Blogging on Chrome

Today I am blogging on the Google Chrome browser. The first thing I noticed immediately after the easy installation is the speed of the browser. I thought the time it took to load web pages were all due to the speed of my internet connection - but I am on the same internet connection and yet it loads my pages faster.

Also I had problems with my multi-tabbed browser freezing when I close a video page while the video was still playing. Guess what? No such problem here. I guess this is the multi-process concept they had implemented - when you close a tab, even if the video is still playing all the elements that has to do with that tab is gone. It does not affect the other tabs, therefore no slowing down or freezing.

I went to all the image-laden, slow-loading pages I knew and it took no time at all - even pages full of widgets! I'm not very good at crashing applications, but with the little I've tested of the Chrome browser I am completely satisfied!

The Google Chrome Comic

I found this very entertaining comic strip about the Google Chrome that is supposed to be available for download today. Google Chrome is the search giant's new browser, which, as they extensively explained in the comic strip, is built for today's web applications. From the screenshots around the blogosphere it looks like Opera and has the tab structure much like IE and Firefox.

In the comic strip it explains how each tab is a process instead of a thread - making it a multi-process application and not a multi-threaded one. What does this mean? It means when you close a tab, you close the process and all memory allocated to this tab is released (I would guess that other browsers do not do this or they wouldn't have emphasized it). Also when you navigate from domain 1 to domain 2, it releases all cpu assets used up by domain 1 and begins anew with domain 2.

This was the predominant theme of the comic strip, discussing the improvements they made to the browser and trying to make it appear less technical than it actually is. I wonder who their intended comic audience was - because the comic really did seem too geeky to me. Although maybe I'm underestimating the YouTube generation a bit by saing that. The comic did do a great job of promoting Google Chrome - I certainly want to download it now.

So after reading page 14 and having my browser refuse to go to the next page, I wanted to see and experience Google Chrome for myself. So I googled "Download Google Chrome." The results were a lot of blog articles with download links that led back to the main google page.

Where is the Chrome? Is it really ready for download or as they claimed, did they just hit the send button too quickly... I guess we just have to be patient...

The Social Networking Mistakes of Nichepreneurs

I found this article written by Susan A. Friedmann, an internationally recognized niche marketing expert on Social Networking: The Five Biggest Mistakes Nichepreneurs Make.

In the age of MySpace, YouTube, Delicious and FriendFeed - social networking has become not just a fad, but a part of today's lifestyle. Susan Friedmann discusses how companies should look at social networks as a worldwide community that can be a powerful tool for word-of-mouth advertising. People share insights with friends in these communities, these insights might be feedback about your product.

Mistake #2 is the mistake of using social networks purely for advertising. Social networks are a good place for building your brand, but they are a good place for market research as well. Listen to what your customers are saying and improve your product accordingly.

Mistake #3 tells nichepreneurs that the internet is a form of media just like TV, radio and print. There are real-world consequences when you behave badly online - word gets out just as fast as when you behave badly on TV (maybe even faster!). So be good and be on your best behavior!

Mistake #4 is the use of sock puppets. Sock puppets, are false identities people create to boost a product or give negative comments about a competitor's product. Believe it or not, it is very easy to spot these types of accounts in social networks and it is very annoying to read the same type of comments over and over again. It's very bad practice if you ask me!

Mistake #5 pulls us back to the ground. Social Networks are great, they have a huge influence on customers, but they have to be utilized in conjunction with other marketing efforts. It cannot be used on its own.

This is a great article, hope you learned something from it too!

HD Video From an SLR - The New D90

I'm thinking of upgrading my SLR and I saw this press release about the D90 that's coming out in Mid-October. I do use my SLR in our business - it's earned me the most money so far in our event services.

All these description about the HD video capture mode sounds so good, but is it really practical? I can think about a hundred ways I can use video to enhance my event photography products. Do you think the HD video capture is a good add-on to an SLR?

clipped from www.pcmag.com Nikon announced an upgrade to the Editors' Choice-winning D80 D-SLR. The D90 sports a 12.3-megapixel sensor, improved overall image quality, and high-def video capability. When in HD video capture mode, the camera can record with any lens and with any other image adjustments like color filter effects, lighting modes, and exposure settings. An HDMI out also allows for picture and audio/video playback on HDTVs. Users should also see an improvement in the clarity of images viewed on the 3-inch LCD screen. The new screen now packs 920,000 pixels, compared to its predecessor, which was only 230,000 pixels. The D90 will be available mid-October at an estimated retail price of $999.95 for the body only.

The Power of Women's Social Networks

This was an interesting study, women seem to take advantage of their social networks more than their male counterparts.

I was watching Michelle Obama's speech yesterday when she recounted how she left her position as an intellectual property lawyer to go into social service and make the right connections.

This move paved the way for her husband's political aspirations. It was Michelle's connections, her social network, that they took advantage of to help in her husband's campaigns for public office.

I admire the way Michelle Obama talks, she's intelligent, smart and gets right to the point. I think in some aspects, she is very much like Hillary Clinton - and maybe if her husband wins the elections she may do a lot of good as first lady as well.

She gives credit to the phrase, "Behind every great man there is a great woman."

clipped from www.canada.com Female workers get by - and earn more - with a little help from their friends, a new study shows, but men don't enjoy the same boost from their social networks.

Getting Away from the Automatic

While taking pictures in dark bowling lanes, I realized that it was time to stop using the Automatic setting in my SLR and try using it's Manual capabilities. Of course, reading the book I bought about my camera was not an option. So we had coffee with our good friend, Butch and he taught me what ISO meant and how to use it. He even showed me my lighting options - the technical term being White Balance so that I could adjust my shots depending on where I was taking pictures.

I use Photoshop to cure my pictures, but I want to take great pictures and not have to edit them all the time. This lesson with Butch gave me a new perspective on what the Automatic setting in my camera does not do. So after almost two years with my SLR, I finally want to use it the way it was designed to be used.

Butch snapped pictures of us while teaching us about lighting. He was a great tutor. Thanks a lot, Butch!

L'Oreal Paris' Color of Hope for Ovarian Cancer Research

Ovarian Cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecological cancers in the US and is the fifth leading cause of death in US women.

Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer include:

• Vague but persisten unexplained gastrointestinal complaints such as gas, nausea or indigestion


• Abdominal bloating, pelvic or abdominal pain, or feeling of fullness


• Unexplained change in bowel habits (constipation or diarrhea)


• Unexplained weight gain or loss


• Frequency and urgency of urination


• Unusual fatigue


• Shortness of breath


• New and unexplained abnormal postmenopausal vaginal bleeding

Are you or your loved one at risk? Here is a list of risk factors:

• Highest occurence is in women over 50 - increasing age, increases your risk


• Family or personal history of ovarian, breast, endometrial or colon cancer


• Uninterrupted ovulation (having no pregnancies, infertility, low parity)


• Presence of gene mutations especially BRCA1 or BRCA2

For more information, please visit L'Oreal Paris' website.

I found this ad as I was browsing through my shopping newsletters. They are launching a cosmetics collection where they will donate $5 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund for every product sold this September.

Personally I don't usually buy cosmetics because I don't work in an industry where you need to wear make-up. But because of a fundraising show I will be a part of, I thought I'd look into purchasing some cosmetics. I usually use hypoallergenic foundations from Neutrogena or Clinique, but I do go to L'Oreal for colors like eyeshadows and lip colors - so being able to donate to a worthy cause while getting great cosmetics is a win-win situation for me!

I think L'Oreal has done a great job in incorporating this fundraising opportunity for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund with their product line. I hope many other companies are so inclined to fund such worthy researches as this one. Great job!

Kevin Mitnick : Weakest Link in Cybersecurity Today

What do you see as the biggest threats to cybersecurity today?

Cybersecurity used to be about the network or operating system. Now it's more at the application layer. Companies and their contractors build their own applications hosted on a public Web site, and the people who write them aren't trained in secure coding. The mistakes they make can be leveraged to break the system.

This is from an interview Forbes.com had with Kevin Mitnick who is one of the most infamous hackers today. The story of his capture was turned into the film called Takedown in 2000.

We have become our own worst enemies. Because of all the advertising around - from web hosting companies, web development companies, etc. - that it is easy to put up your own website companies have delved into this enterprise with developers who have just learned scripting languages - who might have self-studied them at that.

New developers who have never come across the concept of network security. Naive developers who think that as long as they have a good systems administrators their applications are safe and that they have nothing to do with keeping their applications protected.

These are the biggest threats to cybersecurity today. With the proliferation of SQL injection, denial of service and other types of attacks to bring down a web server - all developers must design secure code. They must, from the start, know what defenses are available to them in the language they are using and follow the best practices so that their application is not vulnerable.

After all, a famous hacker has already pointed to us as the weakest link in cybersecurity today!

Letting Other Sites Promote Your Content

National Geographic has syndicated their widgets to third-party sites, letting other sites use their widgets and link back to them.

They are getting their content out there, as a publisher their content is their product - so they are effectively having these third-party sites promote them.

Brilliant strategy, right? This new kind of co-branding is a concept advertising agencies are starting to take into consideration.

Great idea! Keep up the good work.

clipped from www.computerworld.com August 18, 2008 (Computerworld) National Geographic Digital Media is taking its foray into the world of widgets to the next level with a new campaign to let third parties co-brand and add the widgets to their own sites. Rob Covey, National Geographic's senior vice president for content and design, said those agreements extend the potential reach of the National Geographic-branded widget to more than 3 million new users.

Congratulations, Michael Phelps!

Team USA favorite, Michael Phelps, has broken the world record with his 8th Olympic gold medal win in the Beijing Olympics. Congratulations!

Above is a screenshot of the NBC Olympics website featuring this incredible athlete. Good job!

Sony Vaio Desktop: PC + HDTV

I saw this 22-inch flat screen from Sony at Fry's yesterday. Because I have recently had my eyes only on Dell and the Apple Store, I naively asked a store clerk if I could buy the monitor separately.

I give that store clerk points for not laughing at me as he explained that I can't because the monitor is the PC! Wow! And it's wall-mountable too! Imagine how clean your home office would be if you just had this monitor on your wall and this ultra-thin wireless keyboard that can be hidden to minimize dust when you're not working on it.

Oh, and yes, it is also an HDTV. It can optionally play blu-ray discs. And it's an energy star appliance!

Wow! There are models that actually have Intel Core 2 Duo Processors, up to 4 GB of memory and 1 TB of storage capacity. This costs around $2,299 in the Sony online store - not bad, huh?

I think the Mac just gained a rival for my heart!

clipped from www.sonystyle.com

Shutterfly: Share Your Photos Online

I love taking pictures and of all the photo sites I tried using I am most satisfied with Shutterfly. Last year I compiled our photos from church group activities into a 2008 calendar, I had two shipments delivered and over 50 copies distributed to our members. I have to smile when I visit friends' homes and see the calendar displayed somewhere. I've had others tell me they have the calendar displayed at work. The quality of the Shutterfly calendar, their speedy delivery and great bulk discounts had me hooked on their service.

Last week they launched their Share Sites component, which I put to very good use as you can see above. You can launch a share site by just uploading your pictures, clicking on Create a Share Site, type in the required fields and invite your friends. Yes, it's that easy! The site looks professionally done, your photos are featured wonderfully by the design and you have an option to blog and add more sections in the site. For me, it was a great way to be able to share photos I took at our events without having to print them or save them all to disk and hand them out like I did last year. For my friends, they can order prints, photo gifts, and other products using the photos without having to ask me to do it for them. So it's a win-win for everybody!

Great feature! Keep up the good work, Shutterfly.

Great Article: 10 Worst Web Glitches by Rafe Needleman

Rafe Needleman of Webware compiled this list of the 10 Worst Web Glitches of 2008 (so far). I love this <a href="http://news.cnet.com/glitches/">article</a>! It's the same fascination I guess when you watch commentators critique bad fashion choices by stars on the red carpet, but for web technologies instead.

It just reiterates the fact that Web 2.0 has its flaws, these great big web technologies have failed at some point in their lifespan - they're not perfect. But they survived - and for a developer, it brings hope that maybe my applications will too.

clipped from news.cnet.com We have been reminded several times lately that Web 2.0 is in no way a synonym for "reliable." What happened: These massive infrastructure services, Amazon's S3 especially, underpin many Web 2.0 companies. When they go down, big sites go down. When the sites go down, they lose money. What happened: Twitter began to get unreliable. It's up, then it's down. Repeat. What happened: Mozilla announced the release data of the Firefox 3.0 and its goal to get a million downloads on that day. When the day comes, the download doesn't work.

Trashionista at the 2008 Pisay Homecoming

I'm not sure how many of my Pisay (Philippine Science High School) batchmates actually read this blog, but for those who do - another year has passed and another Pisay Homecoming is fast approaching. Please save the date, this year's homecoming is on September 6th, Saturday.

And though I would love to go, my vacation to the Philippines must be postponed for a couple more years.

I love the evening program highlights though - "trashionista," a green fashion show. Saving the environment must be on everyone's to-do list right now - and I think this is a brilliant way to promote this.

Good luck to this year's host, Pisay Berde, the class of 1983! Wow! Hope you get a lot of attendees.

clipped from www.friendster.com Pisay Homecoming 2008 Calling all PSHS alumni especially the jubilarians of 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2003 to attend the 2008 PSHS homecoming at the school gym on Saturday, September 6th. This year's host is Pisay Berde, the class of 1983. Registration for the evening program which highlights a "trashionista" fashion show featuring recyclable materials adapted as day wear (and evening wear) starts at 7 PM. Pre registration ongoing. Please visit our websitehttp://www.pshs83.org...... or http://www.pshsaa.org....... You may also contact Ms. Lilyann Manligot Alberto at 09196615295 or 9412436 or Email ms Gladys Barrer at prereg@ymail.com.

Photoree: Photo Recommendations

I love photographs especially of nature, animals and amazing architecture. And of people captured in one frame executing a beautiful movement. I think photos are like poetry, they tug at your heartstrings and leave you in awe that you have managed to catch a single second in a lifetime to look back on and reminisce.

I found this flickr photo recommendation site called, Photoree. It lets you rate photos so that it can learn what you like. You can bookmark the photos, check their license for use, find the photographer and the website where it is posted. Then you can join the discussion in their forum, invite your friends to the site or recommend a flickr collection that you would like to feature on the site. They have beautiful photographs, they are a sight for sore eyes.

I love the simplicity of the site design. It's a nice way to showcase your photos, if you so choose. Good job on this website!

Dragon Basketball

clipped from www.google.com

This is one of my favorite Google images to date that correlates to the Olympics. Although when you think about it, it's not the year of the dragon in the Chinese calendar - but I guess China has long been associated with this magnificent creature that we can overlook that little tidbit.

Basketball. The Filipinos' favorite sport and yet I am not even sure we have a team competing... Our Filipino boxer lost. Well, we still have taekwondo to look forward to I guess - or is that done too? I have to check my widget for the schedule.

I'm enjoying the swimming and diving competitions - so far those are the only events I've watched on TV. I must admit I find myself cheering for Team USA nowadays!