JMH Techtronics blog

If you love reading about technology and electronics, then head on to JMH Techtronics blog. It's a relatively new blog but has a number of informative posts. His latest on promoting the Technorati Favorites badge sounds quite interesting and I might have a go as well.

BTW, JMH stands for Jimi Morrison's Head. The word Techtronics is something he made upand is simply the combination of the words Technology and Electronics.

Review of King Nomar blog

I am sure you have noticed that blogs on web development and those that offer advice on "how to make money on the net" are mushrooming everywhere on the blogosphere.

Sad to say but they are all beginning to look alike with the same advice, same news, etc. and only a few stand out. One such Web development Blog that caught my attention is Kingnomar.com. It the blog of a 20 years old web developer from the Netherlands.

Unlike other web development sites, this blog looks very eat and tidy and is not cluttered up with ads.

He has a number of interesting and useful articles. My favourite is titled "The Process Of A Domain Sale At Sedo", which has 377 diggs when I last checked. I too plan to sell some of my domains and have decided to go for Sedo.com. Yes, I was influenced by his post. Another post I found quite useful and was actually the first I read on his blog, is the latest post: "Why You Should Use Web Directories!". I had an online discussion with a friend on the same topic sometime back and he was of the opinion that web directories are useless because hardly anyone visits them. I guess I have to e-mail him a link to this post.

On the down side, most of Nomar's posts are on technology related topics and are quite long. Unless you are a geek like me, the blog might turn you off. So if you are looking for celebrity gossip, you better go somewhere else.

A termite inspector who blogs

The blogosphere has definitely made the World a much smaller place. Through blogs we are actually reading about and sharing in the lives of bloggers, who live literally on the other side of the globe.

Skeet’s stuff is the blog of a lady from Hawaii. The way she describes her job is quite amusing "this old gal crawls around under houses and examines bug poop for a living." She's a termite inspector.

Spent some time reading her old blogs. I don't know why but found one long post titled "Letters" particularly interesting and touching. Makes me reflect on myself. I realise that I haven't sent a hand written letter (not counting cards) for a long long time.

Check out her blog.

Interactive tool to learn driving

When I first applied for my driving license, I was really confident. Maybe too over confident in hind sight because I failed my driving test and had to retake it.

After obtaining my driving license, I only drove short distances and that too near my house. It took me another 2 more years before I could pluck up enough courage to navigate through the crazy roads of Kuala Lumpur. I actually had to relearn how to drive all over again. I guess a lot of people go through this process.

Now it's so easy to learn to drive. This award winning 105 minute DVD from Vat19 is loaded with so many interactive features. It is hosted by teens that will relate to the driving student, and boasting high quality production values.

Some of the features include Interactive Quizzes, Multi-angle 3D explanations and Road Sign Tests among others. I really liked the fact that they put in a bonus section on basic maintenance of your vehicles. As noted on the site:

"A properly maintained car is safer and more reliable."

Also check out their AAA-certified emergency auto kit. They have thought of almost every emergency, including a bungee cord "for holding down a broken trunk or keeping a door closed".

Plugging Lisa

Lisa is a fellow postie at ppp and she has a very interesting blog called "My thoughts, ideas and ramblings". A work at home mum, she is involved in several side projects and is indeed a prolific writer. For example, she wrote 11 posts today (when I last checked). I would be hard pressed to come up with 3 a day.

Good luck with the baby Lisa.

Publish your book online

If you are an aspiring author, I am sure you want an easy way to get it out to the public as soon as possible. You may want to take a look at Amira Press, a relatively new comer in the book publishing industry. According to Yvette A. Lynn, CEO of the company and author herself:

"our mission is to provide an experience so far out of the ordinary, that our readers will look to stay lost forever in the worlds our writers have created for the reader's enjoyment."

They require new authors in most genres of fiction, including romance, mystery, sci-fi, fantasy, futuristic, young adult, etc. However, writers of horror, children's stories and erotica should go somewhere else as Amira Press doesn't accept these genres.

If you do have written something and on the look out for a publisher, check out the submission guidelines here: http://www.amirapress.com/submissions.htm

It should also be noted that Amira Press is a royalty-paying publisher and no fees to authors at all.

I was going through some of the titles they have and most of them seem to be romance titles. The prices start from $2.50. Not much of a fan of romance novels and would love to see some science fiction titles on their list.

Spooky sound

As he made the strange spooky sound.
I seemed to hear a voice
And then a ghostly image passed by...