Diageo Reserve World Class Battle of the Bartenders

The search for the best bartender is on!  

Diageo Reserve World Class is the world’s largest cocktail education program and bartending competition that aims to elevate the craft of the bartender and build careers in the industry across the globe. Launched in 2009, World Class has truly become an international celebration of flair, creativity, and skill of the bartender, with over 11,000 bartenders from 50 countries participating. The year-long program culminates in an annual luxury landmark week, last year being in Rio de Janeiro, where one bartender will be awarded the title of "DIAGEO Reserve World Class Bartender of the Year”.

Diageo Reserve World Class is back for the 2013 Global Bartender of the Year competition and the Philippines is proud to join the quest with its roster of top Filipino bartenders from premium bars across Metro Manila.

 There is a sudden change, the competition will be held in Prohibition Lounge Bar in Greenbelt 3 on January 31

Kokoro Ramenya: Serving Authentic Japanese Ramen

Two Japanese friends were chatting over their Japanese instant noodle lunch when they suddenly had a great idea of putting up an authentic Japanese ramenya in Manila. After a year of research, various cooking experimentation, food tastings and a few Filipino friends’ support, Kokoro Ramenya was born. It was the passion for perfecting the quintessential hearty Japanese meal, the RAMEN, that made Kokoro Ramenya what it is today. Soup broth is cooked meticulously for 18 hours to achieve its unique delicious flavor and ramen noodles are made fresh daily to ensure the right creamy texture and flavor. All this for a slurpingly good meal in Kokoro Ramenya.

Cucina Andare : The First Food Truck Market in the Philippines

Please join Cucina Andare! The First FOOD TRUCK Market in the Philippines at the Glorietta 3 Open park (the rotonda in front of Makati Shangri-La Hotel) ! Great food choices, premium/craft beers and cocktails plus LIVE music! They'll be open every Fri/Sat/Sun 4pm-3am.

Thanks for your support and please spread the word! I'll be updating this blog post with some details, but for now...enjoy some of the pictures below.

Turbo-charged Huawei Ascend D1 quad XL and Honor 2 to be launched

For you to enjoy your powerful smartphone, battery power must last long.

This Sunday, Huawei plans to introduce the new Ascend D1 quad XL and Ascend G600 (a.k.a., Honor 2), which give more functionality and longer battery life for people who expect more from their powerful device.

Stunningly designed and crafted, the Ascend D1 quad XL is a performance dynamo, dubbed during the Mobile World Congress 2012 in Barcelona as the world’s fastest quad core smartphones. Providing what everyone demands from today’s smartphones and more, the Huawei Ascend D1 quad XL certainly exceeds expectations.

Huawei Ascend G600, a.k.a. Honor 2, builds on the success of Huawei Honor that offered three days battery life on a single charge. Offering more visual clarity, more speed, and more power, this mid-range Ascend brings Honor to the next level.

“Huawei Device strives to combine what we know people want in a smartphone with our experience in delivering against those expectations. As part of our Ascend series of best-in-class smartphones, the Ascend D1 quad XL and Ascend G600 allow consumers to experience speed, long battery life and exceptional mobile entertainment in a high-quality, lightweight package. In addition, our more than two decades of experience has allowed us to optimize the Ascend smartphones’ network search algorithm and its base station auto-search technology, improving the speed of the phone’s signal detection to further extend battery life,” said Johnson Ma, country manager at Huawei Device Philippines.

Joining the growing members of the Ascend family -- Huawei’s strong portfolio of best-in-class smartphones – Ascend D1 quad XL and Ascend G600 will be launched this weekend at SM Cyberzone North EDSA Annex. The new smartphones and other prizes will be raffled away to consumers.

For regular updates on Huawei Device, follow us on:

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Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/HuaweiDevicePH

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/HuaweiDevicePHL 

Flickr: www.flickr.com/huaweidevice   

Villar SIPAG Aims to Alleviate Poverty

Senator Manny Villar and his wife Cynthia Villar, Chairman and Managing Director respectively of the Villar Foundation led the inauguration of the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (SIPAG) on C-5 Road Extension on Pulang Lupa Uno in Las Pinas City last December 13.

Mrs Cynthia Villar yesterday led the inauguration of the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (Villar Sipag) which will serve as a home for Filipinos especially for Las Piñas City residents to raise them out of poverty.

Gizmodo Picks Three Asus Tablets

 

Three ASUS tablets namely the Nexus 7, Transformer Pad Infinity and VivoTab RT were picked in Gizmodo's The most important tablets of 2012.

Transformer Pad Infinity :
"Until Google finally got its tablet hands dirty with the Nexus line, t

he Asus Transformer Pad Infinity was the only Android tablet that could hope to keep pace with the iPad. No wonder Google tapped Asus when time came to build the Nexus 7."

VivoTab RT :
Microsoft's Windows 8 plans were ambitious, but they won't mean anything without strong partners. Asus was the first OEM worth a damn—outside of Microsoft itself— to throw its weight behind Windows 8. And it turned out a pretty good product in the process.

 

Nexus 7 :
Google's first tablet is also still its best. The Nexus 7 (eventually) matched the Kindle Fire HD's budget price with specs you'd expect from a device twice as expensive. It's important because it's Google's first foray into the hardware of the future, and because it's an incredible piece of hardware in its own right.

Parker Pens On Exhibit At EDSA Shangri-La Mall

 

Parker has a mini exhibit located at the ground floor of EDSA Shangri-La Mall showcasing different Parker ballpens. The exhibit is located beside the National Bookstore. It will be only until the 14th of December so better check it out soon before you miss it.

However, inside the National bookstore branch is a booth where you can see more of the Parker pens, and also a chance to have your pens engraved with your nickname, company name, or whatever you like. The attendants are really very warm, friendly and accommodating to the customers.

Sugarleaf Brings Us "Let Food Be Your Medicine"

Healthy Choices by Sugarleaf opened in Greenhills Sugarleaf… Foods That Nourish to expand its mission to provide Filipinos and expatriates better living and eating with Healthy Choices, a showcase of all things related to health and wellness. It is a more consistent supply of certified organic produce at more reasonable prices! It is showcasing products for health and wellness from organic super probiotics from Japan to open-sea raised bangus from Mindanao to bee products from New Zealand to organic raw chocolate bars from Ecuador.

Now, Sugarleaf…Foods That Nourish and Healthy Choices in the MEDICard Lifestyle Center in Makati are delighted to welcome back raw food chef and health advocate Aileen de Guzman for another exciting and informative five-part themed raw food workshop series.

Christmas in Miami : Putting Up the Decorations and Admiring the Skyline

 

Putting Christmas decorations up, making me feel sad for not having holiday spirit yet.....2012, wish my niece and nephew will be here in Miami for the Holidays..

Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates Jesus' birth on December 25. It is both a sacred religious holiday and a worldwide cultural and commercial phenomenon. For two millennia, people around the world have been observing it with traditions and practices that are both religious and secular in nature. Christians celebrate Christmas Day as the anniversary of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, a spiritual leader whose teachings form the basis of their religion. Popular customs include exchanging gifts, decorating Christmas trees, attending church, sharing meals with family and friends and, of course, waiting for Santa Claus to arrive. December 25–Christmas Day–has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1870.

Torque Mobile Phones and Tablets Offers the Best of Technology at Impressive Pricing

Torque Mobile Phones and Tablets has just announced the release of several new mobile phone and tablet models during its grand launch held at the Le Pavilion in Manila.


The company which has an all Filipino team of engineers and designers initially made concepts for the phone and tablet design with the help of foreign consultants but are now specialized themselves to become independent of the succeeding concept and design requirements after an extensive working relationship with the said foreign consultants.

Customers can also rest assured that there are several existing service centers located nationwide to service their phones in case there would be technical problems or would require servicing or maintenance.

The CEO of Torque himself, Christopher Uyco, was the one who proudly discussed infront of the media and blogger groups their new products which are scheduled to be released sometime at the end of the year and some at the beginning of next year.

I was actually surprised when CEO Chris dropped the mobile phone on the floor with only the back casing detaching from the phone. The "drop test" was not necessary but made an impression to the media and proved that the Torque line of model phones are tough and durable enough even though its "cheap"....let's say very much affordable instead.

Pinoy brand TORQUE, aims to level up the mobile phone landscape for Filipino users with its new Torque MEDIA Technology. With this technology applied across its entire product line-up including entry-level models, every Juan can now enjoy “MUSIC-ALL-U-CAN, MOVIES-ALL-U-CAN” features at its finest for as low as P688 only. How? Each Torque MEDIA series phone can have expandable external memory upto 32GB as compared to a mere 2GB of its rivaling foreign brand competitors. To boot, a 3.5mm Headset Jack is at bay for audio enthusiasts who wants nothing but the best of sound quality as they can now plug in their preferred pair of headphones. Another function improved here is Customization. End users can personalize not only their wallpapers or ringtones, but also their message tones & SIM names (since it is dual SIM, it is confusing to just see SIM1 or SIM2) set to each specific operator names. SMS Sent items folder and Video Recording will now be a standard for Torque MEDIA series alongside the camera as this feature is normally not present in other brands’ low tier devices. Torque MEDIA is surely a hit with all Pinoy Audio/Video Enthusiasts. Thus, making communications more affordable and convenient for consumers; and makes it exciting that every Juan will want to have it.

Torque Now

At present, Torque offers its D5, D9, DQ10 TV, DTV20, i18 Fad, 177 Click, and Droidz Flash. All products (Except for DROIDZ Flash) are with dual SIM capability with features that are consumer-focused, plus sold at very affordable price points. As part of the Torque MEDIA lineup, all mobile handsets include an FM radio capability, camera with video recorder, multimedia player, expandable memory up to 32GB and 3.5mm headset included.

D5 and D9 models, dubbed as ‘TRUE MUSIC/MOVIES PHONE’, feature a large 1.8” 65k color display, VGA camera, sent items folder, torchlight, and easy music keys for music/movies lovers’ convenience.

 

For Text Addicts, who opt to use QWERTY instead of keypad, Torque offers the DQ10 TV. With its Mobile TV, 1.3 megapixel camera, large 2.4” TFT display, plus a 3.5mm headset jack, DQ10 TV suits your entertainment-all-you-want mode. DQ10 TV also features WAP 2.0/ GPRS/ MMS/ STK.

 

Love a bigger screen for TV viewing? One can check out Torque’s DTV20, which has a large & clear 2.4” 262K QVGA LCD, and 2-megapixel camera. Connectivity is also not a problem with its Bluetooth capability and WAP 2.0/ GPRS/ SMS/ MMS feature. 

 

Touch & Feel. There’s i18 Fad that has 2.8” full touchscreen and i77 Click with 3.2” full touchscreen. Both have dual mode text input, which means users can select between using its virtual QWERTY and virtual 4x3 keypad, Bluetooth, Wireless FM radio, and Mobile TV. Camera is a plus here as i18 Fad sports a 1.3-megapixel camera while i77 Click boasts a 3-megapixel camera. Connectivity features include WAP 2.0/ GPRS/ SMS/ MMS/ STK for i18 Fad while JAVA/ WAP 2.0/ GPRS/ SMS/ MMS/ STK for i77 Click.

 

Surf, Social Networks, Games? Torque offers the very sought-after Droidz Flash. 7.0” WVGA 800x480 Capacitive Touchscreen, Multi-touch Zoom, Slim form factor, 3-Axis Gyro/Accelerometer matched with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) OS for a refined interface and easy access that is more engaging and interesting. Running at 1.2 GHz CPU with 4GB ROM and 512 MB RAM, Droidz Flash is your best mate when it comes to functions, power, and connectivity. It is also equipped with dual cameras with 2-megapixel rear camera and VGA front camera. With your Favorite Movies accessible via mini-USB or Micro-SD, plug in your 3.5mm Stereo Headset and enjoy Full-HD 1080p video experience, all movies are now ready for your enjoyment. Connect via Wi-Fi or your preferred 3G USB stick allows you true internet freedom on-the-go.



Torque Next

Full understanding of the market always needs something fresh – design and functionality-wise, so Torque proudly embraces Pinoy Pride to the Next! It showcases 2 new models under Torque MEDIA Technology…the Most Affordable E2 & the All-In-1 Capacitive Touch i78 Stream.

E2 fits the consumer who simply wants to enjoy his/her dual roles in life – dual SIM. Its features a large 1.8” 65K color display, multimedia player, FM radio, loud speaker, FM radio with headset, Sent items folder, and Micro-SD up to 32GB. Bluetooth is a plus for those who want to transfer data. All this for just P688!

The All-In-1 i78 Stream comes with a large 4.0” HVGA display, capacitive touchscreen, 320X480 Widget-based UI, and a dual mode text input of QWERTY and keypad. You can use surf the net using the Wi-Fi and be connected using its WAP 2.0/ GPRS/ MMS/ STK. The i78 Stream also includes Mobile TV, Bluetooth, FM radio, and a multimedia player.


Torque’s New DROIDZ Flex Technology for Android now ushers in to provide Faster, More Powerful Yet Affordable Android devices for the demanding Filipino users who wants more out of Android. Such technology will now be implemented on Torque’s new DROIDZ Series such as DROIDZ Sport, DROIDZ Force, DROIDZ Atom, DROIDZ Blast, DROIDZ Motion, DROIDZ Life, DROIDZ Portal & DROIDZ Ultimate

 

For the budget-conscious Dual SIM Android lovers, Torque offers the compact DROIDZ Sport and 9.5mm-slim DROIDZ Force with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and runs at 1GHZ CPU. So remarkable here are the screen sizes as DROIDZ Sport features an efficient 3.5” HVGA 480x320 Capacitive Touch Display while DROIDZ Force features a bigger 4.0” WVGA 800x480 Capacitive Touch Display. DROIDZ Sport having 512MB ROM and 256 RAM while Droidz Force using 512 MB ROM and 512 MB RAM. These two models are Dual SIM, 3MP camera, goes with 3.5mm stereo headset, FM radio, multimedia player, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, G-sensor and internet connection via JAVA/EDGE.

 

Seeking for More Powerful & Faster Processing DROIDZ? Torque answers this market demand with 4 new Dual SIM-Dual Core DROIDZ Smartphones. All the series models run at 1GHz Dual Core CPU with 4GB ROM and 512MB RAM. Its superior interface uses the advanced Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) OS, has Multi-Touch Zoom, 3.5mm stereo headset, FM radio, Micro-USB port, Light/Proximity/Gravity Sensors. Enjoy Global Roaming & Faster Connectivity as the series models support 3.5G HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100MHz at DL 7.2Mbps/UL 5.76Mbps, Quadband GSM/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900MHz. All models support Dual cameras with 8-megapixel rear with LED Flash and VGA front camera. Other features include Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Tethering, GPS and AGPS Support. 

 

Choose among the newest Large Display Pinoy DROIDZ series: the affordable DROIDZ Atom with 4.0” WVGA 800x480 Capacitive Touch, or the corporate DROIDZ Blast with 4.7” qHD 960x540 Capacitive Touch, or the Note-like DROIDZ Motion with 5.3” qHD 960x540 Capacitive Touch, or the massive DROIDZ Life with 6.0” FWVGA 854x480 Capacitive Touch. 

What Torque is more excited to launch is its DROIDZ Portal and DROIDZ Ultimate Tablets. These two models have Call and Text features, JAVA/SMS/MMS capabilities, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi Tethering, GPS and AGPS Support, 3.5mm stereo headset jack, Micro-USB port, and Light/Proximity/Gravity Sensors.

DROIDZ Portal runs at 1GHZ Dual Core CPU with 4GB ROM and 512 RAM. With its 7.0” WSVGA 1024x600 Capacitive Touchscreen, and a multi-touch zoom, users will sure to enjoy Droidz Portal’s interface that uses Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). Users will also be delighted with its speed and bandwidth as it uses HSDPA 7.2Mbps/HSUPA 5.76 Mbps and 3.5G HSDPA 850/900/2100MHZ. Droidz Portal also features dual cameras with its rear camera using 8-megapixel with LED Flash while its front uses VGA camera.

 

 DROIDZ Ultimate powered by 1GHZ Dual Core CPU with 8GB ROM, and 1GB RAM, It also uses HSDPA 7.2Mbps/HSUPA 5.76 Mbps and 3.5G HSDPA 850/900/1900/2100MHZ. Enjoy Droidz Ultimate with its Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), 9.7” XGA 1024x768 capacitive Touchscreen, multi-touch zoom, dual cameras with 8-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel for the front camera, plus it has HDMI capability.

Even with these exemplary products, Torque will not stop here and continue its commitment of delivering quality and value for money products for the Filipino consumers. Soon, Torque will introduce its limited edition line dubbed as ‘Inspire’ series. Coming soon!

For the complete price list and information about Torque, visit www.torque.ph.