With all the sad stories of attempts in changing how the web works, it’s a good thing Opera did something that works very well even in a premature state(still in beta as I type)

Watch the following video to get the hands up of things:

Think of Opera Unite as creating your own server without any hassle at all! The browser itself serves as your gateway with communicating to the outside world (this is through the use of P2P technology), if you want to share your files, stream your music from anywhere, chat with friends(or anyone) everything is done with 0 configuration. You simply install the Opera 10 Browser (here), that’s it! it’s already preinstalled, click on the door with an arrow icon found on the brower’s corner (top left) and click on the propeller-like icon (hover on it and you’ll see Opera Unite), a list of available services (Media, File Sharing, Photo Sharing, Lounge and possibly more in the future) will show up. Double click on the service you want to run then login(registration is also hassle free) and that’s all there is to it! You will be given a url that you can share to friends or use for yourself so you can be connected to your files at all times! You can make your service available to everyone, limited(this is the default, a password is displayed that you can share to your those who you want access to your services to), or Private(for yourself only)

So that’s it!, once you have your services turned on, simply give your url to your friends. Remember to give them the password to your services that has Limited access’ passwords as well(each service has their own password, setting them up yourself is much preferred of course!)

Oh and did I mention that your friends don’t need to have Opera installed to access your services? Firefox, Chrome, Safari and other next generation browsers works fine! You only need Opera 10 if you want to run your service.

I’m using Opera Unite to:

• Chat with Fellow Developers
• Stream my music from anywhere
• Share my photos with my friends and family

With more services to follow, Opera Unite will always be in one of my “must-have” software installed in my computer.

With all the joys and positivities surrounding the new technology, there are still some quirks that needs to be patched up(namely the webservice server isn’t living up to what all web developers are expecting) but to be fair Opera 10 is still in it’s beta stages so with all the good things it have right now, we are bound to see more surprises soon.

Kudos Opera! You have won yourself a fan.

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May 08, 2009: Yahoo! has updated with new social networking features.

If you haven’t checked out yahoo profile for quite some time now, now is a very good time. Yahoo has breathe new life into yahoo profiles by adding some very neat social networking features that will keep you updated with your connections straight from your yahoo mailbox and yahoo profile’s welcome page. Yahoo’s new social networking feature, which yahoo dubs as Connections, will keep you and your contacts(you need to invite them first) updated, once connected your contact’s updates (See list of supported 3rd party below) will show up in your yahoo mail and profile welcome screen. New features include:

• Prioritized Email(Yahoo Mail) – A seperate tab that says: “From Connections” will now be available in your inbox, clicking this tab will display emails from your connections.
• Smarter Inbox(Yahoo Mail) – With the smarter inbox feature, priority emails will not get lost in your mail anymore.
• Social Networking(Yahoo Profiles) – Stay updated with your contacts and see what are they up to.

It is going to be interesting where this is going to, right now your connections can only share the following updates:

• Photos: Picasa Web Albums, SmugMug, Webshots, Zooomr
• Bookmarking: Furl, Ma.gnolia, StumbleUpon
• Blog: Blogger, Bloglines, TravelPod, Tumblr, Vox, Xanga
• Music: Last.fm, Pandora
• Video: Vimeo, Youtube
• Status / Microblogs: Twitter
• Reviews: Yelp
• Others: GoodReads, SlideShare

Screenshots

Stay connected with the new Yahoo Profiles

Invite your contacts to connect through Yahoo Profiles

Yahoo Mail Welcome Screen

Yahoo Mail: From Connections

Don’t forget to send me an invite! wowcyber@yahoo.com

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After writing my 6th post, i’ve decided that i’m now an expert blogger. This is a beginner’s expert guide on blogging your way to the top.

Hey, look. Isn’t that a great idea of yours that have just passed through?
Ideas flashes in an instant so it’s only natural that you could forget it just as fast – this is always a bad thing because that idea that you let passed through you? That could’ve been “the” post that could’ve made you an instant hit.

Drafting your ideas should be your #1 priority.
This writing as of now is an idea that suddenly popped out of nowhere while writing a blog about a game. Ideas usually comes up in the weirdest times(and places) so make sure you’re always ready for it. Whenever that happens, I stop whatever I’m doing, fire up my notepad and start writing right away. One idea leads to another so don’t break it up by letting any of those ideas pass through. So draft, save and continue editing it in a later date. Before you know it, that little idea of yours has already become a very interesting blog on it’s own. This is one of the key to having many things to blog about in the future.

Chop ‘em down
Sometimes even a well written post can be very exhausting when it’s too long. Break your posts down by sections or find a way to split some parts into an entire different post if its possible.

It’s all about quality of the content…
How you write your content is very important. If you get a lot of visitor hits or traffic but your content is mediocre then it won’t matter, you are just turning them off and making them vow not to visit anything related to your website again, so take some time, grabe a coffee and polish your content. Getting visitors is one thing but keeping them is another.

… and the blog title
How do you invite a visitor to read your content? That’s the job of your blog title, it’s the door that seperates the visitors from the blog itself. Placing a very uninteresting title is like putting a "Do not disturb" sign so make your title really stand out, read it over a couple of times and think: "If im a regular reader, will I find this title interesting?".

Nothing personal, you’re just becoming too personal.
Hey let’s face it, unless all visitors are friends and relatives, personal blogs about ourselves is just plain too uninteresting. I won’t be getting as much hits as I have now if my blogs is all about what I’ve done during my vacation, what I got for my birthday or whatever, no one cares. But don’t let me get you too worked up here, personal blogging is a-ok! just avoid having too many, unless you can make them very interesting. If personal blogging is more of your thing then you might want to try twitting instead.

Reach a wider audience by sticking to a certain theme and creating an online persona.
Setting a certain category or theme to your blog will put some interests into your links and post. A reader from google who found you through a keyword for Technology might not be interested to click your recent posts about cultures or cooking, stick to a few themes and all your posts will now be related to each other, which your readers might find interesting. A wider audience is good but if you become too diverse, you will lose more readers than usual. If you prefer to blog about anything, then a very good way of attracting your users is through an online persona(build your own character, create a style of writing, cosplay, act) and carry it throughout your posts. Chances are, people will subscribe to you because they find how you write very interesting or entertaining.

Do something special or unique.
What makes your blog super-special? Exclusive contents of course! Contents that you can’t find anywhere but yours. Do something very original! did you a create a cool application? are you a beta tester of an upcoming hyped up game? Did you discover the meaning of life? or perhaps you made an awesome video? then blog about it.

Get your name out there. Explore, Connect.
Be part of communities, participate in forums. Post a smart or helpful comment in other people’s blogs. Help people in IRCs. Join social networking websites. Getting your name out there by participating and being part of a large community is sure fire way of getting good traffic.

Share anything useful.
Have you finally found the solution to a problem that’s been plaguing you for quite some time now? If you had this problem then chances are, someone else is having the same problem as yours right? Make things easier for other troubled users by blogging about it.

Motivate yourself.
Getting addicted to blogging, or writing content is of course, the most important part to blogging. Installing Wordpress Stats, Google Analytics, Woopra, CrazyEgg or myBlogLog to keep track of your visitors Sources(where they come from), Unique Visitors and what search keywords they used to get to your site is a great way of motivating yourself.

People are People. They have other important things to attend to as well.
I respect my readers and their valuable time – that’s why I always have something in the start of my post detailing what they’re about to read to save them the trouble of going through the content only to find out what they’re looking for isn’t there.

Get Addicted to Blogging, Do a lot of Drafts, Have a lot of fun, and most importantly have a lot of heart

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Ok if there’s something we really know Soulja Boy(Soldier Boy) of, besides his hit single: Crank dat(Superman), is how this kid knows how to use the Internets (Viral videos via youtube). From the looks of things though his open challenged seems real enough (although some would argue that it’s a publicity stunt made for xbox 360). Now for everyone who don’t got any idea what started it all, be entertained as a group of video game nerds (Screwattack), representing all of the internets (and they have the rights to say so), gets their game on and accepted the open challenge, watch the following videos (chronologically ordered because I love you all awww):

Lol, Pokemon? Soulja Bitch? This is why I love Screwattack.

and Soulja Boy’s response?

I’m not sure what happened after he accepted the challenge though (besides Soulja Boy deleting his acceptance challenge in his official website) :/, well one thing’s for sure Screwattack would have updated us if something did happen so it probably never did. Now that you’ve seen how cool the people over at Screwattack is then you might want to check some of their other cool stuffs as well.

Oh and here are some of Soulja Boy’s videos against that MTV guy:

Lol. Classic button mashing? Sorry to break it to you.

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It’s not a misconception. It’s true, we can save the world by ridding the world of IE6. You can help!

Kill Upgrade Internet Explorer 6. Save the World.

In fact an entire nation is already joining the cause to prevent further casualties. Some users are about to kill, others are dying and only a few is doing something about it. How about you? Where do you stand? How can you be a part of this perfect utopia we are all dreaming of? If you’re a web developer then you can find out how in this link. Wordpress owners can install this plugin im using or you may also opt for it’s more forceful cousin. If you’re an artist then you probably know what to do.

Oh and if that didn’t got you convinced, even Microsoft is joining the cause.

Update: I’m truly honored! Looks like my post got to the list of websites who’s part of the Stop IE6 Movement. Although, I hope all the websites listed there have an Internet Explorer 6 Upgrade popup similar to this website installed. Simply ranting about how IE6 sucks isn’t good anymore! I urge everyone to up the ante!

Note: This title’s name is formerly Save the world by upgrading Internet Explorer 6 but i’ve decided that Save the world is a plain more interesting.

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You can’t convince a pirate to buy a game unless you make them feel like it’s all their money’s worth. The reason why Warcraft 3 is the least pirated game in my country is simply because of it’s long term value: Single Player, Multiplayer, Battle.net and free custom mods, combine that with the thought of another smash hit like DotA possibly coming in and you have yourself a winner. In the case of Demigod, it’s publisher, Stardock instead chose a different approach: Ignore the pirates. Stardock got that right, you can’t stop piracy, but you can try to convince pirates to buy your game rather than trying to prevent them from playing the game through some strong copy protection methods that is always and I dare say, ALWAYS cracked in a few months. In the end, only the gamers who bought your game lost(a classic example is Spore. Note: Now fixed). What’s working right now is how the people at Stardock is getting into the people’s hearts by announcing an almost daily update in the official Demigod website, I for one wasn’t really into buying the game because im very skeptical of the long term support, I still have my doubts but I hope Stardock proves me wrong. DotA is very well alive and kicking for 6 years now and im sure a lot of DotA gamers out there are pirates. If you, pardon-the-word, screw the pirates who trusted you(that sounds a bit awkward) and bought the game then I doubt you can convince them again in the future. You have something going right here, you are getting to gamer subconsciously by showing how dedicated you are. This is a true case of Retail vs Free.  DotA is a community-driven game, game changes are from players themselves and I hope this will be the case for Demigod but then again, Stardock introduced the Gamer’s Bill of Rights and the very bold: Ignore the Pirates policy so if there’s someone who can pull this off then it’s Stardock.

Update #1 – April 30 2009
It seems that Demigod is getting good sales even with such a bad start. With it’s full potentials yet to be unlocked(More Demigods, Clan Supports), looks like Demigod could live up to expectations.

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Welcome to Versus Mode, a place where I pit only the strongest against each other. Today’s match is a battle for free online SMS supremacy: KuripoTxt vs Davao Directory SMS vs Chikka

Let’s kick things off with the ever popular sms service, Chikka.

Chikka

Chikka is definitely the top dog when it comes to sending your SMS in the Philippines, there are two ways to send your messages: Chikka Software(which I won’t be discussing here) and Chikka’s Web-based Application.

Chikka’s interface resembles the feel of your usual IM application giving your that familiar feeling. Using it is very simple as well, simply register in their website, wait for your password from chikka and start sending messages right away. The only catch here is when you send your message for the first time your contact must reply to your chikka number in order for them to be registered, this is needed so they can continue receiving your next messages. A very notable feature of chikka allows you to login your other IM accounts as well (Yahoo, MSN, Google Talk, AIM, ICQ) which may not be used much but is a welcomed feature nevertheless.

If you have relatives or friends abroad, Chikka also supports sending sms to the following countries: United States, Philippines, Guam, India, Hong Kong (Smart 1528 only), United Kingdom, Spain, Indonesia (XLcom only), Saipan and Italy.

* Replies to chikka costs php 2.50 per text

Using chikka is easy.

KuripoTxt

While just released, KuripoTxt is starting to get a name for itself because of it’s sheer simplicity and straightforwardness. Nope, no registration needed here, just visit the KuripoTxt site and start sending your messages! The catch? You can only send your messages to Globe users and a a 70 character limit. But again, in the end, KuripoTxt gets its job done.

Update: I have just received a word from KuripoTxt’s Developer and it looks like support for Smart users is on the way.

Davao Directory SMS

Would you like to send your messages with style? then Davao Directory SMS is for you, registration is optional, only being required when you need it’s phonebook features. When you visit their website, you will be greeted by a cellphone interface, simply navigate your way through the cellphone to access the different features: My Profile, Send SMS and My Phonebook. The interface is a very likable feature as it gives you that feel of navigating through a phone. Davao Directory SMS can send to multiple carriers such as Globe, Smart and Sun.

and now for the final verdict… the winner is…

You!

These services are great for what they are, it’s only a matter of what you are needing most, if you want to send free messages fast and easy, go for KuripoTxt or DavaoDirectory SMS, if you are usually online most of the time then Chikka is the definitely the way to go.

Unfortunately, some of the other sms services didn’t make the cut since they (a) don’t work; or (b) receiving messages takes too long.

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Blog: to read, write, or edit an on-line journal

With the pool of blogs out there, you might find yourself wondering – “Why should I even bother blogging?“.

First, let me introduce yours truly,  I am Cyber Valdez – a programmer, and a technology enthusiast but more importantly – another human being. I make a lot of mistakes and by a lot I mean… a lot. My reason for blogging is simply because I have a story to tell. Of course there is a lot of reasons to blog(or in some cases, why you shouldn’t even bother blogging at all) but mine is as simple as that.

This blog is all about that, mistakes mistakes mistakes and sometimes even triumphs.

So have you decided to start blogging as well? Or maybe you already have a blog? Care to share what made you go into that decision?

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