Once upon a time..

Friendster came to shore.. It was great for a while but a while it was..

Then there was Myspace.. must have come from outer space.. never really got hooked to it.

Then came Multiply..  Made lots of online friends and that’s about it.

Then hopped over to Facebook.. Had lots of fun there.. Still having some fun there.. And now..

I am on Google+

No wonder I have very little time to blog..

p/s:

If you are on Google+, check out the Hangout.. Way cool!

People who arrived at this page were looking for:

Bert & Ernie

While bugs are drawn to lights, I was drawn back to this blog when I saw that picture on Google. While the bug phenomenon can be explained scientifically, I do not think that I can explain what that picture has got to do with my blogging… Nevertheless, here I am and Bert & Ernie still remain as puppets I love to watch and Happy 40^th Anniversary to Sesame Street!

Addicted

Smokers find it hard to quit. Bloggers are no different. There are times when I felt like not wanting to put these alphabets into words on this space ever again but when other things faded away, the craving was just too much to bear and the words start to form again and one more story enters the blogosphere…

The Other Things

What dragged me out? At first it was just work. A new job, a new place, new people, new this and new that. It took time to settle down. Apart from that, I was just plain lazy as plain as a vanilla ice-cream can be… Plain but tasty… If you like vanilla like I do…

Then Came the Dragons

I do not work 24 hour a day and that is a fact. I do have some times after work but instead of cooking up another entry, I was busy hunting dragons and whacking some people online. The culprit was Legend – Legacy Of The Dragons. An online multi-player game. I killed and got killed and months passed by before I got bored of the same apparel that my online warrior was wearing… The thing is, that guy looked nothing like me at all… He had six pack abs and I have… Well, just think of any number other than 6… I finally left…

Facebook was Complaining

I left my Facebook for sometime and it started to whine… By the time I got back in, things have changed. New look, new layout, new this and that… Guess what? It started to look nice again like an old car with a new coat of paint and lots of refurbished stuffs in and out. I decided to stay and resume my connections to real people instead of some dragons and avatars wearing the same stuffs with different colors and accessories…

The Came the Mafias, Cows and Rollercoasters

What else can you do on Facebook besides telling the world how you are today, what new car  you bought, which neighbour’s cat you kidnapped and so on and so forth? The answer is, a lot more. I got sucked into the Mafia ring and I was making headlines there. At night I would be with my mafia brothers and sisters and during the day, to cover things up, I became a farmer at Farmville… After milking some cows and selling some fruits and crops, I started a theme park and life goes on… What’s next? I moved on…

Fallout 2

Thanks to Rapidshare, I found an old game that I used to play decades ago. It was, in my honest opinion, one of the greatest computer games ever created back then. Back then, I had a PC that could barely run the game and after a while, the PC put up a white flag and I just had to stop. Now, I could start all over again roaming the post nuclear world… One of the nice things about this game is the starting cut scene where it plays the song “A kiss to build a dream on” sang by Louis Armstrong… A lovely song…

Give me a kiss to build a dream on

And my imagination would thrive upon that kiss

Sweetheart, I ask no more than this

A kiss to build a dream on

The Earth is Round

And so is the cyberspace… I moved out of the blogosphere into some other places in the cyberspace and after a while, I am back to where I started… I have made one round and I guess I would be doing that over and over again… Only the dead remain at the same place…

The End

With Google Maps at my disposal, I have no need for a global positioning system (GPS) device. I was thinking dreaming about getting myself a GPS enabled cellphone but since I discovered what Google Maps can do, I can just forget about GPS. GPS may have its own advantages over Google Maps but what Google Maps have what I need and therefore, that is good enough for me.

Using Google Maps for the first time: I had the opportunity to use it for the first time when I had to visit a client in Batu Pahat, Johor last Wednesday. They have shifted to a new office that was quite a distance away from the old place. I am not at all familiar with Batu Pahat and therefore, it would be an opportunity to put Google Maps to the test.

It is simple to use. I have already saved my home location and all I need to do is get the direction to my client’s place by by entering his new street address. Once that is done, I was given a map and a detail instruction to follow. My client had advised me to take the Ayer Hitam exit since that would make my finding the new place easier and due to that, I just need to drag the exit suggested from Yong Peng to Ayer Hitam and Google Maps plotted the new directions for me to follow. It was as simple as that.

On top of that, I was given the estimated mileage to the location as well as the estimated time that the trip would take. With that I was able to provide my ETA to my clients and it was quite accurate. Based on the ETA given, the average speed calculated was about 70 km/h. That must be the combination of highways and normal road used. Anyway, I managed to find my clients new place easily with the help of Google Maps.

Google Maps vs GPS: During lunch, I told my client that I found my way using Google Maps. He has a GPS enabled Blackberry cellphone and I have Google Maps loaded to my cellphone and we decided to run some test for the fun of it. The first task was to locate his house. Google Maps managed to locate that within seconds while his GPS system returned an “address not found” message. Round one goes to Google Maps.

The second test was to do the “Where I am” task. Google Maps showed my location within seconds while even after a few minutes, the GPS was still searching for a satellite. Google Maps scored again.

In conclusion, Google Maps is a good alternative to GPS and all I need was an internet enabled cellphone for it to work.

To use Google Maps on your computer, go to http://maps.google.com/.

To use Google Maps on your cellphone, go to m.google.com/maps on your cellphone or go to http://www.google.com/mobile/default/maps.html on your computer.

I love Firefox not because many claim that it is the safest web browser in the world. To me, there is no such thing as safe surfing on the internet. It is just like there is no such thing as a car that is totally safe to drive. You just need to be careful and not do some stupid things while you are at it.

At the same time, many claim that Firefox is the fastest web browser in the world. There is some truth in that statement when running it side by side to the fat Internet Explorer from Microsoft. However, when it is timed against Google Chrome, that opinion might not really hold 100% as some sites are loaded faster on Chrome compared to Firefox.

So, if those are not the reason to fall in love and to be still in love with a fox that is on fire, what is it then?

Well, it is none other than the Add-ons! Those little programs that hop into the back of the fox and make its fire hotter are the answers. Now I am going to share with you what Add-ons I have on my Firefox 3.0.3:

1. Download Statusbar – I use this download management add-on a lot for downloading pictures, plug-ins for my blog as well as some other things that I need to download. I chose this because it does not give me one of those big download windows that pop-up on your face when you are dwonloading something.
2. Downloadhelper – This add-on is primarily used to download YouTube videos to my hard disk so that they can be viewed offline. An FLV player is needed to play those video or you can install a video converter program and get this add-on to convert it to the format that you want automatically.
3. Entrecard Toolbar – I am an Entrecard member and this one helps me to do my daily drop.
4. Extended Statusbar – I like the status bar on Opera web browser and finally I found this. It shows percentage of the page loaded, number of loaded images, bytes downloaded, average download speed and load time. It is more for fun than anything else.
5. FireFTP – FTP program is a must have for those running their own sites. So, instead of installing a separate FTP program, I use this add-on and it has done nothing but wonders so far.
6. Flagfox – It displays a country flag depicting the location of the current website’s server and provides quick access to detailed location and web server information. For example, if your site/blog is on Blogger, then the US flag will appear. If you load this blog, the Malaysian flag will appear.
7. Gspace – Not G-spot! This extension allows you to use your Gmail Space (4.1 GB and growing) for file storage. It acts as an online drive, so you can upload files from your hard drive and access them from every Internet capable system. The interface will make your Gmail account look like a FTP host. I have never actually used this so far.
8. Linky – A handy tool if you need to open multiple links on a page into multiple tabs and then you can visit them one by one. You are going to be sure that you would not miss a link.
9. Resurrect Pages – This one performs like magic. Dead pages, broken links, the scourge of the internet. Powerhouse sites like Slashdot and Digg can bring a server to its knees. What do we do when a page is dead but we still want to see it? Call in the clerics, and perform a resurrection ceremony! Or, the easier route, use this extension. I had even managed to copy some entries from my defunct blog at Modblog using this.
10. SeacrhStatus – A quick way to view that PageRank and Alexa rank of the site/blog that you are visiting. It displays the Google PageRank, Alexa rank and Compete ranking anywhere in your browser, along with fast keyword density analyser, keyword/nofollow highlighting, backward/related links, Alexa info and other SEO tools.
11. Tweak Network – I was using Fasterfox on Firefox 2 before and it is still in the experimental stage form Firefox 3. Therefore, I switched to this. With Tweak Network, you can tweak these settings, and you might be able to speed up the loading of web pages. You can also increase the maximum number of simultaneous downloads from a site (the default is only four). Please bear in mind that it can not do anything if the bottleneck is your own internet connection.
12. TwitterFox – I need to see what people that I follow on Twitter are doing and talking about. This is the best tool to do that so that I don’t miss a tweet.
13. Zemanta – An excellent blogging companion for me. Zemanta expands the author’s regular blogging dashboard, populating it on the fly with content suggestions relevant to the current text. It presents images, links, articles, tags in a simple interface. It encourages re-use and linking to other content with as little effort as possible – a single click.

There you go! What about you?

If you are not a Firefox user, you can go here.

It is a great honor for a blogger to have visitors to his or her blog and it is an even greater honor if the visitors left some comments after reading the posts. However, many visitors would just come and go and only a few would really read and comment.

Due to that, I have been looking around the blogsphere for ways to reward people who took the trouble to read and leave comments. I have seen many ways from different bloggers but I am impressed with they way Bonoriau rewards his first commenter. He would put up your banner on the spot dedicated to the first commenter.

So, based on that, I looked around for a nice spot to put a 125 x 125 banner on this blog. I needed a spot that provide good visibility to others who read and comment on this blog and I found one. The spot is right below the shoutbox and next to the Google Adsense ads and right above the Entrecard drop box. I could not have any better space to give away at this time.

So, my visitors, from now on you are going to be rewarded for your comment. The first commenter to the latest post will get his or her banner (125 x 125) displayed on this blog for FREE! You may put your own ads or whatever you want there for as long as there is no bad stuffs.

So, here is a short FAQ on how this reward works.

Do I need to have my own 125 x 125 banner to get the reward?

No. If you are a member of Entrecard, I will use your Entrecard banner for that spot. If you are not an Entrecard member, you can include the link to your 125 x 125 banner in your comment and I will put that up. If you are an Entrecard member but wish to use a different banner you may also include the link to your other banner in your comment. If you do not have or do any of the above, I will take a thumbnail shot of your blog and put it on the spot.

How long will it take for my banner to appear?

I can’t promise you the time. I am doing this manually in order to avoid spammers. My time is GMT +8. If I received your comment and I am still on my blog, you banner would be up within a short time. If I am already asleep when you put in your comment, it would take a longer time for your banner to be up. So, try to comment when the post is still hot.

How long will my banner be displayed?

For as long as there is no new entry posted on this blog. The total time displayed would be between the time I put your banner up and the time I posted a new post. For your information, I normally update my blog with a new post on daily basis. Sometimes, during weekends, I do not post and you may get a longer time for your banner.

Is there any catch to this reward?

None! This is free and you will not be asked to do anything. All you need to do is be the first commenter.

What if my question is not answered here?

Please contact me by filling up a form here.

What did people search on Google and brought them to Kisahberuang.com in October 2008? Based on the Google Webmaster Tools, the Top Search Queries for this blog in October 2008 are as below:

hot 15 (32%) – If you follow that link, you will be greeted by some ladies in bikinis and that could be hot for some guys and because of that they found a hot bear too. Is that so? Anyway, the hot link actually went to my post on some hot news on October 15 here.

commentluv enabled jokes (5%) – I could not find the link anymore. This blog has the Commentluv plugin enabled but I seriously do not remember making any jokes about that. So, I wonder what is that all about.

wedding anivasary (5%) – This person could not even spell anniversary correctly and I think he or she must be looking for something to buy for his or her anniversary. Due to that, my 2nd wedding anniversary post got picked up in the process here. I love that!

anas zubedy (5%) – I didn’t know that this guy is famous. Some people have been looking for him and ended up here instead. This search found my Malaysia tag and I wrote a post about his call for unity message here.

jenis gerbera (5%) – I could not locate this link anymore and I have no idea what that is. Based on the search result, this is referring to some flowers… I do not remember writing about any flower in this blog so far.

lainy (3%) – I could not find my link in this search either and the only Lainy that I know is a blogger at Lainy’s Musing and she is one of the top entrecard droppers at this blog. I guess that must be the link.

googl the life of tony hawq (3%) – An interesting search that must be looking for somebody by the name of Tony Hawq but ended up on my post about the popularity of Internet Explorer here. The key words got linked to Tony and The Hawg!, which I misspelled as Hawq (sorry Mr. Hawg), who are among the commenter in that post.

malaysia feet therapy fish spa (3%) -This fish spa stuffs is really getting the attention of Malaysians lately and I did post a video about it here. Now you can find this spa in shopping malls and even at some of the hypermarkets. Anybody has tried that?

shaxx (3%) – I wonder why are people searching for my nickname? Then I realized that there are others out there using that nickname as well… Whoaa… Who can they be?

klci record tracking (3%) – This is related to one of my posts about the Kuala Lumpur Composite Index here. the KLCI is still not in a good shape until today due to the global financial crisis.

old kuala krai station wordpress (3%) – Is that somebody looking for a railway station or a wordpress blog about the railway station in Kuala Krai? Instead they went to my hot news (see above) about the gruesome murder case in Kuala Krai here.

klci jatuh lagi (3%) – I think many Malaysians are upset or worried about the state of the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange where the Composite Index has been going down recently. I posted about that here.

irresponsible boyfriend (3%) – Some girls out there are not happy with their boyfriends I guess. Somehow, these keywords are also in my hot news (see above) and part of that news was about a boyfriend who did some bad things to his girlfriend here.

why smoking “isn t” cool (3%) – This person was probably trying to change his or her lifestyle or may be it was for someone else. It is either he or she is trying to quit smoking or get somebody to quit. I did a post about smoking here.

wow beruang (3%) – This is really cute but it is kinda strange that there are people who search for such a thing. Searching for beruang (bear) would be normal but “wow beruang”, that beats me. Anyway, that went to the front page of this blog.

seram “yahoo com” 2008 -spam (3%) – The weirdest search last month. I could not locate the link anymore. I am still wondering about the relationship between seram (spooky) and Yahoo! in 2008. I also didn’t know that spam could be spooky. Do you know?

umobile commission (3%) – Yet another link that could not be located anymore and I definitely have not written about U-Mobile.

There you go! It is interesting to see what people searched on Google and how certain words in your blog posts would be picked up by the search engine and bring in visitors to your blog.

However, some of them remain a mystery…

People who arrived at this page were looking for:

Even though more than 60% of visitors visting this blog is using Firefox, the worlwide usage share of web browsers still shows that Internet Explorer (IE) si still the top web browser in the world.

If you look at the chart on the left, IE still holds a big 72.22% usage leaving the others way behind. Why?

Technically, I would not be able to answer you as I am using Firefox as my main web browser while IE and Chrome are used only for making sure that this blog has no problem on the other two.

Personally, I would be able to give my opinion as to why IE is still very popular out there. Firstly, most people use Microsoft Windows instead of Mac or Linux. The fact that Windows is more user friendly to the common people, makes it almost the default OS for most computers.

Therefore, IE comes installed with Windows and it is ready to use with some minor settings required. Some of the computer vendors would even do it for their customers without any extra charge. All the user needs to do is click IE and they are connected to the internet.

Secondly, this is related to the common people who bought computers above. Most of them thought that by installing another web browser, they can no longer use their IE. In fact, when I got my first computer, I had that very same idea too and therefore, I stick to IE.

Only after getting to know more about computers and internet, I leaned that a computer can run multiple web browsers at the same time since they are nothing but just like any another program that can be run on a computer. It took me a while to have the guts to install Firefox and I have never looked back since then.

In conclusion, those are the two major factors, in my opinion, that let IE be where they are right now and not because they are more superior to the other browsers. I am sure IE fanatics would shoot me down like flies when they read this. But then, I am just stating my opinion and nothing more.

To bloggers out there, do not dismiss IE if you are already using other web browsers. Make sure that you test load your blog on IE to ensure that they have no problem so that the 72%+ IE users are able to read it. If not, your blog would be skipped and that would be your loss.