Hi-Tech ‘Ta Bai!

Most of us are sharing our PC or Laptops with the rest of our family members.

However, we want to secure them from the “evils” of internet by checking periodically their online and offline activities. Perhaps, one way to do that is to ensure you can access their profile. Although, this is somewhat an intrusion to privacy but it’s somewhat necessary if the other users are our kids.

I had received a query how to prevent the creation of password or at least prevent the changing of the password.

If the other user profiles are yet to create password or it has already some passwords and you don’t want them to change it… here’s the simple way to do it:

1. Right click on “My Computer” and select Manage.
2. In the left pane double click “Local Users and Groups”.
3. Click “Users”.
4. Double Click a user account.
5. Check “User cannot change password”.
6. Click OK and close the “Computer Management” window.

Paki-share sa uban…. Thanks…

Once again, i had a sing-along session with one of my radio programs using the great features of the Van Basco Karaoke.

The responses from the listeners (of “Merkado Patrol/2am-4am; Tuesday-Saturday) early morning today have inspired me to stage it every Saturday.

I started the program with a minus-one song from Eric Clapton–”Wonderful Tonight” and after a while the listeners took turns in singing while others have reserved for their favorite songs for next Saturday’s session.

My karaoke and midi files stored in the Van Basco Karaoke player are not complete. I have to download more minus-one files. Van Basco Karaoke is using .kar and .mid files for karaoke and midi files respectively.

I have enjoyed the features of the Van Basco Karaoke and i’m sharing it with my listeners in radio. It’s a FREE software and can be downloaded from its site– http://www.vanbasco.com.

The Van Basco Karaoke player is simple to operate. Aside from the usual play/pause and stop buttons, it can rewind/forward and advance/back your selection of the songs.

Press the buttons below and other interfaces pop up.

The playlist can easily be managed.

You can change KEY, TEMPO, VOLUME of the

karaoke under the control button. You can toggle the karaoke screen display with the karaoke button. The output button will show the different instruments used in a music file and you can turn/off each instrument if you want to hear  a variety of the output sound. There is also a piano button that guides you in keyboarding.

The karaoke screen display is adjustable for your convenience…

 All along, i and some tech experts and bloggers believed that never a mobile phone could sport an AM (amplitude modulation)tuner inside it.

My vast knowledge on radio broadcasting and radio electronics support this general thought that whenever an AM radio tuner is placed near a cellphone… the radio set would sound static.

This is because, by its nature, amplitude modulation is susceptible to electronic noise pollution. Strike a spoon and a fork together near a radio set tuning the AM band and you will hear static sound.

So, how much more if you place an AM tuner inside a cellphone unit? It would sounds like suicide for the AM tuner.

I have heard about a cellphone in Europe having an AM tuner but the tuner is receiving digital signal from a digital AM broadcast. The Philippines is very far when it comes to digitalizing the AM broadcast. The television broadcasts in the country will all go digital by 2015.

But two weeks ago, our radio listeners told me about a cellphone from Sony Ericsson with an AM radio that have been promoted by Sun Cellular. I was caught flat-footed. I never knew about it.

The next day, i have read about it in the papers while i was taking my break at the USJR library. In the evening of same day, i was able to see the actual unit displayed at the lobby of the Waterfront Hotel as one of the sponsors of the opening nite of the weeklong Press Freedom Week Celebration.

To make this story short, i had able to possess a unit of the R300 radio and test it for the first few days prior to introducing it during the September 28, 2008 episode of “Hi-Tech ‘Ta Bai!”.

I have recommended the unit to those who loved AM broadcast. It would be very portable for us to bring one gadget instead of a cellphone and a radio monitor. This is more useful to radio reporters and journalists who always tune in to the AM broadcasts.Aside from the AM tuner, it has a good quality voice recorder which a reporter can use for interviews. However, it can’t record a call conversation. This feature is only available in the other cellphone radio model–R306 which is not available in the Philippines.

While i was mobiling at the mid-north of Cebu, i observed that DYAB1512 signal is static. This is true because of the high frequency assignment of DYAB at 1512khz. However, the rest of the stations at the lower frequency sound good. In Cebu City, DYAB is fine enough while i was also travelling across the city. The tuner is far better sensitive than the small radio monitor available in the market.

The R300 sports a bluetooth and can be switched to the FM radio tuner when you want music-on-the-go. It has also a VGA camera though it’s not that good in quality as the high-end cellphone camera.

Here are some of the important specs of the R300 radio:

• Dimension : 101 x 46 x12mm
• Weight : 75gm
• Colors : Antique Copper, Steel Black, White
• Screen : 65,536 colors TFT, 128 x 160 pixels
• Phone memory : 8mb
• Networks : GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900
• Battery Performance : 9 hrs–talk time; 410 hrs–standby time

Here’s the catch–it’s only P4,499.