My side of the world and story

Eid Fitri in here again.

2006-10-20T17:01:00.000+08:00

Next week will be the biggest day for Muslims allover the world. The day we celebrate and enjoy after a month of fasting.

Last year, my wife, Husna and me celebrated Eid Fitri at Nilai, Negeri Sembilan. That was my father's hometown and boy we had great time. This year, it's my wife's turn to celebrate Eid Fitri at her hometown which is in Sungai Lembing, Pahang.

This will be our second time celebrating Eid Fitri together and we have our own "baju raya" theme, that is light yellow! Yeahh....can't wait to see Husna wearing her new baju kurung and tudung.

So, before i'm off to Sungai Lembing, i would like to say hello to my new friend Lan Bye (ex-Sil-Khannaz drummer) and his wife. To members of SVOA.com and to all my readers who kept on asking me to blog since day one.

Again, thank you to all who have donated to me. Feel free to donate to me using my StormPay account.

Lastly to Emyliza, please do contact me or at least buy me a PlayStation 2 :P.

Silicon Art; Can you find em?

2006-10-20T16:35:00.000+08:00

Saw this report about silicon art on tv last night or so. Really interesting to watch to show and the silicon art. Some silicon are smaller then your hair! How do they make those silicon art? Chipworks explained it nicely.

Kermit is one of the silicon art taken from ADI ADSP-2176 DSP. To be honest, silicon art is not allowed. It is like looking at wet cement and the first thing you want to do is, craft your own name.

The creator of the silicon art is making some statement about his work. Some just want to have fun with their circuit.

How do i defrag Linux?

2006-10-01T21:17:00.000+08:00

Long story short, you don't need to defrag your Linux. It got to do with NTFS part. Unlike Windows, Linux have a really nice data management in terms of hard disk. But if still want to know more, read a nice article from GeekBlog.

Headache? Well, it takes some time to understand to whole process. But if you're new to Linux, just have fun with your Linux without reading the article.

Yesterday, i received another package from a new Linux distro. When i looked up in the internet, i can't find any info about the distro. Must be REALLY new eh? The distro goes by the name of UniNux. From the inlay, they said it is Linux with more Unix command. Correct me if i'm wrong, will i see more command-line from this distro?

I'll test this disro once i have time. Have fun

Wohaa...living and still happy bunny.

2006-09-16T11:13:00.000+08:00

19th of August was my daughter first birthday. With her grandparents at her party, she sure looks cute with her new dress.

For me,i'm making aliving doing freelancing. Not much but it pays the bills. So many things to blog but time is not on my side.

Had some interviews with mainstream and internet company. Some decided NOT to publish the interview (i'm been too honest). Well, better luck next time.

I'm still around.

2006-08-24T12:14:00.000+08:00

It has been about a month now. Yup, i'm still breathing like a normal man and yes i'm still jobless.

Well, not entirely jobless. I have my own small tiny business and i'm happy with it for now.

For those who kept on email me, thank you so much. I can't be online too much

Darn, we should made it to the top list.

2006-06-22T17:49:00.000+08:00

Readers Digest made a poll for the world's rudest cities and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) was on the third spot. I have no idea on what facts they held the survey but i'm sure KL is not belong in the list.

Ok, maybe it should be. But again, there was no concrete explaination from this survey. New York was voted as the most polite city in the world? Ermm...i'm not going to say anything about LA but ermm...

To be honest, my mind is not in the focus level because i'm jobless now! Yup, i need some support from you guys. Just leave your suggestion or comments or anything that can give me a good boost. But if you want to show your support, you can always donate to me.

I know i'll be on my feet soon but in the mean time, i just want to be free. It's weird tho, it's just like a whole bunch of load just lifted from my shoulder and i'm smilling. God works in weird way and maybe this is the sign for me to shift my focus and energy into something else. Maybe i should focus on my art (i do draw and paint) more and start selling my art at a higher tag.

About my blog, i don't know how can i blog. Before this, i blogged from my office since witing for the telco company to install my phone connection at home still "offline".

Right now, i'm at a cyber centre in Kuantan. As i stated earlier, God works in weird way and just now, a guy whom i never met before told me that he is enjoying working with his passion making keychains. He told me that he was once a professional art director in KL and got a big pay-check every month. When our economy went slow in the mid 90's, the company he worked with decided to down-sizing.

I quit my job today!

2006-06-22T17:16:00.000+08:00

Enough is enough. I can't stand it anymore. I work hard but because of a person gave the wrong info to my boss, i got an internal memo. So i quit my job today. Right now i'm jobless and clueless.

Did that going to give me a headache? Maybe but maybe not. I do believe God will help me out. I do believe the world is wide enough for me to play in.

If you're are from Malaysia looking for a worker, i'm all ears.

Unzip those zip. Zip tool review.

2006-06-20T15:26:00.000+08:00

I'm sure most of you use WinZip as your main arsenal for zip and unzip files. In XP, the built-in zip function is a bonus for you. Another great tool is WinRar for Windows users. Now, RAR format is widely use because of its small zipped size. Yes, it's the "Software Review" day and i hope you're hungry for some great freeware today.

IZArc and 7Zip is the best freeware zip tool for you. Handling over 50 zip formats, you can forget those paid version of your existing zip manager. Plus, both can read fairly fast media images such as ISO, BIN and IMG. In the good old days, we (*cough*) used ARJ pretty heavy and we love it. By using IZArc, i can handle my old zipped ARJ files with ease and fast unpacking.

7Zip is super cool for unpack a multi-part RAR. With multi-OS support, 7Zip can be run on GNU/Linux (Debian, Fedora, Gentoo), FreeBSD, MacOS and Windows plus for BeOS, don't worry, it runs nicely on BeOS. I've tested both for typical zip format such as ZIP, ACE, RAR, ARJ and TAR. Just drag and drop to achive feature will make WinZip users feel at home in seconds.

For me IZArc is much more customize in terms of selecting zip formats but if you want to go for maximum zipped file, use 7Zip and you will save plenty of disk space. Who said freeware is not good? Hey Lizz, lets play some tag game. I'm tagging you to use 7Zip for a week and give us your review. Tag...you next.

Americans are cowards!

2006-06-20T10:50:00.000+08:00

No, i didn't said that. My friend said that to me yesterday. We had a nice talk about the Fifa World Cup 2006 and he told me that when it comes to sports, Americans are cowards. Before you start slashing me off, please read on.

"Why are Americans cowards?" i asked him. "Just look at their world championships. They have world champ for wrestlings. They have their own world series." he told me.

"So, what is the problem?". "Didn't you know, the call it world championship but they are not playing against any country!." he told me with a chuckle and my donut in his hand. "They just play against cities or group."

Then he made an imitation of a sports announcer.

"The world wrestling champ goes to The Rock from Californiaaaaaa...!!!!"

Ermm..make sense to me. How can they be the world champ if nobody from any country in the globe compete with them? Can i call my blog as the World Blogger Champ? "Believe me, they are not so good at sports so to protect their ego, they invented the world champ title." was the last sentence from him before another donut of mine end up in his tummy. Grrr.....

It's because of race.

2006-06-20T10:35:00.000+08:00

Back in the old days in a land goes by the name of America, only white man can be racist. When they saw an Afro-American, most likely they will spit on them. Pitty Afro-American. Some, went for more extreme action such as hanging Afro-American just because of their race.

Now for the good news, everybody being racist. Yup, Afro-American sees an Arab and they spit on him. Ermm...trying to get even eh dawg? Arab sees a Jews and spit on him. Nowdays everybody spits on each other and the country that started the "spitting-game" spits the Muslims.

Now, this is not about being a racist anymore it's being mono-religion action. Nowdays, Muslims spits Jews and the Jews spits at...the rest of us. No, i'm not a racist or sort, just being sarcastic.

We're too busy spitting on each other we forget about Darfur, Somalia, Africa. We tend to forget about the wars with no purpose in it. We forget about the killing of civillions in Palestine and Myanmar. We are too busy blogging, we forget about kids in Afghanistan with no education. We are too busy making money, we forget about who bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We are too aragon, we forget about the landmines in Bosnia, Serbia and Vietnam. We are too busy watching the world series, we close our eyes regarding bird flu. We are too busy watching football world cup 2006, we forget about our soul.

How often do you feed your own soul? How do you take care of your inner-self? Or we just "holier than thou"? Think about it and please leave your thoughts.

Security gadget unsecured!

2006-06-19T15:52:00.000+08:00

Short post about your security camera. With some help from Google, you can play with the actuall security camera! Beware, it's illegal to play around with it. You have been warned.

To hack into those unsecure security camera, just use Google and sometimes people do weird thing infront of the camera. Some, just drop their clothes and had sex in front of the security camera or maybe they don't realized it was there.

You can zoom in, zoom out, pan, lift, move and do whatever you want to do with it.

Alky:Converts your windows neatly.

2006-06-16T16:04:00.000+08:00

Alky is a tool that allows you to converts a Windos EXE to MacOS or GNU/Linux binary stack. At this moment, Alky are focusing on high-end gaming (good news for gamers). This open source tool is different (they said) from WINE without API's hickups.

I can't give the details yet because i haven't had the time to test Alky. Heck, they even didn't release it to the public yet! When Alky is ready, i'll try it to convert my Command And Conqure game to GNU/Linux.

Working directly with binary, it's hard to "learn" the apps converted to GNU/Linux or MacOS but Alky seems to do well at binary language. Alky only runs on Intel Mac and i suspect this is due to core of the chip is widely use (and becoming more for Mac's). Not much info about this tool tho and i'm walking in circles.

What about GNU/Linux? Will Alky works on AMD chip sets or will i see more "Made-for-Intel" from them? Check out Alky (al-kee) for more info (not much of course)

Look i just kill a fish.

2006-06-09T14:42:00.000+08:00

My little nephew just murdered a fish. I asked him how did he kill the poor gold fish. "I just drown it in the water by adding more water." Kids nowdays...grrrr.

I'm sure the fish was a happy swimmer when they saw more water coming in but nooooo....somebody decided to drown them with it. That's not how my nephew kill those poor fish. That little lad add ice cubes into the fish tank and after 20 seconds, he add some hot water! Uhh...instant mummified for that poor fish.

Adding some hot water after the ice will kill not only the fish but also the African lion for God sake.

Can we survive the "hot water" effect in terms of blogging? How about the "ice effect"? Can bloggers make it to see the sun tomorrow? What hot and ice effect? Figure out for yourself, i'm not telling you any.

Ok, i'll tell you. For me, more blogger are writing about things they don't completely understand. For example, a blogger that loves cat decide to write about GNU/Linux. Sure that guy can copy and paste article from the internet but in the long run, can he stick to that topic? If that guy really know what he just wrote, i'm fine with it but what if it's the other way around?

The original topic or theme is the "hot water" or "ice cube" or it can be both at the same time. Writting about things you are not really into is what this whole post about. It just like a comedian with a bad joke and try to go along with it. I know i'm talking riddle but it seems no easy way to explain it to you.

Don't buy beauty magazine just to read their "Lose weight" column.

2006-06-08T16:23:00.000+08:00

Do you realize those "Lose Weight" articles are the same with one another? In my hand right now, i have 4 magazine showing readers how to lose weight. After ten minutes, it only come down to 2 way.

1. Eat less.
2. Workout more.

Now, someone actually bought those magazine (yes, 4 of them)! Don't you feel like being cheated? The person who bought the magazines want to cut down those inches will find out they are the same tips. Happy workout.

Who change my tooth brush?

2006-06-08T15:53:00.000+08:00

Technology are getting faster and it evolves so fast even my tooth brush evolves. Who the hell invented the electrical tooth brush? Why can't they leave the simplicity of the tooth brush alone!

See how fast technology leaving us behind. Heck even after turning my computer, i know the computer is learning something behind my back!

Toys...oh boy. Remember how fun it was to play with sharp pointing metal? But kids nowdays are playing with rounded-corner-interlocking Lego. Ooo...that is so not fun. Remember how our parents forced us to play with the wooden horse? That was fun right?

I remember the good old days where encouraging our friends to hurt themself still legal. Really, it was legal back in the 70's but now we can even smack our kid at the back. Yes, the goverment actually formed a Child Act...that is not fun. Back in the 70's, we can encourage our friend to hurt themself and nobody will shout at us. If my friend is playing on the swing i can legally tell him to go faster and higher and when he reach the highest heights, i'll thell him to jump.

Linux, iPod, Vista, Wii, PSP and more weird names keep on coming. Heck, i still trying to figure out what's wrong with Windows and a new version of OS already on sale. Just install Linux and a new version just relesead to public. Same goes for Playstation, i'm not even half done reading the manual and they already selling PS3.

Can we press the pause button for technology?

I'm not listening to your music dad!

2006-06-08T15:20:00.000+08:00

Yesterday, a friend of mine brought his son along. So we talked about the good old times; picking up girls, trash talking at nerds and stuff. My friend started to talk about the music we listen to and for sudden, his son said "That sucks!".

My friend and i listen to heavy metal pretty much and his son is more into those hip-hop rap music. His son told us about how uncool it's to listen to old school heavy metal rock and roll music like Purple, Flyod or Hendrix. Ermmm.....what will happen if my daughter grow up?

There i am playing my old Purple CD when i'm 75 while my daughter sitting next to me mocking me silently. I can imagine the whole scenario when Smoke On Water is playing. "Dad, that sucks!. Try listening to some trance techno music for a change." Nobody mocks the Purple!

The reason i wrote about my friends' son because as a blogger i need to step one step futher then my readers. Readers are not idiots and they can bring down my blog in seconds. Blogging about the same monotous topic will make readers take wings and fly away.

Try to be different--that was repeatly stated but hard to do. Being different IS hard unless you blog about something specific. For me (and the rest of us) i just can't stay off from other topics that came across my mind. I'll write about almost anything and i do enjoy it.

Can you stay focus with on topic? Not me and and not planning to do so. Unless my blog title is "Making money from internet", till then, i'm off topic.

666--The Satanic way to blog.

2006-06-08T13:10:00.000+08:00

Call it the omen or headless harry, but this is the best way to gain more readers. Follow the instruction and in no time, you'll see result. No, this is not an April Fool prank, this is the real thing. If you want more traffic, read my tips and don't skip any of the tips. Don't follow Seth Godins' 56 ways of getting traffic.

Ready? Ok, i'll wait for you. Done with the toilet-thing? Can we move on?

1. Update your blog every 2 months. - This is the secret of the big boys to get more traffic to their blog.
2. Write 2 or 3 line per post. - Another killer secret by the pros.
3. Rip someone elses' content. - Easy and you'll never get traced by the original author.
4. Use alien-SMS-type of language. - I'm sure most of you already the Grand Master of this type of language.
5. Blog in riddle and point to nowhere. - Another great solution or alternative to point #4.
6. Post about your smelly toe or your deepest personal life. - People really care about each other and we have all the time to read the post.

So, i hope you guys can follow my tips and don't shy to pass it to your friends.

Need to improve your memory fast?

2006-06-07T16:44:00.000+08:00

Improving our memory for some mean big business. The growth of magic-memory-pills is getting bigger in figure. Why not try to improve your meory for free and fast? BuildYourMemory is a good start.

Many people claim that they possess a poor memory. Indeed you may even be one of those people yourself. Well whether you are or not, the simple fact of the matter is that the vast majority of the population have perfectly good memories. The problem is that they just don’t know how to use them properly- via BuildYourMemory.

So, no more lame "i'm-too-old-to-remember-things" excuses. Get up and flex those neurons.

Mel Gibson runs as Governor?

2006-06-07T15:53:00.000+08:00

Some fanatic fan of Mel Gibson is trying to get Mel to run the house if Governor Schwarzenegger decided not to run for re-election.

Reading Mel's blog is interesting. Even if both of us are not the same religion (i'm a Muslim), still, his view about things are interesting and sometimes shocking. I don't have to disagree to agree (vice versa) with his view and i do respect him and his view. Being one of the top actor in Holywood, i'm sure plentty of fan loves to see Mel as governor.

Hack of the day--PECompact (Win only).

2006-06-07T15:07:00.000+08:00

Today i'm going to give you a tip on how to save your disk space from those huge bulky software or game. Why not keep it small and compact? PECompact is the right tool to compress those bulky software or game laying around your hard drive. You can get their trial version or Student Version but i'm going to use Student Version for this tutorial.

First off, what is PECompact?

PECompact is an advanced Windows executable compressor. Executable packers compress executable modules (EXE, DLL, etc..) so that their physical size is considerably smaller. At runtime, compressed modules are rapidly decompressed and reconstructed in memory.

Used on Google Desktop, DivX Player 6.0, µTorrent, and hundreds of other popular titles, PECompact has real-world exposure and testing beyond competing products. With PECompact, you can rest assured your compressed software will be trouble free. - via Bitsum

It's fairly simple to use PECompact but i took some time to make a flash tutorial for you. Click here to view the tutorial.

If you hate command-line compressor like UPX (which is great tool), PECompact's GUI is easy to master. Hope this tutorial helps you in saving more space in your hard drive.

The Fast and Furious--Tokyo Drift.

2006-06-06T17:01:00.001+08:00

Can't wait to watch this movie. I've seen the first and second Fast and Furious and i want more speed! Drifting race is hot here in Malaysia. More drivers and more drifting track. Heck, even old Nissan cars drifted too.

Where have i been? All over the place with no internet connection. Now, back to normal.

Introducing....Belacan; the most famoust ingredient in our local food.

2006-05-25T15:30:00.000+08:00

Call it full-flavoured, aromatic, spicy or downright nasty, Malaysian cuisine boasts more pungent varieties than arguably any other country in the world. This piquant character manifests itself in various forms, in fresh fruits (durian and jackfruit), in condiments (budu), preserves (cincaluk and tempoyak) and the innocuous looking belacan or shrimp paste. The last item is as indispensible to Malaysian cooking as herbs are to Italian cuisine or soya sauce to Chinese. Why, some purists go as far as to declare that your 'Malaysianess' hinges on whether or not you like belacan! - via Best Of Langkawi.

If you guys decided to come to Malaysia for a vacation, don't forget to order sambal belacan.

Is this relevance result from Google Video?

2006-05-25T15:03:00.000+08:00

I'm searching for how to make potato chips from Google Video and the result......i'm not going to spoil the thrill.

Do we need a super hero blogger or they just stupid people in tight pants?

2006-05-25T14:45:00.000+08:00

Had this conversation with my friend (who hates blogging) several days ago. Talked about open source, making money from internet and for no reason he said "Who is your super hero blogger?"

It took me some time to think the answer and to be honest; didn't have one! So i went back home with his question still in my mind. This time i decided to follow Edward de Bono advice--reverse the question. So i did and came up with "Do we need a super hero blogger?"

In order to answer the question, i have to look deep into what my blog topic are and were about. Yes, most of it were about computer and internet related topics and the rest were a mixture between making money from internet, personal thoughts and silly stuff.

Why must i have a super hero? I'm sure you too have your own super hero in life. I guess the answer would be the same as yours. We all need someone to look up to and in this case i would say Jeff Jarvis would be in my list. He can be a nutcase and sometimes a preecher in his own weird way.

I used to read Slashdot but now i'm turning to Digg and Delicious. I don't see any direct connection between Slashdot and this post but half of me kept on telling me to write it and so here it is.

Copyblogger is a great place to gain info about writing and i read Brian's opinion about blogging. His post that gave me a huge electric shock was the two most important words in blogging. Try reading it and i'm sure you'll fall from your chair.

I'm a foolish guy if i didn't mention Radar. Nothing escapes the radar in terms of new technology or service. A part of the most famous O'Reilly network, this is a must for me as i read it daily.

Problogger used to be in my "favourite" list but after the post about being an elite in blogsphere, i decided it's time for me to move on. I'm not that elite to play with the big boys so i'm off with the smaller fish. But, this is my view and not a "trashing-point" for Darren. Not just my type of coffee now.

Still, i can't figure out who is my super hero blogger! All above are great people and their blogs being read by thousand (millions?) daily but it is crazy to fit a shirt for everybody. So, who is your super hero blogger?

PS: Maybe some of you haven't notice that my blog now are open for comment. So, stop nagging at me to allow public commenting :P

Who said running OpenBSD needs huge hardware?

2006-05-24T17:33:00.000+08:00

This morning, a close friend of mine told me that his customer doesn't want OpenBSD in their system. Instead they shift to RedHat because they *thought* GNU/Linux will run on less hardware requirements.

I told my friend that i have an old P2 450 with 64Mb (yes, it's an old lad) running OpenBSD smoothly and i haven't upgrade it to the latest version since..ermmm years ago!

A huge myth about BSD OS is "If it's fo server, it's expensive on hardware". True if you want to run several huge server supporting 80 million hits per day but for a small server, OpenBSD is the rock-solid choice.

I'm not saying GNU/Linux sucks at this area but we have tested Red Hat (at their early stage) running side-by side with OpenBSD and OpenBSD shows no break in. Red Hat got ping-bombed after a week of getting it config. I'm sure Red Hat getting better nowdays but with only one security hole in 8 years, you have to give OpenBSD credit.

[A few] years ago I was just getting into system administration. I learned Linux first. Then one of our old (I mean *really* old) BSDi servers crashed, and it was up to me to rebuild the system.

I looked at FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and Linux. In the end, it came down to "secure and stable" that took the prize. OpenBSD 2.1 was installed.
Since then, I've run 2.1-2.5 on everything from production servers to laptops. We've never (repeat: NEVER) had a break-in.

A coworker setup a RedHat based box to test his skills at setting up SSL and a secure web site. It was hacked literally overnight, and by the next morning was attacking other sites.

Our OpenBSD servers were probed and then left alone. In the intervening two years, that original server got upgraded and patched several times and the OS never gave us reason to question the reliability or security of OpenBSD.

We have another box, acting as a router for about 800 workstations doing very basic filtering and NAT. It's on a P120 with 32MB RAM and typically the uptime would look like this:

% uptime
9:05PM up 266 days, 4:23, 1 user, load averages: 0.06, 0.06, 0.06
%

As well, OpenBSD runs on my laptop. A Gateway Solo 2500 with a Xircom modem, and a Linksys fast Ethernet NIC. And it never crashes :) - via OpenBSd

BSD community is head to head with GNU/Linux now and i do hope BSD will hit the checkered flag. If OpenBSD (or any BSD flavour) wants to win desktop market and users, it is important to update their hardware support.

Illegal Adsense method.

2006-05-24T11:42:00.000+08:00

Adsense has become a great source of income for bloggers and some consider it as their main source of income. Some will play by the rule but some will get smart with Adsense and hope to get away with it.

I just hate cheaters and i have spotted several illegal method used by publishers. Please don't use my info as your main arsenal to cheat or misleading people to click your Adsense ads!

Lately i saw two method in order to get clicks (illegal one of course). This method is by using popup or floating layers. The first method is by forcing visitors to click their Adsense by using timer. The second method is by using layer with small pixel to close it. Let me explaine the first method.

Popup with timer.
First of all, it's against Adsense TOS to place popups. Not just popups but also pop-down is illegal accoding to their TOS. When visitors visited a blog or website, a popup will greet them with a huge timer on it. This timer comes with text such as "This limited offer only will be display to you for [timer ticking second]". In the popup are the Adsense's ads.

In internet marketing setting a time liimit can improve your sale. By using a "forcing" method like this, people will click the Adsense ads thinking it will not shoen to them again. Urgency is the main factor in order to force visitors to click the ads.

These cheaters will place a small cookie to make sure the popup will not shown again even if the visitors press the refresh button. This cookie will last about a week (some with a shorter life span) so that will leave an impression for the visitors who didn't click the ads. That impression will force the visitors to keep on visiting the same website or blog just to make sure "this-time-i'll-take-the-offer".

Once the popup get clicked, the cookie will set itself to reset itself. Why? Once people clicked on the ads, it will show the direct link to the link. People will press the "Back" button to read more from the cheating website. Guess what, a new popup will greet them again! And you will see the time again and you will click the ad again and this seems to end to it!

Layer with small pixel.
You can call it popup if you like but this is actually a layer. By using pure DHTML, it can by-pass most of popup blocker. This is how it work; place Adsense behind the layer and if you want to close it, click the "X" button.

Simple eh to trick people into clicking their Adsense? Normally the "X" button is smaller than your coursor. This is how it work; 90% chances you will fail to click to close button because of it size and you'll end up clicking the Adsense. Just take a look at the sample i made below.

Again, i'm not showing you the way to cheat Adsense just to educate new publisher what is right and wrong. I know some will apply this method after reading my post but please don't do it. Adsense is not stupid and they'll protect their AdWords users without prejudice.

Long way from home.

2006-05-23T14:58:00.000+08:00

On Friday, i'm leaving to Kedah for an engagement ceremony. No, not me but a relative of mine. Kedah, such a long journey from Pahang. That will took about 11-12 hours in the bus!

I studied in Kedah before and i know how far it is. I once said to myself, i'm not going back to Kedah because i can't stand the journey. Looks like i have to break my promise.

I'll be offline starting from Friday till Monday.

Weird emails i got--A half-complete compilation.

2006-05-19T15:27:00.000+08:00

I never shown these email before but now i think both of us might enjoy reading it. The bold fonts are my comments.

Hey dudz...wazupp. U got it right she got huge boobies man. Hook me up with that b***h.
Have we met before? Are you talking about Pamela Anderson or Grandma Sue?

I'm sorry to inform you that we can't save Berd anymore. Please collect his remaining in 3 days time. If you prefer us to send his remaining, please call us ASAP.
Dr. Mikel Jordan
Nooo!!! Berd is dead? I can't believe it! This is not happening to me...!!! I assume Berd was a dog and i'm not collecting his doo-doo and i'm not calling you too!

Hi,
My name is Sarah and i'm 8 years old. I'm doing an article for my school project and i'm wondering if you can help me out. I know you're a busy singer but please contact me.
Dear Sarah, i'm too old for you, sorry about that. Yes, i do sings but mostly in the bathroom while nobody at the house. To tell you the truth, i'm not that busy but i'll try to sing at your 9th birthday party.

F**k you! You just broke my Xbox and i'm going after you!
Wow, that was short. For your information, i never borrowed your XBox or your Game Cube. The only game i play is the hangman from Windows 3.1 version. Please don't swear at me you moron.

Yo Big D,
tonite is da big nite bro all of the gangz will be at da park dont forget to bring da good shit
First, please use the dot. It's annoying reading your email bro. What? you and the gang going to kill someone? No, i'm not bring any good stuff for you guys. If it's good, i'm keeping it bro.

Dear [insert name here],
I'm a fresh graduate looking for a job as a computer techician. I can operate Microsoft and Linux and i'm a webmaster for several website......
Please contact me and thank you for your time.

[Your name here]
Dear whoever you are. Please don't send me an email without editing the resume template. I'm glad that can operate Microsoft, it took most of us about 5 years in medic school to learn how to operate a frog, well done. Sorry to say that i don't own a computer store so please ask the store next to my store.

Woiittt, syial la lu nih. Ari tuh kata nk bli keta bru, leh2 aku tgk ko pki keta lma gk. Keta wra ko dh msuk turbo ek? syial tubo gler. nnt aku kntek ko bl aku blk kl. chow
[Translation] Woiitt..[some cursing going on here]. You said you want to get a new car but i saw you driving the same old car. Your wra ( i assume it's Wira) is on turbo now? [some cursing some more]. I'll call you when i get back to KL.
This is what i call a pure rubbish. I hate those SMS-style messages. It's hard to figure out what is what. And why does people love to curse even if it's about good news?

To be honest, i'm not sure if those emails are from spammers or not. Ermm...i just don't get it, how on earth my email got in their favourite list? Don't they check before sending those emails?

Update: This is a killer one.
Hi,
My son loves riding his new bicycle but refuses to wear any safety equipment. I've told him about the danger and still, he would listen to me. I gave him the bike on his 8th birthday last month. Can you please tell him to wear the safety equipment.

Dave.
Hi Dave,
This is my advise to your son. It's wise to wear a good condom even if he is not riding his bike.

Stress free by adjusting your chair.

2006-05-18T16:57:00.000+08:00

Sitting in front of the computer for 7-8 hours per day will give you a back pain. For me, using the right ergonomic chair is important to reduce stress and back pain. What is ergonomic chair?

Italian Bernardino Ramazinni (1633-1714) became the first physician to write about work-related injuries and illnesses in his 1700 publication, "De Morbis Artificum (Diseases of Workers)". Ramazinni was ostracized by his fellow doctors for visiting the workplaces of his patients in order to identify the causes of their disorders. The term ergonomics (from the Greek words ergon [work] and nomos [natural laws]) first entered the modern lexicon when Wojciech Jastrze;bowski used the word in his 1857 article Rys ergonomji czyli nauki o pracy, opartej na prawdach poczerpnie;tych z Nauki Przyrody (adapted from a previous version of this page). -via Wikipedia

So many ergonomic chairs in the market to choose from. It's important to pick the right ergonomic chair so that you can enjoy your wok even more. Make sure the ergonomic chair is "posture-friendly" and you are comfortable with the height and cushion. Lets see what the pro's think of the Aeron Ergonomic chair.

Quality cost,s and the Aeron could not be described as a bargain in the traditional sense. I'm not really interested in whether the chair is a design classic or an icon. I've seen stuff in the Design Museum which may look fabulous but isn't usable. But the Aeron is a rare beast, it is stylish, comfortable and utilitarian. -via eGrindStone

Time to get a new ergonomic chair. Cornell.edu have a nice article on how to pick the best ergonomics chair.

Is he fast or what?

2006-05-17T16:50:00.000+08:00

Any of you play the drums? I'm a drummer and i play metal and all metal drummers love to use double pedal. But this guy is fast...reaaaaally fast. Kicking at 1407 kicks per minute are just out of this world. I wish i can play like this guy.

Open vs Open; who will be on the top? My review.

2006-05-17T15:30:00.000+08:00

On May 12, 2006 CNET News released a news about FreeBSD vows to compete with GNU/Linux. I found the article really interesting. As a user of both party, i'm seeing this as love-and-hate relationship between both creator.

FreeBSD developer Scott Long told ZDNet UK on Thursday that the operating system, descended from the Unix derivative BSD, is "quickly approaching" feature parity with Linux.

"Lots of work is going on to make FreeBSD more friendly on the desktop," Long said. "Within the year, we expect to have, or be near, parity with Linux."

The main focus of developers is to integrate FreeBSD with the GNOME and KDE desktop environments, and to add plug-and-play hardware capabilities. - via CNET.

FreeBSD is a rock solid operating system that run most of big servers and it too can be run as a normal desktop OS. This is my two cents; Pro and Con coming from the news.

FreeBSD need to drive more ports and application if it want to make it on users desktop in short amount of time. In my experience using FreeBSD, hardware driver support was and still the issue. With Gnu/Linux, you can get more hardware support even for Gentoo. I know Gentoo still need more improvements ( Ubuntu creator called Gentoo as click-and-crash) but it's going somewhere. Uh..i'm off topic now.

FreeBSD is near to GNU/Linux with the release of DesktopBSD and PC-BSD. Even a small group released a live cd of BSD like Freesbie contributes to an even closer experience for Windows users. Based on KDE, PC-BSD kinda hogs you system a bit but that is not a big problem if you have huge processor and memory.

I do hope FreeBSd can make it as the next open source operating system besides GNU/Linux. For me, i strogly suggest you try GNU/Linux for its better hardware support. But if you're looking for a rock-solid OOS, go for FreeBSD or OpenBSD (for running your own home server).

Related read:
1. O'Reilly testing PC-BSD.
2. FreeBSDForum for help and tips.
3. Malaysian BSD group.

I love you, i love you not. Time to clean up those business cards.

2006-05-15T18:40:00.000+08:00

Yesterday my 8 months old daughter took my wallet and put it in her mouth. That is not the big news, that is normal for 8 months old. When she flipped my wallet, a whole bunch of business cards covers her toy. Ermm....

So i picked all the business cards and lay it down. So, should i throw away those "heavy" cards or should i keep it for a while. This is what i did, i categorize it by functions:

1. Don't need anymore - Because the company is out of bussiness, changed the phone number and the owner died ( it's true).
2. Maybe i need it in the future - Most of the cards are about home contractors and computer dealers.
3. Gold - Need i say more?

Some of it was simply a print-out from a cheap printer (you can tell by when the colours started to "wash" out. Some just annoying, cramped with more annoying things. Some just love to use a super-tiny fonts and some just perfect. If you want to give me your business cards, make sure it's in the #3 spot or at least #2.

Do you really think i'm happy spamming others?

2006-05-15T17:39:00.000+08:00

Enough is enough! Several emails saying that my blog is solely for Adsense and a spammy blog. Yeah right. can't they see that my post are hand-made? I'm not using any content scrapping software to generate my content.

Marketing with Google with no money on the table; The Case Study.

2006-05-11T16:05:00.000+08:00

Disclaimer: This information is not at any level of guarantee success to your marketing plan. But in the long term, you know that you've taken the first step.

Google is the biggest search engine with million of users using it per day. Tackling the big boy will gain you attention and in most cases, income. In this mini tutorial, i 'll try to explaine how to use Google to work for you.

For this post, i'll break down the method into 2 categories:

Adsense.
Search Engine.

I'm sure most of my loyal readers already understand what is Adsense and how you can make revenue from it. You can always search for my tips about Adsense in my blog. I'm not going to cover about Adsense today but more into the search engine.

Before that, i'm not a SEO expert and this post is not about SEO in details. If you want to know more about SEO, please refer to the websites below:

1. SEOMoz
2. Search Engine Watch.
3. Just Google for SEO.

Looking for a laser-targeted niche market is hard but Google just made it easy (not that easy). I'm talking about looking for the right keyword for your marketing plan. If you thought picking the right keyword is not important, think again.

Let's move to the first step. I assumed that you already made a website or blog so i will skip the "how-to" make a website routine.

Finding the Keyword.
First you must read Google's Webmaster Guideline to understand the Yes and No.

Now that you have read the guideline, it's time to find your keywords. Let say you're from UK and looking for the right keyword for your website. First, you need to know what's hot in the internet. By using Google Zeitgeist, you can figure out what's hot and start making your niche marketing plan. At the moment i'm writting this post, national lottery is on the top list and cheap flights at the #12 spot.

Looking back at your marketing plan (i hope i have one), you now can spot which is which for your main keywords. Not only the zeitgeist gave out infomation coming from UK but from all Google's country search result. So, what is it for you? You can gather as much as you could about what is hot among surfers. Let say your website is about vacation and you want to know if that is the best keyword. Write down the keyword "vacation" on a piece of paper. It's time to figure out what is related to the word "vacation".

By using Google AdWords Tool, you can get the most out of your keywords. According to the tool, related keywords are below:

1. vacations
2. accomodations.
3. vacation package.
4. travel deals.
5. hotel deals.
6. gateway.
7. honeymoon etc.

You also can get the popularity rank for each keywords, global search volume, possible keywords and more. A one-stop keyword tool for you and it's free. Study the charts base on your main keyword (e.g vacation) and always recheck the result once a week. Do this for about a month before decided to pick the right keywords.

Do you want to know how many people are actually searching the word vacation? How about use Google Suggest? It will auto-complete the word for you. Next to the keyword, you can see the search volume. Compare this stats with the Google AdWords Tool to pin point the best keyword for you. Criss-crossing several keywords sometimes can help you get the main keywords.

Thanks to Google's new feature, now you can get more info for comparisson. Google Trends is totally new and great tool to play with. Just type your keyword (vacation) and again, compare the stats.

Have you tried Froogle yet? If not, you're missing the train of revenue. Froggle is a place for sellers selling their products and by using information (any info from Google works well) from it, you can determine what's selling like a hot cake.

Now that you already have the secret weapon to paly big for free using Google, please study the stats, fact, figure and charts before choosing the keywords. Happy hunting.

OOS in Malaysia; will we see more OOS users?

2006-05-11T12:03:00.000+08:00

I wrote several "general" topics about GNU/Linux so that Malaysian readers can grap the main idea of GNU/Linux. I'm seeing more users are trying to shift to OOS such as Ubuntu, Debian or any type of distros. Well, maybe not the full GNU/Linux installation but the interest is there.

On May 17 2005, Mampu has released a whitepaper for the state of Terengganu. It covers most of the GNU/Linux fundamental including FreeBSD. In the whitepaper, the state officers can understand how they can cut the state's cost in several million ringgit per year.

You can read to whole whitepaper [PDF] to understand the basic of GNU/Linux. If you want to know more about GNU/Linux scene in Malaysia, My-OpenSource is a nice place to start.

More links:
1. Whitepaper from Skali.net in 2002.
2. Wikipedia on Linux in Malay.
3. Malaysian OOS master plan.
4. Linus; Just for fun book.

Ermm...GNU/Linux is under one man order but FreeBSD is under core team. One side said drop the man so that GNU/Linux can be made into more stable and faster release date. But on the other side said let him be, he is the creator of GNU/Linux.

Both are heading to one main goal which is great. Lately, i'm itching to get my FreeBSd machine running back again. Nah...i'm not dumping GNU/Linux just breathing a fresh new air.

The correct way to pick your nose.

2006-05-10T17:26:00.000+08:00

I was this close to write about the correct way to pick your nose. Yup, i'm getting weirder everyday....i've told you before didn't i?

Writting the past now.

2006-05-10T16:51:00.000+08:00

I'm wondering, when ill the past become the past? Just a moment ago i just wrote something and it's in the past. See, i did it again. Blah...i did it again.

Every single second (quater of micro seconds) ago, i'm actually writing my past. Every seconds in the past were documented by me, you and search engines.

I know this post looks like a riddle but think about it, time keeps on moving forward no matter how hard we're trying not to step into the future. What future? This future, the same future as i type this post. So what can the past tell us?

As a blogger, that means everything and anything. Search engines will cached every single word in this post or any post. The past can tell you if im not in the mood to play or if i'm happy or sad; it could be anything.

Maybe my future boss is reading this very post at this very moment! Maybe my daughter will read the history of her father in next 10 years. Every words that are on your screen right now is a mirror of my past and future.

Man, this is deep for me. See you in the future.

After all these years, now i understand (not really).

2006-05-10T15:10:00.000+08:00

Rich Dad Poor Dad has been the best selling book for years now. Last month, ive decided to re-read the book again. This time, i got smarter and note down the points given. Normally i will note down the points from any book but i don't why it slips off.

The first chapters are great reading; giving you the idea of money, which is true and solid statement from Robert Kiyosaki. Moving to the next chapter, i'm not comfortable with the idea of getting rich by diving into real-estate. For a mid-level worker like me, investing in real estate is a huge jump. Several question kept on bouncing back and forth in my mind.

1. If i have $500 in my bank, how can i buy a real estate?
2. Where to start?
3. What kind of real estate to grap?
4. Etc.

Robert kept on going about his rich dad and how he made money from real estate but not once Robert Kiyosaki mention about how his dad started to built his wealth from real estate.

In his book, Robert said that his rich dad told him not to work with a company but buy that company. Now my head started to hurt. In his book, Robert told us that he was the top salesperson selling a machine before he made his first million. Now, using my logical thinking cap, we need to start somewhere to gain capitol unless your uncle goes by the name of Bill Gates.

Again, his books were (are) the best sellers. In my honest opinion, Robert is selling his story not the "how-to". He made a whole bunch of money from seminars, tapes, CD's, game and books. Maybe i'm wrong but this is my point of view about his book. So, all of the Rich Dad cult members, you can follow Robert's tips if it's working for you.

Kiyosaki wrote that he will keep his company secret. Ermm....if he made millions per year, don't you agree that his company in a public-listed company? How can a public company running behind the widescreen? Not even once he mentioned about the name of his company.

From my view, learning about the basic of money from Kiyosaki is great but it will leave you hanging with nothing to grap on. I better off reading Donald Trump.

Jamloceng in the newspaper.

2006-05-10T11:44:00.000+08:00

Yup, you read it right. A recent coverage by a local newspaper about me and my blog and how i made $12,500 per month from my blog.

Read more..

Free TV show anyone?

2006-05-05T15:39:00.000+08:00

But before that, you're not in the wrong blog. This is jamloceng but with a nicer skin. So don't start deleting your bookmark okay. ChannelChooser is great to stream your favourite TV show for free. Well, i don't know if it's really free but according to them it's free and legal. About 70 channels to watch (including adult) starting from cartoon right up to Blomberg news. I love to watch Reuter News.

Another free streaming for grab is from WwiTV. If you're a student from Malaysia studying in other part of the world, you can watch some local show here. With 3000 live feed, you can stream or download the show for offline viewing. Have fun and i'm off to stream ABC news some more.

Double search box; our second nature?

2006-05-05T10:38:00.000+08:00

I've found that most website are starting to add two search-box in their site. This is to make sure users can search anything easily without scrolling up or down.

One search-box on top of the page and the other is at the bottom of the page. Look at Google for example, by providing double search box, searching with Google is faster.

What does this means? It means everything to Adsense publishers. I must explain about it more (if you're not an Adsense publisher) to make my point clear. Everytime visitors (who used your search box from your site or blog) search for something and click on the results, the Adsense publisher will make some money.

Back to the question above. I'm seeing a new trend of placing double search box in several sites and as an Adsense publishers, we can use this "second-nature" of ours to gain some profit interest.

The bad news is, we can't add more Adsense search box. We can put other search box from other company, which is against Adsense policy. Now we are left behind a new trend of web design.

Our "second nature" we picked up in the internet is Google. What ever Google released, we will follow. Simple as that. When will Adsense allow us (publishers) to use more search box? Beware, over doing it will make your site looks like spammy site.

RSS hack to rip video from YouTube.

2006-05-04T15:28:00.000+08:00

This is not the best way to rip video from YouTube but it is faster. You don't have to login to YouTube (YT) and wait all the result to load. Simple yet fun to try. I'm using their RSS for this hack.

Tools you need to have:
1. Firefox or any browser that supports Flash.
2. RSSOwl for your main source.

Now that i have covered the tool, shal we start?

Install RSSOwl and run it. Go to YT website and stream down their RSS using RSSOwl. Several RSS for you to pick according to your greedy needs.

Update the RSS from RSSOwl and now you're ready to watch some nice video without have to wait the whole website to load. Copy the full url of the flash movie into your browser or stand-alone Flash player. You can watch a tutorial made by me using CamStudio [freeware].

Jamloceng has leave the building.

2006-05-03T17:15:00.000+08:00

First of all, i would like to announce that i'm using the full content for my feed. So, no more "half" content for my feed readers. I'm conducting an experiment about the full content feed.

If Steve Rubel take a leap off the internet, nobody would notice it. If Darren decided not to blog anymore, we all will move on but if Adsense not making money, most of us will go "yada-da-doo-i-don't-believe-it".

Come on, it's not the end of the road. Try selling milk or something, that would be a good jump start to increase your income.

This post is a late post because i want to wait for the issue to cool down a little bit. The reason is, i'll not going to pull reader to read this post if i posted it at the same time as the hot issue few weeks back. What is the hot issue?

It's about the ugly website that made $10,000 per day! Yes, i know most of you already read about it bla bla bla but have you read my view about it? See, i know you want me to comment on this.

PlentyOfFish (the ugly website) is a free online dating that pulls millions of people to use their free service. Why does an ugly website made so much money from Adsense? Boys and girls, it's time for some history class.

At the early stage of internet ( early 90's), many instant webmaster were releasing their website in just days. I can remember looking at simple and plain websites with virtually no images, that load so fast even with my 14K modem. At that time, nobody really care about placing images or flash (don't get me started with flash sites) because the internet boom just started. Early birds already making huge money.

Look at Google, do you think the design is cool? Not at all but it's the world top search engine! More and more people are leaping from Yahoo to Google because Google is fast and with all those blinking ads allover the page.

Let us go back to PlentyOfFish shall we. First it attracts millions per day and that is the main reason. Yes, that simple no magic formula or vodoo dolls along the line. No matter where you put your Adsense ads, if you got low visits per day; you're not going to make even a dollar per day. Adsense placement is important and i'm not going to debating on that but publishers always forget about the one and only one reason; traffic.

Blend it, fake it but still not making money from those clicks? Try getting your main contributor first. I'm not going to say it it easy, heck i'm still learning but i know where the money comes from. No silly, money doesn't grow on trees, it grows in the ocean.

Peaceful Zen of Spam.

2006-05-03T16:30:00.000+08:00

Take a deep breath and hold it for 5 seconds. Now,slowly release all the stress. Ahh....my daily meditation session after being spam'ed by hundreds of emails.

So, as usuall, marked it as spam and hoping it will stay off my beach of joy. Getting spam'ed is not the greatest thing to popup in life.

The trend of spam is now moving to more complex method. Before this, most spams were about sexual pills, breast enlargement and so on. But now, spams are circulating for pray in the blog department.

So many spam about blogging service, softwares, eBook etc and i can't stand it anymore. Just you spammers forget, i'm a blogger and i know what blogging is!

Deep breath...hold....release.

No, i'm not mad just this close to being mad.

Call me Beastie if you please.

2006-05-03T11:21:00.000+08:00

BSD, is a Unix operating system grounding most internet servers and still one of the most trusted OS around the globe.

The history of Unix development at Berkeley has been recounted in detail by Marshall Kirk McKusick in his chapter in the O'Reilly book Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution. It is now possible to get a two and a half hour video in which he brings the history to life complete with anecdotes and interesting footnotes to the historical narrative.

Marshall Kirk McKusick's work with Unix development spans some twenty years. From his first paper on the implementation of Berkeley Pascal in 1979, to his pioneering work in the eighties on the BSD Fast File System, the BSD virtual memory system, the final release from the UC Berkeley Computer Systems Research Group, 4.4 BSD Lite2, and his work on FreeBSD. A key figure in Unix and BSD development, his experiences chronicle not only the innovative technical achievements but also the interesting personalities and philosophical debates in Unix over the past twenty years. His talk covers many of these areas as he describes his years at the Computer Systems Research Group at Berkeley. - via McKusick.

Did you know the mascot of BSD doesn't have a name? Some of us call the short-red-devil as Chuck and some (including me) called him Beastie. According to Kirk McKusick (the creator of BSD), the mascot doesn't have any name!

Can i call the mascot Boobee-boo? What? Too girly? LOL.

Download of the day 03/05/06

2006-05-03T10:03:00.000+08:00

After i have tested Wink, a great screen capture tool, today i'm going to introduce you to CamStudio.

CamStudio is able to record all screen and audio activity on your computer and create industry-standard AVI video files and using it's built-in SWF Producer can turn those AVIs into lean, mean, bandwidth-friendly Streaming Flash videos (SWFs). - via MajorGeek.

You can create a nice tutorial video or presentation video in AVI and Flash format. It's small, easy to use and free too! Yeaa...another freeware to download. To view a demo that i made using CamStudio, please click here to view the video complete with audio.

This tool also can be use as your marketing tool. Create a flash video about your product in just few clicks. With a built-in AVI and Flash player, you can view the result after you're satisfied with the result. Add some audio and your video is ready to upload.

CamStudio lack of editing function. With Wink, you can cut any frame that you don't need and paste another images on top of it. If you want more control, Wink is still the best screen capture tool but if you want a straight forward screen capture tool, try CamStudio.

Short tutorial how to encrypt your torrent downloads.

2006-05-02T17:18:00.000+08:00

To view the tutorial that i made, please click here for a flash movie.

Description half-spam from YouTube.

2006-05-02T17:03:00.000+08:00

Lately i'm seeing a half-spam from YouTube. Okay, not from YouTube directly but from the uploaders. I'm not sure if i'm on the right track but YouTube is not a blog!

Just for example ( i have nothing against the uploader ), try clicking this link about Bloodhound Gang. I know some people just need extra info about the video but writting down every single details will spoil the fun right?

For some uploaders, they want to promote their website or blog to the mass and that's fine with me. I love reading or viewing new stuff but throwing a whole bunch of words in the description column is shoo'ing your viewers. I don't know if this is for feeding the search engine or not and i don't know YouTube stand is regarding this matter.

Maybe, just maybe YouTube already set their Robot.txt to disable search engine crawlers from feeding the description but what if YouTube forget to do so?

Will the crawlers feed on the keywords? If yes, another door just opened to the black hat SEO and they will do anything to make big money from people.

Again, search for the hypnosis from YouTube and you can see pretty heavy load of long descriptions.

Maybe YouTube should put a limit sign in the description. Any idea?

Ermm...what did i do wrong?

2006-05-02T15:12:00.000+08:00

This is interesting. Look at the underlines. What did i do? Let me think for a second. Coming out from the toilet? Nope. Ermm...eating my toe nails? Nope, not that.

Full view.

Maybe YouTube just trying to be funny. Yeah, like i want to hack their server of something. It would be funny tho if i email them about the error saying "As i walked out from the toilet, i got an error from YouTube and that scared the hell out of me".

Again, Happy Birthday to MEEEEE......!!!! Ooo..i'm in the mood for another cake.

Happy birthday to me!

2006-05-02T14:13:00.000+08:00

Not just it was my birthday ( 29 April ) but it's my blog first birthday. Cool eh? Now, where's my gift? Just a short post to tell you that i'm still alive.

How To Link Bait To Increase Popularity: The Ultimate Handbook by Jamloceng.

2006-04-28T15:29:00.000+08:00

I know, that was a long title because i can't figure out the best short title to pick. But seriously, i've been watching blog trends for months now. Some author ( it's becoming anooying to type "blogger" nowdays ) fire-up some competition and some will stay away from Google.

If you want to increase your popularity, read this Ultimate Handbook for link baiting. Share it, Digg it or just give it to your pet; i don't care.

What is link baiting? Long story short, it's getting zillion of link pointing back to your website or blog. Is it important to have all those links? YES if you're running your blog for the public to read or marketing products and NO if your blog just for your dog to chew on.

Link baiting is in the grey zone of major search engines. Don't confused link baiting with doorway pages. Like i said, it's in the grey zone so maybe one day major search engines will put link baiting in the blacklist.

Now that i have covered the important issue, shall we proceed?

Link baiting comes in several forms and they all lead to one answer, human interest. That simple? Yes and you don't have to crack any Da Vinci Code from Google. You can create crazy articles or almost anything that can triggers the human interest.

To understand more about how to create a super link baiting, please read the examples below for better understanding.

Case study #1 - Google Fasting.
Chris Pirillo made a promise not to use Google for a week (or more). So what's the hype? Before i tell you, try typing "google fasting" in Google and look at the figures. Looking back at the date Chris made his "weird" ritual, it was started on Feb 22 in 2006. Back to the question why so many people jumping up and down for the post?

Nobody can deny that Google IS the number one search engine followed by Yahoo and MSN. Yes the result is a mix between Chris's post and some ancient Indian fasting ritual but most of the result are pointing to Chris's blog.

He just pops the human interest! People want to see the result and what he learned from Google fasting. That is what i called human interest. I know Chris can use other search engines but still, it's like uninstall Windows XP and use Windows 3.1 in split second decision. I read a survey done by Uni students (sorry, can't recall the source), 7 out of 10 people set their browser to Google. So, now you know why so many people linking back to Chris's blog. You too can create the buzz in the internet like "no blogging for a month and will keep it update daily in my blog" or "Stay away from Wal-Mart for 3 years". Get your own super weird brain to fork out the best link baiting.

Case study #2 - Create a new word or language.
Hard? Not really if you are John Scott who ran a contest using a new word. He is offering you over $4000 is you can get "V7ndotcom Elursrebmem" on top of search engines. Try typing the word "v7ndotcom elursrebmem" in Google and look at how many unique links referring to the word.

So I decided to choose keywords which have a more personal meaning. The keywords I chose indicate the value this community places upon community. The v7n community has always been, in my opinion, a couple notches above other forums where community is involved. Several of the members here have been steadfast friends, with whom I discuss personal issues that I'd never discuss with people who I didn't consider to be true friends. I believe this community has created several such friendships, and in that respect v7n is unique among webmaster forums. - via v7n.com

You can take your blog to another level of link baiting using money. He uses a logical thinking to link baiting; that's everybody want money. "There's no free lunch" and it's true. In order to get huge link to his forum, Scott is offering money and people will put a back link in order to win to money. Again, by using human interest link baiting can improve your popularity and yes, pagerank.

Case study #3 - Create a new tool.
Performancing Metric is great to track and compare stats from your blog or website. Not just that, they also offering blogging tool for Firefox and it's all free!

Giving away free tool and service are great to get a fast linking. People will start downloading it and review it in their blogs and yes, they will put a link within the content. First, lets take a look at Performancing's extension for Firefox.

This extension is great for blogger so that they can blog from within their browser. There's no need to install a 10Mb software, just a small XPI and off you go. More and more people are turning their head (and trust) to Firefox and by offering the extension, Performancing will be one of the first party to offer tool for blogger.

I'm seeing this as a "throwing 2 birds with a stone" issue. First, Firefox and the second is blog. Blog is getting bigger and bigger and authors are getting excited about the extension. Combining both can flood your popularity in just days.

Performancing Metrics is a free tracking service by them. Yes, anothe free stuff from them that is making huge impact in blogsphere. This tool is for tracking and comparing stats coming from your blog or website. With nothing to install or server needed, this tracking script is easy to use even for non geek authors.

Authors (bloggers) are becoming "stat junkies" because they're driven by Adsense or any other affiliate method. With the need to "read" their visitors, authors need to use the right tool and Performancing just offering it for free.

Case study #4 - Fool the Diggers.
I just love Digg (once) for giving out the latest news all around the world. Most diggers (people who dug stories) will pickup some interesting stoy (i don't know why diggers trying to be the "first" to submit to Digg) and submit it to Digg so others can read. Once the story is on the frontpage, diggers will flood the source of story in seconds.

A digger ran an experiment (was it?) with a title "Nano-mario wants his amazing RIAA photos!" and in seconds, people are flooding the website! By using a fancy and attention-grabbing title, bait linking is easy.

Most diggers consider themselves as editor and they can pick which link to get a digg. By hypnotizing them, you too can get a nice bait linking.

Case study #5 - Just pure content.
How should i put this? I'm sure all of you already heard about "content is King" but i'm thinking how to make it simple. I can't think any, it's just plain simple. A good content ill always pull huge visits not just in the short run but also in the long run.

Copyblogger is a great example on getting the right spotlights. Showing others how to write a good content, surely can get a nice juicy back link. Why was that you may ask. Below is my view about CopyBlogger.

Again, by the booming of blogs, new authors (such as me) are looking for way to improve our content. Okay, i'm not into the "news" kind of blogger but still learning from the pro never going to hurt you. By learning, new authors can get more wider readers and the readers will spread the words.

That's about it about my ultimate guide for link baiting. I'm sure not all the party mentioned above is link baiting but the effect of link baiting can be achvie by using several methods. No need to beg for link just to improve your pagerank. Getting your content to work for you is better compared to begging for a higher pagerank.

Again, play along with ideas on how to get the spotlights glittering on you. I hope you guys enjoy this post as much as i enjoy writting it.

Bug me not, i'm not registering.

2006-04-27T17:17:00.000+08:00

I always visit PCMag for the latest review or news. The best part about PCMag is you can donwload software from their website. The ugly part is, you have to register to login before the download starts.

I'm not looking forward signing into several website just to get or read something. So, i by-pass the registration and straight to the download page.

BugMeNot is a free service to generate logins for you. Just enter the full URL of the download page into BugMeNot and it wil generate several logins. Let say i want to get Altiris Layer ( a great sandbox by the way for Win ) and PCMag asking me for my login. Use BugMeNot instead to bypass the registration. Cool.

Click here to view the mini-tutorial i made using Wink. Great tool too.

How NOT to use captcha for your blog.

2006-04-26T15:35:00.000+08:00

Look at the captcha above. It's cool to use captcha to prevent spam comments but using all letters for captcha is not a wise thing. Mix it with numbers to avoid "Where-did-i-go-wrong" speech.

I rather hear someone yell.

2006-04-26T15:06:00.000+08:00

Have you been in a situation when somebody whispering on the phone? I had that too often and guess what, it was annoying. Speak up will you i can't understand a word here.

Once, a women talking softly on the phone and i can't pick up a word she was saying. So i pollitely told her to repeat what she just said. Again, all i heard was like she is having a nap or something.

I don't care if she spoke in broken Malay or broken English. Heck, i use a truck full of broken English in my blog. That's not important as long as we all can understand each other.

Sorry ma'am, did you just said screw me? Are trying to moleste me by the phone?

What about people whoo just love to talk really loud? Ouch..my ears are bleeding and blood dripping from the corner of the ears. I was like, holding my phone 5 feets from my ear and still can hear the loud voice. Normally i'll just said that i'm in the middle of dinner or meeting and i hang up. Not to be rude but i can't stand hearing loud voices on the phone.

Be moderate while on the phone. People do judge us from the tone of our voice.

By the way, who invented the finger? You know, the middle finger whenever someone got mad; that finger. Seriously, who invented the finger thing? Have he tried something else before he invented the finger? Why can't that person use a knee or pimple sign? Why must the finger?

'I'm mad right now and here's my finger for you! Screw you [and some more finger showing]".

This world is getting weirder every single day. I'm using the opposite method in my style of blogging, not shouting and not whispering either. I'm on the middle level. Here is my tip to blogging:

The No Whispering Blogging.
Broken English or not, try deliver your points straight forward. Speaking (blogging in this case) in riddles not going to help. Come on, we are not from the Batman fighting the Riddler episode. I got so many emails telling me to improve my English writting. I really love to read readers comments but as i stated earlier, as long as we understand each other, that's okay.

A whispering blogger sub category is the Scroll-Ups type. Don't you just hate when you have to kept on scrolling up and down while reading a blog? You know, the "i just explain this in my first paragraph" bloggers. I'll never bookmarke that kind of bloggers not now not in the next life.

The No Shouting Blogging.
Do you love when somebody shouting at you? No? Great, i don't have to explain more. Some bloggers just love to shout at their readers. Normally these type of blogger considered they're holier than thou. "I'm a pro blogger and you should listen to me!" kind of post just not going to be in my bookmark list.

But crazy enough, people like to be shout at once in a while. Many bloggers are applying this method to gain readers. I don't know but people just love reading other people mad at each other.

Which type of blogger are you?

Only a title. Can you digg it?

2006-04-26T12:37:00.000+08:00

A week without TV challange.

2006-04-26T12:11:00.000+08:00

I just can't stop nagging while watching any boring show on tv. What is my kind of tv show? Discovery Channel, Animal Planet; that kind of show. So i'm chanllenging my self to not to watch tv for a week starting next Monday.

The only thing i'll watch is the news ( the 30 minutes one, not the full hour news) at night. The rest, i'm relying on internet or a crappy drunken friends of mine ( either one is valid news tho).

No, seriously i'm trying to avoid watching tv for a week. All of us just can't wait to go home and holding the tool of the Kings; the remote. Weekends, err...how should i put it, i'll be infront of the tv from morning to late night. I'm giving a bad impression for my daughter and i want to avoid that.

What shall i do next Monday? Blog more? Play chess with an old guy in the park? Counting sheeps?

Most likely i'll go for "counting sheeps. LOL.

Freeware equals to "I-don't-care-about-you"?

2006-04-26T11:11:00.000+08:00

I need to get it out from my chest, fast! Freeware software authors (not all) are not going to take care of your computer or give you their helpdesk address too.

Almost all freeware i've tried, it's clearly stated "As it is". What was that about? Moving to the next text, they stated "Not responsible for any damage...". Both indicates that you're own your own if your computer gone in smoke.

The real question is, is it true freeware really that good? Looking at other freeware (in open source code) like FireFox, Thunderbird etc, the authors are willing to give our supports and fix any bugs found in their softwares. Maybe i'm wrong but most freeware that don't care about you are closed-code softwares. Bump in the head? Not really.

A good example of close-code freeware is w.Bloggar. The author took some time to setup a forum for users and most of the users are glad about the support forum. by the way, wBloggar is a great blog publishing software.

I know freeware don't have to provide any support or help to users because it's free. But, at least setup a help forum so that users can entertain one another. Most authors will say "I don't have time to check the bugs because i'm to busy playing PSP" and that is not a good impression. Maybe one day the freeware became a huge hit and Google decided to buy it. Look ahead into the future and your future boss/buyers.

Once, i received an email from a freeware author saying that he's busy with collage. I'm okay with that and i gave him my suggestion; open the code so more people can help you fix any bugs. Then he replied back with such a not-so-clever answer "People will copy my code and made their own". True, people will rip his code but his freeware will grow even further.

Take Firefox for example, they gain so many exposure by giving out the code. Yes, human interest is the best strategy on internet. Software or non software, human interest can boost your popularity in days. By using this rule of thumb, you can release a shareware version to gain some revenue. But first, take care of the human interest first by taking care of the freeware.

Do you think a wild yak in Nepal will download your freeware? Or do you really think Elvis is torrenting your freeware from Maldives? Not at all my friends. Both are not going to use the freeware. That's why it's important to take care of the human interest part.

My suggestion to freeware authors that still hanging tight to "As it is" policy, release the code to the public so that others can improve the code. If they ( the authors) don't have the time to fix the bugs, releasing the code can cut your time into half. Yes, there are still honest coders out there willing to help.

Shame-on-you message to pirated Vista users.

2006-04-25T13:48:00.000+08:00

This is cool, coming from the big name of operating system. "If you can't beat em, shame em" is their new motto. Looks like tommorow, we ( Malaysian ) will start witching to GNU/Linux ( i hope ) to avoid the shame.

The anti-piracy move is being kicked off in five countries tomorrow – the United States, Britain, New Zealand, Australia and Malaysia.

Users whose machines have been affected will only be able to get rid of the tattoo if they install a genuine copy of Windows. Prices range from RM320 for a copy of Windows XP Home (OEM version) to RM510 for Windows XP Pro (OEM version). “Or they can put up with being ‘nagged’ by the pop-up message every time they use their computers,” said K.T. Ng, group manager for Windows Client solutions at Microsoft Malaysia.

If they were businessmen or corporate executives, it would be embarrassing if their clients saw the tattoo indicating that a pirated copy of Windows was being used, he said. -via TheStar.

Wow, i'm so proud to be Malaysian tp be on the top first list. Okay, i was being sarcastic but is this "human" enough to stop piracy? What was all the fuss about? Don’t cry over spilled milk. Forget MS and use OOS such as GNU/Linux and FreeBSD.

I’m not trash-talking about MS but hanging on to one source is dangerous. They’re forcing us to change our hardware and our computing habits. According to Richard Stallman, OS should “obey” the users–nicely said.

Linux ( the exact term is GNU/Linux according to the open GPL and GPL ) is getting better in terms of hardware supports and software functions.

Aghori, a friend of mine once said, “If you can’t run it, emu ( emulate ) it” and how true that was. You can un MS core/non-core kernel-made softwares on GNU/Linux by using Wine. Before i type this comment, i just finish playing Counter Strike ( ok, i admit..during work hour is a big NO NO but i was bored ) on my Debian.

Forget about the Solitaire ( default installation of GNU/Linux already have Solitaire ) and get back to the matter. I’m seeing this ( maybe on the bias side ) as invation of freedom.

From the start, computer always the slave and we ( the users ) are the master. Now, the wheel just turned more often.

Embarrassing ? Yes, you got that right. So the question is WHY use pirated OS? For me, it will break down to the price of the OS itself. As a buyer, i have all the rights to spend my money base on my budget and needs. Now, scrolling back up, i stated about invation on freedom. Don’t you think forcing users is a part of invading ( denial to be exact ) our freedom? Don’t get me wrong, i’m not saying lets start writing angry-mail to Gates.

If ( a strong if i might add ) using Vista is the only last resort, then buy the original OS but if you’re sticking to pirated cd, why not use something free as GNU/Linux?

Ubuntu, Mandrake ( now it’s Mandriva ), Suse etc is free to download. If you want to try *BSD flavour OS, why not try DesktopBSD as your desktop OS or dive into FreeBSD or OpenBSD.

Come on, i know most of you just loooove free stuff right? I know i am.

I do know that some software and hardware are hard-coded into MS and i don’t deny it. Even at my office, sometimes i have to switch from MS to GNU/Linux. But, i’m seeing a fast growth of GNU/Linux supported hardware and software in making. Wait for another 2-3 months and i’m off to download it.

How to Roll a Cigar.

2006-04-25T10:11:00.000+08:00

Some said cigar from Cuba is the best cigar in the world. Here, in Malaysia, a good Cuban cigar can fork out RM500 ( around $100 ) from your wallet. Why don't we get our hands dirty and roll our own cigar.

Take a binder leaf and set it on your rolling surface with the thick veins (the underside of the leaf) facing up. Don't roll too tightly or you won't get a draw. On the other hand, if it is too loose, you've got something fat and weird. This takes a little practice. Do all your binding and set all the bound cigars aside. Now get your wrapper and do the same thing. - via Wiki.eHow.

Nice eh. Smoookin' LOL.

How he switched from Microsoft to Linux.

2006-04-24T17:18:00.000+08:00

Reading this interview gave me something to think about. Ernie Ball, the world most respected guitar strings maker is now on GNU/Linux.

Humiliated by the experience, Ball told his IT department he wanted Microsoft products out of his business within six months. "I said, 'I don't care if we have to buy 10,000 abacuses,'" recalled Ball, who recently addressed the LinuxWorld trade show. "We won't do business with someone who treats us poorly."

Ball's IT crew settled on a potpourri of open-source software--Red Hat's version of Linux, the OpenOffice office suite, Mozilla's Web browser--plus a few proprietary applications that couldn't be duplicated by open source. Ball, whose father, Ernie, founded the company, says the transition was a breeze, and since then he's been happy to extol the virtues of open-source software to anyone who asks. He spoke with CNET News.com about his experience. - via News.com

Yeaaa for Ernie Ball for taking a really big step in using GNU/Linux.

MACH and FreeBSD are incompetent idiots--said Linux founder.

2006-04-24T13:30:00.000+08:00

"I claim that Mach people (and apparently FreeBSD) are incompetent idiots. Playing games with VM is bad. memory copies are _also_ bad, but quite frankly, memory copies often have _less_ downside than VM games, and bigger caches will only continue to drive that point home." - via KernelTrap.

This is not the first time Linus on fire. Several years ago, MACH was "insane" according to Linus when MACH approach ( filesystem and VM ) leads to managing multiversion pages.

Talk about GNU/Linux, i'm downloading DesktopBSD and fork version of FreeBSD. I friend of mine told me to try it and this is my first attempt to try DesktopBSD, so i'm not taking out my party-hat yet.

From the reviews, DesktopBSD seems to be on the right track ( exclude the VM issues ) to make BSD more simple and interesting for non Unix, GNU/Linux users. But if you don't to mess around with your hard drive, use Freesbie Live-CD first. It'll run BSD on CD.

Update: DesktopBSd is not a fork version of FreeBSD- via FAQ.

Click here to watch a video about installing FreeBSD.

XP windows ultimate tips to make it faster.

2006-04-24T13:07:00.000+08:00

Jon Watson will show you how to make XP runs faster. Below is the video for you who are struggling to get your XP to work twice as fast as GNU/Linux. Watch the video first and then read my 2 cents.

Running an OS on top of another OS is nothing new to hardcore users. Just emu ( emulates ) the OS you want to run and wallaa, another OS on top of your existing OS. Confussing eh?

Wine or Line are emulator for GNU/Linux, BSD and Windows. Now the big story before running any emus.

You need huge RAM and processor. Running dual OS will eats up your RAM right to the bone. Make sure your hardware support GNU/Linux and XP. If not, you'll end up with a frozen pc doing nothing for you. Another great emu is coLinux ( it should be GNU/Linux according to Richard Stallman ).

Running emu within GNU/Linux ( vice versa ) going to take alot of swap files. Make sure your hard drive is no longer from the 90's ( less than 1GB ) and running at 7200 per spin.

I was hoping Jon whould use the "format C:/" tips, that would be funny. Well, everybody have their own favourite OS but it's not going to hurt trying a new OS such as GNU/Linux ( Ubuntu, Mandrake, Debian, Fedora etc ).

Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies.

2006-04-21T17:05:00.000+08:00

A nice website to read. Full of information about human dignity and how to cope with it.

We are dedicated to ending humiliating practices and breaking cycles of humiliation throughout the world.

We believe that through this, space is opened for mutual respect and esteem to take root and grow. We believe that a mindset of connection and a spirit of shared humility is necessary - and not a mindset of humiliation.- via HumiliationStudies.

This website is SLOOOWW to load so please give it some time ( ermm...was it because i'm downloading huge Linux torrent? ) and it's worth waiting for.

Suggestion for YouTube.com.

2006-04-21T16:37:00.000+08:00

I just love YouTube to find interesting video and as one of my source for idea. Google Video also great but i'm more into YouTube (some said i'm an Elvis-person ).

YouTube should place their "search" box at the bottom of every result. Scrolling up everytime to find new video making my mouse puke. Ok, not puke but my middle button is losing its grip.

If the "next page" button can be at the bottom, why can't the search box? I hope they didn't wait until people start digging this before placing the search box at the bottom.

DIY video made your life more easier.

2006-04-20T14:46:00.000+08:00

Internet is great as a source for information and the best thing is, it comes in visual. Thanks to YouTube, now you can learn how to clean your carpets, skin the potato, how to make a perfect fried chicken and more.

Don't you just love internet? I have no idea if my friends in China can watch the video due to the "limiting internet usage" from their rulers. But i do hope friends from China can enjoy the internet s much as i am.

To watch those fancy DIY video, please click this link. By the way, DIY stands for Do-It-Yourself and yeaaa weekend is near.

Quick link 19/04/06

2006-04-19T17:31:00.000+08:00

DiggDesk v1.0 is the first skinnable digg, reddit and YouTube posts retriever (soon to be added other sites as well). It has never been so fast and easy to read posts from your favorite category.

How do i prove i'm right? I cracked the password.

2006-04-19T16:59:00.000+08:00

Another post with " I'm not a hacker" on the first sentence. It started about a month ago when a friend of mine said that he's ( was ) using the safest password combination. I won't argue with him (yet) but after several minutes of hearing the same "show-off-talk", i decided to put it on test.

So i told him to give me 2 minutes to crack his password and no peeping. Cracking Windows SAM database is not that hard only if you have the admin rights on your hand.

I'm using Ophcrack ( Win32 version ) to crack the password. It's a password cracker based on time-memory using rainbow tables. Under a minute, i'm done with the password plus a print out of the password in 24point font size.

SSTIC04-5k (720MB) and SSTIC04-10k (388MB) are distributes freely unde GNU GPL. SSTIC04-5k is for machine atleast 500M of RAM and the other table runs for machine less than 500M of RAM.

Don't crack your office SAM database without any approval or you'll never see the sun again ( aka : You're fired!).

Extra info about Rainbow tables and securing your password:
1. Sarah D. Scalet
2. AntiOnline.
3. SecurityFocus.
4. Cain/Abel.
5. Wikipedia on Rainbow table.

Blind blogger frustated with Blogger.com

2006-04-19T16:06:00.000+08:00

I'm searching for blind blogger and i found this link about a frustated blind man. I'm not sure if Blogspot already fix this issue or not but i'm hope all the blind users out there can enjoy blogging as much as we are.

It turns out that many of the features in the post editor are little buttons which you must click with your mouse. this is not possible for blind folks. the screen reading software that we use does not read the buttons for uploading a picture ETC.- via Rusty Perez

I do know that many website are not "handicap friendly". Please don't forget our disable friends, they deserve the same experience like us. Any AJAX coder out there willing to help the disables? Not sure if AJAX can help our friends or not but i'm sure somebody out there can code in AJAX.

If splog is spamblog, what is sptag?

2006-04-18T16:20:00.000+08:00

This really disturbing for me. The same tag for Digg, Delicious and so many others that i don't want to remember. No, i'm not mad just not feeling good about this new type of spam. I'll call it sptag.

Sptag ( i made up the word so don't start Wiki me yet ) is Spam Tagging. The same news from Digg right up to Tecnorati and i'm not going to waste my time reading the same re-post and re-cycle the same thing.

In Digg the title read as something like "The best 10 armpit trick" but in other bookmarking it's "Show this trick to your girlfriend" but it only leads to the same post.

Are we seeing spammer using social bookmarking as their new assult weapon? Social bookmarking providers should create a new system to scan tag from each other to make sure no duplicate tag pointing to the same link.

Google Idol soon.

2006-04-18T15:52:00.000+08:00

Care to take part in the latest reality show? It's called Google Idol. Since my post about Google Health, i'm trying to figure out what's next.

Okay, i know this might sound silly but play along will you. Google Video is making huge in internet and it's growing even bigger every month. Long story short, maybe we'll see video tagging from Google. Maybe i'm wrong about this but ( a strong 'but' there ) as we all know the bus never leave Google.

Talk about video, care to watch this uhmm...interesting video? Another good reason to listen to your parents before signing up with any singing competition. Don't watch the video if you're on medication but what the hack....just watch it.

Not my fault your face turned green. I've told you not to watch :P

Amazon: No Longer the Role Model for E-Commerce Design--said Jakob Nielsen.

2006-04-18T15:38:00.000+08:00

Cluttered pages. Amazon's product pages are littered with extraneous features, ranging from a "Gold Box" over a "wish list spree" to promotions for reading glasses and other irrelevant products. A single book page I analyzed contained 259 links and buttons. It was so cluttered that key product information -- like publication date, page count, and average review rating -- was three screensfulls below the fold (on a standard 1024 x 768 screen). Cluttered pages might work for Amazon because its users are typically long-time customers who know the features and can easily screen them out. Although first-time visitors are no doubt overwhelmed, by now they account for a tiny percentage of Amazon's revenues.- via UseIt.

The title and the quote are not mine. It belongs to Jakob Nielsen, a researcher based on eyetracking and website usability. A mind opening article for me. Jakob also produce other great article about web design, the DO's and the DON'T's, mistakes made in layouts and more.

The big buzz from blogsphere is his research about the "F-shaped pattern for reading website". In days, most JWB changed their layout in order to get those clicks from Adsense. Wow, that was fast.

For me, this is old news. Using logical thinking, we all read from top left and skimming down a bit. Unless you read an Arabic blog, you need to read from top right. "Yeah...talk big again eh Jamloceng? Why does your Adsense not in place?". Don't forget, i'm a mind reader and i know what is in your mind LOL.

Actually, i got a lot of that question. The answer is, i'm not a slave of Adsense! I can place it anywhere i want and i still can get those clicks. It's fine with me if you want to adjust your layout according to Adsense heatmap. Re-design your layout will not make any big different in your Adsense income. You still need the best 'forgotten weapon' to quit your day job.

Can i give you the answer after my lunch? I'm hungry and i'll be back another 2 hours.

Uhh? So i can't have my lunch yet eh? So nice of you guys stopping me from having my lunch. Okay, the answer to "what is the forgotten secret weapon for Adsense?" is GMT.

Ooo....i like torturing you my readers once in a while. What is GMT? Before that, please make sure you are not placing a glass of water or any diet coke near you. Please turn off your mp3 player and stop rubbing your nose. See, i've told you so, i'm a mind reader :P. Ready for the biggest secret?

GET MORE TRAFFIC..!!!

Yes, a big slap on the face eh. Why waste time in building new layout? Take care of the basic stuff first. That's why i rarely change my template because i'm building human interest first. Once you have build a solid human interest, you can put your Adsense at the bottom of the page and still got clicked.

Forget JAVA, it's AJAX on the throne.

2006-04-18T12:54:00.000+08:00

Did you just see that? A bright light crossing your monitor screen. Yes, another flash back post by me. By the way, the bright light was suppose to be the flash back.

Java was promoted as the best language back in the early days of internet. Developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystem, Java is compiled to a bytecode which is then rn by Java Virtual Machine. Borrowing syntax from C and C++, Java is much simpler object model.

The Java platform and language began as an internal project at Sun Microsystems in December of 1990. Engineer Patrick Naughton had become increasingly frustrated with the state of Sun's C++ and C APIs (application programming interfaces) and tools. While considering moving to NeXT, Naughton was offered a chance to work on new technology and thus the Stealth Project was started. - via Wikipedia.

Everybody was eager to learn Java and so many 'instant guru' teaching java for a fee. Suddenly, Java is booming all over the world of programmers. So many books about Java selling like hot cakes. That was in the early years but now AJAX is the king.

AJAX ( Asynchronous JavaScript And XML ) can speed up your website and give it more interactivity. AJAX is a mixture of uhmm...almost everything; from Javascript to DOM.

AJAX also assocites to the latest frenzzy of Web2.0. You know, those big fonts and bright colours website. AJAX is great to get things done without maximum usage of bandwidth.

I'm still learning AJAX from internet and samples. I'm not a programmer but i just love learning new things. Yes, i got F+ for CSS and DOM in my own imagery class. One step at a time cowboy.

Talk about learning AJAX, more and more books and tutorial offering readers from making fancy menu right up to making simple Sudoku game. Another marketing boom for computer language. Last week as i was in a bookstore, i saw AJAX books on the "latest arivals" stands. So i decided to read the books randomly.

Most are ok but some, just too complex for a newbie like me. Okay, i do have basic on programming ( VB, C, C++, Delphi, Java etc ) but still the book was to hard to understand. If i, who has some basic programming knowledge; i can't imagine the 'real' newbies out there. The funny thing about the book is the title. Want to know what was the title?

"The Basic handbook for AJAX for beginners" was the title. They should drop the word basic and beginners for a start.

Bandwidth war from ISPs.

2006-04-18T10:58:00.000+08:00

If you're using P2P as your download source, beware. Your ISP is blocking your bandwidth thus making your download going really slow.

According to BBC, the war against bandwidth chunky ( people who uses big chunk of bandwidth ) is already started.

ISP is blocking torrent or any P2P services because they need to deliver the right speed to others. Pulling all the bandwidth and streaming from multiple source can put the ISP on "hold". Not just you but several users near you also going to see a major drop in their connection.

Want to check which ISP is blocking torrent protocol? Azureus put up a list of ISPs so that you can send an angry mail to your own ISP ( just joking ).

Woohaaa...TMnet and Jaring is in the list! Yes, TMNet and Jaring are ISP from Malaysia. I'm on TMNet and my torrent is working really well. I don't see a major drop in my speed but yes, once in a while some drop here and there.

One of TMNet officer said the the newspaper ( i can't recall the source ), TMNet is not blocking torrent and P2P but they encourage users to limit the usage. Ermm....one party said this and the other said the otherway around. One of them must be lying and i don't know who.

For me torrent is a great source for downloading Linux or non-copyrights material such as manual, tutorials, white papers etc. Limiting the bandwidth just like walking backwards several years. Some material can be use as education material and it's free.

So how to camoflaouge your torrent protocol? I'm going to give out tip for encypting your torrent protocol using µTorrent. I just love µTorrent for the speed and it's easy to use it.

1. Options > Preferences > Network.
2. Protocol encyption and play with "enable" and "force". If your connection drops, try using "force".

Using this setting can improve your torrent ( up/dl ) speed. If you're using µTorrent, closing other P2P ( KaZaa, Shareaza, Lime etc ) can improve your torrent even more. Stay away from the blocked port ( ask your ISP which port is being blocked ) if you decided to use torrent. Placing a non-blocked port in for your torrent also can speed up your DL/UP.

If you're looking for a small and fast torrent client, why not try µTorrent. The best part of using µTorrent is, it will not eat up your system's memories and processor. Forget about other torrent client, use µTorrent.

My underpant is my cat? I need to see a doctor vet.

2006-04-17T16:28:00.000+08:00

Last night, as usual i went to bed after the midnight news. My king size bed is located next to the bedroom window. My wife always leave the front light on every night so that our bed is not in total darkness.

There i was preparing to sleep and i can see something moving really fast. It was really fast even my eyes can't figure out what it was. It looks like a rag or something.

I stood near the window, peeking at the spooky thing i just saw. Yup, my cat is playing under my underpant. So many toys in this world, why would Tembang ( my cat ) play with my underpant? I don't know and i don't care if my cat is on drugs! It just gave me a spooky feeling.

That's why i told my wife not to put the cats outside the house, they will get creative and do weird things with our clothes.

Body language in the workplace.

2006-04-17T15:39:00.000+08:00

How do you know if you've lost someone's attention? How do you make someone feel at ease? You can improve your meeting skills and business relationships by learning to read body language. - via Tiscali.co.uk

Great read to improve your body language. Most scam artist are expert at controlling their body language. That's why they made more money compare to us.

Several years ago i bought a book about body language and haven't had time to finish it. Well, i guess i will never finish reading it because i can't find it. Grrr.......i need to stick a tracking device on my books soon.

The jump-wagon blogger. Are you one of them?

2006-04-17T15:21:00.000+08:00

More and more bloggers in blogsphere giving you a headache which to choose. Some are great and whole bunch are crap. Please beware, this post going to triggers flames within yourself. I shall drop the "good" one and dig the "bad" one.

First, what is the jump-wagon blogger? For me, i'll give it a simple definition for you to understand. It's "Blogger who blogs about everything and anything but knows nothing what he/she is writting". Simple eh? So, why did the jump-wagon bloggers ( JWB ) falls into the bad section?

Most of the JWB just copy someone else's article and paste it into their blog. With the growing of free article directories, it make even easier to become one of the JWB. Point the browser to some free article site and copy the whole thing. I'll leave this for a while and i'll explain to you why they love to do this.

Ever heard the phrase "I'll follow where the money leads"? Yes, the JWB just doing it for money ( for Adsense to be exact ). I'm not saying it's wrong to blog and earn some money from it but copying an article is not a good idea. They will select the best article with bunch of targeted keywords in it and blast it to their blog.

Some, got smarter and edit the article. Smart? Not that close to being smart. Once, i read a blog saying that "...click the exe to install Linux to your hard drive". Wow, that was smart, if the post was read to a squid.

The third type of JWB is the "I-know-nothing-but-i'll-make-it-look-like-a-pro" type. They will use all those "pro-looking" jargons to make the post looks clever. Let say the blogger's post was about weird gadgets, their main source will be Gizmodo, Engadget and several more popular gadget blogs.

Here's a tip on how to spot a JWB. IT'S FULL OF ADVERTISEMENT!

Ask yourself, is it worth bookmarking a JWB? For me, not worth a cent! I know that was a bold statement but it's true. Why read a JWB if you can go straight to the source. Which source? Do you really expect me to answer that? The answer is yes :P

I'm talking about Digg, Technorati, Delicious ( i could never figure out where to put the dots for delicious ), Reddit, Topix, BlogPulse and more.

Most JWB will take any interesting article from those sources and paste it back to their blog, as it was made by them. Again, why read the recycle post when you can get the source?

Another thing that bothers me about JWB is, they don't give back the credit to the original author of the post or article. Not all article is free to copy, some of the articles are copyright items. Even if the articles are not copyrights, was it hard enough to give a backlink to the original author? My blog has been ripped-off several times and that is a big NO-NO!

A friend of mine once told me that the JWB are equals to splog and i do agree with him. They have become slave to Adsense. Adsense should follow their content but they're taking the wrong turn. At the end of the day, they are hoping for a false dream that is to make huge money from Adsense.

Don't be a slave to Adsense! You're in the Captain seat and Adsense will follow your orders. Why must they "bow" to Adsense? Yes, a dream to quit their day job and making money while on a cruise to Jamaica.

Want to take a quiz? Answer the questions below.

Are you.....
a. One of them
b. Thinking about being like them.
c. I'm a JWB groupies. Go JWB!
d. Slowly becoming one of them.
e. God just saved me

Don't tell me the answer, i don't want to know.

This is why never show off before hitting the finish line.

2006-04-17T12:24:00.000+08:00

Okay, this is a sin that i always do. Another bad habit of mine. The video below is a great example.

A good article about changing your first impressions from AskMen. Nice article.

Have you overheard someone's negative comments? Has your boss reprimanded you during your evaluation? Has a friend said something about your behavior? Perhaps people's body language or tone of voice changes when you join a conversation, or maybe you just have a gut feeling.

If you want to find out how you're perceived, ask someone you can trust and listen carefully to their comments, without taking offense.

Other people's perceptions of you may be wrong, but rather than wasting time complaining, getting even or defending yourself, take action to change their opinion. Just keep in mind that your actions in the first few months at a new company or in a new position will set the tone for how others perceive you. - via AskMen.

A must read for all of you.

It's war on fat now, forget about smoking.

2006-04-17T11:57:00.000+08:00

Back in the 80's and early 90's is was all about anti-smoking. Printed ads and tv ads showing how your lung looks like if you smoke too much. Well, i'm okay with the ads.

Now, it's all about anti-fat! Yes, a war against fat started all over the world in the early 90's. Slimming pills, diet class, workput class bla bla bla and now smokers can smile again. Nobody cares about smoke, they just want to loose those extra fat.

I can't blame the advertisers. Health care products and services are big and it will pull a huge billions into their banks. Even my wife starts to complaint about her figure. Yes, she forget about my smoking habit ( not that i'm proud of ) but once in a while, it's nice to smoke without my wife nagging in the background.

Once, she told me to get those anti-smoking patch and chew those gums. Who invented the anti smoking patch anyway?

Does the slimming pills really work? Or was it just a hype?

Webcrawler creator joined Technorati.

2006-04-14T15:47:00.000+08:00

Brian Pinkerton is on board Technorati as Director of Search. As we all know Webcrawler then sold to AOL in 1995.

For instance, he created WebCrawler, the first Internet search engine, while working on his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1994. WebCrawler quickly became a popular resource on the Net, and Brian sold it to AOL in 1995. Prior to the development of WebCrawler, he spent four years in NeXT's highly regarded software group, where he led the system performance effort and was instrumental in several key projects. - via Technorati Blog.

I'm sure we will see more update from Technorati soon. I can't wait to see what will they offer us. I'll try to keep my eyes open. Welcome back Brian

Social bookmarking, the next DoS?

2006-04-14T15:35:00.000+08:00

Digg, Delicious and many other social bookmarking website is great to bring visitors to unknown or popular website and blog. Technorati is tagging 34.5 million sites and 2.3 billion links with million of visitors per day alone.

First the SlashDotted Effect from SlashDot. In the early days of bookmarking ( it wasn't called social bookmarking back then ), any website mentioned in Slashdot will flood the bandwidth of the website for few days or even weeks. Then the less traffic puller from Chris Pirillo called the CPE ( Chris Pirillo Effect ). Nowdays Digg is the biggest crowd puller for site and in blogsphere.

What is DDoS? According to Wikipedia:

A denial-of-service attack (also, DoS attack) is an attack on a computer system or network that causes a loss of service to users, typically the loss of network connectivity and services by consuming the bandwidth of the victim network or overloading the computational resources of the victim system.

Now that i have lay down the meaning of DDoS and social bookmarking, now i'm going to explain how they would effect blogs or websites.

Social bookmarking is NOT DDoS but the wave is acting like one. If you got Dugg by Digg diggers, you'll end up with a loss of bandwidth and sometimes it will last for days.

The wave of Dugg is like a sea of hungry anchovies at the Crusty Crab ( okay, i'm a fan of Spongebob. Happy now? ) but this time it not about bringing down a website but because of human interest coming from that website or blog.

The next DDoS-look-alike are from YouTube and Google Video. I haven't seen anyone nagging about being Tubed ( i made up the word ) but i'm predicting the wave is getting bigger.

With a digital camera or camera phone in our hand, uploading a video to YouTube is easy and more people are getting involve in video blogging. Just put a link in your video and soon you'll be saying "I got Tubed!".

Anyone want to Digg this post? This is an original post and never been published on Digg before tho :P

Girl's Letter To Apple Gets Legalese Reply.

2006-04-14T13:00:00.000+08:00

(CBS 5) You wouldn't think a letter from a third-grader could change a company's corporate practices.

But that's apparently exactly what happened after CBS 5 became interested in an unusual complaint from a viewer.

A South Bay mom told CBS 5 that her young daughter's letter offering suggestions on how to improve the Apple iPod prompted a harsh response from the company. - via CBS5

Steve Jobb, what's going on? A legal letter to a third grader? Wow, i wonder how many legal letter sent to Bill Gates over these years. Apple politely apologize for the letter and that is good. Next time if your child wrote a letter to the Big Boys, tell them that their letter is being checked by the CIA or FBI.

The best menu in the world!

2006-04-14T11:35:00.000+08:00

I can't stop laughing even as i'm typing this post. Too funny to explain, you need to read it. My favourite menu is Gold silver lotus silk fries shrimp f***s. Haven't had a good crack for long time.

Please, don't cut off your breath while reading the menu. Who said my English is ungood?

Try touching your tounge with your elbow.

2006-04-13T17:14:00.000+08:00

This video is fun to watch. Try talk your teacher into watching this video. Why don't you try it and i'll give you a credit for it.

The ants bloggers block.

2006-04-13T17:05:00.000+08:00

God has given us the nature to learn from and even the smallest creature can teach you one or two about life. Just now i watched ants walking in perfect harmony. While i'm typing this post, the ants had made through 160 million years already. What ants have to do with bloggers?

Try blocking the ant's trail with a stick or your toothpaste and you'll see the ants going nuts. They're depending on the chemical on the trail to move around. That' why they went nuts if something blocked or erased the chemical. But, they never stop at any reason at all. They will go around the obstacle and home they walk.

Sometimes, bloggers just ran out of idea and that can leave a huge impact to their hits and income. Why don't you watch ants or a duck after this, maybe you can overcome the blogger block. Look at the nature and try to watch it closely.

See, i just finish a post just by watching ants. How cool was that eh?

No to you but yes to others--Adsense in conflict.

2006-04-13T15:55:00.000+08:00

I just can figure out where's the "fine-thin" line in Adsense policy. Maybe i'm wrong about this but like Malcom Gladwell said in his book; it's seem just not right.

Above is a snapshot of Adsense Image Ads format. What's wrong with it? Yes, a word click on the image. Maybe it's okay for the AdWord advertiser to use it but for us, another warning email from Adsense team for fraud clicks.

Will we ( publishers ) get a warning or worst, a complete ban from Adsense? It's not our fault if someone actually clicked on the ads but who will get the slap in the face?

Many complaints about Adsense "pushed" their publisher off their seat. Some said it's not fair they are the one who get the penalties for something out of their control. Adsense never give out the best solution for tracking fraud clicks. To be honest, i never read a complete rock solid TOS about fraud click from Adsense and what fraud really mean to them.

Adsense will protect their AdWords Advertisers and i do respect that matter but who will protect the publishers? Example, i have Adsense on my blog and the clicks are getting crazy lately. How do i track those clicks? Using Adsense Channel? As we all know, my blog is on Blogspot and as a free blog provider Blogspot doesn't provide me tracking device like PHP or installing scripts.

I need a faster PDF reader.

2006-04-13T12:08:00.000+08:00

I'm this close ( can't you see how small my eyes are squzzing my fingers? ) of deleting a report made into PDF format. Adobe Acrobat Reader took so many memories and time to load. So, i'm heading to Google to find an alternative to Acrobat Reader.

Guess what, more wacky PDF software found, plus a spyware! Great, now what? I'll leave the spyware alone for a while.

I found Foxit Reader and it's fast and small in size. Less than 1Mb, it should be on your drive in just 1 minute. No need to install or register Foxit. It's a freeware with the same function as Acrobat Reader.

Now, i'm looking for alternative to Acrobat Pro ( freeware of course ). CutePDF and the gang are great but i'm looking for a PDF creator/editor that can make a live hyperlink. Most of the PDf creator/editor cannot make a hyperlink using the "print to.." function. If you found any great freeware PDf creator/editor that can make hyperlink, please contact me quickly.

Now back to the spyware. The author of this spyware need to learn more about hiding his or her spyware. Putting the spyware on my start up is like putting a huge sign telling me where the spyware is hiding.

Putting a hex in registry also not helping. I can trace it in no time mind you. Ever heard about Back Orrifice Trojan? It was the best way to hide from anti virus back in the 90's.

After several time spying on this spyware, it's time to remove it. Yes, i just delete it and it's gone. Ok ont entirely because it leaves some footprint in my registry but that is not a big problem.

To the author of this spyware, get a life and a real job! I just removed your spyware without using any "geek" tool in just under 2 minutes.

I still can remember the Sabian Rocktagon but...

2006-04-12T16:01:00.000+08:00

...i just hate the sound. It was like a combination between a gong and a splash but uglier. I'm don't mind the look of the cymbal but the sound just made my sound sounded ugly.

I tested the rocktagon cymbals for slow rock and blues but i just can find the right "fill-in's" for the cymbals. So i thought, maybe it's for heavy metal but again it just felt weird.

I do admit, it's cool to have rocktagon for my drum kits ( no, i decided not to buy it ) but for what reason? I can't play it for a start and i secondly, it just don't suited my need.

Sabian AA Series Rocktagon Crash 18 Inches

Some of my friends said that the Sabian rocktagon cymbals works great with their music. I won't argue with them but on my side, it's not for me. I rather go for the round cymbal from TAMA or Zildjian. Both name are not new to drummers all over the world. Both are the best cymbals maker in the world and i personally love Zildjian cymbals.

Care to buy me a knit hat from Zildjian? I always wanted this hat, it will make me look cool :P

Zildjian Border Knit Hat Black

Penelop 'Punky" Brewster, what we can learn from the TV show.

2006-04-12T15:30:00.000+08:00

Punky Brewster was a big hit in the early 80's. I always love to watch any family show in my spare time. Last night, for no reason, my mind kept thinking about this show and my blog. Seemes like my subconscious trying to tell me something.

This morning i woke up with the word Punky and blog printed in bold in my mind. So i sat down at my table with a pen and paper infront of me. I made two columns with the title Punky and Blog on each column.

Drew some mind maps and still can't find the answer. The clock almost 8 a.m and i need to send my daughter to my mother in-law. Took a nice warm shower and once my hand on the toothpaste, something flashes in my mind.

The answer why my mind kept repeating the TV show over and over again.

It's about family content show and how it filled my memories with joy. I knew at that moment, i'm heading the right with my blog. My blog is family-friendly blog and wihtout any "big-chest-sexy-girl" in it, my blog is suitable for family.

Yes, my blog mostly about computers but hey, kids nowdays are using computer better than me.

Tv shows nowdays are not really a "family" show. In the world of "you-are-a-terrorist", we need more family added show. I can't imagine what will my daughter watch in the next 5 years from now. Our mind has been infected with garbage tv show and that made us "just can't" think correctly enough.

Guy meet girl..fall in love..fight..seperated...meet again...died in some train crash. That is what our local tv show is all about and one part of me want to watch it but my other part just say stop. I usually listen to my STOP part of myself.

Create your own "dice" calendar.

2006-04-10T16:11:00.000+08:00

You can create you own calendar using this method. Print the image below and glue it together. You also can use it as a dice as to decided what is the best date to get married.

A dodecahedron is literally a polyhedron with 12 faces, but usually a regular dodecahedron is meant: a Platonic solid composed of twelve pentagonal faces, with three meeting at each vertex. It has twenty vertices and thirty edges. Its dual polyhedron is the icosahedron.

Using Dodecahendron, you can use the calculation in order to get a bigger calendar.

Speak up and make it clear!

2006-04-10T11:04:00.000+08:00

Last Saturday, after sending my daughter to my mother in-law; i decided to go to a shopping mall. I'm looking for book ( yes, my monthly book shopping ) on subconsious mind and stuff.

There i was, browing for book for almost 3 hours and still can make up my mind. Then, an announcement was made using the internal loud speakers. I just can't make out what was the announcement about. The female voice just not clear enough. She announced the same thing for 3 times and i still can't understand a word.

With a book in my hand ( still figuring out which to buy ) i stood and starts looking at the speakers. I know i'll not find an answer to my question "Was on earth she is talking about?" but still by looking at the speakers, i was hoping the same announcement will be aired.

No more announcement. Ermmm...

For me an announcement should be clear and understandable. It IS an announcement right. There's no point giving out announcement if nobody actually understand it. The management didn't care about it, the announcer didn't care and some of the public didn't care too. If the management took some liberty to listen to the announcement, i'm sure things could be better. The announcer also should understand the function of making announcements.

With several books in my hand now, i sat down on the floor of the bookstore looking at the titles. I decided to go for Blink by Malcom Gladwell.

Walking out from the bookstore, i can't stop thinking about the announcement. End of story.

For me, blog makes no different from the announcement in the shopping mall. We need to make it clear and understandable in order to get more readers. Your point of view is the same as John from next door or Susan sitting next to you.

You need to find the "yes-agree" point before start pushing the publish button. We need to see in each other eyes to understand what is what and which is which.

Blogging about a topic that only you and God knows is not going to attract readers. It's okay for you to blog about the topic but make sure it can leave an impact to readers. Using "high-tech" jargons or sentences i not helping your readers.

Can you understand my announcement?

Care to join the Elite Club for bloggers?

2006-04-07T18:32:00.000+08:00

Aaron Brazell taking the pilot seat for Darren ( Problogger ) for a while. He posted a rather interesting topic about Blogs Are About Being Elite. Tag...my turn now.

First let's take a look at his comment shall we.

As a matter of fact, when content production is at play, the internet IS for elitists. Perhaps we don’t like to use those words as “elitism” has a negative stigma to it. However, don’t we all try to get higher pagerank? Don’t we all try to optimize our entries for the best SERPs possible? Doesn’t scoring high in Technorati bump our profile up in general? - via ProBlogger.net

Well, because the blog is so elite, i decide not to hotlink to the original post. Now, can a blog become so elite? Half true and bunch of questions. I'm not saying that i hate Problogger but if controversy is what Aaron looking for, that is not a great one.

Reading at his quote made my mind kept on reminding me of the early years of internet. At that time, things were so simple and nobody put any label on each others forehead. Life were easy and so does the web. That reminds me about the history of Problogger.

Darren started using Blogger ( now it's Blogspot ) for his first blog. Let start here shall we. At that time, i'm pretty sure Darren is not in the elite group yet. Just couple of friends and family visited his blog and from time to time, it got bigger. So Problogger were born.

Then, Aaron said when it comes to content, internet is for elitists. Strong statement there and i respect his view. Now, if a blogger produced 100% original content, yes i do consider the blog as elite. But what if the blogger just leech a sniplet of info coming from other website or blog, can we call it elite?

Again, internet has and will never be for elitists. Internet is where people build their own virtual life. Yes sure, blogger just love to copy and paste and that is what bloggers do. Can we call the newspaper as rip-off just because they leech the same new from different source? Or can we just say that any newspaper is elite?

I'm sure Darren is a nice guy and with his reputation to take care of, Aaron just put a big scar on Problogger. Don't get me wrong, i always go to Aaron blog and i love his style of writting.

Content. What is content actually? Is it something we create from one and only one source? Or is it we just pass it down from another source? Everything in this world is recycled content. Einstein create something he got from the past. Does he belong in the elite group? So many question marks but so little answer.

I do aware that some of Darren's post was scrapped by spammy blog by spammy blogger. Maybe that was the point Aaron tried to explain to us. Again, quoting another blog doesn't make a blog elite unless it was 100% original ( which i doubt it ). Aaron said that everyone trying to get a higher pagerank and getting the best SERP. Yes and i do agree with him and that make me wonder, don't every blog is elite in some way?

Aaa...uhm..ermm...brrr i'm speechless.

2006-04-07T17:55:00.000+08:00

You guys got to watch this video. He played the didgeridoo with a cup of coffee in his hand! The best didgeridoo video in history.

The video was taken from a shop in Amsterdam. Amsterdam guy playing didgeridoo? Yes and he was darn good!

Percussive section.

2006-04-07T15:09:00.000+08:00

Maybe some of you already know that i love to play drums. Just last month, my friends and i got together for some nice "gathering". We do play alot of heavy stuff from Sepultura, Soulfly etc.

The video below ( no, that is not me and my friends ) shown that a good music comes from the heart. This kind of music really makes me want to jump up and do the "rain dance".

I know, i post alot of video lately. But hey, this is a blog right? This is not a business blog so have fun.

Kompang, Malay traditional musical instrument.

2006-04-07T14:16:00.000+08:00

Kompang is a percussion drum. It is made from goat skin with a hard wood for the frame. Kompang normally played during wedding, welcoming the VIP's ( Prime Ministers, Sultan, Presidents etc ) or any event.

To associate with the sound of the kompang, lyrics were wrote. The lyrics dated back about thousand of years back and have been past down from one generation to another. Nowdays, more modernt type of lyrics also written for kompang.

Kumpulan kompang ( kompang group ) consists about 10-15 people. The more kompang player, the higher the status of the event. For example, Penghulu ( head of village ) will invite more kompang player to show that his high status.

The group will be divided into 2 group. THe first group is the peningkah ( or was it penangkah? ) and the other, i can't remember the name. The first group has its own steps and sound and it will combine the steps and sound with the second group sound. Why i can't remember the kompang ritual? Because i haven't play it for ages.

Bush speaking in Malay.

2006-04-07T14:09:00.000+08:00

Who said Bush can't speak other language? Not many know this but Bush can speak in Malay and Arab most recently. Ok, maybe his Arab getting better nowdays after watching Al-Jazeera every morning.

Funny yet going to gives me nightmare.

Sodipodi freeware vector editor.

2006-04-07T12:58:00.000+08:00

If you want to make some nice vector graphic, try Sodipodi. Small and easy to understand and doesn't take much of your system resources. How can i forget to mention Sodipodi before? Maybe i'm a big fan of GIMP.

Sodipodi will work fine in Windows 98SE, ME, XP and GNU/Linux. The best part of this editor is, you can run it in floating windows. Meaning you can easily move around the menu and editor tabs.

If you're looking for a light-weight and free vector editor, get Sodipodi. Running their beta version for Windows, some hick-ups while running the app. You need to tweak little bit but don't worry, it's easy to tweak it.

You need to install the latest GTK+ 2 in order to tweak Sodipodi to work on your Windows ( ME, XP, 98SE ). After you have install the latest GTK+2 and Sodipodi goto C:\ProgramFiles\CommonFiles\GTK\2.0\bin ( default path ). Copy ZLIB1.dll and rename the copy as ZLIB-1.dll. That should fix the problem.

Remember, this post was base on the beta version. It might work for me but not for you. Happy painting.

Switching art students to GNU/Linux.

2006-04-07T12:17:00.000+08:00

This is a great article about getting those art to work at the lowest cost you can imagine on Ubuntu GNU/Linux. Recently, a new friend of mine asked me about graphic, web editing etc in GNU/Linux.

The next step was to determine which applications I'd use. For digital painting and image editing tools to replace Photoshop and Painter, the GIMP was the obvious choice. Krita is gaining some interesting painting capabilities, and next year I think I'll teach that too.

For a vector graphics design program to replace FreeHand, the choices included Skencil, Inkscape, Sodipodi, and OpenOffice.org's Draw. I chose Inkscape because I especially liked its user interface and features such as Tile Clones. As a side benefit, Inkscape's Help menu offers tutorials that are concise, useful, and inspiring.

For a page layout program to substitute for QuarkXpress, I considered Scribus and Passepartout. Scribus seemed to be in a much more mature stage of development, so it seemed to be the better choice. At the time I overlooked Cenon, and I haven't investigated it much since, but Scribus has worked well.

To replace Dreamweaver, I reviewed Bluefish, Nvu, and Screem, but I chose Quanta Plus because I liked its user interface and its project management features. - via NewsForge.

Who said we can have fun with GNU/Linux? Come on, if you can't run em' WINE em'. So Adlan, i hope you can deeply think about installing Ubuntu GNU/Linux on your box eh.

Techniques Used To Sell Fraudulent Investments.

2006-04-06T18:38:00.000+08:00

Some cold callers wait before turning up the heat. In their first call, the "warm-up", they'll try to build your trust by describing their firm's past successes and the high quality of its research. They might ask your permission to send a brochure and call again if an "exciting" deal comes along, but won't pressure you to buy.

You are considered a lead when you accept a brochure from a qualifier. They will then say to watch the paper for the stocks price and they'll call you back. You will soon be rejected if you appear to be a professional or official who might ask too many questions. Younger women are also avoided because they will fight for justice rather than just feel shame when taken in.

In their second call, the "setup", they'll whet your appetite, telling you about a fabulous deal they "think" they can get you into. In their third call, the "close", you will be passed on to an "opener" who will set the hook with an initial sale of stock by appealing to your ego and desire to make money. They'll urge you to buy now or miss out. - via Crime Of Persuasion

That was fun eh. Great tips on how to hang up on tele-marketers. For me, i just loooove going in circle with tele-marketers. Why? Because they don't understand what NO means. At the end, i won! Yeahhh for me.

I know they just doing their job but calling me up every hour is not the best idea in the world. They already given the chance to "sell" and i'm not interested so move on will you. Once, a guy from some credit card company kept on calling me and i need to do something about it.

"Why don't you give it a trial?"
+"You name again? Sorry i didn't get it the first time"
"My name is Rajan from XXX company and i would like you to...."
+"Rajan from XXX right? I thought you said XYZ"
"No, i'm from XXX and i would like you to..."
+"Did you own a car?"
"I don't know if the answer going to help but yes. I do own a car"
+"What kind of car? Is it a super fast sport cars?
"No, just a simple family car. Mr. [my name], i would like you to..."
+"Wait a minute. Family car? You and your family bought the car?"
"Mr [my name], i'm not a car sales person. I'm from XXX credit company and i wou..."
+"So, you bought the car or your family bought it for you?"
"Yes, i bought the car ( the tone changed )

See, i've told you so. When i said NO for the first time, i'm not going to change it the second time.

"Hey, do that Haka stuff for me"-- I'm not Maori mind you.

2006-04-06T18:01:00.000+08:00

Last week, i went to a bank to bake a cake ( withdraw some money...duh ) and looking at the long line i decided to buy some ice cream. Yes, i have sweet teeth and i love chocolate too.

At the ice cream parlour, 4 English men having their ice cream looking at me. At that time i'm wearing a snowcap ( no, Malaysia is not a snowy country ). That snowcap written New Zealand All Black and it was my friend's.

One of them asked me to do the Haka! For those who never heard about Haka, it's a war dance of the Maori's in New Zealand.

Ermm....do i look like a Maori to them? I don't know maybe Polynesian look the same. I'm a Malay not a Maori okay. I'm not going to do the Haka in the public. Yes, i'm a big fan of the All Black rugby team but doing Haka in the public? You want me to get arrested by the police? No way, i'm not going to pay for "being crazy" summon.

Thank you for everything Lizz.

2006-04-06T17:35:00.000+08:00

SOB ( Successful Blogger ) just gave a huge exposure. Thank you Lizz for the exposure. You can visit SOB here.

At first i can't figure out why my blog getting tonnes of hits per day, then when i search "jamloceng" from Google i saw SOB. Ohh...now i get it. Lizz, i'll put your badge later on okay ( once i can find a good time tommorow ).

Hint: Look for the red banner with my name printed on it