The place is called Blenz Coffee.

Prices are not far from those in the usual coffeeshops where we hang out. They accept major credit cards. The coffees that I’ve tried just tasted right. Not bad, not bad at all. Actually, Blenz promises “never burnt, never bitter” cups of their fresh brewed coffee.

The Philippine Coffee Scene was unimpressed with some of the coffees. Meanwhile, Food Trip Tayo! likes Blenz and recommends it to those tired of the usual places. Ditto for My Food Notebook.

A check with Google reveals that Blenz Coffee comes from Canada where it has dozens of coffeeshops. It also has branches in Japan and Kuwait.

The coffeeshop is well-lit, has plenty of chairs and desks. Along one side of the glass walls, there’s a long table that could accommodate perhaps five people.  The lavatory is clean. The noise level — a factor important to mobile workers — is very low compared to the well-established coffeeshops.

But perhaps its strong selling point is the sheer number of “universal-type” power outlets that are found all over the the coffeeshop. Unlike others who illegally resell electricity (by charging power charging fees, Blendz’s many power outlets practically encourage coffee lovers to bring their laptops and spend some time in their coffeeshop. There are six power outlets alone at the small but well-ventilated smoking lounge.

Blenz also provides its own free WIFI service on top of what SM Megamall offers across the shopping center. If you have mobile broadband, you are lucky to have redundant internet services if you’re there.

I discovered Blenz last weekend as I went around SM Megamall to find a belated Christmas gift. You bet that I’ll be back there in no time.  Or I’ll check their other stores at the SM One E Com Center beside SM Mall of Asia, and at One Solaris Bldg., Dela Rosa Street, Legazpi Village, Makati City.

Author Andrew Matthews gamely poses with this blogger after signing a copy of his book.

Matthews’ fans are a mix of young and old, men and women, students, professionals and retirees. Among those in attendance at last week’s event was a grandmother who brought her 20-year old copy of “Being Happy” which he had asked Matthews to sign.

According to National Bookstore, more than six million copies of Matthews’ books have been sold worldwide, and have been translated in 35 languages.

“He is also a sought after speaker in companies and schools and has made over 3,000 radio and TV appearances on 4 continents,” said a statement from National Bookstore.

In the Philippines, Matthews’ books, shown above, are available only in National Bookstore.

Check out Matthews’ site to know more about him and his work as author and speaker.

The specially-designed ZTE MF627 dongles bore logos and insignia of the NCAA and UAAP schools, their mascots and the name of their teams.

Here is the design for the UP Fighting Maroons:

Meanwhile, students of perennial NCAA rivals Letran and San Beda had these dongles made available to them:

Letran Knights

San Beda Red Lions

The whole day affair featured games, performances by prominent bands and a sale of notebook computers. Alumni and faculty were given a chance to buy the same special NCAA-UAAP dongles for P895 or P100 less than the P995 retail price.

Members of the press and bloggers who got invites to cover the event received a different kind of USB dongle, the older Huawei E156C in pristine white.

B Free Day is a great way for any company to get connected to its target market, by providing them a free conduit to connecting to its services and the day of the giveaway was marked by all sorts of fun events.

The downside about the event is that it was held in the morning and afternoon when it was hot and most students were still in school. Had it been held starting mid-afternoon to early evening, there would have been more people who would have attended it. The venue was also out of the way for most students. The nearest school, UA&P, is not even a member of either UAAP or NCAA. Another personal concern is also about how SmartBro would protect the photocopies of student IDs they collected. Hopefully, no spam. A few of them in the wrong hands — I saw some photocopies lying innocently on the ground at the venue — could spell trouble for the students.

What to expect next? Perhaps thousands of reviews or comments on SmartBro services in the next few weeks, coming from their new subscribers.

Top officials of Asus took pride in explaining the main features of their new motherboards — Intel P55 Express chipset and support for the latest LGA 1156 socket for Intel Core i7/Core i5 processors — as well as its Hybrid Technology composed of Hybrid Processor, Hybrid Phase, and Hybrid OS. The end goal is “to give users intelligent performance enhancement, active cooling, and rapid online access”.

This motherboard is an overclocker’s wet dream. Overclocking can be done quickly and easily, without the need for rebooting or tinkering with the BIOS.

For the non-techies, this motherboard promises to give you speed and almost instant booting: just five seconds! Its own OS provides users with a quick way to download photos, check emails and other basic functions.

Suggested price for the “lowest end model” of the new motherboard is around P9,000, according to Asus officials.

(By the way, I won an Asus U1  Xonar USB audio station during the quiz-cum-raffle. I barely answered the question.)

SM Manila (photo courtesy of SM Prime Holdings)

Free WIFI is now available to all mall-goers, shoppers and diners in SM City Manila.

The free WIFI service was launched Aug. 31 with bloggers trying out and testing the really fast and really free internet service. No passwords needed!  SM City Manila thus has joined other SM Supermalls in Metro Manila and elsewhere which offer free WIFI.

The best place to get free WIFI is the Food Court while you enjoy the fare offered by stores like Chicken Company

or Hen Lin which boasts of the 80-cm siopao

or munch some crackling pork rind (chicharon) from R. Lapid’s.

Vegetarian fare is available at Bodhi’s:

This is very convenient and useful for employees from the Manila City Hall and other offices,  and students from the many nearby schools, colleges and universities who regularly visit SM City Manila. I’m sure they will be spending more time at the mall because of this free WIFI service.

Find more free WIFI hotspots here.

And so a week after arriving in Los Angeles and soon after the conference I attended there, I started to go my way to the city that never sleeps and I was not disappointed. Special mention to Berns and Gary who took care of me when I was there.

New York has plenty of sights and sounds. If you love to just lounge around, there are museums and parks. Times Square is a sight to behold. The Grand Central station is big and grandiose. Elsewhere, at Fifth Avenue, you can check out stores of the world’s most famous fashion houses and the Philippine consulate.

Brooklyn is a nice place to live in. Plenty of Pinoys in Queens and thanks to groups like the Philippine Forum, they have a center they can call their own.

The 24-hour subway system’s a charm. Trains could take you practically anywhere in the great city. Tourists staying for a few days to a week should get a “week pass” and ride the trains instead of taking the yellow cabs.

At the Greenwich Village, the unassuming but historic Stonewall Inn still stands.

By the way, Harlem and Bronx would have to wait for my next visit.

More photos from NYC here.

My Tito Ollie and Tita Emily were very gracious hosts. I really regret staying there for just a day. But even with just a short stay, we had dinner, coffee and a quick trip to downtown Charlotte.

Next time, I would love to stay there longer.

Here are some pics of Charlotte.

Twas also my first time for me to meet my cousins Christopher and Leslie, both gifted young artists who obviously inherited the artistic genes of the Memije family. Tito David was a gracious host. (Incidentally, five tornadoes touched down on Colorado on the same day I arrived.)

We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. The waiter asked for my ID when I asked for some beer — he wanted to be sure I was old enough to order beer!

I stayed there for a night and the next day, after breakfast, my Tita Ningning and my cousins took me to Garden of the Gods where we marveled at the great rock formations, with the Rocky Mountains as the backdrop.

Afterwards, we went to Manitou Springs.

The whirlwind trip to Charlotte was short but sweet.

Click here for some of my Colorado photos. More photos and videos soon.

Here she is, still strong, washing the day’s dishes:

I was able to go around San Diego, thanks to Tito Luis, Tito Lennie and Tita Anag.

Tita Anag and “grandpa” brought me to Mission Bay

and to Old Town

Click here for some more photos from San Diego.

Los Angeles is home to the University of Southern California and its Annenberg School of Communication where the Beyond Broadcast 2009 conference was held from June 3 to 5. I spoke at the opening plenary session, sharing the Philippine experience on mobile activism.

USC Annenberg is a cool place where many things were happening at any one time during Beyond Broadcast 2009. The whole USC campus is blanketed by free WIFI.

Thanks to Colette, Ralph and Irvin, I was able to around Los Angeles like where Colette currently works:

this part of Hollywood Boulevard:

and a few miles from this popular sign:

Check out my first batch of Los Angeles photos here.