Randa Clay Design Blog Pimping Contest

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Randa Clay is holding a contest to give bloggers the opportunity to pimp their blog. Who’s Randa? Well, she’s a talented designer, new guest author for Wisdump and I think she sorta started the “I Follow� movement.

This blog post is my entry for her contest. I really hope that I win the contest because I would really like a custom designed blog header for myMacBUZZ or this blog for that matter. I’m sure that Randa would do a great job — just check out her portfolio and some of the WordPress themes that she’s published.

If you want to take part in the contest it’s not too late! Deadline is 24 August, so check out her blog post for more info: Pimp My Blog Contest- Win a Free Blog Header/Logo Design

Best Toshiba (waterproof) thumbdrive

Thumbdrive

Here’s a quick and short review: I love my Toshiba TransMemory 2GB USB thumbdrive. It’s the perfect size and is great value for 2GB of storage. And yes, it’s (somewhat) waterproof. I accidentally left it in my pocket when my shirt went to the wash but it still works without a hitch after it dried out. Even the LED is still working!

The only thing I don’t like about the thumbdrive is the annoying U3 Launchpad that comes installed by default. Luckily, you can easily remove the U3 Launchpad by using the uninstaller.

Besides that one annoyance, I can’t recommend the thumbdrive highly enough. Buy the Toshiba TransMemory 2GB USB 2.0 Flash Memory on Amazon.com.

Slap in the Facebook

Wired says that all your photos, videos, etc on Facebook “is stranded in a walled garden, cut off from the rest of the web” and exhorts web users to “build your own Facebook”. I agree with their wish for an open social network… but build your own Facebook? Too much effort and gosh darn it – Facebook is too fun!

e-KL: please get certified

The Star featured a pull-out today on e-KL, the Malaysian Government’s attempt at an e-Government initiative. The initiative is being spearheaded by MAMPU, the Malaysian Administrative, Modernisation and Management Planning Unit.

“The public will now only need their mouse to navigate through government websites to run their daily official needs,” proclaimed The Star.

Wow, I thought. Maybe Malaysia would really be able to pull off its “no wrong door” policy after all. And since there was some official business I was planning to conduct at a government agency soon, I thought I would give this e-KL a try.

Here’s what I got:

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Same thing on IE.

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Try again, MAMPU. If you can’t even get the proper security certificates for your servers I’m not going to have the confidence to conduct my official needs online.

Neowave e-commerce blogger survey+linkbait

Neowave, the company behind behind the webShaper shopping cart software, has posted a piece of link-bait on their blog. Their incentive–Google goodies. As a side objective, it looks this is also some free research for the marketing boys.

Well, I’m happy to help in your research and I definitely would like Google goodies. So here are my answers to your questions:

1) Do you shop online? If so, why? If not, why not?
Yes I do shop online. I do it mainly because I can’t buy the products here, or have no other alternative. E.g. I’ve bought Flickr subscriptions, Jinx t-shirts and a DVD from Amazon.com.

2) What are your preferred payment methods for online shopping? (credit card, debit card, bank card, online banking, cheque etc) List 3 in accordance to preferences.
My favourite method would be PayPal actually because I don’t have to give my credit card number to the merchant. Plus because I can’t withdraw money I’ve earned elsewhere from PayPal easily, I need to use it up. No 2 would be credit card because I am protected by the credit card company. I only use these methods for buying online. I don’t like online banking because the merchant may take my money and run and I’m not protected like with credit cards.

3) Do you use search for product pricing and information before you buy instore? Which search engine you use the most?
Yes, always! I look up reviews on CNET and Amazon. I only use Google and so that’s why I want those goodies. It would be even better if the phone in the picture is included…

Oh yes, must not forget to contribute to Neowave’s Google Juice – SEO Shopping Cart 😉

P.S. Guys, its difficult to leave a comment if its only registered users and you don’t let us register.

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Blog re-design eminent. Feel too yucky to post to this blog in its current form.

Meanwhile check out myMacBUZZ.

Google Universal Search

Notice something different about Google today? They’ve upgraded user’s search experience with what they’re calling Universal Search. Here’s the official press release, the official Google Blog post and another one giving a behind-the-scenes look at this new feature.

The blogjunkie’s verdict–I like it 🙂

Understanding Apollo

Read/WriteWeb has a good article explaining Adobe’s Apollo runtime and developer platform which cleared up many questions for me. I’m looking forward to Apollo’s development as–if I understand it correctly–will allow web developers to build web apps that can work offline on the desktop and cross-platform too.

How not to ship a plasma TV. The title says it all – ouch

PayPal glitch for M'sians

I’ve got USD100+ that I can’t accept from PayPal because they’ve been having some glitches. Dang it! Buck up PayPal. Or just add a Malaysian bank to your panel.