NetBlot

Adsense Earnings Right at my Chrome Browser

2012-01-20T12:24:00.001+08:00

An Adsense toolbar for the Chrome browser was recently released. It enables adsense publishers like me to check Adsense earnings and a few other stats without going to the adsense homepage.

Get it here.

This is very welcome news to me.

I prefer the Google Chrome browser because it offers the most screen resolution of my tiny Blue H1 netbook plus it also functions as search bar.

Through the Adsense Toolbar in my Chrome, I can quickly check my adsense earnings without launching a new window or a new tab. That's one less task for me because I usually check my earnings first thing after I connect to the internet. Also, one less work for my often hanging overworked netbook.

Hat tip to problogger.net!

Thank You Adgitize For Traffic & a Few Change

2012-01-13T01:02:00.000+08:00

I was pleasantly surprised last week by an e-mail from Paypal informing of payment made by Adgitize, adding a few dollars to my paypal earnings.

Thinking it was no big deal, I moved on to other e-mails. It was only today when I noticed the adgitize widgets on one of my blogs that I understood why.

Adgitize has inded closed but the people behind this blog advertising platform were nice enough to send me a payment even if I did not reach the $10 dollar threshold.

I signed up for an adgitize account way back in 2009. It caught my interest because as I understood it, I tend to earn a little just by posting something on my blog. (More can be earned by visiting other blogs that displays adgitize ads)

I am saddened about Adgitize's closure and I admire the administrators of Adgitize for paying members like me his or her earnings. I am sure that good karma will come their way for doing such. I wish them all success in the near future.

Meantime, I need to start removing the adgitize widgets on most of my blogs. .

RIP Old Adsense Interface

2011-10-21T00:01:00.000+08:00

Goodbye to the 'ol too familiar thing that greets me first after firing up my Google chrome browser. A notification when I accessed my adsense account yesterday subtly compels me to familiarize with the new one.

Goodbye to the Old Adsense Interface. Goodbye old pal. Google will be retiring that page by mid-November.

Screenshot of the old Google Adsense Interface
Image taken from searchengineland.com

Goodbye to the best source of elation among my online browsing habits and also the best source of frustration.

Franky, I don't like the new adsense interface. Too cluttered for me. Perhaps growing in age makes us all unmalleable to most changes. I woudn't be exerting extra time just to be accustomed with it. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it in my own due time. Type rest of the post here

Wordpress.com Offer Ads, What's Your Take on It?

2011-10-20T13:35:00.003+08:00

It was long time coming but wordpress.com finally succumbed to the inevitable lure of of more profit and revenues.

A report from Mashable said that wordpress.com owner Automattic teamed up with Federated Media and will be allowing brands and advertisers to place contextual ads on site hosted under the wordpress.com domain.

I'm curious how the readers, who are used to seeing less ads, will react? Are publishers like me can start salivating for another source of income stream?

As of this writing, their own stats boast of 63, 008, 690 wordpress sites in the world, half of which is hosted by wordpress.com. That includes my 3 blogs. Without question, such number is quite a gold mine of exposure for products and advertisers alike.

However, it was not mentioned if publishers under the domain will get a share of the profit or if they will have some control over the ads that will be displayed on their sites.

For those bloggers who want to make money without dishing cash for domain or hosting, Blogger (owned by Google) is the best platform, as it allows its publishers free rein on ads to displayed on their respective blogs either under their own domain or under blogger.com

If wordpress.com will follow the template of Google and Adsense, then surely a lot of bloggers under Blogger will considering changing free blog service, me included.

I personally see wordpress.com aesthetically and functionality superior than Blogger. Athough wordpress.com requires more technical know how than the easy-to-learn Blogger.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I have blogs under wordpress that are not frequenty update. But finally getting some form of profit from it is definitely a priority-changer.

Suppose publisher have control, will you allow your blog under wordpress.com to display ads? Will you leave your Blogger blogs or maintain both?

Thank You SM Wi-Fi

2011-10-18T12:53:00.000+08:00

I'm here now at SM City Novaliches on a borrowed laptop and taking advantage of the free SM Wi-fi. I only have less than two hours battery life to come up with blog posts.

SM Nova should be added on the list of free wifi locations in Metro Manila that I blogged about two years ago but I do not much time to do that.

Again, Thank you for the free SM Wi-fi.

*winks*

reONLINEnaissance

2011-10-09T21:01:00.000+08:00

For the nth time my blogging stopped.

It had to take the backseat for a long while because I need to attend to a family medical emergency, death and other family matters.

Now that I can resume my blogging, I feel that this time is an online rebirth of sorts. What a better time to coin a new term, isn't it?

This is a reONLINEnaissance.

Reonlinenaissance is the rebirth of a blogger or a social media practitioner from a long lay-off that is due to unforseen, usually undesirable circumstances.

I hope that this term picks up to mean a blogger's resumption of his/her blogging work or an online social butterfly's silence from social networks.

For the nth time, I am resuming my blogging. And I can not say if it will never be interrupted again.

Nevertheless, should some turn of events prevent me once more from doing this thing that I enormously enjoy, then I surely will emerge more determined to succeed and have another re-online-naissance.

Google Should Allow Adsense Publishers Buy Custom Domain Directly from Blogger using their Adsense Earnings

2011-07-27T19:23:00.001+08:00

Since the rumor about Blogger rebranding to Google Blogs surfaced early in July, I was seriously considering getting my blogs (under blogger) their own custom domain, starting from my most visited blog.

I was about to buy one when something stopped me and this thought occurred to me.

Google should consider allowing Adsense publishers to buy custom domain directly from Blogger with their Adsense earnings.

Image created via wordle.net

Yesterday, I went checking my desired domain name over GoDaddy & NameCheap. I was glad that it was still available although the .com version is a little expensive for my meager budget.

Searching further, I found out that buying the domain directly from Blogger is cheaper by almost $2 and easier to implement. However, I only have Paypal earnings to spend. Buying a domain directly from Blogger directs you to Google checkout which do not accept Paypal. That sucks for me!

A thought came to my mind.

There are a lot of bloggers that for years maintained blogs under the Blogger subdomain, displaying Adsense ads. Google owns both Adsense and Blogger. If Google will only allow Adsense publishers like me to buy custom domains directly from Blogger using my accumulated Adsense earnings, it would be a win-win scenario.

Publishers get to own their custom domains and perhaps be more encouraged to create killer content. This is specifically beneficial to those publishers who have yet to reach the Adsense threshold for payment of $100.

Google, in return, gets paid for the domain and also gets to earn back the money they would have to send as payment to their publishers.

Do you have blog under Blogger? Do you display Adsense on it? Do you intend to buy your own domain soon? Would you consider buying your own custom domain at Blogger if Google allows us to do so using our adsense earnings?

Keyboard Problems of My Netbook

2011-07-11T19:56:00.008+08:00

Supposed to be, this would be a normal blogging session. Until a keyboard problem of my Blue H1 Netbook came about and spiced things up.

The K key of my keyboard announced it needed more of my attention, a harder press that is for it to register on screen.

Yes, I know. My Blue H1 Netbook is old. I bought it in 2008 and is already phased out. Mine survived countless virus attacks, semi-major falls on the floor and plenty of reformatting.

It has been my main blogging tool and has served my computing needs reliably well. In that I am very grateful and consider it a good buy. Today is practically the first day it manifested a hardware problem and its age. This is what my blog post would read on my usual typing speed and force. (Insert k in the underscores.)

The _eyboard _ey _ needs to be pressed harder than usual, harder than the other _eys, to register on the screen.

But doing so could double- or triple-type the letter K. It is annoying to delete extra letters, adding more time than necessary to data entry or typing activities.

Quickly, I put on my USB vacuum cleaner, locked the keyboard and cleaned it. I brushed the surface first and vacuumed it. Then, I lifted my netbook upside down, tapped it a few times with medium force. But the problem still lingers with the K key.

Luckily, the letter K is not the most used word in the English language, which is what I use in blogging. Not so, when typing in my native Filipino vernacular.

Replacing my netbook is inevitable. As I brace myself for more hardware problems to surface in the coming days, I pray that my netbook would continue to function just enough for my personal computing needs. Until I can afford a brand new and better netbook. When that time arrives, I will retire this netbook, perhaps with a eulogy to boot. ;)

Freerice Quiz for Social Good

2011-07-09T06:00:00.001+08:00

Free Rice Logo
Image from Wikipedia

As my alumni buddies would attest, there's got to be rice during meal times and fast. Or my usual smiling face would turn to an ugly scowl. Well, today, I learned how can I share the rice that I really loved to others.

Here's when free time, internet connection and knowledge of the English vocabulary can lead to a worthwhile activity like giving free rice to the hungry.

FreeRice is a non-profit website run by the United Nations World Food Programme.

On its website - www.freerice.com - you can play an English Vocabulary quiz wherein for every correct answer you get, Freerice donates 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme to help end hunger.

Today, I was able to answer 107 in the quiz. That means 1070 grains of rice donated to feed those who are hungry.

As a bonus, I was able to learn a few new English words, such as

beanie = skullcap
boor = uncultured person
waif = homeless child
prestidigitation = sleight of hand
timpani = kettledrums

Visitors can also try other subjects for the quiz such as Math, Geography, Chemistry, Humanities, other languages or flags of different nations.

Now, I know what to do whenever I'm experiencing mental block or just simply passing the time online. I would go over that site, improve my english vocabulary and accomplish some good.

Hat tip to Mashable which enumerated 7 Ways to Do Good Online Beyond Donations.

Maybe you should try it out too! :) Let me know how you fared on the quiz by bragging about it on the comments.

The New Blogger Dashboard - Blindingly White & Bright for my Eyes

2011-07-08T17:18:00.001+08:00

When I logged in to Blogger today, I almost got blinded by the stunningly white new Blogger Dashboard interface.

My Blogger Dashboard

I don't know about you but it is too white and too bright for my taste, and not good for my eyes.

Here's what greeted me when I started to create this post.

I hope there is a way to customize the Blogger Dashboard to my own liking and for the sake of my eyes.

Plus, a little time needed to be familiar with all the buttons to navigate the dashboard and to blog.

No To Rebranding Blogger® to Google Blogs

2011-07-06T13:18:00.002+08:00

Google plans to rebrand Blogger® to Google Blogs, as exclusively reported by Mashable.

With all of my blogs under the Blogger domain, I am now filled with apprehensions for the future of my blogs and regret never investing with my own custom domain. Tsk! Tsk!

Mashable reported that Google plans to rebrand Blogger to Google Blogs in about six weeks. As this has not yet been confirmed by Google, I hope that it would not push thru.

I expect that the rebranding will change the domain from blogname.blogger.com to blogname.googleblogs.com. And as in any domain change, it will adversely affect all of blogs under the Blogger domain - all of the blogs I maintain.

I'm sure Google being the dominant search engine can implement massive reindexing but how about my blogs standing with Yahoo/Bing? What will happen to incoming links accumulated over the years? And what about those sign-ups to blog advertising platforms needing your blog URLs?

My blogs aren't yet established but gradually enjoys increase in traffic. I was banking on Google trusting older domains/URLs. The rebranding feels like starting over.

Waaah! The pain of relying with free services or platforms. I must certainly invest on custom domains from now on.

What Excites You About Blogging? 3 Things that Get Me Excited About It

2011-07-01T09:25:00.000+08:00

Why get excited about blogging? Typically, any new experience or thing makes one excited. That is quite true in Blogging.

I am not new to blogging per se, just-started relatively speaking. Despite my on-again, off-again affair with my blogs, spanning over three years, still gets me excited.

Image from Termie's Flickr Photostream
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

Here are the 3 Things that Get Me Excited about Blogging and specifically with my blogs. Often, these are the first things I check online. Each of them has a way of egging me on, to persevere in my blogging or simply making my day.

EARNINGS

I started to pursue making money thru blogging in 2008. And after a year, I begin to see trickles of earnings thru various advertising platforms. By 2010, I was able to earn a little from a few paid posts, one direct advertising agreement and earn from adsense for the first time. My earnings are not yet at the level to be my primary source of income but welcome extra bucks just the same. You surely can guess what's the default page of my browser - the log-in page of Google Adsense.

COMMENTS

As I am using Chrome as my browser to maximize my netbook's small screen size, the next tab would be for Blogger Dashboard - to check if someone took the time to comment on any of my blogs. A comment is the best indicator that someone other than myself visited my blog and ~~hopefully~~ read what I posted. Though my blogs do not have wide readership yet, I deeply appreciate them. Having been a link builder myself before, I consider comments with links, too. Although now, I do not approve anonymous comments any longer and moderate strictly those comments made for link building purposes.

RANKINGS

I'm talking about Page Rank here. Though I do not regularly do so, it still gets me excited to learn if my blogs finally ranked. The other day, NETBLOT has the highest PR among my blogs with a PR 2. It has outranked my sports blog (PR 1) and my more updated cellphone blog (PR 0). Oh well, the Page Rank is a wild beast difficult to tame. I'll take it whatever it gives my blog.

How about you? What makes you excited about blogging and your blogs?

TROGLODYTE - Word of the Day

2011-06-27T00:02:00.002+08:00

Troglodyte is the latest English word I've known. I'm glad I've added a new word to my English language vocabulary today.

I came across the word twice days apart. Inevitably, troglodyte became my ~~English~~ word of the day. I think it will be on my mind for the rest of the week, like a last-song-syndrome (LSS)of sorts.

Image from www.flamewarriors.com
found via Google Image Search

Having first read the word troglodyte here a few days back, I took it to mean "being a hypocrite".

This morning, I came across the word again here. I became curious and glad that I took the time to know its definition. I now have a clearer understanding of the word.

From Meriam-Webster, a TROGLODYTE is a noun;

member of any of various peoples (as in antiquity) who lived or were reputed to live chiefly in caves
a person characterized by reclusive habits or outmoded or reactionary attitudes

From Dictionary.com, a TROGLODYTE is a noun;

a prehistoric cave dweller.
a person of degraded, primitive, or brutal character.
a person living in seclusion.

From Wikipedia, a TROGLODYTE (or troglodytes) refers to:

Caveman, a stock character based upon widespread concepts of the way in which early prehistoric humans may have looked and behaved
Troglodytae or Troglodyti, an ancient group of people from the African Red Sea coast
Troglodites, a fictional tribe described in Montesquieu's Persian Letters, supposedly descending from the ancient Troglodytae
Troglodyte (Dungeons & Dragons), a race of humanoid monsters in the game Dungeons & Dragons
Troglodyte, 2009 film also known as Sea Beast
"Troglodyte (Cave Man)", a funk song by the Jimmy Castor Bunch on their 1972 album It's Just Begun
Troglodytes (wren), a genus of small bird
The common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes
Troglodytes (book), a 2010 book by Ed Lynskey

As a blogger, I can help spread the word on social, cultural and technological advances that may help in little ways for troglodytes to increase their knowledge and broaden their perspective.

Obviously, cavemen wouldn't be able to read this. But I hope that my blogging can affect troglodytic way of thinking in some way.

;)

Word Of The Daygreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

PLDT myDSL’s Internet to Sawa TRANSFORMS my Internet experience from COOL to AWESOME at Buddy Edwin's Shop

2011-06-24T23:00:00.003+08:00

PLDT's venture to upgrade the internet speeds of its myDSL plans - via its Internet to Sawa offering - can transform my internet experience at buddy Edwin's shop from "time-to-time COOL" to "regularly AWESOME". Not to mention, a boost in our friendship.

My internet connection at home is courtesy of a prepaid Smart Bro plugit. Passable but only because I consider myself a patient guy. But from time to time, I need some faster connection and a bigger PC to do some freelance work. It is during those times when buddy Edwin's shop really comes handy as it has PLDT myDSL.

If PLDT will indeed boost ALL of its myDSL plans, then I would benefit, too! My internet experience at Edwin's shop will turn to awesome and we get to hang out more. Oh, let me rephrase that (my buddy might visit this blog). It would be awesome to hang out with him more and get to enjoy a faster internet connection in the process. Hehehe!!!

PLDT's Internet to Sawa offering promises free speed upgrades on all its myDSL plans starting with Plan 3000 subscribers. Those lucky subscribers can enjoy up to 5 mbps speeds from the original up to 3 mbps plan they subscribed to.

Visit www.myworldmydsl.com for more information or call 171 to confirm your subscripstion today!

I can't wait for buddy Edwin's plan 999 to also be upgraded. Every time I visit him, he always allow me online to sawa. The speed upgrade will certainly help me blog faster, join more Nuffnang's blog contests or finish my freelance projects easier.

Then, we can have more toma-to-sawa or kwentuhan-to-sawa after.

Networking With Other Bloggers

2011-06-23T13:24:00.002+08:00

No Blogger is an island. Yes, I have a blog idol/advisor/friend. But that's just about it for me.

Why it took me a long time to act on something I read about a lot for some time now, befuddles me greatly. But after last night, I finally did something about it. I now want to be a part of a network of bloggers! And grow with them.

Image from joseph-ho.com

I was at a scheduled test last night for Research analyst position. It was there that I met another applicant, Sir JR. He has this joyful enthusiasm to interact with strangers that I have no confidence of doing.

Anyway, he also shares my passion of blogging and making some money of it. In his case, he is just freelancing and wants some corporate experience preferably with internet marketing or related fields.

We chat along while waiting for the test. I found out he personally knows one of established bloggers I've heard, he is also a fellow Nuffnanger and that he regularly earns from adsense via his blogs.

One of the things that he shared was networking with other bloggers. He recommended the site www.bloggers.com which he says helped his site tremendously in terms of traffic and distribution to social media.

Just moments ago, I signed up to that site. And I hope that it would be the start of finding other bloggers who could be my blog pals and perhaps real life friends.

Hat tip to JR. And this is his site.

Dreaming Big, A MINI Cooper for A Blog

2011-06-16T08:56:00.001+08:00

Life is short, live bold! Be heard, be you, dream big, take risks, don’t wait! ~Misty Gibbs

Ever since I saw the movie "The Italian Job" I have taken a great liking to the Mini Cooper. And that is my fervent dream for this blog of mine - to be like the Mini Cooper among blogs.

The MINI Cooper
Image from Wikipedia

I want my blog to be compact and powerful and with style. And just like the MINI Cooper, which is regarded as one of the most fuel-economical car models, I want my visitors to get the most out of my posts the quickest possible time.

From here on onwards, I will embrace a X-men-like mojo. Compact, Powerful & Proud!

MINI Cooper, here I come.

Lady Gaga's Born This Way Album - Amazon Does Not Allow me to Purchase

2011-05-27T00:09:00.005+08:00

Having read from Mashable that Amazon will still be offering Lady Gaga's Born this Way album for only $0.99, I finally decided to purchase something from the internet for the first time.

But Amazon seemed to say it isn't the right time for me to do so.

Honestly, I am afraid to use my credit card to purchase something online. I am paranoid about credit card info theft.

Except today, I am intrigued by Lady Gaga and also the minimum price is very enticing.

According to Billboard magazine, Born This Way is expected to sell 800–850,000 copies in the US in its first week of release, thus giving Gaga her highest first week sales to date. Though high first-week sales are expected, Billboard noted its high digital sales to be largely in part to Amazon's 99 cent sale of the album throughout Monday, May 23rd. This would also cause the album to debut at number-one on the Billboard 200.[30] In it's first day of release, Born This Way sold 288 thousand copies, making it the fastest - selling album of the year. It has also nearly sold 1 million copies already in the United States.

- Wikipedia

It would be nice to be a one of the owners of a legal copy of one of the hottest albums to be released. However, Amazon has this to say why I can't.

And later on, I found out that even if I can use a US address or proxy server, I still can not purchase and download Lady Gaga's Born This Wayalbum because I intend to use my paypal account to do so.

According to this page, Amazon does not currently accept international wire transfers, PayPal, or Smart Cards.

Tsk. Tsk. My first online purchase would have to wait and torrent download is beckoning.

Ogling at Google Chrome OS Notebooks - Chromebooks are my Next Dream Gadget

2011-05-12T14:08:00.000+08:00

Notebooks with Google's own operating system - the Chrome OS - are set to be released on June 15.

After two years of development, the battle of operating systems has a new player and it is very interesting to see how it fares against the more established Microsft Windows, Apple MAC OS and a whole line up of open source computer operating system.

I am one of those ogling at one of those chromebooks for my own.

Google Chrome OS Notebooks or Chromebooks
Image from here

Google Chrome OS Notebooks or Chromebooks boasts of the following features:

Instant Web
Always Connected (Almost)
Same Experience Everywhere
Amazing Web Apps
Friends let friends log in
Forever Fresh
Security Built In

You can learn about the Chromebook features here.

The Chromebook has two manufacturer versions, Samsung & Acer.

The Samsung Chromebook has a 12.1" screen, a whopping 8 hour battery life and is reported to retail at $429 for the Wi-Fi version and $499 for the 3G version. Meanwhile, the more portable Acer Chromebook has an 11.6" display, 6.5 battery life and retail price start at $349.

On June 15, the Chromebooks will be available at Amazon.com, Best-Buy stores in the US. It will also be released in UK and France, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands.

The long battery life on single charge had me screaming and fantasizing blogging for hours at the nearby mall or any free wi-fi area.

Initial reviews say that chromebooks isn't for power users but more for data entry and blogging which is much like saying "This is for you, Doms". That plus my blue H1 netbook umpc needs to retire. LOL!

It's just a shame that it doesn't run Photoshop. But as long as there is some app for image editing, then it would be good for my blogging. Or, it could pave the way for me to master GIMP.

The lull before its release here in the Philippines will afford me to learn all of its downsides. But as of the moment, I'm sold to the idea to using my credit card to purchase me one of those chromebooks. (but only if 0% interest and 12 months to pay, hehehe!!!!)

Make Money With SponsoredReviews.Com

2011-05-10T16:16:00.001+08:00

One of the ways to make money with blogging is to through paid posts or paid reviews. I recently got a much needed (financial) break as an advertiser purchased a paid post in one of my more active blogs. And the pay was my highest pay for a paid review so far.

But I only got that break because I took time to update that blog as much as I can and I submitted it to sponsoredreviews.com.

If you are into blogging and interested to get paid writing your opinion and reviews, here's how can you earn money from sponsoredreviews.com

SponsoredReviews
Advertisers build Buzz, Bloggers Earn Cash

SponsoredReviews.com acts like a middle man between advertisers and bloggers. Advertisers can create buzz for their products and services when blogs talk about them. Bloggers get paid for their effort in writing honest opinion and reviews.

First, sign up for an account. Then submit your blogs. To get your blog or blogs approved, it must meet the following requirements:

DO NOT SUBMIT BLOGS THAT DO NOT MEET OUR REQUIREMENTS. WE WILL SUSPEND YOUR ACCOUNT IF YOU DO.
Your blog must contain at least 10 non-paid posts with 200 words of unique content each.
Your blog must be at least 3 months old and be cached/indexed in the major search engines, including Google.
Your blog must have, and maintain, at least a 2:1 ratio of non-paid to paid content.
The URL being submitted must be the homepage of your blog. At least 50 words and one link must appear on this URL for each paid review you post, when first posted.
If the blog is not the homepage of your site, there must be a clearly visible link to the blog on the homepage of the site. In other words, we do not want blogs that are orphaned (do not get traffic) on your site.
You must own the blog that you are submitting. Free-for-all or community article/blogs will not be accepted. Hosted blogs from sites like blogspot are ok.
Your blog must not be completely automated or appear to be created solely for search engine traffic.
You must complete all accepted reviews within 7 days, or your account will be suspended.
Foreign Language blogs (non-english) must clearly state in the title which language the blog is written in. i.e. "Jose's Blog - Spanish". All Reviews must be written in English unless otherwise stated by advertiser.
Blogs with very little traffic and/or links, may be rejected .
We may reject blogs that are overpriced. You should not charge more then our suggested price unless your site, and writing style, can justify it.
You must not list a price for reviews on your site greater then the price you set in sponsoredreviews.
We will suspend your account if you make rude or unconstructive comments about an advertiser. You should not accept an offer to write a review if you do not have at least something positive to say about the product/service. We encourage constructive criticism!

Once your blog is approved, you bid againtst fellow members for advertiser opportunities. Or as is usually the case for me, you earn when an advertisers directly comes to you for a review.

I am not a competitive type of blogger. I do not bid for reviews. I wait for advertisers who would directly want a review from me to post on my blog. And honestly I am a bit choosy with what I write about. But when I do accept an opportunity, I try my best to express my most honest opinion, even at the risk of getting rejected.

Another good thing about sponsoredreviews.com is that they allow you to write constructive comments so that advertisers can know how to improve their products and services.

I suggest you try to submit all your blogs to have more chances. Keep blogging as you may never know when an advertiser will take notice of your blog.

If you are interested in making money online thru paid reviews, sign up now to sponsoredreviews.com.

Blogging in March

2011-04-16T23:10:00.000+08:00

If my blogging in February was prolific, March was marvelous because I outdid myself. The review for March would have been posted at the start of April if flu and persistent coughing did not prevail over me. Late as it may seem, it is a source of pride and another personal challenge that I am posting about it now.

Image from flickr - Kristina B

BLOGGING in MARCH

In March, I was able to come up with 70 blog entries. A significant increase from the 52 in February. Almost half of it (33) were contributed blog posts onto a jobs blogsite. The rest are blog entries for my prepaid CP blog, here in netblot, other interest blogs and a new blog in time for the summer.

Although there is no significant increase in earnings, I find fulfillment in having the drive to continue to blog. And I believe continuously trying to come up with content that may help another person, will bring more traffic in the future which hopefully will also translate to income.

I will be hard-pressed to do better this April but I will still try my best.

April Fools Infographic

2011-04-02T03:05:00.022+08:00

Happy April Fools Day Everyone!

Have you played your pranked already? Or was it you who had been pranked? In case, you feel your day is not yet complete, here's a very informative April Fools demographic I saw at Mashable.

I think this is the first time I thought of "April Fools day" & "informative" being in the same sentence! I swear, this is no prank!

April Fools Infographic
from Lab 42 via Mashable

Honestly, I planned to look for some April Fools prank online but never got to do so. Last year's April Fools day was a better one for me. So, I'm just looking forward to next year's edition of this annual humor day.

Latest Footages of Part 2 of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Reminds Fans of the Saga's Inevitable End

2011-03-19T02:47:00.001+08:00

The magic of the Harry Potter movies is about to end with the final part of the adaptation of the last book - Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows - set to be shown in July.

Here are the latest footages of part 2 of Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, courtesy of YouTube. And it definitely brings us, all fans, to the saga's inevitable end

Here's the list of Harry Potter movies in order:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2010)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (2011)

Just like what I felt when the last book was finally released, I feel excitement mixed with sadness. Excited to read the ending and sad because a good thing is about to end. Fanatics can still look forward to the Harry Potter DVD release and I think that's about it. Unless J.K Rowling suddenly decided to write a new book that will surely be adapted into a new movie.

I wish a good friend still works as a cinema checker. I'd beg him to give me one of those Harry Potter movie posters. That would be a collector's dream.

Ever since the seven books were released, I am always salivating seeing those Harry Potter boxed set every time I went by bookstores. I used to own the first four books but I can't remember now to whom I lent those. Any friend reading this thinking of what to give me on special occasions, a Harry Potter Book Set, can really take care of 10 birthday & Christmas gifts combined.

As for the final movie, I am definitely looking forward to how the following part will be translated on the big screen:

- Dumbledore's background
- Snape's true character
- Harry vs Voldemort

I can't wait for July to come but wishing at the same time that it go slowly.

Interviewed by Mad Men, Declined Art Director Position Offered

2011-03-18T14:09:00.004+08:00

Currently I am part of the disheartening statistics of those Filipinos looking for jobs.

And as part of the process of job hunting, I am but looking forward to coming to interviews in the coming days. There's probably no better way but just go right ahead with those interviews and get over them with the soonest.

So, here is my most recent recent interview. An interview with Mad Men. And a mad offer for a position.

Mad Men is an American drama TV series set in the advertising world of the 1960's. The ad agency is called Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce whose office is at Madison Avenue. They are the men of Madison Avenue. Thus, the series title Mad Men.

I liked the TV series because I am fantasizing, shyly, that I can work in an ad agency. Except for too much smoking, I think I can survive working at such an industry. Plus, I have this feeling that I could enjoy an era where you're always wearing suits, ties, coats and hats.

Its official website has a job interview quiz section that I took. After seven "gruelling" questions, the Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce Ad Agency or Mad Men offered me a position. They are hiring me to be their next art director! LOL!

I can be creative with words. Sometimes when I'm lucky. But art? I wouldn't imagine it even if daydreaming is free! Hehehe! The best grade I got from my elementary Art class was 85%. That was only when my Nanay took pity of a downtrodden kid accustomed to getting 75 - 78% for his efforts.

Sorry, Don, Roger, Bert, Lane, Pete, Peggy & Harry. I'm really not a Mad Man after all. :D

National Association of Filipino Bloggers?

2011-03-16T23:12:00.001+08:00

I am a Filipino and a blogger.

I firmly believe that no Filipino blogger should be an island. With such belief, I am very much interested in joining a Filipino bloggers organization.

What's your take on having a national association for Filipino bloggers?

Initiatives are underway to organize Filipino bloggers into one united group, to be called (tentatively) National Bloggers Association of the Philippines.

The controversial initiative has come up with a draft manifesto of which I also want you to read.

One country, one blogging community.
A Manifesto of Filipino bloggers and netizens (Draft)
March 7, 2011

We, Filipino bloggers coming from various places nationwide and those based overseas, coming from diverse backgrounds and specialties, using various new media outlets, hereby freely come together and call for the formation of a bloggers association of the Philippines that shall unite us around these common and beneficial objectives:

• Promote and defend the right to free speech and to free expression;

• Promote and develop blogging, vlogging, photoblogging, microblogging and other online creative and expressive forms in all their diverse categories, topics and types;

• Gather and share Philippine blogging’s best practices that reflect our contributions to ourselves and our online communities, media, causes, organizations and businesses, government, the nation and the world;

• Draft and adopt a code of ethics that underscore the members’ and organization’s sense of responsibility and maturity;

• Discuss issues and concerns that confront our members; and

• Campaign and work for more affordable, reliable and better internet access in the country

The association we aspire to form is voluntary in membership, national in scope, democratic in decision-making, progressive in outlook, and both non-partisan and non-profit in legal character.

• We draw inspiration from and ask the participation of the city-wide, provincial, regional and island-wide associations, summits and conventions initiated by bloggers across the country. We also pay tribute to overseas Filipinos and their blogging organizations and events.

• We want an association that makes decisions based on democratic processes, consensus-building and mutual benefit.

A long time has passed since the first blog posts and first blogging events. We are now a bigger, stronger and influential community. Businesses, causes and government have started to organize themselves to interact and engage with us. And we also face challenges within and outside our growing community.

The Philippines, our country and people are also expecting more from us, and we bravely and fearlessly say that we want to do more and achieve more

In view of all these and more, we declare that we are joining as founding members of what we hope would be a most awesome bloggers association for our country.

And the idea that the manifesto can be improved upon brings me a lot of optimism.

It would be a source of pride if my blogging can contribute to achieving a common good. That's why I joined.

Are you a Filipino blogger? You are welcome to join us, too!

The Thinker image from Brian Hillegas' Flickr.

New Blogger™ - My Reaction to These New Developments

2011-03-15T09:40:00.003+08:00

The word is out from the Official Google Blog about What’s new with Blogger. I would say WOW! and woops! And other thoughts about this developments.

Based on the video, I think that the new Blogger™ is finally giving Wordpress a better competition in terms of design. It's wonderful and makes me want to blog more often. And I'm sure another round of Blogger vs. Wordpress debate.

I chose to create blogs on Blogger™ because it allows ads from different platforms like adsense, infolinks, adgitize, affiliate programs and others. But I would often wish that its interface would somehow be like that of Wordpress.

One of my perceptions, still, is that Wordpress is easier to customize if someone is knowledgeable with PHP. That is probably the reason of the thousands of WP plugins available for different purposes. I hope that Blogger™ would also develop something similar.

Woops!

On a negative side, my netbook's display isn't cut-out for the dashboard of WP. With all these improvements by Blogger™, I am afraid that my screen wouldn't suffice. I might need to buy a bigger laptop.

Anyway, I am hoping for a better blogging experience out of the new Blogger™. How about you? What are your thoughts on the new Blogger™ ?