Blue Digital System's Lithium Laptop

Aside from ASUS EEE PC Laptop, Blue Lithium is one of the laptops on my wish list. The features are just enough for my document-creation and some low-spec computer games. I also think Blue Lithium can handle my daily computing session, better than my super-ancient desktop PC (an Intel Pentium 450-MHz-powered).

Though, I also spend computing sessions with a Gateway desktop (Intel Pentium II – 400MHz) and Dell GX400 (Pentium III – 799MHz). I know. I really do know. Do you know? Hehe. I mean, do you know how much I wait for these desktops to finish my tasks? Not that much. I only use office suites, not-so-demanding photoshop, basic dreamweaver and some application testing. I do not know much about 3D Max and any other animation development applications.

What do I expect from Blue Lithium? I have an average expectation from Blue Lithium and any other product from Blue Digital Systems. The brand name is not yet well-known and is not recommended by my colleagues. But, they don’t give it a bad comment, as well. It’s not because it’s a Philippine brand. I don’t look at a product that way. I just check the features and read reviews of the product. So, I don’t have a colonial mentality or nationalism in mind. I expect it to be light and really portable with good battery life. I am also expecting it to be better than the desktops I worked on. I also expect it to emit less heat. Its processor VIA C7-M 1.6GHz promises low-power consumption and the manufacturer also promises the same. Of course, I do not expect this thing-a-majig to do intensive computing and multimedia management. Anyway, I am not into that department lately.

And what attracted me to include it into my wish list? If you heard about global economic crisis, then you know one of the factors. If you say it’s not the price, then you are wrong because it’s really the price. Haha. I searched the Web and found it for only Php25,000! Then I saw it in a local computer store with a lower price. Second, the Optical Disk Drive included. I do not know, yet, how to install using USB. I am still a CD-install-man and I considered my unorganized files on piled-up CDs. I need to access them once in a while. Third, I considered its 12.1” wide screen LCD. My colleagues told me about using a laptop for long hours. Small screen is not suitable for long computing sessions. Other features are almost the same with other laptops – WiFi, Card Reader, 3 USB ports, etc. If all features are well, this is an optimum laptop when it comes to portability and performance.

Regional ICT Congress 2009 - Day Two

Finally, the long-wait is over. My summary for the second day is here! Oh, that's after a month. Remember? The second day was February 6, 2009. Okay, let's start.

The first day - Regional ICT Congress 2009 - Day One - wasn't enough to handle all of the scheduled speakers. So, the last speaker for the first day, delivered his speech on the second day. I supposed he was Mr. Cesar Tolentino - not sure, since I wasn't paying enough attention, sorry guys. He is the Research Director of the Game Developers Association of the Philippines.

A relative of one of the organizer also gave a speech. He was a former employee of Accenture. I think this part needs another post. I can do that after requesting for his slide presentation.

Next was Mr. Aurelie Alcantara Peralta. Presently he is a member of the faculty in Pangasinan State University, Urdaneta Campus. He is highly skilled in web development, employing various technologies in his projects. One of his projects, is the official website of Pangasinan State University.

As I can remember, he talks about current web designs. I can only remember some. I didn't learned my lesson from the first day - take notes! Back to the web designs, one of these is letterpress. In letterpress, some words, especially the title of the post or name of the blog appears to be pressed - it's self-explanatory. Magazine-like design is also widely used on many websites. So, the design resembles the common design of magazines - colorful background, more graphics, and looks like shiny. The other one is PNG transparency. This design uses PNG formatted photos which can handle transparency. As usual I forgot the others. I am encouraging others to share what I missed. I'll also try to contact Mr. Peralta for more highlights. Wheeh, I hope he'll feed me with useful information. Hey, I almost forgot the title! It's "Latest Trends in Web Development".

Lunch pack! Where is our lunch pack?!! My stomach was yelling those words at 1 PM. They haven't gave us the lunch pack, while most of the delegates are finished eating. I thought there is no available for us. My impatient side and humble side was in a conflict that time. Fortunately, our lunch pack arrived. Whaaa! I hid so that they would not see a voracious organism satisfying his hunger.

If the first day was graced by the singers, the second day was filled with loud cheers, pumping music, and super-duper-toink dancers. They really have the talent and some of them almost gone wild. Haha, or it was just my exaggerating gray matter. The dancers were from different participating schools. One that caught my attention (and, I think everybody's) is the girl from University of Pangasinan. He really made me laugh-out-loud. Four thumbs up for her. I'll just borrow my brother's two thumbs, haha.

The next speaker should be from Dir. Ponciano S. Catipon Jr. He is the current Provincial Director of Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) - Pangasinan. That time, the topic was given to the OIC Dean of AMA Dagupan City. He is Mr. Randy Ventayen. The truth is, he delivered his speech very well. He tackled "Global Opportunities for IT Graduates and IT Businesses". I only heard the introduction, since I need to go home early. Hehe, it's not the curfew. But it's true, "strict ang parents ko," toinks!

If my gray matter serves me right, he stressed that we should, first evaluate ourselves on which area of study we are interested in and capable of. It's either on hardware or software (programming) side. Then, if its on programming, you should be highly-skilled on at least two languages. Highly-skilled on few languages is better than basic skills on numerous languages. In time, as you master the programming languages of your choice, you can easily handle the basics of other languages. Then you can decide to have intensive knowledge on that "new language" you've learned. I was hit by this idea. I tried to study anything that interests me. But it ends up nothing at all. I think if they ask me, "What programming language do you know and at what level?" I think I would say, "Uhm, Visual Basic 6.0 at the basic level". Toinks, that's very basic!

That ends the Regional ICT Congress 2009 - Day Two. However, some ideas still deserves another post. However (another one, hehe), I think I have to wait for the next "Latest ICT Trends and Technologies" and incorporate it to this one if it still applies. I can't wait for next ICT Congress. But, two-day congress is not enough to tackle all the latest... and as a realization, when it comes to the information generation, the latest will change overnight. As you close your eyes later and opened it tomorrow, there will be new trends and technologies. We can't discuss a one-day new technology, even for a lifetime. So, our resolve is to consider the breakthroughs in ICT Trends and Technologies.

Uhm, let me suggest. The next theme will be "Level Up for Region 1 with Latest Breakthroughs in ICT Trends and Technologies". Okay, you can ignore it, haha. Anyway, there are many better ideas there. Besides, I don't plan to join the organizing team of the next Regional ICT Congress.

Agyaman! Hope this post helps your craving. :)