Techy Kid

Google Map View now available for Manila, Cebu, and Davao Maps

More than a month ago, I blogged about Google’s silent deployment of the Philippine street maps in Google Maps for Mobile and Google Maps for web.  The new map data were taken from the Google’s Mapmaker for Philippines, a web application which allows user to openly plot streets, places, landmarks, and establishments in the map.  Though the initial deployment of the said project was only available on the Satellite View, it was very note worthy since it’s a major milestone for the history of Google Maps for Philippines.

But recently, after I missed checking Google Maps Mobile for a couple of weeks, I learned that Google finally deployed on the Map View the street maps of Philippine’s key cities like Manila, Cebu, and Davao among others. You can now make use of the map view to check your approximate location (for non-GPS phones) or pinpoint your exact latitudes and longitudes if you’re using a GPS-enabled mobile phone.

Here are some of the sample screenshots taken from my Nokia N82’s Google Maps.  These are the screens (from left to right) of Davao Map, Metro Manila Map and Cebu Map. More »

I want a Nikon D90

I’ve been holding my internet earnings these past few months to raise funds for a new gadget that I’m planning to get.  Since when I was in college, I’ve been using our groups’s Canon EOS 300D and Nikon D40 but I never really had a gear to call my own. I’ve been eying for D90. Based on the specifications below, I think it’s a very good value for its price (Php 54,000.00 for Kit).

• 12.9 megapixel DX-format CMOS sensor (effective pixels: 12.3 million)
• 3.0-inch 920,000 pixel (VGA x 3 colors) TFT-LCD (same as D3 and D300)
• Live View with contrast-detect AF, face detection
• Image sensor cleaning (sensor shake)
• Illuminated focus points
• Movie capture at up to 1280 x 720 (720p) 24 fps with mono sound
• IS0 200-3200 range (100-6400 expanded)
• 4.5 frames per second continuous shooting (buffer: 7 RAW, 25 JPEG fine, 100 JPEG Normal)
• Expeed image processing engine
• 3D tracking AF (11 point)
• Short startup time, viewfinder blackout and shutter lag
• Slightly improved viewfinder (96% frame coverage)
• Extensive in-camera retouching including raw development and straightening
• Improved user interface
• New optional compact GPS unit (fits on hot shoe)
• Same battery and vertical grip as D80
• Vignetting control in-camera
• 72 thumbnail and calendar view in playback

I’m super excited in getting this one.  I can’t wait for my next paycheck.

Manila Maps now available on Google Maps!

Philippine Street Map on the Nokia N82 Symbian S60 Platform

After the long wait, Google finally released the updated Manila Map for Google Maps.  The recent Google Maps update include detailed street maps of major Philippine cities like Metro Manila, Cebu City, Davao City, and Cagayan de Oro City among others.

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Google Latitude for Mobile

Google recently released an update for its Mobile Google Maps.  This new version is bundled with its new product, Google Latitude.  Latitude makes use of the Google Maps platform to map and locate you and your friends’ location anywhere in the globe.

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N82 Photography

The N82 is Nokia’s ultimate gadget for photography. It’s Carl Zeiss 5MP Tesar lens captures every detail in a click. No other phone that I have tried can compare to the N82’s brilliance in capturing your subject’s details, whether it’s for macro, portrait and other types of shooting modes.

Another notable feature of N82 is it’s geo-tagging capability.  It can utilize your phone’s built-in GPS to embed in the photo the exact location where the photo was taken. I have tried using it with Google Earth and Picasa and it’s perfect. Picasa loads the photo’s geotags into Google Earth and lets Google Earth show where on the

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