US Army Flags Micro-blogging, GPS & Voice Changing Software

The US Army has just released an intelligence report which cited the danger that are caused by micro-blogging, particularly Twitter and the advance technologies like Global Positioning System (GPS) and voice changing software.

I am surprised that it took them quite a while to come out with this intelligence report. Twitter has taken the online world by storm and changing how we communicate with others on all parts of the world as long as we are connected to the web.

Since I registered with Twitter, I find that I even send less text messages. Twitter is free, after all, and I am connected to the web 24/7 due to work. Although I don’t indulge in the spreading of news, I do notice how people keep each other updated with “breaking news” and other updates, like the hurricane in the United States a few months ago and the US Presidential elections, which will be drawing to a close come November.

As for voice changing software, this seems like old technology. I remember when I was a kid, there was a small gadget that enables us to change our voice. Of course, I never used it before but I have read about it and I dreamt of owning the device.

Like in everything else in life, innovation is great but we must not misuse it.

Travel Rewards Credit Cards

My friend asked me if I know of a certain credit card. Frankly, I am not able to keep tab on all the credit cards that are launched almost monthly but my friend is the kind of person who would continue to apply for credit cards as long as he could benefit from all the freebies, rewards and other credit card offers. Well, I love these as well but it’s just that I lose track of them all the time!

Since the time when I did a research on student credit cards for my college-going cousin, I have stopped checking on credit card products but now that I am able to start travelling again because I have less work and more time on my hands, I have to start looking for a suitable travel rewards credit card.

I would like to apply for one that rewards me with free air miles or hotel accommodation because these are the two travel expenses that really eat into my holiday budget. So far, I have shortlisted a few travel rewards credit cards but still am not able to make up my mind. I find that the more options I am given, the more confused I become and I end up wanted to apply for every card!

Personalized Domain Suffixes For Up To US$20,000

Although I own quite a string of domain names, most of them are dot coms, two are dot nets and one is dot org. Well, I think that soon, we will be seeing some really special domain name suffixes. That is, if there are people who would be willing to pay up to US$20,000 to apply for one.

I bet there will always be people who would be willing to pay this amount of money. To many companies who are looking for branding, US$20,000 may even be “cheap”. I was just telling my mother that many people trade in domain names and domain names are relatively cheap investments.

Remember the old days when getting a dot com would cost us almost an arm? I think that once the novelty has worn off, getting a personalized domain name would be as cheap as getting a dot com right now. Let’s just keep our fingers cross that when the time comes, our preferred suffixes would still be available!

WordPress 2.6.3

Do you know what pisses me off? It’s the regularity of a WordPress upgrade! You know, it was just a couple of days ago when I installed WordPress 2.6.2 on my new WordPress driven website and even before I have finished adding all the content to my new website, I see a notice about a new version of WordPress.

I know, I know. I know you’d probably tell me that a new version will come with better features and security but I tell you, since the day I started hosting my own WordPress powered blogs, I have been upgrading and upgrading. I think I have done so for ten times already. If you think that ten times is nothing, don’t forget that I host multiple blogs and I have to repeat the same process over and over again. It just drives me crazy, man! And to think that if I had just set up my website today, I would have the latest version of WordPress already!

In any case, I will not be upgrading so soon because new versions almost always come with bugs and security holes and then you would have to spend more time doing the technical stuff of your blog to patch those security holes; time that I think should be better spent blogging!

Arbune.com Rewards

A few short years ago, I was a forum junkie. I practically spent every minute of my online time in a forum. The forum wasn’t that interesting, now that I think of that, and I wasted a lot of time there for nothing except for some great friendships!

Today, I was told of a forum that members could actually win some cash. Sure, I do know of some forums that reward their members but no way am I going to hang around those forums for just a cent or two.

Arbune.Com, though, is entirely different. They award cash prizes as much as US$50 for the member who had the most interesting topic, based on the highest number of replies. The member who managed to refer the most friends would also win some cold hard cash.

You may think that you would rather earn a few cents here and there in a forum rather than have the odd chance of winning only if you are the “best” but don’t you think this is more challenging? Members make their own chances.

As an Arbune.com member, you also have the opportunity to post free ads. This just reminds me of the time I was banned from a forum for life after posting an ad. Arbune.com may be fairly new but I think that it’s a good opportunity to join a forum early and grow with it.

Check out Arbune.com. It’d be easy to win some cash since there are still not that many members! LOL

150,000 Submissions To Google’s Project 10^100

So submission for Google’s Project 10^100 (Project 10 to the 100th) is closed on Monday. Did you manage to put in an idea? The winning ideas, up to five of them, would receive funding from a pool of US$10 million. This means that if the judges decide that only one project is worthy to be implemented, the winner will receive the whole amount. If they select five ideas to fulfill, that’s Google’s maximum, each project will only receive a maximum of US$2 million in funding.

I am a little surprised that Project 10^100 only received 150,000 submissions worldwide in total considering that the website of Project 10^100 received approximately 2.5 million unique visitors in the past month. I guess many people were curious about it, checked to see if they have an idea to submit and totally forgot about it, or failed to come up with an idea. I, myself, sent out the link to the website to a few friends.

Google will be short listing the 150,000 entries into 100 which will be posted online on their Project 10^100 website at http://www.project10tothe100.com/ on 27th January, 2009. Web users will then vote for the best ideas. I wonder if we would only be able to vote once per Gmail account, or whatever. I mean, there would be crazy people setting up hundreds, if not thousands of accounts just so that they could vote for their own project, you know?

Twenty ideas with the top votes will be put forward to a panel of yet to be named judges who would then select up to five “best” ideas that would positively impact the world population the most.

Impressive Satellite Navigation Device

A couple of days ago, I invited my friend from out of state to visit me at a religious festival that was held in my hometown. Although my friend is quite familiar with my city, he is not familiar with the area where the festival would be held.

Luckily my friend is very technology savvy. I provided him with the approximate satellite coordinates and prayed that he would not get lost. Actually, I felt kind of bad that I was only able to provide him with an APPROXIMATE reading but he keyed that into his Sat Nav and managed to find his way to me.

My friends over here were very surprised and complimented him on how smart he is! I think the smart one should be his Sat Nav! He took me out for a drive to show me the capabilities of his Sat Nav and I was totally impressed considering that my friend has never been here before. The Sat Nav was able to direct my friend to his intended destination with turn-by-turn instructions and even knows which roads are one-way streets. We were also able to locate a 7-11 along the way.

It’s a good thing that satellite navigation devices are very affordable now. I would buy one myself when I have my own car. You know how hopeless I am with directions. I even got lost once in my own city!

Random Thoughts Off My Mind