Savings while shopping online

Of late I have become really careful with my expenses. I had to as we are living off our savings and a meager scholarship. The fact that the Pound Sterling is quite high against other currencies also doesn't help much. I guess it will become better once I get a job.

In the meantime, I try to stretch my money as much as I can. I shop a lot online now and despite all the horror stories we have all heard, online shopping has been great - so far. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I stick to the well known online retailers. Another reason I shop a lot online is the fact that we can get some amazing bargains on the net. It's amazing. Sometimes I have been able to get certain products at a fraction of their retail prices. I try to take advantage of every offer available One great way to get good deals on most online shops are by using free online coupons. You usually get these codes via email when you sign up with an online retailer. There are also a number of coupon code sites out there on the net. However, I discovered one major problem with most coupon code sites, that most often than not, the codes listed on them would be outdated. I hate it even more when you click a coupon link only to be taken to some other unrelated page.

This will not happen at Deal Locker, a great place to find and share coupon codes. They list thousands of coupons for thousands of stores. They have coupons for all my favorite online stores and retailers including Amazon, Dell, and even gift cards and coupons for sale on ebay. Best of all, the coupons actually work as expired coupons are not shown. Furthermore, these coupons are rated by the users. You can search by store or by category. Take a look at my favorite category : electronics coupons.

Firefox users can use their 1-Click Coupon bookmarklet in order to find a coupon at any online store. All you have to do is click the bookmarket.

Have you got your TV Licence ?

People who had lived in the UK always used to joke, "the British tax everything". We used to laugh but when we moved here, we found that it was true. There is a council tax, a car tax, income tax of course and you also need to pay for a TV Licence.

If you have a colour TV, you need to pay £135.50 (approx. US$274.13) and a black and white license costs £45.50 (approx. US$92.05), to be renewed annually.

Not paying may result in fines - starting at £200 for a first offense. I was wondering how they would know if someone didn't pay. Probably by looking at presence of satellite dishes or antennas. One of my friends (you know who you are) told us to get a good PC with a TV tuner built in and watch TV on computer and not pay for the licence. It seems like a good idea but as the website says:

You need a TV Licence to use any television receiving equipment such as a TV set, set-top boxes, video or DVD recorders, computers or mobile phones to watch or record TV programmes as they are being shown on TV.

According to a report in the Coventry Times today, 1,386 people were caught watching TV without a licence in Coventry in the first 6 months of this year. I learnt that they are planning to use a fleet of detector vans and advanced handheld detectors to catch the defaulters.

Based on BBC's annual report, 75% of their revenue comes from TV Licence. No wonder they want you to pay up.

Move over Digg, Thoof's here

There's a new kid in town and it's fast becoming one of the best places to find all kinds of personalized news, websites, videos, and other links. I am referring to Thoof.com, where like Digg, users generate the news. Submitting a story is easy. Just click the 'Submit' button. Fill in the link url, title, summary of the story and the tags. Click submit story and you are done. However, it will only be posted after you sign up with them.

However, the similarities with Digg ends there. Unlike the former, other readers can then add or improve to your summary. Also unlike Digg which is dominated by technology related stories, the stories here are much more varied. You can literally spend hours reading the unending list of stories submitted by various users.

They have just introduced the "ThoofRank" system, whereby you can add a ThoofRank button in your blog or web page for any story you submit to them. Expressed as a percentage relative to other Thoof stories, this ranking system is a measure of how interesting a story is to other readers with similar interests. A ThoofRank of 50% and above is good as it indicates that a story is of above average interest to those readers.

Places in the UK reviewed by you and me

Was thinking of taking the wife and kids to London for a day or two while the weather is still nice and the sun still shining. We won't be able to get a better opportunity once my daughter starts her nursery in September. Not being very familiar with London, did some research on the net and did find some websites. However, most of them were just lists with some details. What I would have loved were real reviews by real customers.

Today, I finally found what I have been looking for on a great community web site called Trustedplaces. What makes this site unique is that customers share their opinions - good as well as bad, of places they frequent or have visited. You can add your own reviews as well. Whether you are looking for a London bar or a laundry or anything else, you will most likely find at least one review on the site.

Though highest number of reviews were of places in London, the site has reviews of places in other parts of the UK as well.

StarCraft fansite

When it comes to computer games, most of my male friends prefer the first shooter games such as the Doom and Elder Scrolls series or the racing games. Personally I prefer the role playing or strategy games better known as RPGs. I sometimes spend days to complete a stage.

Out of all the strategy games out there one of the best is StarCraft, a real-time strategy computer game. Along with it's expansion pack, 'StarCraft: Brood War', which was released in 1998, it has now become the the third best-selling computer game in history.

I am really looking forward to their upcoming edition, StarCraft 2. It is currently under development by Blizzard Entertainment. The news of the upcomign sequel was first announced on May 19, 2007 and will be available for release on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Mac OS X. For more information on StarCraft or
starcraft 2 just go over to CreepColony.com. This fansite has everything you need to know about thiis popular computer game.

First PPP Direct offer

I was wondering why I hadn't received any PPP Direct review offers till date when other blogs less popular and with a lower PR had. I had ranted about it earlier in my SEO Expert blog. On my wife's suggestion, I lowered the minimum offer rate from $30 to $5.

As usual my wife was right. I received an offer today and best of all, the advertiser - Mac Poker, is offering me $10 (not $5) just to put up a link on my blogroll on my sidebar. However, I wonder for how long?

High defnition video communication

A few years ago, only a few companies considered video conferencing. However, due to innovations in technology and faster net connections, it is something very viable. There are several advantages - you can save on travel costs (and of course the environment by reducing your carbon footprint), hotel cots and of course no jet lag.

Companies are not the only ones that can benefit from video conferencing systems. For example if you organistion is involved in the education sector and you are thinking of installing such a system, you might want to consider LifeSize's Video Conference Equipment, which delivers high definition video resolution (1280 x 720) at 1Mbps

This high definition video communications company was founded in 2003 and has it's headquarters in Austin, Texas.

Getting yourself pierced, get quality jewelry

Someone once asked me whether I am into body piercings. I was a bit confused as to why she asked me that question until she clarified that she had noticed that my ears had been pierced. No! I am not into body piercings and the ear piercings, well that's another story.

Anyway, I noticed that body piercings are on the rise in Malaysia, especially among the urban youth. Of course when we talk about body piercings, you also have to consider the body jewelry. There's no point if you are going to get your belly pierced and put an ugly looking stud in it.

What about this 14kt White Gold Round CZ Solitaire Navel Belly Button Ring? Now we are talking. This ring costs $49.99 (retail price $119.99) and is available from Freshtrends.com, one of the leading body jewelry sites on the net. Check out their huge range of Gold Body jewelry including tongue rings, nose rings, navel rings among other quality products. Sign up with the site to receive discounts, coupons and other news via email. They offer free shipping on domestic (US) orders above $25. They also ship internationally and it's free for orders above $40 via USPS First Class Mail.

Check out the site for their weekly offers.

Booking Indian hotels online

The last time I ever visited India was in 2005 for a conference in Delhi. My wife was there with me and we wanted to mix pleasure with work, so we planned our itinerary in such a way that we would be able to do some sightseeing - including a visit to the famous Taj Mahal. A visit to North India won't be complete without a visit to this romantic tourist destination.

The problem we faced was trying to find an affordable accommodation. You should be aware that Indian hotels often have separate charges for Indians (paying in rupees) and foreigners (paying in US $). The difference can be several times higher.

We were interested in the Bed and Breakfast type hotels so that we had more money to spend on shopping. Searching on the net for a suitable hotel near the conference venue proved to be a formidable task and we finally gave in an choose the 5 star (and costlier) hotel suggested by the organisers. It was not that near either and was somewhere in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of Delhi. Later learnt that there were several much cheaper yet comparable (if not better) hotels in the area. However, most of them don't have a website and you can't deal with them directly.

Anyway, if you want to book Indian hotels, Inasra.com is an excellent site. This online hotel booking site had 35000 listed Hotel Rooms all over India (when I last checked). The company is based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu and was set up in August 2005.

The home page is very neat uncluttered unlike other hotel directories I have visited. It seems like every body is going for the Google look now. Not that I am complaining. However, don't let the simple looking interface fool you as this site is clearly high tech as I found out.

Searching for a hotel starts by choosing an Indian city and the the duration you are planning to say there (from and to). They will then give you a list of hotels which you can then filter by ticking a number of choices such as, whether they have a doctor on call, the star of the hotel, food preference and so on. Unlike other Indian hotel directories I have visited, they do list hotels not affiliated with them. However, we have to make the bookings ourselves. That's great.

I have a good knowledge of India and noticed that a few cities I have been to were missing. Maybe I guess these places are a bit of the beaten track. This site is clearly targeted at foreigners as all the prices are listed in US $. They might be cheaper for Indians. A currency exchange calculator would have been a welcome addition so that people in countries other than the US could find out the rates in their own currency. It would be nice to have a link from the hotel names to the details page.

Other than these minor details, this is a really useful and informative site and I would definitely visit it again when I pay a visit to India again.

With geek friends and java forums

A lot of guys are really surprised when I reveal the fact that I don't have an IT background and most will exclaim "But how come you know a lot of the technical stuff?"

I guess it's all about interest and this interest was what lead me to specialize in web related technology and e-commerce. However, I have to admit, I am less inclined toward the programming details and more onto the managerial side of this field. The only IT related training I had was when I did a short certificate course in Informatics in Malaysia. We even had to do Java programming and to be honest I was quite lost. Was really thankful I had some friends who were experts in Java programming.

Talking about Java - I was having coffee with some of my IT friends and they were discussing Hibernate - an open source solution for the Java language. From what I could gather, it is used in developing databases. Suddenly they asked me my opinion. I didn't want to bluff and honestly told them I have no idea what they were all talking about. Like usual, some of them were quite shocked to learn that I do not have an IT background.

Anyway, if you are into Java programming, join the Java forums. Registration is quite fast and it's totally free. Besides discussion on various Java topics, the forum also carries info regarding books as well as job listings. I am not sure but they claim to be the largest Java community.

Going to the Microsoft MGX - get special rate at resort

Are you part of Microsoft's salesforce or you are one of those lucky guys who got invited to MGX (Microsoft Global Experience), one of the must-attend Microsoft events?

Initially it was supposed to be held at New Orleans but has now been moved to Orlando. According to a report by ZDNet, an estimated 14,000 people attend MGX.

Anyway, if you are one of those guys going there for the event, you are probably looking for an affordable place to stay. Well you are in luck as International Plaza Resort and Spa in Orlando, Florida is offering a Microsoft MGX Special Rate of only $119 per night.

This luxury hotel is located within walking distance to convention center where the MGX is being held. Another great news for tech people (I don't like to use the word geek) is that there is free wifi access throughout the resort. Of course you won't be spending all the time at the event. if you would like to visit some of the popular theme parks nearby, the resort provides complimentary transportation.

That really does sound nice. Now here's hoping that Microsoft sends me an an invitation.

Lot of phones going to be homeless after the iPhone comes out

A recent survey report states that one-in-four (26%) potential smart phone purchasers say they’ll opt for the iPhone when it comes out. It's not surprising and I may be one of those guys.

There are loads of funny videos on the iPhone doing the rounds of YouTube now. I thought this one was hilarious.



My old Motorola might be hitting the road too. For iPhone Review and Video visit the site Whatgoodisyouroldphone.com

Google's massage manager

At first I thought it was a joke but found out that it's true. Google really has a Massage Programs Manager.

From their website, I learnt that Google’s massage program began in 1999 and it has become the most popular onsite perk in the company. So, if you thought that the only jobs available in Google were for IT people, then you are wrong. They are also looking for massage therapists too.

Hear what Babette, Google's Massage Programs Manager has to say:



Tags: google jobs massage

Phishing attack

No! the title is not misspelled and I am definitely not talking about fishing.

Was going through my Gmail spam folder when I found this.

Amazon Inc. Security Center"
date Jun 18, 2007 8:35 PM
subject Dear Amazon Inc. Member ,
Warning: This message may not be from whom it claims to be. Beware of following any links in it or of providing the sender with any personal information. Learn more

Dear Amazon® member,

We are contacting you to inform you that our Account Review Team identified some unusual activity in your account. In accordance with Amazon's User Agreement and to ensure that your account has not been compromised, access to your account was limited. Your account access will remain limited until this issue has been resolved. To secure your account and quickly restore full access, we may require some additional information from you for the following reason: We have been notified that a card associated with your account has been reported as lost or stolen, or that there were additional problems with your card.
This process is mandatory, and if not completed within the nearest time your account or credit card may be subject for temporary suspension.
To securely confirm your Amazon information please click on the link bellow:

http://nghonaim.saudi.net.sa/Amazon/www.amazon.com/

We encourage you to log in and perform the steps necessary to restore your account access as soon as possible. Allowing your account access to remain limited for an extended period of time may result in further limitations on the use of your account and possible account closure.

For more information about how to protect your account please visit Amazon Security Center. We apologize for any incovenience this may cause, and we apriciate your assistance in helping us to maintain the integrity of the entire Amazon system.

Thank you for using Amazon!
The Amazon Team

Privacy Notice © 1995-2007, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.

Out of curiosity, I clicked on the url even though I knew it was fake. Another warning are the 3 spelling errors in the e-mail. Can you locate them? Special mention on my blog if you do.

Firefox also gave me a "Suspected Web Forgery" warning. Here's a snapshot of the site. Looks exactly like the real site.

Don't be fooled.

Related links:
- Phishing on Wikipedia
- Anti-Phishing Working Group

Tags: fraud phishing security

Why do you buy designer sunglasses

My friend Nick collects sunglasses. He has so many that they fill up two drawers, arranged neatly in rows. These are not just any sunglass but designer brands. We once watched the first Matrix movie together and liked what he saw. So off we went to grab a wrap around Ray-Ban like the one that Neo wore in the movie. I was laughing at him but I too had a similar experience when I first watched Top Gun, starring Tom Cruise as an ace pilot. Went and bought myself a replica aviator. I thought I looked cool.

And you thought that sunglasses were merely to protect your eyes from the harmful UV rays. Was wondering whether movies and celebs influence our decision to buy sunglasses?

Just sometime back, I was at this optical shop and these two girls were excited about one particular sunglass. It looked like something from the 60s - big with white rims and I thought it was really ugly. Could help but over hear the girls. They were going, "it just looks like Paris Hilton's" or something like that. I guess big glasses with white rims are back in fashion. I can see a lot of people wearing them.

Whatever your reason, if you are looking for latest designer sunglasses, check out the 2007-08 Designer Sunglasses Collections at Optics Place. The website carrries the most affordable prices on a range of designer brands including Gucci, Prada, Versace, RayBan and much more. You don't have to go to different stores to compare and find the sunglass of your liking.

Besides sunglasses, the site also has a good selection of eyeglass frames, contact lenses, safety glasses and accessories. As someone who wear glasses, I was more interested in the information on eye health and the vision correction options. I found a lot of them to be very useful.

Making money by carrying news

Learned that the highly awaited Apple's new iPhone will be launched on June 29.

I just got this news from an online news site, that provides access to hundreds of thousands of fully licensed quality news from major content providers such as Associated Press (AP), Reuters and lots more.

You might be amazed to learn that the news can be published, or 'mashed' by embedding them on your site totally FREE OF CHARGE. Best of all, you earn money at the same time. YES! That's right. You can make money via advertising share, the CPM start at $1. For those who were not aware, CPM is the measure of the Cost Per Impression in online advertising. TheNewsRoom has an innovative, viral payment model. I learned that their CRM is one of the highest in the industry.

Choosing the news of your choice (and relevant to your blog) and embedding it on my blog was so easy. Take a look at the "mash" below:

All I had to do after signing up, was to click the "mash button", accept the terms and conditions, choose the layout and finally copy and paste the code into my blog. It's amazing. I get great quality content and I get paid for carrying it on my blog. Almost forgot to mention that, I also earn money when someone mashes content from my site and it is viewed on their site/ blog.

And there's more. They also have a loyalty program in place whereby, new registrants can earn prizes such as digital cameras and even a new car. So what are you waiting for?

NOTE: The website is no longer active and I have removed the links. 

Visitor Statistics

I do check my site statistics from time to time. Right now, I have several site meters running on the blog - don't ask me why. However, I find that Google Analytics provides the most informative visitor statistical analysis. Of course, you have to do the deeper analysis yourself.

It was quite interesting to learn that the 5 most popular page on my blog are:

1. Melayu Boleh.
2. Freemasons in Malaysia
3. Tricked into holding a contest
4. Keys to Our Apartment &
5. FAQs

The top 5 keywords used to get to my blogs were:

1. melayu boleh
2. flora damansara
3. ok lah
4. lah &
5. domain cheap

The top keyword used to get here as well as the top post on my blog, may be a proof of the theory that a there are a lot of naughty guys around searching for adult content on the net using certain keywords and unfortunately, a seemingly innocent phrase 'melayu boleh' happens to be one of them.

Anyway, I found out that most of my visitors are still from Malaysia. Take a look at the graph below (this year till date):


They make up 40.27% of the total visitors. It used to be around 80% middle of last year. This represents a drastic change in visitor statistics. As expected, visitors from UK come in second making up 17.81% of the total, closely followed by visitors from the US (17.70%).

Visitors from India have also more than doubled. It was less than 1% last year. Might have something to do with the fact that I joined Orkut recently. Read my post 'Most popular social networking site in India'.

Have you checked your site stats recently?

Tags: Google analytics Keywords Melayu boleh Site statistics

Hidden executables in Microsoft software

If you don't believe me, try this:

1) Open a blank Microsoft Word document.
2) type the following: =rand(200,99)
3) Press 'Enter' and wait 5 seconds...

ZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZ

ZZZZZZ

Don't worry, it is not a virus. Wonder whether there is anything else hidden in MS Word?

For a detailed explanation, read this article here.

Help yourself through subliminal suggestions

During my MBA in University Malaya, I took the Consumer behaviour course and once we were discussing about subliminal advertising. The lecturer was telling us about an researcher who claimed that he had been able to influence people to purchase more Coca Cola and popcorn by quickly flashing messages on a movie screen.

Of course as a consumer myself, I am not really favourable with the idea that companies are messing around with my head in order to get me to buy more of their products and services.

Anyway, I learnt that subliminal messages may actually be used for beneficial purposes. Got to about this website called Subliminal-cds.com (http://www.subliminal-cds.com/) that sells subliminal CDs. With over 120 different titles, the retailer claims to help you with everything from loosing weight to getting over phobias.

The subliminal CDs utilizes the 5-Part Encoding System™ developed by self-development guru, Bradley Thompson.

To be honest, I haven't tried it out myself but the website has a impressive list of corporate customers including AT&T, IBM, FedEx, the BBC, British Telecom, Microsoft and even the US Army among others.

iPod video converter

If you ask any teenager, what's the coolest gadget around, I am sure that 9 out of 10 are going to name the iPod. It has got to be the most innovative and popular gadget of the decade. Yeah! I am an iPod enthusiast and my fav model has to be the iPod Video. Why? Because not only can I listen to music on the go. I can also play games, view photos and watch movies. Now, some people may argue that the screen is too small, sound quality is not good, blah! blah! Well! many iPod user have a hifi at home too.

Anyway, talking about watching movies on the iPod, have you ever wanted to convert your favourite DVDs and family videos for watching on the iPod. Well, now you can make iPod movies using the iPod Video Converter software from PQDVD.

Use it to convert a dvd or video files into the iPod format. Move the converted file into your iTune library and sync with your iPod. Right now they are offering a free trial of the software. However, you have to pay US$39.95 to unlimited conversions.