All posts by The Artist

Facebook To Hit 500 Million Users Soon

Facebook has reported that they are expected to record their 500 millionth user by this month and rumour has it that Facebook has a surprise in store for the person, though what sort of surprise or celebration, we can only wait and see.

The funny thing is that most of my friends have at least two Facebook accounts; one even has more than 30 accounts because of the various games that he plays that require as many neighbours, clan, families, etc. as possible to level up.

According to this multiple-account friend, he is not even close to other players who have way more accounts than his 30+! I wonder how they manage. But the point is of this 500 millionth users, the real figure is probably just 70-80% of the number. And then we haven’t taken into account people who have already abandoned their Facebook account due to whatever reason.

Coke Video Facebook Link Phishing Scam

If you spend a lit of time on Facebook, I am sure you would have received a lot of private messages and wall postings on many topics. The latest one is probably the one that is a link to a video on why you shouldn’t drink Coca Cola.

If you received this, then do not and I mean DO NOT click on the link. Sophos (if I remember correctly), a leading online security company has warned that this is a phishing scam and if you clicked on it, a lot of bad things could happen like you could get your Facebook log in credentials stolen or even your passwords to other websites stolen and maybe even your identity will be compromised. That’s what such phishing links do, anyway.

The rule of the thumb is to never click on links, even if they are from your closest friend, even if they come to your personal email address, without verifying with them first, especially links that have weird characters or those with too many numbers.

Cosmetology School Directory

A friend’s younger sister whom I also know, has confessed to me that she would like to take up a cosmetology course but is afraid of facing objection from family members. Just out of school, she would still need the family to support her education. Her parents are conservative folks and would prefer her to hold a career in medicine, law or accountancy.

However, this girl is very artistic and she is not the kind of person to sit at a desk from 9-5. She loves doing things with her hands and I being a non-creative person, I really admire the talent in her.

I pointed her to a cosmetology school directory online, and told her to check out Jacksonville Cosmetology School specifically. I am sure that her parents would come around to her idea once they realize where her passion lies.

Swype Text-Entry Technology

My friend recently bought the new Samsung Galaxy S mobile device that runs on Android and after enabling Swype, the new text-entry technology, he has been raving about it non-stop. He said there’s no turning back now.

According to my friend, it’s very, very fast; at least three times faster that QWERTY keypad. I asked him if it’s faster than typing on the computer keyboard, he said it’s possible but then added that he was never fast typing on the keyboard usually!

But then, my friend told me that Swype isn’t for everybody. People who can’t spell will find this difficult to use. Now, don’t get it wrong, the inability to spell is not the same as writing in foreign languages since Android supports many international languages.

Anyway, his friend, who also bought a Samsung Galaxy S at the same time, finds it difficult to use Swype and prefers to type out his text the conventional way. Although this guy can spell, he said that he’s just so clumsy with Swype, it’s taking too long to get a message typed out.

If you have adopted Swype text-entry technology already, how do you find it? Do you like it? Do you feel that it’s as fast as three times typing on a QWERTY keypad?

Google Doodle: FIFA World Cup 2010

In conjunction with FIFA World Cup finals (just concluded a few hours ago), Google saw it fitting to give us a special doodle that depicts a stadium with the flags of the two countries that competed in the finals: Spain and Nederland. Of course, at the time of writing in, we already know that Spain won the World Cup with a score of 1-0.

I am quite surprised that Zakumi, the popular leopard mascot for this season’s FIFA World Cup, did not feature anywhere in a Google Doodle. Perhaps he did, on a Google African website or something. Well, I didn’t see it. Did you?

So anyway, now that the FIFA World Cup 2010 has concluded and the winner has been declared, I wonder if Google will be coming out with a doodle to celebrate Spain’s victory in the tournament. After all, football is such a globally loved sport.

Rich Text Signatures For Gmail

Gmail has rolled out a new feature to the delight of most users whereby we can now, by going to the Settings page of Gmail, set a signature for all outgoing email with Rich Text formatting, for each of our email address that is linked to our Gmail account.

This means that if you have three different email addresses where you can compose and send out email from your Gmail account, you can have three signatures to associate with these three email addresses. However, you really do have to remember which address you are sending your email from so as not to confuse your recipients.

I like the fact that besides Rich Text where we could customize our signature with different font, colorful text and URL, we could also easily add in an image or logo. Doing signatures the regular way used to be a chore. Not anymore with the WYSIWYG rich formatting box.

Earning Less Blogging

A friend, a semi-professional, told me that she is making less money blogging these past few months compared to the bumper years of the past couple of years. I think we are all experiencing the same thing.

Anyway, she told me that because the currency exchange is not as favorable now as it was previously, she is not withdrawing her funds in PayPal. She told me that I should follow what she is doing and buy gold bullion since gold bullion is always better than just cash.

Well, I don’t have experience in investing in gold bullion but she says that if I’m in for the long term, there isn’t much to learn; just buy and keep. Still, I would like to read up more about it first before putting money in.