This coming Tuesday, as my company celebrates its 10th year anniversary, I will be on leave to take a FREE Microsoft Certification exam: 71-654 TS: Windows Essential Business Server 2008, Configuring. The examination fee has been waived, since it is a “beta exam” and I had used a promotional code, saving me some US$80. If ever I passed the exam, it will be added to my Microsoft transcript.

Now, in preparation, I am reading a 72-page manuscript entitled “Windows Essential Business Server 2008 Release Candidate Reviewers Guide” over the weekend. Wish me luck.

Popularity: 8% [?]

I was lucky enough to be a Closed Beta tester of Crazy Kart Philippines, and has been addicted to it since last month. Got sad when I heard of the news that they are resetting the accounts by end of July 2008 to pave way for the Open Beta. Now, enjoying at Level 11, Crazy Kart Philippines makes me busy before going to bed at night — not sleeping until I Level Up! Trying to earn points so that I can retire my training cart and buy the jeepney Here’s what transpired during my last race for the night.

Popularity: 10% [?]

FrontlineSMS [http://www.frontlinesms.com] is a desktop software that lets you send SMS with the use of your mobile phone’s modem features. Prior to installing FrontlineSMS, I was using a Nokia 30 GSM modem with a software the comes with the hardware. But, the problem with the Nokia 30 is that I need to insert my SIM card to it every time I will be sending messages (i.e. billing reminders) through my PC. Now, with Frontline SMS, all I need to do is to attach my mobile phone via USB to my PC and fire up the app.

Popularity: 23% [?]

Popularity: 33% [?]

The Blog Almighty is giving away tons of prices where you can only win the following prizes: (1) Single Use Magazine Style Revolution Pro Media Wordpress Theme from Brian Gardner, $30 via PayPal, Peel Away Ad Script from Harris & Richard, 500 Entrecard credits, and 1 month advertising slot (125×125) on Blog Almighty; (2) $20 via PayPal, Peel Away Ad Script from Harris & Richard, 300 Entrecard credits, and 1 month advertising slot (125×125) on Blog Almighty; or (3) Peel Away Ad Script from Harris & Richard, 500 Entrecard credits, and 1 month advertising slot (125×125) on Blog Almighty.

“All you have to do is blog about the contest with the proper links, subscribe to email feeds and comment about your entry post on the official contest page. Note: A trackback is considered a comment.”

Popularity: 30% [?]

Yahoo! Mail will be offering @ymail.com and @rocketmail.com (like what Sir Jag uses) starting tomorrow, Philippine time. The main reason:

Because “yourname@yahoo.com” is likely taken by now, a lot of people must resort to unpleasant and hard-to-remember addresses such as “yourname1988@yahoo.com.” Yahoo wants to give people a new chance with a name they like.

Full story can be read here.

Popularity: 31% [?]

TurfSite Manila (http://www.bobreyes.com) is giving-away a copy of the graphic novel Hackerteen: Volume 1: Internet Blackout (Hackerteen) (published by O’Reilly in April 2008). The book costs US$19.99 at Amazon.com and I am giving it away for free thru a raffle — open to all bloggers in the Philippines. The book is brand new, mind you; I shall shoulder the shipping cost if you’re in the province.

To join, simply mention in your blog site that TurfSite Manila (http://www.bobreyes.com) is conducting a book raffle. That simple! Once you had posted a blog article about the raffle, please leave a comment here with your Name, Email, & URL to your blog entry.

The winner shall be determined using the Microsoft Excel randomize function on the midnight of 30 June 2008. Spread the word.

Popularity: 38% [?]

Official release of Mozilla Firefox 3 will be at around 0100H of Wednesday, Manila time. If you are based on another time zone, you may refer to this list on what time FF3 will be available for download. This will coincide with the attempt to set a Guiness World Record for the software that is most downloaded within a time span of 24 hours. Check out http://www.spreadfirefox.com for details.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Twenty-three days after they had sent me the invite code, uMobile tonight accepted my application to be one of their early adopters, so to speak.

According to the email sent to me by the Code Giver, I shall be given PHP100 worth of load every month, for the first six months.

Popularity: 41% [?]

TurfSite Manila (http://www.bobreyes.com) is giving-away a copy of the book Learning Web Design by Jennifer Niederst Robbins (published by O’Reilly in June 2007 — talks about [X]HTML, StyleSheets, Web Graphics, and is illustrated). The book costs US$29.69 at Amazon.com and I am giving it away for free thru a raffle — open to all bloggers in the Philippines. The book is brand new, mind you; I shall shoulder the shipping cost if you’re in the province.

To join, simply mention in your blog site that TurfSite Manila (http://www.bobreyes.com) is conducting a book raffle. That simple! Once you had posted a blog article about the raffle, please leave a comment here with your Name, Email, & URL to your blog entry.

The winner shall be determined using the Microsoft Excel randomize function on the midnight of 20 June 2008. Spread the word.

Popularity: 28% [?]

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If you know PlainCart and would like to know more about it, visit http://www.plaincart.info

Popularity: 24% [?]

Join now!

Popularity: 17% [?]

I am so happy that I had joined SocialSpark today! So, what is it? And what is in store for me?

SocialSpark promotes social media marketing, blog marketing, and blog advertising. For advertisers, this mean that your products and/or services will be shown to its target markets — makes the world less spammier and a healthier world to live in, thanks to being paperless.

For bloggers, like me and the rest of my friends, what does this entail? Well, I can easily earn by making sponsored articles. Making sure that my articles are seen by its target market — and not by a cold market. What kind of ads shall be placed on my site? Well, it all depends on which categories you had signed-up for. If you hate electronics, then no electronic stuff will be shown on your site.

Another great thing about it is that they are following these code of ethics:

-100% Audit-able In-Post Disclosure
-100% Transparency
-100% Real Opinions
-100% Search Engine Friendly

What I had liked in the list above is transparency and real opinions. Its kinda hard nowadays to see advertisers being transparent to their publishers, and advertisers posting real and not canned opinions. With ads that are search engine friendly, gives me some plus points on SEO — making my site not just profitable for the advertiser, but for me, as well.

So, what are you waiting for? Sign-up now and spread the word about SocialSpark. I am looking forward to receive my first pay-out from them. Thanks to the people at SocialSpark!

Popularity: 18% [?]

August of last year, Microsoft launched Windows Live SkyDrive (http://skydrive.live.com) — an online storage facility that let’s you upload up to 5GB of files and have the option of sharing your online folders to your friends and colleagues. However, many users from the Philippines (including me) were barred from signing-up — not available in your region error.

Just minutes ago, I got a response from Jojo Ayson of Microsoft Philippines confirming that users from the Philippines can now enjoy the benefits of Windows Live SkyDrive.

Popularity: 23% [?]