Portability and Performance with the Acer Swift Edge 16

Looks like Acer is on a roll as they recently announce the release of a new Swift Edge 16 in Manila, boasting portability and performance all in one. It's a given in previous Swift models that it can be a good companion for work, education and a little play, but what makes this a good thing to buy especially these days when applications need more than the usual computing power?

Processor wise, it's got an AMD Ryzen 7040, plus a AMD Radeon 780M graphics card that can do much of the job. Otherwise, they put in a AMD Radeon 780M graphics and AMD Ryzen AI if they elect a different processor. The 16 inch display on the other hand has a lot to be impressed with, from the 3.2K OLED it is made from, to the 120Hz refresh rate, DCI-P3 color gamut and peak brightness of 500 nits, surely will make the videos, photos, graphics you need to see quite stunning from every front.

Best of all, it's also got fast charging capabilities. In case you need to grab and go, or travel while working, it'll be possible to do things without worrying you'll run out of batteries in transit. Aside from that, its form stays thin and light which makes this one of the most portable products that a person can own to finish work, school stuff or graphics work as this too can handle much of that. If you would like to know more about the best Swift Edge model in town, just head on to acer.com, their channels and at Computex in Taipei, Taiwan if you prefer to try it in person.

Easy Ticketing Services from Ticket2Me

This is the first time I've heard of them but being in the theatre scene for quite a while pretty much have made me see some of their services are being used by companies already. The deal is, this is fully owned and operated by Filipinos, yes this is TICKET2ME.NET, a easy ticketing service that takes the long process of buying, verification and ease of production in one go. This could practically take production costs down, scientifically make data useable and sensible, then make the whole buying process just as easy as buying a cup of coffee. Tickets online can now be purchased and scanned with QR Codes, then all people have to do is watch shows whenever, wherever. I guess it prolly stemmed from experience and necessity, like any start of invention.

Darwin Mariano the Founder and CEO of Ticket2Me says “I fell in love with theatre a long time ago, I watched with a couple of friends and enjoyed it quite much with my lunch money. To keep watching, we resold tickets for the show and pooled funds for it. We started buying shows and became successful, but we couldn’t roll over our funds to another show and didn’t get producers to shell out that much during those years and fell short with funds. My love for theatre though continued and gambled years later on before doing it again. In 2013 we did Maxi the musical and adapted this original play on stage, it was a hit and sold out, plus more after that. I realized the platforms were not built to help me, this is why the event ticketing platform Ticket2Me.net has been put up. This is just one part of it, the other is an even more convenient platform without the need of credit card. This is expansive because of payment outlets like pawnshops and convenience stores, now you can do it in the comforts of your home. Ticket2Me has data and analytics, a robust environment also for organizers so they know how much they have earned, registrations, download all the data and see how they progress. This one can pre market tickets, show data and get tickets that people can pay conveniently. Our sales growth without even launching is 400%, and we made technology do the legwork. We are also working on dynamic pricing dependent on producer reasons if they just want to make the theatre full. It’s the realtime accounting of all tickets to make it seamless. Hopefully in the next few months it will serve more in the event community.”

James Mendoza the Co Founder and CTO “To track data, we use blockchain to see how buying tickets, to track the successful payments, reversals, payments to see how all the real ones push through to enable us logging this data privately.”

We also talked about the possibility of them encountering competition and they're pretty confident about how they have presented their app giving Producers much needed services compared to other ticket service sites plus the openness to also work with them instead of them "stealing ideas" from Ticket2me.net if they can't beat what they do. Makes so much sense because the market is so big especially in entertainment industry. There are tons of concerts, theatre shows, musicals, cultural tours, the list goes on. They are also doing improvements to make everything seamless and all they charge for every ticket selling is 10 percent. I am impressed on how they're doing business, take every stride seriously because they've done this before and learned from mistakes. 

If you want to get acquainted with the latest shows, take it easy with buying tickets, or a production who wants them tickets to be sold, you know where to go. Oh and yes, data is big nowadays, you need that for business and understanding the market, things you need for success.

KUMAGCOW
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Aicelle Santos for "AWIT NA AICELLE!" at the Music Museum

She's gorgeous, she's talented and very much a good soul. It's probably the reason why she's blessed because it takes a lot to be Aicelle Santos. She's the Rock and soul diva she just had us at awe when she appeared for a bog conference in Palm Grill Tomas Morato yesterday.

She says "I love soul, rnb music and if it's about the discipline, theater had me. I have to rehearse not just because of money, but you have to feed your passion, you have to feed your soul."

We also saw her dish out tunes with the country's one and only Regine Velasquez Alcasid during the Regine 3.0 concert, with how the netizens saw her performance they completely were taken aback on how she was able to carry a song with Asia's songbird. She humbly says "I was just singing as usual, it was something that was expected of me but I too was surprised on how the netizens lauded me for that performance. I am just blessed".

Here's our interview with the lovely lady:

Here's how she slayed us with her new song:

If you need tickets to the show, you may get it from Ticketnet outlets (8919999), GMA Artist Center and at the Music Museum entrance (7216726) on the day of the event. Don't miss it on November 30, 2017. You'll love her even more! That I'm sure!

This is produced by GMA Artist Center and Stages. 

KUMAGCOW

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Alden Richards at SM City Fairview

Today is the last day of the Grand Fairview Sale of SM Fairview, the lovely mall that we went to last Friday. We were there because aside from the huge discounts they gave people, it was time to actually get them surprised by bringing in one of the most good looking actors this country has every produced, and half of that lovely AlDub loveteam that you love. Yes, it's Alden Richards and he's the surprise of SM Fairview to their shoppers. This also doubles as Alden's album mall tour since he's got Wish I May, the now platinum album from GMA Records. The album is also available in digital downloads on iTunes and it's already number 1 in the Philippine charts.

Alden Richards in SM Fairview by kumagcow

This is his way of giving back to the fans for supporting him all these years. When he was about to come up the stage, he stopped and prayed before he performed. If you didn't know, his fans lined up as early as 4am in the morning just so they could be the first 30 who would be able to meet and greet Alden on stage. They went wild of course. We were already in front but once Alden went up on stage, almost everyone rushed to the front and took videos as you can see on mine. After this event, I got several shorts and shoes (again) because some of the stuff were really cheap! It's only a few hours before it ends so if you have time please go to SM City Fairview today and make that Grand Fairview Sale experience a reality. Save a lot before the Christmas rush, hurry! 

Oh and just so you know, when we went out of the Cinema there were still a ton of people outside chanting "Ilabas si Alden, Ilabas si Alden" because they don't believe he already left the venue and they were pushing the barriers outside wildly. That's how they wanted him so bad. Anyway, I hope this video would at least get you there if you didn't get to catch the show. Now who loves Alden? Raise your right hand!

Thanks to the awesome people of SM Fairview for having us! It was an awesome day!

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The New Caltex Havoline Engine Oil Products

In small ceremonies at the Dusit Thani Hotel in Makati City, Chevron re-launches some of their celebrated product brands Havoline. They're in new product labels and pretty slick look. They're also going full force with Havoline ProDS Fully Synthetic ECO 5 SAE 5W-30, the Havoline Synthetic Blend SAE 5W-30 and the Havoline Super 4T Synthetic Blend SAE 10W-40. All of which are now going to be available in selected Caltex Stations, supply stores and shops nationwide.

These Havoline products all have Deposit Shield Technology that protects the engine, make contact parts durable with its proprietary protective coating that shields it from engine deposits for optimum performance. Their over 75 years of experience says it all and with the fresh new look, the fully synthetic range will protect everything that matters because of the Deposit Shield Technology they're putting out there.

Aside from this awesome launch, they're starting off the ultimate road trip so they can educate Pinoy drivers with their 4 pillars of protection namely Investment, Fuel Economy, Engine Performance and the Environment. Havoline has been the go to brand when it comes to this. Tune up your car, change the oil and make it the Havoline ProDS Fully Synthetic ECO 5 SAE 5W-30, the Havoline Synthetic Blend SAE 5W-30 and the Havoline Super 4T Synthetic Blend SAE 10W-40. It will retail at Php 2468.84, Php 1480.00 and Php 244.00 respectively. It works on the molecular level and will prevent carbon build up. Please visit http://www.caltex.com/ph if you want to see these and other products from the same company. 

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Caltex Philippines

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Sun Life Financial Philippines Presents: LEGACY - The Sun Life Story

Sun Life has been in the Philippines for 120 years. I've only known them for quite a while because of the research that I've personally done when choosing investments. They've gone way beyond the form of an insurance company and with the recent celebration of their anniversary, they wanted to show everyone who has been part of their success what they have done to the country. A mark that may last here for generations to see, feel and hear. This is what they call their LEGACY, a musical to celebrate their 120th year in the country.

When they arrived in Manila a century and some years ago, they had high hopes, they had dreams, so they started to educate Filipinos about life insurance. They had some resistance because Pinoys never found any sense in getting money after they're dead. They wanted to change that mindset and let them see the benefits that it'll give to those who are left on this earth. I can even hear some of the ladies ridicule these Canadians and how they see no sense on having life insurance at that day and age, but when the wars started. that's where tons of Pinoys lost their lives, their families left in distraught and tried to rebuild their lives.

Sun Life even had tons of their records lost during that time and it was very hard to keep most of it. They had to resort to putting them underground and had hundreds of them burned by the Japanese. Commerce was put to a halt and lives were lost. After the war, people were clamoring for the Life Insurance they had with the corporation. They had the choice to just stick to those who still had their records but Sun Life understood they had the responsibility. They honored each and every person that went to them to claim what was rightfully theirs. They got to help all those who need it. Sun Life stood by them after all those years.

They did it because it was the right thing to do. They did it because at the time they needed the business, the Filipinos believed in them. The Canadian based company made their lives better. When they needed to rebuild and start over, the money went to the families of the plan holders. Even if some of them lost their papers during the war, Sun Life did not leave them hanging and honored all of it. A noble thing indeed.

Years after, they made the profession even greater than what it is. They started not only selling plans, but giving professional financial advice to people of all classes. They wanted to provide the quality of life that their plan holders to a larger population and they stuck to what they know best, making an impression that they are serious in what they are doing. The professionalism they implemented made so much sense even in the 60's when everyone else were in the discos, bars, the changes were absolutely working for them even more.

Their current President and CEO Riza Mantaring,  Chairman of the Board Jose Isidro N. "Lito" Camacho, and Kevin Strain who is President of Sun Life Financial Asia were also there to award former Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos who has been instrumental to how Sun Life is in the Philippines. When they were distraught during the financial crisis, then a political one during Edsa, he encouraged them to stay and believe in the Filipino. They also championed the lives of Filipinas who have been part of Sun Life's workforce and they showed how it has improved their way of living. Filipinas believed in themselves, they professionalized and made them more independent. They helped more families in the process and shown how they valued them too. This is something noble. This is Sun Life's Legacy.

Executives, performers sang too in the end of the show. This is Sun Life's Legacy.

Inigo Pascual was also there. As one of Sun Life's endorsers, he believes in the value of saving for a rainy day. He also believes in investing for the future of his own family and to take an early step to financial freedom. His future lies on how he manages his finances and a Sun Life's advisor could help make that dream come true.

It's not just the personalities that prove Sun Life's the best in the industry. They are the number one insurance provider in the Philippines and if these people can do it, so can you. It is possible. They have their own legacy to prove what they've done to improve the lives of Filipinos. If you haven't had the chance to talk to anyone yet about your finances, investing of life insurance, visit http://www.sunlife.com.ph and make that leap to make your plans better, one that would benefit your family and community. You can also visit http://brighterlife.com.ph and see how it works. It's easy, talk to one of their Sun Life Financial advisors today!

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Kim Chiu For Cherry Mobile

Kim Chiu during the Cherry Mobile Dealers Night

I love Kimmy! On the Cherry Mobile event a few days ago, I thought she was just being regularly introduced - as if she was just going on the stage to thank the executives of the company. People were telling me over Instagram that she would be wearing something red (possibly a gown from a local designer of sorts) but I didn't know she was going out of the shadows clad in a sexy corset and tight faux leather pants singing and dancing a number like this. The last time we met was when she was being launched as one of the new endorsers of the Windows OS based phones, tablets and phablets of this brand. Her fans absolutely loved her new commercial and of course, she's a very effective endorser. I, like a lot of people I know felt really sad at that small brouhaha about her winning the Best Actress award. I just wish people who said bad things about her should watch that show when she accepted the trophy, because you'll know how genuine she was, she was very happy about it. Let's give credit where credit is due because she did work hard on the show, much like when she performed during this evening. She didn't shortchange the crowd as you can see!

The Alpha Series from Cherry Mobile has been really successful. It's affordable, it's on Windows, and would be also perfect for gifts this Christmas. You can also opt to have it as your own phone since it's the best of its class in this prive range. If you are also transitioning from other OS it's got one of the easiest interface to understand, even easier than Android. If you are also used to Desktop computers, it's all the same with Windows 8.

By the way, I didn't want to just post Kimmy's photos today, I have her video here so watch how she wowed the audience during the Cherry Mobile Dealer's Night. Enjoy!

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Cherry Mobile

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http://www.cherrymobile.com.ph/

"Shrek The Musical" Live In Manila!

It's one of my favorite animated films since its inception , the green, huge, not so good looking monster who's as human as anyone we know gets to fall in love, live life, and persecuted by everyone else as if he doesn't have the right to do so. The fun starts when Shrek shows how he's good, a little off putting on ogre capabilities, but he's just as smart as you and me. He's also got a funny donkey as a sidekick that doesn't do much to help or doesn't even make sense at times but you can see how he cares at times when Shrek needs it. Then when it arrives, Princess Fiona makes Shrek the happiest ogre on Earth by giving him the one thing he dreams of... And that's love!

The Broadway and West End Musical made by David Lindsay Abaire and Jeanine Tesori will make you believe in love again - but will make you laugh at life's antics as they bring this performance to the Meralco Theater this September 19 to October 12, 2014 running for 4 weeks straight keeping you still believing in it no matter how impossible things may be. There are evil villains but like the animated film from DreamWorks, we'll have to see his whole journey to love, laughter, adventure and life. You'll still hear the favorite songs "I'm a believer" plus a lot more that you might not have heard yet but made for the musical to perfectly fit the situation in Shrek's life! Moms and Dads, Kids can even learn from this so come join the fun in Meralco Theater and see international level performances as they do it in the Philippines on the dates mentioned above. Family comedy at it's best and a lot more can be seen so rush to TicketNet outlets, or call 8919999 or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph to see Shrek The Musical as soon as it opens its doors this month. The true value of friendship, honesty, love can be seen in this musical so all you gotta do is get them while it's still early!

Shrek The Musical is from Sam Mendes who's a really big fan of the animated film. I can't wait! 

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The Western Digital 2TB My Passport Pro Portable RAID Storage

The Philippine market is saturated with hundreds of external drives. Many brands try to constitute themselves as the best there is in the market but I think the number one in terms of performance and quality as users have put them all there. We have different reasons but track record and longevity plus testimonials from previous buyers have solidified it. We'll take a look at one of their RAID drives that is specifically made for the Mac made by Western Digital  called the 2TB My Passport Pro. Let's do this shall we?

For those who don't know, prices actually differ on Mac machines if you want to have more storage; but for plain ones, you would only get 1TB and get solid state drives for faster performance. If you want more, you'll have to add a fortune again and that isn't a good option for most consumers. 

A promising feature is this Thunderbolt cable which means data and power will all be done with one cable. It's built in on the drive which I'll show you in a bit. This feature actually sold me already because if you have power and data in one cable, that's technology working for you. It made me cringe about my existing 3TB external drive that has a different power and USB cable. I'm sure some of you do too.

Now, you have to remember that if it says it's "Designed for Mac" on the box, it means it won't work with anything else because most windows laptops won't have that Thunderbolt Cable I was referring to earlier as it doesn't even have a USB port.

Opening the box was a breeze. It has one outer cover and the box that contains the drive itself. 

It also has some images on the box cover indicating that this is used for mobile use, built for that purpose.

Just pick up the tab on front and you'll see the drive itself. The material is plastic but built around the drive and meant to protect it too. 

The WD My Passport Pro is one of the most "macho" and sleek looking external drives I've ever seen. Aesthetically it's gone overboard with its looks, matte black finish so you can easily grab the drive with one hand. The ventilation below is apt so it won't overheat on you. Once connected to the port, it automatically installs everything on Mac. Drives like these on Windows especially the Passport ones from WD have wizards you need to follow in order to install. For the Macbook Pro with Retina Display, it was only a cinch. In the eve of files or movies that are HD, the 2TB would be really easy to fill up especially if you already have tons of them on your hard drive or other media. Transferring is fast and efficient. It took a couple minutes having the HD copy of the Expendables 3 from my cousin's Mac so I think that says a lot about it. The thing physically has 2 1TB SSD drives inside hence the capacity. It's a cool cheaper alternative rather than getting it internally on the Mac which costs an arm and a leg if you dig the additional 1TB plus its weight.

 You'll get the installation manual which basically just shows you to connect it.

If you're asking where the Thunderbolt cable is, it's actually wrapped around the drive through a groove made in the center. The port's end snaps onto a small notch connected on the cable's end that is embedded on the drive. Now there might be some that might fear the life of the drive would be the same as the cable, but I think it's sturdy enough and strong to actually be something to worry about. You'll probably break the drive first if that's what you're worried about.

Since it can be mirrored, you should use your RAID 0 drive to be mirrored by RAID 1 so it automatically saves your files and have an internal second backup if the first one fails. You don't have to pay for cloud services and they'll perform quite well on OS X or OS X Maverick like cold drives. There's a separate WD Drives Utilities App that you can install separately, free of charge from Western Digital's website. That's if you want to change anything on the drive's configuration. but by default you can say it's plug and play. If you also want to know, the drive is pretty quiet and doesn't bother and spinning involved. Of course it's SSD!

Price wise, it's one of the most affordable pieces of hardware to be seen in this category. I think they've made it with that in mind so you won't even have to battle with other manufacturers who have similar functions. You might want to take a look at Digital Walker and their partner stores if you want to check out these drives for your Mac. It's worth it for photographers, movie couch potatoes and just plain file hoarders at this price point. You should get one.

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Digits Trading

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http://www.wdc.com