Easily share files between two computers via USB

Well here’s a very nifty device that I’m sure would be a lot of use to those of you who usually work with multiple machines.

Typically if you want to transfer files between two machines, you copy it to an external drive then copy it to another machine. It would be easier if you’re in a wireless network but the transfer rate is usually sluggish if you’re copying large files such as videos.

This USB 2.0 Data Copy and Internet Connection Sharing Dongle is a nice addition to your laptop accessories. You can copy data from any machine at USB 2.0 speed to and from your laptop without the hassle of joining any network. Not only that but if the machine you’re connecting to has Internet, you can use that as well.

Everything is plug and play so it’s pretty easy to use and is compatible with both Windows XP and Vista.

Play Guitar Hero on your PC with JamLegend

Here’s a fun way to spend the remaining minutes of your lunch break. You can play Guitar Hero on your PC with your keyboard as your instrument.

Just head to JamLegend.com and quickly sign up (no need to activate account or confirm e-mail). Just like Guitar Hero you can hold your keyboard like a guitar pressing F1, F2, F3 and F4 for the chords then Enter to strum. You can also duel with other friends online by adding them to your buddy list.

The songs are not popular since all are made by independent musicians but they’re still good nonetheless (try Canon Rock for starters). It’s a nice way to let others enjoy your music, just contact them to have your song included. I’m gonna shut up now so you can try it out.

Atlantis found?

The net has been buzzing about the supposed discovery of the location of Atlantis. If indeed it is the City of Atlantis. If you want to check it out yourself, head to Google Maps then enter the coordinates: 31 15'15.53N, 24 15'30.53W.

What you will see is the Atlantic ocean 600 miles west of Morocco. There are strange line patterns that forms a rectangle on the ocean floor that cannot be natural. Experts say that the coordinates is one of the prominent places for the proposed location of Atlantis.

However, some experts believe it is not. According to Google, the pattern is simply an “artifact of the data collection process”. If it is, then let’s expect it to be gone in a few weeks when data is refreshed. If not, I’ll wait for the National Geographic feature about it.

Source: Mail Online

Cell phone companies to implement standard charger

At the recent Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona, 17 mobile phone companies have agreed to a universal cell phone charger. And that will be the micro USB which is already available to a number of handsets.

So what could this do? Well I’m hoping that there would be a a price cut on mobile phones since chargers will just be an add-on to a phone packages. Most of you may have lots of chargers piling up at home and it’s really a waste since all you need is maybe a couple of them. Finally you can also charge your phone from your PC. No need to crouch to plug it into a wall socket.

There’s no word yet on when they will start implement this but included in the list of companies are Nokia, LG, Samsung, Sony Ericcson, T-Mobile, AT&T, Motorola and Vodafone. Unfortunately, Apple didn’t sign up so don’t expect micro-USB sockets on those iPhones for a while.

Source: GSM World

Is GPS Tracking bad?

We’re all familiar with GPS tracking for quite some time now. It’s an old technology but still not yet widely utilized, which is a good thing in my opinion.

We see it usually installed in vehicles to help drivers navigate unfamiliar places. GPS tracking is also used to locate lost or stolen vehicles. Just a few years ago it was also introduced in mobile phones which can double as a GPS tracking system. This is very helpful to keep tabs on your kids.

There’s also a bad side on GPS tracking especially if used for malicious intent. Criminals can track you and study your pattern and behavior. We’ve seen in movies how GPS tracking is used to monitor a person’s daily route and routines. And I won’t be surprised if there’s already GPS device that is so small that it cannot be easily detected.

So is GPS tracking good or bad? Well if you have nothing to hide or no enemies then you don’t have to be paranoid about it.

Are paid posts also being affected by the economic crisis?

To all of you who do sponsored or paid posts I have a question. Do you think this form of advertisement is also affected by the economic crisis? Is it just me or is there lack of quality opportunities for paid posts?

I’m a member of a handful of such sites with SocialSpark and PayPerPost being the most reliable. However, I haven’t been able to write for SS for almost two months now due to lack of good opportunities. It’s always affiliate posts which I don’t think is worth my time. PayPerPost on the other hand has lots of opps but not really good ones.

What I mean by good opps are not those $3 for 200 words or $.50 for 50 words. What’s your minimum price by the way for doing paid reviews? I’m reluctant to touch those $5.00 (and below) for 200 words unless it’s interesting or in-line with what I usually write in my blog. How about you?

I just think that with the global economic crisis, companies needs to scrimp on advertisement so they have to go for alternative ways and one of those is via paid reviews. What do you think?

Rin on the Rox guests on Ellen DeGeneres Show

Last February 3rd, YouTube Filipina duo singing sensation Erin and Roxanne (collectively known as Rin on the Rox) guested on The Ellen DeGeneres Show. It was just last week that the episode was aired. Here it is if you missed them.

After being interviewed and given a couple of tickets to the Grammy’s, the girls went to the bathroom to perform for Ellen singing Ne-yo’s Miss Independent. Roxanne really looked like a Paula Abdul don’t you think?

Way to go girls! Hopefully it’ll be a recording contract and an album next! No more working at the Chinese restaurant. Hehehe.

Go for cheap but quality eyeglasses

With the hard times we’re experiencing right now due to the global economic crisis, it’s just practical to save money every in every chance we can get. Jobs are unstable and it’s quite scary if you suddenly find yourself without one.

If you’re planning on getting a pair of prescription eyeglasses, you would be surprised at the cost of having a pair made. My mom’s new pair of glasses cost her more than $200 and I think that price too much.

There’s this article in the Money & Policy section of the New York Times that offers excellent tips on how to care for your eyes without breaking your bank. One suggestion is to “comparison-shop for frames” because frames can take up a huge chunk of the price of your glasses.

One online retailer that they recommend for a cheap pair of eyeglasses is ZenniOptical.com. Their glasses that has generic frames and lens with anti-scratch coating goes for as low as $8 plus $4.95 shipping.

Actually, you can save more in the shipping if you buy in multiples because shipping fee will still be at $4.95. Perfect for that backup glasses or reading glasses when you’re not too conscious on how it would look like on you.

Samsung’s solar-powered phone, “Blue Earth”

Samsung recently introduced its own earth-friendly phone they’re calling “Blue Earth” for the fact that its casing is molded out of recycled water bottles. Neat huh?Even if the casing is cheap looking, the phone has a touch-screen display and a big solar panel on its back for alternative charging. Aside from a pedometer and a possible camera (based on the photos), there’s no announcement made yet on its other features and its pricing.

This phone is useful if you’re stuck on an island which has no electricity. Only thing you have to worry then is a signal.

My question is if you leave the phone outside, how long will it take to charge the phone before it gets stolen? Hehehe.

Lots of catching up to do with Google Reader

Man it’s good to be back from a much needed break. The problem with spending a lot of time online and having to take even just a 4-day vacation without any internet connection is that by the time you get back, you have a lot of catching up to do.

First there’s the e-mail but fortunately I just had to sift through 20+ legit e-mails (20 others are spam). Then I had to check my blogs to see if I need to reply on the comments.

I also had to check my Facebook to see what’s happening lately with my friends. Good thing I’m not a member of other social networking sites or else I won’t be able to write a post. I also had to check NBA news to see how my fantasy NBA team is doing.

Finally, there are the blogs that I follow. When I opened my Google Reader, I had to spend an hour going through all those missed post and also leave a comment here and there. I really am glad with RSS and Google Reader making it easier to catch up.

So it’s good to be back and thanks to all who visited and mostly to those who left comments. I appreciate it!

Shopping smartly online

Whenever I decide to purchase an expensive gadget, first thing I do is read a lot of reviews about it. Not just from one huge site like Amazon but also from other popular blogs and technology sites.

I also do a search with the keywords being the gadget plus the word “problem” or “disappointed” to see if there are negative comments about it. I would like to know if there are recurring problems about the product, bugs or common issues and if I can live with those.

Finally when I’m really decided on buying, I scour the net for the cheapest deal available. One site that could help me with getting the best bargain is ShopWiki. What’s good about this site from other price grabbing sites is that this one is not biased. Some similar sites are being paid by merchants to have their store shown more in the results and that would be counterproductive with what you’re doing.

So if you’re looking for the stores where you can get the cheapest Nikon digital camera, simply key in Nikon Digital Cameras in the search box to get prices from stores. All stores listed are in Australia but I’m hoping they would soon cater to US stores as well. 

Found an iPod Touch 16GB selling for only AUD419 (less than P13,000) with ShopWiki by the way.

What dropping 300 EC daily did to my site

I joined Entrecard just October last year and I’ve been dropping the maximum of 300 cards as much as I can up to this day. I can count in one hand the number of days I wasn’t able to drop 300 so I’ve been a diligent dropper.

Anyway, if you’re wondering what the effect of that task had on my blog then read on.

• Slight increase of daily visits. Before EC, my site was only averaging about 120 visits (according to Google Analytics) daily. Today, I’m only averaging about 250 visits. Not a big increase but mainly it’s because my site is poor in SEO.
• Huge bump in Alexa ranking. I don’t know if this is important to you but before EC, I have an Alexa ranking in the millions but now I’m already ranked at 323,210. If you want to boost your Alexa rank quickly, EC can help.
• Lots of comments. Since I’m getting a lot of blogger visitors (mostly EC members), my posts are getting a lot of comments. I just have to write an interesting post with a good title and people will actually read and comment. EC can help expose your site to a huge number of bloggers so all you have to do is write good content.
• High bounce rate. I guess this is expected since most visitors simply drop a card then leave your site so the average time a reader spends on my site is a measly 51 seconds. That’s not good by the way.
• Increase in site community members via MyBlogLog. If you can see the MyBlogLog widget on the sidebar, I now have 93 members in my community. Before EC it was just 16. So expect a boost of members if you’re a top dropper in EC.

Having said that, is it worth the effort in dropping 300 cards daily? Well it depends on what you’re after. If it’s the number of visitors then I don’t think it’s worth it, you should boost your sites SEO for that. But if you want quality visitors who will actually read and comment on your posts then go for it.

I’m having a short break by the way as I’ll be having a vacation trip starting tomorrow. See you soon!

Where is the best deal in web hosting?

I’m about to do a website for a friend and when asked where he could host it, I simply said I don’t know… somewhere cheap? Anyway, that should not be the case since cheaper hosting usually have drawbacks which can only hurt you in the long run.

So while looking for some good hosting sites in the internet, I found this site that’s all about web hosting. They actually do all the research for me and only thing I have to do is choose from their recommendation based on categories such as Cheap hosting, Dedicated servers, Shared hosting, etc.

Aside from reviews and ratings, the site also has informative articles and tutorials such as what to look for when choosing a web host, switching to a new host or how to go about e-commerce hosting.

Create your own personal fonts with YourFonts

Was there a time when you could type in your machine with your own handwriting? Creating a customized fonts is not that easy but there’s a FREE online service that can do it for you.

With YourFonts, you can easily digitize your handwriting and have it as a font for your PC. All you have to do is print their template (PDF or image), populate the cells with your strokes, scan it, upload it and download your font.

Now if you have a tablet and pen for a mouse, you don’t have to print the template. Simply edit it using Adobe Acrobat (PDF) or Illustrator (image) then send it back when you’re done.

Would it be cool if your blog’s font is your own handwriting? Well unless you write like a doctor. Hehehe.

Asus Eee 1000HE netbook makes a good buy

I don’t have a netbook yet although I came really close to getting one (MSI Wind or Lenovo S10) last year. Maybe it’s just that I’m not satisfied with the Gigabyte M912 netbook that was loaned to me for a few months to feel the need to really get one.

Anyhow, when I saw this news about the Asus EEE PC 1000HE, I felt the urge again to get one. Asus 1000HE is just like its predecessor but with the following improvements:

• Intel Atom N280 processor. That’s 1.66 GHz as opposed to the usual 1.6GHz.
• High density battery for up to 9 hours. Battery is really an issue for me and other netbooks usually just give you 3 hours average. 7 hours is fine by me and this one is not even an extended battery.
• Improved keyboard. Although the first version of Eee 1000 already has a 92% keyboard, the keyboard on this one are chiclet-type which is similar to that of the Sony Vaio P and Macbooks.
• And then there’s the usual specs, 10” display, 160GB HD, WiFi, webcam, Bluetooth, etc.

If this netbook will really start with $399, I’m afraid I have to get one when it’s released.

Where to get WoW accounts

If you’re just starting up on World of Warcraft but want to be helpful right away during siege or quests or just be competitive straight out, consider buying a pre-leveled account instead.

It’s hard to buy from a private seller unless you know the person since you might get scammed. Fortunately, there are private companies out there offering cheap WoW accounts and other popular MMOA games. Check them out and start pwning right off the bat.

What would you do with a USB monitor?

Nope this one’s not a TV display to watch movies inside your car. This is Buffalo’s 7-inch USB monitor. It’s just a lil’ plain monitor that has a 800x480 WGA resolution that you plug into your PC’s USB without the need for external power.

So what can you do with a little USB monitor? Well if you’re a graphics designer you can use this secondary display solely for the tools. You know how it gets crowded with all those Photoshop windows. You can also use this for servers so you don’t have to use a full-blown monitor. Or you can use it to display your IM messages to avoid being distracted by pop-up messages on your main screen.

I guess this gadget is not for everyone but how I would love a real LCD monitor that doesn’t require a separate cord for its power.

Speak-er speech bubble speaker

If your room is full of unusual-looking or art deco modern gadgets then you might want to also own a pair of Speak-er speakers. No that’s not a typo.

Speak-er is a cleverly designed desk speakers that looks like what else, a speech bubble. There’s no word yet if it’s better than your ordinary run-of-the-mill speakers but bring this in school, plug your iPod on it and watch your friends go “ooohhh”.

A pair is gonna cost around $120 when it will be available late this year.