Spam TXT Messages

jhay — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 13:28:48 +0000

SPAM, or unsolicited messages, everyone using the Internet, owns a couple or more e-mail accounts, bloggers and webmasters just hate it, really hate it. That’s why a myriad of anti-spam software, measures, technologies and sheer human effort have been deployed to combat and get rid of it.

However, SPAM doesn’t only thrive as a pestilence in the cyberworld. Even the seemingly distant mobile world has already been invaded by it-well the Philippine mobile world that is.

Your in the middle of a meeting or class, your mobile phone vibrates, telling that you have just recieved a message and so you frantically dig for it inside your bag or pocket. Unlock the keypad with lightning fast reflexes and even without looking at it, feel like an eternity has passed before you could open the message. Your heart beats faster in anticipation of knowing who the sender is but all of this is thrown away shredded into pieces when all you read is the following: (just an example)

New Ring Tones available:
A1-Alphabet song
B1-Happy Birthday
C1-Halukay Spaghetti
Just enter the key code and send to 84513658461
P15/download

Badtrip! Some messages even take away Php 5.00 to Php 15.00 from your load even without you doing anything save for reading the screwed up SPAM txt message. I’m sure almost all of you has had this experience, some are milder some are really wierd but most definitely all of them are really annoying and a nuisance.

Mitos Garcia who wrote a letter concerning this issue to INQ7.net and so Mr Garcia. you’re not alone, there are millions of others who had to put up the annoying with the task of cleaning up spam txt messages every single time it takes up space in your inbox. He cries;

I’m tired of being harassed by the promo text messages of a mobile phone company. They just keep on coming, these unsolicited, unwanted and extremely annoying messages, such as those tasteless ringtones and faces of celebrities I don’t care about.

Like him, I also called up the customers service of my mobile provider and complained about this annoying and unsolicited text messages and all I got are empty promises. I still spend some time deleting worhtless unsolicited text messages. So the war rages on, us the paying subscribers against this unfair trade practice. This entry is my small contribution to this great movement of eliminating spam not only in the web but also in the mobile world.

Old computers comes around, goes around

jhay — Sun, 12 Nov 2006 07:04:41 +0000

One thing leads to another, and so forth. This is how this piece came to be. I saw this article from the NY Times Technology section highlighting how the Big Apple’s electronic junk – trashed, old and non-functioning desktop computers – are being recycled or processed by volunteers.

A question dawned on me, what about here in the Philippines? I mean, we Pinoy netizens (at least the financially-blessed among us) have been happily blogging or telling stories to our friends/readers both online and offline about our new and latest desktops, gaming consoles, mobile phones, peripherals and pretty much everything electronic. It generates buzz, fame, albeit jealousy and traffic for those who blog about it.

But what about the old rig that was replaced? The yester-month’s model now deemed as unfit to be shown on flickr albums for they are now relics, even fossils of the digital age? In an earlier piece, I suggested how these old-yet-functioning pieces of electronics can be disposed off by selling them in eBay or other forums. Again, what about the ones that are completely obsolete, non-functioning or cannot be sold off?

Are these simply thrown out along with the household trash? If it is, where does it go? What happens to it?

With 21 years of living in the Philippines I reckon that the following could be answers to the questions mentioned a while ago:

1) Your trusty neighborhood scrap-collector (magbobote, magbabakal, basurero)

I’ve never really sold off any scrap metal or appliance to them before but I remember that we once sold our dicrepit refrigerator for quite an amount back when I was still in highschool. They would buy anything that would have some metals, espcially precious metals, in it and according to how much it weighs. Old television sets, stovetops to water tanks. I wager that they would relish at getting their hands on some old desktops computers and its CRT monitor.

2) Your local junkshop

Of course all the scrap-collectors would end up here to further sell by bulk, what they have collected. I’ve seen quite a few junk shops in Manila, some even had a section devoted to housing old computers and monitors and parts. They sort, tear down appliances and computers to their parts, plastic boards to IC chips rich with gold, silver, copper and other precious metals.

3) Local recycling/processing facilities

Junk shops would eventually sell their stocks to the serious recycling or reprocessing facilities. One such facility is owned by the HMR Group, which is based in Australia. They first opened their facility here in the Philippines back in 2003. They also have facilities in the US, particularly in California.

They have all the necessary equipment and resources to fully reprocess, recover and recycle computer hardwares and even softwares. They safely extract lead form old CRT displays, seperating the glass from lead elements. The local facilityâ€™s focus is on de-manufacturing and re-use of electronics components and processing machinery generated by export zone enterprises.

Come to think of it, I think I’ve just realized where those old ‘recon desktops’ (reconditioned) that are being sold for a fraction of the price of a modern and up-to-date desktop in malls and shops come from.

Well, that’s E-recycling, and isn’t it wonderful?

The Four-eyed Journal » Electronic junk

Spam TXT Messages

Old computers comes around, goes around