My Life With IT

I must say, I am rather impressed with NetSupport. However, I still have no idea how to use it to block Internet access for other computers logged on. It took me a while to learn how to block and still leave out some unintentionally. Interestingly, not all schools are using it. I wonder why the inconsistencies.

It’s useful for file distribution, remote desktop support, desktop integration, deployment and all other features. Quite a powerhouse for this case. One feature I like is its ability to activate a programme that the students are supposed to be using instead of surfing the net. Blocking all Internet access with just one click is a useful tool since online games are too available.

Being someone who has been in the IT industry for some time, it is indeed useful to know the common websites that provide games so that it’s easily identified and make the students sit up and know that adults do know something about games besides work and scolding them.

I would admit that NetSupport will take some learning curve before the IT administrator can proceed to use it to its full capabilities. It is worth looking at since it has managed to make integration much easier than other platforms I have seen.

I know international phone calls are expensive when one is overseas and calling or even receiving phone calls can be expensive even when you are on a roaming plan. Now, Hoiio provides a cheaper way to call friends and relatives. Remember how you would get someone to call you back? Watch the video below.

Now that you have discovered that everyone else is also doing the same to avoid over-paying for the calls, you can try Hoiio. Free registration. I like the fact that my overseas call will be reduced by 80% when using Hoiio. I like SMS to be at 8.8 cents per SMS when sent from overseas; flat rate. A whole lot better than 60 cents per SMS when in ASEAN and various rates from overseas.

What makes Hoiio stands out is that, when using it to call your friends, you can just dial from the call logs or phone book. Ever tried those call back cards where you have to call the service and key in the number from memory? Hoiio allows you to just dial from the phone book or call logs.

Even when there is a missed call, your friend can just dial the number and map it back to you. Other services just display “Private” or “Unknown” when you are using their call back services. Unfortunately for my case, I rarely call back unless I know the number. I had just too many cold calls to want to call back only to discover that I had to buy something.

This is a great service for those who often have more outgoing calls than incoming since it reduces your phone bills. I’m sure you signed up those mobile plans whereby your incoming local calls are free. You can even change the settings when you have downloaded Hoiio into your mobile such as using Hoiio to call whenever you are calling local or internationally.

What I discovered is that for Samsung Omnia, I would have to activate the programme before I can send SMS internationally at a flat rate since it doesn’t have an option “Send via”. For other mobile phones, I’m sure you would have the option.

This service has a free registration and there isn’t any monthly fees or contract of any kind. Something that is also different, call back cards have expiry dates after they have been activated, this one doesn’t seem to have any expiry. You have 5 ways to top up your credits: auto top up, online, SMS, friends to transfer credits or a post paid account.

Hoiio is currently supporting the following:

• J2ME MIDP 2.0 , CLDC 1.0
• Symbian S60 3rd Edition
• BlackBerry OS Version 4.2 & Above
• Windows Mobile 5 & 6
• Apple OS 2.1 & Above

If you have the above, try it out for free since you get credits just for joining.

This review was made possible by Hoiio and Ping.sg.

I can’t remember if anyone has ever provided a free service for domain name appraisals. However, it is with pleasure that Leapfish has done it. It’s amazing that it has a click-free search, something that I haven’t seen in other search engines. It is also the only search engine to provide it click-free.

This new service provides instant results whereby we can see the valuation dollar in Leapfish’s right hand side set. The robust valuation engine kicks in each time a domain name is keyed into the search field. No extra clicks or even hitting the “Enter” button is needed, thereby reducing you needing to wait for the page to load after you have activated your search.

A graph showing each domain’s traffic, uploaded images, videos and thumbnails are also displayed at the side. In addition, you are still able to search via Google, Yahoo and MSN. Search for blogs, Answers, videos, images, news and shopping are also available for your searching needs.

This new domain appraisal service consists of a series of complex “proprietary valuation algorithm that considers length, traffic, age, link popularity and many other factors,” said Behzad Behrouzi, Director of Product for LeapFish.com.

Try Leapfish today and find out how much your domain is worth!

Frankly speaking, if I had been kicked out of the session after being idle for 10 minutes, I wouldn’t have been so bothered. But I was browsing the site and trying to get the best way to claim my reward dollars when I was told by the page that I wasn’t allowed to view the rewards page because I was logged out.

What in the world? How can that be? I was still browsing for the last 5 minutes! Therefore, I logged in again only to be thrown out of the session after 1 minute. Frustrated, I logged in for the 3rd time, determined to redeem my rewards and sign out. It seems to be third time lucky. I managed to redeem my rewards.

I only have the following questions for OCBC.

1. How long does a session hold?
2. If there is a time limit, is it possible to display a countdown timer so that I know how much time I have been inactive or active?

It’s very frustrating for multiple logins just to redeem the rewards. I never had such issues unless the sessions have been idle for quite some time.

Amazon is well-known for its books. However, it went on to other products besides books such as apparel, jewellery, music and many more. I love the recommended sections when I browse through the products besides it’s one click technology. It’s a breeze to make my selections.

I like its Amazon Associates function as I can setup my own online shop without worrying about the payments. I don’t even have to spend most of my time trying to setup the online store’s look.

Another way to setup your own store online is using Zlio. You select the markets that you want to choose from and you will be shown the products that are available. The products selected may be out of stock, this isn’t made known until you have completed the adding process; something that Zlio will have to make note of. If the product is no longer available, it should not be included in the adding process.

The difference that I noticed between Zlio and Amazon Associates is that Zlio allows you to choose your own sub domain and even allows linking to your own domain so that you can increase your sales. Amazon Associates allows a tracking ID behind the fixed sub domain. This is Amazon’s way of tracking and isn’t controllable by us.

Zlio allows you to add analytic codes when you have added the module so you can check your site’s traffic in your familiar Google Analytics or other metric systems.

I like both as I don’t have to worry about stocks and shipping on my side.

Having won a premium theme, I have decided to implement it here. My initial panic was that none of the thumbnails appeared automatically. I have photos in almost every post and they couldn’t have just disappeared. That’s when I saw the link to the forum for Arras Gaming theme.

What I Like

• Neat placement of the posts with excerpts.
• Widget enabled.
• Theme options available.
• Different colours available for the site.

What I Found Wrong

• The links to the forums are outdated although the theme has been updated to the latest version.
• When accessing the theme’s option page, the section for entering codes for banners had display problems. The textareas were overlapping each other. I had to add 2 divs for that section so they won’t overlap.
• Whenever I updated the theme options, I have to check to make sure that my category options for Top Navigation and Gaming sections are set again.

What I Found Tedious

• Apparently, with the special thumbnail functions, I had to edit every post to include the new custom field and the images’ URL.
• I had to create a new logo for the site.

After implementing this theme, I’m glad to have won it because it helps me to display the information in a much neater format than before.

Brad Blogging is giving away $2200 worth of prizes for this Halloween. Sponsors include the following:

Platinum Sponsor

• Jay Green & The Balesio Team (http://www.balesio.com) donating:

1. 1 Copy Of “ALLCapture Enterprise 3.0″ Screen Recording Suite – $344 USD Value
2. 2 Copies Of “ALLCapture” Screen Recorder – $466 USD (combined) Value
3. 8 Copies Of “PPTMinimizer” Powerpoint Compression (up to 98%) – $331 USD (Combined) Value

Gold Sponsors

• Fresh Never Frozen Web Design (http://freshneverfrozendesign.com) donating:

1. 2 Custom Blog Designs – $300 USD (combined) Value
2. 1 Hour Blog/Website Design Session Consultation – $49 USD Value

• Carlocab (http://carlocab.com) donating:

1. 5 Copies of Direct Response Templates for Minisite Design – $185 USD Value

• Logo Design Team (www.LogoDesignTeam.com) donating:

1. A Best Seller – Logo Design Package – $149 USD Value

• Scot (http://www.revvenue.com) donating:

1. 1 Hour “Adsense Tutoring” Session – $39 USD Value
2. $30 Gift Certificate to Starbucks – $30 USD Value

• Corey Freeman (http://www.deadlyclever.com) donating:

1. A Logo Design Package From Deadly Cleaver – $99 USD Value
2. Blogroll Link on Diligent Design – $5 USD Value

• Adam Pieniazek (http://www.adampieniazek.com) donating:

1. 3 Months of 125×125 Advertising On His Sidebar – $30 USD Value
2. $42 Cash Prize from the42ndEstate.com

• David Leonhardt (http://SEO-writer.com) donating:

1. Copy Of “Don’t Get Banned By The Search Engines” Ebook – $40 USD Value
2. Top 52 S.E.O. Tips Sheet – $10 USD Value

• Peter Lee (http://www.peterleehc.com) donating:

1. Copy Of “Quit Being a Wage Slave in 10 Easy Steps” Ebook – $49 USD Value

• Blogupp Team (http://www.blogupp.com/) donating:

1. 50 000 BlogUpp Impressions – N/A Value

• Hugo Santos (http://bloggervenue.com) donating:

1. 3 125×125 ads on his sidebar (1 month) – $20 USD (combined) Value
2. 3 Text Link Ads – $19 USD (combined) Value

• Dan And Marsh (http://www.giveawaycity.blogspot.com) donating:

1. 2GB Kingston Data Traveler (USB Storage Drive) – $29 USD Value

• Pam Hawk (http://www.passitonplates.com) donating:

1. A “Pass It On Plate Lite” Edition (See This For More Details) – $29 USD Value

Silver Sponsors

• AnotherMMOBlog (http://www.anothermmoblog.com/) donating:

1. 2 x 1 Month Text Link Ad
2. 1 Month 125×125 Sidebar Ad

• Lhurey (http://www.phblogger.net) donating:

1. 2500 Entrecard Credits

• Tim Johnson (http://www.yimto.com) donating:

1. 2000 Entrecard Credits

• Yan (http://thoushallblog.com) donating:

1. 1000 Entrecard Credits from Wpbeginners.com
2. 1 Month Text Link Ad on his blog – Thoushallblog.com

• TH (http://www.twinshappiness.com) donating:

1. 125×125 Ad On Their Sidebar For A Month
2. 125×125 Ad On thereishappiness.com Sidebar For A Month

• Hussein (http://www.niessuh.com) donating:

1. 125×125 Ad On His Sidebar For 2 Months

• Marvie Pons (http://underscore30.blogspot.com) donating:

1. 125×125 Ad On His Sidebar For A Month

• Indo Contest (http://www.indocontest.com/) donating:

1. 468×60 Ad On His Header For A Month

• Multiply Themes (http://marviepons.blogspot.com/) donating:

1. 1000 Entrecard Credits

• Charles (http://piggybankpie.com/) donating:

1. 1000 Entrecard Credits

• NHC (http://themelib.com) donating:

1. 1 Month Text Link Ad

• Rajaie AlKorani (http://RajaieTalks.com) donating:

1. 1 Month Text Link Ad

• Sharon Hart (http://sharonahart.blogspot.com) donating:

1. 1 Month Text Link Ad

Contest ends on 31 Oct 2008.

I am so happy! I have won a Premium theme after taking part in quite a few and this time, I was the lucky the winner of the Arras Theme! How exciting! Now, the next step is to select the blog that I think this theme will fit.

Hopefully, I will be able to implement the theme into one of the blogs by end of October.