This year has been good to me specially after my car accident last February where I wrecked our car but came out with just just some minor bruise and a couple of loose teeth. Since then I have been more keen to just focus on working instead and it turned out well by being blessed with projects.

On skill side what I was hoping to get certified with PHP within the year is yet again shifted to next year. I’ve been quite busy with client projects and learning new skills particulary salesforce.com which we will be using on our next big project.

On business side I have registered myself as a company and would be coming up with a new product a sort of a social network business directory. I would still be sticking with my client but work on this new product as a source of passive income. Something that would generate me some money even if I’m not working I’m earning. Is this possible? Hehe. Some found out how to do it so you will never know if it would work out unless you try. So I’m pushing ahead with this goal hopefully January of 2010.

I have a lot more to look forward to in 2010 but I also have a lot of things that “could have”, “would have” for 2009. I just learn from the past and move forward and be more productive in 2010. Hope you guys do the same too. Let’s go.

So far it has been working great and I have all the tools I need. Just one feature missing though is the word wrapping which I rely cause its just a hassle to scroll sideways just to view the codes. Fortunately there is a workaround to this missing functionality.

Found this alpha plugin if you are interested with getting this feature on Eclipse.

http://ahtik.com/blog/2006/06/18/first-alpha-of-eclipse-word-wrap-released/

Here is a link to other users affected by this “approval system” for new ads on Google.

http://www.google.de/support/forum/p/AdWords/thread?tid=2ca794df25bdd38f&hl=en

I wonder why Google is actively promoting Google Adwords, I even get emails for free 2K to start using the ad system and I see banners everywhere, but they are soo missing a lot more potential clients on the delay on their approval system.

It’s almost close to 48 hours. I hope Google sees there is a big issue with their ad approval system.

So I shopped around for a new ISP. Here in Angeles, Pampanga my options in priority are PLDT DSL, Globe Broadband and Digitel. I already tried Smartbro a couple of years ago and I discontinued their service, it was unbearable before and their customer service is almost none existent though it has been almost 2 years, I still wouldn’t risk it even if they say they have better service now.

PLDT though on the other hand is loosing alot of potential customers in our area for they always have full slots. So I opted for the next option which is Globelines for 995 pesos a month you get 1MB. I subscribed a couple of days ago, processing is 5-7 days and hopefully I would be connected by next week, plus there is a seems to be an existing promo unannounced wherein you save 200 pesos from the 1mb you only pay 795 for a month, don’t know when the promo will end but its limited time.

Now I’m thinking if I should drop my comclark plan or just keep it for backup. I already have Globe Tattoo prepaid when there is no free wifi when not at home as I can use that for backup too.

But before that here are some background. I still have this Sony DCR-HC48 camcorder that I bought couple of years ago back when HD camcorder were still pretty expensive about $800-$1500. With the Sony DCR HC series you can transfer video only with a i.LINK cable to firewire. The USB cable is only used to transfer still images. Firewire offers the best quality video transfer unlike USB methods for capturing from still tapes.

To get started on a PC you need to an i.LINK cable, a good capture card and a good capture software, I suggest you go for the PCI-Express capture cards and not the PCI version as it would soon be obsolete, plus PCI-E is more faster.

The one I bought is a Belkin 3-Port firewire PCI-E. So just open up your pc and install it on the PCI-E slot. It’s plug and play so no required drivers when you start your PC.

Belkin 3 Port Firewire PCI-E Card

Belkin 3 Port Firewire PCI-E Card

Installation

i.LINK Cable

For the capture software I used the software that came with the Sony DCR, I found that it offers better depth than Windows Movie Maker. I didn’t try it yet on commercially sold video editors which has built in capture features.

Below is a sample video captured then I re-saved the file using Windows Media Player to reduce filesize but with a bit of quality loss. (btw the one with fairy costume is my daughter)

Overall that is how to get started. The firewire PCI-E is amazingly fast and produced no drop frames. Windows Media Player capture quality is kinda poor so go look into other capture software.

On a different note I used to use an MacBook Pro before for capturing videos. Another reason why I love a Mac which by review comes with almost the complete ports which includes the i.LINK firewire port plus comes with a free powerful software iMovie for capturing and editing movies.

With a wide array of features with bells and whistles some of them are

1. Built in camera for photo and video recording. What is a Sony Ericsson without the camera.
   • 8.1 Megapix
   • Autofocus
   • Digital Zoom up to 16x
   • Face recognition
   • video recording
   • Image stabiliser and alot more
2. MP3 Player with Bluetooth stereo
3. Video Streaming and Entertainment
4. Connectivity GPRS/EDGE/HSPA/WIFI
5. And ofcourse touchscreen
6. Amazing Email and SMS UI.

This is just one of the slew of mobile phones release this part of the quarter of 2009.  First phone to grace the Andriod OS is the HTC Dream last year.

I need to get one of these phone and start the trip on mobile development. I wanted to get an iPhone but due to lack of resources to get an Apple hardware so I can learn xCode. Developing apps on Andriod seems to be the most realistic approach and not too much investments on hardware.