How to get Account Approved in Adsense?

Let me make this clear. I'm not an Adsense expert, especially since I only got approved by Google Adsense 2 weeks ago (as of this writing). I won't be sharing professional tips, but I will share what I did before I got approved by Google Adsense.

Before I Got Approved in Adsense: Backstory

I have to tell you that it's not easy to get approved in Adsense, especially if you don't know what you're doing. Years ago, I thought that I only needed to write a few posts then I'd be good. But I realized, that isn't so.

I first heard about Adsense from a friend who told me that her brother earned a few hundred dollars in one year from his blog. That gave me an idea. So I sent my first Adsense application and got disapproved. I did that three more times, and each time, I got disapproved.

• Aug 2011, 1st application disapproved - Issue: Under construction
• Mar 2012, 2nd application disapproved - Issue: " it does not meet our program
  criteria"
• Oct 2012, 3rd application disapproved - Issue: Site does not comply with Google policies
• Oct 6, 2016, 4th application successfully reviewed and I need to create my first ad unit.
• Oct 8, 2016, Google reviewer changed their minds and told me my site does not meet their program criteria.
• Jan 31 2017, application got disapproved - Issue: Insufficient content
• Feb 9, 2017, application successfully reviewed
• Feb 10, 2017, my site is now connected to Adsense

So how did I get approved? I did the following thanks to the blogs that I will be linking to in each action that I did.

Tips to Get Approved?

 

There are so many blogs that tell you what to do. The problem is, I found that some of them really aren't necessary since I didn't do them. First let me list down tips that I find aren't really or are not an assurance to get approved in Adsense.

I got these tips from this blog and this blog but I never did them, yet I got approved.

1. Buy a custom domain. - Never did this.
2. Use Google apps to create a domain specific email address. - Never did this.
3. Remove Other Ad Networks. - I had Amazon affiliate ads running when I got approved by Adsense. 

What I did to Get Approved in Adsense

Here are things I did that made the difference.

1.  Added the following pages - Because apparently, though they were not explicitly listed by Adsense as requirements, they are necessary. Follow links to open helpful tips.

• Privacy Policy - Also add in this paragraph if you're an Amazon affiliate:

[Insert your name/brand] is/am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

• About Me - Just write something about yourself
• Contact Me
• Sitemap

2. Edited posts with less than 300 words - When I reapplied in January 2017,  I already had 20 blog posts but still got rejected for insufficient content. So I edited these posts and made them longer than 300 words.
3. Redesigned my blog - Since I'm not a web designer, I just used the blogger template settings, and focused on the following:

• template design
• font style and color
• template widths
• layout

4. Changed the following settings. - These settings may or may not be helpful in your application, but they could help your blog visibility in the future. Open links to know why they may be necessary or helpful for you.

• Turn on HTTPS redirect
• Enabled Custom robots.txt
• Enabled Custom robots header tags

I hope you find this blog helpful even though is not as technical as you would expect, but I've collected the helpful resources for you. ^_^

I wish you well in your Adsense application. Don't give up, just keep trying.

Top 5 Amazon Shopping Tips: How not to get scammed and waste your money

Amazon is a great shopping place, especially if you're into online shopping. And if you haven't tried shopping at Amazon, you might want to consider creating an account and start today. And if you're new at Amazon, you've come to the right place. I have a few tips for you so you avoid getting scammed by fraudulent sellers and avoid wasting money in the long run.

From my experience, there's always a risk involved with online shopping no matter where you shop, whether it's eBay, Amazon, or any online store. With online shopping, you risk:

• purchasing knock-offs instead of the genuine one,
• purchasing expired products (makeup, supplements, food, etc.)
• purchasing misrepresented products - e.g. dents and scractches are not described in a second hand phone or gadget
• having your item broken or lost in transit

All these risks apply to purchasing from Amazon as well. However, if you purchase from a legit store with a seller account in Amazon, it's very likely that they have a good customer service in place. In case the product arrives at your doorstep broken, just contact the seller and see what can be done with it.

I once bought GoPro accessories from Vanwalk, and I received it with the monopod mount missing. I contacted them hoping to only get the missing piece. However, they sent me another kit instead. That is what I call EXCELLENT customer service. This was very surprising to me because, sad to say, this is not how it normally works in the Philippines.

Anyway, here are my tips for shopping at Amazon so you avoid getting scammed and wasting your money.

Amazon Shopping Tips

1. Shop around and compare prices.

There are many registered sellers on Amazon. Even though different sellers sell the same product, you need to compare prices. Here's an example for you:

You may think that all three are sold directly by GoPro after seeing the "by GoPro" label under the description. In fact, these are sold by three different sellers. You'll notice the differences in prices. Before you decide, factor in the inclusions in the price. In the picture, the first two sellers offer the same additional items. But don't stop there. Click each seller and see what brand of batteries and memory card actually come with the product, because sometimes, they would tell you you might get a different depending on availability. And if you don't need the accessories, just go with the third seller because it only costs $293.49.

2. Don't rely on customer reviews.

In my previous blog, my #1 tip was to check seller feedback given by customers. In the case of Amazon, I would say feedback is not a foolproof way of gauging seller reliability nor of product quality or authenticity. This is because there are two types of customer feedback on Amazon: 1) those I would call "free reviews", and 2) "verified purchase" reviews.

"Free reviews" are given by people who have either tried the product but bought it from a seller outside of Amazon, or by people who were sent samples or complementary products in exchange for a review. "Verified Purchase" reviews are given by customers who have actually bought the product from that Amazon seller. I would say "Verified Purchase" reviews are more reliable than "free reviews".

These reviews are easy to identify. In the image below, you will see that the first review has "Verified Purchase" label on it, while the second one doesn't.

 

I'm not saying all unverified reviews are false, but fake reviews are definitely common in Amazon. I first learned about fake Amazon reviews when I started working as a freelancer at oDesk (now Upwork) in 2011. I saw projects looking for people to write Amazon reviews. So even before I signed up for an Amazon account a year ago, I knew that the reviews in Amazon (and perhaps in many other sites) are not reliable.

My advice, analyze the reviews. Do the star feedback score equate to the number of positive or negative feedback from verified customers? I still believe that your best indicator is the verified purchase reviews.

3. Check if the seller is legitimate and if they sell original products.

One of the ways you can do this is by balancing the information you get from customer feedback and Google. Yes, Google. Search online whether the seller has a physical store in the US. You can also check if there is a dispute that's ongoing regarding a certain product's patent, and if there is a complaint filed on Amazon regarding product infringement against sellers or a particular seller.

See the story behind Forearm Forklift on CNBC: "How Amazon counterfeits put this man's business on brink of collapse."

4. Buy directly from the original seller if they're on Amazon. 

To identify if it's the original seller, simply follow the link and look for the seller's name. Here is an example of Forearm Forklift's product page.

 

5. Not because it's on Amazon means you're getting a good deal.

Yes, there are good deals on Amazon, but before you make that purchase, go to the product's website first and see if the price is better if you buy it from their website than if you do from Amazon. For example, I once looked up Nars Pure Radiant Tinted Moisturizer and found that Nars sells it for only $45, while Amazon sellers sell it for more than that. The only advantage for me was that I could buy it from Amazon, whereas I can't from Nars because they don't accept Philippine-issued credit cards.


Those are my five tips for online shopping at Amazon. I hope you find this helpful. Be wise, be patient, and don't be an impulse buyer. Do your research and you will get great shopping experience at Amazon.

Don't forget to share this blog with your friends to help them make wise decisions, too. :-)

Top 5 Online Shopping Tips: How not to waste your money

I have been online shopping since 2008. I've bought a lot of stuff from makeup, to bags, to a GoPro Hero 4. I've learned a lot from my experiences as they were not all successes.

And if you're just starting out purchasing online, I have a few tips that you might want to consider before you click that Buy Now button.

There are two main sites that I use for my online purchases: Amazon and ebay.ph. I used to use OLX a lot, but since they removed the feedback system, I no longer use it as much. Back when OLX still had the feedback system, I found there were many scammer sellers in the site. And now, I just got more skeptical especially if the seller doesn't want to meet up.

And on that note, let me give you...

My Top 5 Online Buying Tips

1. Check a seller's feedback history - This tells you a lot about the seller such as:

• if they're legit sellers
• if they sell authentic products or if they're misrepresenting them (they should at least be honest if they're selling knock offs or dupes)
• how they handle returns or complaints

What if there's no feedback history? I would recommend to meet up with the seller, especially if it involves a big amount of money. Or search online and see if there are forums or blogs that discuss whether an online store is legit and see how they handle returns, complaints, etc.

2. Compare prices - The good thing about online shopping is that you can compare prices of the same product from different sellers. Most importantly, you should have a good idea how much that product costs at brick and mortar stores, so you know where you can save the most.

3. Have a PayPal account - Besides not needing to go to the bank or a payment center to send your payment, one of the advantages of paying via PayPal is their Buyer Protection program. If you had issues with your purchase, you can contest it with Paypal and you may get a refund if your payment qualifies for Purchase Protection. If you don't have a PayPal account, be more careful with your transactions if it's not a trusted seller.

4. If it's a gadget, meet up with the seller - To me, this is very important. For one, you can test out the gadget if it's in perfect or good running condition, if it's brand new and sealed or if it is as described (scratches, dents, etc.). Also, if it costs thousands, you don't risk sending your money and then receiving padlocks instead of an iPhone, or a clone instead of an original one.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to...

5. Do your research - And think before you make that purchase. If you are from the Philippines, you have to remember that unlike buying from physical stores, returning a defective or misrepresented item online is not going to be that easy. You have to contact the seller again, set a schedule to meet up or spend on shipping to return the item because most likely you have to spend on the shipping fee to return the product, or worse, they don't accept returns. So do your research. Are they selling gadgets from the brown market, is it the right color of lipstick that you want, is that product effective or does it have good reviews, is it the right item for you. 

Think it through before you click Buy Now. I hope you find these tips helpful.

Have you had a bad experience online shopping? Feel free to share your experience and tips in the comments below.

Fix TP-Link Wireless Network Adapter Driver Installation Failure

Problem: The driver fails to install.

Device Model:  TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless Network Adapter TL-WN8200ND

Scenario: I installed the device driver and utility using the installation mini disc that came in the package but the driver installation failed. I tried a few times to repair installation but I still got the same problem. I downloaded the latest driver version, V1_1311, from the site and yet, the driver installation still failed. I tried to install and reinstall several times but it just never worked. Then I tried to update the driver through the device manager, and that didn't work either. I was about to give up until I did some more reasearch and finally found the solution I needed.

I found on one forum where teredo tunneling was mentioned, and I recalled seeing that with a warning sign on the device manager. I tried to find a driver download link to install a driver for it; instead, I found this video on Youtube. I just followed the instructions and that's it. Problem solved.

Solution: Fix Teredo Tunneling error

Steps:

1. Press Windows icon + R



+ R





2. Type regedit and press enter

3. In dialogue box, select HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services

4. Under \services, go to \TCPIP6\Parameters and right click DisabledComponents.

5. Select Modify and under Value data, change the value to 0 and click ok.

That should fix the driver installation problem of your TP-Link wireless adapter. After doing these steps, I was then able to install the driver for my TP-Link wireless adapter. As for other brands or models, you can probably try this solution and see if it works.

If initially it didn't work for you, try and make sure that you followed the steps carefully. Sometimes we get so frustrated that we tend to rush the process and unknowingly skip a step or two. Just follow the steps and you should be fine. If after following these steps and you still are unable to install the driver for your TP-Link wireless network adapter, then perhaps there are other issues involved. Use your research skills and add in some patience and you'll find the right solution.

I would appreciate it if you could write down on the comments section if this solution works with other models or brands.

Google Kills Google Talk

 

Google Finally Ends Support for Google Talk

I was trying to log in to my old school Google Talk when I got a notification that my password and username don't match. I dreaded this. This is the time that Google has finally killed Google Talk. 

It's not at all surprising for me as I have received a notification from Google that starting at a certain date, they will stop supporting Google Talk already. And today, I received an email from Google telling me that they noticed that I was trying to log-in through G-Talk and that they're no longer supporting Google Talk. They suggest using Hangouts instead. This is sad news for me.

Why I liked Google Talk over Hangouts

Over the past few years since Google first launched Google Hangouts, I have always preferred the old school, simplistic Google Talk for standalone chat client and Google Voice plugin for webchatting on Gmail. For one, I've experienced having issues like my browser freezing with the Google Hangouts mail chat. At other times, I had issues connecting to and loading the whole Hangouts mail chat itself. That's why every time I try to check if the Hangouts issues have been fixed, I just revert to the old Google chat.

As for Google Talk, I've always liked the simplistic approach. Even when Google released the Hangouts app for desktop, I never upgraded. And whenever I get a new computer, I just look for a Google Talk download link since Google has stopped providing a Google Talk download on their own site for years now.

Now, I have no choice but to go see and use Hangouts. If it doesn't work well for me after a few days, then I will just stick to my old school Google Mail chat.

Update: 
For those who don't know what Google talk is, it was Google's first in-email chat client that was integrated into Gmail. People commonly called it G-chat or G-Talk. Unlike Hangouts that now comes as a Google Chrome app, Google Talk had a standalone desktop app, and it's one of the things I miss about Google Talk. How I wish there was a standalone desktop app for Hangouts, but currently, there's none.

How to Check if Your Computer is 64Bit OS Compatible

Disclaimer

1. I am not a tech expert. I just love solving my own tech problems with the help of research over the internet through blogs, forums, tips, Youtube, etc.
2. I recommend products because I have tried them myself, I find them easy to use, and I have no major issues using them.

Scenario

I've been wanting to upgrade my Windows PC to a 64 Bit version so that I can maximize the use of my 4GB memory. However, I wasn't sure if my computer was compatible with the OS upgrade. If you're not a tech person, you have to know that there are 32-bit and 64-bit versions of an OS. Take note that you can't install a 64-bit version of your OS if your machine is not compatible.

Read this for more info: 32-bit and 64-bit Windows: Frequently asked questions

There are a few software one can use but this is what I found simply useful: CPU-Z.

What is CPU-Z?

CPU-Z is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system :

• Processor name and number, codename, process, package, cache levels.
• Mainboard and chipset.
• Memory type, size, timings, and module specifications (SPD).
• Real time measurement of each core's internal frequency, memory frequency.

Source: CPUID

Why I Prefer CPU-Z

CPU-Z is very easy to use. It's very lightweight and easy to download, just a mere 1.5Mb. It works fast and easy. After you've downloaded and installed it, run it and in a matter of seconds, you'll get your system information right in front of you.

Best of all, it is free and it doesn't install malicious stuff that you might mistakenly install because you weren't careful and weren't reading the descriptions during installation. Or you probably think that the additional software are necessary during installation. CPU-Z has none of that, so you don't need to worry about that.

If you have an Intel processor like I do, you should check for EM64T and that should tell you whether you can upgrade to a 64-bit OS. For AMD, it should say x-86-64.

Here's the system information generated by CPU-Z on my computer.

There you go. I hope this helps.

I'm On Twitter Now: Why It Took Me a Long Time

I'm not a big social media fan.

I don't upload tons of selfies. In fact, one time a friend asked for a solo photo, and I realized that I don't have that much solo photos. Most of my photos that I have posted in my albums are either with friends or family.

I don't update my status regarding what I had for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

I don't post my gripes about the people I hate or argued with. In fact, I find this disdainful.

And the last thing that's on my mind is to join another social media where people post anything and everything about their lives out there without much thought and often with disregard for possible consequences.

What changed?

A few days ago, an oDesk project required me to join Twitter. I joined Twitter which I have shunned for a looonng time. I had specifically shunned the thought of joining Twitter as I saw it as just another senseless social media where people display their lives for the world to feast on. I'm having my fill of that on Facebook already.

But here I am. I am now on Twitter.

There are tons of tasteless, irresponsible and meaningless social media content being shared out there. On the other hand, when used properly, social media can be a powerful tool for information, education, connection and entrepreneurship.

Photoshop Project 4: Photo Restoration

I was browsing Facebook last Friday when I saw this photo posted by a friend's sister. I felt inspired to work on it for the following reasons:

1. It's sad to see old photos go to waste due to deterioration.
2. I found the photo challenging to restore because a part of the mother's face is destroyed with the cracking.

So I downloaded the photo and edited it. These are the tools that I used.

1. Spot healing
2. Clone tool
3. Hue and saturation (lessening the yellow and adjusting the rest)
4. Levels

I was happy with the result and emailed the restored photo back to my friend and asked her permission to post the photo on my blog. Today, I got her response and permission to use the photo. Here it is:

Photoshop Projects 2: Restored Damaged/Old Photos

Here are some old photos that I have restored using Photoshop CS5.

I got this old photo online while I was looking for a photo to work on. I searched Google images to link where I got this photo but I couldn't find it anymore. Anyway here is the before and after of my work.

Here is another before and after photo that I edited for practice.

I would appreciate if you ca give me comments on how I could have improved the photos better. Right now, I really enjoy restoring old photos. If you want to get my service, I would love to do it for free if you will agree that I can post them on my site. :)

Review: BS.Player Free Edition

 

I have been using BS.Player for several months now. It has become my default video player on my computer. Over those months, I would say that BS.Player is worth considering if you're looking for an alternative free video player that does the job.

I will express my views as simply as I can as I am not very technical myself. These are views of an actual user. And coming from this point view, I only look for a few requirements:

• simple UI
• ease of use
• video rendering quality
• audio output performance

What I like about BS.Player

1. It downloads subtitles automatically when you open a video.
2. It can play 1080p videos better than VLC. My laptop however does not have the hardware that is capable of playing Full HD videos. Yet I noticed there is less lag and pixellation when I play them with BS.Player than VLC. So I conclude that BS.Player is better in that respect.
3. Installation is easy and doesn't come with other programs one normally gets when one downloads a free version.
4. It has a free version that doesn't expire in 1 month.
5. Plays different file formats.

What I don't like about BS.Player

1. It has the control buttons separate from the window (see picture below). This is a matter of preference. But I like having all the control buttons on the same window. To me, that means less clicking or shifting from one window to another. More convenience.

2. The volume can only be adjusted to 100%. Unlike in VLC where one can adjust the volume to 200%. So if the video you are playing doesn't have a very good audio, you might as well use VLC.

I know that a lot of people's go-to free media player is VLC. But just to have more options, BS.Player is one good media player.

Update: 01/31/2017

BS.Player free edition has the following features:

• Automatic online subtitles search, download and cache to hard drive
• YouTube streaming video playback (Normal resolution)
• Support for global multimedia keyboard keys
• Playback of AVCHD video
  (Advanced Video Codec High Definition) format used in Canon, JVC, Panasonic, and Sony digital tapeless camcorders.)
• Display videos directly on your Desktop
  (Windows XP and 2000 only)
• Custom playback modes (Repeat All, Repeat one, No Repeat, Random)
• Fully skinnable user interface
• Capture frame from video and save it to jpeg image
• Improved VMR9 support
• Customizable playback speed (0.1x - 6x)
• Frame by frame playback (Frame step)

  

Photoshop Projects 1

Background Removal - Involves removing background and applying white background.

Backgroun removed

White background

Background removed, before and after

Photo Popup - I made the photo seem like it's a 3D image popping out of the photo itself.

Photo Enhancements - Involves skin smoothing and color adjustments. I try to edit photos and achieve a realistic instead of a "fake airbrushed" effect.

Photo Enhancement 1

Photo Enhancement 2

Photo Enhancement 3

Solved: Top Margin Is Too Large When Printing (Canon iP2700)

I was printing documents and I notice problems with the margin when I print. The top margin becomes too long compared to what I have set. I checked the printer options and changed some settings but nothing changed. Then I found the solution.

1. Go to Printer Properties (for Office 2010).
2. On Quick Setup (the first tab), look for printer paper size.
3. Change the size to what you need. In my case it was set to A4 then I changed it to Letter 8.5x11.
4. Click "Apply" button to apply changes.

Step number 4 is important because before, though I changed settings, I never clicked Apply, instead, I just clicked Okay which didn't really apply the changes I have set.

So there you go. I hope this helps.

Acer AO 725 BSOD (IRQL_GT_ZERO_AT_SYSTEM_SERVICE): Due to NCH Software

BSOD of my AO 725 laptop

About several months ago I downloaded several audio software for a transcription project that I was doing. I was looking for a software that could either download or record a streaming audio file and save as an mp3 file so that I could use it with my Dragon Naturally Speaking. I also downloaded several software from NCH (Sound Tap, Express Scribe and Express Dictate. After that day, I noticed my laptop freezing every few minutes.

At first, I thought that my computer hanged every few minutes for a few seconds due to the many programs running at the same time - which I thought was bad because my laptop was fairly new that time. I thought maybe it's either the CPU or the memory, but my small machine has 4GB of memory. Then I thought maybe my new laptop (Acer AO 725) isn't as good as my old one.

A few days after the first signs of problems showed up, my laptop showed its first BSOD. I freaked out, it was the first time I had experienced it. A few days later, it happened again. Then it became more frequent until i got used to it. I took a picture of the screen and searched for a solution.

Most posts point to either hardware (RAM or video card) or software. Some also point to virus. I scanned my computer with MS Security Essentials and Malwarebytes and the tests came out clean. Then after a few days, I started removing the audio software I have downloaded except for the NCH software. I didn't remove them as I have used them before in my old AO 721 with no problems. So among the software that i downloaded on that fateful day, the ones from NCH were the ones I am most familliar of.

Months passed and I had to endure the BSOD problem. Over the holidays, I have decided to bring my laptop to the Acer Service Center just in case it is hardware issues that is causing the error. I didn't want to open my laptop since it is still under warranty.

I was ready to bring it to the service center when a friend said it could just be some software that is causing it. I thought, okay one more try. I decided to remove some software I am not familiar of. I went over the Uninstall Program list to check which ones I should remove. I thought none of the ones there seem to be causing the problem. I then decided to remove all the NCH software since I could not use them anymore because they were all past the trial period.

After removing all of them, I decided to wait and see and observe if the BSOD would occur. It's been two weeks now since and I have never experienced the error - not even once. So I guess one or all of the three were causing the problem since I didn't uninstall any other program that day.

Music Track Not Showing on Google Talk Status

Showing the current music track as your Google Talk status is very easy. Just click on the dropdown menu of the status and click on "Show current music track."

If your current track doesn't show on your status, try reinstalling Google Talk as administrator.

1. Uninstall Google talk.
2. Right click on googletalk setup, then choose "Run as Administrator."

This should work, because that's what did it for me.

Update:
I found out that when your computer crashes, MediaPlayer tends to disable the plugins. To show music track on your status, follow these steps.

1. open MediaPlayer
2. click Organize
3. click Options
4. select Plug-ins tab
5. select Background
6. select Google Talk Music Plugin
7. click Apply

You will now see your music track on your status.

Capture Streaming Audio Using NCH SoundTap

I got a transcription contract from oDesk. My main concern was that the audio was embedded on the webpage through a Flashplayer and AudioAcrobat. I tried looking for audio downloading or grabbing software but I could not find any that really worked according to how I needed it. I tried several .swf to mp3 converters but they're either paid or did not work as I wanted to.

On one forum, I found one post that says try Microsoft audio recorder, but there was another comment that says it didn't work for him so I kept looking. Until out of frustration I typed "audio recorder" and the search led me to the NCH SoundTap installer that came with the ExpressScribe I downloaded the other day. So I installed it and learned that it's an audio streaming recorder.

When I used it, it recorded the audio that I needed very well. It recorded the audios into the default .wav extension. You can change the format to MP3 however, just change the settings in the options button.

One thing though, your audios may get recorded separately if your streaming lags or stops like how it happened on mine. I suggest to load the audio file completely first to avoid this especially if you don't have a high-speed internet and a powerful computer like I do.

All in all, this is a powerful tool than actually trying to download .swf audio files or trying to grab the audio file from the page itself. What's best is you can record the audios directlyy to MP3 format.

The program has a trial version and a pro version. I of course have the trial version. Not sure about the differences between the two, aside of course from the fact that you can enjoy the full features and not be bugged with a buy the software reminder every time you open it.

Download it here:

http://www.nch.com.au/soundtap/index.html

Unstable Facebook Photo Viewer... Totally Sucks!!!

You see friends uploaded photos and created albums on Facebook. It looks interesting. You flip over - or in the case of Facebook, you click over - only to find the photo goes back to the first photo even before the next one completely loads. Or...  you click and find a horizontally stretched photo. If that's not annoying enough, you find a combo of the two.

Over the 2 years or so since I joined Facebook, I think it has changed its photo viewer twice (I may have missed one). From how I remember it, Facebook first changed the photo viewer into a lightbox. What was annoying about it was that scrolling down to view the comments hides the photo from your view. Then you get so engrossed reading the comments that you forget what photo you were viewing :p. So, you scroll back up to see the photo. Another thing is, when you're done reading the comments, you have to scroll back up so you can click on the "next" button.

I had a feeling, a lot of people didn't like more than I didn't. So Facebook came up with a clever idea to upgrade it to the current photo viewer. You can now see the photo side by side with the comments. You can now scroll down to read the comments at the right side of the photo. Seems like a great idea! Unfortunately, the whole photo viewing experience got worse. I would say it is the worst photo viewer among social networking sites right now.

I have been trying to bear with it for months now, hoping perhaps Facebook will do something to stabilize it. But no, they didn't. I wonder if they even know their new photo viewer sucks in performance!!!

It is crappy. It sucks. And it is totally annoying!!!

I can't grasp why they're not fixing it!! And if they are, I don't get how a billion-dollar company can't hire programmers that can fix it FAST and EFFICIENTLY!! Bust the bugs people!!!

I am pissed because it is a waste of time when the same photo loads 2 or 3 times after clicking the next button. I am pissed because this has been going on since they UPGRADED the photo viewer, which means it has been going on for months now!

Bust it Facebook! Bust it!

How to Flash Acer AO 721 from Windows 7

This is an update re: my previous blog on flashing an AO721.

This morning I was proudly telling my boyfriend that I have successfully recovered and flashed my laptop's BIOS. He asked if I had flashed it from Windows. I said 'no, I followed the instructions that was on the manual which said to flash from the USB drive similar to the recovery procedure. We had a bit of a light argument because he insisted that I do it right then from Windows while I insisted I have already done it.

To prove my point that my BIOS has updated to the latest version, I opened my system information (Run> msinfo32.exe) to show the BIOS version that I have. I was surprised to see that I still had the original version 1.06 and not 1.18 as I had expected. I gave up, admitted defeat, and followed his orders.

I tried to flash from Windows but failed after several attempts. Here are the steps to flashing BIOS from Windows.

OS: Windows 7 Home Basic

1. Make sure your battery is attached and full or at least 50% charged. My first attempts failed because I only had the AC adapter plugged and the battery was not attached. Another important thing is if you attached the battery while the power cord is plugged, reboot your system so it will work. I had to do this because I had another failed attempt after attaching the battery while the laptop is running.
2. Close all running programs. Yes, another failed attempt. My boyfriend asked if I had any programs running, and I said yes. He then advised me to close all programs that are running even those that are on the system tray (this includes AV and everything).
3. Open the BIOS_Acer_1.18 folder. Run the BIOS.BAT file as Administrator. Do not click on the JVI0N118.exe file inside the Winflash folder it won't work. I have tried it, it failed.
4. Wait. Wait for the update to finish its work and reboot. In my case, it rebooted and went back to what I thought was the black screen problem I had previously. I left it alone uninterrupted (it is important that you do not interrupt with the process while it's ongoing as it may be fatal to your computer) thinking it would boot up after a few minutes. I got worried thinking I had to redo a recovery. After about 30 minutes, I decided it's time I can turn it off safely because flashing usually only takes around 7 minutes or so. So I turned it off then turned it on again hoping the screen would fire up. IT DID!!! (Phew!!) That was a great relief.

I checked my BIOS version by running msinfo32.exe again with my fingers crossed. I was glad and relieved to see that the BIOS my computer has now is 1.18.

If you have done the flashing following the one on the manual, check if your BIOS has updated. If not, follow the steps above. Better yet, if you have an Acer laptop and haven't flashed your laptop's BIOS, do it now. Make sure you have the latest version of the BIOS for your computer so you won't have to go through the same headache that I did, TWICE, because apparently, the black screen problem is common in Acer laptops.

Acer AO721 Powers Up but Nothing Shows on the Screen (Black Screen)

Applicable for:

Aspire 1430/1551/1830T Series

Aspire One 721/753 Series

UPDATE: Flashing AO 721 from Windows

Last Wednesday, my Acer AO 721 screen went blank mid-way while booting-up. I was afraid it's another "motherboard issue" again.

Last July 2011, the same thing happened to my laptop. I could see the power button lit up but nothing showed on the screen. Since it was still covered by the 1-year warranty, I brought it to the Acer service center at SM North EDSA. Two weeks after, the technician told me they couldn't figure out what the problem was so they endorsed it to the main Acer service center. A month after, I got my laptop back and they said that it was a motherboard problem so they replaced the motherboard with a new one.

This time, I was seriously worried to bring my laptop again to the service center because:

1. It's no longer covered by warranty so I will shell out some serious amount of cash if they replace the motherboard.
2. Repair takes a minimum of 2 weeks at the service center and I needed my files soon because I had to compute my students' grades.

Thankfully that night, I told my ex about the problem. When I told him it was updating registry when the screen went blank he said it's a BIOS problem. He said I need to flash (update) my laptop's BIOS. I spent the whole night till the wee hours of the morning searching for and trying solutions specific to my computer model.

Apparently, according to my research, this common problem has something to do with a faulty BIOS and not really the motherboard. Perhaps that is why the service center technicians thought that it was a motherboard  problem after reseating hardware and nothing worked.

Here are the steps to the solution that worked. They may be found at page 78 of this manual.

 Important:

** Files needed:

     BIOS firmware ver 1.18 (download from Acer site under BIOS tab)

     Crisis Package Source (You can download from my Public Sky Drive folder)

** Battery should be inserted and power cord plugged because a power interruption during update can make your computer inoperable.

Step 1: Create a Crisis Disk

1. Prepare a removable USB storage device with a capacity size greater than 10 MB. Note that all data on the USB storage device will be cleared during the creation of the Crisis disk. (Use only a flash drive. I have used an external HD and it didn't work.)
2. Set up a system running the Windows XP or Windows Vista OS and plug in the USB storage device into an available USB port. (Crisys Disk setup can only be done in a XP or Vista x32 OS. I have tried XP compatibility mode and Virtual PC XP mode on Windows 7, they didn't work.)
3. Decompress the Crisis Package Source.
4. Select WINCRIS.EXE and then select Run as administrator. (It has to be run as administrator to copy the files into the flash drive, otherwise it won't work. Copying the files manually will not create a working program.)
5. Keep the default settings and then click Start button. (Choose USB drive as destination.)
6. When the pop-up warning dialog box appears, click OK to create the Crisis disk.
7. Click No if you do not want to create another Crisis disk.
8. Eject and reconnect the USB removable storage device, and make sure it contains the following three files:

        • BIOS.WPH

        • MINIDOS.SYS

        • PHLASH16.EXE

* Credit goes to our school technician, Edgar Blanco, who created the Crisis Disk for me because I do not have Admin access to our school computer which runs an XP (I don't have an XP computer at home anymore.)

Step 2: Perform a BIOS Recovery

1. Shut down the BIOS failed computer.
2. Connect the USB storage device containing the Crisis Disk files to the failed system.
3. Press and hold the <Fn> + <Esc> keys (this is the BIOS recovery hotkey), then press the power button. The BIOS recovery process begins. When the process is complete the system will automatically reboot. (A youtube video requires that you press the power button continuously. However this is not necessary in this process. Press power button only once. Hold Fn+Esc for about 5 seconds before releasing them. Also, the power light doesn't blink while the recovery is ongoing.)
4. Disconnect the USB storage device from the system. (Do this once the system shuts down otherwise you will have to start from step 1)
5. Perform a BIOS flash procedure to update the BIOS firmware. Refer to Running the Flash Utility section below.

Step 3: Flash (update) BIOS

1. Rename the BIOS file as “XXXXXXX.FD” (This is the JV10N118 in the Winflash64 or Winflash32 folders in the BIOS_Acer_1.18_Windows files.)
2. Copy the “XXXXXXX.FD” file to the bootable USB device containing the Crisis Recovery disk files.
3. Turn off the system.
4. Insert the USB storage device containing the renamed BIOS file and the Crisis Recovery disk files to any USB port.
5. Press and hold the <Fn> + <Esc> keys (this is the BIOS recovery hotkey), then press the power button.
6. Release the <Fn> + <Esc> keys after POST.

The whole recovery and updating process took me about 15 minutes as recovery and flashing take about 7 minutes to complete. However, the whole searching for solutions and working on them including creating the Crisis Disk took around a day and a half.

Follow the instructions carefully and be patient in doing this so you can recover your computer and don't lose your computer in the process.

Good Luck!

Unlock Samsung Galaxy S "Too many pattern attempts" error

My cousin's Samsung Galaxy got screen locked and showed the "Too many pattern attempts" error. It asked for her gmail so she can open it. Unfortunately, she could not remember her email password and didn't have an alternate email to retrieve her email password. She only registered a gmail account for her phone, so she never used it. So she couldn't answer the security questions either.

I went looking online for answers and found this forum to be helpful. One forum poster, blackstonesx, has this to say:

The solution: 

1) I put my SIM card 
2) I called from another phone and answered the call 
2) Press the touch button that is on the left winged “home” button 
3) There appears a menu with 3 options, "Contacts", "Notes" and "SIM services” 
4) I selected "SIM services" and lower the drop-down menu at the top.
5) Press the home button (the square in the middle), I went to the main menu, Settings, Privacy and data factory reset. 

I tried it, however it didn't work. I tried another solution which was posted by another person, Deanman6:

You might have to hard reset the phone....turn off the phone or just pull the battery out and put it back in. While the phone is off press and hold the volume up and volume down button at the same time (keep holding down those buttons..with your other hand press and hold the power button for 2 seconds. A menu sould come up (Recovery) now you can let go off the power up and down button and navigate with them (up or down on menu selection). use power button as an "enter" key. and click on "wipe data/factory reset" then navigate with the volume buttons and push the power button on the "yes..." selection. This should wipe your phone and start fresh as if you just got the phone.


However, that didn't work either, because everytime I push the power button, it just powers up regularly and leads me back to the "Too many pattern attempts" error. This solution, posted by Richardj, was what worked:

As Goots said, Recovery mode is volume up + Home + Power(international version) and not volume up and volume down. On the many variants of the Galaxy S and SII the key combinations are different. And your fix will not work on newer firmwares.


So, depending on when you bought your Samsung Galaxy S, one of these solutions may work for you. I have to warn you though that resetting your phone will erase all the data from your phone. Be sure to remove your SD card first before doing the reset, so you won't lose the data from your SD card. However, you will lose your data from the phone memory.

Zuckerberg Warning to Filipinos on Facebook - a Hoax

Lately, I have been reading a lot about this so-called warning that Mark Zuckerberg has supposedly given to Filipinos. When I first heard about it, I was doubtful already as to its veracity. So, today I searched all over the internet for a credible news report that would back this claim. However, I found none. What I found were numerous reposts of the said "news" on several blogs and forum sites - and of course, on facebook walls.

None on Yahoo news.
None on BBC.
None on CNN.
Even none on Zuckerberg's page. (:P)

However, I came upon this article which analyzes why such claim is a hoax.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/porn-attack-philipines-origin-hoax.shtml

Yeah, I know this is from a blog. But I have to agree with the person's analysis. Facebook banning an entire nation simply because of the proliferation of porn materials, which to someone very familiar with the abuse of the internet is obviously another scam aimed at abusing the vulnerabilty of social network security due to its users' gullibility.

Banning a nation is killing a market that would generate money. All the advertisements that bring in money to facebook would be affected. But more than this, just like what the blog said:" Facebook would certainly not be so foolish and discriminatory as to ban the entire nation from using their network. The claim is simply ridiculous." Ridiculous, simply because scams, spams, and virus attacks have been as old as the internet. Site developers and owners know this, and they should know better than to ban a nation because its users are easily deceived, not wise nor careful. Once you make a social network account, you are opening yourself to scammers, spammers, hackers, and identity thieves, especially on facebook where people are more than willing to tell everyone everything they do and think, and their whereabouts every minute of the day knowing everyone can see his/her status update. 

Ever since spams and scams have flooded my e-mail about a decade ago, I have made it a point to be wary of such messages - and now social networking posts. The email spams and scams are no different than the many hoax proliferating on facebook, which saddeningly deceives a lot of facebook users easily. It has happened on friendster before when porn videos got posted on almost everyone's walls, now history repeats itself.

WE ARE ALL VULNERABLE. Please let us do ourselves a favor by not believing everything we see on here. We will do ourselves greater service if we don't click on every link our friends post - especially if everyone is posting it already, whether here or on our emails. Because more than likely, it's a lure to us to fall into the trap of another scam - or worse a virus attack.

Better paranoid than sorry.