Good bye Google Reader

I’m so shocked when read the news that Google going to retire google reader (http://googlereader.blogspot.tw/2013/03/powering-down-google-reader.html).

Google Reader is a good RSS feeder that helps me stay in touch with latest news/blog posts. It’s such a shame to see Google discontinue this useful service ( http://limchoonkiat-ck.blogspot.tw/2009/07/google-rss-reader.html.)

I have performed a simple search on the alternatives of Google Reader:

http://marketingland.com/12-google-reader-alternatives-36158

http://searchengineland.com/google-reader-alternative-newsblur-151541

Dynamic views for blogs on blogspot.

Read the latest blog post from blogger: http://goo.gl/oExpn

You can change different view of your blog simply by adding “/view” to your blog url. For example my blog url is :

http://limchoonkiat-ck.blogspot.com/

I can change blog view by typing the following url:-

http://limchoonkiat-ck.blogspot.com/view

You have five options to choose from:-

1) Sidebar


2) Flip card


3) Mosaic


4) Snapshot


5) Timeslide

Active on social networking sites

Recall a quote by my house mate cum colleague: the no. of mouse clicks you save = time you save. Indeed very true. Many people wonder how come I'm so free on fb all time, well to clarify, 70% of the updates are automated&scheduled posts from 3rd party apps,i.e. Google reader, Twitter, Hootsuite, Seesmic,etc. The so called 1 stone few birds concept apply here. Another productive&effective ways of time+IT+social update managements

Also another saying sounds: "don't judge a book by its cover" can apply here as well :)

To me, it's counter-productive to spend whole day on these sites, at least until today. Unless you work on this field, whereby you need to engage in social networking sites actively :)

Test page: Mobile blog post using Blogger Android app.

Blogger has released the official Android app. You can download the app for free from Android market

For more info, please visit the following site:

@Blogger: Introducing Blogger Android App http://goo.gl/fb/EWoKi

review on #Kindle 3

I got kindle in Sept 2010. It’s a good reading device, and I would rate it 8/10. More info about the product can visit the following page: http://amzn.to/cHj9x8

I like the e-ink technology offered by this device, it makes no difference as in reading paper document. With 4 gb storage, we can carry many documents in this handy device. Apart from carrying whole stack of documents, we are reducing papers use as well by promoting e-book reading.

Unlike LED device, we able to read in bright sunlight with no glare, and with paper-like screen Kindle also offers better contrast.

As claimed by Amazon, it has a long battery life (a single charge lasts up to one month with wireless off). I have charges three times from September until now, occasionally with wifi on.



However, I have few comments on this device, as follows:-

Personalised screen saver-Kindle comes with pre-set screen saver, but it would be great if we can set the jpeg image as screen saver.

Note pad- Although there’s a note taking feature on book you  read, but it would be useful if a stand alone (just like dictionary) notepad is available. (just in case we can write down something when paper is not available)

Support for power point

Multiple documents delete-Right now It’s inconvenient when we want to delete few documents at a time. Instead, we have to delete one by one.

Poor document conversion, i.e. html to kindle format (occasionally)- as display in  the picture below, poor text display i.e. “productivit y” instead of “productivity”




Dynamic 5-way controller. As in the picture below, (with Kindle’s top to down menu clicking) I have to press “down” key 6 times to “delete this document”

Why don’t Kindle allows us to press “up” key one time, and it will scroll to “delete this document”. (** less no. of clicks = save more time )
 

Kindle didn’t display the Chinese character of file name properly  




Better PDF viewing capabilities- we can’t view the document properly, i.e. zoom in 200% (as in the picture below, red circle part), if zoom out, to 150%, we can’t view the document clearly, the text is too small for me (I tried with landscape mode as well). If there is flexible zoom in/out scale, then we can view PDF in comfortable way.



A plus point is software update available for Kindle,  I’m looking forward to the improved version of Kindle software. Overall, I am happy with this device, I will not hesitate to recommend this gadget to others.

Display tour shared items from Google reader in your blog

 

For clearer view, please click the image below to enlarge.

Then, it will displays on your blog sites, as show below.

Introduce Windows Live Writer

I have been using this to write blog posts for more than one years, and this maybe of bloggers interest.

For further info, please visit to the Windows Live website.

  

The Power of Re-Tweet in <12 h, & re-tweeted by one person (I guess)

 

Two Malaysia news I read today (in Chinese version), about the influence of twitter

帳號：CM Lim Guan Eng‧林冠英走進“推特”世界 | 星洲日報 - Mozilla Firefox http://ow.ly/1xRU7

行动党五十以下议员须上推特 林吉祥下令违者每月重罚五百 - 當今大馬 - Mozilla Firefox http://ow.ly/1xIZq

 

I used Hootsuite to manage my tweets and facebook updates recently due to its simplicity and also the capability to view statistic on links you shared.

Surprisingly in less than 12 hr, a significant increase in the clicked rate of a tweets I shared which was then re-tweeted by another friend of mine.

Imagine how great the influence is, if a great impact info is shared on tweet :-p

The way I replied to FB comments, etc

I can’t on FB most of the time, although I am an ‘active’ face book user. The ‘active’ in this context means I utilised 3rd features/ gadgets to send notifications on news shared, tweet, blogs updates, etc.

I have disabled the facebook alert by email, simply because it will contaminate my mailbox.

I try my best effort to reply every comment to me, I appreciate their comment, their time to look at the info I shared, my feelings.

To ensure/ to try not to miss everyone comment, I used the ‘Find’ function offered in the web browser (for instance, ctrl+F) and typed ‘you’ at the facebook alert' page, as illustrate in the following diagram. By doing so, the ‘Find’ function will help me highlight any notifications that contained words like ‘your’ ‘you’, and then I can reply them individually.

Sometime. I still can’t catch up with all the alerts as the notification page only shows up to a certain numbers of alerts. Therefore, I am so sorry if you didn’t receive my feedbacks. If I have time, I tend to search previous wall posts to see if I have missed any feedbacks.

Once again, thanks for letting me know you like info I shared, for those who find it annoying (as there are so many posts from me), I wish to express my sincere apologies :p

face book for your parents?

Thought provoking issue from a recent article I read, as below

Boy sues mother for Facebook harassment as she argues 'parental duty' | Mail Online - Mozilla Firefox http://ow.ly/1wNWn

Recently, my mum asked me to sign up a facebook account for her, but I am still considering whether or not to do so? Having a facebook connection with your family allow them to understand your life better, but at the same time this may lead to privacy breach. Well, there are pros and cons on social networking site, so bear in mind that use it in a sensible and responsible ways. 

I enjoy sharing my views and keeping in touch with buddies through social networking sites like twitter, facebook, blogs, etc. i have had opportunities to interact with friends that never talk before during my undergraduate studies. However, I always keep alert that use these tools wisely, and not to make mine private life public.

Anyway, feel free to voice your opinion in the poll I set up, you can cast your vote at the following page:

http://limchoonkiat-ck.blogspot.com/p/poll.html

There are other polls on this page as well, feel free to vote on your favourite topics. I appreciate your opinions and views. Thanks .

Poll Result on Twitters (鳥鳥族) CNY & Valentine Blog Post Contest

Refer to my previous post on blog contest @

http://limchoonkiat-ck.blogspot.com/2010/03/may05utar-biotech-bloggers-twitters-cny.html

The poll valid for one month, and please find the result at the following website:

http://polldaddy.com/poll/2772610/?view=results

The reasons of this contest were to allow our friends to share their celebrations, feelings, opinions etc, and also serve as a channel for us to communicate through the advancement of IT. Although we can’t meet each other, but we still know our friends are doing good, etc. I believe joy/fun comes and prize/rewards comes second.

Congratulations to Rou Zhing and Yee Kai for the top 2 posts in the poll. For souvenirs, I will be collecting precious natural product that only available in harsh environmental condition, that is rain water from the UK…haha, I will keep in a vial, then dispense 20 ul to Yee Kai (the first place) and 10 ul to Rou Zhing (the second place)..haha.

Hmm, sounds like the winner, Yee Kai got similar supporting rate (37%) as the winner in the recent MCA’s presidential election, while CK placed no3 or the last place..haha, such a coincidence phenomenon, jk jk jk..

Blogger in draft-Template designer

Received email from Blogger team. we can design new template easily using features in the “Blogger in draft”

More info, visit the following site:-

http://bloggerindraft.blogspot.com/2010/03/blogger-template-designer.html 

I have used it to re-design two of my blogs, as below.

http://limchoonkiat.blogspot.com/

 

http://limchoonkiat-ck.blogspot.com/

Have a go!

 

Some may noticed that I have another blog at wordpress.com

http://limchoonkiat.wordpress.com/

Actually I used this blog to integrate all contents from both Chinese and English blogs at blogger.com

So, no worry, all contents are same. You can leave your comment anywhere.

One may ask, why do I put extra effort to create another blog at wordpress.

The reasons were:

1. It allows me to set up 3 column blog easily as I’m lazy to change code in the original template (before that, this service is not available on blogger)
2. Direct yahoo profile, facebook & tweeter notifications available once new post has been published. So I don’t have to share post each time on social networking site
3. import posts from blogger easily.
4. Less spam pop-up

messy desktop

before

after

it takes a great courage to sort out this. LOL :-p

A hoax email

I suspect my friend email account was hacked. She did not come to the UK when I received this email.

Stay alert.

I found that one good thing for me to keep in touch with friend through email is I can understand their writing style. This indirectly allow me to verify validity of the message.

(May05Utar Biotech Bloggers (部落族) + Twitters (鳥鳥族) CNY & Valentine Blog Post Contest

Hi folks,
Hope you have a great CNY and Valentine celebrations. The lists below are blog post entries on the fb group activity mentioned last time—many apologies for not getting permission from the authors :-)

Boss Nicole:
Spring flower fair:
http://www.msxeroz.com/2010/02/spring-flower-fair.html

My lifes good with kris allen:
http://www.msxeroz.com/2010/02/my-lifes-good-with-kris-allen.html

My valentines day:
http://www.msxeroz.com/2010/01/my-valentines-day.html

FGS Dong Zen Temple:

http://www.msxeroz.com/2010/02/temple-of-lights-fgs-dong-zen-temple.html

Yee Kai:
新年感想，我已退化。New Year's feelings, I have degraded
http://lykqiang86.spaces.live.com/Blog/cns!B6B32ADC70A1E53E!1838.entry

choon kiat

February-Chinese New Year Celebration:

http://limchoonkiat.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/february-chinese-new-year-celebration/

Tian Chad:
SM3Y'04 CNY
http://www.tianchad.com/2010/02/random-sm3y04-cny.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FTianChad+%28Tian+Chad+%40+%3F%3F%3F%29

CNY greetings TianChad =)
http://www.tianchad.com/2010/02/cny-greeting-from-tianchad.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FTianChad+%28Tian+Chad+%40+%3F%3F%3F%29

Valentine’s Day
http://www.tianchad.com/2010/01/my-valentines-day.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FTianChad+%28Tian+Chad+%40+%3F%3F%3F%29

Jia Pei
煎年糕(CNY cake?)
http://rumtumblurpei.blogspot.com/2010/02/cny-cake.html

what do you like about cny
http://rumtumblurpei.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-do-you-like-about-cny.html

CNY 2010
http://rumtumblurpei.blogspot.com/2010/02/cny-2010.html

spring clean
http://rumtumblurpei.blogspot.com/2010/02/spring-clean.html

balik kampong cny feels
http://rumtumblurpei.blogspot.com/2010/02/balik-kampung-cny-feels.html

early-valentine
http://rumtumblurpei.blogspot.com/2010/02/early-valentine.html

Rou Zhing:

新年快乐&情人节快乐

http://rouzhing.blogspot.com/2010/02/blog-post_25.html

*****************************************************

I have set up a poll and we can vote on the best posts (max 3 votes). This poll is open for public, anyone can cast their votes & will be expired after one month. Feel free to tell your friends and families read these posts and vote :-p

Please let me know if I missed out any entries. Thanks .

You can cast your vote at the following site:

http://polldaddy.com/community/poll/2772610

p/s: blogger and tweeples: feel free to share this message on your sites . :-p

** by the way, I will be coming back later of the year and will be travelling around Malaysia, Singapore. Hoe to see you guys then

Keep in touch and share your latest news to us on our fb group.

Cheers

Best wishes
Ck

introducing HootSuite—new twitter experience

came across this site few months ago, HootSuite is a multi features web-based twitter client.

It allows you to post scheduled twit (so don’t surprise if you see I tweet every 2 hour, the same applies on facebook as well).

with scheduled twit, I can shared interesting articles/ website at desired period, so that I will not spam other people facebook / twitter front page.

Besides, a Mozilla plugin is available, (a button that next to ‘home’ button). You can directly tweet/ scheduled tweet when browsing an interesting page/ website, simply by clicking the button of this plugin. 

you also can integrate facebook & word press account in one site. Likewise, you can update latest status on facebook, wordpress, tweeter simultaneously.

 

furthermore, you can perform statistical analysis on website you shared through HootSuite and find out your tweet traffic on shared website/url/link, location of readers and also the popular post among tweets you posted.

I noticed most people like to view current issue and relationship items. Having this statistic data, I can decide when is the golden period to upload worth reading items, and also what information my readers prefer.

for more info, visit the HootSuite main page at

http://hootsuite.com/index.php

Proposed blog/twitter contest on CNY/Valentine celebration could be organised by our UTAR May 05 Biotech’s face book group

Some ideas came across my mind recently after browsed through comment left on our group..feel free to share your comment, and we can modify from here.

====Blog contest:=====

*You can produce as many posts as you want, each post contains maximum 10 pictures.

*You can upload short video clip as well, not more than 3 min

*You can blog about your CNY/Valentine/ single valentine celebration

*Any languages,

*Deadline: 1-march-2010, 12 am (Malaysia time: GMT + 8 h). Please upload you blog post to our facebook group’s wall post before the deadline.

## later, we will create a poll, and let every member to vote the best blog post.

Prize--> souvernirs : TBA

====Twitter + picture contest:====

*Share your favourite picture and a tweet (as caption) to describe it.

One picture per tweet, maximum word to describe the picture is 140 words. (twitter has word limit function)

*Maximum 5 pictures for one member

*Any languages,

*Deadline: as above

## later, we will create a poll, and let every member to vote the best pic.

Prize--> souvernirs : TBA

Proposed blog/twitter contest on CNY/Valentine celebration could be organised by our face book group

Some ideas came across my mind recently after browsed through comment left on our group..feel free to share your comment, and we can modify from here.

====Blog contest:=====
*You can produce as many posts as you want, each post contains maximum 10 pictures.
*You can upload short video clip as well, not more than 3 min
*You can blog about your CNY/Valentine/ single valentine celebration
*Any languages,
*Deadline: 1-march-2010, 12 am (Malaysia time: GMT + 8 h). Please upload you blog post to our facebook group’s wall post before the deadline.
## later, we will create a poll, and let every member to vote the best blog post.
Prize--> souvernirs : TBA

====Twitter + picture contest:====
*Share your favourite picture and a tweet (as caption) to describe it.
One picture per tweet, maximum word to describe the picture is 140 words. (twitter has word limit function)
*Maximum 5 pictures for one member
*Any languages,
*Deadline: as above
## later, we will create a poll, and let every member to vote the best pic.
Prize--> souvernirs : TBA

more info, visit

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=230202369722

4th fraudulent email

Last day of 2009, received another fraudulent email. I will share on my blog to reveal their scam until they stop it :-p

Fraudulent Email—CIMB

In December 2009, I have received 3 fraudulent emails, claiming to be from Maybank, CIMB.

Stay alert!