A Connected Life

Download Movies Without A PC

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 11:44:00 +0000

I used to buy DVD movies every week before I got addicted to downloading media from torrent. I got my entire collection of American TV shows/series like 24, Chuck, Criminal Minds, Fringe, Heroes, Knight Rider 2008, Leverage, Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Mentalist and Without A Trace from torrent.

The process is time consuming as first I have to download the chosen video files from torrent which are usually in avi/divX, convert it to .vob or mpg/DVD format, burn it in a blank disc and run the movie in a DVD player.

Well, this new gadget makes it more convenient. Let's welcome Myka and you can now enjoy all your favorite shows better in all their high-def glory in your HDTV.

Myka also brings simplicity as you only need to connect the device to the internet and plug it to your TV.

Myka can connect through a direct LAN connection or WiFi and it comes with an internal hard drive with a choice of an 80GB, 160GB or a 500GB model. It comes with a remote control and has a Dolby Digital stereo audio output mode.

The first batch of units will be arriving in 6 weeks and prices start at $299.

Free SMS Through M2M

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 20:35:00 +0000

I have been a Chikka user since it first came out. The service really does prove to be useful on occasions when I ran out of load credits. It's just too bad that Chikka is blocked in our office network.

Now there's no more need to download and install any application with M2M, the newest free SMS messaging service. The service is brought to us by MegaMobile, the wireless services subsidiary of publicly-listed IPVG Corp.

"M2M is possibly the easiest way to send free SMS to friends and loved ones from anywhere in the world.", said MegaMobile President Jose Manuel Fernando.

The service allows you to send text messages from your email to any mobile subscriber of Globe and Smart networks. Messaging to Sun Cellular subscribers will soon be made available.

To send an SMS, simply type-in @m2m.ph (ie., 09205289440@m2m.ph) in the email recipient box ("To:"), write the message and send; just like any regular email. The message is then forwarded as an SMS to the recipient's mobile phone. Recipients can respond by simply replying as they would to any SMS. Their messages are then forwarded to the originating email address.

With M2M, mobile subscribers can also now send SMS messages to any email address. Mobile users simply text in M2M (ie., M2M cdomale@yahoo.com Hi. How are you?) and send to 2948 for Smart, Globe, and Sun networks.

M2M messaging from emails is free while messages from mobile phones are charged P2.50 per SMS.

Women Prefer Internet Than Sex

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 10:03:00 +0000

Just how important is the internet to people? The results of a poll say that its bad news for men. Intel found out that 46 percent of women would rather go without sex for two weeks than go without the internet.

It's not much of a surprise because another poll says that 35 percent of the men would give up their spouse rather than their BlackBerry. Maybe some of these women are married to these men. So this preference for technology works for both men and women.

Still, apparently just 30 percent of men would swap sex for the internet for a two-week period. The goal of the Intel survey was to show how much the Internet means to people. Harris Interactive conducted the survey for Intel, putting the questions to 2,119 adults last month.

So if you find your sex life declining, cutting off your internet connection might be a good idea, right? Not so fast. Volunteers for these online surveys probably already have unhealthy addictions to the internet and might make imperfect proxies for all internet users.

Hollywood Inspires Pentagon

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:27:00 +0000

People get the weirdest invention ideas from the movies today. Just like the film "Wanted", the Pentagon is now funding $22 million into researching ammo that could change course mid-flight to hit their targets. DARPA, the Defense Department's R&D office, is giving out $9.5 million to Teledyne Scientific & Imaging and $12.3 million to Lockheed Martin to create .50-caliber sniper rifles with guided bullets.

Lockheed Martin is working on what is called as the Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordinance (Exacto), a project that would enable ammo to travel accurately regardless of the surrounding environment.

The rifle may include “fin-stabilized projectiles, spin-stabilized projectiles, internal and/or external aero-actuation control methods, projectile guidance technologies, tamper proofing, small stable power supplies, and advanced sighting, optical resolution and clarity technologies.”

I wonder what could be next? Real-life robot Transformers?

I still find $22 million too much money to spend on bullets. I better be off spending that amount on cloning Angelina Jolie.

YouTube Now In Widescreen

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:31:00 +0000

In the past 3 weeks, I have been busy with my teams in the office coming up with our group's entry to a music video contest. The competition is part our company's numerous activities for the season which will culminate in our Christmas party on December 12.

The contest produced a total of 14 music videos created by 14 different teams. We created the one on top. A handful of the short productions turned out to be well made considering that the people who acted, shot, edited and directed the films were all amateurs.

I posted 13 of the 14 videos on YouTube. There were song copyright issues (Closer and Dangerous) on 2 of the videos so the audio was muted. You will find all of the videos here.

When I uploaded it to YouTube, I was pleased to find out that the site already stretched the aspect ratio of the videos from the "traditional" 4:3 to "widescreen" 16:9. Many of the consumer electronics now have jumped to the widescreen aspect ratio in the last few years, including all HDTVs, most camcorders, many laptops, and some digital still cameras.

You'll immediately notice the difference when you visit the site now: The playing window is considerably larger than it was before and this is definitely a welcome development. I however look forward to the time when we will already be able to watch videos in YouTube in High Definition.

Make Money From Adgitize

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 14:41:00 +0000

Up to now, the bigger part of my blog income still comes from paid posting. It has been more than a month already though since I accepted a sponsored review. Since I'm very choosy when it comes to accepting writing opportunities, my objective in the coming months is to slowly divert the bulk of my blog revenue from advertising.

Earlier, I came across a promising blog ad company called Adgitize. If you're an existing blogger who is familiar with Entrecard where you earn can EC credits, Adgitize provides a similar experience but with a big difference, you actually make real money from its advertising.

Adgitize reward you points on a variety of ways; 1. when someone clicks on your ad, 2. when you click on other members' ads, 3. when someone visits your web site or blog, and 4. whenever you write an article on your blog.

Your accumulated points are then converted to cash at the end of each month. It would also be faster for you to receive your earnings because the minimum payout through PayPal is only 10 dollars.

Signing up is free, so be a part of the first batch of bloggers to receive the first payout. Check out Adgitize through the banner located at this blog's title header.

Digital Camera With HD Video Capture

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:46:00 +0000

With the 13th month pay coming in as early as the first week of December, some of you might already be contemplating which tech gizmo to buy. A laptop? A mobile phone? You might want to check out some of the gadgets that I featured in my earlier posts.

But what if you consider getting a digital camera? If you're not ready for a dSLR yet, then a point-and-shoot is perfect for you.

Sure, digital cameras can also capture and record video but in most cases we have to contend with VGA quality (640 x 480 pixels) that is probably only good for YouTube uploads. If you intend to view the videos in your wide screen 42" HDTV then you need a digicam that is also capable of capturing video in Hi Def.

For this purpose, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-TZ15 is my choice. It boasts of a 720p-quality (1,280 x 720-pixel) HD video-recording function. Though there are camera models from Sony and Samsung that are also capable of doing such, what sets this 9.1 megapixel shooter apart is its 10x optical zoom.

For aspiring movie-makers, the HD video feature would probably (and initially) fulfill the need for a separate video camera.

Smart Now Into Location Based Text Ads?

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:35:00 +0000

I took a quick nap at mid afternoon, earlier today (it's my rest day) when a text message bothered me. I got more pissed as when I read the message and I learned that it was one of those unsolicited SMS ads from Smart.

The message read, "Join Pepsi Kada Can... Go to Limketkai Mall CDO or SM CDO with ur barkada...". It's kinda creepy as how did Smart know that I'm located in a city where these malls are also located. It wouldn't be a surprise if I was using a post-paid line but I'm on pre-paid.

I could only speculate of 2 things. One, I joined a few Smart promos in the past and they must have kept a file of my personal info, or two, they must have sent those texts through their cell sites in the vicinity.

Now, this is a breakthrough in SMS advertising as they have successfully targeted the market based on location. Call it creative or a marketing genius but sorry, I call it spam!

Shop From US Online Stores

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:43:00 +0000

I have always drooled over the PCs, laptops and gizmos featured in gadget review blogs. While a number of them are available here in the Philippines, it is very disappointing that the ridiculously high local cost here are nowhere near its American dollar prices. Still, many of the products are just available only in the US.

What makes it more difficult to obtain those items is that online stores like Amazon, New Egg, Best Buy, Tiger Direct and others only ship within the US.

Well, that wouldn't be a concern anymore as Johnny Air's Shop Online Service offers to ship your purchases via a door-to-door express parcel service from the US to the Philippines.

Furthermore, if you do not have a credit card, you can choose to deposit your cash payment in a local Johnny Air office and the company can shop for you using their credit card.

I have long been waiting for this type of service and I'm sure many of you who fancy some of the products that you see from US online stores will also consider this service in time for your Christmas shopping.

What bothers me though is that many of the email addresses of the various Johnny Air locations are only utilizing Yahoo mail. For such a sensitive transaction like purchasing online I hope that Johnny Air will realize that the company use of free web-based email do not specially promote confidence among its potential clients.

Watch Video Files In HD

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 08:08:00 +0000

Okay, so you're fond of downloading movies and video files. Personally, I'm currently into collecting TV Series' episodes. Presently, I'm up to date with Prison Break, Heroes, Chuck, Knight Rider, Fringe and The Mentalist. I just play it from my PC and view it from my 19" Samsung LCD monitor.

But, wouldn't it be nice to view all those videos in all its HD glory from your 32" (or plus plus) widescreen home theater? Do you still have to convert those mostly DivX files to a DVD or Blu-ray compatible video format? No need. Stream those files straight from your hard drive (or USB flash disk) to your HDTV via the Western Digital TV HD Media Player.

The WD TV HD Media Player allows you to watch your favorite HD movies on your TV. How? It enables you to plug in your USB storage or USB hard drive and play back multimedia clips up to 1080p on your HDTV via the HDMI or composite outputs. The 1.6- x 4.9- x 3.9-inch box comes with a remote control and is priced at an affordable $99.99.

Dell 12-Inch Screen Netbook

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 11:54:00 +0000

There is still no industry standard definition of what a netbook is. At present, 7 to 10 inch laptop models from major PC manufacturers like Asus, Acer, MSI, HP and Lenovo are widely called as netbooks.

Dell recently announced the availability of the Inspiron Mini 12 and as the name suggests, it has a 12.1 inch (1280 x 800) screen. At this size dimension, I'm no longer sure, is this already a laptop? or just the world's largest netbook?

However, like the smaller netbooks, the Inspiron Mini 12 has an Intel Atom processor, 1GB of memory and 60GB or 80GB hard drive. It also has a 1.3MP webcam, built-in Bluetooth, 802.11b/g wireless, 10/100 Ethernet jack, 3 USB ports, full size VGA out, a 3-in-1 card reader, SIM card slot, mic and speaker/headphone sockets.

Don’t expect to use this netbook for gaming, but if you only need something that can handle e-mail, chatting, blogging, web browsing, video calling, playing music, and uploading photos then the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 might be just for you.

It's priced at $599 (P29690).

Save Money Using USBCell Batteries

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:43:00 +0000

I own 2 chargers and a number of rechargeable AA batteries which I use primarily on my Kodak digital camera and 2 Wii remotes. I have been recharging the cells on an average of twice a week since I bought them last year. On this account, they have probably saved me about a thousand pesos already on battery purchases.

While some devices have custom battery packs or modules, a vast majority of the gizmos are still powered by the common AA battery. Since these gadgets do not come with a way to recharge themselves, these USBCells from Moixa provides a solution that eliminates the need for a separate charger by utilizing USB ports instead.

At first glance, the USBCell batteries look the same as with any other AA battery but that is where it stops. The top cap opens to reveal a USB connector for charging.

A LED lights up when the USBCells are plugged in to charge and provides you a continuous status of its progress. While the battery level is below 90% charge, the LED stays solid. It begins to flash to let you know that battery level has already reached 90% and is almost fully charged.

As I passed by CDR-King's website earlier, I was happy to see that Moixa USBCell is already available locally. So if you no longer want to look for your battery chargers next time, go get these rechargeables now. It sells at P250 a pair.

The Echo Is Coming

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:31:00 +0000

I'm a horror movie junkie, an Asian horror movie junkie to be specific. Up to now, I still keep the DVDs of cult films like "Ju-on" and "The Ring", both the Japanese and US versions.

Thanks to the internet, as early this year I was also able to watch the Thai-language "Shutter", which also had a Hollywood remake.

I rarely see Filipino films, but I remember in 2005 I saw the Richard Guttierez and Angel Locsin starrer' "Sigaw" on video. I have to admit that part of what attracted me to watch it was the intriguingly unique name of its filmmaker.

I did not regret watching it. It was definitely one of those "don't watch it alone movies". and I loved it. Later In November of 2006, it was reported that the film was picked up by an American producer. Principal photography started in August 2007 and proceeded until April of this year. It was finally warmly received by the audience in its world premiere in the Fantasia film festival in Montreal last July.

Making us proud in "The Echo" is Pinoy director Yam Laranas and Iza Calzado who is reprising her role in the original "Sigaw" film. No date has yet been announced on its pending release but as for now I have just contented myself in watching its trailer which I found in YouTube. I'm eagerly looking forward though to its eventual screening here.

Cheap Premium Speakers For Your Laptop

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 06:58:00 +0000

Notebooks have notoriously bad speakers and if you're using one rather than a desktop, then you may consider upgrading its speakers to a Logitech 2.1 AudioHub.

The AudioHub has two satellite speakers and a subwoofer (all in one-piece) that connects through a USB interface. The left and right speakers are extendable, allowing you to increase or decrease the wingspan of the unit as necessary to fit around your notebook screen. It also has a three-port USB hub.

Its LED-lit volume and power dial lets you know when the speakers are on at a glance and is conveniently located on the side of a speaker. The speakers produce 15 watts of quality audio--not much, but way better and louder than what you get from most built-in laptop speakers.

The device is on the big and heavy side (not so good for something that is supposed to be mobile) --but if you regularly use your notebook for music, movies and games, then for a bargain $19.99 (down from its original price of $99.99) from Amazon (see widget on the right), this is a great-good deal for a speaker upgrade. What do you think?

Nokia E71 Review

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 01:34:00 +0000

Introduced in July of this year, the Nokia E71 is a smartphone with a QWERTY keyboard that is targeted to appeal the business users.

Past experience teaches me not to judge gadget designs based on just pictures alone. I have been disappointed a few times already to find out that shiny looking gizmos actually feels "plasticky" when you get hold of it. I was pleased to know that the E71's stylish metallic dual-tone finish has such a solid feel. Since it has a chrome chassis though, be prepared to regularly wipe it off with your fingerprint smudges. But being a fan of multimedia phones (Nokia's N Series) I didn't expect a big, business, feature-rich phone like the E71 could look so great... and so slim.

Having made a good impression on its looks, I then proceeded to check it out for its substance. I soon learned that the E71 is way more connected than other phones. It has 3G, HSPDA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (A2DP for stereo headsets) and surprisingly, even Infrared.

A handful of applications also came in preinstalled. To save on overseas calls, it was a good idea that Nokia included internet telephony as part of its communication options. I also find QuickOffice useful because it allowed me to create, view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. There are probably better mobile phone browsers out there as I disliked being made to scroll from left to right when viewing web pages through the E71.

Nokia also added decent multimedia features like an audio/video player and an autofocus camera with built-in LED flash.

Part of the sales package, included a 2GB microSD card, a headset, a wrist-strap and a pouch. Being a music lover that I was, I loaded its memory with a bunch of MP3 files. I attached its wrist-strap and inserted it in its pouch and soon learned that in its present position, you can't put its headset without boring a hole on the leather case's side. Minor design flaw though.

The 1,500mAh Lithium-polymer battery (also big) life was remarkable and is capable of delivering up to 10 hours of talktime, standby for up to 17 days and a maximum music playback of 18 hours. Straight out of the box, I subjected the phone to regular usage (calls, text, email, MP3s, etc.) and it gave me 2 days before I finally had it initially charged. Upon fully charging it, I was able to go for 3 straight days on usual use which is sufficient enough for most people.

The camera isn't the best available even though its resolution has been increased to 3.2 megapixels (higher than most smartphones) but its image quality is passable.

This handset is not for everyone but if you consider getting a business phone, the E71 which is competitively priced as P23,690 ($495) is a smartphone that I would highly recommend.

Put Lyrics In Your Music Player

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 12:40:00 +0000

Filipinos are known music and karaoke lovers. I am aware that having MP3s played in the background while working in our PCs have become such a common practice for many of us.

We may disagree in our choice of music players, there's Winamp, Windows Media Player, Apple iTunes, RealPlayer or MediaMonkey, but for the singer in all of us, we'll surely miss a lot without having the MiniLyrics.

Sure, anyone can open a web browser, type in the name of the artist or song and then select the appropriate lyrics. But with MiniLyrics, it automatically searches the internet, then displays the lyrics in sync of the currently playing song. It supports more than a dozen of the most popular audio software available including the ones enumerated above.

Although its database of songs is far from comprehensive, I'm surprised that the application even turned out a substantial number of OPM songs. Its speed and accuracy in displaying lyrics even impresses me more.

I bet you won't even find its price objectionable, because it's totally free! Try it out and download MiniLyrics here.

XBox 360 Starts At P 9,575 ($199.99)

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 07:05:00 +0000

Choosing your perfect Holiday buy can be a bit confusing, specially when you do it on the last minute. So as we count down the days leading to our 13th month pays and bonuses, I will try to feature every now and then some gift (could be for yourself or for someone else) suggestions to make your season complete.

Sure, the Nintendo Wii ($289.99) has been the Christmas buy sales leader since 2006 but I'm no longer sure for this year. You see, a few months back the Xbox 360 has been repriced lower than the Wii. The Xbox 360 Arcade can now be bought at only $199.99 (P9,575).

The Arcade comes with a wireless controller, a 256MB memory card, an HDMI output port, and five Xbox LIVE Arcade games. If you feel however that the puny memory capacity of this entry-level version is just not enough, you can consider getting the Xbox 360 Pro which at $299.99 (P14,362) will give you more, like a 60GB storage, a headset, a network cable, an HD AV cable and compatibility to over 300 Xbox games.

Since prices here in the Philippines for the basic model start at P 20K ($420.30), I'm strongly considering trying out Amazon. They ship to international destinations at reasonable rates. You may check out Amazon's offer/s with the widget on the right.

How about you? What's your gadget buy this Christmas?

The Nokia E71 That Blogging Brought

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:34:00 +0000

Brought? No typo there, nothing was bought. Thanks to Donna, Danielle and RichardG of UK for sending me a Nokia E71 for review.

I have always enjoyed sharing my thoughts and opinions about new and upcoming tech products. As I look back at my older posts, I counted that I already featured 6 mobile phones in the past.

Last month I came across WOM World and sent them an email stating that I'm open to test drive a Nokia. I forgot about it until last week when Donna emailed me asking if I'm still interested for the trial. After replying yes, by late Thursday I received another email informing me that a unit was on its way to me.

I would have to admit that for a while I thought that I was taken for a ride. I tracked the shipment using the airway bill number through the DHL site for the 5th time (since Friday) this morning and all of those instances produced the same "No Results Found". I was about to email WOM World to follow up when a DHL courier came by early this afternoon to deliver me the package.

According to the agreement that I signed, I will try the Nokia E71 for a period of 2 weeks, after which the device will be collected by the courier. WOM World / Nokia will cover all delivery costs.

That's fine with me and I look forward to an enjoyable 2 weeks ahead.

Expect a review post after I'm done tinkering with this new cool toy.

Upgrade Your PC Monitor

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:13:00 +0000

I am in the market for a monitor upgrade now. It's not that I'm unhappy with my 19" Samsung SyncMaster 940BW which is still running perfectly fine for a year already. It's just that for a movie download addict like me, I figured that 22" will be my new standard PC monitor size.

Why 22" and not 24"? For a good reason. Well, I learned that the 2 inch difference also meant an additional $200 and is already beyond my budget.

I scoured the internet for reviews of LCD monitors that are within price that I had in mind and found the Chimei CMV 222H.

It has a 1,680 x 1,050 native resolution and is capable of producing 16.2 million colors. Unlike more expensive brands that only has DVI and D-Sub input connectors, the CMV 222H features HDMI, D-SUB, Component, Composite and S-Video. It also has a card reader that supports SD, MMC, Memory Stick, Compact Flash, Smart Media and xD formats is included, along with a 3.5mm audio jack for audio feed to its built-in speakers.

To further sweeten the deal, it's only priced at P12,300 ($262) and it comes with a 3 year warranty. That value definitely puts in on top of my Holiday buys. How about you? If you were to uprade your PC, what would be it?

Earn $2000 Per Month From Blog Visits

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 15:58:00 +0000

I have always wondered how much other bloggers are earning. Except for a few bloggers who post regularly about their monthly income (which may or may not be true), I could only make a guesstimate for the rest.

b5media, a global ad network recently released a memo regarding its new pay structure for its partners. It reveals that for their bloggers (some of them are Pinoys) to take a $2000 paycheck, they need to generate 500,000 page views per month.

Wow, that's a lot of traffic. I have read some Pinoy bloggers breaching the $1K income/month mark, though I am not sure if they are able to do it consistently.

With earnings like these, does it mean that the average Pinoy could now quit his job and start blogging? Hell, the answer is No. It could be the dumbest financial and career decision that you will make in your life.

BlogAds president Henry Copeland cautions bloggers not to get too excited. He said, "Only about 200 bloggers out of the estimated 20 million out there could actually quit their day jobs".

True, I agree. But my blog income just paid for my electricity, water and internet bill last month, so I really wouldn't mind earning the extra $15 to $50 per post, would you?

iPhone 3G At Half The Price?

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:38:00 +0000

Well, not really the iPhone 3G. Though I'm not a big fan of Apple, I have to admit that when I passed by a Globe shop last month I got pretty impressed with the iPhone 3G. It's biggest attraction to me was its wide touchscreen and its ability to seamlessly browse the web. I know beforehand from the internet that the iPhone 3G is priced at $199 (with AT&T plan) in the US and I was looking forward to a pricing based on a near Philippine peso equivalent. Needless to say, I got turned off when I learned that Globe was selling an 8GB iPhone 3G prepaid at P37,599 ($807).

For the record, just the other day, Apple stores in Hong Kong started selling an unlocked iPhone 3G at $694. Well even at this price, I still figured out that I'd better be off saving that amount of money to buy my dream laptop within the year.

Enter China mobile phone manufacturer Meizu! They just announced recently that they will be releasing the M8 (pictured besides the iPhone 3G) on December. At first I thought this is just vaporware but I was pleased to see from several videos in YouTube that the phone actually exists.

The Meizu M8 is a GSM phone that has a 3.3-inch display, Bluetooth, a 3MP camera, TV-out, line in/out and video recording capabilities. Its price for the 8GB model starts at $370. So, do you think this is worth it?

New Technology To Predict Crime

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:48:00 +0000

Remember the movie "Minority Report" starred by Tom Cruise? It tells the story of a special police department called "Precrime" which apprehends criminals based on foreknowledge, provided by three psychics termed "precogs".

Well, crooks now better beware as the US Department of Homeland Security got inspired and took a cue from the sci-fi film. They have been researching a sensor system that tries to predict "hostile thoughts". They call it "Future Attribute Screening Technologies" or FAST. It remotely checks people's pulse rate, breathing patterns, skin temperature and momentary facial expressions to see if they're up to no good.

The system uses an array of sensors—everything from cameras to infrared sensors to eye-safe laser radars—to do its job, and it then collates the data to determine if people are displaying biological markers that signifies evil intention.

It still sounds too high tech to me but I can't wait until they come out with a working prototype and test it on our politicians.

Virginity For Sale

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 11:10:00 +0000

I've read quite a number of posts already telling people how to make money online but I have to admit that what I read awhile ago isn't what I had in mind.

It seems like one woman has started a trend and inspired others to sell their virginity online. It began in 2004 when British coed Rosie Reid decided to auction her virginity on eBay. In 2007, Manchester University student Carys Copestake followed suit and asked for 10,000 pounds.

Last week, Natalie Dylan, an 18-year-old US student in San Diego told the Howard Stern show that she would have sex for the first time for $1 million to pay for her college fees.

A few days later, Italian model Raffella Fico (pictured) put her virginity up for sale at one million euros.

I don't think she will be the last. These girls have discovered and created something entirely new for the internet marketplace.

So, what do you think bloggers? Is now a good time already for us to put up vBay?

More Money Leads To Better Sex

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 15:02:00 +0000

No, I'm not talking about hiring prostitutes. Sure money can't buy you love but according to a study, the more money you have, the better sex you get. This is based in a survey among 600 high-net-worth individuals. The results added that rich women enjoy sex the most.

Hannah Shaw Grove and Russ Alan Prince, researchers on the habits of the rich and famous concluded that, "In seeking a higher-quality sexual experience, the number of well-heeled women that lead more adventurous and exotic sex lives, have had an affair or joined the mile-high club far outdistances that of men -- and the affluent gender gap in views on sex doesn't end there".

They surveyed people with an average net worth of $89 million, and those who make more than $9 million per year. "The majority of men and women credit their private wealth with achieving a better sex life. When viewed separately, a larger percentage of women agree with the statement, perhaps indicating that females derive a greater degree of empowerment from their financial independence than their male counterparts" the survey found.

84% of rich women and 63% of rich men say having money means having better sex.

Nearly 93% of women said that higher-quality sex is the greatest sexual benefit of personal wealth - and the biggest benefit overall to being rich.

"And while having sex with multiple partners simultaneously was less important to both genders, more than three times as many men cited it as a benefit than women did," Grove and Prince said. 73% of women and 53% of men in the study have had extramarital affairs.

I really don't find this as a surprising revelation. Sex is closely linked to self-esteem and since wealth usually brings greater self-esteem, then wealth can improve someone’s sex life.

Damn, I could have a chance, if only it is the other way around. Better sex leads to more money.

The Right Web Host For A Successful Blog

jaypadriga@aconnectedlife.net (Jay) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 14:50:00 +0000

So, you think you got a great blog name? Anyone wise who already got their domain names knows that the next step to a truly successful blog is to get their own professional web hosting.

Choosing one can be very tricky. While I personally browse about a hundred sites a day, frequently seeing web host recommendations from a number of blogs didn't lead me anywhere close to coming up with my choice of web hosting company.

It's good that I found out about Web Hosting Rating, an independent review site. The ratings provided by the customers provided me valuable insights about the web hosting providers. It gave me the information that I needed without having to try the hosting myself.

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