Learn how stuff works

There is lots of stuff that we don’t know even if we study for life. We don’t have to know everything. All we need to know is where to find the answer. For most people, searching the answer online might be the most common way. Here’s a site that answered most of the question in your mind – HowStuffWorks. It’s a site where most of your questions that starts with how, what and why can be answered here. It’s a very educated site. I have most of my questions and problems answered through this site. At the beginning, most of the information presented is in article format. As the online speed and volume increases, the site has included video format as a new way of answering questions. Either way, as long as information is being transferred successfully then it is fine with me.

Live Webcams from around the world

I post about a live webcam of a coffee shop in Hawaii previously. After that I found this site – Opentopia that has a collection of live webcam from around the world. Most of the webcams are showing traffic condition. That’s for the local people to check on the traffic so that they won’t get caught in the jam. There are also other interesting places that people around the world place the webcam. Places like dental, restaurant, meeting rooms, temple, office and many more. Check it out.

P/S: If you have an interesting location around the place you stay, think about setting up a live webcam. You might attract a lot of viewers.

Coffee Nerds with live Web Cam

This is something new and interesting. If you check out the site coffee nerds, you’ll find that there is a live web cam showing a coffee shop 24 hours a day. The web cam shows the counter of the shop and you can see customers lining up for a cup of coffee. Customers might not know that their face is online for the world but I think the employees realized about this. It’s not a bad thing but if I were to work there, I might feel a little bit uncomfortable. I need to be alert and behave as the world is watching me. Every good and bad about me will be exposed the minute I forgot about the web cam. Pretty much just like the movie Ed TV.

Why do you go shopping?

When do you go shopping? Or shall I say - what is the reason that makes you say that “It’s time to go shopping.” Basically there are 2 reasons that you’ll go to a shopping complex. The first obvious reason is that you need to buy something. You might need to get some food because the fridge is empty, buy some clothes because they’re getting thorn or old, buy some presents for birthdays or some tools to fix your house or car. Whatever it is, you have a purpose to go shopping. The second reason is that you already make it a habit to go shopping once a week. Some people even considered it a place to hang out with families. Shopping complex nowadays is design for everybody especially for husband, wife and kids. There are specific corners designs to make them stay.

No matter what reasons you have for visiting the shopping complex, the shops will do their best to try to get you buy something. This is where event marketing comes in. These events are design to trick you into buying their products. Most of the time, it’s not the main product that you wanted to buy but because of other services or benefits that you’re interested. Benefits like free membership, special gift, money back guarantee, lucky draw and many more. If you’re the person with reason one then you might not fall into it. Most probably you’ll just get what you want and leave. If you’re the person with reason two then you might hang out a bit longer and listen to what they have to say. The longer you stay the more chances for them to influence and persuade you into buying it.

In order not to buying thing that you don’t need, set you shopping expenses before leaving the house. Don’t spend more then what you have in mind and you should be safe from the traps. If you’re still unable to control yourself, then just take the maximum amount of money that you can spend only. That way no matter how deep you fall for the tricks, you don’t have the money to buy it.

Having a cup of coffee in front of your PC

After working for so many days or years in your office, did you ever think of trying this? Those of you that have your coffee directly from the vending machine that uses paper cups is definitely in this category. Where did you place your cup of coffee?

Online video other then youtube

When we’re talking about online video, Youtube is one of those popular sites out there. The site becomes more popular after Google bought it. Besides Youtube, there are actually lots of online video sites that you may not know about. The problem is that they might not be that good. Not good as some of the sites required you to download their player in order to watch the videos. You may also watch the latest movie or tv series on some of the sites. The problem with this is that it involves copyright issue. Does it Sounds a bit familiar with the cases regarding music sharing online? With the increase of the speed and capacity online, we can now watch video online without a problem. A lot of movies and TV series are available free online. If you know the right place to search then you can watch all of them for free. This is just like what happen to the music sharing few years ago. There were no control back then and it is causing a lot of damages to the music industry. Now it is happening to videos. The difference is that the video industries already prepared for it and know that this situation will occur as internet advances. Some damages will still take place but the damages are under control. Even if people are able to download the movies, they still prefer the big screen. Watching a movie on a 17” monitor with no sound effects is nothing compare to big screen with the latest sound effect. Besides, it’s one good place to spend your time with your loves one.

Useful tips that you need for Windows XP

Windows XP probably is the most common used software around the world. Even it’s been quite some time since the launch of Windows Vista. Windows XP is still the most convenient software out there. Here’s a couple of links that provide some useful tips regarding Windows XP. The tips will allow you to…

• Unlocking WinXP's setupp.ini
• ENABLE HIDDEN PROGRAM UNINSTALLATION
• Speed up the Start Menu
• Group Policy for Windows XP
• Temporarily Assign Yourself Administrative Permissions
• Change your CD Key
• Remove the Shared Documents folders from My Computer
• Do an unattended installation
• Stop Windows Messenger from Auto-Starting
• Remove Windows Messenger
• Automatically Kill Programs At Shutdown
• Speeding Up Share Viewing

Some of the info might be out dated but it still gives you an idea of what you can do on your Windows XP. Used it wisely and it should help improve you Windows XP performance.

1. Windows XP Tips
   
2. Windows XP Hacks
   

Help Recycle plastic materials

We have been told to separate our garbage so that it is easy for the recycling work. Paper will be recycling into low quality paper and metal will be melted. Plastic materials will also be melted for further used. Do you actually know that plastic materials are made into HDPE Regrind for recycle purposes? What is HDPE Regrind any way?

HDPE stands for High Density Polyethylene. HDPE Regrind is a raw material made from disposal plastic material which can be used in factory for manufacturing processes. The empty plastic bottles, plastic packaging and other plastic disposal that we collected can be recycled into HDPE Regrind and can be sold to factories. That is why you can see that some people are actually made a living by just collecting plastic disposal. Every single empty plastic bottle mineral water that you throw away is money. Why not gather all your plastic bottles and other plastic material that you want to dispose and recycle them. That way it will help reducing the garbage, avoid pollution and save some money. If you let the garbage collector do the work of separating your garbage, you’re actually paying them to do the work and let them earn more from recycling the plastic material. Don’t give them your plastic disposal, collect them and you can sell it to plastic recycling company for some money. If you think that the money that you’ll get is not much, then try doing it for a couple of months. You’ll be surprise to see how much you can earn from just selling your own plastic disposal.

Tommy Lee Jones Having a cup of coffee in Japan

I found a Japan coffee commercial featuring Tommy Lee Jones as an alien investigating human on earth. It’s a short commercial but very interesting. All he did is just posting for the camera without any conversation. Oh, he did have a can of coffee at the end.

45n5 Top 100 Money Making Blog

It’s not just 100 blogs you’ll get from 45n5. There are actually more than 300 blogs from the list. So, what benefits you’ll get from checking out other money making blogs? The first thing that you’ll get is the information related to money making. If you’re able to get ahead of the information, then you’ll earn money. Information is basically what we’re selling if you’re trying to earn money online. Sometimes we might not be the first one to know but at least we need to catch up with others. The second thing is that you’re able to learn from these sites. You don’t have to follow their steps but at least you learned what they have done. Study their success and failure. Sometimes it might trigger your inspiration and helps in your posting. Third is that you can witness the effect of a new money making site through these sites. When a new money making method appeared, many of these sites will test and try it out. If the method works then it will spread very fast and by the end of the day, you’ll see that everybody is applying it. Normally these are the sites that most probably will be among the first to test it. If the method is not working, it will be removed in short time.

There are still many things that we can learn from these sites. You’ll never know when you’ll use what you’ve learned. It’s better to learn as much as possible so that you’re well prepared. If you’re prepared, the next thing is to wait for your chances. If you’re not ready, no matter how many changes you get, it’s just a waste of time.

Speed up your Windows Vista

In my previous post, I talk about how slow Windows Vista is compare to Windows XP. You can either change back to Windows XP or make some changes on Windows Vista to speed things up. If you choose to stay with Windows Vista, then you can refer to the links below for tips to increase the speed. Like all version of Windows, the default setting are for general usage. The setting will try to cover all the general things that most customers will used. As a result, a lot of application will be installed. When it comes to Windows Vista, there has been tons of new application created for the past few years. In order to make it general usage, Windows try to cover all or most of them. Not like the early version of Windows 3.1 which does not have much application. It’s not too difficult to cover everything. When you reached the stage where too many things to cover, it will be wise to just drop the general version and make it customize. Take for example if you’re able to customize Windows Vista for each user, then a lot of unnecessary applications and tools can be removed. This will eventually make Windows Vista faster and more efficient when working on it. I think it’s time that Microsoft needs to make a big change on Windows if the company wants to stay on top of the business.

• 15 Tips To Speed Up Windows Vista
• 10 Simple Ways To Speed Up Windows Vista
• Speed Up Windows Vista
• Speed Up Windows Vista How-To Wiki

P/S: Just like when you’re in primary and secondary school, you’ll learn everything in general. When you go to college, then it’s time to focus on the study field that you need.

Money matter around the world in 2008

If you’ve be following the news lately, you’ll know that the economic nowadays are not very good. Oil price is going up and stocks are going down in several countries like US, Japan, Europe and China. The value of US dollar has been dropping rapidly. In other words, business might not be good around the world.

Lately I kind of stumble into this post regarding mortgages at MoneyMagic. Here is a part of the article.

“People deciding on a new mortgage have been urged to act fast by brokers as deals are changing quickly. Over a million fixed-rate deals are due to expire in 2008 and brokers are saying to snap up a deal as quickly as possible before they are pulled.”

That might be true judging from the economic nowadays. Deals might be difficult to get later on. I’m not saying that you won’t be able to make the deal but the rates and conditions might change according to the economic. Looking at the situation right now, it might not be good to the people.

Few things that happened lately might have some impact towards the economic. Things like election in the US, Taiwan and Malaysia, the protests in Tibet and the coming Olympic event are most likely affected the economic. So, what can we do to help up? Well, we can start by saving the energy used and stop wasting the resources. Reducing the electricity bills and the car petrol usage can help a lot. Imagine if each person in the country save USD5 of car petrol or electric bill per month. How much money will the country save for a year? You can take US as an example and do the math. Just roughly do the calculation and you’ll discover that it’s a larger amount of money we’re saving. I’ll say this is much easier and simpler than waiting for the government to take action to improve the economic.

Simple instructions that we can follow please!

Did you ever have problems with instructions or guides? Ever tried going through a phone book size manual but still have no ideas on how to do it. I hate it when I’m in that situation. Either it’s the manual poorly written or I’m too stupid to understand it. Remember James Bond movie in year 2002 – Die Another Day, where Bond shoot through the Aston Martin Manual using the car’s target seeking shotguns. Oh I wish I can borrow the car for manual destroying purposes. The same situation sometimes happens while I’m surfing too. There are some sites that actually have very poor instructions leaving you absolutely no idea what so ever. Some sites not just having poor instructions in written format, their picture instructions are terrible too. See for yourself…

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Online multiple language keyboard

Gate2Home.com enables you to type in multiple languages online. This is very handy and useful when you’re traveling in different countries and using their local computers. Take for example if you’re from China travel to US and trying to use the local PC on an internet café. You might face some difficulties trying to type in Chinese language in an American PC. Well, this site enable you to type freely just like a Chinese Windows. No setting required, just go to the site and select your choice of language and you're ready. You can even send emails, search Google or Wikipedia in Chinese languages. There is also an English translation and dictionary features too. There are many languages available such as Japanese, French, Deutsch, Italian and so on for you to choose. It’s very useful when you’re travel around the world as you don’t have to change the setting of the computer to suit the language used.

Recover your lost data or partition

After posting about programs that you can used in USB thumb drive, the next thing that goes through my mind is data lost issue. I’m sure lots of you experienced data lost due to viruses, accidentally delete or system crash. Actually your data is not lost, just that they are categorized as unwanted. The data are still in a place waiting to be replacing by new data. You might still be able to recover your data as long as the data is not being replaced.

TestDisk is one of the free data recovery software that enables you to recover your lost data. The software comes with both novice and expert version. For simple and easy usage, novice version is just enough. If you’re trying to look into a non-booting drive then you might need to use the expert version. Well, no harm learning as much as you can because it might come in handy when you have a hard drive failure. The software is able to run under DOS, Windows, Linux, SunOS, MAcOS, FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD that makes it a handy tool in performing onsite recovery.

P/S: The sex photos of Hong Kong Star Edison Chen were retrieved by this method. So, please do not assume that data deleted from recycle bin are gone for good. Placing your PC in a wrong hand might just expose them as all we need is just simple data recovery software.

Running Windows XP from a USB Stick

I post about programs that run directly from USB stick few days ago. At that time I was thinking about the possibility of running Windows XP directly from USB stick. I never thought that I’m able to find this site explaining the way of doing it.

How to run Windows XP from a USB stick

The site explains in details on how to prepare your USB stick to boot up Windows XP. You just need to prepare a USB stick with minimum size of 256MB and you’re ready to go. Have fun trying it. It’s a good method to rescue the system. Prepare it for the sake of emergency and carry the USB stick along with you.

Make yourself a paper Mercedes 320 SL

If you can’t afford to buy a Mercedes 320 SL, why not try to make a paper model out of it. PaperToys lets you choose which car you like and make it out a paper model out of it. It’s not just the cars that you can make from papers. There are also lots of different stuff that you can find in PaperToys like Christmas tree, Santa, Party hat, doll, Crown, tiara and even white house. All you need to do is just print it out, cut, fold and glue. It’s simple and easy. You can even do it in the office when you’re bored. Just don’t let your boss catch you.

Plan your shopping strategy

Shopping for Christmas has always been a big headache for me. It’s not just the food that you need to think about. You need to consider about the Christmas presents and the new clothes to wear for the season festivals. Basically you’re shopping for almost everything that is available in the store. That means you will be spending a lot of money. If you don’t plan carefully, then it is more likely that you’ll be spending over your budget.

For the food and clothes, I have to get it directly from the stores. I need to make sure that the food is fresh and try out the clothes to make sure that it fits. Other things like books, toys, electrical equipments, furniture and office appliances can be purchase online. I can just check out black Friday ads online regarding the price and offer. Placed the order online and having them to send it to my house. Especially if you’re buying things like television, stereo or things that comes in big size, you’ll save a lot of energy carry it to the back of your trunk and drive them back. But the best part is that you don’t have to beat the crowd to do it.

Another method to help you shop better and safer online is check out the actual goods before placing the order. As you can see that the stores listed in black Friday ads are Wal-Mart, office depot, circuit city, best buy, staples and many more. I’m sure that you already know what you want to buy long before the holiday season. So make the list and take a trip to the stores and check out the goods 1~2 month before Christmas. You don’t have to purchase it at that time but simply just have a look on the things that you hope to get. After that you just have to check out the site to see if the things are available at a low price right. List out 2~3 more things that you wish to purchase just in case they don’t offer the things that you want, you still have second and third choice.

Test your coffee addiction

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet Your caffeine addiction level: low

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

Make money with Buzzfuse

Buzzfuse.com enables you to market your blog articles, photos and music. It’s one way to drive traffic to your blog. For start, you need to invite at least 5 viewers by sending out 5 emails. That already helps to drive 5 people to Buzzfuse and to your blog. If you sign up for premium subscriber, you get to sell your music and photos. Whenever you release something new, Buzzfuse will notify your trusted reviewer so that they are able to check out your blog. Visitors will have the choice to purchase and download your music or photos with the price that you set. Buzzfuse will handle all the payment and delivery. If you’re using a normal account, you can only offer free download of your work instead of selling them.

Only premium account holders are able to earn money from Buzzfuse. Besides selling your photos and music, you are able to earn the shares revenue from Buzzfuse base on the performance of your content or your blog articles. If you choose to be a normal account holder only, then the most that you’ll get is traffic. You can have it as normal account and built up the traffic first. Once you achieve a large amount of traffic, and then upgrade it to premium account. Traffic equals money. If you have the traffic, then premium account will helps you earn the money.

More Free programming materials and other university lectures

I’ve been posting a lot regarding free computer programming classes and study materials on this blog. I put up a post regarding this topic whenever I found free materials online. These materials are very valuable and they don’t come in cheap if you make it your main study course in university. Below are the 3 posts regarding free computer programming materials that I put up before.

Attending Programming classes or go for tutorials online

Free computer programming courses online

A Link to help you study programming

On top of that, I found another 2 sites with free computer programming books and a site with free university lectures.

Teach yourself a computer language

Food for thought

Free university lectures

Learning is not a process that you stop after graduated from college. It is a process that you start when you’re born and ends when you leave this world. It doesn’t matter if you pass or fail the examination or test. You just keep on learning and learning.

First thing that you’ll touch when entering a house

What is the first thing that you’ll touch when entering a house. Yes, that’s right. The answer is door handles. If you’re visiting a house for the first time, the touch of the door handle will be the first hand shake before getting to know the house inside. It is considered to be a greeting. If that gives a good impression then visitors will feel that they are welcome to the house. Thus it is very important to decorate the entrance of your house nicely so that people will feel welcome. If you do a research on the house entrance of different religions and people around the world, you’ll notice that it’s a lot more than just a door. It is an art of greeting guests and it starts from the entrance. A lot of us might not spend that much money on the entrance, but at least we make it simple and comfortable for our guests. That is why choosing a nice door handle can really makes the difference. As for the people that stay in the house, we need to add one more condition. That is the need of feeling safe. A strong solid and heavy feeling when pushes down the door handle to open up the door can really make people feel safe and protected behind the door. If you check the history of door, you’ll find that it used to be very big and heavy. Try identifying the door handles back then. You’ll be surprise to see that it doesn’t come close to what we’re using now.

Check out Japan Latest Street Fashion

I’m not really into fashion but I do know how a good fashion site looks like. I happened to find this Japanese Street Fashion Site that provides the latest fashion in the most attractive way. That is to upload pictures of street walker taken on the streets of Japan. If you happened to take a walk in some of the streets like Harajuku, Shibuya, Omotesando, Daikanyama or Ginza, you’ll notice that these are the place where you can find people dress up with the latest fashion. Basically the streets itself is a big fashion showcase. This site happens to take pictures around these streets and brings the street fashion into the net. Instead of having to go there, you can now check out the fashion online.