Find out what happened on the day you were born

Here’s a cool site that will show you what happened around the world on the day you were born.. or any other particular day as a matter of fact.

With Kakorama: A ride into the past, simply key in your birth date or a particular date of interest and the site will show you what the number one song in the charts was on that day, the Time magazine cover for the week as well as famous people who were born on the same day.

I wish it could pull significant facts or events as well but I guess their program can’t handle it. Maybe you can use Google for that. Still cool though.

Fax over the internet

We all know about calling people around the globe for free with the aid of internet VoIP services such as Skype and Vonage.

VoIP stands form Voice over Internet Protocol which allows transmission of voice communication over the Internet by converting telephony speech as digital audio. You can use any standard headsets with microphone to communicate with the other end provided they’re on the same set up as well.

Consequently, there’s also Internet Phones which allows you to call any landline all over the world inexpensively. The other party doesn’t need any special equipment, only the caller needs the internet phone.

But did you know that you can also send Internet Fax to phone? Just like a fax machine but it would be a computer transmitting data onto a fax machine on the other end. Digital documents can be transmitted over the internet and will be received as ordinary fax on the other end.

Head over to Spectrotel and enjoy their internet-to-phone deals. Check out Spectrotel's profile for more exciting offers.

Free loot items from Mafia Wars

Having trouble collecting those Untraceable Cellphones, Blackmail Photos, ITR’s in Mafia Wars? Here’s a quick way on how to get them loots without spending your precious energy.

Did you notice that you can receive certain free items from your mafia members but only once per member? It sucks if they give you worthless loots such as armored trucks and motorcycles right? Well you can control what item you will receive with this trick.

1. Head to http://vern.com/mwtools and add FreeGift to your bookmark toolbar (Opera, Chrome, Firefox… sorry IE users).

2. Go to your Gifting page and click you FreeGift button.

3. Select the number of items you want to receive and the item that you need.

4. Sit back and Relax. You can open another window to do other things by the way.

What the script does is to go over your list of mafia members and force them to use their “free gift” option by sending you the item that you need.

So if you have 500 mafia members, you can extract 500 items using the script but I suggest getting only the exact number that you need and save the rest for other items. Better start adding more friends because you will need a LOT of Blackmail Photos.

Microsoft tries again with a new antivirus software

Who has Microsoft Defender but thinks it’s a waste of space and memory resource? Apparently, a lot of people did and as a result, Microsoft discontinued the program last year as it prepares for its replacement.

Microsoft Security Essentials is a free antivirus as Microsoft takes another stab at the antivirus industry. It’s available now although in the beta stage still.

Unfortunately, it reached the maximum 75,000 beta testers and it’s not accepting downloads at the moment. So if you’re interested in giving it a go, better check back at a later time.

No worries, I probably wouldn’t use an antivirus created by Microsoft anyway. Why not make Windows less vulnerable to virus in the first place instead of creating an antivirus?

Find open jobs from your mafia in Mafia Wars

If you’re playing Mafia Wars and have lots of members, sometimes you can’t keep up on who needs help with a job because of the spam you’re getting in your news feed.

Vern created this neat DoJobs bookmarklet that can go through all your mafia members and check whether they have an available job that you can do.

Simply drag DoJobs into your bookmark toolbar (Firefox and Chrome, no IE please). Go to your Gifting Page and click the bookmarklet. Select default values of 0 then sit back as it to does its thing.

This is pretty useful for those with a huge number of mafia and I would suggest running this script at least once a day.

Search for eBooks with eBook Search Queen

Book Search Queen is a new search engine made specifically for finding eBooks scattered all over the web. It can search for eBooks and documents in PDF, PPT, TXT and RTF formats. If you don’t know the title of the book, you can search based on the text used.

So how does the search fare?

I tried the keyword ‘Harry Potter’ to search pdf format of the book. The search did not yield any of the sort but instead got me articles or research about Harry Potter with the top result going to Translating Harry Potter.

Next I used the keyword ‘Joomla’ hoping to find books about it. Probably something like Joomla for dummies. No luck either. I only got installation manuals and user’s guides which you can also find easily with Google.

Finally, I tried ‘technical architecture’ for my keyword with the hopes of finding examples that I can use for a document I am creating. Sure enough there are lots results in PPT and DOC format for technical architecture used in different industries.

From the looks of it, it’s basically a Google search that targets eBooks and documents but with a focus more on legally obtainable documents not subject to any copyright.

Wanna be an MTV Blogger?

Got this on my mail from Nuffnang and figured you might be interested.

MTV is looking for current, original and talented bloggers possessing the flair for writing to be voices of today's youth. If you are an inspired wordsmith in tune with what's hot and what's not in entertainment, this could be the big break for you!

As an official MTV Blogger, you'll manage your own blog calendar, meet celebrities, travel and cover exclusive MTV events.

There’s no actual requirement listed but this job is for MTV Asia and there’s a field for a blog URL (not a required field) on the entry form.

They’re looking for 4 official MTV Bloggers and I’m guessing each with its own field. Celebrities, Fashion, Tech and Entertainment.

So what’s in store if you’re chosen?

• Monthly allowance of US$500
• Cool Puma apparel
• Invitations to exclusive MTV events
• Interview opportunities with industry movers and shakers
• Preview and try out new gadgets
• Full press privileges and access as accorded to an MTV staff

Nice huh? Hurry up cause deadline of entries is on June 30. You can find the entry form here and I think you also need to sign up for an MTV Asia account.

Where to read free manga online

If you’re like countless of others who enjoy reading mangas (anime comics) then you would be glad to know (that is if you don’t already know) that there are sites where you can read them for free.

One Manga is the first choice to read mangas online. They post daily updates and they have a very wide collection of mangas. Their reader is simple and very easy to use and those with monitors with huge resolution would have no problem reading mangas from the site.

If for some reasone One Manga is down or it is blocked from your connection, you can also check out Manga Hut which works similarly as One Manga.

Remember to read the panels from right to left!

Largest capacity flash drive belongs to Kingston at 128GB

Kingston recently rolled out a flash drive with what is now has the largest capacity at 128GB. The new DataTraveler 200 comes in 32GB, 64Gb and a whopping 128GB.

I remember owning my first flash drive that can only accommodate a measly 64MB and I’m already satisfied with my current 4GB flash drive. But 128GB?? That’s more than our external hard drive which only has 80GB.

It’s big alright but I doubt people will rush into buying one when they find out that it costs a hefty $546! Let’s see, at that cost I could buy a netbook or a 1TB external hard drive or even a DSLR. Better wait for the price to go down which should happen in just a few months.

Introducing the Asus Formula Series graphics card

If you’re building a very good computer then you would already know that the most expensive and powerful piece should be the graphics card. The new Asus Formula Series graphics card is another proof of that.

The housing of the Asus Formula Series graphics cards is built like an F1 racing card. It’s chassis effectively covers the card’s heat sinks and cooling fan. Asus claim that this will allow 7% improved airflow as well as keeping dust off the fan and can thereby extend the card’s lifespan up to 10,000 hours.

If there’s an F1 race car equivalent to graphics card, then the Asus Formula Series will be it, literally. Better look for a transparent CPU casing if you want to show this baby off.

Oh prepare to spend roughly from $100 to $500 too for this card.

Where to find serial numbers for your software

Ssshh. I know this is illegal but if you’re the type of person who’s into doing things illegally like downloading or buying pirated software, you might find a need for these sites.

Here’s a couple of sites where you can find serial numbers for that downloaded software of yours to remove the trial limit. Or if you lost the box or case your CD comes with and you need to reinstall, try searching for a serial number here.

1. Serialz.to has been around for ages and I’m not sure if they’re still updated with new softwares. However, it is still a nice place to check for old serial numbers.
2. Serialbay is now the default choice for people who needs serial number for their new softwares including Windows and Microsoft Office licenses. Head here first.

That’s it for now. Use these sites at your own discretion.

What happened to my money in Mafia Wars Cuba?

If you log in to your Mafia Wars Cuba and go to the bank, you may notice that your money is greatly reduced to just about 2 million. My 40 million Cuban pesos in the bank went down to 2 mil.

Don’t worry it’s not a bug nor a hack. It’s just a way for Zynga to balance the game as they prepare to roll out Mafia Wars Cuba to all which I think is a good call on their part. At least your items and businesses are still intact.

Zynga announced that Mafia Wars Cuba will be open to all real soon. Here’s what it means for us players according to their forum:

• Preview testers will get to keep all the items and businesses and enjoy the week-long head start that they got.
• Gifting will be enabled for all Cuba loot and collections
• Cuba items will be enabled for fighting in NY

Can’t wait for Mafia Wars Cuba to be available to everyone.

Handy site for special character reference

So you’re typing an e-mail but realized that you need to use the character “ñ” for a name. What do you do?

You can look for it in Windows’ Character Map which can take you millions of clicks to find (you can type ‘charmap’ in Run). You can also run MS Word and do an Insert Symbol then copy it to your e-mail. Or you can simply visit Copy Paste Character.

The site is very straightforward to use. Look for a character that you want to use. Click on it and it will be automatically stored in the clipboard ready to be pasted on whatever document you’re making.

Check it out and have it bookmarked.

Mafia Wars Cuba: Convert your US dollars in Cuban pesos

UPDATE: This does not work anymore. Zynga already fixed this before Cuba went public.

If you’re tired of fighting mafias in order to get a few pesos in Mafia Wars: Cuba, here’s a trick on how to earn them C$’s very quickly. This is a loophole in the game so better act quickly before they fix it.

1. Make sure you are in NY with 32 million dollars on hand.

2. Next, click this link:

http://apps.facebook.com/inthemafia/remote/html_server.php?xw_controller=job&xw_exp_sig=297977e9bbe65f9379966a199a03e912&xw_time=1244466532&xw_action=buy_item&item=47&numBuy=1000

This allows you to buy 1000 Commercial Helicopters in Cuba from New York.

3. Now fly to Cuba and check your vehicle inventory. You should see 1000 choppers waiting for you.

4. Sell those choppers to earn 16 mil Cuban pesos.

It’s up to you what you want to do with those money. I suggest buying and upgrading all businesses then buy all item requirements for all jobs.

What’s new with the new iPhone 3G S

A couple of days ago during Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple SVP Phil Schiller announced the new iPhone 3G S which he claims is the “most poweful, fastest iPhone” they’ve ever made.

Before you rush in to upgrade your old iPhone, you might want to know what’s new with the iPhone 3G S:

• 3 megapixel camera. The camera got bumped from 2MP and now has auto-focus, auto exposure and can also record video.
• It is expected to be twice as fast as the iPhone 3G. Faster app launching and faster web browsing.
• It now supports voice-activated calls
• Improved battery life. Apple promises 3 more hours of web browsing or six more hours of audio. Talk time remains at 5 hours though.
• Digital compass. I guess they also improved the accelerometer on this one.
• MMS. Finally!
• Laptop tethering. What’s the point of a 3G phone if you can’t share it on your laptop right?

The look and feel for the 3G S remains the same as that of the old iPhone and the price will be $199 for the 16GB and $299 for the 32GB. The iPhone 3G S is slated to be out on June 19, two days after the release of iPhone OS 3.0 update.

A glimpse of Mafia Wars Cuba

If you’re a fan of Facebook’s Mafia Wars then you’re gonna be excited with the new expansion coming up called Mafia Wars Cuba.

As of right now, Mafia Wars Cuba is still in the beta stage and only those who clicked the beta-test button shown for the past week or so can access it.

If you were able to click that button before, you will be shown a Fly to Cuba button to take you to Mafia Wars Cuba.

Money

Your hard-earned cash is no good in Cuba (don’t worry it will stay in New York when you fly back) which uses Cuban pesos (C$) so you have to earn it the old fashion way, do jobs, take over businesses and fight other mafia until a money-laundering system is in place.

You can only take C$ from fighting only if that person has them and only if you’re fighting in Cuba. Sorry New Yorkers.

Jobs

There are 5 classes of jobs that you can do: El Soldado (35-59), El Capitan (60-84), El Jefe (85-109), El Patron (110-129) and El Padrino (130+). The lowest energy-costing job starts at 10 and only gives you a maximum of C$290. That’s tough considering the next job already requires Cuban equipment that you need to buy.

Properties

In Cuba, the Properties are replaced by Businesses which you can take over and upgrade. Tobacco Plantation which costs C$25,000, Sugar Plantation (C$50,000), Factory (C$100,000) and Coca Field (C$250,000). You have to earn $25,000 before you can start getting passive income.

Items

There are 20 items that you can buy from the mafia store including 7 decently powered armors. There are also loots but I still have to get to a job that drops them.

As of writing, the items that I bought from Cuba are not being used during a fight whether the fight takes place in Cuba or in New York. 

Energy and experience are both shared in NY and Cuba so you don’t have to level up again. I guess the only benefit beta testers have is a head start in Cuban jobs, loots, bonuses and money. And also bragging rights to be flaunting those Cuban items in your profile page.

Even so, it’s nice to be in Cuba!

Sony’s PSP GO is a go! Would you go get one?

In the E3 2009 held this week, Sony finally unveiled the latest incarnation of it’s popular handheld gaming device which they now call the PSP Go.

Now the question is, are you really excited about it? Did you think it was a huge improvement from the original PSP? Here are its features:

• Much smaller form factor with the controls sliding out
• 3.8-inch dislay (down from 4.3-inch)
• 16GB internal Flash storage
• Bluetooth
• No more UMD drive
• Memory Stick Micro slot

The PSP Go is expected to be out on October this year with a price tag of $249.99 which is similar to the price of the original PSP when it first came out.

Many people didn’t like the design at all calling it un-Sonylike. What happened to the original leaked photos of the next PSP? I was also hoping there would be improvement in the processing power but it doesn’t look to be the case. The expected second analog nub didn’t make it as well and the button spacing can feel quite cramped for your hands.

The only good thing that I liked about it is the 16GB internal storage but it’s no big deal. I say the PSP Go would be a flop. I know Sony can do better than this.

What to do with your old NES cartridges

Do you still have a stack those old NES cartridges lying around? Want to play it but your NES console is no longer operational? Why not play it with this portable device?

The Retro Mini Handheld is powered by 4 AA batteries that allows you to play your old NES games in a 2.4” LCD TFT Screen. You can also plug this handheld into your old CRT TV to bring back those childhood memories.

It’s a novel item at best since it’s a bit impractical to be lugging around those NES cartridges wherever you go. Besides, you have your Gameboys and DS’s to play old NES games.

It’s still a bit nostalgic though ain’t it? Too bad you can’t play Battle City or Contra with a friend using this one.

But if you’re still interested, ThinkGeek is selling this item for $49.99.

Fix for Rockband Unplugged games for the PSP

Rockband Unplugged is a game for the PSP console that is patterned after the Rockband and Guitar Hero franchise of other consoles. It was released just last month and got me hooked up.

If you have a downloaded version of the game, you might experience problems such as:

• Game hangs when you play it again after putting your PSP on sleep mode.
• It always says memory stick has been removed when playing a song for the first time
• Ultimately, no games will be visible on your Game Menu even if they are still in the memory stick

If you’re experiencing one or all of those, here’s a possible solution that might help you:

• First, backup your files into your PC. This includes saved data, themes, videos, music, games, etc.
• Format your memory stick. You can find this option in the system settings of your PSP.
• Restore your files including Rockband Unplugged but don’t play it yet.
• Access your memory stick and go to the PSP > Game folder. Create a blank .txt file there with any name that you want.
• Lastly, make sure you are using M33 as your ISO loader and not Sony P990. To access this menu, turn off your PSP (hold the power button). Turn it on then hold R until you see the menu.

That’s it! It worked for me and a lot of friends. You should be able to play Rockband Unplugged without any glitches now. Enjoy!