Now that I ditched my BB for the new iPhone 4S, I’m starting a new series of App Reviews. This is the first one.

If you’re the kind who always likes to share your food moments on Facebook (or your other social networks), Evernote’s Food app is for you. You can catalog and tag all your meals and it allows you to share them with a single touch. Plus, since it’s from Evernote, it automatically syncs with Evernote too. And yes, it’s a FREE app.

Evernote Food 

You start by taking a snapshot of your meal/food. In this example below, I was at Le Ching’s Green Hills, one of my favorite Chinese restos, and I was able to snap my favorite meal – Pork Spare Ribs and Chicken Feet! Yum!

Once you’re done with the snap, you can then add information such as a title, a GPS-tracked location and then tags. This allows you to easily sort, organize and search for your favorite meals in the future (see below)

Evernote Food then documents each and every meal into a note and is sorted by date. It automatically syncs with your Evernote app too. Cool, ain’t it?

Then, it’s simply a click away if you want to share your nom-nom photos to your Facebook, Twitter or share it via e-mail to your friends

To summarize, Evernote Food is a great and nifty app. It works wonders to document and store your favorite restaurants so you won’t forget the best menu and food options when you’re out with your friends or relatives. It’s also a great app to determine where to eat out if you don’t have a specific choice in mind. Just whip out your iPhone and make your friends say “Wow!”

I leave you with the official Evernote Food demo video below;

Check out Evernote Food via their official website

Will have more Apple App reviews in the future.

Thanks!

Heavens, no! It’s not my review. In fact, I don’t own a PS Vita (well, not YET anyways).

We all know it was released before Christmas (Dec 17) in Japan and will be released in US around February. But some of my lucky, rich friends already have their units. Meanwhile, here’s IGN’s review of their units. Enjoy!

The PS Vita Review by IGN

Can’t wait to get my hands on one! Woot!

Check the specs on my previous article here. I’ll update everyone via Facebook if I finally get to know how much it retails.

Don’t forget to share, ok?

Via IGN

Recently, a good friend of mine gave me some energy bands to try and see the results for myself. I gave it a shot, and, a couple of weeks later, here’s my short review about it.

CieAura CX2 Plus Energy Band

So, what’s this “energy band” that’s the craze among athletes and health-buffs nowadays?

If one of your friends ever did a “balance test” on you wearing the energy band (and without it), chances are you’ll believe in the results. Sadly, there a lot of fake energy bands out there. If it’s a cheapo one, chances are it ain’t real, so don’t be a fool by falling for it.

Research has shown that each of the millions of molecules in a cell vibrate at their own vibratory character to regulate the body. When these vibrations become abnormal or out of sync, the result can be illness, fatigue or other problems. CieAura converts natural vibrations into intrinsic energies and embeds various proprietary formulas of these intrinsic energies into the hologram on the CX2 Plus wristband using trade secret technology. CieAura’s energies interact with the body’s vibrational system to move your body to its optimum vibrational level and achieve desired results. CieAura’s wristband technology is the strongest known to man. The bracelet works non-invasively by stimulating specific acupuncture meridians.

So, it’s energy embedded in the hologram which translates to you performing better in sports/athletics, having a better balance, and counters most of the bad things (toxins) in your body.

It looks like a normal “baller band” but the hologram in the middle are the energy crystals which give the band its power.

I tried the band everyday for a few weeks and indeed, I can attest, that my energy level has never been better. I lost my “sleepy feeling” in the afternoons and I found that I can focus better on work and don’t tire easily.

Moreso, Manny Pacquiao is one of their endorsers. So, if the Pac-Man believes in the product, it must be good. The retail price of the CieAura is around P2,500 or so.

CieAura Holographic Chips

My friend also gave me these Holographic Chips, which were smaller versions of the one in the baller band, I presumed. It basically looks like a sticker with a hologram. You stick it on different parts of your body to get the desired effect. These chips come in 3 different versions

1. Pure Energy – gives you consistent energy, balance and mental alertness all day long
2. Relief - Quickly reduces or eliminates physical discomfort. I tried this on my arms since I get cramps from using the PC all day and from driving. It worked like a charm. The pain was gone almost immediately and I could feel a slight twitching sensation
3. Rest – Use this chip to get a full night’s rest without drugs and you’ll wake up feeling refreshed and revitalized

Here’s the packaging of the chips…

Lastly, let me leave you with a short video about CieAura’s biggest event this year, Manny Pacquiao’s there too with a short message:

For more information, please head to these links

http://davidkahn.cieaura.com/

and to get the products or inquire, please send an email to davidekahn@gmail.com

I’ll be coming up with a contest to give away a power band and samples of the Holographic Chips soon so drop by the site everyday or monitor updates at my Facebook page.

Thanks! Don’t forget to share!

Here’s a great travel bag as reviewed by professional blogger John Chow.

If you travel a lot, the ATGO is for you. Price? Around $85 at Amazon

It’s a long weekend. No work today (Yay!) due to the end of the Muslim Ramadan holiday.

What better way to spend a holiday than a foodie trip with the wife and friends? Yes?

We got up relatively early this morning and started our day with a photo-walk at the historic Fort Santiago at Intramuros. After much walking, it’s time to satiate our hunger. Off we went to Binondo where the famous Ying-Ying restaurant awaited us with delicious meals…

Ying Ying Treat

Here are more photos of what we ordered…

Prawn Salad (around PHP 300++) – Nice fried tiger prawns in a sweet, creamy mayo dressing!

Toasted Mami topped with Dumplings (PHP100) – ’nuff said…

The fried rice is also yummy! Rawwwr!

White Chicken (P380) – Steamed chicken served with a yummy ginger and herb dip! Sarap nito!

Of course, whenever I go to a Chinese restaurant, I will always try the following dishes to see where they “rate” with the others…

Steamed Spare Ribs – The spareribs are rather tough. I still like the ones from Greenhills; Le Ching, though. I’d give this 2.5 stars over 5.

Siomai – Best so far! The siomai here are HUGE!!! and I mean HUGE. This one’s a 4 star rating!

Now here’s our next target for our foodie trip (below). The famous “estero” eateries along the river side… can’t wait.

Want to try out Ying Ying? (and no, this isn’t a paid thing… I just write and recommend what I truly love). Here’s where to find them;

Ying Ying Tea House
233-235 Dasmarinas St. corner Yuchengco St.
Binondo, Manila
Telephone: +632 3872797, 710-3856, 241-6323
7am to 2am Daily

Bon Apetit!

One of the problems of having a huge collection of audio and video is how to convert them to digital. With the many formats available and no standardized digital format, a lot of the free converters offered in the market simply won’t cut it.

Look no further. Introducing the new Blaze Media Pro – your one-stop CD burning software for all your needs. Blaze Media Pro recognizes almost all audiovideo formats. This means you won’t need a second or even a third decoder or converter.  

Blaze Media Pro is a powerful all-in-one multimedia application that offers conversion, ripping, editing, recording, burning, playback, and much more. Powerful, yet easy to use audio, video, and data CD/DVD burning are all fully supported. VCD, SVCD, and DVD burning are supported. It’s the ultimate DVD burning software

These are just some of the many key features of the product

• video editor
• audio editor
• CD ripper
• CD/DVD burner
• audio recorder
• audio CD copier
• audio converter
• video converter
• video capture
• MPEG encoder and decoder
• MP3 encoder and decoder
• solution to capture protected audio files
• record streaming audio
• perform lyrics search

Amazingly, you can even use this to capture and record your music from cassette tapes or even LP albums. Talk about flexibility! It’s like a swiss-army knife, indeed. Now, you can easily convert DVD to AVI, MPG, WMV and much, much more.

Recognized Formats

Formats supported for audio conversion include CD, MP3, WAV, WMA, OGG, MPEG-4, AIFF, M4A, AAC, AC3, FLAC, and ALAC, and two-way conversions among MPEG-1, MPEG-2, AVI, WMV, ASF, Flash (SWF and FLV), iPod, PSP, 3GP, and MOV are available for video. MPEG options are available for VCD, SVCD, and DVD compliant output.

For more details, check out http://www.blazemp.com/ and you may download a free trial version of Blaze Media Pro.

I personally recommend it.

Cheers!

GM Tristan

This is a paid post via ReviewMe.Com.

I recently found a nice little game called Magicstones while trying to look for a way to while away my time.

This small game is small, simple and direct to the point. Magicstones is a game based on Celtic mythology, and is a mix between a role-playing game and a card game. It is situated in the land of Aravorn, where you can find many hidden treasures in the darkest, most menacing places, where druids are challenged to duel every year in the Black Tower, in a fight to the death that will declare the absolute winner. A nice addition when you download rpg games.

More about the game after the jump…

There are 3 play modes in the game; Gather Artifact, Challenge Druid, and Quest Mode.

In Gather Artifact, which is a good mode for beginners, you can roam Aravorn and simply explores areas such abandoned temples, enchanted forests, cursed islands, and so on. What’s interesting here is that some of these places have hidden treasures like amulets, rune or other items that will increase your power. It’s also good to note that the monsters here stay dead unlike in the next mode, Challenge Druid.

In Challenge Druid, you will head to the Black Tower to challenge 16 different druids in a tournament/duel to the death. The last one standing is the winner.

Finally, Quest Mode is simply what it is – go on quests! You’ll be able to use also new creatures from the realm of Life and Spirit Magic, and as well new unique neutral creatures and/or characters. New quest will be released periodically every 3-4 months for FREE! This option is available only to registered users.   

You can download the game and try it here

These days, printers (the hardware) are a “dime a dozen”. Why? Because the real business of manufacturers are to sell the “consumables”. By that, I mean – ink.

Just recently, I’ve been consuming my own ink for my personal printer really fast. But now, there are alternatives to saving money on printer ink.

The first, and obvious thing, is to have your ink cartridges refilled. Although this is the fast and easy way, the life of your “head” and toner cartridge  is limited and often does not give the same quality output.

Fortunately, there are other options. Learn more after the jump.

One such way to reduce your printer ink costs is to buy premium ink cartridges without the premium price tag. One such company that does this is Carrot Ink.

Carrot ink offers branded cartridges such as Epson ink cartridges and canon inket cartridges at prices that are 30% to 70% LESS than what print manufacturers charge.

Every Carrot Ink Brand product that hits your doorstep has been manufactured under stringent ISO 9001/2000 standards. And yet the quality speaks for itself in exceptional looking printouts.

So, you can go ahead and print all the photos, artwork and even doodles without worrying about printer ink costs now. I’ve been to their website and you’ll easily find what you need. The names of major manufacturers are easily identifiable. Just click the manufacturer of your printer, then look for your printer model, click that and ORDER. It’s that simple. You can also search via toner or cartridge model number.

Carrot Ink also offers same day shipping and a 100% satisfaction guarantee, as well as a no-questions-asked return policy.

What’s more, Carrot Ink is the proud recipient of BizRate.com’s Circle of Excellence Platinum Award for exceptional performance in online retailing during the 2001, 2002, and 2003 holiday shopping seasons. Only a handful of other online retailers can claim this same distinction of being recognized as one of the top online retailers three years in a row.

You can’t beat that kind of service. Great cost, great product, great value!

We all know that I run a gaming website and I’m directly involved in the gaming industry. But when I meet strangers and tell them that I’m from the gaming industry, they go “oh gambling? like an online casino?”. Even search engines sometimes get confused with the similar, yet very, very different terms.

In spite of that, one can still make out certain patterns between video gaming and ‘gaming’. Here’s an attempt to correlate both.

• Always go with something safe – don’t be fooled by sites or even individuals promising huge payoffs or rewards. The old adage is worth remembering; “If it’s too good to be true, it must be a hoax”. Always work with trusted companies, services or websites. They have to be verified, audited and safe. For video games, trust only big-name companies. For the other “gaming” side, there are outfits like pro360.com. They’ve been reviewing online casinos since 1997.

• Quit while you’re ahead - a wise gamer (in both sense of the word) knows when to stop. When you upgrade your weapons beyond the safe limit, it always is a gamble. There are certain risks. But calculated risks separate the men from the boys. When I play poker, I always keep this in mind. Yes, there are risks. But if the pot is worth it, I’ll take it once in a while.
• Trust what the experts say - in MMORPGs, you respect the word of your elders or leaders. Whenever they voice out an opinion or tell you to check out something in the web, like a guide, map or FAQ, it’s always wise to listen. In gambling, it’s also good to stick your ear into what players want. Sometimes, they’ll spot some bonuses or freebies that will help anyone.
• Know what’s legal - In both video games and online casino, there are rules. Both players and service providers have to follow these rules. And both types of service providers are there to provide customer service and a fair playing field to all. One website writes “It is clearly in a online casino’s best interest to provide it’s players customer support, fair games, and especially have players win.” It is also in the best interest of online game (MMO) providers to have a fair playing field, eliminate cheating and protect the integrity of the game.

So there you have it, gaming with its double meaning. Always remember to keep anything in moderation. Don’t push the odds against your favor and don’t forget: you can always quit while you’re ahead. That’s the beauty of it. You just have to be disciplined.

Whenever I go check out the rank pages of the pinoy blogosphere, one site that often catches my fancy is www.selaplana.com

Seleplana, who claims (and is rightfully so) to be “First Blogger in Southern Leyte” is a simple man who has taken blogging to the extreme and is now a professional blogger. Yes, he has the cheques and the money to prove it. His blog is all about making money online but he interjects his posts with insightful and often mundane things like TV shows and other infotech news worthy of the Filipino taste.

I’ve recently been to his site and one thing that caught my eye was his  Join Review Me Challenge and Win

The concept is simple. I’ll review his site and then he’ll review mine. Hopefully, the link exchanges will bring in the bacon. So, here goes:

1. Design – Selaplana’s blog uses a simple straightforward design. The concept is neat and it loads fast. The sidebar houses all the things you need to know about, links, projects, top posts, etc. Also, the google adsense are efficiently placed – no wonder Mr. Selaplana is making a lot of money from ads. His site traffic also qualifies him for “review me” where he can get up to $100 just by reviewing a blog. Hopefully, one day, gmtristan.com will have that number of visitors (wink).

2. Content – The blog is a mish-mash of tips on making money online. Often, Selaplana cites various examples from blog gurus like John Chow and Darren Rose – some of my personal idols too when it comes to blogging. One thing I admire from Mr. Selplana is that; although he is not very proficient with the english language, he readily admits to this and has recently branded himself as the “dumb blogger”. Just proves a point that if you have the will to succeed, nothing is impossible. My hats of to him because of this.

Conclusion - blogging is not rocket science. Selaplana.com proves to us that any “ordinary joe”, given the will, the passion and the dedication to his craft can succeed where others have failed. The same thing applies to gaming, all it takes is the passion and love for the game. If you want to win so badly, chances are you will.

And in the Philippine Blogosphere, selaplana.com has proven to us exactly that.

Good luck to his blog and I hope that I get the chance to either chat or exchange e-mails with him since I have a million questions on how to make this blog a success too.