But I don’t feel excited at all, even though that I have 2x 24-inch monitors (see my review of Dell 2407WFP 24-inch widescreen UltraShart LCD monitor), which fully support 1080p HD video’s resolution (1920×1080 pixels). Why?

My slow-broadband connection is way too slow to watch online video at HD quality. I even need to wait for buffering when watching YouTube videos at normal quality.

Watching 1080p HD video online is a dream for me now. It took me about 5 minutes to load the 44 seconds YouTube 1080p HD video demo at below:

What’s the big deal about YouTube 1080p HD video?

In short, you enjoy better full-screen high quality of YouTube video.

You could connect your HD LCD TV to your computer and enjoy watching YouTube HD videos on your sofa.

However, before you can enjoy that, you need to have a fast broadband and a monitor/tv that support HD video.

Also, you can upload HD videos taken with your HD camcorder. Currently, YouTube accepts video quality up to 720p.

Can your monitor support 1080p HD video?

If your monitor/TV supports resolution of 1920×1080 pixels then it supports HD video, such as 24″ inch or bigger computer monitors.

If you do not have a monitor/TV that supports HD video, the YouTube 1080p video makes no difference to you (except longer buffer time).

Over to You

Do you feel excited about the news? Do you have the broadband and monitor to support YouTube 1080p HD videos? Do you record video in HD quality?

Check out the great offers of HD 1080p Camcorders on Amazon.com.

[WordPress] 2.8.6 fixes two security problems that can be exploited by registered, logged in users who have posting privileges.

If you blog has untrusted authors, then upgrading to 2.8.6 (download) is recommended.

My blog has only me and my proofreader. I skipped this update. How about you?

I was surprised that some famous anti-virus programs are not in the list, such as: Norton, Mcfee, Trend Micro, F-Secure, and Kaspersky.

Personally, I am on Mac and I don’t need any antivirus app but I installed VirusBarrier for Mac to scan files for virus, so that I don’t spread viruses to my PC friends.

If any PC friend asks me, I would recommend AVG Free Antivirus.

For my younger brother, after testing several antivirus programs, he recommends Kaspersky Anti-virus. “It is a very powerful antivirus program, but sometimes too powerful..”, he comments.

Check out Best Selling Anti-Virus Softwares on Amazon.com and their discount prices.

Over to You

What’s your choice of anti-virus software (both free & paid), and Why?

[image credit: paris_b's twitpic]

Someone spotted this car with the car number plate “WTF1″. Yes, W-T-F. But in this case, it is not the acronym of “What The F*ck?”.

WTF is the prefix 3 letters of current car registration number in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At the time I am writing, the latest car registration number is “WTF2178″.

Meaning, there are now 2,178 WTFs on the road in Malaysia now.

Few years ago, Malaysia’s neighbor, encounter similar car number plate “problem” when S-E-X will be the prefix for their vehicle registration numbers. Then, Singapore banned vowels in the middle of number plates to prevent SEX on Singapore’s road.

If you could get a “fancy” car number plate, what would it be?

In 2006, some paid links market websites like Text Link Ads (TLA) started to grow. Many webmasters/bloggers received easy money by selling paid links on their blog. Me too.

Then, Google started penalizing those websites which buy/sell paid links. I quit selling paid links that time.

However, there are still many websites are buying/selling paid links. Reason because, for advertisers, it is a fast way to improve search engine rank for their selected keywords. For publishers, it is a easy money that does not require you to do anything but only putting a few links on your website.

People ask Google again and again whether the paid link consider as SPAM or not. Google has reconfirmed by replying using their Google Webmaster Twitter account that they are considering links via sites like Text-Link-Ads as SPAM.

“Since we hear this question again and again: Yes we de consider buying links via http://tinyurl.com/39epw3 and similar services as spam.”

The tinyurl URL links to Text Link Ads homepage.

[via Thats SEO]

My two cents

Regardless of you are advertiser or publisher, if you are still with Text Link Ads or similar services, you should quit it now. I believe Google will keep on working an algorithm to detect all the paid links.

Don’t let paid links buriyyour website in search engine results.

Instead of paid links, now you should work on the social media marketing. The social media is the Internet now.

Learn Facebook marketing from the book “Facebook Era” available at Amazon.com.

Over to You

Have you bought/sold paid links before? What do you think of paid links? Should search engines ban it? Do you think Google can detect all the paid links?

The multiple recipients message with a subject line “hey” and the message body is:

You weree sighteed on our seccret ccamera!
http://bit.ly/4EOyWX

The bit.ly short URL redirected to an error page with text

“Traffic Back URL not using.”

Seems like the spam page has been removed. The domain name “bestdatingdirect.com” looks like a dating site. But visit the root domain page, only shows a online contact form.

Although the Facebook spam message does not do any harm to me, but it means that Facebook Inbox messages is no longer spam-proof.

Do NOT follow any website link that you do not know, even if it is sent by your best friend!

The simplest way to check is by sending a reply message and ask your Facebook friend to confirm about the website link sent to you.

Have you received similar spam message in Facebook before? How did you deal with it? Have spammers attacks your Facebook friends? Have Facebook spammer flood your Facebook news feed?

Master everything about Facebook with the book “Facebook: The Missing Manual” available at Amazon.com for $13.59 (32% off).

This is certainly not a good news for Mozilla.

According to Cenzic, Firefox accounted for 44 percent of all browser vulnerabilities reported in the first half of 2009. In contrast, Apple’s Safari had 35 percent of all reported browser vulnerability, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was third at 15 percent and Opera had just six percent share.

Does it make Firefox a dangerous web browser?

The Firefox plug-ins are one of the main reasons of the vulnerabilities. Mozilla launched a plug-in checker in Oct 2009 to address the problem.

Ironically, while Firefox has the most vulnerabilities, Cenzic themselves use Mozilla technology within its own solutions.

[via InternetNews.com]

Tip: Install NoScript addon to make your Firefox safer.

The wallpaper has an message “ikee is never going to give you up”.

The worm is capable of breaking into jailbroken iPhones if their owners have not changed the default password after installing SSH.

Once the worm breaks in, it will find the other iPhones in the mobile phone network with similarly vulnerable and spread itself to them again.

Anyway, your iPhone is safe if you haven’t jailbreak it or have not installed SSH.

You must always change your root user password if you have jailbroken you iPhone or iPod Touch, and installed SSH.

More information about the worm and the worm’s author here.

Who is Rick Astley? Click here for information about the 1980s pop singer.

For Malaysians. The last PIKOM PC Fair of the year will be started at the end of November to December 2009. Here are the pcfair venues in the different states of Malaysia:

26-28 November 2009 (11:00am – 9:00pm)

• Dewan Merdeka, Seri Manjung

 27-29 November 2009 (11:00am – 9:00pm)

• Dewan Tunku Ibrahim Ismail, Kluang
• Alor Star Mall, Alor Star
• Terminal One Shopping Centre, Seremban

 4-6 December 2009 (11:00am – 9:00pm)

• KL Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur
• Penang International Sports Arena (PISA), Penang
• Melaka International Trade Centre (MITC), Melaka

 11-13 December 2009 (11:00am – 9:00pm)

• Persada Johor International Convention Centre, Johor Bahru
• Stadium Indera Mulia, Ipoh, Perak
• LG Car Park Exhibition Hall, 1Borneo, Kota Kinabalu
• Dewan Suarah, Bintulu

Have you marked your calendar? Too bad, I cannot join you guys at KLCC PC Fair.

I have to attend my best friend’s wedding during the weekend. I wanted to get some promotion price lists to check the price of external hard drives.

What would you want to buy at this coming PC Fair?

Weighing at merely 147g, Apolco P3 micro projector has a throw distance of 30″ at 1.2m. The projected image size can up to 60″. The contrast ratio is 200:1. Display resolution is only 640×480 pixel (VGA).

The micro projector’s brightness, due to its size, is only 15 lumens (normal projector has over 2000 lumens).

Apolco P3 micro projector accepts video input of composite video and D-Sub (PC). It supports NTSC/PAL/SECAM video formats. The speaker audio output is 0.3W (mono channel).

The rechargeable battery life last 40 minutes for a single charge.

My two cents

Never compare Apolco P3 micro projector with a normal projector. That’s unfair.

The micro projector would be an ideal gadget when you want to do a small presentation at any place. Or, show photos taken from digital camera when you are traveling.

I like the small sleek white/black design of Apolco P3 micro projector. However, it does not has a stand, nor it could stand stable without any support.

Pro:
- extremely portable

Con:
- low display resolution
- low brightness
- does not support digital video input

More information at IBI Electronics Sdn Bhd.

Similar pocket projectors:

• 3M Pocket Projector MPRO120 listing at Amazon.com
• Optoma PK102 Pico Pocket Projector listing at Amazon.com
• Optoma EP-PK-101 PICO Pocket Projector listing at Amazon.com

fb140: find your Facebook friends who are using Twitter

1. Sign in your Facebook account at fb140.
2. Sign in your Twitter account.
3. You will get a list of Facebook friends who have Twitter account. Tick them and click on the “Follow these people!” button to follow them on Twitter. Done!

fb140 is a web application to find all your Facebook friends on Twitter. It looks at the website field of your Facebook friends’ profile to find friends who have listed their Twitter URL.

If your Facebook friends do not list their Twitter URL then fb140 cannot find them…

Among my 344 Facebook friends, only 6 have Twitter URL listed in their profile. I was expecting more.. maybe my friends are not keen to tweet?

How many of your Facebook friends are Twitter users too? Try fb140.

*Follow me at @liewcf

I withdrew the PayPal money at Nov 2, 2009 and received in my Public Bank account at Nov 5, 2009. 4 working days. I withdrew more than RM400, so there is no extra fee.

Surname? Name?

When you are adding bank account to PayPal account, PayPal fixed the “surname” field according to your account information. The “surname” might be your name.

It doesn’t matter. Don’t worry.

Just make sure your full name is there, no matter how they arrange your name. Example: “Surname Name” or “Name Surname”.

A reader also reported that she received PayPal money, even only submitted partial of her full name (missing middle name)!

Read my previous post “How to withdraw PayPal money to any Malaysia bank accounts?“

Here I show you how to make money using the Amazon Associates’ “Share on Twitter” feature. It is as easy as 1-2-3!

Wait! you need to be a member of Amazon Associates. Registration is free. Of course, you must be a Twitter user too!

Got both accounts? Great! Read on for the tutorial.

1. Login your Amazon Associates account, activate the “Site Stripe“. Then, visit any Amazon.com product page. You will get the “Site Stripe” with a “Share on Twitter” link in it.

   
   Amazon.com Site Stripe with “Share on Twitter” link

2. Click on the “Share on Twitter” link. A new window will open and load the Twitter homepage with Amazon-generated message pre populated (you can edit it, of course).

   A bit.ly shorturl link (with your affiliate id embedded) is appended to the end of the message.

   
   one of the Amazon.com “Share on Twitter” message format

   As far as I discovered, the pre-populated Twitter message has a few different formats:

   Check out this Amazon deal: ‘[product name]‘ by [author] [link]

   Great deal on “[product name]” by [author] [link]

   Just saw this on Amazon: ‘[product name]‘ by [author] for [price] [link]

   The message format is chosen randomly. You can try to click on the “Share on Twitter” link on the Site Stripe for a few more times to get a different version.

3. When you are happy with the Twitter message. Click on the Twitter “Update” button. Then, pray that your Twitter follower will follow the link and buy the product.

Yes, only 3 steps to make money using Amazon Associates’ Share on Twitter link. Told you it is as easy as 1-2-3, haven’t I?

My two cents

I am member of Amazon Associates for years. I use the commission earned to buy books on Amazon.com. Meaning, I get FREE books from Amazon.com!

With the new “Share with Twitter” feature, you can now recommend a great product with friends and, at the same time, stand a chance to make some money.

Highly recommended!

*Have you found other ways to make money from Twitter?

P.S. Follow me at @liewcf

Generally, to identify a Twitter spammer, we look at the user’s avatar icon, user name, number of followers, number of following, number of tweets, tweets pattern.

A Twitter user is probably a spammer, if it matches more than 1 of the following:

1. their profiles are using default Twitter avatar OR using a sexy pic as avatar.
2. their names are ended with numeric, example: david567
3. they are following many other Twitter users but only has few followers.
4. they have no update or few updates with links.
5. their Twitter updates contains repeated tweets with link.
6. their Twitter updates are published using ONLY Twitter API.
7. they show you how to “make money overnight”.

Once you found a Twitter spammer, please report it to Twitter (read my previous blog post: How to report a Twitter spammer?).

Follow me at @liewcf (I am NOT a spammer!)

Related books:

• Twitter Power listing at Amazon.com
• The Twitter Book listing at Amazon.com
• Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets listing at Amazon.com

*Any tips you want to add to the list? Please share with us in the comment.

(Er.. you can’t be serious about this UFO photo, right? Right!?)

Related books:

• Need to Know: UFOs, the Military, and Intelligence listing at Amazon.com
• UFOs: What Scientists Say May Shock You! listing at Amazon.com
• Messages: The World’s Most Documented Extraterrestrial Contact Story listing at Amazon.com

[via yawoot!]

TwitBlock could help to spot spammers among your Twitter followers. It has a points system to order your followers with the most likely spam at the top of the list.

How to use TwitBlock to spot a spam?

TwitBlock use OAuth for Twitter authentication. No login information will be exposed to the site.

After you have approved TwitBlock, it will start scanning your Twitter followers and generate a list with most likely spam at the top.

You can then analyze each Twitter profile and “block & report” the spammer. If the listed profile is not a spam, you can mark it as “not spam”.

Does TwitBlock work?

With the help of TwitBlock, I managed to spot over 60 twitter spammers, blocked them and reported to Twitter (read my previous post: how to report a Twitter spammer) for them to take further action, e.g. suspense of account.

Please note that it is important NOT to rely on the TwitBlock point system. If a Twitter user is new, chances are TwitBlock will suspect it is a spam (follow many, no followers).

Update: Click here to read 7 ways to identify a Twitter Spammers.

TwitBlock helps you by generating a suspected-spammers-list and you still need to check each profile to confirm a spam.

Try TwitBlock now and tell us how many Twitter spammers you have blocked.

P.S. TwitBlock also provides a bookmarklet to scan an account at its Twitter profile page.

P.P.S. Follow me at @liewcf

Related books:

• Twitter Power listing at Amazon.com
• The Twitter Book listing at Amazon.com
• Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets listing at Amazon.com

Read on to find out how to do that.

A bit background…

In 2004, PayPal starts to accept Malaysian registrations. No withdrawal options for Malaysians that time.

3 years later, 2007, PayPal allows Malaysians to withdraw PayPal money to their credit card, debit card, or prepaid cards.

2 years later, in the middle of October 2009, PayPal started to support Malaysia Ringgit currency and updated the user policy (paypal login required).

Shortly after, the end of October 2009, PayPal officially allows PayPal money withdrawal to Malaysia bank accounts! A feature that we have waited for 6 years!

What’s the big deal?

Now, Malaysians can send & receive PayPal money in Malaysia Ringgit (MYR) currency, and withdraw PayPal money to local bank accounts!

Meaning, you can sell your stuff online and let PayPal handle the payment transactions, local or International! It truly opens a new door to Malaysia e-commerce business!

Note: Malaysians still cannot top-up their PayPal accounts from their bank accounts.

How to add Malaysia bank account to PayPal?

1. Login your PayPal account. Under “My Account” tab, click “Profile” then click “Add/Edit Bank Account“.
2. At the new page “Add a bank account in Malaysia“. You need to fill in your name, bank name, bank routing code, and your bank account number.

   

   Updated: Don’t need to worry about the fixed “Surname” in the form. Just make sure your full name is included. The name’s arrangement (Surname Name or Name Surname) doesn’t matter. Click here for more information.

   Tip: click on the “Details” link to find out your bank’s routing code

3. After you are done, you will be asked to review the details. Click “Add Bank Account” button if everything is correct.
4. You are done!

How to withdraw PayPal money to Malaysia bank account?

1. In your PayPal account, click on “Withdraw” under “My Account” tab. Then, click “Withdraw to your bank account” link under the options.

   Note: It will take 2-3 business days to process the PayPal to Bank transaction. Withdrawal over RM400 is free of charge. If less than RM400 is withdrawn, PayPal will charge you RM3.00.

2. At the new page “Withdraw funds“, enter the amount in USD you want to withdraw and select the destination bank account.

   

   Tip: Click on the “Currency converter” link to check the current PayPal currency conversation rate.

   Click on “Continue” button to review your withdrawal information.

3. At the next page, make sure everything is correct before you click on the “Submit” button.

   PayPal charge RM15 if the funds are returned because your bank information is incorrect or does not match!

   After you clicked on the “Submit” button. Your withdrawal request is pending to process.

4. Wait 2-3 business day and the PayPal money should be in your selected Malaysia bank account! Cha-ching!

Related books:

• “PayPal For Dummies” listing at Amazon.com
• “Pro PayPal E-Commerce (Expert’s Voice)” listing at Amazon.com

My two cents

PayPal is the most popular and most affordable online merchant service in the world. It is secure and safe.

It is FREE to set up a PayPal account to accept online payment (including credit cards). Fees are applied ONLY when you accept a payment.

Now every Malaysians can do e-commerce business at home, in your pajamas!

Click here to sign up your PayPal account, FREE.

Update: I have received PayPal money in my Malaysia bank account. Click here for more information.

Questions about PayPal? Ask in the comment and I shall reply you.

Note that I only following 234 Twitter users. I am not those losers who mass-follow other Twitter users and get them follow me back.

I am sure who exactly was the 1000th follower, though. Also, not sure how many of the followers are spams… Not sure how many of them are active and do read my twitter updates…

So, what does it mean?

In short, it means I am an active Twitter user.

Well, either people like to read my Twitter updates (@liewcf), or my Twitter feed has enough exposures to attract spammers to follow me. Who knows?

How many Twitter followers you have now?

More Information:

• Twitter Power listing at Amazon.com
• The Twitter Book listing at Amazon.com
• Twitter Tips, Tricks, and Tweets listing at Amazon.com

I reached Maxis tower at 3.00pm (Oct 10, 2009). Took a queue number “866″. Number of customers waiting was 14, as printed on the queue ticket.

Waited 1 hour more for my turn, I almost dozed off at the customer waiting area. The staff who attended me wanted to troubleshooting the bricked iPhone, and the time needed was one and a half hour!

“What?! You need one and half hour to troubleshoot a bricked iPhone?! It is dead! Dead!”, I shout in my mind. I had no choice but to leave the iPhone in Maxis tower and go back 1 & 1/2 hour later.

6.00pm. I back to Maxis tower and the staff told me what I expected 90 minutes ago, “I could not switch on the iPhone at all.” He told me that I would get a replacement unit.

When he tried to fill the repair form for me, the server jammed. Waited for server recovery. After everything was done, it’s already 6.30pm.

I spent 3 & 1/2 hour to make a warranty claiming request for my Maxis iPhone 3Gs.

The staff told me that I would get a new iPhone unit in one or two weeks, depends on the stock availability.

*crossing my fingers*

What’s your worst customer service nightmare?

More Information:

• Mophie Juice Pack Case and Rechargeable Battery for iPhone 3G, 3GS listing at Amazon.com
• iFrogz Luxe Case for iPhone 3G, 3GS listing at Amazon.com
• Case-Mate Screen Protector Film 3 Pack for iPhone 3G, 3GS listing at Amazon.com

What happened?

I am not sure. It was so sudden! I was charging it then it was dead when I came back. Maybe electronic shock or something?

What to do now?

Nothing much I can do except to send the dead iPhone 3GS back to Maxis Communications Berhad, where I got my iPhone from, to get it fixed or a replacement unit.

Life without iPhone

Without iPhone, I update twitter less, check email less frequent, do not stay online on instant messengers, cannot log my body weight, cannot play games, cannot surf web on the go…

Hopefully can get back my iPhone very soon… Felt lost without iPhone. It has changed my life so much!

Updated: I had claimed the warranty for my dead iPhone 3GS. Click here to read about it.