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Hong Kong's answer to the iPod Sports Kit is a stand-alone line that measures your steps and more

Sure, there's an iPod app that can sync with your running shoes to tell you how far you've gone, and whether you're running at your optimal heart rate. The problem? You'll need to buy special running shoes and get the iPod Sports Kit.

Leave it to Asia to adapt that idea and come out with a value-for-money alternative. The Live-Lite range of pedomoter/heart rate monitor earphones from Perception Digital offers much the same functionality without prices that can make your blood pressure shoot up.

Chosen by the Hong Kong Electronics Industries Association (HKEIA) as the winner of the Grand Award at last year's Electronics Asia fair, the Live-Lite line has doesn't need special shoes, and works right out of the box.

The basic model, the PD3030, is compatible with iPods and iPhones. Using 3D motion analysis, the Live-Lite series can tell you how far you've run in miles, kilometers, or steps even without fancy shoes. The 3D motion analysis system can tell when you're walking, jogging, or running, and can calculate how many calories you've burned.

The 3030 also doubles as a heart monitor, and with the Voice Out function, will tell you the information you need with a quick tap on the unit without having to check your iPod screen.

The PD6160, meanwhile, comes with its own 8GB audio player that can play MP3 and WMA files. There is also a built-in FM radio for when you've run so much you've heard every song on your play list. Aside from the pedometer and heart rate monitor, the 6160 also functions as a stopwatch. All information can be viewed on the unit's OLED screen.

The PD6810 is similar to the 6160, but has the Voice Out function, making it the best unit in the Live-Lite line.

All units are USB 2.0 compatible, making docking, and uploading your music files simple, and simply connecting to your PC will recharge the unit. With play time of up to 12 hours, your Live-Lite will likely still keep going long after you've done your cool-down stretching.

The Live-Lites even keep a record of your workouts with the HeartPAL program so you can keep track of how healthy you're getting, and with connectivity to social-networking site Facebook, you can even tell the world about it.

Perception Digital is a Design Supply Chain Management firm, so, while the Live-Lite line is still only available in Hong Kong, it's just a matter of time before an astute businessman brings these gadgets to Philippine shores.—JDS

Flipping Burgers & Rockstars

Columns >> Business Matters

Bernie just finished his training session at the local hamburger fast-food company. So he was a little nervous being behind the register for the first time. His first customer ordered a soda.

“Bernie,” the manager said, “remember to say 'Welcome to our restaurant' to each customer before they order.”

His second customer ordered a cheeseburger. This time, the manager approached Bernie again and said, “Remember to ask each customer if they want fries with their order.” At this point, Bernie started to feel uncomfortable having the manager come and correct him every time he served a customer.

And then a man came in wearing a ski mask, approached Bernie at the register and pointed a gun in his face. “Give me all the money you got in that register, kid!”

Bernie took one look at his manager, thought to himself, and quickly said, “Would you like that for here or to go?”

Working in the fast-food business is not easy. It’s a joke in America. Flipping burgers is. And the sad thing about it is that it’s not even funny. Let me give you an example. Here’s a joke that has circulated on the Internet.

The graduate with a Science degree asks, “Why does it work?”

The graduate with an Engineering degree asks, “How does it work?”

The graduate with an Accounting degree asks, “How much will it cost?”

The graduate with a Liberal Arts degree asks, “Do you want fries with that?”

It implies that flipping burgers or working in a fast-food restaurant is degrading? But is it?

I have always known the world famous Zig Ziglar as a very positive motivational speaker. This is why I was surprised when he became upset. And in one of his tapes I heard him say, “I get so irritated when some of these high-paid athletes, high-paid television and moviestars, when they belittle those hamburger flippers.”

The reason why Ziglar is irritated is that these “burger flippers” have two or three choices in life. They can either get an honest job. And flipping burgers and working for a fast-food company is honest. That way they can take care of their own needs or help out their family. Or they can go on welfare, get into drugs or prostitution. So now decide for yourself which is more desirable.

The exciting thing about burger flippers and all those who have similar jobs working in the fast-food industry is that each and everyone of them learns important lessons in life, such as

1. Dependability – They have to show up on time and they have to work until a certain time. There is another word for this and it is called “Responsibility.”

2. Customer Service – They learn how to treat their customers with courtesy and respect. They develop their people skills.

3. Technology – They learn how to operate those high-tech machines. They develop mechanical skills that you and I don’t even have.

4. Presentation – They learn that it is important to keep oneself neat and clean.

5. Leadership – They learn how to lead their peers and they learn how to submit to authority.

Now you tell me, are these not lessons that can prepare them for future successes in life?

Meanwhile, what are the cocaine-alcohol-addicted-driving-while-intoxicated-demanding-only-green-M&M’s-in-their-contract rockstars and moviestars learning anyway? Not very much, wouldn’t you say?

I just finished training some of the managers of a leading fast-food firm and many of these dedicated leaders flipped burgers at the start of their careers. Today they are successful.

There is no such thing such as an honest job that is demeaning. Flipping burgers is not beneath one’s dignity. Our grandparents had a different word for burger flipping. They called it opportunity.

It’s not the nature of the job that is important. It’s the nobility we put into our job that is.

Be proud of what you do as long as you are doing it honestly and giving it your best.

Show appreciation and thank God for the opportunity. Nevermind the proud and the arrogant. Men look at the externals but God looks at the heart.

The Feasts of Abalone

Sections >> Cuisine

Manila Hotel's Mabuhay Palace lauded this year's graduates with excellent abalone dishes that were once only enjoyed by the Chinese elite

This lovely day will lengthen into evening.

Composed long before they were born, the students graduating this year 450,000 might not be familiar with this line from Miles Davis' “I'll Remember April.”

Little do they know, however, that this line best captures the sentiment on the day they've waited for since the first day of school: their graduation.

It is only fitting, then, that Manila Hotel's five-star Mabuhay Palace feted graduates in March with a feast that deserved a cum laude of its own.

In a food festival held last month, graduates and hotel guests were given the chance to sample Mabuhay Palace's medley of delectable Australian abalone dishes. At a generous 50% discount, guests were able to savor a variety of abalone dishes prepared from the restaurant's master chefs.

Assistant vice president for corporate communications Nian Liwanag-Rigor calls the festival one of Manila Hotel's best promotions for the year, especially since it was in honor of our country's future leaders.

“This kind of event happens only once in a lifetime and should be celebrated in a grand way,” says Manila Hotel General Manager Leon Keekstra. Indeed, graduation calls for a celebration that stretches long into the night.

Monitored Mollusk

Mabuhay Palace's abalones are shipped direct from Tasmania in Australia, where about 25% of all the abalone consumed in the world each year is harvested. Abalones are so abundant in the said state that fishing for the mollusk is practically the official Tasmanian sport. Blacklip abalones, which can grow as large as 138mm, and the larger greenlip abalones that   have a minimum size of 145mm are the two most common species.

Tasmanians have to secure a license before heading out into the Australian blue to dive for abalone, and a person is  allowed to gather no more than  20 of the large sea snails.

In New Zealand, a diver is only allowed to collect 10 paua (the Maori name for abalone), which should not be smaller than 125mm in length. In California, where red abalones are found in pizza and pasta dishes and not much of a rare delicacy, no more than four abalones can be possessed by divers and fishermen. Divers are required to record the number of abalone taken ashore as well as the time, date, and the designated location in a report card.

Failure to follow such regulations has led to penalties, confiscation of boats and diving equipment, and even imprisonment.

Excessive fishing and poaching have given birth to abalone farming as their numbers have been reduced in their marine habitat. Japan and China, leaders in abalone farming, both started farming the sea snails for consumption in the early 1960s. Taiwan and Korea soon followed suit, now large, commercial producers of the sea snail.

Royal Repast

Known as bao yu in Chinese, abalone is only served during special occasions and is believed bring good fortune and wealth. Like the shark's fin and bird's nest soup, abalone is regarded both as a luxury and a rarity. Mass cultivation of this rare delicacy has made abalone a more common Chinese banquet fare, but it has retained its status as a food fit for princes and scholars.

In its dried form, bao yu is a very prized ingredient in regional cuisines, and is sought after much like ginseng, bird's nest, shark's fin, and sea cucumber. As a seasoning, abalone lends a concentrated, salty-sweet flavor to soups like the Ho Fun noodle soup.

Dried abalones are prone to molds and cracks, and chefs meticulously check for these before buying them in markets and specialty stores where the rule of thumb is the lighter the color, the better.

In Cantonese cuisine, fresh abalones are usually steamed and braised, and then served with a cascading layer of a thick, creamy sauce like black bean or oyster sauce. Ingredients that are often included in abalone dishes are Chinese black mushrooms, asparagus, and broccoli. Mabuhay Palace's version of this sumptuous dish, the Braised Abalone Mushroom and Vegetable, sated the gustatory curiosity of graduates and guests, and will serve as a perfect start to any celebratory feast.

To tickle the palate without stretching the waistline, Mabuhay Palace also offers  a healthy variation of the abalone dish, the Braised Abalone with Fillet of Turkey Ham, Mushroom and Garden Greens, as well as the Braised Assorted Deluxe Seafood, a colorful mix of  slowly braised seafood with an entire Australian abalone. Load up on proteins by sampling the Homemade Slow Braised Abalone with Egg and Bean Curd.

For a savory treat that's heavier on the stomach, try the Chef's Specialty Marinated Abalone, a slowly braised whole abalone steak marinated in Mabuhay Palace's special sauce. Punctuate the remarkable feast with cold desserts like  Mabuhay Palace's Special Homemade Ice Cream and Almond Shooter.

Aside from being a status symbol in Chinese culture, abalone is valued for its health benefits. It boosts the immune system and is rich in protein, fat-soluble vitamins A, E and B12, magnesium, selenium, and omega-3 fatty acids.

The abalone is also said to be  an aphrodisiac like its fellow mollusk, the oyster, which is about as good a reason as any to indulge in this favorite of China's long-lost mandarins and aristocrats. But then, that's an entirely different rite of passage altogether.

Power to the People?

Sections >> Cover Feature

It has been almost a decade since a power industry reform act was passed. What are our lawmakers doing to solve the energy crisis?

The Philippines has had a long history of power supply shortages, with a power crisis dating back to the Ramos administration in the early 1990s. In 2001, Congress passed a major piece of legislation which lawmakers and industry leaders thought would solve the power situation: giving the power industry to the private sector.

But almost a decade after legislators passed the bill in what would later become Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform  Act (Epira), various quarters are saying that the passage of a new bill seeking to revise the power reform law to enhance retail competition  in the sector could be the answer to a looming major power crisis that could cripple industries and affect the first ever fully-automated elections in the country.

Although RP Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes had assured the public that Luzon will not experience brownouts and that that the Luzon grid had adequate reserves until June, power interruptions were experienced in Metro Manila and nearby provinces which started last March 1 as the 1,200-megawatt (MW) Sual 1 in Pangasinan and 600-MW Masinloc 1 in  Zambales shut down due to boiler tube leaks.

Virtually the entire Philippines is now in peril of a crippling power shortage. Mindanao is experiencing critically low power supply, worsened by the El Nino weather phenomenon. Already, brownouts lasting up to twelve hours have been reported  in some areas. The region is highly reliant on hydro-power plant complexes, and as water levels continue to recede amid the dry spell, dark days are coming.

The Visayas, on the other hand, has also been experiencing rotating brownouts due to lower generating capacity  due to  breakdowns in major power plants.

A Political Solution?

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, author of Senate Bill 2121 seeking to amend the Epira, leads those who are calling for the passage to reform the reform law, saying this will benefit the consuming public.

The Epira provides a framework for the restructuring of the power industry, including the privatization of state-run National Power Corporation's (Napocor's) assets, with the goal of making the sector more competitive.

Enrile's bill would, in effect, lower the privatization threshold of Napocor's assets in Luzon and the Visayas to 50% from the current 70% to hasten "open access" and enhance retail competition. Ideally, he says, consumers should be able to choose where to buy their electricity. The lack of open access discourages investors from building new power plants, he says.

The Epira mandated the Napocor to be 70% privatized within three years of passage into law,  or by  2004, but this did not happen. Napocor privatization is currently pegged below 60%.

In 2007 and 2008, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (Psalm) successfully auctioned off Napocor's large assets, including the 600-megawatt (MW) Masinloc coal-fired power plant and the Ambuklao-Binga Hydroelectric plant. Last year, the 146.5 MW Panay and 22 MW Bohol diesel power complexes, the 108-MW Aplaya and 22.3-MW General Santos diesel power plants, and the 0.8 MW Amlan Power facility were sold. The Psalm auctioned off the National Transmission Corp., the state's transmission line, to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines, a consortium partially owned by the State Grid Corporation of China. Whether these sales will translate to lower electricity rates remains to be seen.

Emergency Powers

The President, through Section 71 of the Epira, can seek congressional authority, through a joint resolution, to establish additional generating capacity to address power shortages.

Lawmakers, however, have not been keen on granting President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo emergency powers, saying she has ample powers as chief executive to implement solutions and this may again result in expensive power purchase agreements like those done close to two decades ago.

Both opposition to, and support for, invoking Section 71 are effectively moot, however. Enrile and House Speaker Prospero Nograles have declared that due to the election campaign season, and because Congress is on recess, neither the Senate nor the House of Representatives will be able to muster a quorum to authorize emergency powers for the President.

Senator Manuel Villar, Jr., Nacionalista Party presidential bet, has called on the government to craft a long-term solution to the power shortage. "By now, the government should have developed contingency plans and long-term measures to address this problem, especially if it will prevent the growth of industries," Villar says. His running mate, Senator Loren Legarda, meanwhile, says the energy crisis is the  result of government's inability to encourage more private investors in the power sector, particularly in power generation.

But corporations and consortia have been getting into power, with power plants expected online late this year and early next year. That the Psalm has been able to sell off  Napocor's assets also shows that there is interest in the industry. Granted, however, that the initial cost in capital and time does give investors pause.

Besides, waiting for the participation of the private sector in power generation could prove futile, as the energy crisis could worsen in the coming months if the government does not provide short-term solutions.

Instead, legislators say the government should purchase power barges, which,  although costly, can increase the energy generation in affected regions as a stop-gap measure to the energy problem. Secretary Reyes, on the sidelines of an inauguration ceremony for a power plant in Cebu, says, however, that power barges “are not feasible at all.” By the time funds have been allocated, and the barges—practically just floating generators—have been purchased and delivered, the power crisis may already be over, or beyond hope.

Minority legislators seem to prefer the power barges, however, saying disposing of state assets in an election season should be shelved as this could lead to "midnight" asset sales. Privatization, lawmakers say, should be undertaken by the next administration.

With Congress out of the running for the next few months, it is clear that for all their power, our legislators may have to join the rest of the country in cursing at the darkness.

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