Happy 4th Birthday Lazada!

First of all, Happy Birthday to Lazada. Thank you for providing us a great shopping experience online and may you continue to serve us well in the future.

I really love shopping in Lazada. It's easy, convenient and sometimes allows me to purchase items at a discount too!

Here are the top 10 items I would like to buy from Lazada Malaysia this birthday.

1. Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Super awesome piece of gadget from Microsoft. Can't wait to get my hands on it. Sweet!

2. Apple iPhone 7
- Not officially released yet, but I am betting that Lazada would be one of the first online retailers in Malaysia to offer it once it is available.


3. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

One of the most anticipated smartphones this year with all-rounded improvements from the previous Galaxy series. Available for order on Lazada now!!

4. GoPro HERO4
- Quite pricy but would be great to have for adventurous people who would like to document their experience with clear photo/video.

GoPro HERO

 
5. Apple iPad Pro

The everyday convenient and helpful Tablet to have, suitable for kids 3 years old up to adult aged 80 year old.

6. Flashforge Dreamer Series Dual Head 3D Printer

Not something that I really need at this moment but I guess boys should familiarize themselves with the future of printing sooner rather than later. Imagine this modern gadget available for sale on Lazada, no joke!

7. Sony Playstation 4

Would like to really spend my time gaming with my brother and nephew this coming holiday season.

8. Apple Macbook Pro

The beast of a computing power in a small package. Looking forward to increasing my productivity with the help of an Apple Macbook Pro.

 
9. Coffee Maker
- have not decided on a particular brand yet, there's just so many brands and makes to choose from on Lazada. Check out the link below:
http://invl.co/xo

10. Flat screen 3D LCD TV
- need a great display to build a superior entertainment system but undecided on which brand and makes yet as well. Seriously considering getting a Smart TV too.

Smart TV would be great!

Well honestly there are so many more things I would like to buy from Lazada but I guess the list would suffice for now. I shall make a new list again for my next year's birthday.

What do you think of my wish list? What does your wish list for this year looks like? Share with me in the comments.

Don't forget to take advantage of Lazada's 4th Birthday Sale here:
http://www.lazada.com.my/birthday-sale/


This post is an entry for the InvolveAsia x Lazada MY blogger contest. Cash and Lazada voucher sponsored by Lazada Malaysia and shopcoupons.

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Kajang by-election result inconclusive

Congratulations Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail for winning Kajang by-election.

Here is the result:

Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail (PKR - PR) - 16,741 with a majority of 5,379 votes
Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun (MCA - BN) - 11,362 votes

This win by Pakatan Rakyat (PR) is with reduced majority compared to GE13, however there is an increase in the popular vote in terms of percentage.

How did this happen? Simple, there is lower voter turnout compared to GE13 but of those who turned up, a larger percentage of voters backed PR's candidate.

What is the conclusion here? Inconclusive or and speculate all you want till the cows come home.

There are fewer candidates this time around. The voter sentiments changed, many events have happened since GE13 and different issues are on people's minds now.

What now?

Just wait and see. Focus on other more important issues gripping our beloved country. Lastly, would be interesting to see if this Kajang move eventually leads to a Selangor move as well.

References:
http://anilnetto.com/malaysian-politics/malaysian-elections/live-kajang-election-results/
http://www.malaysia-today.net/wan-azizah-chewed-bn-in-victorious-kajang-move/

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Little insignificant help for Typhoon Haiyan victims

Just donated a small amount to the Typhoon Haiyan funds organized by ChurpChurp Malaysia. This is indeed noble and thoughtful efforts by the social media company. The world will certainly be a much better place when more people realize that they have a social responsibility and role to play (to help others in need) rather than just looking after their own well being and interests.

I have friend who actually went to the ground in Philippines to provide relief and first aid to the victims. May he and his team be blessed by the Almighty.

If you are keen to contribute too, visit the #ChurpForPH page below or donate to other fundraising organizers (just google or look in your local newspapers):
http://my.sharings.cc/p/5u2P3

Thank you for making the donation effortless, only my earnings from ChurpChurp is deducted, no actual money came out from my wallet ;)

The donation drive will end on 22nd December 2013, look for my name in the donor's list later. Enjoy, stay safe and pray for our fellow comrades in Philippines.

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The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug

Thanks to a good friend who managed to win 2 tickets to the premiere screening of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and was kind enough to invite me, I have a rather enjoyable day at TGV, Sunway Pyramid yesterday.

** mind you, the delay in the screening for about 1 hour was a turn-off **

My treasure acquired from the lost world of Sunway Pyramid ;P

No spoilers intended but suffice to say that the film is very entertaining, lots of actions, the computer generated images (CGI) looked real and the pace of the story is just about right. I like it more than the first film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

Ooooh, by the way, my favorite characters in this film are Tauriel and Bard.

First time joining an event organized by Nuffnang/ChurpChurp. Not too shabby, but I don't see any famous bloggers around. Or maybe they were there all along, just that I do not know the who's who of the Malaysian blogosphere.

I should make an effort to join more of such event. It will be like an adventure. To all those seasoned bloggers and event guests, hope to get to know you people more. Do leave the URL of your blogs in the comment or contact me using the contact form.

Looking forward to the next film in The Hobbit movies.

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Congratulations Neobux 4th Anniversary

Just noticed Neobux's logo change today:

Yes, it is their 4th Anniversary and they are 4 years old. Wish them all the best and a great year ahead.

Read their post about them being in the 5th year and the discounts they are offering in conjunction with the celebration of their anniversary here:

We're officially in our 5th year

Neobux is no doubt a reliable PTC (paid-to-click) site. I would even go so far to say that it is THE reliable and honest PTC site. If there were any more such sites currently, they are pretty much inspired by Neobux. Correct me if I am wrong in the comments, but I believe Neobux is the pioneer in being an honest and reliable for the long-term PTC site.

I earned some small pocket money with them. You can too! These small change really helps at times. Others have even made hundreds and even thousands of dollars (some recurring monthly) from this site. Do you want to be one of them?

Just click on the banner below, register as a member and start earning today!

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Let's embrace NewTwitter

Apparently NewTwitter has been gradually rolled out since September 14 but I only get to play with it a few days ago. The improvement or upgrade is much welcome, considering that there were not many (major) innovations coming from the microblogging giant since day 1 of its launch.

Honestly, the upgrade is not revolutionary. Twitter just added features which have long been demanded by its loyal users or are pretty standard on other social networking sites. Nevertheless, I believe this represents the first step for it to bring many more innovations to the table to improve users' experience in the near future.

The new interface of #NewTwitter

New features

• New design with multiple tabs (@mentions, retweets, searches, etc.) in the timeline, recent and suggested activities and actions on the right.
• Embedded content such as pictures and videos can be previewed and viewed directly on Twitter.
• Users are able to discover related content of a Tweet such as additional information about the author and subject.
• Mini profiles allow previewing of users that you come across without leaving the page (their account information, bio, recent Tweets, etc.).

 Major concerns by users and developers alike

• Old Twitter background will not be displayed correctly in the new design.
• Twitter desktop client softwares such as TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop are rendered less useful and relevant now that some of their features have been incorporated in #NewTwitter.

Same old same old (things we are glad did not change)

• Tweet still consists of 140 characters or less. Duh!
• #NewTwitter seems more like an interface upgrade and functionality addition rather than a complete revamp. Hence existing applications using Twitter API should still function perfectly.

What are the responses to #NewTwitter? 
At this initial stage, we can only conclude that there are mixed reactions to #NewTwitter. Some hate it, some adore it, others are indifferent. Of course, there are also thousands of Twitter users who plead to be given access to the new Twitter. Here are some Tweets in response to this upgrade.

Nobody is forced to have the #newtwitter at this point, it's only a preview.

Tweeted by @DanOfficial

Yes but won't all of us need to switch to #newtwitter, eventually?

#newtwitter so far very cool, but still missing some nice #Tweetdeck features
Tweeted by @BizTechMBA

Really? I'm not sure what are those missing features. But being able to view embedded medias on #newtwitter is pretty cool!

I don't like the #newtwitter! And it thinks I'm in #Poland :D Ok, that's kinda cool:D:D
Tweeted by @Natalie_C_Sweet

I think you have to embrace #newtwitter, better sooner than later :D

To see more conversations about #NewTwitter, you could search for the hashtag or follow this link here:
Twitter.com Search Results for #NewTwitter

Finally, here are some resources for you to find out more about #NewTwitter:
Introducing new Twitter.com Video Hosted on Youtube
10 things missing in the new Twitter interface
The New Twitter Is an Attack on All Desktop Apps
The Best Subtle Things About New Twitter (highly recommended, contains many useful tips for using new Twitter)

Hope you like this post and if you do, kindly retweet or share it with your Facebook friends. Have a nice day!

P.S. How do you find #NewTwitter? Do you like it or not? Why? What other features you would like to see in Twitter?

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WPWebHost Cheap Freedom Plan Hosting Up for Grabs (Limited Units!)

In conjunction with the launch of its new website appearance (redesign), WPWebHost announced a crazy one time discount up to 90% for its WPWebHost Freedom Plan.

What is offered under WPWebHost Freedom Plan?

• Total web space: 50GB
• Monthly data transfer: 500GB
• FREE lifetime domain name
• Host up to 50 domain names per account
• cPanel
• Unlimited subdomains, MySQL database, FTP accounts
• Nightly backups
• One-click WordPress auto-installer
• Extensive free WordPress tips and video tutorials

To summarize, this Freedom Plan is suitable for small and medium business and individual use especially if you do not expect more than 30,000 unique visitors per month. You can always upgrade to higher plans later on if you need to expand beyond that figure.

Unfortunately, there are limited units under this promotion (first come, first served, while stock lasts). As I am writing this post, the discount code for 90% (10 units), 80% (30 units) and 70% (50 units) discounts have been fully utilized and those units have sold out. There is currently less than 300 units remaining under this promotion for the 60% and 50% discounts.

As shown in the image above, you can save even more if you immediately sign up for 2 years hosting. Based on the features in Freedom Plan, it is almost impossible to find another quality web host which could offer a better price than $2 / month. This is truly affordable hosting at its best!

Don't wait any longer, lock in the offer at the 60% discounted price now. Click on the link below to sign up:

WPWebHost Freedom Plan Discount Up To 60% Off (affiliate link)

  

P.S. How about me? Did I grab this irresistible offer? Yes, I signed up for 60% discount for 2 years. Over to you now!

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What is your Twitter account worth?

Mine is apparently worth $103.


$103

Created by WhatsMyTwitterAccountWorth.com

What's yours worth? Find out at WhatsMyTwitterAccountWorth.com and @bobbytco me to share it with me.

Add my twitter to social network and interact with me. Looking forward to interacting with you!

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Just received $10 cashout from Project Wonderful, thank you!

Yesterday when I logged into my Project Wonderful account, I noticed that I have accumulated enough funds to cash out or withdraw (the minimum amount before withdrawal is permitted is $10). Each withdrawal are charged $1 regardless of the amount withdrawn, I guess this is fair for the company, especially after the introduction of PayPal fee lately.

Project Wonderful is a good opportunity to make money for small publishers and also to gain exposure for advertisers who run a tight budget. Project Wonderful is a advertising network which automates the task of buying and selling ad spaces at their marketplace. Its unique system is based on auction of ad spaces, i.e. whoever bids the highest will get the ad space. You can start advertising for as low as FREE (due to default minimal bid value being set to $0.00 to promote initial bidding) to several cents a day up to the amount you are comfortable to pay for the ad space (the highest bid amount I have seen is about $45).

I think Project Wonderful is offering an advertising alternative which has not been made available before. There is no weekly or monthly commitment, you only bid for a particular day which you can cancel anytime. It also allows advertisers to display their ads on multiple sites at cheap rather than pool all their resources on a single site which may or may not bring desired traffic or attention. On the other hand, small advertisers benefit by being able to try out the efficacy of a campaign on a high traffic publisher site without being tied down for long term.

Other advantages/benefits offered by Project Wonderful:

• easy to set up for publishers (select the ad types you want, copy and paste the code into your site)
• payment by PayPal (minimum amount to cash out is $10 with $1 withdrawal fee)
• no fixed payment dates (you can withdraw anytime, unlimited times per month provided have minimum cash out amount)
• detailed statistics and reporting system (with export to spreadsheet capability!)
• easy to use and effective marketplace (https://www.projectwonderful.com/adsearch.php)
• multiple ad sizes supported

It took me quite a while to accumulate $10 with Project Wonderful because I was only serving their ads here on this blog, which is not very popular to be honest. However now having received payment from them, I can trust them, throw caution to the wind and use them on more websites. I look forward to having a pleasant time as a publisher with Project Wonderful.


P.S. At this moment I am also experimenting with Adgitize, will report back about my experience later on. Do you have experience with any of these advertising networks? Do share your experience with us.

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Infolinks Q&A Review

Today I would like to share with you a review about Infolinks, an "In-Text (Contextual) Advertising" company. It acts as the middle person between advertisers and publishers (blog and website owners). Advertisement relevant to a publisher's content (hence CONTEXTUAL) is effortlessly integrated within the text, taking up no extra real estate space on publisher's site.

This review will be in the form of questions and answers (Q&A), because it is a format which I would like to try out on this blog. Questions will be denoted by 'Q' while answers by 'A'. My answers are in bold for emphasis.

Q: How did you hear about Infolinks?
A: Honestly, Infolinks is not as famous as Google Adsense or Yahoo! Publisher Network but I have no doubt that it is catching up with them, while establishing itself as the leader in "in-text" advertising. I have heard and seen its ads 6-8 months after I started blogging and I joined them as publisher about half a year later.

Q: How fast was the integration and configuration of the ads?
A: Very fast, publisher only needs to copy and paste the Javascript code provided into their web templates. There is also minimal configuration needed. I am positive that any web users who could use Facebook can integrate and configure the ads effortlessly.

Q: Did you receive good support?
A: I have only approached the support team once to enquire whether I am allowed to share (show) my earnings screen shot with other web users. The support team responded promptly within a few hours and was very helpful and patient, even making the extra effort to refer to their administration before getting back to me.Such level of support is satisfactory enough for me. I am glad I do not have to approach them for problems regarding the advertisements, so far.

Q: How happy are you with the earnings?
A: I am quite satisfied with my earnings so far. The click through rate (CTR) and effective cost per thousand impression (eCPM) that I received are comparable to industry standard (meaning the ads are relevant for my web visitors and the ads clicked also give fair earnings). Figures and screen shot will be shown here once I get Infolinks' permission.

Q: Did you get paid on time?
A: Unfortunately I have not reached the minimum payment threshold of $100. However, I have no doubt that Infolinks will pay its publishers on time (within 45 days of the end of the payment period which would be each month as long as the balance is above or equal $100, as stated in its FAQ).

Q: What do you think of Infolinks as a company and its approach towards its publishers?
A: I would like to believe that Infolinks consider both the advertisers and publishers as its priorities and that one of its main aims is to help us earn better money and provide us with pleasant advertising/publishing From my observation, it is a people friendly company, it keeps us updated about the network's progress, activity and promotion and encourage us to interact with it, making us feel like a part of a big family. Its website of the month and Double with a Bubble contest (see video at the end of review) are testimony of its efforts to provide us with a better experience. Other publishers seem to echo my sentiments as well.

Q: Would you recommend Infolinks to other publishers? What are the advantages of serving Infolinks' Contextual ads?
A: Yes, I would highly recommend Infolinks to other website and blog owners. The are many advantages: Firstly, it is user friendly and beginners can begin making money almost as soon as they are registered. Other advertisements such as Google Adsense requires more configuration and optimization to earn a healthy income for publishers. Secondly, big and small, local and even international publishers are wanted by Infolinks and will (usually) be approved quite quickly (again contrast that with Google Adsense and Yahoo! Publisher Network). Thirdly, it is the highest paying in text advertising solution (quote), while it gives us the highest paying ads against minimal site space, it also allows its ads to be served together with Google Adsense and other forms of advertisement (Google Adsense also approves of being served together with Infolinks).

Q: What are the improvements that you wish to see at Infolinks?
A: I hope its report can be more detailed, showing the CTR of each page as well as eCPM of each keywords and keyphrases. One of these days, I also hope Infolinks can expand beyond in text and conceptual advertising, bringing in other forms of advertisements such as widgetized ads (like Chitika, Amazon, etc.) and ad boxes (similar to Adbrite, Bidvertiser, Adsense) although that may not be the company direction.

Q: Is there anything new that you learn about Infolinks while preparing this review?
A: Actually yes, I just found out that Infolinks can process payment via Prepaid Mastercard® (powered by Payoneer) which I already own. That is definitely good news for me as I have another option to receive money from Infolinks.

Q: Any last words to say to Infolinks?
A: Yes. Happy New Year 2010 and congratulations for standing strong and being the industry leader of online in text advertising. Don't lose your identity as you grow bigger and always take care of your publishers (and advertisers) the way you are doing now. They made you what you are now and they will decide what you will be in the future. I am glad and proud to be a part of the family. Thank you!

Let's see how the family party together (Double with a Bubble contest)

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A Date With Astro B.yond

 Heard of Astro B.yond lately? Perhaps you have seen this funny advertisement below as well.

Apparently, Astro B.yond will be the first-ever High-Definition broadcast service in Malaysia. This is indeed good news to Malaysian TV lovers. One step closer to becoming a developed country, eh? Nah, I'm not all that narrow, but yeah, sometimes the status of a country is based upon such yardsticks too.

Anyway, kudos to Astro for this move, yet again consolidating its position as the leading regional broadcast company. There's no better time and place too. Being just about 6 months away from the biggest sporting event on earth, FIFA World Cup 2010 will surely help in gaining new subscribers and HDTV buyers. The internet services in Malaysia which can be best summed up as "developing" (in contrast to third-world and developed) also ensures there will be people content to catch up on the latest episodes of Grey's Anatomy, House, Smallville, Heroes, etc. one or two weeks after they are aired in the US, now in High-Definition. Nice!

At least there are some good news amid bad news in the new year in Malaysia (*for once*), but the following should rank quite highly in the good news category. Astro will be organizing a Astro B.yond Bloggers Night.

Date : 13 January 2010 (Wednesday)
Time : 7:30pm till 10.30pm
Venue : Modesto’s, Desa Sri Hartamas

Refreshments will be provided for and a total of 3 units of Astro B.yond set comprising 32” LG High Definition TV, Astro B.yond box, new remote control and new outdoor dish will be given out along with free subscription to Astro B.yond channels!

To grab the chance of attending this event, please refer to the following post on Nuffnang's blog. And yes, you got it right, Nuffnang Glitterati Bloggers will be given priority for a place (*I'm glowing proudly*).

Join Astro B.yond Bloggers Night and Win Yourself a 32” HDTV from LG

What are you waiting for? Go sign up for Astro B.yond but first make sure you have HDTV first, otherwise your B.yond experience will be pretty ordinary. RM20 additional fee for existing Astro subscribers for 10 times better quality broadcast. Can't beat that, can we? That would be a really good deal. Don't know if we need to foot the costs of the B.yond box and outdoor dish or not, though. Deal or no deal?

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Get .INFO domains for as low as .49$ each from GoDaddy

This information is time sensitive, the coupon code will expire and will not work beyond the deadline. However, it is a common practice for GoDaddy to recycle their coupon codes. Who knows, the promotion may be available again after a period of time, pray someone would alert me then.

From now until Jan 10, you will be able to purchase .INFO domains for as low as .49$ (including ICANN fee) each, PROVIDED you register a minimum of 5 domains simultaneously. Even if you have no need for so many domains at once, think of something. You can register some for your friends, give them away, sell them or donate them.

.INFO domain has traditionally been among the cheapest to register but the renewal fee (for subsequent year) is not much cheaper than other domains. Such domain has its advantages and disadvantages. A man's meat may be another's poison, so consider your options and priorities and choose the best for yourself.

The coupon code to use for this promotion:
gdr1259

This coupon code also gives you free domain name privacy protection for a year (which is normally priced at $8.99 per year per domain at GoDaddy). Just remember to opt them out when you renew the domains to avoid paying more than is necessary, especially if you have no specific need for privacy protection.

There are also other coupon codes available such as domain renewal discount, bulk purchase discount, hosting purchase discount, etc. If you need them, do get in contact with me.

http://twitter.com/bobbytco

P.S. I myself have purchased 7 .INFO domains this morning, the total came to 7 x .49$ = $3.43 (which is about the usual cost of registering 1 .INFO domain).

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7 Figure Code Free Home Study Course

This post is to make good on my promise to share the URL to the 7 Figure Code Free Home Study Course promotion. Here is the URL proper:

http://the7figurecode.com/10000Free/

To find out more about this course, read my post about it when I had wanted to obtain it for myself before I make an about turn to give up this once in a lifetime opportunity (with lots of sarcasm intended):

The 7 Figure Code Home Study Course for FREE

For those who hoped to learn something worthwhile and improve your earnings, do click on the link and fork out either about $20 or $20 + $97 (one time offer) or $20 + $97 + (Many other monthly continuity fees), depending on how deep your pockets are and how grate you are to the Guru trainers, Mike Filsaime and his partners. That would definitely be more profitable than reading the rest of this post.

Unfortunately, contrary to what I have written earlier, there will be no cheap shipping and handling fees and you are not actually receiving the physical home study course DVDs through post (unless you pay additional $97 for them). The lowest priced bargain will only entitle you to the following items:

Digital Access to The7FigureCode Complete Version
The 7 Figure Secrets Spiral Bound Printed Deluxe Report and Bonuses
Instant Affiliate Website (kind of a hosted blog to help you earn affiliate commission)
Optional: Free trial to The 7 Figure Zone (continuity membership website)

I may have heard wrong from the pre-launch promotion (video) of this giveaway, which promises extremely low shipping and handling fee. Besides, I also get the impression that the S&H fee is for the delivery of the physical DVDs of this whole course.

Instead of that, now what we are getting is digital access, a report written by a highly paid review writer and bonuses with conditional continuity subscription.

Now I know the meaning of "if it seems too good to be true, it probably isn't".

Anyone else have seen the promotional pre-launch video featuring Mike Filsaime? Did he or did he not promise cheap S&H fee for The7FigureCode Home Study Course?

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The 7 Figure Code Home Study Course for FREE

I think some introductions are required here.

The 7 Figure Code is Mike Filsaime's best selling product. Mike Filsaime is an internet marketer or internet marketing guru who could easily qualify in a top 10 most successful internet marketers list, if such list exists.

Allegedly, this said product, sells better than Butterfly Marketing, another best selling product of Mike Filsaime prior to The 7 Figure Code. That's totally possible but it does not mean one product is superior than the other, they cover different topics and The 7 Figure Code actually rides on Butterfly Marketing and other products' successes as it is actively promoted to customers of those products.

As far as I know, The 7 Figure Code aims to help entrepreneurs who are earning 6 figures reach the magical 7 figure income. That breakthrough is important, first time is always the hardest, dude! Don't worry though if you do not already have an online business, the speakers in the course are revealing their secrets of building 7 figure businesses.

Honestly, I don't believe this blog post of mine will be read by too many people who are regularly earning 6 figure income. Normally I would not even consider posting this news, for one there is no profit to be made (no affiliate link), secondly this product is apparently priced at $1297!!!

The holiday season is coming soon but the miracle has already happened. Mike Filsaime will be giving away 10,000 copies of The 7 Figure Code Home Study Course for FREE! Customers only need to pay for shipping and handling (S&H) which will be kept to a minimum of $7-$12 (depending on your location). I cannot thank Mike Filsaime enough for his generosity, especially when he mentioned that customers will not be forced into any continuity subscription upsell/downsell products during this giveaway.

I have received at least 4 newsletters from 4 different JV partners of Mike Filsaime regarding this giveaway and I am sure it will be snapped up rather quickly. Therefore if you genuinely want this product for free, add me on Twitter at @bobbytco and request the URL from me. I will update this post with the URL only after I have secured my own copy (or after the immediate launching of the giveaway). If you feel that I am asking for too much from you, you can always search for the URL yourself (I believe I have given sufficient information in this post), suit yourself.

Remember, to get the URL, do the following ASAP (no, I meant immediately)
Add me on Twitter and send a request @bobbytco
http://twitter.com/bobbytco

P.S. Here's a hint, it will start real soon, you don't want to miss out...

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Long absence

Has been a long time since the last update.

I am not able to post regularly yet, so just back to bring you a short update.

If you have not already heard, I would like to introduce 2 websites to you which were launched several days apart few days ago:

Malaysia Today - http://malaysia-today.net/
Malaysia Today is no stranger to us, often providing great insights and shocking revelations. This is not a new launch, a relaunch would be more accurate, the site is back at its original web address and it looked (to me) more organized. Don't delete the URL of the backup site though, because judging by the new articles published on Malaysia Today, I would not bet against it being blocked (again) in the near future.

Free Malaysia Today - http://freemalaysiatoday.com/english/
I think this website would be less bias than the one featured above, it will assume the role of an alternative (and hopefully independent) news provider in the country, like its predecessors such as MalaysiaKini and Malaysian Insider but it will apparently cover many other topics besides socio-political news.

To read a more comprehensive review regarding these 2 websites, visit the link below:
New look for Malaysia Today, look out for FreeMalaysiaToday site

Do you have new and interesting Malaysian sites to share with me? Come on, don't be stingy, sharing is caring. Comments are always appreciated.

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Save More Than 50% Webhosting Fee With Exabytes 52nd Merdeka Promotion

In conjunction with the 52nd Merdeka Celebration, our ever patriotic local web hosting company Exabytes is offering more than 50% discount on its web hosting packages (shared hosting packages only).

The countdown begins from 18 August 2009, anyone who purchases on that day are entitled to 52% discount off the original price of the hosting packages. As of today, the discount has been revised to 51% and tomorrow it will be 50%. Get the pattern now? If you have been planning to get yourself a web hosting (domains are also available at an all-time low price), there is no better time than now. The earlier you sign up with Exabytes, the more discount you will get, like they say, a penny saved is a penny earned.

The discount offered will continue to decrease until 30% when the promotion is to end. This promotion is available even after Merdeka Day, it will run until 14 September 2009.

To know more about this iLoveMalaysia Merdeka Promotion, visit the link below:
http://exabytes.com.my/merdeka/2009/index.php

Thank you Exabytes for the wonderful promotion. You are indeed a good role model, by demonstrating your corporate social responsibility consistently.

P.S. There is no affiliate link in this post. I hope you will benefit as much as possible from this promotion. Also, I am not paid by Exabytes to bring this news to you, although I don't mind being offered a free hosting package for my efforts. Just joking!

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Twitter Rocket

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

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Entrecard Acquired By ZipRunner, Founder Graham Langdon stay on as advisor

The inevitable has happened. Apparently, EntreCard founder Graham Langdon has sold EntreCard Inc. to ZipRunner Inc. Googling the name ZipRunner Inc. returns zero relevant result apart from EntreCard's acquisition press release.

Read about the announcement here:
EntreCard has been acquired by ZipRunner

Here's a little about ZipRunner, as narrated by its CEO, Andrew Te:

ZipRunner is an investment company with many years of experience with Internet companies. We intend to have a smooth transition and will continue to provide essential services such as dropping cards, earning credits and allowing bloggers to network. We believe that these services are what make Entrecard special. In addition, Entrecard will continue to have Richard Clark (phirate), Entrecard’s founding developer, on its management team.

I really hope this move will further improve EntreCard. EntreCard has gone from (blogger) fans' favorite to a controversial startup, with divided opinions about Graham's plans and what he hope to achieve with EntreCard. No doubt Graham's decisions have been partly fueled by desire to break even or earn some profits from EntreCard even after serving the blogging community without any charges for a year or two.

To Graham's credit, he has implemented many changes to EntreCard in the final few months of his tenure as CEO, probably much more than he has ever done in the 2 year prior to that. Some noticeable changes in recent months:

• introduction of paid ads on EntreCard network which is wildly popular
• revamp of the old forum and setting up a new one
• offering to buy back EntreCard credits from members
• asking members to complete CPA offers in exchange for EntreCard credits to raise funds

We wish Graham Langdon best of luck. Just hearing his story, we know that he has gone through a lot, struggling and moving forward with EntreCard. He will now spend time with other projects, yet you may still hear from him about past and current challenges at his new personal blog:

http://ontrapranore.com/

Lastly I also hope for the best for EntreCard users. If there is one thing ZipRunner could do to make us believe that EntreCard is improving for the better under their management, please honour Graham's initiative to allow EntreCard users to cash out their credits! I have about $100-200 worth of credits now and I don't really know how to spend it.

I welcome response from Graham Langdon, ZipRunner Inc. and Andrew Te as well as other bloggers and people from EntreCard community network.

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Not possible to earn with Homepages Friends anymore

Have you heard about Homepages Friends? It was among the first paid to search programmes available online. I have personally earned about £30 from this programme.

It is undoubtedly easy to earn money from this programme which pays its members either through check or PayPal. Members are also paid commissions for referring new members to the service (similar to a multi-level marketing scheme). The searches made by members are automatically recorded and audited to determine the earnings payable to the members. I have no complaint toward the accuracy of the recording and audits but Homepages Friends is known to delay in paying its members even when they have reached the minimum payout amount and time dues.

Unfortunately, all good things eventually come to a (bad or not so good) end. Apparently, Homepages Friends could no longer pay us (50% of) the revenue made from our searches, we can only choose which charity to contribute the earnings to. Members from certain countries are completely restricted from using the service.

Check out the screen shot above, click to view for enlarged view. I am obviously using Homepages Friends search service from a country permitted to use it but still I get such error message. I am reluctant to contact the support to sort out the matter. Obviously user experience and welfare are not the priority of the company anymore.

I feel the members who were responsible for building up the service and helping it earn money are not properly compensated (and consulted over this crucial decision to stop paying members for their searches). The company also tried to offer cheap incentive such as cash prizes of £250, £200 and £150 in a lucky draw to coerce and lure members to agree to the new terms and agreement of the service in order to be eligible for the draw.

The prizes are not exactly cheap but what about other members who do not win? To whom do you owe the success of your company and service? Is this what your members deserve, some which have stood by you even when payment to them are delayed by a few months and tolerated your below par support system (as far as I am concerned there is only 1 staff which often does not offer solution or answer, the staff merely forwards generic responses towards members' concerns)?

It was good while the win-win (50/50) situation existed. You may turn your back on us when you no longer needed us. In a similar way, you will never know when your partner, be it Ask.com or Yahoo! will turn its back on you. Thank you for the opportunity, we will now look elsewhere in the paid to search circle, we wish you the best of luck.

P.S. I am trying to speak on behalf of Homepages Friends members who are in the same situation as I am and feel similarly. I am aware that no all members and general public share the same sentiment towards Homepages Friends. If you feel differently, do share your opinions with us by commenting below. Comments and responses from Homepages Friends management and people who are in the know of the situation are also welcomed.

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A Very Superficial Review of Become A Blogger Course

I have joined the 2 weeks trial access to 'Become a Blogger' coaching course by Gideon Shalwick and Yaro Starak and here is my very superficial review.

Note that new members of the course will not be getting instant access to all the videos available there, hence the subscription model of $77 per month for 6 months, which upon completion of the duration, you are granted life-time access to the site and the resources there without any additional charge.

It is indeed unfortunate that all I can hope to learn from this site is limited to at most 2 weeks' training videos. Of course, I am not complaining. For the price of $1, I managed to view high quality videos as well as download the bonus 'Master The Mindset' motivational audios.

While I enjoyed the opportunity to catch a glimpse of what a professional coaching course is like, I am disappointed to not be able to access further modules. From what I hear, these are the modules available to the life-time members of the course:

1. Get Your Blog Up And Running Fast And FREE
2. How To Optimize Your Blog For Maximum Search Engine Performance
3. How To Create Powerful Content For Your Blog, Consistently and Without Fail
4. How To Use Images On Your Blog To Make You Stand Out From The Crowd
5. How To Create A Different Dimension To Your Blog By Adding Audio
6. How To Breathe Life Into Your Blog Using Online Video
7. How To Create Multiple Streams of High Quality Traffic To Your Blog
8. How To Make Money From Your Blog

Then again, I don't really expect to access over a 100 training videos at the price of only $1. Although the first 2 modules contain good quality videos, I already roughly know about the topics. I suppose module 3 onwards would be most useful for me. Perhaps Gideon and Yaro could introduce (an optional) pay-per-view model, so that bloggers could pay to get access to module(s) which they really need.

The videos in the first module is intended for newbies. Nevertheless, it has reinforced my knowledge and I am also glad to learn bits and pieces of new facts (for me) from the basic videos. Beyond this, I cannot give further testimony. What I can guarantee is that Yaro has great knowledge and experience in teaching about blogging and that the quality of the videos and audios are superb, PDF transcripts are also provided (especially for those who are not used to the Australian accent).

Unfortunately, $77 per month for 6 months is not something I could afford right at this moment. Therefore I am planning to discontinue my subscription when my 2 weeks trial ends. I have to thank Gideon Shalwick, Yaro Starak and Darren Rowse for making this possible.

If you wish to see for yourself the quality of the videos, do follow the link below. 10 videos from the first module is provided for preview, free of charge. Don't forget to claim your free copy of "The Roadmap To Become A Blogger" too!

Become A Blogger Coaching Course

What do you think about this blogging course? Have you joined any blogging/online coaching course before? Which course would that be? Feel free to share your experience and advices with us.

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