The cheapest full touchscreen phone right now

If you're going to buy a decent touchscreen phone how much do you think it will cost you? Above $600? I'm not talking about those cheap-ass imitation China phones. Well LG just recently released the LG KP500 (nicknamed Cookie) which is the most affordable one that I know of at Php11,900 (around $240).


The LG Cookie is a full touchscreen phone meaning not only you can use the interface just by clicking but you can also flick and drag your fingers (or its stylus). It also has an accelerometer to allow landscape viewing and to enable the QWERTY keyboard for faster texting.

It has a 3 MP camera (sorry no flash) and an expandable microSD slot for up to 8GB additional space. It's slimmer and lighter than the iPhone and has a 3" QVGA LCD display with 256k colors.

It's just a basic touch phone so don't expect 3G connectivity or WiFi from it. It has decent enough speakers if you want to use it as your MP3 player and a built-in FM Radio as well. Data connectivity is via USB 2.0 or Bluetooth.

So if you want to own a stylish touchscreen phone without sacrificing quality and spending a lot of money, you might want to consider the LG Cookie.

The prettiest router around

What does your wireless (or wired) router look like? Same old boxy one? Mine is a compact, yet squarish box that I hide behind my computer monitor. Why can't somebody come up with a more elegant design?

Saudi Telecom is considering redesigning the look of a router. Instead of a boxy type, they want something that could blend well to the design of your room. They came up with the STC Livebox.

 

This router-vase combo that can hold your artificial flowers yet function as a router for land-line, VoIP, LAN, and DSL connections. Prop this on a side table and let those ugly cables hide behind it.

Neat huh? Now why didn't we think of that? I want a lava lamp version next! :)

Join the XML Challenge

Calling all computer programmers and application developers out there, you might be interested in joining The XML Challenge: Search for the XML Superstar. This IDUG contest is open to all individuals of varying skill levels whether you’re just a student or already a professional developer.
There are five separate tracks from this contest that you could choose to join. There’s a Video Contest which is some sort of screen cast or an audition. A Query Challenge where you need to apply your query writing skills to find the answers of a multiple choice question from an XML version of World Factbook. There are also 3 types of Programming Contest using XML and DB2; create a widget or a gadget, port an application or develop an application.

You can choose to participate in all five tracks and winners from each track will get awesome prizes ranging from an iPod Nano, Nintendo Wii, iPhone or an IBM Overseas Lab Trip. Contestants will be separated by region so you don’t have to worry about stiff competition (I’m not saying that it’s gonna be easy either) and there would be winners representing each participating country.

Just head on to their site and complete a Quick Quiz before you can proceed to the contest proper. Early birds will get an XML Superstar T-shirt!

Berkeley Pit, one of the deadliest place on earth

Outside of Butte, Montana lies a pit of greenish poison a mile and a half wide and over a third of a mile deep. It is called the Berkeley Pit and is considered as one of the deadliest place in our planet where there are no fishes or plants or even insects buzzing around. It's even too toxic for microorganisms.

 

So why am I posting about this? Well it's one of the many interesting articles that I found on this cool site called Damn Interesting. If you're curious about the pit and how it became poisonous, head over to their site. It's really a cool site for you to bookmark and visit every time you're bored.

No more Matched.co.uk

If you've been a member of Matched for some time then you know how it can provide good passive income for your blog. Sadly, most good things have to eventually come to an end.

I just got an e-mail from them saying that their site is now closed and that we can already remove their ads from our site. Matched pays blogger to place ads on approved posts from their site. I had four ads approved and they're paying me 12 GBP (British Pounds) per month. Too bad I wasn't able to take advantage of it for a long time.

Oh well. You guys know any other site like Matched?

For now, I'm sticking to WaoIndia which is a PTC site unlike any other. I already have $13.65 on my account but I need $199 for the payout hehehe. Better than other PTC though where I still have to reach the $1 mark even after 3 weeks.

Charice in Good Morning America

16-year old singing sensation Charice was able to perform and showcase her excellent talent once again in front of TV. Last Tuesday (Nov. 18) she performed in Good Morning America with David Foster in the piano.

She performed a medley of a couple of songs from Whitney Houston, I Got Nothing and I WIll Always Love You. Check it out.

If you didn't find anything special from that performance, check out her version of I Will Survive (still with David Foster in piano) with a bit of Michael Jackson strutting and moonwalking. Awesome I must say.

Importance of research when it comes to web hosting

I'll tell you a story why I think you should not get just any web hosting service. There's usually another hosting that could get you value for your money and cheaper often doesn't lead to good service.

I did a bit of research myself when I purchased this web hosting for my other blog. I read forums, reviews and even researched about the company. I was going for cheap hosting since I only have a small but growing blog.

I knew that the company doesn't offer 24 support. What can you expect from dirt-cheap hosting anyway? And I was fine with that. Surely, after a month into the service I've been experiencing problems, down times, database errors, etc. And since I live in the other side of the world, it's hard to communicate with their support so resolving the problem takes days. Now, I'm exceeding my allotted bandwidth per month so I have to upgrade. I'm thinking of switching hosts but believe me, it's not easy to transfer your whole blog to a new host!

To avoid making the same mistake as I did, I suggest you check sites that review various website hosting for different needs including blogging. They do the hardwork for you and gives you a list of hosting ranked by reliability, features, uptime, customer support, user feedback and price-value ratio.

It is very important to start right so choose wisely.

Very nice contest from Tech Dose

Here's a very nice contest from Tech Dose that I think has very good prizes for such easy requirements. The contest will end on Nov. 30 and you could win the following prizes:

1st prize -

• $50 in cash prize from Amit Bhawani
• 1 Year hosting from HostGator - Hatchling Pack worth $107.40
• Review of your website in thewwwblog.com - Worth $50
• 1 AudioAlchemy music conversion software worth $20 from Gadget Advisor

2nd prize -

• $30 in cash prize from Tech Dose
• 6 months hosting from HostBrains - Medium package worth $30.00
• Review of your website in thewwwblog.com - Worth $50
• 1 AudioAlchemy music conversion software worth $20 from Gadget Advisor

3rd prize -

• $15 in cash prize from Tech Dose
• Review of your website in thewwwblog.com and tech-dose.com - Worth $80

Requirements for joining:

• Subscribe to Tech Dose
• Post about this contest on your blog
• Comment on the post answering the questions, 5 favorite apps and 2 gadgets you are fascinated about.

Hope I'll win here. Hurry up and join!

My first Sony experience is with my Sony Walkman

My dad is a loyal Sony consumer and I remember our first television set during the 80's being a technicolor one from Sony. Even our secondary TV was still a Sony and so was our stereo system. Every time we want to purchase an electronic device, the brand Sony is the first to pop up in our mind.

It was no surprise that the first gadget given to me was a Sony Walkman. I still remember it being a boxy contraption with its ugly buttons protruding on the side along with headphones that easily breaks.

Looking back, the Walkman was not pleasing to the eyes at all but it was the iPod of our generation and you gotta have one to avoid boredom during long trips. I use it mainly to listen to radio stations since it was kinda awkward lugging cassette tapes wherever I go.

It definitely gave significance in my life just like the Sony’s World’s First Noise-Cancelling headphone, which allows me to block the sound of babies crying and other noise during long flights.

WaoIndia is too good but it seems to be true

I never really think of PTC (Pay-to-click sites) as a good way to make money. Usually the good ones will only let you earn $0.05 per click and you only have 4 - 5 ads to click per day.

Well I decided to join this new but ugly-designed PTC, WaoIndia, which seems too good to be true. Each click earns you $0.1 and you can click 10-11 ads per day so that's at least $1 a day. Referral clicks can net you $0.05 so if you have just 4 referrals and they click all ads daily, you'll get an additional $2 a day at least.

Sounds good too be true right? Well, it is true and there are lots of payment proof from their forum. Here's the catch though, payout is $199! You have to earn $199 before you can cash out so you better look for plenty of referrals. Oh yeah, expect to wait a long time (60 days) for the 1st payout but the succeeding ones will only take 10 days.

If you wanna try it out please join under my name. I'd be happy to assist you if you have any questions.

e-Cards that you can't resist sending

You want to send an e-card but you want something extraordinary. Not boring, mushy or typical card like you see in Hallmark for that special someone. I posted about wrongcards before which is a not-your-typical e-cards site. If you can't get enough from that site, here's another one with lots more choices to choose from.

Someecards.com has plenty of cards with funny messages that you might find it hard to resist sending it to someone even for just an ordinary day. Here's a sample of a card that you might want to send your spouse or partner this Christmas.
Hehehe, I'm gonna using this for now on for my e-card needs.

Adding a Favicon to your Blogger site

Finally I was able to add a favicon here at Pinoy Web Surfer. It's not too hard to create and add it to your Blogger site. Here are 3 quick:

1. Create your icon. You can head to favicon.cc where you can create your icon online (no need to register). You can preview it from there so you'd know how it would look like in a browser. Consequently, you can also upload your own created image. When you're done, download it and don't change the filename (favicon.ico).

2. Upload your icon. I use PicPanda.com to host my icon since Google's Picasa Web Album won't accept it. Upload your file and grab the link. It's in the Hotlink for Websites after the img src tag.

3. Add the code to your template. Sign in to your blogger account and choose Edit HTML. Just before the </head> tag, place this code:

<link href='http://www.picpanda.com/images/eqpw1u8npq5au6ith18l.ico' rel='icon' type='image/x-icon'/>

Of course replace the href with the link to your own favicon.

There you have it, your own favicon for your site.

Who are the ugliest celebrities?

There's always room for ugliness in the celebrity world but who do you think are the ugliest?

Right off the bat, Michael Jackson should be on the list. Wacko Jacko should've stayed black instead of doing lots of hideous things to his body. Although being ugly, he still is quite an exceptional entertainer with millions of followers around the globe.

Oddee has a list of 19 other celebrities that make up the "ugliest" list. Included are, Rosie O' Donnel, Tori Spelling, Marilyn Manson and DJ Quall from the movie The New Guy.

Save money with ZenniOptical

At these times of global financial crisis, we cannot be sure long we could maintain our lifestyle. Adjustments are needed. We must practice frugality and learn how to cut back our spending. Time to save more instead of spend more.

I refuse to buy a car at this moment since it's much cheaper taking public transportation and I don't have to worry about parking fees and auto maintenance. Besides, work is just 15 minutes away from home. In our household, we budget our weekly expenses to see what areas were can still improve on in terms of saving. We always look for the cheapest version of a grocery item that doesn't necessarily sacrifice its quality. We started buying generic medicine instead of branded ones.

Just like buying generic medicine, you can also do the same with your prescription glasses. I was surprised when my mom recently bought a frame costing just under a hundred dollars. That's too much for a glasses. Why go for branded optical frames when most people won't even know the brand simply by looking?

Sigh, if only she could return them I would gladly buy a pair of prescription eyeglasses with a frame of her choice from ZenniOptical.com. They offer glasses for as low as $8 and premium ones doesn't even reach $50. Oh well, maybe next time.

A digital Polaroid camera?

If you're more than 20 years old you've probably heard of the Polaroid camera. It's a boxy looking camera that can take a snapshot and print it immediately. Remember blowing on the print to let it dry?

Recently, toy company TOMY announced a 5-megapixel digital camera that has a built in printer for 2x3" photo prints. Similar to a Polaroid camera, the xiao TIP-521's printer doesn't use ink but requires a special paper called Zink (zero ink) loaded onto it. The paper is a bit expensive at $8 per 20 rolls but at least you don't have to find a printer to print your pictures.

It's really an upgrade from the Polaroid your parents are used to since now you can preview the photos first before printing it. The xiao TIP 521 will be relased in Japan at the end of the month for $320 and will arrive in US shores on the 2nd quarter of next year.

Think this one would sell good?

[CrunchGear]

Yugatech's Creative Webcam Giveaway

Wanna win a free webcam? Yugatech is giving away 8 Creative Webcams to lucky participants on his contest. It's so easy to join, just comment on his post here or write a post about it. That's it!


Contest ends next Monday (Nov. 10) evening so better hurry up. Open only to Philippine residents though and Yuga will take care of the shipping.

Dunno what he's doing with a bunch of webcams, maybe an internet shop business gone sour? Hehehe.

Widget Tips for Bloggers Part 2

If you miss part 1 of my tips on what widget you should prioritize putting on your blog's sidebar, the link is here.

Here's the next list of common widgets that a blogger have at his disposal.

1. Categories/Label
I personally like this widget on my sidebar. It gives new users a quick glance on what type of posts they can see in my blog. And if they read a post that's interesting, they will most likely check out other posts under the same label. This can be placed below the fold of your site and still be effective.

Grade: B+. You might want to skip this if you have tons of categories (like maybe 25+).

2. Blogroll/Blog List 
This widget shows your friends' blogs or sites you frequent in your sidebar. Professional bloggers avoid this but for a small blog, it would help create a community of sites that shares the same theme of your blog. If a visitor see sites that they also frequent on your blogroll, they will most likely feel at home reading your blog.

Grade: B. If you have plenty of lists in your blogroll, better create a separate page for them.

3. Archive
So you want to show off to your readers how long your blog has been going by displaying the months/years on your archive. But how often would you click on those links if you see them in other blogs? I don't.

Grade: F. Better create a separate page for it with comments disabled. Check out my archives page for an idea.

4. Search
I believe all blogs should have a search box. If I read something interesting from a blog and want to read it again after a month, I don't want to trawl over all pages till I see it. Do you? A search box is a must and it's quite easy to set one up with Google's Adsense for search.

Grade: A+. Make sure to place this on the upper part of your blog where it's usually located.

This is it for now. I'll continue with other not so common widgets on the next part. I have a few more in mind but if you have suggestions on what other widgets that you commonly see, please feel free to comment.

Pinkista’s 3rd Anniversary Contest

Pinkista.net is holding her 3rd anniversary contest where she'll be giving away a total of $90 in cold cash (well via Paypal that is). This one's also an easy contest to join and you can earn multiple raffle entry by a number ways. Subscribe to feed, StumbleUpon, Technoarti, etc. Head here for contest details.

Here's the list of prizes in case you're interested:

1st winner
$30 cash thru paypal
$20 cash thru paypal (sponsored by Swastik of STZ)
Blog Review worth $30 from Wahb.biz (sponsored by Paul)
1000 EC credits from Palabuzz (sponsored by Paul).
125×125 advertisement on Pinkista.net for 1 month

2nd winner
$10 cash thru paypal
$10 cash thru paypal (sponsored by Swastik of STZ)
1 yr domain (.com/.org/.net/.us) + hosting package (sponsored by Valerie)
1000 EC Credits (sponsored by Nina)
125×125 advertisement on AppleCandie.Us for 1 month

3rd winner
$10 cash thru paypal (sponsored by Swastik of STZ)
1 yr domain (.com/.org/.net) (sponsored by Nina)
8gb hosting package (sponsored by Micay)

4th winner
$5 cash thru paypal (sponsored by Swastik of STZ)
125×125 advertisement on My Candypastel for 1 month
1000 EC Credits (sponsored by Dhadha)

5th winner
$5 cash thru paypal (sponsored by Swastik of STZ)
1000 EC Credits from my Pinkista.net

Contest ends on Nov. 30, so act now if you wanna join. I sure could use that hosting package.