May I interest you readers in purchasing a PS3 for a measly 500 Pesos?

Yes. You heard me right!

PS3 for cheap!

What a steal!

If you don't believe me, then look at the photo!

Ho~! I've never seen a computer as fast and as good as this!

If you want a laptop that can handle the latest games, make video editing as fast as it can get, store all your files conveniently, and connect to the internet lightning fast, then I suggest YOU DO NOT BUY THE COMPUTER THAT YOU ARE LOOKING AT!

A little game of The Price is Right before we begin....

How much did these two items fetch on EBay?

Well?

After you have guessed, do read on and see how much these two items fetched on the ever dependable EBay...

*Sigh* People never learn...

Yes, a scammer has done it again, this time in a parking lot outside Mickey D's (McDonalds).

Would you spend more than a thousand US dollars for a PS3? Yes? No? Maybe?

Oh yes, after the official launch of PS3 in the US and Japan, those (gamers and non-gamers) who lined up for days are putting their PS3s for sale/auction to potentially earn twice as much.

But what if, just what if, you do not know what you're really up against?

Read on.

Talk about scammers... A person by the name of Sean bought a brand new iPod from a website called Smalldog.com. Surprisingly, his iPod turned out to be something else...

I have been playing a lot of MMORPGs and games extensively for the past few years. And, apart from the sheer exhilaration I get from playing these games, I also get really annoyed with people who resort to cheating.

From hex runes and map hacks in Diablo, to aimbots, speed hacks, and map hacks in CS or Battlefield - these cheaters go out of their way to purchase, download, and install hacks on their PC to gain a very unfair advantage.

Yes, I too have had my fair share of cheating... When I get stuck (or die pertually) in a PS2 game, I immediately read my favorite faq website: http://www.gamefaqs.com. Better yet, I just download a couple of codes for my Gameshark application (infinite lives and ammo, etc.) and play the game without worries. What I DON'T do however, is to get hacks/mods/bots for any online game that I'm playing (or played before) as it defeats the purpose of enjoying it.

However, this is not the case for chronic cheaters...

Photos are usually taken to capture those "precious" moments. But what if the photos you see are merely fragments of ones imagination?

In an article entitled: Pictures that lie, Cnet news posted some photos that were altered to make it look better or cause more impact.

An example is a photo of Katie Couric. She was "slimmed down" in this picture and can be seen here...

So much for reality.

The whole article can be found on the Cnet news section and can be found on this link.

Our friends from Transcend has informed us about the proliferation of fake Transcent Jet Flash thumbdrives in the Philippines and has asked us to inform the public about such products. According to Transcend Account Manager, Ms. Renee, this particular Transcend JetFlash with model no. TSXXXJF2B (where XXX is the capacity, eg. 128, 256, 512...) as seen above hasn't been officially sold in the Philippines for more than a year now. Transcend has warned that such products sold as brand new today are not from them, but there's a 95% possibility that they're counterfeits (where else could they have come from?). Warranty is not covered by Transcend either and so is guarantee for quality storage, you can expect such a product to last you only for two to three months.

The Blue JetFlash shown above is the only known fake model as of date and is commonly found with 256MB of memory. One way to spot if it's a fake is to check the serial number at the rear of the package and see if it matches:

Part number: TS256MJF2B		S/N: 113727 4499 0513 

If you insist of purchasing such a model and are worried about the quality of the product, do ask which distributor to go to for warranty and double check if the distributor matches in Transcend's official list (select Philippines from the "select the region" drop box). You can also call up the official distributor(s) and see if the retail shop you're purchasing from is on their official list of retail partners. For more information about this issue it's best to e-mail Transcend.

"Ma'am/Ser, DVD, DVD? VCD? Tree-plex?"

Most of you probably know this dialogue as this line is commonly used by those "pirates" who want to sell you the latest movie in DVD format. And while most of you will say that "pirated" is better since it's cheaper than the original, I beg to disagree.

You see, pirates not only make copies of your favorite movie titles; they also provide consumers with software applications, bags, shoes, phones, mp3 players, computer parts, and even LCD screens.

Sure, they are cheap and all that, but how about quality control and assurance that what you see is what you really get?