I always look forward to riding the LRT from Anonas to Recto. The trains are spacious and generally clean and well maintained. Compared with the Baclaran–Monumento line and the MRT, the Santolan–Recto trains are a godsend.

The MRT, for example, suffers from a severe lack of trains. As a result, commuters are forced to endure being packed as tightly as potatoes and other vegetables from Baguio being trucked to the metropolis. I always enjoy those occasions that I had no choice but take the MRT as much as a root canal.

Only the perverts who are always on the lookout for opportunities to take advantage of women passengers would truly enjoy taking the MRT. It's a good thing they now have separate coaches for female passengers. Although, some women are still forced to take the “For General Patronage” coaches during rush hours, which mean practically the whole day.

Hey, government officials, sirs and ladies! Can we finally learn to moderate our greed, and allocate some more of the people's money to improving our mass transport system? This time, for real?

Chummy with iTunes, Again

A couple of weeks ago, Apple upgraded its iTunes software. The upgrade, however, was designed to stop Palm Inc.'s Pre smartphone from getting too intimate with the digital media management software.

After a very short while, however, Palm, whose chairman and CEO used to be an Apple executive, released a software update that restores the Pre's previous intimacy with the Apple software.

This corner is rather excited about what Apple's reaction would be. Would the Mac vendor be “pikon” again, and snuff once more the Pre's iPod pretense? Or would Steve Jobs' company play the part of a market leader, secure in the knowledge that it is the boss of the digital media world?

Toshiba Does Blu-ray

Our readers who do not have memory lapses yet might remember Toshiba's previous, and ultimately unsuccessful bid to set the standard for the next-generation DVD format. Toshiba's HD DVD format, however, lost to its rival, the Blu-ray Disc, which was developed by Sony.

Dubbed by some market observers as a redux of the 1980s VHS-Betamax video format battles, the Blu-ray versus HD DVD wars ended rather quickly, with Toshiba deciding it made more sense to stop pushing its proposed format.

A year after the ceasefire, Toshiba finally decides to enter the Blu-ray market. Reports by Japanese newspapers revealed that Toshiba plans to introduce several Blu-ray products this year.

Definitely a hard pill to swallow, but what else can Toshiba do? Anyway, this corner tips its hat to Toshiba for having the courage to admit defeat and make the most of the situation. Losing the battle, after all, does not necessarily mean losing the war.

And the pain of losing, and of being required to pay license fees for Blu-ray technologies, will ultimately be numbed or deadened by potentially earning a lot from selling Blu-ray products.

And that, my friends, are consumer electronics business 101.

That's all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.