Quick Bytes..

techie mumbles!

If you're not a tech person, then chances are you'd think that Cat6 is a type of cat-- you know, that feline furry animal. Hehe! But no, Cat6 is a cable standard for Gigabit Ethernet and other network protocols that is backward compatible with the Category 5/5e and Category 3 cable standards. Cat6 features more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system noise. The cable standard provides performance of up to 250 MHz and is suitable for 10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX and 1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet). Neat huh?? =) Anyhoo, I won't be needing this product, I just read about it on a tech blog. Thought I'd just share it with you all! Next up are HDMI cables, hehe! ^_^

wanting / needing a laptop

When I buy something, I always classify whether it’s a need or a want. By doing so, I am able to say NO in buying stuff I don’t really need but want very much. Hehe! And because of that, despite my income of only P3500/mo for the past year, I was able to save a lot. The only downside is that sometimes it takes me so much time to decide whether it’s a want or a need. Take for example, my “wanting” a new laptop. My hand-me-down old laptop is just a Pentium 3 with battery (and dos command line) problems to boot. I’ve been wanting for ages to buy a new one to replace it but I always hold back coz I don’t feel like I really NEED a new one.
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My argument? I just type articles on my laptop, digiscrap a bit, watch movies; nothing really serious that warrants an upgrade for a more hi-tech laptop. But now that we have a wireless router, I thought that I should buy a wifi-ready laptop so I could share in our wifi connection. My dad’s laptop is wifi-ready but he’s not here often so what would be the point of having a wireless router in our house then?? Hmm, maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to buy a new laptop. Lord, lead me not into temptation.. Hehe! =)

cheap Cisco products here!

We Pinoys are fond of pre-owned things (clothes, bags, shoes, etc) that we can buy for a lesser price than the brand new ones. And would you believe that even pre-owned IT products are being sold online?? Introducing Sapia Net! The company buys, sells, and trades IT networking hardware equipment. New, used, and refurbished routers, switches, and other equipment from Cisco Systems are being sold at prices 50% to 90% off their list price! Imagine that, used Cisco products for sale! I wonder what Cisco will say when they find out their products are being refurbished and sold again, lol! And get this, Sapia Net even offers 1-year warranty for their used products. Nice one eh??

still have doubts about earning online?

Then watch this segment of Mel and Joey (on GMA-7 every Sunday at 8pm) featuring blogging as means of earning online! =) Writer of YugaTech.com is one of the featured bloggers. He earns about $5000/month online! That's about P200000 right now. Not bad for someone working at home eh??

afraid of identity theft?

Then use LifeLock! The company offers a proven solution that prevents your identity from being stolen. They will protect your identity and personal information for only $10 a month - and they can even guarantee up to $1,000,000! Currently, there are LifeLock promotion codes that you can use to get discount when you apply for their service. This is a secret (sshhh! hehe) but one of the LifeLock promo code you can use is RD32 -- this will give you 30 Days Free and an exclusive discount =) If you're interested to avail of their identity theft prevention service, don't forget the LifeLock codes okay??
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If you're a n00b and doesn't know what's identity theft, here is Wikipedia's definition: "Identity Theft is a catch-all term for crimes involving illegal usage of another individual's identity" and its most common form is credit card fraud. Identity theft is one of the reasons why my father refuses to shop online via his credit card. I have assured him time and again, that unless he's been really careless about giving out his personal info, he won't be a victim of identity theft (specifically credit card fraud). But my assurance isn't enough -- and I'm glad LifeLock's service will help my father feel safe and secure in using his credit card online.

ads via text messaging??

Actually I've been receiving advertisements via my phone for years now. But the text ads are just sent by Globe (my cellular carrier) about their latest services and promos. How would you feel if you'll receive text ads from a new restaurant or from a shop with storewide sale? Me? I'd love it! Imagine getting the first dibs on discounts and such, super duper great! =)
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laptop talk

Last December, a hand-me-down laptop (from my father to my brother then to me!) that I use was deemed “beyond repair” by the computer guys in a known computer shop in our city. The problem? The connection between the charger and the laptop went off and they said there are no more replacement products for it. Sniff! Otherwise, my laptop was okay. There was no other problems but unfortunately, without the charger, I couldn’t plug it so I can’t use it =( I began thinking what if there’s a charger for laptop batteries? Such that I won’t need to plug my laptop on electrical sockets and I will just rely on the charged batteries for me to be able to work? That would be so great! And I would be able to use my laptop again, sigh..

FREE ebook from Jonathan Leger!!!

If you don't know who he is, it only means one thing -- you're not on the internet to earn money via Google Adsense! Hehe! Jonathan Leger is an internet marketing expert and he just released a FREE ebook entitled "Search Engine Myths Exposed!" After the Google PageRank storm last year, I was scratching my head why my PR3 and PR2 sites all dropped to PR0. Experts says its because of the paid links in my blog and Google is penalizing me. I felt that "Google knows all and sees all" =( But Jonathan (in his ebook) refuted this and other Google myths (yeah, I know there are other search engines aside from Google but do they really matter?? lol). I had a blast reading his ebook and I learned a lot. If you want to make money off Google Adsense (by building content-rich blogs and niche sites), you should read "Search Engine Myths Exposed!" =) As I said it's FREE and you can download it HERE (signup needed). This is FRESH guys! Released just 3 days ago! =)
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optimize you site!

When I say "optimize", I mean Search Engine Optimization. If you want your blog or website to get traffic from search engines (Google, Yahoo, Ask, etc), then you should optimize it so that search engines can easily analyze its content. Nowadays, those who are serious about their sites to grow, are getting an SEO expert or SEO specialist to have their websites optimized for search. Sure, you spend money but think of the targeted traffic you'll get from the search engines! Hopefully that will translate to sales and ad clicks = higher earnings! Anyway, to start you off, here's an SEO company that you might be interested in: TrafiCare.com -- go check them out!

Cat6 whattt??

If you're not a tech person, then chances are you'd think that Cat6 is a type of cat-- you know, that feline furry animal. Hehe! But no, Cat6 is a cable standard for Gigabit Ethernet and other network protocols that is backward compatible with the Category 5/5e and Category 3 cable standards. Cat6 features more stringent specifications for crosstalk and system noise. The cable standard provides performance of up to 250 MHz and is suitable for 10BASE-T / 100BASE-TX and 1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet). Neat huh?? =) Anyhoo, I won't be needing this product, I just read about it on a tech blog. Thought I'd just share it with you all!

PragmaSys

Does your company need SFTP and other server needs? The PragmaSys may just be the company for you! They allow mid to large enterprises to cost-effectively deploy, maintain, and enforce transparent communications security throughout their network for strong protection against common network security risks. With hacker and malicious attacks rampant everywhere, it pays to secure your company’s communication backbone. If you’re interested to protect your company’s network, check PragmaSys.com out!

top 5 torrent sites!

Another year ends and Top 10 lists of everything are being released left and right. Here's my fave list -- Top 5 torrent sites of 2007! Full article is HERE.

1. Mininova - Without a doubt the most visited BitTorrent site. In November, Mininova reached a milestone by entering the list of the 50 most visited websites on the Internet.

2. IsoHunt - IsoHunt continued to grow this year. In September they were forced to close their trackers to US traffic because of the issues they have with the MPAA, but this had no effect on the visitor count.

3. The Pirate Bay - The Pirate Bay has been in the news quite a bit this year and remains not only the most used BitTorrent tracker, but also one of the most visited BitTorrent sites. At the moment they are fighting with IsoHunt for the second place in this list.

4. Torrentz - Torrentz is the only “torrent site” in the top 10 that doesn’t host .torrent files. Several improvements and new features have been introduced over the past year such as a comment system, private bookmarks and a cleaner layout.

5. BTjunkie - BTjunkie was one of the fastest risers last year and continued to grow throughout 2007. Last month they were, like many others, forced to leave their ISP (LeaseWeb), but the transition to a new host went smoothly and didn’t result in any downtime.

Digital Hoop!

We Pinoys are fond of pre-owned things (clothes, bags, shoes, etc) that we can buy for a lesser price than the brand new ones. And would you believe that even pre-owned IT products are being sold online?? Introducing Digital Hoop! The company buys, sells, and trades IT networking hardware equipment. New, used, and refurbished routers, switches, and other equipment from Cisco Systems are being sold at prices 50% to 90% off their list price! Imagine that, used Cisco products for sale! I wonder what Cisco will say when they find out their products are being refurbished and sold again, lol! And get this, Digital Hoop even offers 1-year warranty for their used products. Nice one eh??

buying online

I'm no stranger to buying stuff online. I started when DavaoSale.com came online and that's where I bought my hard drives, my flash drives, etc. I also sold some of my books there =) And then the day came that I finally trusted ebay. I have since bought more than 50 books there (mostly Dragonlance) and I never had a transaction problem. Whoopee! Buying online is a norm for me but dNeero's survey below posed a challenge to me -- will I buy my groceries online?? Scroll down the survey panel for my answers!
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pre-owned stuff!

We Pinoys are fond of pre-owned things (clothes, bags, shoes, etc) that we can buy for a lesser price than the brand new ones. And would you believe that even pre-owned IT products are being sold online?? Introducing Sapia Networks! The company buys, sells, and trades IT networking hardware equipment. New, used, and refurbished routers, switches, and other equipment from Cisco Systems, Foundry, Marconi-Fore Systems, Riverstone, and other top manufacturers are being sold at prices 50% to 90% off their list price! Imagine that, used Cisco products for sale! I wonder what the IT companies will say when they find out their products are being refurbished and sold again, lol!

gakk! ran out of ink!

It’s been awhile since we bought new HP 56 black ink for our HP 1315 all-in-one printer / scanner / copier. Back when I was still in school, as with my other siblings, we frequently ran out of black ink due to numerous school projects. But it was okay since the HP printer cartridge we use is affordable, even if it’s original. The colored ink, however, was not utilized so much coz the new cartridges are quite expensive. It’s twice the price of black ink! Gakk! Anyway, now I’m back to printing coz I’m doing homemade cards for Christmas. And before I could say ‘Geronimo!’, we ran out of ink. Tsk! So, gotta buy new ones in the mall today.
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My friends have been wondering why I still buy original HP inkjet cartridges when there are ink refilling stations that could give me more ink for a lesser price. My answer? I wouldn’t want our printer to clog up with the less-than stellar quality of inks found in refilling station. And as I said earlier, HP original inks are affordable, no need for cheaper substitutes. How about you? Do you buy from refilling stations? Well, I sure hope your printer will not clog up in the long run!

DSL problems

For the past few days, our DSL internet connection was marred with slow speeds. Instead of getting up to 2Mbps, we were just getting dial-up speed! Goodness! =(  We thought that this maybe just a pc or modem problem so my bro fixed our hardware tight, i.e. he had firewall and antivirus installed, with spam blockers and junk mail protection running, plus adware and spyware programs all up. Nothing was found so our next recourse was to call up our ISP provider via their call center. After two days of waiting, the local office called us up and we explained the problem. After a few hours of waiting, our DSL speed is again fast, yeah! But my bro insisted it’s still not our usual speed. Heck, for me, it’s quite enough! Hehe! By the way, who knows about VOIP here? By experience, which of the following is the best: Vonage, Packet 8, ViaTalk, Verizon, NetZero and other broadband phone services? Thanks!

sites where I earn $$$

These are the paid-to-blog sites I joined. My biggest moneymaker so far is payperpost. They rock!!! =) If you have a 90-day old blog, join these sites! Just click on the images. Good luck!

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BLOGGERWAVE.com

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BLOGITIVE.com - Guys, please add my email (melissa.solitoATblogspot.com) in the referred by box. Thanks!

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BLOGSVERTISE

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LOUDLAUNCH.com

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PAYPERPOST

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PAYu2BLOG

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REVIEWME - Get Reviewed At ReviewMe!

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SMORTY

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SPONSOREDREVIEWS

we need a new hard drive!

Hey, I just realized I’m talking about another “HD”! This time it means hard drive, you know, the computer hardware where you save all your data and when it comes crashing down, bye-bye stuff! Bye-bye everything! Hehe! God forbid, it will happen to us *shiver* To my brother in Manila, if you’re reading this, we badly need a new hard drive! Our current 120gb and 80gb HDs are currently nearly full! But me and your lil bro do not want just any hard drive, we want an external hard drive that we can bring along to Manila ok?? Hehe! Sige na, you’re earning lots already! What’s $200 grand to you?? ;-p

Social Spark!

In the blogging world, the past few days have been a heady mixture of fun and excitement as bloggers met in Las Vegas for the Blog World Expo and the Postie Con (closer to my heart coz of PayPerPost!)  Anyway, I have blogged about the renaming of PPP to IZEA.com and I've said that IZEA's head honcho Ted Murphy has still something up his sleeve, the one codenamed Argus. Well now, boys and girls, Argus was unveiled at the Postie Con and without further ado, let me introduce --
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The flame masquerading as the "O" has been the symbol for Argus for quite some time now and finally I got to see what it means -- light me up baby! I mean, spark me up! =) Anyhoo, Social Spark combines social media and marketing into one package. Kinda like Facebook + PayPerPost + Google Analytics. For details about it, visit Colleen's (PPP's top earner) blog post about it. As of now, the website is just signing up members. It will remain in beta until January of 2008. Until then, I'll just shiver with anticipation. Hehe!

ever forgot your password?

Or maybe somebody hacked into your account and changed your password?? That really sucks huh? I, myself, have forgotten a million times my email password and good thing is it can always be sent to your secondary email account. The bigger problem is if you forgot your profile password in your computer wherein you’re the Admin? ROFL! How would you solve that except geek? :p If you were a cautious person (and running Windows XP), you would have made a Password Reset Disk. Yup, there is such a thing and I’m making one now! Hide it in a safe place and don’t forget where you hid it. There would be no solution to that, LOL!

Apogee Search

arWe all know that Google is the leading search engine in the world wide web. But sometimes, their searches don’t do much for websites that do business. Websites that need customers who are looking for their products. Enter Apogee Search which has been in business since 2001 and has become one of the 25 largest Search Engine Marketing firms in the world. Cool huh? What does Apogee Search do? They drive qualified, targeted visitors and customers to business websites which of course translates to revenues and profits. More than being a search engine, Apogee Search can also help your website’s advertising campaign through their online media buying service. And they even have a feature that allows you to search blog! Now that beats other search engines out there! In my opinion, Search Apogee has powerful marketing features that would surely increase your online business. Go pay their search engine marketing site a visit, wonders will await you! =)

google pagerank hullabaloo

The past few days, the online community was in uproar coz of the quarterly updating of Google's PageRank. Apparently PR of many blogs and websites went down because they have (or sell) text link ads. Or so the rumors go. During this time, I checked this blog's PR and it remained at 2. I felt happy about it and hoped it wouldn't go down. As for my other 3 blogs, got great news! Issa's Dollar Earners went from PR0 to PR3! w00t! Tongue Temptations (food blog) is barely a month old and it's now PR1. I'm also getting lots of hits from Google Search, nice! My mobile blog at yes, it's ME remained a PR0. Quite understandable coz it's a personal blog and I didn't get it listed in directories and such =) So, what about your blogs? Were the PRs downgraded or upgraded?

servers, anyone?

I’ve been always fascinated with how websites work. When I was still in second year college, I made a “love” website from scratch (html), complete with several pages and animation. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, partly because I had no server problems and other technical difficulties. My site was hosted on Geocities (when it was not yet acquired by Yahoo) and it was good. In the process of making a website, I also learned about servers and how crucial they are to the success of your site. Apparently, right now, the best server according to users and professionals is the IBM iSeries eServer. This is actually a line/series that include several compatible hardware and software. However, as with all good things, a brand new combo is super expensive! But there are resellers of refurbished eServer products which are way cheaper. Performance Data Resources (PDR) is one of the resellers and aside from selling, they also offer assistance with issues ranging from simple device address & cabling problems to complex system tuning & troubleshooting assistance. Mmm nice, that’s what you call quality service!

gPhone!!!

OMG! I can’t believe I missed this! If it weren’t for All in Anchor, I probably wouldn’t know about Google’s foray into the mobile phone market until now. This is what I’m talking about --
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-- the gPhone! I love the PINK color, super!!! =) According to rumors, it is set to compete with Apple’s iPhone, which is another gadget I’m salivating for. Hehe! Anyway, All in Anchor reports and I quote:

They (gPhone and iPhone) both offer similar features but with one big catch; the gPhone is a fraction of the cost of it’s rival competitor, Apple.

For those who are curious, All in Anchor is an internet marketing blog that I’ve started reading a few days back. I love their articles, especially the ones on search engine optimization; I find them very informative and helpful for n00bs like me. Do pay them a visit! And for those curious about gPhone, stay tuned! =)

electronic medical records

Still another health-related post guys! I’m through with money matters and house & home stuff for now. Lol! Anyway, we all know that almost all industries are now going digital. And it seems that the medical sector is lagging behind. Sure, there are already many big hospitals going automated with patient records stored electronically. But how about the small hospitals, public institutions and private clinics, should they go digital and electronic too? The answer’s a big YES!
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With electronic medical records or EMR software, you can create and maintain complete medical records with minimal effort while it streamlines your workflow, controls utilization, and manages critical data related to patient care outcomes. It can even create documents and letters, manage prescriptions (ePrescribing) and clinical images, and provide patient education. If you’re interested, you can go visit VirMedice.com – they have all the support needed to implement, train and develop the medical records management software to your specific needs.

PAYPAL Philippines!

YAY! I'm sure you've heard by now that Paypal accounts from the Philippines will be able to RECEIVE payments already! The catch is that you have to have a credit/debit card or a US bank account to withdraw your money. I received an email from Paypal last October 4, explaining all their new features. Here's an excerpt:
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New Withdrawal & Receiving features are now available!
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Withdraw Funds to Your Debit or Credit Card
We're pleased to announce the launch of a new withdrawal feature, allowing you to transfer funds from your PayPal account to your Visa branded debit card or credit card¹. Learn how to get  convenient access to your funds now.
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Receive Money in Indonesia & the Philippines
In addition to the existing sending money capabilities and the new withdrawal features, registered members in the Philippines and Indonesia can now receive funds from 190 markets and 17 currencies.
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Important:  You'll need to be a verified member to use the new withdrawal feature. Learn about verification (known as the Expanded Use Program)

portable scanner

Ever heard of a portable scanner? No? Well, now you'll be hearing all about it! Lol! In our modern time and day, every machine made has a portable counterpart. It all started with the telephone which now has a mobile phone. Then it invaded the PC market, and we now have laptops and PDAs which is as powerful as our desktops at home. The next in the portable revolution? What else but a portable scanner! Scanners started as a stand-alone machine then it was bundled with with a printer, i.e. 2n1 printer-scanner combo. And now, presenting the portable version --
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ScanShell 2000N includes a document management software and a lightweight page scanner which is pictured above. It provides high-speed, quality scanning and no external power consumption. The portable scanner is also the smallest (only 0.79lb!) color scanning device that can interface with any standard USB port. It's the USB interface that allows it to go without external power. The best thing about this portable scanner? Its unique feature of being able to scan and read business cards directly into your Outlook contacts! WOW, isn't that cool?? The Scan2Contacts software needed for this feature is already bundled with ScanShell 2000N. So, wanna be the first one to have a portable scanner? It’s now available for only $199 here! It's a good price to pay for something that would definitely increase your productivity, in and out the office.

Virus!!!

Been so long since I posted here and in my 3 other blogs. The reason? Our pc and my laptop got infected by a virus. It's the first I've been infected (with my laptop only showing blue screen) and I can't even go in Windows via safe mode! It was really a nightmare searching for a solution. But finally, this afternoon, I stumbled on Avira NTFS4DOS boot disk. It repaired my laptop and now I'm searching for the damned virus. ESET wasn't able to detect one so I'm running Trend Micro's House Call (an online virus scan). Wish me luck!Ü

mobile marketing baby!

Ever since SMS or text messaging was launched in our country, it was met with much enthusiasm by the people from all walks of life. Whether the citizen belongs in Class A or Class D, you can be sure s/he has a cellular or mobile phone and actively uses its text messaging feature. After all, it’s the cheapest way to connect to others. And you know how our race loves to connect  =) Anyway, with the exponential growth of cellular phone and SMS use in our country, enterprising people can’t help but think of how it can be harnessed to help businesses attract and get customers. And thus, mobile marketing was born.
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There aren’t many companies that offer mobile marketing solutions to businesses, and the only one I know of is Cellit Mobile Marketing. Whether your business is small or large, this mobile marketing agency will help you harness the power of text and voice messaging (even wap!) to reach out to customers in ways that previously weren't possible. Cellit Mobile Marketing started small but has grown so much that it now works with major global companies. And I really mean MAJOR! They have worked with Hearst Corporation, HSBC, RE/MAX, Prudential, Sotheby's, GPS Insight, the city of Las Vegas, and others. Impressive huh? Because of their resounding success, and the fact that there is really a market for mobile marketing, Cellit Mobile Marketing put up two sister sites. One is CouponZap, their system for mobile campaigns for restaurants, bars, nightclubs; and second is House4Cell, their text-for-info real estate system.
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CouponZap is a mobile coupon (think modern version of the cut up paper coupons) and promotion service that gives shops the power to promote their product or service via SMS to interested customers at any time, anywhere. For example, you can send a “20% off on purchases if you show this mobile coupon” text to all those who opted in to receive your shop’s promotions. House4Cell, on the other hand, is a real estate text messaging system. With this, you can provide instant information to buyers via text messages. You can send photos of the listings direct to your clients’ phones and you can even send "blast" alerts to opted-in homebuyers of price-drops or other promotions. Isn’t this great? With mobile marketing, you can do so much more with your cellphone. It has even become a business necessity! I wonder what’s next.. =)

of wants and needs

When I buy something, I always classify whether it’s a need or a want. By doing so, I am able to say NO in buying stuff I don’t really need but want very much. Hehe! And because of that, despite my income of only P3500/mo for the past year, I was able to save a lot. The only downside is that sometimes it takes me so much time to decide whether it’s a want or a need. Take for example, my “wanting” a new laptop. My hand-me-down old laptop is just a Pentium 3 with battery problems to boot. I’ve been wanting for ages to buy a new one to replace it but I always hold back coz I don’t feel like I really NEED a new one. My argument? I just type articles on my laptop, digiscrap a bit, watch movies; nothing really serious that warrants an upgrade for a more hi-tech laptop. But now that we have a wireless router, I thought that I should buy a wifi-ready laptop so I could share in our wifi connection. My dad’s laptop is wifi-ready but he’s not here often so what would be the point of having a wireless router in our house then?? Hmm, maybe I’m just looking for an excuse to buy a new laptop. Lord, lead me not into temptation.. Hehe!

want free wifi?

Then visit me in the mountains of Mintal! Hehe! Coz finally, our home is a wifi zone! Yes!!! Above is the wireless router that my brother in Manila got for us. We already have an unlimited DSL connection for about 6 years now, and having wifi access is definitely the next step. So friends, next time you visit me, bring your wifi-ready laptops. O di ba sosyal Chin?? You won’t just play games on your laptop while you’re here, you can access the internet na rin! Hehe! =)

Bloggerwave!

The list of companies that caters to connecting bloggers and advertisers is growing long each day. And I’m right in the thick of this expanding get-paid-to blog business! The latest company I joined is Bloggerwave. I like the way they setup their website. The JOBS area lists all the jobs available for you, and you don’t have to fight over the opportunities (unlike in some other companies). Anyway I’m looking forward for a fruitful “career” in Bloggerwave. Wanna join me? =)

search engine optimization and stuff

Before I went into the blogging and Google AdSense business, I never heard of search engine optimization or seo (for short). Apparently, if you want your blog or site to come up in searches, your articles or stuff in the site must be optimized for search engines. That is, if your site is all about oranges then you must mention “oranges” many times but as relevantly as possible. Thus, when your website is crawled by Google, it will index you under the keyword of “oranges”. Hopefully, next time someone searches for “oranges” in Google, your website will come up.
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Did you understand my explanation loud and clear? Lol! I really can’t explain it very well coz I’m not into its technical details. In fact I just use a search engine optimization software to make the job easier for me. Other websites hire people known as search engine optimizers to do the job of the website optimization. So what’s great if your site comes up during searches? You drive free traffic to your site! And if you sell stuff, they might buy it. After all, they searched for it. Neat huh? That’s why search engine marketing is HOT right now. You can literally make thousands with your website if you optimize it!

telepresence, what??

I never thought I'd live to see the day that real-life virtual 3D technology will be used in day to day activities. Not that it's available now but we are nearing that goal. If you have parents working (or you yourself) in a large company, you might have heard them talking of having a videoconference or  teleconference wherein they'll have a meeting with other employees from all over the country or world. Physical presence does not matter anymore -- video streaming carries the visual while telephony carries the audio. But this is almost passe now coz of the new technology known as TELEPRESENCE from LifeSize.
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Telepresence, as they say in their website, encourages you to actively collaborate. "While television brings to mind passive entertainment and video conferencing feels like passive communication, high definition telepresence encourages you to actively communicate and collaborate." So how do LifeSize go about it? They start with providing high definition, simple to use video communication. Their technology enable them to scale to larger displays capable of showing people, content and rooms in their actual, real size without loss of quality or resolution. It's almost like virtual 3D yeah?? I wonder what will they cook up next??

wanna have your own logo?

Aside from wanting to have my own domain name for Tongue Temptations, I want to have my own logo. I want something food-based with lots of pink, hehe! As much as I want to design my own logo, I know I’m not artistic enough to pull it off. But I’m glad I found a company that does online logo designs. They offer to design three custom logos for $289 with the guarantee that they will refine it until you are 100% satisfied. Great for picky customers, lol! Anyway, here’s what I found in their site that’s great for me –--
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Melissa is my name, I love pink, and this blog is all about food! Can they combine the three logos above and give me a stunning one for Tongue Temptations?? =)

attention TNICC members!

Today (September 20) is a very special day in TNICC-Online! To commemorate the milestone of having 2000+ members, the admin is upgrading all ads to $0.02 each! Yup, that's 2cents for every ad you click! And take note, TNICC has more than 50 ads per day. Do the math and you'll see how much earn just for clicking ads -- awesome!! =) I'm already halfway clicking through the numerous ads. I'm sure I'm gonna reach payout soon -- another $15 to my e-gold! YES!!! =) If you're not a member yet, do join me and let's have fun earning online!

SuperMediaStore!

When I was in college (more than 5 years ago), I had this little sideline business of selling personalized music cds. My customers would list all the songs they want, and the color theme they fancy for the final cd package. Back in those days, blank cds and cases cost a lot, and sometimes they don’t work! Definitely bad for business! Anyway, I recently stumbled on SuperMediaStore, a wholesaler and reseller of cheap blank CD DVD media, CD DVD packaging case, ink and toner cartridges. I even found RIDATA blank cds for only $0.19 each in their store, WOW! That’s only about P8, dirt cheap for something with good quality! And then they have cheap flash drives too! Oh well, at least this time, if ever I’d go back to my music business, I’d know where to buy my stuff =)

 

hosting and stuff

I've always wanted to have my own domain (name, site, everything!) but I found the services at web hosting  companies to be steep as the prices are in dollars. But now, I found new companies (provider) that offer cheap hosting coz they use what is called shared hosting. In shared hosting, the provider is generally responsible for management of servers, installation of server software, security updates, technical support and other aspects of the service. That's what I really need coz I don't know much about the technical stuff of hosting a website and such, hehe! So why does shared hosting end up cheaper? Coz many people share the overall cost of server maintenance. I'm glad someone thought up this kind of hosting. It enables bloggers and small businesses to setup their own website at the least cost possible. Go nerd techies! =)

got a shiny new button! =)

view my button here
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I just made this blog of mine an 80x15 button! Yup, that's the one above but you have to click the link to see it. Just for a bit of suspense, lol! =) So is it cute or what?? Yeah, cute as in small, lol! Still, it's something that will help me promote my site and increase its Google PageRank. If you want a button like mine? Go here: And if you have a food blog like this site, you can sign up in the following directories and get your blog listed: *** It's a great way to promote your sites =)
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On other news, Apple just announced a $200 price cut off its $599 iconic iPhone just 10 weeks after its debut. I AM SO HAPPY!!! I can now afford it, lol! =) Plus the fact that a teenager in New Jersey unlocked the iPhone only means that I can use it here in the Philippines. Yes! YES! Check the news video of the price cut here. It caused quite a stir especially among the early buyers. If they only waited then they could have gotten the iPhone a wee bit cheaper..

what's your google pagerank?

Google PageRank has become a very important byword in the world wide web in the recent years. To me it meant nothing until I applied in get-paid-to blog sites where your rank determines if you'll get a review job or not. Often, lower pagerank blogs and websites don't get the top-dollar review jobs. Tongue Temptations is fortunate enough to have a PageRank of 2 (highest is 10) after one year+ in existence with virtually no advertising until last month. I guess there are many ka-friendsters who follow my blog since its inception. Thanks guys and keep on reading! =) If you wanna check your site's rank, use the checker below. Don't feel bad if you have no rank yet ha, ganyan talaga ang buhay. Hehe!
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Check Page Rank of any web site pages instantly:

This free page rank checking tool is powered by Page Rank Checker service

gimme some skin!

This is NOT a sponsored post, lol! :p To be successful in the blog for money game, your blog should be visible in the internet. One way to do this is to tell your friends and family to visit your blog. Hopefully they'll like your blog, and will tell their friends too. A faster way to gain traffic to your blog is to advertise but that costs money. And since your trying to earn from your blog, expenses should be kept to a minimum. So what's the best course of action? Adding your blog to directories! One cool directory I discovered is BlogSkinny.com which is more than just a directory. They have numerous cool widgets (see below) that you can use to earn free advertising to your site. I love it! And so will you! =)
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SMORTY!

As you all well know, I’m into the get paid for blogging “business” ever since I knew of this online income generator. The premise of this system is that there are “middlemen” that connect the advertisers to bloggers. The bloggers write about the advertisers’ products on their blog (with an outbound link), and they get paid for the blog post. Blog advertising has been here for a long time already, but it was available only to BIG websites and bloggers until recently. That “recently” was because of the “middlemen” that entered the scene. They are the ones who look for advertisers, and they sign up bloggers to blog about the advertisers’ products. The great thing about this setup is that even small-time bloggers (like me!) are able to join in the blog for money game. Lately, a lot of get paid to blog service sites (the middlemen) have been popping up left and right. I’ve reviewed most of them, and for me, Smorty.com ranks high up there. If you have a blog that has been indexed by Google, and loves to write about anything, I recommend you join Smorty. You won’t regret it! =)

ready to setup you're online store?

After months of filling your inventory and designing your online store, you’re finally ready to go live in the world wide web! There’s only one hitch, you don’t have a shopping cart software yet. The problem is that you don’t know what’s the best ecommerce software you should use in your online store. Enter Ashop Commerce, a leading provider of hosted shopping cart software. If you have doubts on what shopping cart to use, you can try their ecommerce software and avail of their 10-day free trial, no credit card required! Neat huh?? =) Ashop Commerce’s shopping cart software is web-based and doesn’t require installation or further programming on your part, though it is fully customizable (50 editable themes!). The shopping cart comes with inventory control, bulk order processing, batch order printing, customer specific discounts, gift certificates, digital goods delivery (product keys, passwords etc), product reviews editor, B2B trading function (optional), product feeds for popular shopping comparison sites, etc, etc. There are nearly 1000 features available at you’re disposal. Talk about features-packed! The prices are also affordable. The cheapest is at $39.95 for 1 month which includes 50 products, 50mb web space, and 1gb bandwidth. Very generous at that cheap price! If you’re interested, go visit their site at Ashop.com.au =)

want personalized news?

In the advent of internet, news and information has become a valuable commodity online. To serve this demand, many news channels have sprung up. The problem is that you have to sift through many channels and many news articles before you actually find out what you want. Sure, it’s not hard to find the headline news but that’s not just the news we want. We also want new information about our favorite topics. Me, I want news dedicated to technology and food. Most often, it’s so hard to look for food news. It’s not deemed as interesting as war or the stock market. Food only makes the headlines when there are food poisoning or when there’s scarcity of it in a poor country. Tsk! My solution to this foodie fixation problem? Subscribing to personalized news!
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Thoof is one such site that delivers personalized news. Thoof is a user generated news and information service that “learns” about what you are interested in, and delivers news of your favorite topics. Yes, “learns” because Thoof uses “personalization algorithm” which enables users to access news and information based on individual likes and preferences on the very first visit. Cool huh?? Also, in Thoof, users will have a say with regards to the posted news. Users may propose changes/additions to posted content, and all users can vote on whether the change is beneficial. Are you interested already? Then click this link --> http://thoof.com/a/P-U8v_R8EYYnwQ%3D%3D/thoof and be hooked like me, hehe! Sorry for the messy link, I can’t seem to find a shorter one that directs to this specific page. For all my internet savvy (as if!), I can’t seem to find solutions to simple problems, lol! Wanna help me?

we got a new modem!

Yesterday our internet was down the whole day. Called up PLDT (our ISP) tech service and they said they'd do a line test. Early this morning, a PLDT technician came and I witnessed firsthand how they do a line test, lol! The technician ascertained that our DSL line was ok therefore the problem might be the modem. True enough, when he replaced our modem with another, our internet connection was back! Yes! =) So now we have a new modem (for free, I think) and a working connection. I'm back to the land of the living, lol!=)

UNLIMITED file storage in DRIVEWAY!!!

I’m so happy!!! I didn’t know PayPerPost would be the one to introduce me to the BEST file sharing utility in the whole wide world! You see, I have tons and tons of files in my pc that needs online backup or parking. I have tried many utilities but it’s either it’s not easy to use or it has low uploading or storage limits. Also, I love to send large files over the Internet but email providers only allow a max of 10-20mb. Harsh! I mean, how am I gonna send a video which is usually more than 100mb in size? Sure, I could upload it to YouTube but it won’t be as good. Also, what if your video is private?? Enter Driveway! It is newly launched and is web 2.0 compliant. Before posting this, I tried their services and I’m more than satisfied! =) They allow sharing of files up to 500mb EACH with UNLIMITED total storage! Imagine that?? Is there any other site that can provide you with this?? I don’t think so!
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Aside from unlimited file storage, Driveway allows you to send large files via your email. You just have to use their ParkIt links. Also they will allow editing of your uploaded file by other persons if you chose that option. See the “send files for EDIT” button in the screenshot above. Other cool features of Driveway include creating widgets using your files for you to post in your blog or website. Also they have a plugin that allows you read/edit uploaded files without saving it first to your pc as we usually do. Really cool huh?? I can’t wait to exhaust all their features, lol! So what are you waiting for?? Check their site out!
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P.S. This is sponsored post courtesy of PayPerPost =)

10.545% click thru rate?? Amazing!

And that’s what you’ll get if you advertise at payperpost. This innovative get-paid-to blog program has now more than 40,000 bloggers and 8,000 advertisers under its fold, and constantly growing. Recently, the company did a study on the click through rates of sponsored posts, and guess what they found out?? On the average, sponsored posts deliver a 10.545% click through rate! WOW! Is that astounding or what?? Compare it to Google AdWords with a rate of .5-1.5% CTR (sometimes as high as 5% or 6%), payperpost definitely flattens the competition. So what does it say about sponsored posts? Blog readers and potential product customers are more at ease and trusting about clicking adverts if it’s posted on a blog which they have been following. It also means that sponsored posts have become a force in the advertising world and media campaigns. The best thing is that bloggers get a share of revenue too, unlike before. So what’s next? I think the most logical next step is to study whether the high CTR translates to product sales. Right advertisers?? But one thing I’m sure of is that PayPerPost is definitely worth your advertising money! For more info about PPP’s CTR and stuff, click here to read their blog post about it.

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Apogee Search

We all know that Google is the leading search engine in the world wide web. But sometimes, their searches don’t do much for websites that do business. Websites that need customers who are looking for their products. Enter Apogee Search which has been in business since 2001 and has become one of the 25 largest Search Engine Marketing firms in the world. Cool huh? What does Apogee Search do? They drive qualified, targeted visitors and customers to business websites which of course translates to revenues and profits. More than being a search engine, Apogee Search can also help your website’s advertising campaign through their online media buying service. And they even have a feature that allows you to search blog! Now that beats other search engines out there! In my opinion, Search Apogee has powerful marketing features that would surely increase your online business. Go pay their site a visit, wonders will await you! =)
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P.S. This is a sponsored courtesy of PayPerPost.com

attention home insurance agents!

In this time and age, it is virtually an idiocy if you don’t insure your home, your car, and other valuable items you own. And so insurance companies are rising left and right to take advantage of this expanding business. Many people needing extra money are also jumping into the insurance business and work as an insurance agent or an underwriter. If you are one of them then read on!

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Home insurance is the focus of this post and thanks to QuotesAuction.com, you can easily receive home insurance leads. Yes, the site provides insurance agents with the said leads which passed quality check and are real time. The leads contain full contact information on the prospective home insurance applicant, address of properties to be covered and all other relevant information needed to provide home owner insurance quote. You can even customize the leads and choose what type of home you want to get insured or exclude. Nice huh?? So if you want to earn more money as a home insurance agent go to http://www.quotesauction.com/content/home-insurance-leads.htm and try out their services. It’s about time you earn more! Thanks to QuotesAuction.com =)

PayPerPost!

I have been blogging for a long time now, in different blogging platforms, with different themes. So far, Tongue Temptations (this blog) has been the most prominent. After all, it’s all about food. And I LOVE FOOD! So there’s plenty to blog about, hehe! Anyway I thought that since I’m blogging, why not earn from it? It seems to be the trend these days in the world wide web.. There are get paid to click ads, read emails, to search, etc, etc. Why not get paid to blog then? And like a heaven-sent angel, Cherry-- a friend from college days, introduced me to PayPerPost or PPP!
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And so I joined PPP and have been so far enjoying my experience. It's an extensive blog network. And the site is user-friendly. They list the opportunities that are available for you to blog on. They have an excellent support system. And I can’t wait to make new friends! And of course, I can’t wait to earn money! Hehe! This post alone will earn me $20. Nice huh?? =) So if you have a blog that’s more than 90 days old, then join PPP! It’s a good way to meet fellow bloggers from all around the world, and to earn extra money at the same time. To Cherry, thanks for pointing me to this direction! =)
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what do the autobots and decepticons eat??

If you don’t know what the title is about, you definitely do not belong to my generation! Ahihi! OR you’re not a moviegoer and thus never heard of TRANSFORMERS the movie where these two classes of being star. Tsk, poor you! You’re missing a lot, I tell you. And I will tell you what you’re missing as you read on and scroll down :p Since this is a food blog, I must relate the spectacular robots movie to food, hence the title. Ahihi! And I promise to try to answer THE question before this post ends =) The picture at left is the symbol of the Decepticons.
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Transformers opened last Wednesday here in Davao City though I heard that it just opened last July 4 in the US of A, supposedly in time for their Independence Day. I haven’t got the figures yet whether this cartoon adaptation is another summer blockbuster like Pirates 3 and Spidey 3. It is now on its second week here in Davao and as you might have guessed, I watched it yesterday hence this post today o_O Anyway, Transformers is far from being a perfect movie or even just a great movie like Spidey 2 (the best in the trilogy I must say!) which perfectly meshed CGI wonders with well-developed characters and plot. BUT Transformers has the BEST-EVER CGIs I have ever seen in my entire life!!! It was sooo clean, sooo detailed (you can see reflections in the metal parts!), sooo perfectly integrated into the “live” environment and people. And man, even the sounds while the robots transform or when they communicate is perfect! The special effects team had it down to the last music note. This might sound like cliché’ but you really have to watch the movie to see and hear what I’m describing. Even just for effects, your money would be worth it!
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Aside from the take-your-breath-away CGI, the movie is also funny. Really! As in adult humor funny (“Sam’s happy time”, “I love women to work on my engine”) with lots of PG-13 sexual innuendoes and geeky funny with nerd inside jokes. These moments are expertly woven into the movie for the right-on-target comic relief. This movie is really for entertainment purposes with a somewhat pro-US flavor (USA = saviors of the world; Russia, China and Nokor = enemies). There are lots of chases, explosions, loud music, dramatic cinematography, cool war machines, and best of all 5 Autobots and 6 Decepticons battling it out for Allspark!!! Man, the way they transform (even when fighting!) was really awe-inspiring. Simply perfect! (I really can’t stop noh??) But I guess I shouldn’t be surprised since the CGIs were done by LucasFilm’s Industrial Light and Magic. You know, the team who did Starwars, d’oh! :p I must admit I watched the movie twice in one seating. I just couldn’t get enough! Transformers is like the movie version of the pink eye-candy stuff I just couldn’t resist, ahihi! =)

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And one last thing, Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus Prime is a casting coup! HE is Optimus Prime, hands down and no questions asked. His authoritative, gravelly, fatherly voice is simply perfect. Woohoo! And by the way, Megatron (Prime’s archenemy) is voiced by Hugo Weaving (he’s V in Vendetta and Mr. Smith in The Matrix) who really sound sinister and scary. And now, the REAL last thing: I loved Starscreem’s tranformation the most – from land to air and back as robot to stealth plane, man, AMAZING! You really must see the movie, like, right now so you can also drool over the astounding effects. If you miss this movie, you’re missing one of the milestones in the CGI history. So shoo and go watch this movie now!

P.S. I really don’t know what the Transformers eat.. They pee lubricants so they must eat/drink lubricants too right?? Watchatink?

davao blogs

want to read more blogs made in davao? or made by dabawenyos and dabawenyas from other parts of the world? click here: Davao Blogs Directory ..you can also add your own blog just like i did! =)

earn dollars from home!