their partner in Corporate Social Responsibility, GreenEarth Foundation. Since 2011, Acer has helped

Jason Chen, chairman and CEO, Acer Inc., Romnick Blanco, Green Earth Heritage Foundation scholar and incoming Harvard University student, Mylene Matti, founder and executive director, Green Eart Heritage Foundation, Inc., and Manuel Wong, managing director, Acer Philippines Inc.

GreenEarth Foundation–a non-government organization–restore and preserve the forestry at the foothills of Sierra Madre while helping the communities residing in the area. In six years, the partnership has flourished and restored the region with 8,000 trees.

The prestigious awards ceremony was held at Cove Manila with over 500 partners in attendance. Ending the evening on a high note were balladeer Ogie Alcasid and Asia’s Songbird Regine Velasquez-Alcasid serenading guests.

Ikigai Dojo Computer Coding Bootcamp Comes to Manila Ikigai Dojo’s new and international initiative aims to equip Filipinos emerging software development skills to increase employment opportunities.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU)–the United Nations (UN) specialised agency for information and communication technologies (ICTs)–has been raising awareness on the success of coding bootcamps throughout the Philippines.

In partnership with Switch Maven (SM), an Australian based academic consultancy specialising in software development and Blockchain technology, and Proud Cloud, a software development company offering solutions to local and international companies, a Decent Jobs for Youth program has been launched. The goal of this partnership is to help fill the millions of job openings in the growing global ICT sector with skilled graduates as we head towards 2020.

This US-style coding bootcamp model focuses on intensive training and industry involvement to prepare graduates for the demands required by the modern workforce.

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Exceeding what is taught in local programming and tech colleges, this initiative focuses on handson, project based, and intensive learning in a fastpaced, structured, real world environment that simplifies technology and helps launch students’ lucrative programming careers.

Ikigai Dojo is currently running Information sessions, and has recently launched its first program in the Philippines. A range of niche masterclasses in specific technologies is also planned for roll out throughout 2018.

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PLDT, DTI and Go Negosyo Collaborates to Digitize Business of the business owners in delivering their goods to their online customers.

Entrepreneurs can gain a convenient access to financial support through PLDT’s digital innovations arm, Voyager, through a digital lending platform Lendr. This helps SMEs to apply for various loan offers from participating banks and lending institutions.

Equipped with mobile cashless transactions via Paymaya, providing a seamless payment experience to the merchant’s customers are now made fast and easy.

Leading telecom and digital services provider, PLDT, partnered with Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and Go Negosyo to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) engage in e-commerce.

Fostering an end-to-end online market solutions for SMEs through the platform Takatack, the

project aims to provide mentorship, access to wider marketplaces, and money by funding their capital to jumpstart their local business through Go Negosyo’s Mentor Me program. This also includes training in setting up an online presence and managing online stores through Tackthis!, an online store builder powered by Voyager. The online platform also caters to the logistics needs

“We are committed to help SMEs thrive and become more globally competitive through digital services and solutions. We are confident that this partnership with Go Negosyo will positively contribute to government’s programs to improve the lives of our people by promoting digital entrepreneurship,” said PLDT chairman and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan.

Canon Redefines Value with New PIXMA G Series Printers As more and more Filipinos become tech savvy, creative, enterprising individuals are eager to turn their ideas into fruitful ventures. Anyone including work-at-home parents, students, startup entrepreneurs and hobbyists can now turn their passions and ambitions into reality with the latest line of Canon PIXMA G series printers.

The PIXMA G Series Printers were officially launched last February 8 in Makati City during the fun-filled Canon BLISS: Borderless Limitless in Service Satisfaction Carnival event.

“With Filipinos becoming more influenced and looking into turning their hobbies into potential lucrative business opportunities, Canon aims to provide their needs with the expertise, right tools, and technology to help them succeed. We aim to make starting businesses more delightful for anyone, building their dream ventures from simple passion projects and creative ideas with a companion they can truly trust,” said Benny Yu, head for the Consumer Imaging and Information Division at Canon Marketing Philippines, Inc. (CMPI).

Each PIXMA G Series printer offers functionality that ranges from home or school use to small businesses, with all models promising excellent print quality, durable hardware, and high-volume printing with an extremely low cost-per-page rating thanks to its PHP 295 ink bottles. One set of inks can yield up to 7,000 colored prints and 6,000 black and white prints. All printers in the range offer borderless photo-printing and support for both the PosterArtist Lite and Creative Park which 88

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The G1010 and G2010 models offer no-fuss printing with consistent, high-quality output and excellent value for money. For added features, the G3010 and G4010 offer Wi-Fi functionality such as wireless printing as well as the use of Canon’s Print Service plugin for devices that run on Android.

The G4010 also supports fax.

two years hassle-free warranty with improved after sales services, which even has the top-up option for an extension. The warranty entitles everyone to servicing regardless of print count.

The warranty also entitles owners of G Series printers 12,000 black prints extra mileage (free ink cartridges), free pick-up and delivery for repairs within Metro Manila for up to three months since purchase, as well as a free service printer substitute for the same duration.

To boost Canon’s dedication for excellent product and service quality, the company is offering

To know more about the PIXMA G-Series Printers, visit www.canon.com.ph

gives users even more room for customization with their design projects.

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Kaspersky Lab Reveals Gas Station Controllers are Susceptible to Cyberattacks the device and the systems connected to it as an easy target for hackers. For example, the researchers were able to monitor and configure many of the gas station settings. The vulnerabilities have been reported to MITRE and the research is ongoing.

Kaspersky Lab researchers have helped in the discovery of a number of previously unknown vulnerabilities that exposes gas stations to remote takeover.

Ido Naor, senior security researcher at Kaspersky Lab, together with another researcher found a gas station controller during unrelated research into devices with open connections to the internet. The embedded controller, of which there are currently over 1,000 installed online,

exposes gas stations around the world to threats that can harm the industry. The manufacturer was notified when the threat was confirmed.

In many cases the controller had been placed in the fuel station over a decade ago and had been connected to the internet ever since.

The controller, which runs a Linux machine, operates with high privileges and the researchers discovered a number of vulnerabilities that leave

An intruder able to bypass the login screen and gain access to the main interfaces would be also able to do shut down all fueling systems, change fuel prices, cause fuel leakages, circumvent payment terminals to steal money, scrape vehicle license plates and driver identities, execute code on the controller unit, and move freely within the gas station network.

Kaspersky Lab advises manufacturers of IoT devices to make security a priority, this includes reviewing legacy devices for possible security vulnerabilities. Users of connected devices are urged to regularly check the security settings of these devices.

Sophos Introduces Predictive Learning in Intercept X infrequent updates, detecting malware is now made faster and easier.

Among the new features of the Intercept X includes Security against Credential Theft, Code Cave Utilization, Application Procedure Calls Protection, Malicious Process Migration, and Browser Behavior Lockdown which showcase innovations in anti-ransomware and exploit prevention.

Julius Suarez, manager for Engineering of Sophos ASEAN said: “The Philippines is one of the most susceptible nations in the Southeast Asia region to cyber attacks. Thankfully, there is growing awareness among organizations to pro-actively protect themselves and their systems from attack and unauthorized access.

Intercept X will help protect against the unknown and prevent real-time breaches; through our deep learning methodologies and innovations in next-gen predictive security.”

A global leader in network and endpoint security, Sophos, has announced the integration of deep learning neural networks in the second version of Intercept X. Known as the Sophos’ flagship anti-exploit software, the latest installment of Intercept X is now integrated with active-hacker mitigation, advanced application lockdown, and

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enhanced ransomware protection. Powered by Cryptoground technology, the system blocks all existing and known ransomware lurking in the cyberspace. Through the utilization of artificial intelligence via deep learning, the security program can make more accurate predictions at a faster rate with far fewer false-positives when compared to its previous installment. Boasting a model that takes up less than 20MB that requires

First launched in September 2016, the Intercept X can be installed alongside existing endpoint security software from any vendor which boosts further endpoint protection.

When used with the Sophos XG Firewall, Intercept X introduces synchronized security capabilities to further enhance the computer devices’ protection.

A free trial of the Sophos Intercept X is available through sophos.com

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RELIC

DIAL UP

Words by Jose Alvarez

Some of our readers may remember the time when we could not use the landline phone and the Internet simultaneously—it was one or the other. This was because of the dial-up modem (modulator-demodulator), which is a network device that modulates carrier wave signals to encode digital information for transmission, then demodulates signals to decode the transmitted information. The data they send is measured in bits per second (bps), and they can also be classified by the symbol rate, which is measured in bauds. Bauds are defined as symbols per second, or the number of times per second that the modem sends a new signal.

The very first device that could fit the definition of a modem was a multiplex device, which was used by some news wire services in the 1920s.

As with many communication technologies (and technologies in general), World War II hastened the development of the modem through the voice encryption system SIGSALY, which used a vocoder to digitize the speech. The speech was then encrypted with a one-time pad and encoded the digital data as tones by utilizing frequency shift keying.

1958 was the first year that the word modem was used as part of the SAGE air-defense system.

This connected various terminals that were used at military air bases, radar sites, and command centers to the SAGE director centers in the United States and Canada. AT&T’s Bell Labs continued development of the modem, and by 1962, the Bell 103A dataset standard provided 300 bit/s over normal phone lines, and utilized originate-only and answer-only modems.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled in 1968 that electronic devices such as modems could be connected to the telephone system if they used acoustic couplers. This was known as the Carterfone Decision, named after the Carterfones that could connect two-way radios to the telephone system and allow people on the radio to talk to someone on the other line. Acoustic couplers remained popular in the 1970s and early 1980s. IBM Zurich’s Gottfried Ungerboeck theorized in the early 1980s that 92

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modem speeds could increase by a factor of two with the same error rates, and was called mapping by set partitions, or trellis modulation.

The 1981 Hayes Smartmodem allowed data and commands to be sent through the same port.

The introduction of the personal computer (PC) into homes also brought systems with expansion slots which supported modem use by the early 1980s. This also led to the development of bulletin board systems (BBS), which was a precursor to the modern Internet. Users could upload and download software and data, read news bulletins, send and receive email, talk on message boards, and even directly chat with others. Eventually, higher-speed modems that could send as much as 9600 bit/s became the norm, and this allowed fax machines to become more popular during the 1980s.

Today, the average global Internet speed is around 5.1 Mb/s, with the Philippines slightly beating the average at 5.5 Mb/s as of early 2017. However, a small but growing portion of the population has access to above-average speeds. As of early 2017, around 11 percent of the population has access to speeds above 10 Mb/s, which is the lowest in the Asia-Pacific region, but the future is looking bright as the necessity for higher internet speeds continues to grow in the country.

While 9600 bit/s modems were available as early as 1968, its high price (USD 20,000) and high error rates made it impractical. It was not until 1992 that Supra, Inc. and Rockwell International introduced the SupraFAXModem, which ran at 14,400 bit/s, and was considered the world’s first 14.4K modem. By 1997, the 56K modem was released for a price of only US$200 and about half of all ISPs had 56K services near the end of the year. Newer standards pushed speeds higher than 56K, but by the turn of the millennium, the digital subscriber line (DSL) and broadband Internet eventually made the dial-up modem obsolete. www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph