How to Program Your Favorite Channels on a Sky Cable Remote Control

If you've recently subscribed to Sky Cable TV, then you might have received a remote control like the one shown in the picture above. If you've tried to add a channel you like to your favorites using the FAV button, it doesn't seem to work. When you press on the FAV button, it just shows a blank FAV CHANNEL LIST with no channels to choose from.

To add a particular channel to your FAV CHANNEL LIST window, follow these steps:
1. Click on the MENU button on your Sky Cable remote control. You should see a window similar to the one below. (Sorry for the image, it's an old TV)

2. Navigate to SETTINGS > CHANNEL SETTINGS
3. You should see a list of channels you can add to the FAV CHANNEL LIST as long as that channel is part of your subscription bundle.
4. Press the FAV button on the remote control. A dot should appear on the Favorite column if you've added that particular channel to the list.
5. Click on the EXIT button on your Sky Cable remote control.
6. You will be asked if you want to save the changes so choose YES and then click OK on the remote.
7. Just repeat the process for any other channel you might want to add. To remove a channel, just press FAV and make sure the dot on the Favorite column disappears.

Now, whenever you press the FAV button on your Sky Cable remote control, you should see a list you can choose from. Just use the up and down buttons to navigate to the channel you want, then press OK on the remote to switch to that channel.

Hope you find this guide helpful. ^_^

Applying for a Student Permit at LTO

So you want to learn how to drive? And you've set your sights on a particular driving school. You're about to pay for the tuition fee when you find out that you need a Student's Permit in order to be able to study driving. How do you do it? (Note: the driving school might offer to do this for you at a higher price, but doing it yourself will take only about 318 pesos as of this writing, and about 2 to 4 hours, depending on the volume of applicants.)

So how do you go about getting a Student's Permit?

1. Familiarize yourself with the LTO License Application Form. I wouldn't advice you print it out since the personnel at the LTO Satellite will still ask you to fill out their forms with their authorization numbers stamped on the form. These numbers are absent from the online form. Still, you should be prepared to know the details being asked from the form. And remember to box shade, NOT CHECK, the checkboxes.
2. Try to get to the office early. There will be a long line for the Application Form, but to get one, you will have to present an original government I.D. and also a photocopy of this I.D. So photocopy your PRC, Passport, SSS, etc. I.D. It is important that the I.D. you use indicates your date of birth. Otherwise, you will have to prove that you are 17 years old or older using your birth certificate. Just bring a photocopy of whatever credentials you plan on presenting to avoid having to go out of the building and looking for a Xerox vendor.
3. You will be given a queue number. Wait for it to show up on the digital display. There are chairs available for you to wait on. Use the waiting time to verify that everything you wrote on the Application Form is correct.
4. There are several evaluator windows - and the person at this window will check your application for errors, and may ask you to read an oath about being a responsible driver. You have to read it aloud. After doing this, you will have to wait at the chairs again until your name is called.
5. The next window is for data corrections - I think you are called to this window if the person typing in your data from the application form to the computer can't understand your hand-writing. So, write legibly.
6. The next window if for taking your picture and signature. Be ready with your best smile. And writing with a digital pen is like using one of those fat pencils back in elementary. Make sure your signature doesn't overshoot the digital pad. Again, after doing this, you will have to wait at the chairs again until your name is called.
7. The next window is for payment. Try to being the exact amount needed, otherwise, you might have to go out and buy something, just to get change. Again, that's 318 pesos as of this writing. It was strange that they did not issue the official receipt at this window. You had to wait for it at the release window - along with your Student Permit. If for some reason, your name is not called at the releasing window, you have no proof that you paid. (Something to consider for the people working at LTO for process improvement).
8. Finally, the releasing window. Sign the sheet indicating that you were able to receive your Student Permit with the Official Receipt and you're done. Note that if you lose the official receipt, you will need to pay again if you decide to apply for a Non-professional license (you can do this after a month from the date you received your permit). So keep the permit and receipt together at all times. Also, you have to apply for a Non-professional license within a year from the issuance of your Student Permit. Otherwise, you have to apply for a Student Permit again.

In terms of improvement, here are some suggestions for the people working at LTO.

1. Please improve ventilation and air conditioning. Although there are A/C units, either these are not working, or LTO is trying to cut down on their electric bill.
2. The queue number issued at the beginning should be the number displayed at each window. In my experience, the personnel at the window had to read the person's name via a microphone, just to call the person to the next step. This can be confusing, especially when there's a lot of ambient noise or if you're chatting with other applicants.
3. And again, please issue a receipt upon payment - it could be a provisional receipt if you cannot issue the official receipt. This should serve as protection for the applicant, in case his application is misplaced between the payment and releasing steps of the process.

I hope this guide will help alleviate your concerns as you apply for a driver's Student Permit. God bless you!

How to Add More Voices for Text-to-Speech In Windows 7 32-bit

Warning: The following steps involve editing the registry. Continue at your own risk.

This tutorial is based on Voran's guide found here. The steps he outlines is for Windows 7 64-bit. If you have a 32-bit system, then follow the instructions below. Also, please note that I was only able to make this work with US voices when used with Microsoft Word. For an excellent tutorial on how to enable text-to-speech in Word, watch this video.

Now, on with the steps.

1. Download the SpeechPlatformRuntime.msi file for x86 systems from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27225

2. Just double-click the file and follow the installation instructions.
3. Download the two US voices Helen and ZiraPro from http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27224 . As I said earlier, these were the only voices I got to work.

I tried the procedure with GB_Hazel and CA_Heather but no joy. If you get these voices to work, please leave a link or comment below on how you were able to make these work.

4. Again, just double click each .msi installer for each voice and follow the installation instructions.
5. Now it is time to edit the registry. Run regedit. Initially, if you go under Under - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Speech\Voices
you should only see Microsoft's default voice Anna. While if you look under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Speech Server\v11.0\Voices
you should see the two voices you installed (Helen and ZiraPro). If you're wondering why my image has four voices, refer to my comments above.

Our goal is to edit the registry so that the image above becomes like the following image

 
6. To do that, right click the "Tokens" folder under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Speech Server\v11.0\Voices
and choose Export. Save this file to your desktop as voices1.reg so it will be easy to find later.

7. Open voices1.reg in Notepad. Then do a Find-and-replace. Enter \Speech Server\v11.0\ into the "Find What" field and enter \Speech\ into the "Replace With" field. Click "Replace All". Then save the file. Note, after you save the file, its icon might change into a notepad icon, meaning you might have saved it as a text file instead of a registry file. If this happens, make sure you save the file with a .reg extension instead of a .txt. If the file still won't open using the registry editor, try right-clicking it and opening using regedit.

8. Double click the newly saved voices1 registry file. You will then receive a registry warning prompt. Click Yes.
9. To check if you were successful, go to Control Panel > Ease of Access > Speech Recognition > Text to Speech.

10. You should now be able to select additional voices (Helen or ZiraPro) aside from Microsoft Anna in the dropdown box. You can then press on Preview Voice to check if they sound right. If you're satisfied with the voice, then click on OK. Now, you should be able to use the new voice to read portions of your word document. Really useful in proofreading, and hopefully less annoying than Anna.

I hope this tutorial was able to help you out. Feel free to leave me feedback below.

Addendum: I tried changing the voices in Narrator and it was able to recognize GB Hazel and CA Heather. But MS Word still wouldn't recognize these two non-US voices. Again, if you are able to come up with a solution to this issue, please let me know. Thanks.