Cotabato City’s commercial sector draws investors

AS INVESTMENT destinations go, Cotabato City is one of Mindanao’s best-kept secrets, said businessman William Lima.

Lima said, “going by profit margins, Cotabato is the place in which to invest.”

What’s your take on the Mindanao crisis? Discuss views with other readers

This Davao native puts his money where his mouth is. His company, DC Invest Inc., is managing the Cotabato City Mega Square, a commercial shopping center with more than 40 retail stalls, a fitness center, and a sleek café with WiFi and a conference room.

Since Mega Square’s retail operations began two months ago, Lima said, Manila-based firms have begun looking at Cotabato City with new interest.

Kentucky Fried Chicken, National Book Store and a gas station are preparing to establish locations near Mega Square, attracted by the commercial center’s traffic.

And businesspeople from Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia planned to visit the city during Mega Square’s formal opening [November 28], on the lookout for investment opportunities.

Pete Marquez, president of the Metro Cotabato Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is not at all surprised that things are moving quickly.

“Word has gotten round that there’s a lot of disposable income in Cotabato,” Marquez said.

This is evident in the number of buyers who crowd the South Seas shopping center and other commercial establishments, including Jollibee, Chowking and the Greenwich outlets.

Mega Square’s architecture is a fusion of the old and new …

Award for Windows Mobile WiFi hotspot program

WiFi hotspot program for Windows Mobile wins an award

Windows Mobile is a wholly open system, so all programs are allowed, including the one that turns your phone into a WiFi hotspot…

More information from TapRoot Systems follows.

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TapRoot Systems Wins Consumer Technology Company of the Year Award

TapRoot Systems honored as a 2008 Consumer Technology Company of the Year Winner at the North Carolina Technology Association 21 Awards

TapRoot Systems, Inc. is the 2008 Consumer Technology Company of the Year. The award was presented by the North Carolina Technology Association (NCTA) for TapRoot System’s revolutionary WalkingHotSpot product.

WalkingHotSpot transforms Wi-Fi enabled smartphones into “walking” hotspots.

Users securely retrieve e-mails, as well as browse the Internet, on Wi-Fi enabled devices such as laptops and MP3 players. With WalkingHotSpot, wireless subscribers can forget about data cards, cables and multiple service/hotspot plans, because WalkingHotSpot allows the option of consolidating connectivity subscriptions and expenses into one economical solution.

“The 2008 NCTA 21 awards was by far our most competitive with an outstanding list of finalists and a group of award recipients who distinguished themselves through outstanding achievement and superior performance,” said Brooks Raiford, president and chief executive officer of NCTA. “I congratulate TapRoot Systems, for receiving an NCTA 21 Award and for the passion to lea…

Joost back on our radar with iPhone app

Joost has just launched a streaming video app for the iPhone.

If ever there was a Web service that experienced a rapid fall from grace, it was online video start-up Joost. What started out as a much anticipated new service ultimately fell short of expectations and has recently struggled for attention. Friday, Joost released an iPhone app for its service that might be a game changer. Joost’s iPhone app lets users stream and watch any of Joost’s 46,000-plus videos for free.

Say what you will about Joost’s library of content, the concept behind this app is fantastic. The ability to stream a movie, TV show, or other piece of video content on the go is great. I know the technology is nothing revolutionary–after all the iPhone has had a YouTube app, complete with streaming video, since the device launched. Even given that, when you load up Men in Black on Joost, it just feels like a whole different ballgame. This isn’t a video of a dog on a skateboard anymore. This is real, Hollywood-produced content, delivered to your phone, for free.

I have not experienced the major hiccups that very early users, like MG Siegler did, so those issues seem to have been taken care of. I did notice some occassional stuttering of the stream over Wi-Fi. I am, however, disheartened by the lack of streaming support over EDGE or 3G. Joost requires a Wi-Fi connection to work.

Even though Joost appears to have a really slick UI (in many ways it does), it breaks some of the conventions for UI de…

First-instance bus rider finds few bumps in the road

LONDONDERRY – Those who travel before dawn each day are a special breed. I did the Boston Express bus to South Station recently to re-visit the commuter world and see what the newest technology has to offer.

The first thing was a pleasant surprise. When I dialed 1-800-639-8080 Donna answered, and she not only was not a recording, but she helpfully walked me through my downloaded schedule (bostonexpressbus.com) and filled in the details I needed for my journey south.

The North Londonderry bus station opens at 4:30 a.m. each day, and I could purchase a ticket anytime thereafter.

Next morning my alarm went off at “O-dark thirty”, a Navy term. At 5:45, the bright lights of the new North Londonderry terminal complex welcomed me back to what used to be my drive time. This time, my senior status qualified me for a $6.50 one-way fare to South Station.

Kelley Adhikari took my ticket and welcomed me and about 40 others aboard her bus, and we were on our way, on schedule, to Boston.

As we hit the Interstate everyone quieted down. No reading lights were on. A few iPods were in evidence but no one seemed to be connected to the satellite radio outlets at each seat. Wifi is promised after the first of the year.

The dark cabin felt more like the red eye from L.A. than the 6 a.m. to Boston.

It is a very quiet ride. Kelley knows her business. We were at speed with multiple bus lengths in front of us that she used to adjust to the first few traffic surges we encountered.
…

Tech blend is latest in toys

The category creator cometh: Clarion is not the first manufacturer to merge GPS, multimedia and WiFi.

But, with the release of the Clarion MiND (Mobile Internet Navigation Device), it may end up getting credited with creating the category nevertheless.

This puppy plays music and movies, surfs the Internet, does the Bluetooth thing and provides turn-by-turn voice directions for Canada and the United States while maintaining a split-screen mode so you can keep track of directions while browsing the web.

You do need to come armed with an existing mobile Internet account, but Canada’s major Internet service providers will be more than happy to assist Clarion MiND customers in this regard.

It mounts in the car but can also be carried around and, like the iPod in its launch days, is sleek and intuitive enough that it could convert people who might never have considered this type of device in the first place.

Expect at least five copycats by next Christmas.

Cost isn’t cheap but typical for the technology at $650 US.

For more information, visit www.clarion.com.

Sonyericsson P1i

Latest from the P series sonyericsson smartphone, purchased new about 19 months ago, seling due to change to HTC. Good condition, very few small scratches from normal usage, protective foil on the screen at all the time.3.2 mp camera, WiFi, 3G, bluetooth, Touch screen, very nice full qwerty keypad. Missing stylus, however easy to operate with fingers.Free 2gb M2 memory stick.

18 Must-Have iPhone Apps

Consider the iPhone Installer application a virtual gateway to a litany of third-party applications for your iPhone that are downloadable via Edge or WiFi. Installer is not endorsed by Apple, so to use it, you’ll have to “jailbreak” your iPhone – a process that frees it from the software restrictions baked in by the folks in Cupertino. Rest assured, jailbreaking an iPhone is a hack that your grandma could perform without a sweat, and unlike earlier hacks, you can always restore your iPhone if anything goes wrong. No one likes to leave Apple’s good graces, but the payoff is no less than access to the best iPhone apps out there. LifeHacker [1] has an excellent guide to jailbreaking and setting up Installer.

IntelliScreen [2] is one of the few iPhone applications that will make your device more like a Windows Mobile phone. It fills the blank “Slide to Unlock” home screen with a dashboard of useful information like new messages, weather, e-mail, or Safari feeds, and it’s customizable. It requires jailbreaking and Installer.

iToner is a clever little ringtone application that costs $15 and requires no hacking whatsoever. It allows users to drag and drop their favorite MP3s into the iPhone as ringtones, circumventing Apple’s limited selection of $0.99 ringtones at the iTunes Music Store.

There are a few web apps that allow you to tweet on Twitter with your iPhone, but Hahlo is widely recognized as one of the most stable and elegant of the bunch. Just point your S…

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