Manny Pacquiao, 2008 Champion of Champions

ESPNStar.com recently had a poll on who will be the Champion of Champions for 2008. They had a list of athletes who have excelled in 2008 that fans will vote on who will advance to the next round until he is declared as the Champion of Champions.

Right now at the final round it’s our very own Manny Pacquiao against Malaysia’s squash queen, Nicol David. But only a few hours before deadline (tonight as 12), Manny has already garnered 90.75% of the votes cast while Nicol only has 9.25%. Pacquiao has bested MotoGP Champ Valentino Rossi, Liverpool’s striker Fernando Torres and India’s cricket God, Sachin Tendulkar.

Also included in the list are Kobe Bryant, Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, Tiger Woods, Rafael Nadal and Michael Phelps.

Gmail gives you another reason to dump IE

Still can’t bring yourself into downloading and installing a different web browser other than that pre-installed Internet Explorer?

Well if you’re using Gmail a lot then better make the switch to Firefox 3 or Google Chrome. Google recommends those two browsers instead of IE7 when accessing Gmail since it will give you quite a boost in speed reporting it to be twice as fast.

But if you still can’t let go of your trusty IE, don’t fret as IE8 which is reportedly much faster is just around the corner.

Save on ink with an ink-friendly font

A Dutch company called SPRANQ developed a new font design that they say uses up to 20 percent less ink. It’s called the Ecofont.

Before settling down to the final version of Ecofont with the tiny holes in the middle, they first experimented on fonts with zebra stripes and thin letters. This font is available for free over at Ecofont and is compatible with Windows, Mac OSX and Linux.

Ecofont is a cool idea and reminds me of the print-out from dot-matrix printers but only in reverse. You wouldn’t notice the tiny holes unless you look very closely.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Merry Christmas dear visitor… or Happy Holidays if you don’t have celebrate Christmas. Anyway, enjoy your holiday break. Check out this cool e-card!

There are more of these from Wrongcards.com. Check them out!

Download online videos with Mux.am

If you want to download online videos from sites such as YouTube, Metacafe, Break.com, etc. but don't want to install any additional software, try downloading it via Mux.

Mux is a site where you can convert and download any online videos right there and then. Simply enter the URL of your video (you can also upload) and choose a format you want it to be converted to. You can even choose the H.264 or the iPod format.

After selecting your video format, converting takes a few minutes depending on the length of the video. You can choose to wait or have Mux e-mail you the download link when it's done.

Where to download full music albums

I've been filling up my brand new iPod Touch with MP3's and I'm careful that the songs within the same album have the same bit rate and quality. So this means I have to avoid downloading songs within the same album from different sources.

Good thing I found this site where I can download full music albums for free. I don't know if you're already familiar with Full-albums.net but I was able to get my Aerosmith (Devils Got a New Disguise The Very Best of Aerosmith) album from this place.

The site can be a bit tricky to navigate but make sure you click the FREE links. They will point you to file storage sites such as Rapidshare for your download link.

Keep note of the password coz some of the zipped files are password protected. And don't forget to do a virus scan. You never know what you can get from pirated music.

A cheap alternative to Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Digital Reader

Let's face it, the two best eBook reader (Amazon's Kindle at $359 and Sony Digital Reader at $399) is not that exactly cheap even for book lovers. Kindle is packed with features including wireless capability while Sony is well... it's Sony.

Fortunately, there's a new player in town... the eSlick which is from the same company that made Amazon's Kindle. This eBook reader is cheaper though with an introductory price of $230 ($259 after it launches) and will be available in black gray or white.

It doesn't have the wireless capability like Kindle but not everyone needs the news delivered to their reader. It can accept PDF, TXT and other printable documents on its 128MB built-in memory (expandable up to 4GB microSD). Connectivity is via USB and it also has a built-in MP3 player.

Major security flaw in IE now fixed

Barely a week after a major security flaw in all versions of IE has been discovered, Microsoft was able to release a bug-fix to remedy the problem. Security experts are recommending Internet Explorer users to immediately install the patch.

To install the patch, just run Windows Update (you can see it on your Control Panel) and you should see a selection for Security Fix for your version of Internet Explorer.

The malicious code which latches on iFrames of legitimate web sites allows hackers to steal online gaming passwords (for now) from your computer.

Oh yeah, Mozilla also issued recently its own bug-fix for critical issues affecting the security and stability of Firefox 3.

Source: PC World

Stop using Internet Explorer, at least for now

If you can't find a reason to switch to another browser from Internet Explorer, here's a really good one.

Security experts including Trend Micro are advising IE users to switch to any web browsers for the time being when a new major security flaw was found affecting all versions of Internet Explorer.

Thousands of compromised webs sites can exploit the IE security hole allowing them to steal passwords saved. As of right now it can only steal online game passwords but experts are not discounting that it can be used to do more damage really soon.

Microsoft is still on the works to create the patch so for now, it's either you stop using IE or set its security zone setting to the highest mode possible.

Source: BBC

Blogger.com with GoDaddy custom domain

You've probably noticed by now that I have my own custom domain now. I recently purchased a .com from Godaddy and it took me some trial and error on how to make it work for my site.

The important thing is to have your blogspot address forward to both www.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com. Here's a short guide on how to accomplish that.

1. In Godaddy.com, go to your Domain Manager and click the Total DNS Control link at the bottom of the middle column.

2. Change the @ entry under A (Host) to 64.202.189.170. This is the forwarding IP of GoDaddy.

3. Add a www entry under CNAMES (Aliases) pointing to ghs.google.com. Your page should look something like this:

4. Now go back to Domain Manager and click the link for Forwarding.

5. Check Enable Forwarding. Type in your address (e.g. http://www.yourdomain.com) then select 301 for the redirect type.

6. Lastly, login to your Blogger account. Go to Settings > Publishing and type in your custom domain. It should look something like this:

That's it. Wait for a while for changes to reflect (within 24 hours) then tell your friends to update their links to your site. Blogger will take care of people still using your blogspot address to direct them to your new domain.

It's really easy to enjoy your own custom domain with Blogger.

Goodbye Polaroid

When I heard this, I didn't event know that Polaroid is still alive today. Anyway, the company will cease the manufacturing of its well known, iconic insta-film by the yearend as announced early this year.

So if you still have a Polaroid camera with you, hold on to it as it becomes a collector's item. As for the film, you will probably only get to buy those from resellers (probably on eBay) next year.

If you have a soft spot for the once magnificent Polaroid camera, you might want to check out the Save Polaroid web site where people put testimonials, stories and even eulogies for the Polaroid.

Ziddu's acting up all the time

Ziddu is a free online file storage service that allows you to earn cash whenever somebody downloads from your folder. I've been using it to share small files that I share through my blog and I'm almost at the $10 payout. Sounds good right? Well, it is but lately their site has been acting up all the time.

I've been experiencing a lot of times every now and then when I can't access their site. I don't think their hosting service is up to par with that of popular file storage sites such as Rapidshare and Mediafire.

Right now, I'll just wait till I reach the $10 so I can cash out my earnings. Then I'll avoid Ziddu for a while until there site becomes stable. How about you? Are you using Ziddu as well?

Perfect gift for the OC techie

Today, most people own a lot of gadgets. From mobile phones (sometimes more than one), iPods, digital cameras to portable media players that you don't know how to organize each of their chargers.

I have a bag beside my bed to store my chargers but once I charge multiple devices, my bed becomes a mess of black cables. Here's a cool system that might just do the trick if you can't stand those bundle of cables from your chargers.

Bluelounge's Sanctuary is a cable management system that can eliminate cable clutter while charging. This attractive bin hides 12 built-in connectors underneath its padded cushion for different devices. It has tips for mini/micro USB, iPods, Nokia, LG, Samsung, etc. so that all you need to do is place your device in the bin and connect the adapter. The only cable you would see is its own power adapter.

There are two colors available. White one costs $130 and dark wood will set you back $150. Now isn't that a great gift for your neat-freak techie friend?

Watch the Pacquiao vs De La Hoya match live online

It's the time of the year again as boxing fans and Filipinos all over the world pause just to witness another great Pacquiao match. This time it will be in a higher weight class division against the Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya.

If you want to watch the fight live in the comforts of your home without paying for PPV, check out this list of streaming video sites:

• Techsterr
• Justin.tv (feu11)
• Or try your luck with SopCast

Try watching replay videos at www.pinoychannel.tv

Will Pacquiao continue his reign against another Mexican boxer further sealing his title as the "Mexceutioner"? We hope he does. It will be a great fight that you shouldn't miss as De La Hoya who comes in as the underdog looked pumped and ready to brawl it out against Pacman.

Start your EC Dropping with Dropaholics

If you're an active member of Entrecard and looking for quality sites to drop, start your dropping by using Dropaholics Top 100 Droppers. Having a set of 300 sites to drop daily will at most get you just 300 reciprocated drops. But if you vary your drops based on who's active, you'd get more than 300 drops in return.
Dropaholics Top 100 list is always updated with the most active Entrecard droppers. I always try to maximize my drops and found my site on that list. But when I went on a vacation for 3 days with no access to the internet, I was removed from the list. That's how updated Dropaholics is.

So my dropping method is to drop on all 100 sites on the list, then my own bookmarked sites then finally via my EC inbox for the recent droppers to my site.

Try it out and avoid being stuck dropping on outdated blogs.

Manny Pacquiao on the cover of Reader's Digest Asia

If you still don't know, the December 2008 issue of Reader's Digest Asia is a must-have for Filipino RD fans around the world. In its cover is our very own Manny Pacquiao and has a nice feature about his fight against Oscar De La Hoya this coming Sunday.

This issue with the Pacquiao cover is only available in the Philippines so you might want to ask somebody from here to buy one for you. The original cover for the December issue is a boring family tree. Hehehe.

Can't wait for the big fight this Sunday. I hope it will be a good fight and not something like the UFC 91 Couture vs Lesner. Go Pacquiao!

The cheapest full touchscreen phone right now

If you're going to buy a decent touchscreen phone how much do you think it will cost you? Above $600? I'm not talking about those cheap-ass imitation China phones. Well LG just recently released the LG KP500 (nicknamed Cookie) which is the most affordable one that I know of at Php11,900 (around $240).


The LG Cookie is a full touchscreen phone meaning not only you can use the interface just by clicking but you can also flick and drag your fingers (or its stylus). It also has an accelerometer to allow landscape viewing and to enable the QWERTY keyboard for faster texting.

It has a 3 MP camera (sorry no flash) and an expandable microSD slot for up to 8GB additional space. It's slimmer and lighter than the iPhone and has a 3" QVGA LCD display with 256k colors.

It's just a basic touch phone so don't expect 3G connectivity or WiFi from it. It has decent enough speakers if you want to use it as your MP3 player and a built-in FM Radio as well. Data connectivity is via USB 2.0 or Bluetooth.

So if you want to own a stylish touchscreen phone without sacrificing quality and spending a lot of money, you might want to consider the LG Cookie.

The prettiest router around

What does your wireless (or wired) router look like? Same old boxy one? Mine is a compact, yet squarish box that I hide behind my computer monitor. Why can't somebody come up with a more elegant design?

Saudi Telecom is considering redesigning the look of a router. Instead of a boxy type, they want something that could blend well to the design of your room. They came up with the STC Livebox.

 

This router-vase combo that can hold your artificial flowers yet function as a router for land-line, VoIP, LAN, and DSL connections. Prop this on a side table and let those ugly cables hide behind it.

Neat huh? Now why didn't we think of that? I want a lava lamp version next! :)

Join the XML Challenge

Calling all computer programmers and application developers out there, you might be interested in joining The XML Challenge: Search for the XML Superstar. This IDUG contest is open to all individuals of varying skill levels whether you’re just a student or already a professional developer.
There are five separate tracks from this contest that you could choose to join. There’s a Video Contest which is some sort of screen cast or an audition. A Query Challenge where you need to apply your query writing skills to find the answers of a multiple choice question from an XML version of World Factbook. There are also 3 types of Programming Contest using XML and DB2; create a widget or a gadget, port an application or develop an application.

You can choose to participate in all five tracks and winners from each track will get awesome prizes ranging from an iPod Nano, Nintendo Wii, iPhone or an IBM Overseas Lab Trip. Contestants will be separated by region so you don’t have to worry about stiff competition (I’m not saying that it’s gonna be easy either) and there would be winners representing each participating country.

Just head on to their site and complete a Quick Quiz before you can proceed to the contest proper. Early birds will get an XML Superstar T-shirt!

Berkeley Pit, one of the deadliest place on earth

Outside of Butte, Montana lies a pit of greenish poison a mile and a half wide and over a third of a mile deep. It is called the Berkeley Pit and is considered as one of the deadliest place in our planet where there are no fishes or plants or even insects buzzing around. It's even too toxic for microorganisms.

 

So why am I posting about this? Well it's one of the many interesting articles that I found on this cool site called Damn Interesting. If you're curious about the pit and how it became poisonous, head over to their site. It's really a cool site for you to bookmark and visit every time you're bored.

No more Matched.co.uk

If you've been a member of Matched for some time then you know how it can provide good passive income for your blog. Sadly, most good things have to eventually come to an end.

I just got an e-mail from them saying that their site is now closed and that we can already remove their ads from our site. Matched pays blogger to place ads on approved posts from their site. I had four ads approved and they're paying me 12 GBP (British Pounds) per month. Too bad I wasn't able to take advantage of it for a long time.

Oh well. You guys know any other site like Matched?

For now, I'm sticking to WaoIndia which is a PTC site unlike any other. I already have $13.65 on my account but I need $199 for the payout hehehe. Better than other PTC though where I still have to reach the $1 mark even after 3 weeks.

Charice in Good Morning America

16-year old singing sensation Charice was able to perform and showcase her excellent talent once again in front of TV. Last Tuesday (Nov. 18) she performed in Good Morning America with David Foster in the piano.

She performed a medley of a couple of songs from Whitney Houston, I Got Nothing and I WIll Always Love You. Check it out.

If you didn't find anything special from that performance, check out her version of I Will Survive (still with David Foster in piano) with a bit of Michael Jackson strutting and moonwalking. Awesome I must say.

Importance of research when it comes to web hosting

I'll tell you a story why I think you should not get just any web hosting service. There's usually another hosting that could get you value for your money and cheaper often doesn't lead to good service.

I did a bit of research myself when I purchased this web hosting for my other blog. I read forums, reviews and even researched about the company. I was going for cheap hosting since I only have a small but growing blog.

I knew that the company doesn't offer 24 support. What can you expect from dirt-cheap hosting anyway? And I was fine with that. Surely, after a month into the service I've been experiencing problems, down times, database errors, etc. And since I live in the other side of the world, it's hard to communicate with their support so resolving the problem takes days. Now, I'm exceeding my allotted bandwidth per month so I have to upgrade. I'm thinking of switching hosts but believe me, it's not easy to transfer your whole blog to a new host!

To avoid making the same mistake as I did, I suggest you check sites that review various website hosting for different needs including blogging. They do the hardwork for you and gives you a list of hosting ranked by reliability, features, uptime, customer support, user feedback and price-value ratio.

It is very important to start right so choose wisely.

Very nice contest from Tech Dose

Here's a very nice contest from Tech Dose that I think has very good prizes for such easy requirements. The contest will end on Nov. 30 and you could win the following prizes:

1st prize -

• $50 in cash prize from Amit Bhawani
• 1 Year hosting from HostGator - Hatchling Pack worth $107.40
• Review of your website in thewwwblog.com - Worth $50
• 1 AudioAlchemy music conversion software worth $20 from Gadget Advisor

2nd prize -

• $30 in cash prize from Tech Dose
• 6 months hosting from HostBrains - Medium package worth $30.00
• Review of your website in thewwwblog.com - Worth $50
• 1 AudioAlchemy music conversion software worth $20 from Gadget Advisor

3rd prize -

• $15 in cash prize from Tech Dose
• Review of your website in thewwwblog.com and tech-dose.com - Worth $80

Requirements for joining:

• Subscribe to Tech Dose
• Post about this contest on your blog
• Comment on the post answering the questions, 5 favorite apps and 2 gadgets you are fascinated about.

Hope I'll win here. Hurry up and join!

My first Sony experience is with my Sony Walkman

My dad is a loyal Sony consumer and I remember our first television set during the 80's being a technicolor one from Sony. Even our secondary TV was still a Sony and so was our stereo system. Every time we want to purchase an electronic device, the brand Sony is the first to pop up in our mind.

It was no surprise that the first gadget given to me was a Sony Walkman. I still remember it being a boxy contraption with its ugly buttons protruding on the side along with headphones that easily breaks.

Looking back, the Walkman was not pleasing to the eyes at all but it was the iPod of our generation and you gotta have one to avoid boredom during long trips. I use it mainly to listen to radio stations since it was kinda awkward lugging cassette tapes wherever I go.

It definitely gave significance in my life just like the Sony’s World’s First Noise-Cancelling headphone, which allows me to block the sound of babies crying and other noise during long flights.

WaoIndia is too good but it seems to be true

I never really think of PTC (Pay-to-click sites) as a good way to make money. Usually the good ones will only let you earn $0.05 per click and you only have 4 - 5 ads to click per day.

Well I decided to join this new but ugly-designed PTC, WaoIndia, which seems too good to be true. Each click earns you $0.1 and you can click 10-11 ads per day so that's at least $1 a day. Referral clicks can net you $0.05 so if you have just 4 referrals and they click all ads daily, you'll get an additional $2 a day at least.

Sounds good too be true right? Well, it is true and there are lots of payment proof from their forum. Here's the catch though, payout is $199! You have to earn $199 before you can cash out so you better look for plenty of referrals. Oh yeah, expect to wait a long time (60 days) for the 1st payout but the succeeding ones will only take 10 days.

If you wanna try it out please join under my name. I'd be happy to assist you if you have any questions.

e-Cards that you can't resist sending

You want to send an e-card but you want something extraordinary. Not boring, mushy or typical card like you see in Hallmark for that special someone. I posted about wrongcards before which is a not-your-typical e-cards site. If you can't get enough from that site, here's another one with lots more choices to choose from.

Someecards.com has plenty of cards with funny messages that you might find it hard to resist sending it to someone even for just an ordinary day. Here's a sample of a card that you might want to send your spouse or partner this Christmas.
Hehehe, I'm gonna using this for now on for my e-card needs.

Adding a Favicon to your Blogger site

Finally I was able to add a favicon here at Pinoy Web Surfer. It's not too hard to create and add it to your Blogger site. Here are 3 quick:

1. Create your icon. You can head to favicon.cc where you can create your icon online (no need to register). You can preview it from there so you'd know how it would look like in a browser. Consequently, you can also upload your own created image. When you're done, download it and don't change the filename (favicon.ico).

2. Upload your icon. I use PicPanda.com to host my icon since Google's Picasa Web Album won't accept it. Upload your file and grab the link. It's in the Hotlink for Websites after the img src tag.

3. Add the code to your template. Sign in to your blogger account and choose Edit HTML. Just before the </head> tag, place this code:

<link href='http://www.picpanda.com/images/eqpw1u8npq5au6ith18l.ico' rel='icon' type='image/x-icon'/>

Of course replace the href with the link to your own favicon.

There you have it, your own favicon for your site.

Who are the ugliest celebrities?

There's always room for ugliness in the celebrity world but who do you think are the ugliest?

Right off the bat, Michael Jackson should be on the list. Wacko Jacko should've stayed black instead of doing lots of hideous things to his body. Although being ugly, he still is quite an exceptional entertainer with millions of followers around the globe.

Oddee has a list of 19 other celebrities that make up the "ugliest" list. Included are, Rosie O' Donnel, Tori Spelling, Marilyn Manson and DJ Quall from the movie The New Guy.

Save money with ZenniOptical

At these times of global financial crisis, we cannot be sure long we could maintain our lifestyle. Adjustments are needed. We must practice frugality and learn how to cut back our spending. Time to save more instead of spend more.

I refuse to buy a car at this moment since it's much cheaper taking public transportation and I don't have to worry about parking fees and auto maintenance. Besides, work is just 15 minutes away from home. In our household, we budget our weekly expenses to see what areas were can still improve on in terms of saving. We always look for the cheapest version of a grocery item that doesn't necessarily sacrifice its quality. We started buying generic medicine instead of branded ones.

Just like buying generic medicine, you can also do the same with your prescription glasses. I was surprised when my mom recently bought a frame costing just under a hundred dollars. That's too much for a glasses. Why go for branded optical frames when most people won't even know the brand simply by looking?

Sigh, if only she could return them I would gladly buy a pair of prescription eyeglasses with a frame of her choice from ZenniOptical.com. They offer glasses for as low as $8 and premium ones doesn't even reach $50. Oh well, maybe next time.

A digital Polaroid camera?

If you're more than 20 years old you've probably heard of the Polaroid camera. It's a boxy looking camera that can take a snapshot and print it immediately. Remember blowing on the print to let it dry?

Recently, toy company TOMY announced a 5-megapixel digital camera that has a built in printer for 2x3" photo prints. Similar to a Polaroid camera, the xiao TIP-521's printer doesn't use ink but requires a special paper called Zink (zero ink) loaded onto it. The paper is a bit expensive at $8 per 20 rolls but at least you don't have to find a printer to print your pictures.

It's really an upgrade from the Polaroid your parents are used to since now you can preview the photos first before printing it. The xiao TIP 521 will be relased in Japan at the end of the month for $320 and will arrive in US shores on the 2nd quarter of next year.

Think this one would sell good?

[CrunchGear]

Yugatech's Creative Webcam Giveaway

Wanna win a free webcam? Yugatech is giving away 8 Creative Webcams to lucky participants on his contest. It's so easy to join, just comment on his post here or write a post about it. That's it!


Contest ends next Monday (Nov. 10) evening so better hurry up. Open only to Philippine residents though and Yuga will take care of the shipping.

Dunno what he's doing with a bunch of webcams, maybe an internet shop business gone sour? Hehehe.

Widget Tips for Bloggers Part 2

If you miss part 1 of my tips on what widget you should prioritize putting on your blog's sidebar, the link is here.

Here's the next list of common widgets that a blogger have at his disposal.

1. Categories/Label
I personally like this widget on my sidebar. It gives new users a quick glance on what type of posts they can see in my blog. And if they read a post that's interesting, they will most likely check out other posts under the same label. This can be placed below the fold of your site and still be effective.

Grade: B+. You might want to skip this if you have tons of categories (like maybe 25+).

2. Blogroll/Blog List 
This widget shows your friends' blogs or sites you frequent in your sidebar. Professional bloggers avoid this but for a small blog, it would help create a community of sites that shares the same theme of your blog. If a visitor see sites that they also frequent on your blogroll, they will most likely feel at home reading your blog.

Grade: B. If you have plenty of lists in your blogroll, better create a separate page for them.

3. Archive
So you want to show off to your readers how long your blog has been going by displaying the months/years on your archive. But how often would you click on those links if you see them in other blogs? I don't.

Grade: F. Better create a separate page for it with comments disabled. Check out my archives page for an idea.

4. Search
I believe all blogs should have a search box. If I read something interesting from a blog and want to read it again after a month, I don't want to trawl over all pages till I see it. Do you? A search box is a must and it's quite easy to set one up with Google's Adsense for search.

Grade: A+. Make sure to place this on the upper part of your blog where it's usually located.

This is it for now. I'll continue with other not so common widgets on the next part. I have a few more in mind but if you have suggestions on what other widgets that you commonly see, please feel free to comment.

Pinkista’s 3rd Anniversary Contest

Pinkista.net is holding her 3rd anniversary contest where she'll be giving away a total of $90 in cold cash (well via Paypal that is). This one's also an easy contest to join and you can earn multiple raffle entry by a number ways. Subscribe to feed, StumbleUpon, Technoarti, etc. Head here for contest details.

Here's the list of prizes in case you're interested:

1st winner
$30 cash thru paypal
$20 cash thru paypal (sponsored by Swastik of STZ)
Blog Review worth $30 from Wahb.biz (sponsored by Paul)
1000 EC credits from Palabuzz (sponsored by Paul).
125×125 advertisement on Pinkista.net for 1 month

2nd winner
$10 cash thru paypal
$10 cash thru paypal (sponsored by Swastik of STZ)
1 yr domain (.com/.org/.net/.us) + hosting package (sponsored by Valerie)
1000 EC Credits (sponsored by Nina)
125×125 advertisement on AppleCandie.Us for 1 month

3rd winner
$10 cash thru paypal (sponsored by Swastik of STZ)
1 yr domain (.com/.org/.net) (sponsored by Nina)
8gb hosting package (sponsored by Micay)

4th winner
$5 cash thru paypal (sponsored by Swastik of STZ)
125×125 advertisement on My Candypastel for 1 month
1000 EC Credits (sponsored by Dhadha)

5th winner
$5 cash thru paypal (sponsored by Swastik of STZ)
1000 EC Credits from my Pinkista.net

Contest ends on Nov. 30, so act now if you wanna join. I sure could use that hosting package.

Start your own garden with the help of EasyBloom

For those of you who have green thumbs and want to start utilizing that bare garden of yours but don't know what to plant, you might want to check out EasyBloom. Before you waste your money, time and effort only to find out that the plant you want is not suitable for your garden, it is better to do a little bit of research first.

With EasyBloom, you just stick the device into your garden soil for a day and let its sensors collect the humidity levels, moisture patterns, temperature and amount of sunlight an area gets. Once you're done, plug it into your PC via USB and it will analyze the data against a database of more than 5,000 plants, trees and vegetables that is suitable for your garden.

Pretty clever idea huh? For $60, it's a good investment for those who enjoy having a thriving garden at home. It can also diagnose an ailing plant and alert you so you can bring it back to life.

Have you been paid by Scour?

If you don't know what Scour is, it's a search engine that aggregates results from Google, Yahoo and MSN. To attract users and at the same time produce quality and relevant results, they are offering a $25 payout via Visa Gift Card once you reach 6,500 points.

You get a point for searching, voting or commenting on a search result as well every time your referrals earn points. It sounds easy but actually it's not. Well not unless you consciously set a quota to achieve per day but that's not fun.

I've been a member since July 2008 and right now I only have 1621 Scour points. Hehehe. As much as I want to use Scour as my search engine, I still tend to use Google which gives me results instantly. Scour is too slow for me so I don't think I'd be able to reach 6,500 points anytime soon.

How about you? How's your experience with Scour? Have you been paid already?

Thanksgiving Contest from WebTrafficROI

Internet marketing blog WebTrafficROI is holding its first contest to celebrate Thanksgiving in Canada. The prizes are not that grand but it's quite easy to join. Here's what you could win:

First Prize - $50 cash through PayPal from Health Directory PR 2
Second Prize - Indepth review of your blog by Shanker Bakshi of ShankerBakshi.com worth $50
Third Prize - Submission to 100 Social bookmarking sites worth $40
Fourth Prize - Indepth review of your blog, product or service on WebTrafficROI worth $30
Fifth Prize - Indepth review of your blog by Adam of Creadiv.com worth $15
Sixth Prize - 30 Day 125×125 banner ad on Frogstr.com worth $10
Seventh Prize - 30 Day 125×125 banner ad on WebTrafficROI worth $10
Eighth Prize - Indepth review of your blog by Tushar Dhoot of TusharDhoot.com worth $10
Nineth Prize - 30 Day Featured Link on WebTrafficROI worth $10
Tenth Prize - 30 Day Featured Link on Cool Web Developer worth $ 10

Hurry, contest ends on November 10.

Yahoo Messenger causes multiple instances of IE to popup fix

A lot of people at our office experienced dozens of instances of Internet Explorer popping up. This happened every once in a while and we thought it's a virus. We soon found out that this happens every time Yahoo Messenger disconnects which happens a lot due to our firewall.

If you're also experiencing the problem, download this fix. Extract noYMads2.rar then simply run the .bat file. It's just a list of commands that will tweak your registry to disable the ads in Yahoo Messenger that causes the IE to open multiple times when sudden disconnection.

Don't worry it's not a virus. You can view the contents in notepad before you execute it to be sure. But another solution is to upgrade to the latest version of Yahoo Messenger which is a safer choice. :)

Download FREE MP3's easily from BeeMP3

Ever since EvilShare.com requires users to sign up just to download mp3's hosted on their site, I tried looking for other mp3 download sites that's easy to use. Good thing there's BeeMP3.

BeeMP3 is a free MP3 download site that I think is much better than EvilShare. You can search by song, artist or album and they have a huge list of mp3's. I was even able to download the song from the Converse commercial (My Drive Thru by Santogold) which is not that popular. Check the site out!

Saw this site from BerryBlog a few months ago and I decided to post it here for my reference. Enjoy your downloads!

Cheap Gadget Gift Ideas from Chinavasion

It's 62 days till Christmas and you're already probably looking for gift ideas for yourself or for those technogeek friends and relative of yours. It's time to visit Chinavasion.com again for gadget ideas.

If you don't know what Chinavasion is, they sell electronic gadgets from mp3 or mp4 players to computer accessories and home security. And they sell it cheaply. They have lots of cool gadgets on the site that a gadget-freak like me would enjoy just browsing through.

Of course don't expect much from electronics that are made in China. But if you want a cheap version of an iPod touch sans the WiFi, they have plenty of models with price not exceeding $100. They have lots of these touchscreen portable media players (PMP) available.
This PMP here sports a whopping 3" TFT LCD screen and 8GB of space and can also acts as a file storage via USB cable. How much does it cost you may ask? Only $60.75 but you can save more by buying in bulk.

They also have plenty of dual-sim capable touchscreen mobile phones. Actually, most of the mobile phones they have are touchscreen and will not cost you more than $150.

Shown below is a touchscreen wristwatch/phone/camera all-in-one. Can you believe that? Beside it is another touchscreen tri-band mobile phone that has a built-in projector. I don't know how useful will that be but they claim that it works.

Chinavasion has been operating for a few years now so you don't have to worry about getting scammed if you buy from that site.

Disclaimer: I do not work for Chinavasion nor was paid to write this post. They just have amazing products that appealed to me so I decided to share it to other gadgetfreaks out there.

Is SocialSpark's Affiliate Program any good?

If you're a SocialSparker, you may have noticed new opportunities popping up that are of the Affiliate type. The first one would probably the Personalized Flash Drive opp that offers $1.95 per conversion. So how does this work?


Most of the affiliate opportunities are open to everyone so it's easy to just take the opportunity. Once you do, you have to choose the type of ad you want to use (there are a number of image ads and even a text link) and get its code. You can also check how many views or clicks your link generated from the get link page as well.

You can write a post about the product and insert your code there or just place the ad code on your sidebar for maximum exposure. You can also put the text link code on your e-mail or forum signature for more chances of getting a sale.

So how will you get paid? Well it depends on what the advertise chose but currently, all affiliate opportunities pays you for each conversion made. So for the Flash Drive opp, you will be paid $1.95 for each sale that was generated from your link. Seems easy? Not sure.

Right now, I'm staying away from affiliate opportunities unless they pay per click or per views. It's really hard to make a sale if the product does not suit your blog or if the product is not just that marketable. The "get code" link seems to be buggy at the moment too.

Please let me know if you already made any sale with this type of opportunity.

The man who traded a paperclip for a house

I don't know if this can be called inspiring but it sure is interesting. This is old news by the way but some you may not have heard of it yet.

It's about this man who posted a red paperclip on his site for trading. He was able to trade it for a pen which in turn got traded into a doorknob. A year later and after 14 trades, his red paperclip got him and his wife a house in Saskatchewan, Canada.

Can't believe it? Visit the site it's true! Imagine what a red paperclip and a free space in Blogger can get you.

Now I have here a box of paperclips in different colors, interested in a trade? Who knows? It might get you a whole subdivision hehehe.

Widget Tips For Bloggers Part 1

So you finally decided to set up your own blog and it's time for you to add fancy stuff on it. Upon visiting a number of blogs, you can't decide what you want to put. There's just too many out there.

Actually, your decision on what widget to use can be determined by the type of blog you want your site to be. Is it a personal and private one? Do you want to drive lots of traffic to it? Or is it a niche blog to showcase your knowledge on a certain subject?

I don't consider myself an expert but I've seen a quite number of blogs to know what works and what doesn't from a user's standpoint. To help you decide on what widget to use, here are the common ones and my thoughts on them:

1. Top Posts/Popular Posts
This is a widget that showcases the top articles/posts on your site based on the number of hits (views) or the number of comments (popular). If a person stumbles on your site via a search engine, you want him to also check out what other best stuff your site has to offer. This is pretty effective for niche blogs but not so much for the mixed bag type or personal blogs.

Grade: B+. You should definitely use this if you're a niche blog.

2. Recent Posts
Just like the Top Posts, this is also an effective way for your visitors to check out other posts on your site especially if they did not come through the main page. Just make sure that the titles for your posts attract attention or else it would be neglected if seen from the sidebar. This is also a good way to keep your not-so-frequent visitors updated quickly without scrolling down too much.

Grade: A. Quite useful if your blog only shows a few posts per page.

3. Calendar
If you are a new blogger, you might find this widget attractive and can spice up that bare sidebar of yours. Ok , it's cute at first but eventually it just consumes a nice chunk of your sidebar that you can have better use for. You're better of using the Recent Posts to keep your visitors updated.

Grade: F. The only thing this is good for is to let people know quickly how often you update your site. It can do harm if you don't write frequently.

4. Recent Comments
I like this widget especially if I'm a regular visitor on a blog. This widget allows me to see quickly if someone posted a new comment which is very helpful to the owner and the reader. This makes people want to comment on your site more often since they will have a link on the front page.

Grade: A. This is a must have for most blogs. However, blogs that are getting very few comments or the other extreme, very large amount of comments per day might see this as a waste of space.

This is it for now. I'll continue with other common widgets on my next post. I have a few more in mind but if you have suggestions on what other widgets that you commonly see, please feel free to comment.

Dropping 300 EC a day shouldn't be a chore

Ever since I joined Entrecard, I was always on the lookout on how to efficiently achieve the 300 EC drop max limit a day.

I checked out the U Drop I Follow program of Lee Doyle but I don't like the requirement of having to register to BlogCatalog.

I also tried and actually signed up for RingSurf's Surf and Drop. The idea was good since you don't have to open multiple browser tabs. You just click next from the top frame to move to the next blog. However, I found out that some of the blogs there are outdated or don't have the Entrecard widget.

There's also the Entrecard Credit Generator from The Germz boasting of 300 credits in 5 minutes. If you want to just earn credits, this is the easiest way but it doesn't guarantee a high percentage of return drops.

I realized that the only way to get the 300 drops with the likeliest chance of getting a return drop is to create your own drop list based on the active droppers and your favorite blogs. It would also help if the site loads fast without waiting for tons of widgets and videos and the Entrecard is located above the fold for easy dropping.

Since it's really hard to create such kind of a drop list (unless you have 300 favorite blogs), I looked for a list that contains active droppers as a starting point. Luckily, I found Turnip of Power | Social Networking EC Drop list. Here's what I liked about it:

• It's updated regularly so you won't be stuck with old, outdated blogs
• It has a great number of interesting and active blogs
• Most of the blogs listed loads fast and the EC widget is easy to locate

His list does not contain 300 links but only around 245 I think. This is good actually since you can have the room for your own friends' blogs and you also have some drop space for the top droppers on your blog that are not included in the list.

Not only can you get your 300 credits in a timely manner, but you're also dropping to the right people who will most likely return the favor. The interesting posts you find along the way are just bonus so make sure you leave a comment every now and then.

Spore: PC Game Review

Spore got me hooked!

Spore is a PC game from EA and was developed by Maxis, the same people who brought us The Sims. It's a very unique evolution type of game that is quite addicting as The Sims.

First you start off as a creature on the cellular level that can either be a herbivore or carnivore. Once you go around eating smaller organisms, you will earn DNA (sort of like the currency in the game) to upgrade your creature. You can choose to buy defensive parts like flagella to quickly avoid bigger organisms or more mouths to dish out greater damage.

Once you acquire enough DNA, you can then evolve to a land-type creature. This is where the fun starts. Here you have more parts options like better mouths, arms, legs, horns and more abilities like charge, strike, dance, sing. You can ally with creatures by singing with them and have them join your pack. Or you can choose to attack and make them extinct which I'm doing. Hehehe. That is just what I've discovered so far after playing for a couple of hours.

Creature customization gives you endless possibilities. For each creature part there are numerous styles with each giving a different bonus to attributes. You can add multiples of these parts and adjust its size, position and angle. For me, I'm trying to create something like a manticore with narwhal horns. Each version of your creature will be saved in your history so you can look back on how your creature evolved.

There's also a way to connect online and visit your buddies' worlds where you can wreak havoc with your creature or attempt to breed with other creatures there.

Most users might give it a bad press due to its DRM (Digital Rights Management) protection but once you get past that, the experience will be quite enjoyable.

I'm just starting out so I couldn't comment on other advanced features (vehicles, technology?) but it's a pretty cool game that can make your kids forget about homework and other important stuff such as goals and aspirations.