The beginnings of a Blog

My opinions on the Ab Lounge 2
Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Normally I don't talk about fitness equipment since I keep this blog tech focused but I work as Athletic Trainer and am an athlete so I know about working out so whenever I see an ab product on TV I usually cringe. I saw the ab lounge on TV earlier and I was like, c'mon, a chair that does pretty much situps for you. I don't know about it, sure it make motivate some people to do some Abs, but you're much better off getting an ab workout and doing various exercises. Maybe it's a great value for someone who doesn't want to do all that but it's not the best way to get abs. Sure it may get you some, but you don't have to spend $99 for it. I guess to each his own.

Alright there's my 2 cents.

Thanks,

-Steven

Posted bySteve at 11:34 PM 1 comments  

Labels: Fitness, Sports, TV

Shady things behind the Google / YouTube deal

Was just reading Mark Cuban's blog, btw I think he's a great business and BY FAR the best owner in the NBA, and he posted up a very nice post that stirs up a lot of controversy. It's a re-print of a post on the "Pho List", of which I'm not familiar, but it seems pretty exclusive. Here's a nice juicy paragraph (there's lots more but gotta like this one)

> The second request was to pile some lawsuits on competitors to slow
> them down and lock in Youtube's position. As Google looked at it they
> bought a 6 month exclusive on widespread video copyright infringement.
> Universal obliged and sued two capable Youtube clones Bolt and
> Grouper. This has several effects. First, it puts enormous pressure on
> all the other video sites to clamp down on the laissez-faire content
> posting that is prevalent. If Google is agreeing to remove
> unauthorized content they want the rest of the industry doing the same
> thing. Secondly it shuts off the flow of venture capital investments
> into video firms. Without capital these firms can't build the data
> centers and pay for the bandwidth required for these upside down
> businesses.

Here's the full link:
http://www.blogmaverick.com/2006/10/30/some-intimate-details-on-the-google-youtube-deal/

Can they even get away with this? This is pretty nuts, goes against that great Do No Evil by suing encouraging other companies to get sued while you're "protected". Anyways what you guys think of Mark Cuban's post? Pretty serious aligations, but not proven as of yet. Post your thoughts.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:19 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Google, Internet, Priracy

This is hilarious, a PayPerPost wedding!

I honestly think Payperpost has outdone themselves this time. They got the Postie Patrol, the Today Show antics, the video confessionals, but this is by far the most outrageous thing they've done so far and I like it. I'm WAY too young to get married but who wouldn't want a payperpost wedding. They'll pay all your expenses for the wedding, give you a night a NICE hotel, give you a $1000 to spend, and stream your wedding live on the web for all your friends back home to see. I think that's pretty awesome. They posted it on their blog HERE and they have a URL setup specifically for the wedding. Check out http://www.payperpostwedding for more info on the wedding always you can check out Payperpost for more info on making money to blog.

Good luck to all those who try to get their wedding with PPP. I'm definetly going to be watching this webcast, lol.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:19 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Blogs, Payperpost

Article about me on LIU Althetics

You guys probably don't remember the race I had this weekend but there was a write-up on the LIU Athletics site so I thought I might as well post it up here. I came 27th overall I just found out (I thought it was 25th, anyways) but yea they got a shot of me running so I thought that's cool.

Here's the link to the article:
http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/bbut11/track/06-XCNEC.htm

And here's the shot they got of me


Good pic, even if I'm alone.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:09 PM 0 comments  

Labels: LIU, Running

Free FAFSA Tips

Since I go to college I keep hearing about the FAFSA. Since I'm not American I don't have to fill one out but I've had to help friends and others since I work in library at LIU accessing the FAFSA online.

The FAFSA stands for Free Application for Federal Student Aid, it's sometimes known as FASFA, and it's a form every American college student has to fill out in order to get Financial Aid from the government. Filling out the information in correctly is one of the keys to getting the most amount of financial aid possible. There are ways and tips to get the most out of your FAFSA, and that's why FAFSA online has a site up for college students looking to save money. They have 9 tips that can help you get more for your financial aid, such as having savings in your parents names instead of your own, or making sure all your investments come out to zero, etc.

The site is pretty well layed out and there's no ridiculous advertising banners everywhere to distract you. They also have an MP3 Audio Tour to fill out your FAFSA and learn some tips. They also got some other links on Financial Aid to help you out. Definetly a site worth looking at if you're a college student.

Check them out at FAFSA online.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 5:17 PM 1 comments  

Labels: LIU, Saving Money

Personal Site Update!

I installed Wordpress on my personal homepage because my 3yr+ old site wasn't cutting it anymore. I'll install a theme and post stuff up later. I just need to add some plugins so I can post some pictures and files. Check it out, the URL is http://dasnipe.atotchat.org. Any plugins you guys think I should add right away? Post there if you wish as well, since I'm always looking for feedback and suggestions :)

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 12:31 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Blogs, Personal

Speaking of Vitamins
Monday, October 30, 2006

Since I've taken vitamins and supplements for a couple of years I might as well share a new Nutritional Site with you guys. Ever since I've been at LIU my diet hasn't been the same due to the quality of the cafeteria's selections so I've taken a multi-vitamin. I also take a supplement that contains Glucosamine, Chondroitin and MSM for my hip. I had hip surgery nearly 2 years ago due to my genetics and that fact that I run 50-60 miles a week from being a distance runner so it was recommended by my doctor. It's tough doings sports, I know I know, lol. I've never ordered supplements online but after coming across this site I might do so in the future.

I came across N101 Nutrition, a new site in the nutritional supplement world. Browsing their selection of products, they contain a pretty decent selection, including the 2 supplements I take above, which is key since my Hip needs all three ingredients. They also display the Nutritional Label directly from the bottle, this is another plus. Most sites don't do that and you know exactly what you're getting from the Supplement Facts sheet you see on every supplement as mandated by the FDA. N101 also has a rewards program for all its customers, and it prides itself on customer service. I'm going to give them a look whenever I run out of my supplements, especially at the prices these guys have. Check them out at http://www.n101.com".

-Steven

Posted bySteve at 10:17 PM 0 comments  

Labels: LIU, Sports, Vitamins

My rant on Digg and random things

I'm all for Digg, it's got great user generated content via it's voting system and I love it. However lately I've been finding a lot of crappier stories, such as the guy who thinks his MacBook Pro is cheaper than a Dell or an HD, in Australia. He doesn't mention this until you read the blog and find that out and since he applies all the educational discounts Apple has. Maybe he should've looked for a coupon code or a dell for the Dell, I've never onced paid retail for a Dell product.

Anyways I didn't have class tonight so I had the chance to go to the library of my own free will and finish my homework. It takes everything for me to get away from a computer these days. I really think I'm addicted. I also need to get better on taking my pills, I have them in my wallet and I keep forgetting to take them. Oh well.

Lastly I don't think I'll be able to have a nice Labels section on my sidebar, since I still have all the old blogger code. I might have to change my layout, but I'll wait a bit until Blogger's new interface comes out of Beta or until I find a new theme that works well with the Beta, since I like this one. Alright enough for now, time to relax.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 10:09 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Blogger, Digg, Internet

Ever wanted to start a hosting company?

I'm hosted for free on a site (see Personal Homepage link at the top) given to me by a fellow board member at Anandtech who I think is starting his own hosting company and gave us all a bunch of space to test it out. I think it's pretty cool what he's doing. I was looking around earlier and found a site that carters to those who are interested in starting their own hosting or "reselling" company. They're called Reseller Guide and they have a quality Reseller Hosting Guide, the main box in yellow is the place to start, and other articles on hosting, reselling, etc. It's a decent site with interviews, news, forums, etc. Nice layout as well. Check them out at http://www.resellerguide.com/

-Steven

Posted bySteve at 5:44 PM 1 comments  

Labels: Internet, Web Design

Trying to intergrate the Labels onto my sidebar

Since I used a different template then the Blogger Beta I'm having trouble adding the new Label code to the sidebar. I put up some javascript that it supposed to show them in various ways however it doesn't seem to work right now. Is there any other way to get Labels in the Blogger Beta WITHOUT having to use a stock template? I guess more googling is in order. Btw I'd like to mention that Payperpost is a featured story on Adage.com, even if some of the information is incorrect. Forget all the naysayers, I love payperpost and at least they care about being clear about what we're doing (we're not shills people, god). Check out the article here.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 4:47 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Blogger, Blogs

DisclosurePolicy.org - Keeping Blogs Honest

Since many of you have seen the Disclosure Policy link at the top of my blog I thought I'd share some more info with you guys about what I think of it and why I put it there.

Since I've been working with Payperpost, there was a part of me that was worried about the concept of taking money for reviews or buzz on my blog. I love blogging and it's not that I am paid to say word for word something about a company, or give them positive buzz without event looking at them. It's just that people should know that a product or site I've looked at may have sponsored.

I've read many computer hardware sites that have their hardware sponsored, or given to them, and their reviews have still been credible and honest. They, like me, don't have money to buy their own hardware so they have it given to them. They make money of advertising banners, since people come to see their reviews. I don't have as many page views so I would make little in ad revenue. So instead of having ads on my sidebar, I write my own ads on things that I think my readers would appreciate, such as free things, sports, technology, etc. This way I review things, which I enjoy, or look at things that I think people would like and I get to add content to my blog.

I think it's a great concept to have a Disclosure Policy, it aims to keep everyone on a fair level. Sure you may LIE and say you're not paid but why do that, your readers won't believe you. I enjoy having people read my blog and in order for them to read it they can't any reservations about anything I say. If I put a link on my site it's because I think it would good for them. It's more like targeted ads to be honest, because who wants random dating sites on my sidebar.

I made my Disclosure Policy before the official website was launched, but if you do reviews or post links on products I definetly think you should add a Disclosure Policy. Makes you stay honest, since the blogosphere is about all about the readers and building trust. You can make your own official Disclosure Policy with their VERY easy to use Disclosure Policy Generator.

If you'd like to know more about what a Disclosure Policy entrains, please visit http://www.disclosurepolicy.org/. They got a forum and a blog of their own to help bloggers, advertisers and readers with questions, answers and all so check it out.

Btw you guys like the new button on the side?

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 12:19 AM 0 comments  

Labels: Blogs, Payperpost

Anyone tried BlueTie yet?
Sunday, October 29, 2006

I just saw this on TechCrunch and being the adventurer I am I signed up for it, since it was free. BlueTie is a complete AJAX-based email, contact, calender manager for businesses. They offer intergration with your domain name, 5gb storage, and 20 users/emails. Seems like a great deal. I signed up my company as dasnipe, so I can use dasnipe.dasnipe@bluetie.com, or whatever .dasnipe@bluetie.com. I use Thunderbird as my email application at the moment tho, and I use Outlook for my Contacts/Calender since they sync with my phone, but it's always good to have another email account, especially one with 5gb of file storage :). Check it out at http://www.bluetie.com

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:27 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Email, Internet

Does Your Cell Phone Drop Calls?

With all these ads going around these days saying "fewest dropped calls" or "fewest dropped calls in New York I actually wonder how they test this. Everyone can drop a call in an elevator, or if the building has a lot of interference from equipment / other radiowaves, so how do they do this? My SonyEricsson W810i on T-Mobile has been spectular in coverage around here (yes it's an unlocked imported phone, I don't like Cingular) but if your phone is dropping calls maybe it's time for a new one. There's a great site to get the best free cell phones here, so if you're thinking of switching check them out. If you have no clue about anything cell phone related you really should check out this cell phone glossary first tho, just to brush up on things.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:06 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Cell Phones, Electronics

MyEclipse - The best Eclipse plugin out there

If you've worked with AJAX and Web 2.0 applications you'll have no doubt heard of Eclipse. Well the folks at MyEclipse have created one of the most fully-featured software environment for Eclipse. It includes Ajax, CSS, Javascript editors and pretty much anything else you need to work on that web 2.0 app. It is most likely the last Eclipse Plugin you'll ever need. With everything in one environment it saves time and increases efficiency while writing your programs. It's only 30$, which is cheap compared to the thousands that most companies spend on licenses for multiple products. Check it out at http://www.myeclipseide.com

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:17 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Web 2.0, Web Design

Diablo 3 Existance Confirmed!

Just saw this on Digg, and since I'm a huge Diablo nut I thought I'd share this with everyone here. The author of some of the paperback books, Richard Knaak about the Diablo universe has been quoted to be saying "The ramifications here will be used for any future project...and I ain't writing for a dead game. (smiley face)." I think that's pretty awesome. I loved Diablo and Diablo 2, heck I still play Diablo 2 to this day since it's so addicting. The article is posted on Gamespot so go check it out. I also hear good things about Hellgate : London, so we'll see where that ends up also.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 8:14 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Diablo, Video Games

Testing the new blogger BETA

I've always passed on joining the Blogger Beta but since I'm looking to add Labels and caterogies I decided on a whim to test it out. Hopefully this won't destroy my template, luckily I saved it on a text file JUST IN CASE. Blogger hasn't had a good last couple of weeks so we'll see how it fares with the new Beta. Anyone else using the Beta? Opinions?

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 8:08 PM 0 comments  

Labels: Blogger, Blogs

Steve's Free Site for the Day - Part 20

Since I've been showing you guys a bunch of free sites lately I'd thought I'd let you know about a free Bingo site I tried at work today. You really can't go wrong with Free Bingo, since it's a flash based game it's not going to need any installing or etc. The free game they advertise is one where the first person to get the four coners to win, pretty fun and quick. Wasn't too happy about being limited to once per day but they link you to another site for more. Check it out at http://www.freebingo.me.uk

(Who likes my title, twist on the Engadget Keeping it Fake theme, lol)

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 4:39 PM 0 comments  

Your opinion on the whole Wikipedia / AOL ad affair

Wikipedia had an offer by Jason Calacanis to place a 25x25 banner for AOL or some other advertising firm in exchange for a $100 million dollar donation. There are people on both sides of the argument pro and con the rejection of the offer. It has been stated that Wikipedia is ad-free and will stay that way forever by it's founder Jimmy Wales. Personally, I don't think I would mind ads in wikipedia but there's the whole point of being 100% objective and with Wikipedia fighting battles internally against biased users I don't think it needs ads to raise more problems. I wonder if there is a better way to support wikipedia than donations, I don't have any bright ideas tho, especially today, lol. What you guys think?

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 4:01 PM 3 comments  

My Disclosure Policy
Saturday, October 28, 2006

Since I've been working with Payperpost (as most of you haven't already guessed) I thought I should post a Disclosure Policy to let everyone know what's up.

The Beginnings of a Blog Disclosure Policy
This policy is valid from 28 October 2006

This blog is sponsored blog created or supported by a company, organization or group of organizations. For questions about this blog, please contact sirsniper @ gmail dot com.

This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation.

The compensation received may influence the advertising content, topics or posts made in this blog. That content, advertising space or post may not always be identified as paid or sponsored content.

The owner(s) of this blog is compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for our posts or advertisement, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

The owner(s) of this blog would like to disclose the following existing relationships. These are companies, organizations or individuals that may have a significant impact on the content of this blog. We are employed by or consult with: PayPerPost.

Posted bySteve at 4:27 PM 2 comments  

Blogger didn't save my template changes

If you see all the Bio, Discography and etc links I had them changed but Blogger didn't save my changes. I'll have them changed back soon so my apologies about the randomness, I just noticed it today.

Posted bySteve at 4:15 PM 0 comments  

Trying to find poker games locally?

Since I haven't played much poker lately I've been looking at ways to find games locally since they banned access to banks to withdraw funds for online gambling sites. Well I found a site that has just what I need, it's called PokerDIY - Connecting Poker Player for Live Games. It's a free services that connects pokers players and allows them to search for live, local poker games. You can setup RSVPs and email people about your tournaments, local games and even keep track of a Poker League all through their interface. They even made a YouTube video showing it off, check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ic65O2JHaA . This seems like a great way to get rid of my poker fix, lol, check it out, and maybe if you host a game in the NYC area I'll drop by.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 4:05 PM 0 comments  

Blogger issues

Yes I've been having so many blogger issues I'm thinking of setting up another blog on Wordpress then converting it over. I'm getting pretty angry at the random errors when publishing. I guess that's the breaks when you don't get your own system. I got these java connection errors, I couldn't understand it since nothing was wrong with my connection and it came up all of a sudden. I guess that's how Blogger connects your post to it's database, but it doesn't make sense since Blogger saves your post on it's own servers first. Anyways enough ranting, I'm working on installing Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy so we'll see how that goes. Wish me luck,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 3:55 PM 0 comments  

Staying healthy and getting free stuff!

Being an athlete and an Athletic Trainer, I know how important it is to stay heathly and to eat right. That doesn't just means eating right, it includes things such asusing supplements and/or vitamins if needed to help and maintaining a heathly lifestyle. You have to cut down the McDonalds and the processed foods, cut down all the bad fats (especially Saturated and Trans Fats) and watching your caloric intake, especially for the sedentary people. Simple things such as going out to eat Fast Food less often can dramatically impact the levels of fats and processed foods, or eating healthier snacks such as fruits instead of cookies or candy. I know it may sound tough to those who don't regularly follow any health guidelines but HeathlyFreeStuff.com has some things that can help. They have some lists and links to help you getting started on making heathly choices. If you become a member at any one of the sites that they list you can have the oppertunity to get in-depth information on the subject. With membership to their mailing list they offer you free newsletters, tips, receipes, etc. They even offer free product samples of products that are oriented to help you by promoting health. Can't go wrong with something that's free and healthy, right? Here's a picture of some of the free stuff they offer.



Enjoy!

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 12:56 PM 0 comments  

Keyboard suggestions?

Right now I got this wireless keyboard, a Benq X730, it's pretty solid but I'm getting lazier and hating have to change the batteries. I'm really debating getting a regular keyboard just for the heck of it. The only think I use that's special on this keyboard compared to most is the volume control. Everything else can be found on other keyboards. I like my low-profile laptop keys tho so I'd have to stick with something that has that.

So far I've been looking at the Logitech UltraX. Newegg doesn't have it in stock but it's greatly recommended at Futuremark and the customer reviews at Newegg. My old keyboard is working great but I'm still debating getting a new one. I guess I'm just a gadget freak, what you guys think?

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 10:30 AM 0 comments  

On the topic of layouts...
Friday, October 27, 2006

Since I've been working on layouts and doing a lot of searching I'd thought I'd point out a site I use for some MySpace layouts and backgrounds. It's a pretty new site called www.everylayout.com and it's got a ever-growing collection of layouts. I haven't updated my MySpace layout in a while but I think since I changed this one I might work on MySpace next, since some people don't like my lightning bolt. The anime background there is pretty nice, check it out, might be the next one on my page, lol. Alright enough internet for tonight, time for gaming.

-Steven

Posted bySteve at 11:38 PM 0 comments  

Labels: MySpace, Web Design

I think I've found it

After looking over the Gecko and Fly Blog Templates I think I've found it. It's the Andreas02 template, but I'm going to have to change it up and add all my side code. I gotta add all my links, my blogroll, my technorati and my del.icio.us on the side as well. I'll change the image once I get around to it, since the image is pretty nice and I don't know what I want up there, lol.

Check it out here while I work on it.



*Edit* 11pm, I uploaded it to the site. What you guys think so far? I have to make sure all my old posts follow the layout but so far I'm happy. I need to change the top links but I think this layout is more professional than a regular blogger default template.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:47 PM 2 comments  

Baseball Spring Training

Since I'm an athletic trainer I've known fellow Athletic Trainers that have covered baseball and I've gotten some good stories about it. It's intense for the trainers and the players trying to make the team, but it's a great time to see your favorite players having fun. Fans get to be much closer to the teams and get a much better experience than just watching a regular game at the stadium. I know I'm in New York and all, but I wouldn't mind going to see the Red Sox play either. There's some decent deals on some Boston Red Sox Spring Training tickets here and maybe I'll take a trip down during my spring break to see them. It would be fun and I'd get to experience what baseball is truly about, since I don't get many chances here in New York due to work and school. Ok time to finish watching the Cardinals win the world series, since I'm stuck indoors on a rainy Friday night.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:38 PM 0 comments  

Yea my race didn't go so well today

I feel like posting about my personal life since it's a friday night and I'm dead tired and can't go out on a rainy day. From my profile you've probably seen that I run track. Well we had our conference championships today, and I was feeling good and hoping to finish in the top 14 and make all-conference. Unfortunetly, things didn't go as planned and I tanked. I was feeling sick the whole morning and only could manage a 27:21 compared to my 27:00 that I was going to break from a month ago and wound up 25th. 25th ain't bad but it's not what I was capable of doing, I knew I could've done so much better. I cried out in frustration after the race. You guys who've done sports must definetly know how I feel. Anyways that's me so now I'm inside tonight surfing the web/relaxing.

Post something on my layouts that I've chosen as well, need some feedback on that. Alright more later,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:30 PM 0 comments  

Using your blog to make money online.

There's a lot of talk nowadays about using your blog to make money online. There's many ways that people can do use their blog to their advantage, things like Adsense, Payperpost, link building, etc. However, it's pretty confusing, especially for someone new to blogging and unfamiliar with computers in general. That's where Bloggerbusiness comes in. They've written an eBook that can help you figure out all these things in simple terms. With them, it's pretty easy to learn how to blog online and make money. They even include a free CD with the eBook.



Check them out if you're interested in using your blog to make money.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 12:40 AM 0 comments  

Since I can't decide, maybe you guys can help

If you read my post below you'll see that I've been looking a new template, since the blogger default is getting kinda old and I'm not liking it as much anymore. I don't know if I really want to go through the trouble of making my own so I might just modify a premade one.

I found a couple doing some searching, tell me if you guys like any of these.


HiTech



K2



Powell Street


Anyone of these nice enough for here or am I going to have to keep digging?

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 12:03 AM 3 comments  

JamesBrausch.com - A good internet business blog.
Thursday, October 26, 2006

Since I've entered the blogosphere in full force when I got serious about my blog here I've read lots of other blogs trying to figure out what makes them work or what makes them interesting. I found that a lot of people want to use their blogs to provide feedback to their customers or get some ideas from the community on what to talk about. After visiting James Brausch's Blog about Internet business I think that he actually has got that concept working to his advantage on his blog. He gets feedback, comments and a lot of people ask for his opinions in their comments. It's what most blogs should strive to be. James knows a lot about business, specifically serving the customer needs and marketing, I know little but it's still nice to read what real business owners are like. I'd definetly check it out if you're interested in Internet Business and all the related fields (Customer Service/Marketing, etc), or if you like to a real blog work. Check it out at http://www.JamesBrausch.com.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:00 PM 0 comments  

Layout changes

Since I'm getting tired of using a default Blogger layout I'm working on adapting a new template for the site. I tested one out on my new blog that I haven't really worked on yet so once I find one that I like. I think I'll make the change since it involves updating a lot of personalized code. It sounds like a weekend task but I'm starting now since I don't like trying to do everything at once. Anyone have any layouts they like or can suggest? I'm open to opinions.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 10:56 PM 0 comments  

Payperpost Video Confessional

I know I've had a bad day here and there, like today I left my ID for school in my room then when I wnet back to get I locked myself out of my own room. So plus one on the idiot scale for me, but my story is nothing compared the Flaming Tamale's day in the life at Payperpost.com. Payperpost is the company who lets me get paid to blog, so I love them, and I appreciate everything that Flaming Tamale has done. They started some video confessionals, and the Flaming Tamale's is the first, they have another one from Britt too so check them out on the Payperpost Blog at http://blog.payperpost.com.

Check out the Flaming Tamale video confessional below:



Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 12:30 PM 0 comments  

Would you want to run OS X on AMD/Non-mac hardware.

Just reading up on Ars Technica and there's a story about running the Mac OS X on non-Mac hardware / AMD boards. They speak about the legal issues around it, such as in the EU there's a way to circumvent the copy-protection for some special uses. I'm not the biggest fan of OS X since I'm a long-time Windows fan and I think it's too simple but maybe that's just me. The screenshots are interesting and it does open up a good topic for discussion. I'd definetly check it out if I was out, read the blog HERE on Ars.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:36 AM 0 comments  

Need a tablet pc, check out Tablet PC Reviews

I don't have a laptop but I've been always interested in laptops and tablet pc's. Ever since the Samsung Q1 I've been looking into Tablet PC's, sure they come at a premium something but I think overall it's worth it to invest the money to getting that extra functionality. Lately I've been reading some reviews from Tablet PC Reviews at the library looking at what's new in the tablet pc world. I've also checked out the forums, I find that the forums generally hold more things that then frontpage of a site, and this one is no exception to the rule. As well there's always a good base of generally knowledgable users to help. The reviews on the frontpage are good too but there's not always a whole bunch. If you're interested in Tablet PC's, Laptop's or handhelds I'd definetly check out Tablet PC Reviews, even if you're new to Tablet PC computing.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 10:45 AM 1 comments  

I figured it all out, how to get online with only my cellphone

Since I lost internet AGAIN in my domr room I actually managed to get online using my cell phone as a modem. I got a W810i with T-Mobile so I got EDGE speeds so I thought I would be all good. Edge speeds are only 148kbps, which is pretty much barely more than 2x the speed of 56k, and it lagged a bit due to the fact it had to go through a proxy. But the key thing is that I have internet when my internet at school goes down, I was able to check my mail and surf, just wasn't able to access secure sites like paypal and etc. Usually tethering is for laptops but unfortunetly i had to do it for desktop, lol. Anyone have any experience with tethering? what speeds you get? Discuss.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 10:24 AM 0 comments  

Ever been bored on a plane and needed WiFi?
Wednesday, October 25, 2006

I know that whenever I'm not flying JetBlue I get terribly bored of
whatever's playing on the in-flight movie so I usually have to indulge
myself of whatever I carried with me. If you've seen my previous post
you'll know that having a computer without the internet absolutely
destroys me, so if I'm stuck with a laptop on a flight I get bored
kind of quickly. I think that's the reason why I'd definetly need Wifi
on the plane, and I wouldn't mind paying $10 for an hour if I was on a
seriously long flight. There's a really good Guide to Airline WiFi out there that everyone should read before taking
their next flight. Pretty interesting and it has a good list of
flights that you can get wifi on. Check it out if you fly often,
hopefully my next flight will have some, no more boring movies for me!

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 10:57 PM 0 comments  

What you think of the Lik-Sang / Sony affair?

I've always like and looked at Lik-Sang's site over the years. They used to always have games that you couldn't get here or things that were always out of stock in North America. Recently, Sony Europe sued them to prevent Lik-Sang from importing Japanese PS3's to Britain/Europe since Europe is going to have a delayed PS3 relayed cuz Sony can't do anything right these days. They just won the court case and now Lik-Sang's forced to shut down. I know it's all for the "protection of the customer" and for the "honoring of the warranty" but for the FEW people who order their ps3's/psp's through Lik-Sang I think it doesn't really matter. All Sony is doing is finding another way to alienate the hardcore gamer crowd they built with the Ps1/Ps2. I don't know if I can justify getting a PS3 after all these actions. I got a SonyEricsson phone, but I can't justify the decisions of Sony's gaming department right now. Post your 2 cents,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 8:51 PM 0 comments  

Ever been ticked off so bad by a company you wanted to switch?

Yea when I went home to Montreal this summer my parents phone line was acting really acting weird and their DSL wasn't working. I was ticked that the company let them hang like that and was going to threaten to switch if a repairman didn't come right away to repair it. Luckily 2 hours later they came in, replaced my wiring, and now everything is good at home. If they didn't I would've gone with the cheaper competitor if they hadn't. There's a company out there that can help with preventing this situation from happening. It's a company called CallMiner, and they help companies learn ways so that their customers don't churn. Churn is the calling industry term for a customer that leaves one company for another, such as someone with Cingular switching to Verizon. CallMiner's tools and expertise will help your company prevent churn and keep your customers that you've worked hard to aquire. Check out CallMiner at http://www.callminer.com.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 8:12 PM 0 comments  

Linux, do you use it?

Just wondering what Linux use is among my readers, since I read a lot of Linux news but particularly don't write about it since usage is pretty low still. I've messed around with Fedora Core (which just released version 6) and Ubuntu 6.06 but haven't really made them my operating systems of choice yet. Until I get seamless game support/program support I just can't support it, but that's just me. I like how things are going tho, as free is always good, but they still need to work on seemless driver installs. I couldn't install nvidia drivers at all, it took extraordinary steps and it didn't work. Until installing things is as seamless as it is on Windows, I don't think it'll be mainstream. The whole world can't be FOSS, and until they realize this then Linux won't overtake windows.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:27 AM 0 comments  

Keyloggers, things that can be used for GOOD and EVIL
Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Yea I've had some experience with keyloggers, come on now who hasn't, in the early 90's internet security was so lax that anyone accepted trojan's, viruses and keyloggers. Now things are a different story, people have become more vigilant about keyloggers and understand what they are and what they're used for. (I won't mention the other uses, but you get the idea.) A Keylogger can be used for good though, a prime example of that is watching or monitoring kids activities on the internet. A company called SpectorSoft has a keylogger that's specifically designed to monitor the activities of children online, including the dreaded myspace.com that has parents scrambling to find out what they're doing. It's the only Keylogger that completely monitors MySpace, so that's definetly a good thing if your 13-14 year olds use the site. With this software parents can also figure out if their kids have been talking to online predators, no one ever wants that and you'll know exactly from the logs what your kid is doing online. I'd definetly install one of these at home if I had kids, I wouldn't like to keep tabs on them at all times but it's good to know what they're doing at all times, especially on something so vast as the internet. Check out SpectorSoft's Keylogger and see if one is right for you.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:34 PM 0 comments  

Do you go nuts with a computer that has no internet?

I was having network issues with the great internet connection of the LIU dorms (killed my Bit-Torrent, disconnects hourly on regular usage) and I was sitting in front of my computer wondering what the heck do I do on a computer without internet. I guess it was so long ago but a computer without the internet nowadays is like museums without art, lol. Do you go through the same withdrawal as I do? Also payperpost was down for a too, which didn't help. It seems to be back up, so I think it's time to check out it.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:31 PM 0 comments  

Search Engine for Short-Term Office Space

It seems like there's a search engine for everything these days, not just websites. I've found a search engine for Short-Term Flexible Office Space. The site is called Offices2Share.com. It seems like a good place to look for those businesses basically operating out of multiple people's home offices and would like something more concrete, before they move into something large but without being bound by large rental contracts. To promote their site they're having a contest some of you home office types should look into.

Its called The Home Office From Hell contest. It's the 2nd time they've run this annual contest, and it began Monday, the 23rd of October, 2006.

"The Grand Prize winner will receive 12 months of rent (up to $12,000) at any location posted on Offices2Share.com plus a paid trip to New York City to have lunch with Donald Trump's right-hand man and former Co-Star of The Apprentice - George Ross."

All you need to do is post a Top 10 reasons why you need to move out of your home office from hell. You can do a video and upload it as well of their hellacious or atrocious

Entrants should post their top 10 reasons why they need to move out of their home office from hell. They can also upload a video of their hellacious office.

The contest is from Offices2share.com-Short-Term Flexible Office Space. Their search engine looks for short-term, ready-to-use office space, things such as Executive Suites, Shared Office Space, etc. If you need to move out of that home office I wouldn't hesitate to take a look on Offices2share.com, I'm sure it best searching for hours on Craigslist.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 1:56 PM 0 comments  

Lack of focus

Since I'm wasting my precious time going on the internet instead of studying for my midterm this afternoon I thought I should post about lacking focus. I know it's not very technical or technological as some of my other posts but I think it's worth a bit of discussion. I know that I have a tough time getting work done earlier, or if there's not deadline hanging in front of my face, it's just my nature as a procrastinator. I don't have the motivation to do something early, if I have extra time I always spend it on one of my side persuits, such as blogging, looking at tech sites, chatting to friends or playing whatever video game I'm addicted to at the moment (for now it's Diablo 2). Does anyone/everyone suffer from this problem, or am I the only one with this supreme lack of focus especially when I have enormous amounts of time to get things done. I know I'm going to have to cramp pretty hard come later today, so I should get off and go study now, but since I'm here, I might as well invite everyone to post their thoughts (I know, tough to do). Alright off to study Research Methods (yey).

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:19 AM 0 comments  

Random reminiscing

Was going through my pictures from the summer of '04 and I was looking at the Barcelona pictures I took when we traveled to Spain as part of our whole tour of Europe thing. I love Barcelona, it was sunny, beautiful, modern and a tremendous amount of fun, even if we went out with these really whack girls one night to the Beach Club, lol. If I could afford it, I would not hesitate to look into buying a property in Spain. It would be a great place to have a summer or winter get away house, or just somewhere to setup shop while in Europe. I would have to learn Spanish or Catalan in Barcelona as getting by with my English/French mix wouldn't get me too far if I lived there. If I could get a place there it would be insane, Barcelona, Paris and London are my three favorite European cities, but if I had one spot to choose from I think I'd choose Barcelona just to have a nice house on the beach. Anywhere you'd like to get some property, if you could afford it of course? lol. Discuss

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:00 AM 0 comments  

Thoughts on Firefox2

I installed Firefox2 last night, but since I jumped the gun and went against the release engineer's warning I didn't post about it on the blog. Over since I got an extra night to get a feel for it I thought I should post my thoughts. Yes it does feel a little slower than IE7, but I guess extensions and things like Fasterfox and the great amount of Tweaking can make up for that. I like the new layout color (light grey), looks cleaner and more streamlined and the new icons are really nice as well. As well most of my add-on's had compatible versions so it was a hassle free switch. The greatest thing about it is the built-in spell checker, it sure beats me having to use the one inside Blogger, which opens up a pop-up window.

Overall it's just some minor tweaks to a proven formula, keep up the work, I keep switching back and forth between 2/3 browsers but with this release I'm sure Firefox will steal some more marketshare from IE.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 10:07 AM 0 comments  

How Payperpost helps me, a true story
Monday, October 23, 2006

Now anyone who reads my blog must ask themselves why the heck am I talking a lot about PayPerPost, especially when I do contests for them or promoting the site. Well it's pretty simple, I get paid, and paid pretty well for blogging. Much better than any other forms of advertising that I've done. It started off in July when I tested PayPerPost out after hearing about in Digg, I figured, hey, I have a blog, let's test it out. I wrote a short article on Searching, posted it up, and pretty much forgot about Payperpost. A month later, I got an email, finding out I got paid. I was stoked, I couldn't believe someone paid me to write 50 words on my blog. I used that money to buy something on eBay since Payperpost pays you with Paypal.

Since then I've been pretty much blogging daily, making my blog broader, focusing more on tech things, but injecting some personal things as well, since I am human. I've been paid $276.20, and I'm going to get paid another $457 dollars, all for blogging. It's great because I get paid to blog and I love blogging, it's working on my English skills and it's a place to collect myself. So why not help companies by using my space for them to reach my readership. I've seen some great companies and gotten great free products through Payperpost, like the free tickets to DigitalLife'06, from which I had a blast.

What I'm going to do with the majority of my Payperpost money is something more altruistic however. Since I'm a canadian in the US going to school in Brooklyn at LIU, I get charged a tax on my scholarship, as I get my room and board covered. Payperpost is going to help pay the majority of that amount, and I assure you that amount isn't small. Payperpost is helping me where it counts, by helping my academic career, and I appreciate them and take my job as blogger seriously. I know this may sound all too good or cute but it's true, and I enjoy Payperpost tremendously for it.

I encourage anyone who has a blog to just give it a look. You may not be looking for money but I enjoy talking about products and the sense of community that Payperpost has among it's posties, it's a great thing. Check it out, the URL is http://www.payperpost.com.

Thanks and post some of your own stories or feedback on mine,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 10:03 PM 7 comments  

Pretty interesting story about Apple on Forbes

Usually I don't read many of the Forbes.com stories unless they have to do with Technology but after reading the description on Digg I felt obliged to take a look. There's a new book about Apple that speaks measures about the company's success, saying unlike Google, the new Apple with Steve Jobs would only accept the worker's very best. The best quote is “Steve would be horribly offended [if] he couldn’t get to the song he wanted in less than three pushes of a button,” another engineer said. Pretty funny but it shows how Apple is the leader in aesthetics and simplicity. I'm not a big fan of Apple personally but the article is a good read, peers a good view into how they do things. Check out the article HERE on Forbes.com and post your thoughts, if wanted.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:48 PM 0 comments  

Opensearch site, add more searches to IE7 and Firefox 2.0

Since both IE7.0 and Firefox 2.0 are pretty much out (yes I know Firefox 2.0 is being released tomorrow) I feel I should speak about the OpenSearch add-on I use for my IE 7.0 install. The Open Search List is an easy way to Add search providers to IE7 and Firefox 2, it has a list of hundreds of search engines to choose from so that you're not always stuck with Google or MSN search. It doesn't install any extra toolbars or anything, it just adds a list of search engines of your choosing to the built-in search engine of Firefox and IE. It's a pretty complete list, things like Bit-Torrent, Yahoo Finance, the New York Times, are all there, and you don't have to make them the default either. If you're just installed one of these browser I recommend you check out OpenSearchList.com and add some search engines to your basic browser, it won't cost you anything so why not.

-Steven

Posted bySteve at 4:28 PM 0 comments  

Firefox 2 to be released tomorrow!

Since I'm probably the last person on earth to mention this I thought I should let everyone else who doesn't know that Firefox 2.0 will come out tomorrow. Personally I haven't tried the Release Candiates or the Betas due to some extensions that I have that I need for blogging purposes but I think I'm going to upgrade tomorrow anyways just to give it a whirl. I like my combo of IE7.0 / Firefox 1.5 / Opera 9, been working good for me. Hopefully firefox 2.0 will be faster, which is one of my main gripes with it. Alright more news later,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 4:21 PM 0 comments  

Free Ink Cartridges!
Sunday, October 22, 2006

This actually sounds like a great idea. I haven't tested these guys out yet but you can be sure I will. PrintCountry is giving away sample compatible ink cartridges to give new customers an oppertunity to test their products. They actually have a cartridge for my printer, so you can be sure I'm trying it. They offer a huge lineup of high quality printer ink cartridges and they're offering sample cartridges for select models for free or a discount on others. To get your Free Printer Ink Cartridge Samples, you just got to go to the site and select your printer from the drop down menu. Then they'll fire you an email and you can get your cartridge sent to you for a nominal shipping free. I'll let you know how it works out for me, give them a shot so we can share our experiences.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:48 PM 1 comments  

Nvidia BANS overclocking on the G80 series

I guess nVidia is just trying to cover its bases here with this tidbit of information from The Inquirer. Well, the inquirer isn't always the greatest source of news in the Hardware industry, but they always make great claims that get people talking. They're saying that they don't want to repeat the many returns of 7900GT's that probably overheated. As long as my 6800GT keeps going at 6800 Ultra clocks I'm straight. Here's the link in case you want to read, HERE. Alright back to the paper, nearly done.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:40 PM 0 comments  

My final puzzle piece!

I'm getting tired of everything, and since all the pieces are going to be out tonight (not by 3pm EST as I thought) this is most likely going to be the last piece I produce for the payperpostbluemonster contest, the contest to announce the secret Blue Monster program. Payperpost can help you or your company with getting your product known through blog marketing. Bloggers can earn money while promoting your product and advertisers get good buzz and reviews about their products. It's win win for everyone.

Here's my final piece for the day, since I'm going to be writing my paper for school for the rest of it, unfortunetly. Enjoy it and good luck on the contest, and share that $500 with a poor college student.



-Steve

Posted bySteve at 3:58 PM 0 comments  

Lacking motivation and Meebo

Yep I have an extremely large paper for my Strength and Conditioning class but I'm lacking the motivation right now. I've a quarter of the way done, which means I'm getting there, but I need that extra push. So right now I'm just chatting on meebo and surfing some websites. Anyone use meebo.com? I think it's the next best thing since I found out about e-messenger and AIM express. Those 2 have seperate windows and pop-ups for each conversation but meebo is nice and clean with all the AJAX in one window. It much easier to manage and much easier to covert up in the event of a boss/coworker dropping by and trying to see what you're doing. Check out meebo if you haven't already at http://www.meebo.com

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 2:46 PM 0 comments  

Last day for the Blue Monster contest pieces

Since I read on the Payperpost boards that all the pieces to the puzzle should be released to the public by 3pm EST today I thought I should just focus on getting some pieces of the payperpostbluemonster contest out for you posties. Payperpost takes care of my blog ads by paying me money to post reviews and opinions on products that I like. It's great cuz I get paid to do something I like doing. Alright enough for the plug for Payperpost here's one of the pieces I've got in my stash, lol.



Enjoy and good luck on finding them all for that $500.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:29 AM 0 comments  

Opinions of Apple?

It seems that lately Apple can do no wrong. Last night I was in Midtown killing time after studying and I popped into the Apple Flagship Store on 5th Ave. I have a picture on my phone but I'm too lazy to upload it. Anyways being in the store got me thinking. I'm one who's been pretty anti-Apple for the years, don't like being locked into one standard, don't like not being able to run anything I wish, has not cared if everything is real pretty, etc. Maybe I'm biased, but it seems that Apple is on the rise and they are becoming pretty vocal of their comtempt of Microsoft. You read the digg forums and everyone takes part in Microsoft bashing. Or they remind people that Apple has never had a succesful virus written for it. Would you trade your PC for an Apple, or do you think Apple is still just a niche product?

Post Your Thoughts,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:21 AM 0 comments  

Brand new day, brand new Blue Monster Piece
Saturday, October 21, 2006

Yep since it's a new day I've decided to share another piece of the payperpostbluemonster contest that I've been talking about for a couple of days. I'm pretty sure a couple of people are close to finding the whole puzzle so maybe this will help them out, since they help me out by reading my blog :). Payperpost.com is a company that's helping bring better blog ads to individuals like us. We get to write about products we like and companies get word of mouth and buzz on their products as well. It's great for both sides. The Blue Monster contest is to announce some new secret program for Payperpost, and the person who completes this puzzle, since it won't be me, will win $500. Pretty sweet deal. Alright here's the piece.



Enjoy and good luck!

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 1:07 PM 0 comments  

Impressed by my local laundromat

Yesterday night from 9-11 I had to do laundry, so I went down a few blocks to the Atlantis Super Wash Center on Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn. Normally I wouldn't be impressed by a laundromat, even if it did have the giant sized washing machines that did my 50 lbs of laundry if not for one thing. Most laundromats have swipe cards to insert money to use on their laundry machines, but I'm actually surprised that the cards themselves at Atlantis have SIM's on them, not just swipe bars. I guess everything is moving forward with the times, since SIM's aren't prone to magnetic interference like magnetic strips are. Pretty cool to see more advanced technology filter down with the times. Only other people I've seen use SIM's are the LaPuce Cards from Bell Canada, SIM cards for cell phones, and the new Solo cards that's popular in the UK. Your thoughts anyone?

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 1:01 PM 0 comments  

Late Night Blue Monster Payperpost Puzzle Piece

Hey I'm still up and I'm about to crash but since I looked I found another Puzzle piece from the payperpostbluemonster contest. I decided to share it up since I know people are ravenous for these pieces on the payperpost forums at http://boards.payperpost.com and thought I might help some fellow posties improve their chances at $500 bucks. I don't think I can speak enough great things about Payperpost, the masters of blog ads for bloggers, since we actually make Money off these ads unlike adsense which gives you pennies, at best. Advertisers get good buzz and reviews about their products, and we get paid, it's that simple. Check my blog for more info Payperpost.

Now here's the late night piece for the day.



Enjoy!

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 12:37 AM 0 comments  

Facebook puts live ads in their news feed

Since I've been putting sponsored posts by Payperpost I find it funny that Facebook is trying to do the same with it's News Feed they added a couple months back. I guess Facebook is trying to leverage some real profit from it's site, since it's tough to maintain a free network for those users. Their ad revenue can't be that great from the banners ads on the sides, and the "Sponsored" groups. I haven't checked mine tonight but someone on Mashable! found a post from the Washington Post. Doesn't seem TOO bad but they have some pretty harsh words for Facebook, especially judging from the comments below. Anyways post your thoughts...

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 12:06 AM 0 comments  

Online Safety Deposist Boxes
Friday, October 20, 2006

Imagine you're on vacation and you lose your wallet, passport and all forms of ID. What would you do? Well with an online safety deposit box you can have scanned copies of your passport, your driver's license, etc. You can have all of your account numbers at your fingertips in minutes. To solve this problem you may encounter You can get your own Online Safe Deposit Box from Keepyousafe.com for free, and if you want a larger sized box it's only around 3$ a month, which is pretty good for security or for travellers. Your information is saved in multiple countries, backed up and mirrored, and it's also encrypted to be secure. It's a great idea and I think anyone who travels at all should take a look at doing this. For more information on getting your own Online Safe Deposit Box check out KeepYouSafe.com.

Thanks,

-Steven

Posted bySteve at 11:39 PM 0 comments  

I'm addicted to Diablo 2 again

Yep I didn't think I could get addicted again to an online game but somehow I've gotten addicted to Diablo 2, again. Usually I play games for a bit, get tired/bored, or real-life comes in and takes me away from the game for months. But with Diablo 2 it's like I can jump in for 10/15 mins, do a couple of runs, have fun, and jump back out again. Also I guess the friendship factor comes into play, since I have a couple of my really close friends playing, so it's good to have people to interact with and play the game with, etc. Anyone have a game like that? I feel like I could be playing Diablo 2 for a long time if I let myself, lol. Post Your Thoughts.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:38 PM 0 comments  

A gift, a 2nd piece of the Payperpost Blue Monster Puzzle for today

Yep I got my hands on another piece of the Payperpost payperpostbluemonster contest and I thought I'd share it since I'm really not motivated enough to search all the blogs for all the pieces and $500. Hopefully one of you guys who read my blog will get it, since I hope this piece is one of the last ones you need, lol. Payperpost is the pioneer in blog marketing, they help bloggers make money advertising in their blog by posting about products, reviewing things they're interested in or creating buzz for a campaign. It's a great idea and it's beneficial for both blogger and advertiser. Alright here's the final piece for tonight, since I'm tired and need to get laundry done.



Good luck and hopefully someone from here will win this thing, and hook me up a little bit, lol.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 7:33 PM 0 comments  

The MPAA of America is brainwashing kids in LA

The Motion Picture Association of America, or the MPAA, is brainwashing the boy scouts of Los Angeles by giving them merit patches for learing about copyrights, intellectual property and "respecting" them. No mention of fair use, or how the industry isn't as squeaky clean as it thinks it is. I just think it's trying to grab some attention from the media to avoid the issue of the dropping revenue from movie sales. I've seen maybe 2 movies this year, there's no point anymore to go to a theater and they want kids to be educated about copyrights so they can waste 15$ to go see a movie and "respect" copyrights. Check out the Boing Boing link HERE.

Also the media is drooling over the PS3, well the 300 journalists that were at the unveiling of the PS3 in San Francisco today. It's ok since no one will really have a ps3 unless they pre-ordered it a LONG time ago or if they grab it on ebay for 1000$ or more. If I grab one it'll be next year or even longer, no point in paying 500/600 dollars for a console, it's just too dam much.

Anyways that's my 2 cents on Friday's news, post your comments

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 7:15 PM 2 comments  

Another Payperpost Blue Monster Puzzle piece!

Hey since I didn't post another piece up last night I'm going to post this one up today. This puzzle piece is part of the payperpostbluemonster puzzle contest where they are annoucing a new program called Blue Monster at Payperpost.com. The postie or blogger who figures the piece out by collecting all the pieces gets a $500 prize. If you don't know what Payperpost is by now you really haven't read my blog, but Payperpost is a company that specializes in blog ads and consumer generated advertising. It's great because we get to blog about things we love and we get to review products, or create buzz, for things we'd normally talk about as well. It's a great deal for advertisers as well since they get their products out to real people, not just ads on the sidebar.

Alright enough jabber, here's my piece for this afternoon,



Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 2:44 PM 0 comments  

YouTube nukes 30,000 video's, and HP becomes the largest PC shipper in the world

Just going through the news today and I find it funny how Dell's not number one anymore. It seems HP has caught up. Maybe the fact that HP has more of a retail presense has helped it out. When was that last time you saw a Dell in Best Buy, or Circuit City? That's not good for it.

Also continuing with my coverage of the YouTube/Google saga/merger now YouTube's taken down 30,000 video at the request of the Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers. I guess this signifies the beginning of the end for hosting TV shows on YouTube, since now everyone with "unauthorized" content will police YouTube themselves, but we'll see what happens. I hate to say it but I knew this was going to happen.

Anyways more later,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 2:37 PM 0 comments  

Hosting Zoom - Reliable Hosting for a great price
Thursday, October 19, 2006

I know when you think hosting that most companies say they're reliable and that they have 99.9% uptime. But what sets Hosting Zoom apart from those other companies that instead of hosting your site on one server, they spread the load over multiple servers using clustered servers. This improves performance by spreading the load, and each part of your website is mirrored across multiple servers so that your site will be up even if something happens to a server. This is the same system mission-critical websites use. The price isn't bad at all for under 8$ a month you get 5gb of space and 100gb of traffic, that's much better than what I paid with 1and1. Definetly a great deal for someone hosting any website since we all want reliabily at a great price. Check out Hosting Zoom for more information and price packages.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:31 PM 2 comments  

AMD 4x4 Technology

If anyone's seen my computer they'll know that I have a nice Athlon64 3200+ Venice sitting at 2.6ghz. I've always been an AMD fan, I like the little guys, ever since my first AthlonXP 1800+, it was the fastest AthlonXP availible at their launch in like 2001 or something, lol. Man that was a long time ago. Anyways AMD's now trying to play some catch-up to Intel's Core 2 Duo processors, and their solution has something based on 4x4, which is a motherboard with 2 sockets so you can have 2 dual cores in there, and up to 4 videocards. This won't turn the tide against Intel alone until their quad-core "Barcelona" comes out, but at least it's a start. Hothardware visited AMD at DigitalLife'06 and got some presentations from AMD. They're definetly worth a look, check out their article at Hothardware.com

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:25 PM 0 comments  

New contest at Payperpost

Just letting everyone here know about another contest at Payperpost.com. It's called the payperpostbluemonster contest since it's leading up to Payperpost.com's announcement of the Blue Monster program. They're offering $500 dollars to the postie who finds all the piece, which won't be me since I'm way-outclassed by some of my fellow posties, lol. Payerpost.com is a way to make money for doing blog ads. Advertisers get review and buzz on their products and we review products. Win win for all in this situation. Alright here's the first piece I'm offering.



Enjoy! I'll try to post up another piece later tonight, until then adieu!

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:49 PM 0 comments  

Now this is a cool device

Was reading Engadget earlier today and they finally got some screens of the new Upravlator from the guys who want to make that OLED keyboard, Art Lebedev. It's a huge panel that can be configured to display multiple colors, gauges or options in a large screen. Just look at the screen shot below, seems like a dream for grahpic artists.



(Images Courtesy of Engadget)

Check out this Engadget Article for more pics and info.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:42 PM 0 comments  

New way of getting loans online

Since ebay revolutionized the way people get products online people have been trying to emulate their success in different ways. This concept has been taken to loans and lending, and there's a new people-to-people marketplace that's been created to take advantage of this trend. Utopialoans, which can be visited at www.utopialoans.com, offers lenders and borrowers get the best possible loans from the largest of these websites, Prosper.com. It's great because with Prosper people can lend money at the rate they want, or bid on a part of an amount to be lent, or ask to borrow a certain amount of money at a specific rate and see what people offer towards your loan amount, but it's tough to find the right loans at times. That's where Utopialoans comes in, they match you with the right loans or borrowers for your needs. In the 4 months Utopialoans has been online they've already done nearly $1 million in transactions among people like yourself and saved those people thousands on interest rates. I think it's a great trend and with new trends it's important to make sure that you get the best deals possible for yourself. Check out UtopiaLoans at www.utopialoans.com for more info.

Thanks,

-Steven

Posted bySteve at 12:01 PM 0 comments  

w00t, just bought a 2gb Mem Stick Pro Duo fro 45$ from frys.com

Yea taking a break from posting news today to post about my find on Frys. Since today's my payday I went searching for a 2gb mem stick duo pro for my SonyEricsson W810i, I need the room for my mp3's/pictures. I was looking at all my regular spots, newegg.com, overstock, zipzoomfly, then I hopped onto Frys.com, whom I've heard great things but never ordered from them before. Looking at their Sony Mem Stick Pro page I found a Sandisk 2gb Gaming MS Pro Duo for 65$ - 20$ MIR with free shipping. That's awesome considering most places sell for about 60$ with shipping, so it's like 25% cheaper. Maybe I sound like I'm bragging but I love finding a good deal, and it's something I need as well. Anyways that's it for now, more tech news/opinions later.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:36 AM 0 comments  

Gotta love these names for products you see on TV
Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Yep I'm talking about those products you see in infomercials that have funny names and a guest "specialist" demonstrate the product. I just saw one on the Ultimate Chopper, it's a mixer/blender/grater that might help you on the kitchen. I guess the greatest thing about this product is the name. Who doesn't want an Ultimate Chopper? What you use to prepare this meal? My Ultimate Chopper.

Come on now it:

It Chops
It Grates
It Minces
It Crushes
It Grinds
It Whips
It Purees!

Isn't that amazing? Anyways the sales tactics have never ceased to amaze me, but I guess that's what you need to do to get your product out there. I'd like to try one, just to see what it's like and to be able to tell people, I have the Ultimate Chopper, lol. Click on one of the links for more info.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:31 PM 0 comments  

TV vs Internet Time

Just posting my thoughts on time spent on the Internet versus time spent on the TV. With the computer and the internet becoming more prodominant in my life I guess my TV time has been cut down, significantly. I'd rather spend my free time looking at things instead of being fed things. I guess the lack of commercials, the huge amount of info or choices on the computer and the fact that it's interactive make the Internet a much more interesting medium for the little free time I have. Anyone prefer the TV to the Internet? or movies to the Internet? Post your thoughts.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:31 PM 0 comments  

MySpace Layouts from LayoutHQ.com

Since I still use MySpace and I know people who spend hours each day checking out their page and every single one of their friends page I thought I'd point this page out to you guys. Everyone on Myspace likes a good layout, since it gives them a chance to be creative on this other wise boring site. What would Myspace be without layouts, embed codes and music? A facebook with less features. Layouts are what set Myspace apart, and the place I go to get my layouts are LayoutHQ.com. LayoutHeadquarters has a lot of Myspace Layouts to choose from, and they have a layout generator for those would don't what a prefabricated layout but just want to change the colors of their layout easily. They have 3 part-time graphic designers working the site and they take requests for layouts from the community, they produce 20 or more 100% custom layouts each week. That's pretty good selection if you ask me. I like the Poker Chips Layout, mostly because of the girl in the back but you can't go wrong with Poker. I'd definetly check out LayoutHQ if you're looking to spruce up your Myspace and give it a change of scenery.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 7:55 PM 0 comments  

How much time do you spend on Social Networking sites?

Since I'm a college student it's probable that I would have a social networking site. It's still all the rage on the Internet, this fad ain't slowing down yet. Now I know there's a debate over which one is more popular in our school, but I think among the students Facebook is easily more popuplar. I'm guessing MySpace is more popular with those with used these sites BEFORE Facebook. I see facebook as possibly practical, which its events and easy photo uploading as opposed to MySpace's comments/bulletins but that's just me. How much time do you spend on these sites? I get suckered in by new comments or messages quite easily, lol, but now I've spend less time thanks to the news feed option of Facebook. Do you spend lots of time stalking friends on MySpace manually or do you enjoy the News Feed that Facebook gives to you? Comment Away

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 7:45 PM 0 comments  

Software for small IT business, save money by renting instead of buying licenses

I've heard of people spending ridiculous amounts of money on software licenses and it's pretty amazing at the costs of some of these things. Some companies can charge easily upwards of $10,000 for a complete license that a smaller company may not need or have the funds for. That's where SecureMyCompany comes in. They provide Managed Services Software, software like Kaseya Software that allows you to control any Windows PC Remotely, install patches/software, etc, at only $9.95 per pc per month, which isn't much compared to the huge cost of software licenses. If you need protecting for these pc's, SecureMyCompany provides McAfee's Total Protection for Small Business software for $3.95/pc per month. It's a complete Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware and Firewall package, great deal considering those go easily for much more directly from McAfee. There's no contracts and no fee's, which is great for those small, 1-5 firms that don't have large amounts of cash.

Here's a screenshot of McAfee's Total Protection, should be just what you need to secure those computers.


(Click on image to see full size)

Also could be good for that home business, check SecureMyCompany out at http://www.securemycompany.com.

Thanks,

-Steven

Posted bySteve at 9:51 AM 1 comments  

Weird twist, Bolt.com and Grouper sued, but not YouTube

Seems like everyday I hear more and more about the YouTube / Copyright infringement. I follow this pretty religiously because I don't want YouTube to end up like Napster or Kazaa, great things that died because of idiot money-grabbing media companies, which I have supported by NOT buying cd's lately to protest their ways of practicing business. The news today is that since Universal has signed an agreement with YouTube they decided to sue Bolt.com and Grouper, 2 smaller competitors of YouTube, with amounts of 150,000$ for each infrindged material posted on their site. I think that this is wrong, especially since the same company has begun to recognize the importance of sharing videos online with the agreement of YouTube. It's also bad to let YouTube have a monopoly, since if they have a monopoly, then we'll have a whole iTunes DRM debate, and that might fragment the industry more. Anyways I'm just rambling but I think it's an important time for video sharing online, and that we need to speak up as customers and content viewers. Post your thoughts.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 9:40 AM 0 comments  

New electronic spin on an old classic item
Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Since I like learning about new electronics, not just ones for geeks, I've seen an idea that interests me as a gift. A company called Voicequilt has produced a new product that's a twist on an old idea. Remember those music boxes that played a tune? Well VoiceQuilt has created a personalized music box that play "your memories" or the memories you want it to play. You can have a people you know or call in yourself to leave messages on VoiceQuilt's Toll-Free System, which will play whenever the person opens the box. The messages can be managed in an online playlist so you can add whichever messages you wish. VoiceQuilt will ship a Keepsake and have an electronic VoiceQuilt setup for that person so that they can download or email themselves what you've sent them. I'd send one to my girlfriend, reminding her of "our song" on our first date and etc, she'd remember instantly and it would be a great gift, since Christmas is coming up, lol. Check out VoiceQuilt.com for more info on how to purchase a box.

Here's a pic to show it off.



Thanks,

-Steven

Posted bySteve at 11:50 PM 5 comments  

Ebooks, you read them?

My friend has been talking to me about ebooks, and how people been making money of them, and how easy it is to publish them. I know you can download published books on ebook format but who really reads these? Whenver I purchase my favorite Fantasy Novels (Terry Brooks and Terry Goodkind are my 2 favorite authors), I purchase the book to have a hard portable copy. But with Sony and others released Ebook Readers that are pretty light and easy to read will more people shift to ebooks or will we wait another while before things go completely digital. It seems like a new field and I don't know much about it, like the advertising versus the commercial side of publishers and the enthusiasts who make their own books. Seems like something to do on another day tho, since it is getting late. Anyone have any thoughts or actively reads ebooks? Let me know or post some comments!

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:39 PM 0 comments  

Want to see a nice kitchen cookery site?

Normally I don't talk much about the kitchen since I don't cook too often (yes I can cook but I get free food) but I was pointed out this link and I was actually surprised by what I saw. Normally most websites are based on templates that don't suit the audience or look horrible since they try to be univerisally compliant, but at Cooking Guide's Kitchen Appliance Guide their template is nice, simple, very clean and doesn't hurt the eyes or bombard you with useless info or banners. It's really what most sites should look like. My friend was looking for some smoothie makers since he's all into the smoothie/protein craze and pointed me the site to learn more about them, since I just thought they were all just blenders. They're actually not, they need special blades to cut the fruit and blend it with the liquid, etc. Anyways if you're looking for more info about kitchen supplies and like a good webpage design check out this Kitchen Appliance Guide. It's worth a minute, even just to look at the layout.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 5:23 PM 0 comments  

My predictions about YouTube might be coming to pass.

I think it's funny seeing how Google buys YouTube then 2 weeks later all the media companies who haven't signed any agreements with Google/YouTube think that they're entitled to 150,000 dollars for each copyrighted material posted up there. I knew someone who think of this, but I think YouTube is safe for now, according to the article on eweek.com blog. This article, LINK, states that even if they started suing YouTube, the DMCA won't hold YouTube responsible. Sounds like good news, as well, according to the site, only like 5-10% of videos are copyrighted material. I'm actually surprised at that, I thought there were a LOT of music videos and etc but now more and more people are creating their own content. I think both of these things are great for the internet, since I don't think YouTube is going anywhere for a while, and since this will help expand video around the net and beyond. What you guys think?

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 5:16 PM 0 comments  

Need a new laptop since your old one exploded? Check out these coupons from Overstock.com

Forgive the title for poking fun at the Sony battery recall of the previous post, but I'm back with my coupon code from Coupon Chief for the week. I use the site whenever I'm looking for coupons, its got a lot of stores and pretty decent deals and coupons. Overstock.com's page at Coupon Chief has a nice selection of coupons, such as 12.5% off for new customers, which could be great if you picked up one of their Dell Laptops or a newer Sony Laptop, one which wouldn't have to be recalled, lol. They got a pretty good selection of sub 500$ laptops, with the coupon that's 450, so that's a pretty good deal. Check it out if you're interested, or if you need coupons for many other stores in general.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 12:21 PM 0 comments  

Update to the Sony battery problem

Just reading engadget this morning, taking it easy since my head is spinning from everything I've had to do in real life. Just found out that Sony's laptop Li-on notebook batteries, which people wondered why they weren't affected by all the battery recalls of Dell, Apple, etc, have been hit by the same bug and are being recalled as well. So everyone with a Vaio is now included, and I'd have them send me a new battery if I were you. No need for your laptop exploding and closing down airports (La Guardia, lol). Sony has to pay costs of $250 Million for these batteries, that's a lot of hurt for a company banking on a few products and not doing so well in most sectors.

Check out the news from Engadget HERE.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 12:11 PM 0 comments  

Postie Patrol 1 - Payperpost Visits Your House!
Monday, October 16, 2006

Just saw a funny video from the guys at Payperpost.com. If you haven't heard yet or have ignored them in the past they're a company that generates consumer-driven advertising through blogs. Yep you can get paid to blog with payperpost. However one of the best things about Payperpost.com is that they love the community, always doing random things and showing up at the weirdest places. Now check out their blog here, http://blog.payperpost.com/2006/10/postie-patrol-1.html, they visit one of the postie's (that's what us PPP bloggers call ourselves) houses and give him three options. Of course he picks the most hilarious one and goes on a scavenger hunt. It's pretty funny and I was actually surprised he found everything. Check it out, it's worth the look, I'd definetly do it if I had the chance, lol. Also check out payperpost.com while your at it, won't hurt will it? Worse thing is that you could make money doing something most people do for free already.

Thanks,

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:19 PM 0 comments  

Imagine paying taxes on your WoW account?

Just found out that the IRS are looking for a way to tax on your income from MMORPG's (that's the term for Online Games like World of Warcraft or The Sims Online) where people have currency and can exchange that currency for cash and other things. There are games like Second Life, where you can make cash for having property online or for services and etc. Sounds like a good idea, maybe better than payperpost, lol, but I guess the game is tidious and etc. I've made money off an online game, when I sold my Diablo 2 account for 50$ way back in the day, it would be worth 3x that now, but I'm lazy and play for fun whenever I play diablo 2 now. What you think about the IRS taxing online gaming revenues? You think that since it's not "REAL" it's not able to be taxed? Your thoughts...

Here's the ars technica article about it if you want to read furhter, pretty interesting.

-Steve

Posted bySteve at 11:09 PM 0 comments