Geek and Money
A journal of a geek’s journey to financial freedom. Get the latest updates on technology and gadgets. Learn about money management, investing, wealth building, and “make money online” opportunities.

…and it’s free! Yep, the iPhone OS 3.0 update for the iPod touch can be downloaded for free. Thanks to this site, I got me my OS 3.0 update at no cost. I still don’t get it why Apple charges us iPod touch users $9.95 for the iPhone OS 3.0 update. Sorry, Apple, I get to keep my $9.95. This is a welcome development for iPod touch users in the Philippines who are eager to upgrade to OS 3.0 but can’t since Apple decided not to make it available in the iTunes Philippine Store (yet. as of 6/20/2009). Here are a few features that I like about the iPhone OS 3.0 on my iPod touch:

• Spotlight - quick search for anything and everything in your iPod touch.
• Cut, Copy, Paste - a feature that was present as early as 2002 in the Nokia 7650 smartphone, finally made it to iPhone/iPod touch.
• Contacts and Calendars - now have the ability to sync Contacts and Calendars from iCal, Address Book, Google, Yahoo. And that’s on top of the contacts and calendars that are synched via Exchange.
• Landscape Keyboard - sometimes I need more room to type, especially with these fat fingers of mine. So I just rotate the iPod touch to landscape mode to use a larger keyboard in Mail, Notes, and Safari.

I have yet to try the wireless audio stream and P2P gaming over bluetooth. Heck, I didn’t even know that the Touch had bluetooth.

I am not into surfing on a small screen unless it’s urgent, so I won’t comment on the Safari improvements.

The ability to buy/rent music, movies, podcasts, etc. within iTunes on the iPod touch sweet. I had to try it. Now it’s time to play some more. I just downloaded a video podcast and a song straight from the Touch, which gets its internet connection via Internet Sharing over WiFi on my Mac.

How about you? What do you like about the new OS 3.0 on your iPod touch?

A few months back, I wrote a post about preferring to use credit cards as mode of payment instead of cash. For regular price items, swiping the plastic, for me, is the way to go. Others might think otherwise but I have my reasons. However, my recent big ticket transaction, which I also consider an investment for my peace of mind for the next 26 months, was consummated thru cash basis.

Why the sudden change of heart, you’d ask. Well, when you get a big fraction of the price slashed, wouldn’t you want to pay in cash? I would. And fortunately, I did have some cash to spare for the AppleCare Protection Plan for my 10 month old MacBook. Time really flies so fast. Back to the topic, a lot of people put off buying this little box because they think it’s too expensive. I did. But I bought it anyway so that I would have peace of mind for the next 26 months since I plan to keep my MacBook for good.

Peace of mind my @** you say? Well, I have heard of a lot of horror stories when a Mac gets old. And since those Mac users didn’t bother buying an AppleCare Protection Plan (APP), they ended up paying more than half the price of their Macs for the repair costs. The staff at the store where I bought the APP shared that one of their customers who had a MacBook Pro and didn’t buy an APP ended up paying Php45,000 for the repair of his MBP. He sure did regret skimping on the APP. I don’t want that to happen to me.

How much did APP cost? Just Php12,590 (SRP at Apple Online Store). Of course, I did get a fairly big discount by paying in cash. Thanks to sir Charlie (owner of Digital Hub, an Apple Premium Reseller) for that. If you want to have peace of mind for your Mac, invest on an AppleCare Protection Plan. It’s all worth it. Check out the PhilMUG forums for testimonials on the AppleCare Protection Plan. That’s it. Until next time.

in the iTunes Philippines Store. And it sucks! Oh well, at least I get to keep my $9.95 for a few more days (or weeks, yikes!).

Last May 31, my honey and I decided to take a big leap forward. We bought our first home, our first real estate property. I think of it as a good investment decision because of the following:

• Strategic Location - Palmtree Villas is just a few blocks away from NAIA Terminal 3. It would be very ideal to rent it out to balikbayans or foreigners.
• Price Appreciation - We acquired our condo unit at pre-selling price. There is an expected price increase when Marriott Hotel (a 5-star hotel) opens in September. I could only imagine how much the price will increase when Maxims Hotel (6-star hotel with casino and 3 hectare shopping mall) is launched.
• Best Available Financing Package - 60% of total contract price is payable for 5 years. Interest-free.
• Reputable Developer

However, if we decide to live in it, the only benefit we would have is the increased net worth brought about by the price appreciation since we acquired the property at pre-selling price. Renting it out would be the perfect investment move once we acquire a bigger home for our future family. In the meantime, we’ll have to tighten our belts and adhere to a strict budget so that we could pay off our very first real estate investment. Wish us luck.

Just a few minutes ago, Apple’s Phil Schiller announced the launch of Apple iPhone 3G[S] (”S” for Speed). Here are the notable upgrades to the iPhone 3G:

• Faster processor. Faster memory. Said to be 2 times faster across the phone.
• 7.2 Mbps HSDPA
• 3 Megapixel Camera with AutoFocus and Video recording
• Built in support for Nike+
• Voice Control
• Built in digital compass
• Up to 5 hours 3G talk time, 9 hours of WiFI internet
• 16GB iPhone 3GS at $199. 32GB iPhone 3GS at $299. 8GB iPhone 3G at $99. Hooray!
• After that even more countries, over 80 countries will have it by August.

I’d really love to have one of these iPhone 3GS. Now if only I could squeeze it onto my already tight budget…

I am sure everyone is just as excited as I am with what Apple has up its sleeve as the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference is scheduled to begin right about now! Keep checking back at this page for more updates.

Key Announcements:

Macs:

• New 15-inch MacBook Pro. Now with 7 hours of battery life, and 5 year life cycle. New SD Card slot. Lower price starts at $1699.
• 17-inch MacBook Pro price cut to $2,499
• 13-inch MacBook - price cut to $1199. With SD Card slot and FireWire 800
• “Greenest lineup of notebooks ever”

Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

• Rewritten Finder, Expose now built in to the Dock, 45% faster application installs, 6GB of disk space, Safari 4, QuickTime updates.
• Handwriting on the trackpad! Unfreakingbelievable! Hope they add that on the iPhone too.
• 16 Billion GB memory limit. I wonder how you’re gonna fit that in just two slots.
• OpenCL
• Exchange support - now built in on Snow Leopard
• Upgrade to Snow Leopard priced at $29 - that’s good news for me.

iPhone/iPod touch

• iPhone - AppStore sold 1 Billion apps in just 9 months. Over 40 million iPhones and iPod touches sold.
• iPhone OS 3.0 - cut copy paste (no brainer. should’ve been there in the first place). Shake to Undo. Landscape mode to other Apps. MMS (duh!). AT&T to support MMS starting at the end of Summer. Spotlight. iTunes rent movies and videos straight from the iPhone.
• Tethering - should be very useful here. If only Globe offered an unlimited data plan.
• HTTP streaming audio and video
• Support for 30 languages
• Find my iPhone - “If you lose or misplace the phone, you can login to MobileMe on any browser and it will show you where the phone is.”
• Remote Wipe Command
• Peer to Peer. Over bluetooth. No pairing needed.
• Push - “There are 3 types of notifications you can push, text alerts, numerical badges, and sounds alerts.”
• TomTom (GPS)
• Devs showing off lots of iPhone games.
• iPhone OS 3.0 will be available on June 17th. Free for iPhone users. $9.95 for iPod touch users. Make that a total of $38.95 that I have to set aside for the Snow Leopard and iPhone OS 3.0 upgrades
• iPhone 3GS! Now what the f*** does the “S” mean?

Summary:

I like what they’ve done with the MacBook/Pro/Air lineup. Unfortunately, I’m stuck with the mid-2008 white MacBook. Hopefully, Snow Leopard lives up to the hype. And thank goodness I only need $29 to upgrade to Snow Leopard.

I should end my gadget lust from here on. Because starting this month end, my honey and I are gonna be paying our monthly amortization for the condo unit we just bought. Until next time

I am turning 24 this month and I’m quite excited about my honey’s gift for me. She already bought one but wouldn’t tell me what it is. I hope it is one of the following.

• iPhone - iPhone 3G or the next generation which is rumored to be announced next month
• 8GB Memory Stick for my PSP
• Nintendo Wii
• In-ear Earphones with remote control for my iPod touch
• iTunes gift cards
• Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse
• AppleCare Protection Plan for my MacBook
• Invisible Shield for my MacBook and iPod touch
• 1 TeraByte External Hard Drive
• Jailbreak my iPod touch

If not, then it’s okay. I am already lucky enough to have her in my life. What’s your gift for me on my birthday? Check if it’s in the list so I won’t get disappointed. Nah, just kidding. A simple greeting is more than enough. But a PayPal donation will be much appreciated too. LOL! Thanks in advance!

Hey guys! Did you miss me? I was away again for quite a while because I have been busy with work. Over the weekend, I was once again out of town to attend my project’s team building event. And a week before that, my honey and I joined our teammates on an escapade to the Hundred Islands and Bolinao, Pangasinan. If you guys are planning on taking a vacation in Bolinao, do yourself a favor by not checking in to [i won't mention the name but will give the link to that f'n resort]. Here’s why:

1. The owner will offer a breakfast set of boneless bangus (milkfish), fried rice, fried egg, and coffee for Php150. It will take an hour before they serve small pieces of danggit, fried rice, and fried egg. The coffee, you’ll have to mix it by yourself. And then you’ll ask, where the hell is the boneless bangus? It’s gone. Because it was never there in the first place. Good luck on your breakfast.
2. If you are scheduled to check in at 12:00 PM, they will start cleaning the room at 12:30 PM.
3. They will charge you Php100 to cook 15 pieces of jumbo hotdog that you bought from the market.
4. Out of the 15, they will only serve 9. Because they sold the other 6 to other visitors already.
5. Water in the rest rooms are almost as salty as the seawater. You can say the same thing with pool water.
6. When there is a power failure, you will be left in the dark because there is no backup generator. All this while the visitors from the neighboring resort sing their heart out in the videoke.

Fortunately, our colleagues did a great job of planning the activities for this vacation. In just two days, we were able to go to most of the tourist spots in Bolinao and of course, the Hundred Islands. Also on our way home, we were even able to buy our favorite Starbucks drink. All this for only Php2,300. Although unplanned, the Pangasinan vacation was worth it.

Unplanned vacations can really mess up one’s finances. Fortunately, I have been building an emergency fund that easily covered for this unexpected expenditure. I intend to replenish what was spent though. And to make sure I don’t miss all the fun, I’m gonna start a vacation fund. Check out my progress in building my emergency fund and other goals at the Financial Goals page. Watch out for my birthday post.

Php990 per month for this??? Thank goodness I’m not the one paying for this. I feel sorry for my aunt though..

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