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From Little Things BIG Things Grow – sparks flying at #pbevent 2012
By David Wang
A week ago, I had the pleasure of soaking up the excitement and creative energy of 300 bloggers who descended into Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Australia for the ProBlogger Training Event aka #pbevent. It was the first ever blogging conference that I’ve ever attended and I must say that I wasn’t disappointed for shelling out the cash and traveling all the way for it.
Personal Highlights
#pbevent was put on by Darren Rowse and his team who help him manage ProBlogger and Digital Photography School. Speakers included top bloggers from all over Australia and they even brought in Chris Guillebeau all the way from Portland, USA as a keynote speaker. I’ve been following Darren’s work for a long time and when I learnt that Chris, another role model of mine, was on the speaker lineup I immediately decided that I would attend.
Side note: I’ve never really talked about Chris Guillebeau but he’s someone I really look up to in the way he approaches business and living the life you want. I will try to expand on this when I get around to reviewing his book.
WTOTW: Cancel Newsstand magazine subscription
By David Wang
I tried subscribing to a Newsstand magazine on my iPad for the first time the other day. Unfortunately I knew I wasn’t going to read the magazine regularly and it didn’t offer a yearly subscription option. Therefore I decided I had to cancel my subscription… BUT I couldn’t figure out how to do so.
Fortunately I found the answer after trawling the Apple discussion forums, so I’m detailing the steps here for anyone who may be wondering how to do so. Read More »
My Nike+ FuelBand rocks
Totally enjoying this fun little gadget. It’s not only fun, it’s helping me spend less time sitting on my bum!
I'm attending the ProBlogger Event 2012! Psst.. there's still a way to get a ticket, details here
By David Wang
Next week, I’ll be flying to Melbourne, Australia to attend the ProBlogger Training Event (#PBevent). I’m going to have a blast meeting with other bloggers, and learning to build better blogs and how to build revenue streams through blogging and other online income streams. I’m really looking forward to meeting up with Darren Rowse – Mr. ProBlogger himself, and Chris Guillebeau who was a major inspiration when I decided to go into business for myself.
Needless to say I’m really excited about my first major blogging conference. Some of the sessions that I’m most excited to attend are:
- Marketing Your Products by Shane Tilley, the Web Marketing Ninja himself
- Making Money and Changing the World Through Blogging & Beyond eBooks – 2 sessions by Chris Guillebeau
- The Ten Simple Things That Worked by blogging personality Sarah Wilson
- Courses, Continuity Programs and Membership Areas by Jules Clancy
As you can see, this isn’t a dodgy “make money blogging” or “sell your eBook for $999” type free seminar. All of the speakers are successful bloggers and have used their blogs to launch their unconventional, new economy careers. You can bet I’ll be soaking it all up.. although I will probably feel like I’m back in my uni lecture hall (hope I don’t fall asleep!)
Tickets are sold out but you can still attend – virtually!
I bought my ticket the moment they announced it on 11 May. That got me early bird pricing of USD249.99. Early bird tickets were gone in a flash and full priced USD299.99 were sold out less than a month later. On the Facebook event page, we have people asking every week if there are more tickets available.
Selfish me doesn’t want any more tickets – I don’t want the event to be too crowded after all! However Darren has come up with a fantastic alternative. They are now offering a virtual pass for #PBevent. This gives virtual attendees audio recordings and slides of the sessions, access to a live webinar with Darren Rowse for a post-event Q&A session and access to a private Facebook group for networking with other virtual and live attendees as well. And you don’t have to spend the extra money for travel and accommodations!
The virtual ticket is available for an early-bird price of USD149 until 9 Oct 2012. From 10 Oct, the full virtual ticket price is USD199. Quick! Buy your virtual event pass now. Read More »
Ninja Standing Desk
By David Wang
Standing desks are definitely catching on. Found this new one via Kate Kendall. The Ninja Standing Desk started out as a Kickstarter project which was successfully funded. The desk works by attaching to a door, and comes with 2 or 3 shelf configurations for you to sit or stand. The main advantage is the portability – it folds up into a compact package that you can bring along when traveling or working remotely.
It’s not as affordable as the aforementioned WorkEZ desk, but still within the reach of most at USD177 onwards depending on configuration and shipping. Strangely though, they are only accepting payment via Bitcoin, which reduces the accessibility of the product. Hopefully they will incorporate more traditional billing methods soon.
Amadeus Bistro & Wine Bar – where good music and food meet
By David Wang
Green Peppercorn Steak
My friend Dina recently opened her 2nd restaurant – Amadeus Bistro & Wine Bar – in Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur. I’ve been eager to visit and have a taste of the food for myself, especially after getting lots of “OMG my mouth is watering!” comments on the photo above that I posted to Facebook 🙂
Dina invited me to a meet and greet dinner with some bloggers and I gladly accepted. The bistro has an understated and elegant interior decor. There is a sitting space inside and a bar at the front, making Amadeus great for both sit down meals and just to have drinks. Oh yes, they have Guinness on tap 😉 Amadeus also has Enomatic wine dispensers so you can enjoy fresh wine by the glass instead of by the bottle.
Dina demonstrates the Enomatic wine dispenser
The food was also really good. The chef definitely has both talent and experience. The menu he and Dina have put together seems well balanced and the dishes we tried tasted as good as they looked. The lousy photos I took from my phone doesn’t do the food justice, so here are some that I’ve “borrowed” from their Facebook page. Read More »
Disable shortcodes for ElegantThemes
By David Wang
Go to ePanel/custom-functions.php and remove:
require_once(TEMPLATEPATH . '/epanel/shortcodes/shortcodes.php');
Updated June 4, 2014
The above code will get overwritten when you update the theme, so it’s best to contain your modifications in a child theme. In your child theme’s functions.php file, add this:
add_action( 'after_setup_theme', 'add_remove_et_features', 15 );
function add_remove_et_features() {
remove_action('init','et_activate_features');
add_action('init','child_activate_features');
}
function child_activate_features(){
/* activate shortcodes */
// comment out or delete the line below to disable shortcodes
// require_once(TEMPLATEPATH . '/epanel/shortcodes/shortcodes.php');
/* activate page templates */
require_once(get_template_directory() . '/epanel/page_templates/page_templates.php');
/* import epanel settings */
require_once(get_template_directory() . '/epanel/import_settings.php');
}
However I recommend that you don’t use ElegantThemes. Sure they’re cheap, but they don’t offer Automatic Updates which makes their themes pretty insecure and vulnerable to hackers. Elegant Themes finally includes automatic updates as of Dec 2013.
If you want high quality themes with rock solid security and top-notch support, go with StudioPress or WooThemes.
WorkEZ standing desk
By David Wang
After blogging about my custom standing workstation the other day, reader Adrienne commented that she had bought a WorkEZ standing desk. I was intrigued so I Googled them.
The WorkEZ system looks like a great alternative if you don’t want to DIY your own standing desk, or simply prefer a cheap ($60) and simple solution. I like that the WorkEZ is flexible and can also function as a regular height laptop stand. It also looks like it could fold up and fit in a backpack.
Links
Get the new IKEA 2013 catalog.. on your smartphone!
By David Wang
The 2013 IKEA catalog is out! This year IKEA has gone digital (even in their print catalog). You can browse the print catalog just like you always have, but you can enhance it with the companion iOS or Android app too. By using the companion apps to scan marked pages in the catalog, you’ll be able to view films, how-to guides and interesting interactive content on your smartphone or tablet. That’s a pretty cool way to bring a print catalog into the digital age don’t you think?
I am an IKEA Malaysia brand ambassador. See all other posts in my Project IKEA series and my disclosure policy.
Meet the blogjunkie
I’m David a.k.a. the blogjunkie. This is my personal blog where I let my hair down. I’m an entrepreneur making a living from the internet, without the scammy get rich quick, make money online methods. I’m an Apple fanboy, and WordPress geek.
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