When I’m looking for clearance laptops, I usually hit up an online site like PC Corner. MSI is a Taiwanese brand and known for being value for your money. Currently, there are some 10 inchers with selling for only Php10,000 (USD 230) which is such a steal!

Actually I was already won over by the variety of colors available. Show me a pink gadget and I’m an easy sell.

But seriously. The thing with these clearances, though, is they are probably slightly used or damaged. Some will have scratches, some will show signs of wear and tear. They are usually display units, and after being handled by many people over a few months (usually around 6 months), no one will buy them for full price anymore. These units may also come at a shorter period of warranty. So if you’re looking for a cheap laptop, make sure you know what you’re dealing with.

Doesn’t mean I won’t buy one, though. I have often heard that the value of a product drastically drops the second it is sold. Which means that most stores are really selling concepts rather than materials. Me being a cheapskate, I don’t buy ideas. I prefer simply to pay for tangible things.

Just need to be careful and considerate of all factors BEFORE buying anything, is all.

This post brought to you by Sprint. All opinions are 100% mine.

I remember my first phone purchase a long, long time ago. It was a first-generation colored cellphone (yes, yes, I lived through the days when cellphone displays were – gasp! – black and white! or shades of grey.). It could take photos! It could play polyphonic ringtones! Joy!!!

Six months later I misplaced it. I think I left it in one of the stores downtown, as I was trying on new garments I must have forgotten it somewhere. I remembered that it wasn’t with me only minutes later but by that time it was too late, I tried to call my number but the phone had been turned off, and my first big purchase after college went down the drain.   

My first panic was – my photos!!! Yes I had some – ummm – “private” moments – stored on that phone. That was the time of grainy scandals being Bluetooth-ed or even infrared-ed from one phone to another. And some were even being uploaded to the Internet. Yikes!!!

None of the photos I took resurfaced though. Haha – what did you think?! They weren’t really scandalous, so… Good thing, yeah??

Now if I only the Sprint TEP had been available to me that time…! What’s that, you ask??

The Sprint Total Equipment Protection App is an application that can locate your phone (if you’ve misplaced it), sync contacts (especially useful for me when I’ve got both a private and an office phone!), remote wipe all data off your phone (if – knock on wood – it gets stolen), lock your phone and even sound an alarm!

So useful! And it’s compatible with Android, Blackberry and select feature phones.

If you’re already a Sprint TEP customer, you can get the app for free! But act fast, because the offer is only up to the 30th of August.

Here’s the promo for Sprint TEP. Cute, eh?

If you’re a Sprint customer and not yet enrolled in TEP, plus it’s less than 30 days since activating your phone, you can add the Sprint TEP feature, available from August 1-30, 2011. View it as insurance! If your phone ever gets lost, stolen or damaged – hey you get a replacement, easy! You never know – it’s summer – you love the water – you love your phone, it’s only a matter of time.

TEP is $8.00 per month, but the Protection App is free. If you need to file a claim, a deductible of $50 or $100 is required. Hey, I didn’t say you’d get a free phone! To learn more, visit www.tepenroll.com.

My Facebook friends are all flustered about the upcoming release of DOTA 2. I guess there really is reason to celebrate. From the new trailer, it looks like the installment of one of the most popular role playing games ever to see LAN play boasts better, smoother graphics. The details seem seamless. It also looks like there will be new abilities and new weapons in store for excited fanboys. Story-wise though, I don’t think there’es anything spectacular that Blizzard could add to an already magnificent plot. I wonder how much of an uproar this would cause. I will never forget the hoopla that surrounded the release of Starcraft 2.

Are you game for DOTA 2? Watch the trailer DOTA 2 below!

I’ve never played a Facebook game before – or if I ever did it was probably just a few minutes and I got bored – but now comes the Sims on Facebook!

Sims was my most favorite PC game ever – I believe I played it even more than MMORPGs. The reason being it was never dependent on an Internet connection – and back in the 90s, my Internet connection was almost nothing! I loved playing with my Sims characters – my characters lasted months with me – just growing their skills and letting them buy everything and own so many things (loved the cheats!!) – and yes, watching them have sex with everyone. Hahahah! And sometimes I became evil and killed them. *Bows shamefully*

I even had celebrity Sims. You could download Sim skins from the Internet, so I could play with Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise. LOL. I also downloaded nude cheats and bought transparent showers. And watched them do the WOO-HOO. Hahaha.

Yes, I loved that game. So, if there’s anything that I am going to play on Facebook, it will probably be a Sims application. And I bring this up now, because the Sims is really coming to Facebook!! The Facebook application is called The Sims Social and you can access it here.

I am so excited! Hope there’s a possibility for customization. In the PC games, this was possible because you everything was run from your hard drive so you could just replace skins or create stuff and make them available. But if this is Facebook, they will be storing stuff on their own servers, right? So I am thinking you probably have to make do with whatever they make available.

Still, I am willing to try it just to see if I still find it as fun as all those years ago.

Next thing you know, there’ll be online auctions in Facebook!

SMART Communications has created a Facebook application for SMART Pasaload – or the process of sending moving phone credits from your phone to other mobile phones.

This is quite useful. I’m thinking, what if you’re going out of the country and you’re bringing your SMART phone, but it’s prepaid. If you run out of load, you could just log onto Facebook and load up! Or when it’s dead of the night and you’re in the province where there are no stores, let alone load booths, open at night, you could just fill up online! Yay for technology.

Here are the instructions to load up:

REGISTER YOUR MOBILE NUMBER
1. Go to the Smart PasaLoad Application on Facebook(http://apps.facebook.com/pasaload/)
2. Setup/Add your mobile number by clicking on Add My Number
- Add your cellphone number
- Wait for the confirmation key (SMS)
- Enter the confirmation key on the text box of the verification window
(Note: You will receive another SMS confirming the succesful registration of your mobile number)

From There, you can

ADD A CONTACT

1. Click on Add a Contact
- Enter First Name, Last Name and Mobile number
- You can also tag a Facebook friend when adding their contact number
(Note: An SMS confirmation will be sent to your mobile number each time you add a contact. Don’t worry, the message is free )

TO SEND

1. Drag a mobile number/entry from your numbers
2. Drag a mobile number/entry from your contacts and select the number to send
3. Select a Denomination to Send
4.Click Send to confirm

You can access the Facebook application from here.

You have to give it to them for being innovative and keeping up with the times.

70% off, that is quite an amount! Yes, this is not a two-hour sale, but a whole day sale! On Saturday, December 4, 2010, Nokia will be having a holiday sale with all Nokia phones at 70% off!!! Below are the stores and prices. There are a lot of participating stores so be ready to rush to your nearest Nokia Store! (Mine is Greenbelt!)

Nokia 1280 – Php890
Nokia 1616 – Php990
Nokia C3 – Php4,990
Nokia 5230 – Php4,990
Nokia C5 – Php6,990
Nokia C6 – Php10,990

…and a lot more! Only one purchase per customer, and bring cash!

Participating Stores:
Nokia Concept Store Mall of Asia
Nokia Store SM Manila
Nokia Store Greenbelt 1
Nokia Store Gateway
Nokia Store Robinsons Manila
Nokia Store Bonifacio High Street
Nokia Concept Store Robinsons Galleria
Nokia Store SM Megamall
Nokia Store Podium
Nokia Store Rockwell
Nokia Store Digital Exchange
Nokia Store Trinoma
Nokia Store SM North Edsa
Nokia Store Tomas Morato
Nokia Store SM Fairview
Nokia Store SM Southmall
Nokia Store Alabang Town Center
Nokia Store SM Pampanga
Nokia Store Dagupan
Nokia Store SM Tarlac
Nokia Store SM Sta Rosa
Nokia Store SM Batangas
Nokia Store SM Taytay
Nokia Store Tacloban City
Nokia Concept Store SM Cebu
Nokia Store Ayala Center Cebu
Nokia Store SM Iloilo
Nokia Store SM Bacolod
Nokia Store SM Davao
Nokia Store Gaisano Davao
Nokia Store Limketkai Cagayan de Oro
Nokia Store KCC General Santos

The next question is… which one of these stores will be least filled with people on December 4???

Cherry Mobile is quite the breakout brand in mobile phones. It’s stylish, full-featured and best of all, inexpensive. It’s even dual-SIM. No wonder everybody’s been raving about it!

Below are the new dual SIM phones sold by Cherry Mobile.

Cherry M35 Integra (Php 5690)

Cherry D50 Inertia (Php 3690)

Cherry D20 Life (Php 2990)

Cherry S11 Blade (Php 2690)

Currently, Cherry Mobile is running the Dobleng Kasiyahan promo. That means you buy one, you take one! This runs from May 28 to July 18, 2010 so get your Cherry mobile phones now!

Cherry Mobile Combo Number One: P1 + P1 = P1790 (Save Php200)

Cherry Mobile Combo Number Two: P1 + 1602 = 1990 (Save Php200)

Cherry Mobile Combo Number Three: 1800 + 1800 = Php 2290 (Save Php290)

Cherry Mobile Combo Number Four: 1602 + D15 Dual SIM = Php 2990 (Save Php200)

Cherry Mobile’s cheapest phones are the Cherry Mobile P1 which is only Php999, and the Cherry Mobile D15, only Php1999. They also have QWERTY phones, such as the Cherry Mobile Q3 (Php2990) and the Cherry Mobile Q3i (Php2890). Both are dual SIM.

Cherry Mobile also has touch screen phones, and these are the Cherry Mobile T80 (Php6990), the Cherry Mobile G5 (Php6990) and the Cherry Mobile Eclipse (Php9999). Amazingly, Cherry Mobile even carries phones with analog TV! These are Cherry Mobile Q6 (Php4790), Cherry Mobile Q7 (Php5890), Cherry Mobile Q8 (Php5990), Cherry Mobile Q9 (Php5990) and Cherry Mobile G7 (Php4990).

Cracked your Palm Treo? That’s really too bad. But you can always replace it! Find a reliable place on the Internet where you can buy the housing, then get to tinkering!

Prepare your new Treo housing!

Now remove the stylus, your memcard, and your SIM card from your phone.

Then remove the battery.

With a screwdriver, remove all seven screws so you can pry your phone apart.

When the screws are gone, pull apart your phone.

Ready to transfer, yeah?

Disconnect the ribbon cable from the internal circuit board next.

Flip over the main board, and you will see the LCD screen and the keyboard. Remove the cable connecting the board to the LCD. The board is now all disconnected.

Now, remove the screws connecting the keypad to the cover.

Now you can replace the cover! Put the board into the new housing and reconnect the cables.

Transfer the speaker and LCD screen to the new unit. Put the two pieces together, and screw the back cover in place.

There you go!

If you are looking to replace the screen on your Treo, follow the instructions below.

You don’t have a PC? How about a TV? Yes? Then turn your TV into a PC by using Smartbro Surf TV!

That’s the latest product that is on offer from SMART. It’s worth Php4500 – way cheaper than the cheapest desktop you can scrape together. It includes the Smartbro Surf TV box, a Smartbro Plugit, a keyboard and a mouse. The box has 4 USB ports so you can connect an external storage to the box if you want to download stuff.

You’ll be charged Php10 every 30 minutes worth of surfing, unless you already have an unlimited plan that’s worth Php999 per month. If prepaid, you can load your Plugit just like a normal SIM – via Pasaload or via a load card or via a Smart eloader.

You can read more about the product in the official website here.

For more inquiries, please call *1888 from your Smart cellphone or 02-672-7277 from your landline. To avail, visit any Smart Wireless Center, Smart accredited dealer or Agent.

Restaurant City is a popular Facebook flash game. It revolves around the concept of being a restaurant worker, be it a chef, a waiter or even the owner. It is also a social application, it allows the player to invite his/her friends into the game, by having them accept jobs in the restaurant. You can customize your restaurant when you gain profits, by buying decorations, furniture or equipment.

Your Facebook friends can have their own restaurants as well, and you can visit each others’ restaurants. You can even share or trade ingredients and help each other create unique menus.

This game was created by Playfish for Facebook, and here are some tips to help you play better.

Ingredients in Restaurant City

Every day you get a free ingredient. That is, if you log in. So make sure to play Restaurant City once  a day to get your free ingredient. Secondly, answer the quizzes in your inbox. Every day, you get a question that you can opt to answer. If you get the answer correct, you’ll get another free ingredient. And lastly, you get an ingredient when visiting a friend’s restaurant for the first time. So, make a lot of friends on Facebook, get them to join Restaurant City, and you’ll have a steady stream of free ingredients.

Levelling Up in Restaurant City

It’s easy, playing equals levelling up in Restaurant City. Keeping your Restaurant City session open gains you GPs, or gourmet points. These are points for levelling up, so the longer you play, the faster you can level up. If you don’t feel like playing, just don’t log out. You can open another tab to do stuff, just stay inside Restaurant City to get your GPs.

Money

So you need money. Are there any trees around? Try shaking them. Money may not grow on trees but in Restaurant City, money falls off a tree when you shake it. Also, pick up some trash around your place. That’ll get you some dough as well.

Cheats

Haven’t found any, do tell if you have some Restaurant City cheats.

Have fun playing Restaurant City!