Manny Pacquiao, 2008 Champion of Champions

ESPNStar.com recently had a poll on who will be the Champion of Champions for 2008. They had a list of athletes who have excelled in 2008 that fans will vote on who will advance to the next round until he is declared as the Champion of Champions.

Right now at the final round it’s our very own Manny Pacquiao against Malaysia’s squash queen, Nicol David. But only a few hours before deadline (tonight as 12), Manny has already garnered 90.75% of the votes cast while Nicol only has 9.25%. Pacquiao has bested MotoGP Champ Valentino Rossi, Liverpool’s striker Fernando Torres and India’s cricket God, Sachin Tendulkar.

Also included in the list are Kobe Bryant, Olympic sprinter Usain Bolt, Tiger Woods, Rafael Nadal and Michael Phelps.

Gmail gives you another reason to dump IE

Still can’t bring yourself into downloading and installing a different web browser other than that pre-installed Internet Explorer?

Well if you’re using Gmail a lot then better make the switch to Firefox 3 or Google Chrome. Google recommends those two browsers instead of IE7 when accessing Gmail since it will give you quite a boost in speed reporting it to be twice as fast.

But if you still can’t let go of your trusty IE, don’t fret as IE8 which is reportedly much faster is just around the corner.

Save on ink with an ink-friendly font

A Dutch company called SPRANQ developed a new font design that they say uses up to 20 percent less ink. It’s called the Ecofont.

Before settling down to the final version of Ecofont with the tiny holes in the middle, they first experimented on fonts with zebra stripes and thin letters. This font is available for free over at Ecofont and is compatible with Windows, Mac OSX and Linux.

Ecofont is a cool idea and reminds me of the print-out from dot-matrix printers but only in reverse. You wouldn’t notice the tiny holes unless you look very closely.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Merry Christmas dear visitor… or Happy Holidays if you don’t have celebrate Christmas. Anyway, enjoy your holiday break. Check out this cool e-card!

There are more of these from Wrongcards.com. Check them out!

Download online videos with Mux.am

If you want to download online videos from sites such as YouTube, Metacafe, Break.com, etc. but don't want to install any additional software, try downloading it via Mux.

Mux is a site where you can convert and download any online videos right there and then. Simply enter the URL of your video (you can also upload) and choose a format you want it to be converted to. You can even choose the H.264 or the iPod format.

After selecting your video format, converting takes a few minutes depending on the length of the video. You can choose to wait or have Mux e-mail you the download link when it's done.

Where to download full music albums

I've been filling up my brand new iPod Touch with MP3's and I'm careful that the songs within the same album have the same bit rate and quality. So this means I have to avoid downloading songs within the same album from different sources.

Good thing I found this site where I can download full music albums for free. I don't know if you're already familiar with Full-albums.net but I was able to get my Aerosmith (Devils Got a New Disguise The Very Best of Aerosmith) album from this place.

The site can be a bit tricky to navigate but make sure you click the FREE links. They will point you to file storage sites such as Rapidshare for your download link.

Keep note of the password coz some of the zipped files are password protected. And don't forget to do a virus scan. You never know what you can get from pirated music.

A cheap alternative to Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Digital Reader

Let's face it, the two best eBook reader (Amazon's Kindle at $359 and Sony Digital Reader at $399) is not that exactly cheap even for book lovers. Kindle is packed with features including wireless capability while Sony is well... it's Sony.

Fortunately, there's a new player in town... the eSlick which is from the same company that made Amazon's Kindle. This eBook reader is cheaper though with an introductory price of $230 ($259 after it launches) and will be available in black gray or white.

It doesn't have the wireless capability like Kindle but not everyone needs the news delivered to their reader. It can accept PDF, TXT and other printable documents on its 128MB built-in memory (expandable up to 4GB microSD). Connectivity is via USB and it also has a built-in MP3 player.

Major security flaw in IE now fixed

Barely a week after a major security flaw in all versions of IE has been discovered, Microsoft was able to release a bug-fix to remedy the problem. Security experts are recommending Internet Explorer users to immediately install the patch.

To install the patch, just run Windows Update (you can see it on your Control Panel) and you should see a selection for Security Fix for your version of Internet Explorer.

The malicious code which latches on iFrames of legitimate web sites allows hackers to steal online gaming passwords (for now) from your computer.

Oh yeah, Mozilla also issued recently its own bug-fix for critical issues affecting the security and stability of Firefox 3.

Source: PC World

Stop using Internet Explorer, at least for now

If you can't find a reason to switch to another browser from Internet Explorer, here's a really good one.

Security experts including Trend Micro are advising IE users to switch to any web browsers for the time being when a new major security flaw was found affecting all versions of Internet Explorer.

Thousands of compromised webs sites can exploit the IE security hole allowing them to steal passwords saved. As of right now it can only steal online game passwords but experts are not discounting that it can be used to do more damage really soon.

Microsoft is still on the works to create the patch so for now, it's either you stop using IE or set its security zone setting to the highest mode possible.

Source: BBC

Blogger.com with GoDaddy custom domain

You've probably noticed by now that I have my own custom domain now. I recently purchased a .com from Godaddy and it took me some trial and error on how to make it work for my site.

The important thing is to have your blogspot address forward to both www.yourdomain.com and yourdomain.com. Here's a short guide on how to accomplish that.

1. In Godaddy.com, go to your Domain Manager and click the Total DNS Control link at the bottom of the middle column.

2. Change the @ entry under A (Host) to 64.202.189.170. This is the forwarding IP of GoDaddy.

3. Add a www entry under CNAMES (Aliases) pointing to ghs.google.com. Your page should look something like this:

4. Now go back to Domain Manager and click the link for Forwarding.

5. Check Enable Forwarding. Type in your address (e.g. http://www.yourdomain.com) then select 301 for the redirect type.

6. Lastly, login to your Blogger account. Go to Settings > Publishing and type in your custom domain. It should look something like this:

That's it. Wait for a while for changes to reflect (within 24 hours) then tell your friends to update their links to your site. Blogger will take care of people still using your blogspot address to direct them to your new domain.

It's really easy to enjoy your own custom domain with Blogger.

Goodbye Polaroid

When I heard this, I didn't event know that Polaroid is still alive today. Anyway, the company will cease the manufacturing of its well known, iconic insta-film by the yearend as announced early this year.

So if you still have a Polaroid camera with you, hold on to it as it becomes a collector's item. As for the film, you will probably only get to buy those from resellers (probably on eBay) next year.

If you have a soft spot for the once magnificent Polaroid camera, you might want to check out the Save Polaroid web site where people put testimonials, stories and even eulogies for the Polaroid.

Ziddu's acting up all the time

Ziddu is a free online file storage service that allows you to earn cash whenever somebody downloads from your folder. I've been using it to share small files that I share through my blog and I'm almost at the $10 payout. Sounds good right? Well, it is but lately their site has been acting up all the time.

I've been experiencing a lot of times every now and then when I can't access their site. I don't think their hosting service is up to par with that of popular file storage sites such as Rapidshare and Mediafire.

Right now, I'll just wait till I reach the $10 so I can cash out my earnings. Then I'll avoid Ziddu for a while until there site becomes stable. How about you? Are you using Ziddu as well?

Perfect gift for the OC techie

Today, most people own a lot of gadgets. From mobile phones (sometimes more than one), iPods, digital cameras to portable media players that you don't know how to organize each of their chargers.

I have a bag beside my bed to store my chargers but once I charge multiple devices, my bed becomes a mess of black cables. Here's a cool system that might just do the trick if you can't stand those bundle of cables from your chargers.

Bluelounge's Sanctuary is a cable management system that can eliminate cable clutter while charging. This attractive bin hides 12 built-in connectors underneath its padded cushion for different devices. It has tips for mini/micro USB, iPods, Nokia, LG, Samsung, etc. so that all you need to do is place your device in the bin and connect the adapter. The only cable you would see is its own power adapter.

There are two colors available. White one costs $130 and dark wood will set you back $150. Now isn't that a great gift for your neat-freak techie friend?

Watch the Pacquiao vs De La Hoya match live online

It's the time of the year again as boxing fans and Filipinos all over the world pause just to witness another great Pacquiao match. This time it will be in a higher weight class division against the Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya.

If you want to watch the fight live in the comforts of your home without paying for PPV, check out this list of streaming video sites:

• Techsterr
• Justin.tv (feu11)
• Or try your luck with SopCast

Try watching replay videos at www.pinoychannel.tv

Will Pacquiao continue his reign against another Mexican boxer further sealing his title as the "Mexceutioner"? We hope he does. It will be a great fight that you shouldn't miss as De La Hoya who comes in as the underdog looked pumped and ready to brawl it out against Pacman.

Start your EC Dropping with Dropaholics

If you're an active member of Entrecard and looking for quality sites to drop, start your dropping by using Dropaholics Top 100 Droppers. Having a set of 300 sites to drop daily will at most get you just 300 reciprocated drops. But if you vary your drops based on who's active, you'd get more than 300 drops in return.
Dropaholics Top 100 list is always updated with the most active Entrecard droppers. I always try to maximize my drops and found my site on that list. But when I went on a vacation for 3 days with no access to the internet, I was removed from the list. That's how updated Dropaholics is.

So my dropping method is to drop on all 100 sites on the list, then my own bookmarked sites then finally via my EC inbox for the recent droppers to my site.

Try it out and avoid being stuck dropping on outdated blogs.

Manny Pacquiao on the cover of Reader's Digest Asia

If you still don't know, the December 2008 issue of Reader's Digest Asia is a must-have for Filipino RD fans around the world. In its cover is our very own Manny Pacquiao and has a nice feature about his fight against Oscar De La Hoya this coming Sunday.

This issue with the Pacquiao cover is only available in the Philippines so you might want to ask somebody from here to buy one for you. The original cover for the December issue is a boring family tree. Hehehe.

Can't wait for the big fight this Sunday. I hope it will be a good fight and not something like the UFC 91 Couture vs Lesner. Go Pacquiao!