The New Look

Brand New Year, brand new look for the ah ok lah blog.

I have always wanted a 3 column layout and after looking around found a nice template. Tweaked it around a bit and came up with this.

So what do you think?

BTW, in case you are wondering why I haven't converted to the new Version of Blogger, the reason is that I can't. I clicked the "Switch" button but all I got was

Thanks for your interest in the new version of Blogger! Unfortunately, we cannot switch your Blogger account at this time, because one or more of your blogs cannot be moved. Please see our help article for more information.

I guess I have too many posts and comments.

Tags: Blog Layout Template

Hidden Nanny Cam

In most households today  both spouses have to work. One of the problem that ultimately arises is the question of "who's going to take care of the kids?"

Some people are lucky to live near their parents / in-law houses where they would drop off the kids. Some would prefer to enroll their kids at a nursery. In Malaysia however, many have opted for maids who can take care of their kids at home. People in the UK and the US prefer to use the term "nanny". However I have heard so many horror stories, that I sometimes wonder whether it's worth to hire one.

One of our friends who has a maid looking after their baby, was relating her own story. One day her neighbour informed that a man had been visiting their house while she and here husband were away at work. Probably the maid's lover.

They didn't know how to confront the maid as they didn't have any proof and when they finally did, she just denied it.

I suggested putting up a hidden camera or "nanny cam" to keep an eye on the house while they were away at work.

Recently came across a security site which has a huge collection of covert cameras disguised as ordinary household items including clocks, air fresheners, smoke detectors, books, plants and even teddy bears.

Apparently, it is actually quite easy to set up one of these cameras.A lot of people are increasingly investing on such cameras but for another reason - Home Security.

Of course, some may argue about the "intrusion of privacy" issues but then, I guess a parent is willing to do anything to make sure their home is secure.

LoudLaunch helping bloggers earn money

It is clear that advertisers have realised the marketing power of bloggers and the growth in the number of companies acting as a go-between advertisers and bloggers is a good indication of this fact.

I only learnt of LoudLaunch after reading Lucia's blog post.

They began the pre-registration of advertisers and bloggers on December 17th, 2006 and was officially launched on Tuesday, December 26, 2006.

Their business model is very similar to that of PayPerPost:

1. Advertisers create a campaign which is displayed at LoudLaunch.com (with a minimum budget of US$50).
2. Registered bloggers registered can then select campaigns and blog about them. In the process, they help the advertisers spread the word in their own unique way and as we know, word-of-mouth is one of the most effective marketing tools.
3. The bloggers are then compensated for helping the advertisers distribute their press releases or news.

I guess it's good news for all bloggers seeking to make some money from their blogs.

LoudLaunch - Compensating bloggers for their unbiased opinions, reviews, and analysis. View the LoudLaunch campaign release this post was based on.

Tags: Advertising Blogging LoudLaunch Marketing

We love ebay UK

Like many guys I hate shopping in crowded malls, especially so when I am with my kids. However, if there is one person who hates shopping more than moi, it's my wife. If we do have to go shopping, we already know what we want. So we go straight to the store, grab the things and get out asap.

We are just the kind of guys that online retailers should target. Ever since we got to UK, we have been buying a lot of stuff online. Our favourite e-commerce site has to be ebay UK. Regular visitors would recall my ebay computer post. So far we have been quite happy with all our purchases.

Contrary to what a lot of people seem to think, ebay is not about buying and selling used stuff. We have actually bought a lot of Brand new products on eBay.co.uk. This include garden tools, electronic stuff, vacuum cleaner bags among others at prices, which are way lower than their retail prices.

We also don't need a credit card to pay for our purchases. All you need is a Paypal account.

Register on eBay.co.uk! if you already haven't.

Related posts:
1. Lifestyle of Online Shoppers
2. Top 5 Ecommerce Companies

TAGS: ebay E-commerce Online Shopping

Herbalife Distributor Directory

People are now increasingly turning to dietary supplements and herbal medicines to improve their well-being.

In Malaysia the dietary supplement market is huge. In 2002, it was reported that Malaysians spent an average of US$17.30 a month on health supplements with the market for traditional medicines and other health foods, such as herbs, foods, and beverages enriched with supplements was estimated to be worth US$526 million (Ahmad, 2002). Over-the-counter (OTC) healthcare grew by 6% in current value terms to reach RM1 billion in 2003. It is expected that Malaysian OTC healthcare would show moderate growth by 18% to reach RM1,283 million by 2008 (Euromonitor, 2004).

It is no wonder that a number of companies offering herbal remedies are increasing exponentially.

One such company is Herbalife International, or simply Herbalife. It was founded in 1980 by Mark Hughes and is today one of the premier health and wellness companies.

The Herbal Nutrition Network is now offering FREE websites to all their Independent Distributors in the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. Members can later upgrade to a PREMIUM website, which offers more features, including the ability to receive credit card payments. If you are a distributor, you should definitely take advantage of this offer.

I am sure the network will expand to Malaysia soon.

This is a sponsored post.

Tags: Herbalife Mark Hughes

Lunch at Nottingham

Early in the morning we set off for Nottingham to meet up with our friends there. With my wife as navigator we took less than an hour to reach Amrul's house there 9via the M6, M69 and M1). Spent some time chatting and off we went, to Zarina and Zamri's place. Amrul is a really good cook and he loves cooking but I guess, it's nothing strange as most of the best cooks in the World are men.

Both Amrul and Zarina are my wife's colleagues and both are pursuing their PhDs at the University of Nottingham.

We dropped by Amrul's office on the way and the architecture is really fantastic.


Had really good food at Zarina's house. As usual, I was busy eating that I forgot to take pictures of the food. By the time we started on our journey back, it was already dark.


It was really nice to meet up with them again.

Tags: Friends Nottingham Palm

Best Site for Mobile Content

I am thinking of getting myself a PDA to replace my ancient Palm. While searching for one that will suit my needs (I defenitely want one that has satellite navigation), I came across this great site. Though I didn't find the PDA I was looking for I found a lot of great stuff. MobileSoftMarket is one of the best sites to shop for mobile content. This includes Productivity Tools, EBooks, Desktop Tools, Games, Wallpapers and Videos.

Even though most of the products listed are targeted to BlackBerry users, they also have programs and ebooks for Symbian, Palm, Windows Mobile and the PSP as well.

The great news is that readers of my blog will get a discount of 15% OFF on all products at the shop. All you have to do is Just enter the discount code "0NGKAE" at the end of the purchase process. Go and check out the site.


Tags: MobileSoftMarket BlackBerry Palm