All posts by The Artist

Blogging

Broken Blogger Layout, NOT!

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I viewed one of my Blogger blogs this morning like I always do and was surprised to see that the layout was broken. The sidebar fell to the bottom of the page. It was fine just yesterday! At first, I thought that this is a Blogger issue so I went to my two other Blogger blogs which are also using the same theme, except different headers, and they were fine.

I thought that I would change a new layout then, but if you are a blogger using Blogger.com, you will know the hassle of changing layouts. Why do we have to redo out links and sidebar and everything else? If there is something that I DO NOT like about Blogger, it is this.

I decided to put this task off because I wasn’t free anyway. This afternoon, I went to see what was wrong with my coding, and comparing it with the codes of my two other blogs which are using this theme as well and found that it was actually a script that I have embedded to this blog only.

I have since taken out the script and am happy to know that my Blogger blog is now A-OK! Thankfully I did not have to reload my layout!

Computing & Internet

Lower Google AdSense Revenue

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A friend, who is a problogger and makes a living from Google AdSense, asked if I have read of any bloggers complaining about lower revenue from AdSense. I told him no but it is not because I didn’t come across any, but because I haven’t been visiting blogs lately.

I did notice, though, that my own AdSense revenue was halved lately but I wasn’t alarmed because I thought that is was because I couldn’t find time to update my blogs as often as I would like, hence my blog traffic has decreased, lowering click through rate and impression as well.

Anyway, what surprised me was that I discovered a couple of days ago that my unpaid earnings were deducted by almost 50%. I know that Google audits our account every month but this has never happened before. At least, even if it did happen, it was negligible so much so that I did not notice the slight difference in payment, and never by such a quantum. I was caught off guard because I certainly did not notice any discrepancy in the clicks. I wonder if I am facing this loss alone!

Travel

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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Last night, I caught up with an old friend, Andy. It’s amazing how we have failed to keep in touch for years but managed to bump into each other when we least expected it. Andy asked me if I go to Kuala Lumpur often and I told him that it has been years since I last visited.

Coincidentally, I got to know of Accor Hotels City Super Sale just this morning and I am thinking it’s high time I plan a vacation to Kuala Lumpur thanks to the low room rates offered by Accor Hotels. I may have friends and family in Kuala Lumpur but I wouldn’t want to impose on them!

By the way, check out the website of Accor Hotels to find out which hotels in 27 cities in 10 Asia Pacific countries are included in this limited time sale where you would be able to book a hotel room for as low as US$25 per night!

Anyway, if I were to visit Kuala Lumpur, it would only be a short two day trip. That’s what my schedule would allow but it would be packed with a full day of shopping. Do you know, since the last time I visited Kuala Lumpur, so many new shopping complexes have mushroomed and I would love to take this opportunity to visit Times Square, The Gardens and MidValley Megamall and shop till I drop! I know, I’ve been living in a cave, haven’t I?


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Computing & Internet

Yahoo! Withdraws Support For Older Version Messenger (v6.0 – 7.5)

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Well, it looks like it is bad news for those of us who have been enjoying the older version of Yahoo! Messenger. I actually use three versions of Yahoo! Messengers on different systems. One is an old version, one 8.x and one is the latest version.

Out of the three, I actually prefer the old no frills version since I don’t use Yahoo! Messenger much except as an email alert and occasionally chat online with it. Most of my friends had migrated to MSN (Windows Live Messenger).

The other day, I logged in to my old version Yahoo! Messenger only to receive a small pop up system message that says that my version of Yahoo! Messenger is already obsolete and I would not be able to log in to my account from August, 2009.

I definitely am not happy with being forced to upgrade to the latest version, or at least version 8.x, since like I said, I use three different versions and the old one is still the best. I don’t use those frills that hog computer resources and memory and what about those advertisements?

Contests & Entries

Day In The Cloud Challenge

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Google Apps and Virgin America are running an international challenge called Day In The Cloud in conjunction with Virgin America’s launch of in-flight WiFi access to its passengers across their fleet.

This Challenge, which will be held on Wednesday, June 24th, 2009, is open for everyone, whether they are flying on that day or not, but only residents 18 years and above of the 50 states in the United States and District of Columbia are eligible to participate.

Duration of the Challenge is one hour and they have set up a website just for this purpose at http://www.dayinthecloud.com/. I tried out their practice game just for fun and the questions seem quite tough. However, that’s the whole point. They want us to look for the answers using any of the available Google application. I would love to be able to participate in this Challenge. After all, there’s a netbook to be won! And free Virgin America air tickets too!

Computing & Internet

Facebook Username

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If you are a Facebooker, you should log into your Facebook account right now and claim your Facebook username if you haven’t done so yet. I claimed my name yesterday and am happy that I am able to use my own name.

You see, what Facebook is allowing is not just any ID but a shortcut to our profile, which prior to this, is made up of a string of numbers. Now, with this username, we could easily direct our friends and contacts to our Facebook profile by just giving them our Facebook username.

For example, if your name is James Bond, your Facebook username could be james.bond. However, if it has already been claimed by another person who shares the same name, then I am afraid you would have to opt for something dumb like james1.bond or james.bond2. That’s why it’s important to claim your username as soon as possible.

Once you have selected your Facebook username, you cannot change or delete it. Doesn’t it sound like selecting an email handle for a new email account?

General

True Cost Of Wearing Contacts

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Many of my friends think that I am pretty lucky to still have prefect vision. Frankly, I think my eyesight is deteriorating no thanks to long hours at the computer, and when I am not using the computer, I watch TV and play games on my mobile devices and game consoles, which all tax my eyes.

I have decided that if I need the help of glasses, I surely would go for LASIK treatment. It’s more for the sake of convenience, seeing how troublesome it is for my glasses and contact lens wearing friends. Can you imagine about 80% of the people I know have bad eyesight?

I read an article today that says that for someone who wears extended contact lens for a lifetime from the age of 25 onwards, this person would need to spend at least $20,000 on vision care products. That’s a lot of money wasted, if you ask me!

In contrast the cost is a whole lot lower going for an iLASIK treatment, not to mention the convenience and the freedom of not having to wear glasses or contact lens. A lot of my friends tell me they do not know how it is anymore without having to worry about their vision.


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