Inspector Flix

3-D Cameras. A Wave of the Future?

2009-10-30T03:36:00.000-07:00

In the world of Harry Potter, photos of people in newspapers and posters seem to have a life of their own. For muggles like us, our technology has a long way to catch up to the wizards to have moving photographs. But with the new camera of Fuji, muggles may have taken a wee step closer in terms of photography.

As per NY Times:

Fujifilm just took the wraps off its long-awaited 3-D camera and photo frame, which can capture and display 3-D (and 2-D) photos and video. The technology is sometimes amazing, but it seems likely to appeal primarily to a small group of stereoscopic photo enthusiasts.

Since it is a new technology. it is obviously not perfect yet. It is observed that the people will be fascinated because of its novelty, not because of the quality or the "realness" of the photos. But I think it has a lot of potential. Who knows, maybe 3=D pictures will be the norm in the future, just like 3=D films today! Er... or maybe not...

Yearning for a Standard eBook Format

2009-10-23T03:17:00.000-07:00

I like reading books, whether it is in printed or digital form. Sometimes, it is better to read a book on paper. The look, feel and smell of the paper just adds to the reading experience. But reading digital books has its advantages too. I read books through my Palm Treo phone, and the fact that the books are in my phone is a very convenient thing. Whenever I commute, or I am about to sleep, I just whip out my phone and read. Also, since I have everything on my phone, I can store my favorite books, minus the weight and bulkiness of an actual book.

But one gripe that I have with digital books is that there is no universal format as of yet. For my phone, I have three different readers in order to read my books, because of incompatibility of format. For those who want to try digital books, deciding which ereader (like Kindle) to purchase may turn them off. Since there is no dominant format yet, will not be resolved for a long time, until one ereader stands out from the rest.

Photo: oskay, Flickr, Creative Commons

Protecting Your Virtual Brand

2009-04-30T23:23:00.000-07:00

Do you have a website and you want to protect your "brand"? Protecting your brand is obviously important, especially when you are about to make it big. You don't want to be in a situation where you are in the throes of (relative) internet success, only to find out that others have already taken advantage of what you have sowed.

Here are some tips, taken from Dan Schwabel's article entitled "5 Ways to Control Your Brand":

1. Claim Your Google profile - Google has quietly released a feature allowing you to claim your profile when your name/brand is googled.

2. Reserve your name on social networks - You don't have to go to each networking site one by one, you just have to using Namechk.com or Knowem.com to see where you can claim your brand name on the more recognized social networks.

3. Establish your personal hub - For instance, Nombray.com allows you to display all of your social networking profiles, blogs and websites under a single domain name (yourname.com)

4. Have a reputation management strategy

5. Promote you expertise.

Click here for the full article.

Shooting Frenzy

2009-04-29T17:30:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to have an SLR camera - you know, those bulky, professional looking camera with lenses obscenely protruding. i have a friend who sa one, and I always borrow it whenever I get to have a chance. In those rare times that I handle his camera, I always try to practice the intricacies of focusing, zooming and shot composition.I haven't mastered them. I think it will take years for anyone to really master photography. Just like poker, photography takes minutes to learn and years to master.

A New York Times article has reported that Panasonic is releasing a camera ahead of its time: it can capture SLR-quality pictures with the ease of a point-and-click camera, and more.

But considering that this is a relatively new technology, it necessarily comes at a steep price of $1,500. What's more, the size of these first generation cameras are just slightly smaller than SLR cameras. But no matter, the potential of the technology alone will make any camera enthusiasts and wannabe-photographers will make them salivate.

A Valentine Card

2009-02-14T01:28:00.000-08:00

Photo: thegreatgeekmanual, Flickr, Creative Commons

Gorey and The Recently Deflowered Girl

2009-01-09T05:53:00.000-08:00

I chanced upon this book scan of The Recently Deflowered Girl. At first glance, it looks like your ordinary etiquette book, albeit of a weird topic. But it isn't so. Consider this, for example:

You meet an old bachelor friend of your family who has known you since birth. He takes you to his apartment promising to show you old tintypes of your parents. After deflowerment, you ask to see the pictures. He says, "There are no pictures, but your parents are in the next room."

You say: "Golly, I love surprises."

Obviously, this should not be taken seriously; the pieces of advice tongue-in-cheek, all. This shouldn't come as a surprise if you had known beforehand that it was authored by Edward Gorey, an author known for macabre literature/illustrations. Check out the book, worth a look.

If you want to see more of Gorey's works, check this out.

Photo: aussiegall, Flickr, Creative Commons

Crowdsourcing 101

2008-11-27T12:25:00.000-08:00

Suppose Jimmy Wales decides to create an encyclopedia all by his lonesome self. Sounds hard, if not impossible, right?

Well, this Jimmy Wales is the creator of Wikipedia. He did not do an online encyclopedia on his own. In fact, he asked everyone who can access the Wikipedia website to contribute and collaborate on the content of the site. The result: over 10 million articles written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. I have edited some Wikipedia articles in the past myself - although my contribution is limited to correcting typographical errors - just so I can say that I have made some contribution to Wikipedia.

Wikipedia typifies crowdsourcing. Coined in 2006, the term crowdsourcing is defined in Wikipedia as:

[T]he act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call. For example, the public may be invited to develop a new technology, carry out a design task, refine an algorithm or help capture, systematize or analyze large amounts of data.

The term has become popular with business authors and journalists as shorthand for the trend of leveraging the mass collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 technologies to achieve business goals. However, both the term and its underlying business models have attracted controversy and criticism.

Other well-known crowdsourcing sites are Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon and Flickr. But the concept of crowdsourcing is not new. According to Wikipedia (where else?), in the 19th century, the Oxford English Dictionary was written from volunteer contributions of millions of slips of paper. In the early days of the internet, the concept was already being applied by computer programmers and scientists.

The Emperor's Virtual Clothes author Dinty Moore forayed into the (then) mysterious world of internet back in 1995. Thirteen years ago, you had to make do with Bulletin Board Systems (BBSs) for social networking. Search was not made through Google. Netscape was still the number one browser. A picture file would take minutes to download.

But even during the "primitive" era of the internet, the idea of crowdsourcing was already alive. BITNET, CSNET and Usenet allowed for discussion of computers, computing issues, scientific disciplines and controversy. Usenet, in particular, was famous in universities, research labs or other academic institutions. Usenet originated with a link between two universities, and the exchange of ideas and information is what such institutions are all about. It created huge amounts of information that would have been hard to obtain had there been no Usenet. Collaboration and exchange of information among early Usenet users made it possible.

According to wiseGEEK, it seems that the potential of crowdsourcing has yet to be tapped. "There is an enormous creative and technical population in the world, many of whom have interesting ideas or skills, and crowdsourcing allows companies to profit from their work — often giving them a healthy living in return — at a fraction of the cost of a more traditional business model."

For more information about crowdsourcing sites, you can visit crowdsourcinglinks.com.

Comic strip: xkcd

Spot the Spammer

2008-11-26T05:29:00.000-08:00

Lately, my email has been flooded with spam. It is mighty irritating, to say the least.

To top it off, I almost became a victim of phishing.

There was this one email purporting to be from PayPal. It said that I purchased something via my PayPal account. I'm pretty sure that I haven't bought anything through PayPal for the last 6 months, so I was about to go to the PayPal website (rule of thumb: I never click on any link in any email, except if the email comes from very close friends or if it's an activation code) to check it out. Then I suddenly realized that I wasn't using that particular email for my PayPal account.

So how do we avoid spam mails? If Yahoo, Hotmail and Gmail can't solve the spam problem, we sure as hell can't.

But we can settle for the next best thing. mikealao has a great tip for Gmail users:

It is absolutely impossible for us to find out who sold our email address to those spammers who choke our inbox with unwanted emails. But now there is a solution to find out people who sell our confidential information to others. Gmail provides a not so explicit feature which you can use to find out which website is giving out your email address to spammers. This will not work for the previous websites where you have already registered but you can use it for future registrations.

Here is how to use it:

1. While signing up for any new website enter your Gmail address as your_user_name+website_name@gmail.com.

2. Don’t worry, you will receive the mails as usual because Gmail doesn’t recognize any combination of words or numbers after the “+” sign.

3. Whenever you get any spam message just click on the “Show Details” link to expand the email header and find out the email address to which it was sent. The images below show a test which I did with a “+” sign on my email address.

4. If you had signed up according to the step number 1, you will be able to find out who gave your email address to the spammer.

Use this to find out which websites are selling your email addresses, check out their privacy policy and sue them if they lied. If you found this useful, don’t forget to share it with others.

I don't know if there is a similar code for other email providers, though.

Photo: Michal Zacharzewski, SXC

Photos for Your Website

2008-11-25T03:24:00.000-08:00

Blog posts and websites without photos sometimes look drab. I admit, there are times when I don't even read the whole post. I just look at the pictures.

That is why blogs and sites which have photos usually have an edge over those that only have text in them.

But what if you suck at taking pictures? Or if your pictures aren't appropriate for your particular post? Or if you don't have a camera at all?

No problem. There are thousands of photos over the web.

However, you can't just copy a picture from a website and simply put it in yours.You'd have to contend with copyright infringement and royalties. In a worst case scennario, you can even be subjected to civil or criminal sanctions.

Good thing there are websites that offer free use of photos at no charge.

My favorite is Flickr Creative Commons.

Many Flickr users have chosen to offer their work under a Creative Commons license, and you can browse or search through content under each type of license.

It has a huge collection of great pics, that is why I go to this site very often if I need a picture for my blogs.

Another website that I usually use for my pic needs is Photobucket. Its terms of service provide:

By displaying or publishing ("posting") any Content on or through the Photobucket Services, you hereby grant to Photobucket and other users a non-exclusive, fully paid and royalty-free, worldwide, limited license to use, modify, delete from, add to, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce and translate such Content, including without limitation distributing part or all of the Site in any media formats through any media channels, except Content marked "private" will not be distributed outside the Photobucket Services. Photobucket and/or other Users may copy, print or display publicly available Content outside of the Photobucket Services, including without limitation, via the Site or third party websites or applications (for example, services allowing Users to order prints of Content or t-shirts and similar items containing Content).

In short, the publisher of the photo has virtually relinquished his copyright. So anyone can use it for whatever purpose. But I tend to be wary of using Photobucket pics because some photos are obviously taken from other sites as well (presumably without permission).

My third favorite source is openphoto.net. It has a collection of amazing pics, but the selection is limited. Here is a sample.

Another one is Stock.XCHNG. It claims to be the leading FREE stock photo site. However, you must sign up in order to use the photos in the site. But the sign up is worth it.

Just a quick note: When using photos from the sites I've mentioned, please take note of the terms for their usage. It's only but proper. And hey, you're using their photos in the first place.

What Happens to Swallowed Chewing Gum?

2008-11-16T00:06:00.000-08:00

This question has been nagging mer for a very long time now. Obviously, I've had my share of swallowed gums (mostly because I had to avoid getting caught by my teachers).

The usual answers (e.g. it will stay in your stomach forever) are not acceptable to me, for obvious reasons.

I had time to search for the answer over the web, and the most satisfactory answer is by Mayo Clinic:

Although chewing gum is designed to be chewed and not swallowed, it isn't harmful if swallowed. An old wives' tale suggests that swallowed gum sits in your stomach for seven years before it can be digested. But this isn't true. If you swallow gum, it's true that your body can't digest it. But the gum doesn't sit in your stomach. It progresses relatively intact through your digestive system and is excreted in your stool.

In other words, you just poop it out. However, the explanation offered by Thunder Dragon may also be another plausible explanation. Here is the illustration:

Mosquito Hearing

2008-11-15T02:31:00.000-08:00

Heard about mosquito ringtones? Free2surf.org says:

In medical science there is a condition called “presbycusis”, when most adults over the age of 24 lose the ability to hear high frequency sounds like the mosquito sounds. Some people know this fact and creating a mosquito ringtone so high schoolers and college students are able to receive cell phone calls and text messages even at the classroom.

Which means that a person loses the ability to hear high frequencies as he gets older. Therefore, a mosquito ringtone can be heard by the (young) student but not by the (old) teacher. But beware, I read that a story about a young teacher who reprimanded a student because the teacher, in her mid-twenties, heard the student's mosquito ringtone loud and clear. Needless to say, it was straight to detention for the student.

The technology is even used as an anti-vandal system to deter teens who like to hang out at malls.

I tried this out with my mom. When I played the mosquito ringtone, and she couldn't hear a thing. She thought I was pulling her leg. Only when she listened closely that she heard the high-frequency sound. Try it out for yourself.

You Have Super Hearing!!

You have great hearing and you are probably pretty young, rock on!

The highest frequency you can hear is: 18khz

Try the The Mosquito Ringtone and see how well you can hear

Photo: tanakawho, Flickr,Creative Commons

Mind block! Now what?

2008-11-14T11:49:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, you desperately want to write about something but you simply just can't. It happens to the best of them. So what to do next?

Maybe Lorem Ipsum will do the trick. Generate a string of words and hope to the gods that someone doesn't notice that it's in Latin.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec auctor ullamcorper lorem. Etiam gravida vulputate lacus. Nam ultricies tempus ipsum. Quisque ullamcorper viverra libero. Cras sodales metus non sapien. Ut aliquam, felis id sollicitudin fermentum, metus augue scelerisque lectus, vitae ultricies arcu urna sed metus. Ut egestas. Donec eget tellus. Sed non elit ac pede adipiscing interdum. Etiam at erat eget erat pharetra vestibulum.

Generated 1 paragraph, 64 words, 447 bytes of Lorem Ipsum

How to Add a Recent Comments List

2008-11-13T20:42:00.000-08:00

Sometimes, reading the comments of a blog is half the fun, because you can follow the dialogue between the blogger and the commentators. Even better, I like to get into the mix and have a friendly discussion. That is why I prefer blogs that have a conspicuous Recent Comments list. Such a list is good for both the blogger and commentator because they can both keep track of the most recent discussions.

If you have a Blogger account and you want to have a Recent Comments list too, just go to Blogger Buster. You'll see there a box which asks ask for the heading, your blog address, the summary size, etc. Fill in the necessary info in the box. Click apply, and then click Add widget to my blog.

You will then be directed to another page. Just choose the blog account, then click Add widget. It will then direct you to the layouts page. You'll then see the Recent Comments gadget in your blog.
Mine was placed at the top right side of my layout by default. Just place the Recent Comments gadget to wherever you want it to be and voilà! You now have your own Recent Comments list.

The Interactive Mirror

2008-11-12T10:40:00.000-08:00

How cool is that?

But in reality, it's just one of those toys where you really enjoy playing with for about 30 minutes and never play with again. Much like the Elmo Live toy, or the ASIMO robot.

The mirror has a big potential though. It can be a huge advertising tool in the future.We'll see.

My BlogMad is Now Working!

2008-11-11T16:53:00.000-08:00

I finally got BlogMad to work. I joined about three weeks ago and added my blogs and immediately thereafter. But I hit a snag because I couldn't get my blogs to be activated. I put in the link in my blogs and emailed BlogMad about my problem to no avail. I tried again yesterday, with a different tack (I used the RPC method) and now my blogs are activated. I can immediately feel the effect of BlogMad. So all's well.

Tracking Your Website with StatCounter

2008-11-10T16:44:00.000-08:00

Aside from Google Analytics, another web tracker that I use is Statcounter. What is StatCounter? It is like a stripped down version of Google Analytics. But that is not necessarily a bad thing.

StatCounter is ideal for those who want to track their blogs or small websites. If you don't need complicated stats or conversion trackers, then StatCounter is for you.

It is much much simpler than Google Analytics, but it still gets the job done. But what I like about it most is that it churns out real-time results, unlike in GA wherein there is a one-day delay in the release of the tracking stats. I also like its visitor paths feature because it tracks the location of the visitor, as well as the pages that he accessed. Aside from these, there are many other features of StatCounter, which are listed here.

The downside is that a free StatCounter account will only have a log size of 500. If you want more capacity, you have to pay a monthly fee. But I personally don't have problem with this, since I have a Google Analytics acccount anyway, and I use StatCounter mainly for the real-time report.

If you are have a Blogger account, here is the step-by-step process of installing Statcounter.

What's New with Google Analytics

2008-11-07T10:50:00.000-08:00

Google Analytics is a tracker which collect information about the visitors of your website or blog. GA shows you how people found your site, how they explored it, and how you can enhance their visitor experience. Improve your website return on investment, increase conversions, and make more money on the web.

I only noticed it about three days ago, but GA has a new look to it. I checked the Google Analytics blog, and here are the new features:

Advanced Segmentation enables you to isolate and analyze subsets of your traffic. It is true on-the-fly segmentation of visits so that you can create powerful filters with a few mouse-clicks.

Custom Reports are reports you create, save, and edit to give you a specific view of your data. You can choose the information and metrics you want to see, organized in the way you want to see it, by using a drag and drop interface to populate an Analytics report.

Motion Charts add sophisticated multi-dimensional analysis to most Analytics reports.

The New Account Management Dashboard makes it easier for you to manage and monitor your account by providing simpler navigation between accounts and profiles and displaying a dashboard of key performance metrics upfront upon login.

If you haven't signed up for GA yet, but are interested, you can click here for a step-by-step process of setting up you GA account. Once signed up, you may be a little intimidated by all the figures and stats on the screen. Don't worry. You can go here for more info - it has a very instructive video for beginners.

NBA Fantasy Update

2008-11-04T05:38:00.000-08:00

As predicted, the NBA fantasy website screwed up. I joined two leagues in the NBA website for good measure. And now, both leagues are lying dormant as of this writing. The drafts were did not take place, leaving the managers of both leagues dumbfounded. Next year, I'll definitely stick with Yahoo.

New Orleans phenom Chris Paul is having another fantastic start, with phenomenal assist numbers and great across-the-board numbers. Philadelphia's Elton Brand, ranked 6th-10th in pre-draft rankings, is struggling with his shooting percentages and turnovers. He clearly has not fully recovered from last year's injury. Among the rookies, Miami's Michael Beasley and Chicago's Derrick Rose post impressive numbers. Although Beasley will probably have better numbers at year-end because of the volatile guard situation in Chicago.

In a somewhat related news, the Wall Street Journal reports that Joseph Abboud will be providing the 30 NBA head coaches with suits, sport coats, dress slacks and ties. Methinks that Joseph Abboud is taking advantage of the fact that NBA coaches unlike other sports coaches, wear suits. Good for the clothing line if the coach wearing the suit is suave like Pat Riley. But if it's the likes of Stan Van Gundy, forget it.

Undecided?

2008-11-03T05:28:00.000-08:00

If you are registered to vote but are not decided if you will vote or not, maybe this will help.

The Parable of the Subprime Market

2008-11-02T23:24:00.000-08:00

I got this from an email. There's a lesson to be had in this story. 

Once upon a time a man appeared in a village and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for $10 each.

The villagers, seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them. The man bought thousands at $10 and, as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort.

He next announced that he would now buy monkeys at $20 each. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms.

The offer increased to $25 each and the supply of monkeys became so scarce it was an effort to even find a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at $50 each! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would buy on his behalf.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: "Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has already collected. I will sell them to you at $35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell them to him for $50 each."

The villagers rounded up all their savings and bought all the monkeys. They never saw the man or his assistant again, only lots and lots of monkeys!

Now, let's talk about the stock market...

3-Column Blogger templates

2008-10-31T09:06:00.000-07:00

Default Blogger templates are a bore. Why stick with them when you can find many free ones on the web?

As far as templates go, I favor the 3-column type. If you're the type who likes to accessorize or pimp your blog, a 3-column template is just for you. It is also recommended for those who want to fill their blogs with ads. Having too many ads with a 2-column setup will lead to a cluttered look, not so with 3 columns.

But if you're aiming for that minimalist look, the 3-column template is definitely not for you.

I really like the 3-column layouts created by Isnaini. I've been using it for my other blogs for a long time. But there are other great templates out there. You can search the web for 3-column templates - there are many lying around.

What's Your Halloween Personality?

2008-10-30T11:35:00.000-07:00

What Your Halloween Habits Say About You

The scariest thing on Halloween is you! You definitely don't want any kids in costumes crossing your path - and you're willing to scare away any who do.

You are an overachiever and quite popular. You'd save the world if you could.

Your inner child is stubborn and a bit bossy.

You fear those closest to you finding out who you really are. You dread people discovering your secrets.

You're prone to be quite emotional and over dramatic. Deep down, you enjoy being scared out of your mind... even if you don't admit it.

You are a traditionalist with most aspects of your life. You like your Halloween costume to be basic, well made, and conventional enough to wear another year.

Wanna know what yours is? Click here.

The NBA season begins!

2008-10-29T07:06:00.000-07:00

I'm a big basketball fan, so the new NBA season is welcome news. And because I'm obsessed with the NBA, I have joined four fantasy leagues this year.

My favorite is the Yahoo Fantasy Sports. I have 2 rotisserie (aka roto) leagues and 1 head-to-head league in Yahoo. In roto, you add up all the stats to decide the winner of the league. For example, if you have 12 teams in your league and you lead the category of steals, you get 12 points for that category. 2nd place gets 11 points, 3rd gets 10 and so on. You add up all the points garnered in each category to determine your ranking in the league. In head-to-head leagues, you play against someone in your league for a single week. The points garnered will determine the ranking for the playoffs for the season. Whoever wins the playoffs will be crowned the champion.

I used to favor head-to-head, because there is variety in the opponent you play every week. However, it is frustrating to play because even if you end up being the first at the end of the regular season, it doesn't mean squat if you somehow get unlucky in the playoffs (e.g. your players all get injured, busy schedule, etc). A manager who somehow gets lucky (e.g. sudden surge of his players, weak brackets, add/drop strategy) can win the championship even if he has had an ugly regular season So I am now more into roto because it entails more deliberate thinking (i.e. there are only a limited number of games that you can play for each position). Plus, the stats are tallied for the whole season. Thus, you cannot win the championship by just pure luck.

NBA has its own fantasy games, but I'm not a big fan. The pages are slow to load, the instructions are confusing, and the service is generally unsatisfactory. But I joined one league because it has a different format, a points-based league. It is similar to roto, so I am intrigued. If it's good, then maybe I'll stick around. But if it's not, I'm staying with Yahoo.

Frustrating BlogMad

2008-10-29T00:01:00.000-07:00

I subscribed to BlogMad about a week ago, in the hopes of generating more traffic to this blog. The interface of the site is user-friendly and straight-forward. I could choose to surf blogs of other members to earn credits; play games; wager some of my credits for a chance to win the lottery pot. It's the kind of website that I like. but there is one BIG problem,:my blogs have not been activated ever since I have joined.

I wouldn't raise too much fuss if BlogMad says that the activation would take 2 weeks or so. I can accept that. But BlogMad indicates that the activation will only last 24 hours. I've waited more than that. I've emailed them about the problem, but there is still no response. And without my blog being activated all my hard-earned credits will go for naught.

Have I given up hope yet? Not yet, but I'm getting there. Just another email complaint and if there is no response, that's it.

But I have to give it to the website though. It has stayed faithful to its name: BlogMad is truly maddening.

Doppleganger?

2008-10-28T09:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic from icanhascheezburger.com:

How cool is that!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer

2008-10-27T13:58:00.000-07:00

Anticipation is building up for the 6th installment of the Harry Potter film series, although it will not be released until July of next year.

From the looks of it, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince looks like another visual treat. David Yates (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix), who comes back as director, will most likely present another dark tone. Although many did not like how he directed the Order of the Phoenix, I think his visual style will suit well the maturing characters and the darker plot of the film series.

Pay-to-click sites:different perspectives

2008-10-27T01:26:00.000-07:00

Here's a page from Helium which has several posts about pay-to-click websites. They talk about their experiences - good and bad - for our perusal. So if you're interested or skeptical about click-to-pay sites, the posts in the link may be of help.

How much is your blog worth?

2008-10-26T00:08:00.000-07:00

One way of earning money through blogs is to sell them. BankAholic, a blog focusing on banks, finances, insurance and general economy, was recently sold for $15 million dollars. Heck, even a five-month old Malaysian blog can be sold for $10,000. Of course, your blog must actually have some value.

So if you were to sell your blog right now, how much would it be? Here is a link putting a monetary value on your blog by the number of other blogs link to yours.

My blog is worth $0.00.
How much is your blog worth?

Which means, I can give mine for free.

Is Neobux a scam?

2008-10-25T00:05:00.000-07:00

I chanced upon Neobux while searching the web for ways to earn money online. Since I'm in front of the computer everyday, I thought that I might as well earn money while web surfing.

Neobux is a pay-to-click site - which means that I will get paid every time I click on the ads flashed on the screen. It seems like an easy way to earn money, right?

The thing is, an ad click will only earn you 1 cent. Moreover, the number of times that you can click per day is limited (e.g. 10 times per day). In other words, this gig will not earn you oodles of money.

However, there are ways of squeezing just a few more pennies from this kind of site. If you are an active referrer, you can benefit from the clicks that the person you referred makes. So the more people you refer to the site, the higher your earnings will be.

But will the site pay up? That I'm not sure of. But I snooped around, and from the tetimonials I've read, the site pays its members on time. So that is a good sign. I'll be chronicling all the things that will happen with my Neobux account, and you'll be the first to know if it's the real deal or not.

Blogspot's cool gadgets

2008-10-24T11:54:00.000-07:00

Bloggers may have noticed that more gadgets can be added to their blogs. I think this feature is brilliant, since you can add gadgets that will compliment your blog. I tried putting a Hangman game (see the right side of the panel) just for fun, and it works perfect!

Cancer freebie

2008-10-24T01:58:00.000-07:00

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Passports will be needed to buy mobile phones

2008-10-20T11:55:00.000-07:00

Times Online reports that, "Everyone who buys a mobile telephone will be forced to register their identity on a national database under government plans to extend massively the powers of state surveillance."

Whatever happened to right of one's privacy?

Next thing we'll know, we need to have a license in order to surf the net. Far fetched, I know. But it could happen.

Old-school tycoon games remembered

2008-09-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

For some unknown reason, I've been hit with the entrepreneur bug these past few days. But since I don't have any real capital in hand to start a real business, I settled for the next best thing. I reinstalled my tycoon games so I can earn some virtual cash and scratch that entrepreneurial itch. so I immediately craved for tycoon games.

Except for the lame names (*insert type of business* tycoon - c'mon, game developers can do better than that) tycoon games are one of my favorite video game genres. They test your creativity and business acumen. What's more - they're absolutely fun to play.

My all-time favorite tycoon game is Theme Hospital. I never aspired to be a doctor because I get nauseous at the sight of blood. I had no such problems with Theme Hospital, with amusing illnesses such as chronic nosehair, 3rd degree sideburns, bloaty head, broken heart and the uncommon cold. Despite the simple graphics, I was addicted to this game because of its challenging yet amusing levels.

As for the newer tycoon games, my favorite is the Lemonade Tycoon 2. A few minutes into the game, I thought that it was too simple. Was I wrong! This is one of the more challenging tycoon games there is, as you really have to calculate if you are selling the lemonades at the right price, if opening a new branch is worth the investment, or if the upgraded equipment are worth buying. This is more cerebral than your average tycoon game.

Another one of my favorites is Gameboy's Jurassic Park III: Park Builder. The title says it all: you have to build Jurassic Park and hope that the cages are sturdy enough to withstand the prehistoric beasts. The dinosaurs are more docile here than in the movie. But that doesn't mean that you're job would be any less easier. While it seems to be a run of the mill tycoon game, its breeding feature keeps the game from being tedious after a few hours of playing.

A moment of silence

2008-08-13T02:06:00.000-07:00

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Ignorance is bliss.

2008-08-05T02:39:00.000-07:00

From the bottom of my heart

2008-07-20T01:46:00.000-07:00

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

Un-incredible Hulk

2008-07-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

With the long stretch of grueling work behind me, I rewarded myself with a movie. And I watched the movie that I promised myself to watch on the first day of its screening - The Incredible Hulk.

The actors were great in this movie. The great Edward Norton portrayed the geeky Bruce Banner the way he is supposed to be portrayed. William Hurt was also superb as General Thunderbolt Ross. Tim Roth (as a British agent-turned Abomination) was a perfect fit as the movie's villain. The only sore point was Liv Tyler, in my opinion. She rendered a weak Betty Ross, whereas I pictured Betty Ross as an intelligent and strong-willed woman. She exuded neither in her portrayal.

Despite the potential for a great movie, The Incredible Hulk fell short of my expectations. There is much potential in the franchise, but somehow, the Hulk is continued to be pitted with the military - reminiscent of the 2003 version of the film. We all knew that didn't work. As to why the producers continued to tread that path, I don't have a ready answer for that.

Moreover, the movie lacks action the way a Hulk film is supposed to have. I mean, he is supposed to be the strongest creature on the planet, so where's the destruction amidst his wake? The Hulk persona was not taken advantage of in this film too much. That is too bad, because the interest really picks up when the Hulk was doing his thing.

Despite the movie's shortcomings, this probably won't be the last appearance of the Hulk in the big screen. In the end part of the movie, Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) approached Thunderbolt Ross in a bar and talked about forming a team... Hmm...

Avengers, anyone?

Photo: lman1138, Creative Commons, Flickr

Will Hancock deliver?

2008-06-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

I am wary about the action/scifi film Hancock because there is this The Incredibles vibe to it (albeit of the grittier variety). But that won't stop me from seeing it, since I am a fan of any film/TV show/comics that deal with superheroes. Here's the trailer of the upcoming movie.

Hancock is scheduled for release on July 2, 2008.

The Incredible Hulk is back!

2008-06-13T12:42:00.000-07:00

I can't wait to watch The Incredible Hulk. I'm a big fan of the comics, especially World War Hulk series. The previous Hulk movie (featuring Eric Bana) was a fluke. I am fairly confident that Edward Norton will be more effective in portraying the scrawny Bruce Banner. Too bad I won't be able to watch this right now.

The Incredible Hulk opens today. Click here for the movie's official website.

Movie Review: Kung Fu Panda

2008-06-12T11:47:00.000-07:00

During the past two years, I have been shunning animated movies (particluarly, of the 3D variety) because it feels like the new ones do not provide anything new to the table.

Good thing, the animated movie Kung Fu Panda does not disappoint.

The movie is about Po the Panda, who dreams to be one of the great kung fu masters. He was picked by the head kung fu master as the dragon master (the chosen one, so to speak) to fight their village's greatest enemy. Other kung fu greats bristled at the idea, since Panda had no kung fu skills whatsoever.

The movie has awesome graphics from start to finish. The plot is solid, and the there is light humor throughout the film. The voice actors (led by Jack Black) did a superb job in giving life to the animated characters. Over-all, it is such a good film that you will forget that you are watching an animated movie.

Needles to say, Kung Fu Panda is a must-see summer movie.

Click here for the film's official website.

Photo: prenylastman, Creative Commons, Flickr