Archive for the 'Rants' Category

I understand that many companies have issues with their adversaries and the need to have exclusivity is somewhat needed to ensure that competitor’s ads are not showing, but I was in advertising and it’s nice to see some sort of competition of the sort and as long as they don’t show conflicting ads, I am quite sure it’s good business.

One thing though, NUFFNANG is about to run foul of the Anti-Competition Laws in Singapore by their Glitterati. They started it off to kill Advertlets but now since Advertlets,GrabmyAds and GoKita is dead, they started targetting Aductions, a US BASED Company giving the similar excuse that Aductions have an office in KL. However, given that fact,their terms say, servers in the SEA and by doing so, means even GOOGLE ADSENSE is also out of the question as they already have an office here, along side with Yahoo! Publisher for more than 6 months.

It’s the people crying their heart off because of this small issue, and Nuffnang is becoming too bold , IMHO, by stipulating situations which they are going to run foul of, especially since NUFFNANG.COM is actually subjected to the laws of the EU and the US.

This issue was pointed out to me by BLOGMAS and other Publication Networks whom quoted that even BLOG4U is not allowed. But issn’t BLOG4U US BASED like PayPerPost and the sort? So, in doing so, they MUST NON-EXCLUSIVE anyone using PAYPERPOST,BLOG4U, GOOGLE,ADBRITE and YAHOO as they have servers in SINGAPORE and CYBERJAYA. Heck,BLOG4U is in KOREA for heaven sake.

Dear Azrin,

Here’s the list of advertisers that will compromise your Glitterati status.

The list is
1. Advertlets
2. Gokita
3. Nufflets
4. Grabmyads
5. Aductions
6. Blog2u

My colleague informs me that you had aductions on your site, as such your Glitterati status would be compromised.

Have a nice day1

Regards,
Tan Yee Hou
Nuffnang Sdn Bhd
www.nuffnang.com.my

Doesn’t it feel that the agreement is LOPSIDED to their own benefit and for your information, NUFFNANG charges about RM12 PER CPM (thousand impressions) and pays you RM0.88 for Glitterati and RM0.11 for non-exclusive. So imagine that in itself, and that is a price quoted by not one, but many advertisers across the board. At least some charge US$2.00 for the leaderboard because it’s GOOD BRANDING, and even Liew CF charges USD10 for his buttons on Aductions.

Given the fact that Nuffnang had not received ANY PAYMENT for the TELEKOM and CELCOM media ad runs that was on LAST YEAR OCTOBER,because their paymaster, a media buyer was delaying the funds as much as they can, causes them more grief that it was purported that Tim had his eye injury because he had to scratch it so much thinking of means to raise funds for their contractors (bloggers) compared to the new boy in town (Aductions) whom had a paid up capital of RM100,000 with a financial security of almost US$20,000,000 in their bank account.

What is more, Aductions set up office in Malaysia just to test the market so they can jump into CHINA and ARAB Markets which is happening right now, so if you have an ARAB Lingual page,site,blog.. let them know as you can get better rates. These Arabs pay CASH UPFRONT as opposed to Malaysian Agencies loving to go on 120 day credit terms after the end of the campaign.

I do understand the facts behind Tim’s dilemma, but at the end of the day, some business technique will kill the business and especially Anti-Competition Laws in place now.

Timmy: My Advise…stay away from those Ah-Longs (Banks, Venture Capitalists alike especially). The money you get can roll into FOREX and pay off the bloggers better.

It’s a sad thing for me, but at the end of the day , bugs like the Nuffnang Spiders giving me a lot of headache. They took off my Glitterati AGAIN for some technical error, and now I feel that my lowly paid blogs are not the place for NUFFNANG and I feel that I should let the spaces be utilised to people who needs my help and I’m even giving them away for next to nothing.

As some of you heard, Aductions is getting VERY AGRESSIVE and they seem to have secured a deal with a project funded by UNICEF for the sake of children’s welfare.And that their own internal ads are quite expensive, about $10 for CPM which equates to about 10c per view. Which , if blogs and network sites that are heavy traffic, stand to earn as much as $2000 a day and no wonder they can pay my commission out so fast, just as BLOGMAS did last week, and I know it was a nice sum.

So, it’s no use of me holding on to inventory I can’t sell when I can make better somewhat elsewhere.

Sorry Tim.Convince me otherwise.

I just got my first Aductions Publisher Payout…and well, it is a well deserved $250, which they paid out in RINGGIT MALAYSIA.

Yes, they have paid out, and it’s a nice start. Better than me having to wait for 2 months to get paid for a mere RM50. Just because I started with a similar competitor, they took off my Glitterati immediately so they can forgo my earnings. Which reminds me of what Advertlets did to many of the Bloggers.

Anyway, it’s not a biggie for me, but if they can pay their contractors proper and prompt, they will grow fast and great…

And Yeah..they let me CASH THE CHEQUE. I rushed over to Al-Rajhi Bank TTDI Branch for my moolah.

Guys,what are you waiting for??

I’ll put the check up for you to see in a bit.

Actually, this is a thing that has been bugging me very much lately since blogsvertise itself have advocated themselves to be ANTI DISCLOSURE POLICY all because of Ted Murphy’s own ideals and now look at the blogging community, all famished because of his ideas.

Well, basically, it means you CANNOT put disclosure badges, saying you get paid by so and so etc.

Plus many other things.

I don’t go into detail, but you get the drift.

36: 1-83 Surah Yasin

Ya Seen is the 36th Surah / Chapter in the Quran and the name is derived from the starting verse in the Surah or Chapter which has no meaning other than known to Him Almighty.Ya Seen has 83 Verses which are normally boken into some sub-chapters and at certain intervals, one will stop and pray for something , a basic prayer as it was known that the end of the verses with ‘Mu been’ carry an express way to get one’s own prayer answered quickly.

Significance of the Ya Seen is that in itself, it becomes the Last Rites for a Muslim to ease him pain and suffering of Sakratul Maut or the Act of Death itself, ranging from days to just a few minutes where the Angel of Death Israel will start pulling the person’s soul from the sole,feet,legs,stomach,lungs and lastly through a swift and painful extraction from the skull, with the soul and energy extracted via the pores of the hair.

Significant verses promises one of heaven and peace of life, here and there after (Salamun Kau Lam Mir Rabbir Rahim) or literally meaning Peace and Blessing from Your Lord, The Al Compassionate. Among others are how life is taken away and what awaits the non believer so that one is reminded of his own deeds.

Overall, Ya Seen is a remembrance of Allah of his most loved creation, Prophet Muhammad where he is protected and shielded from any imperfections in life and from any sin, that he is clean and noble as anyone on the street. Known that he is the Walking Quran, he is the living practitioner of the Sayings of God.

Here is the Literal Translation. Reproduced from Quran.Nu

1. Ya-Sin
2. By the Quran, full of wisdom,
3. Truly, you (O Muhammad) are one of the Messengers,
4. On a Straight Path (i.e. on Allah’s religion of Islamic Monotheism).
5. (This is) a Revelation sent down by the All-Mighty, the Most Merciful
6. In order that you may warn a people whose forefathers were not warned, so they are heedless.
7. Indeed the Word (of punishment) has proved true against most of them, so they will not believe.
8. Verily! We have put on their necks iron collars reaching to chins, so that their heads are forced up.
9. And We have put a barrier before them, and a barrier behind them, and We have covered them up, so that they cannot see.
10. It is the same to them whether you warn them or you warn them not, they will not believe.

11. You can only warn him who follows the Reminder (the Quran), and fears the Most Beneficent (Allah) unseen. Bear you to such one the glad tidings of forgiveness, and a generous reward (i.e. Paradise).
12. Verily, We give life to the dead, and We record that which they send before (them), and their traces [of their deeds], and all things We have recorded with numbers (as a record) in a Clear Book.

13. And put forward to them a similitude; the (story of the) dwellers of the town, [It is said that the town was Antioch], when there came Messengers to them.
14. When We sent to them two Messengers, they belied them both, so We reinforced them with a third, and they said: “Verily! We have been sent to you as Messengers.”
15. They (people of the town) said: “You are only human beings like ourselves, and the Most Beneficent (Allah) has revealed nothing, you are only telling lies.”
16. The Messengers said: “Our Lord knows that we have been sent as Messengers to you,
17. “And our duty is only to convey plainly (the Message).”
18. They (people) said: “For us, we see an evil omen from you, if you cease not, we will surely stone you, and a painful torment will touch you from us.”
19. They (Messengers) said: “Your evil omens be with you! (Do you call it “evil omen”) because you are admonished? Nay, but you are a people transgressing all bounds.
20. And there came running from the farthest part of the town, a man, saying: “O my people! Obey the Messengers;

21. “Obey those who ask no wages of you (for themselves), and who are rightly guided.
22. “And why should I not worship Him (Allah Alone) Who has created me and to Whom you shall be returned.
23. “Shall I take besides Him gods, if the Most Beneficent (Allah) intends me any harm, their intercession will be of no use for me whatsoever, nor can they save me?
24. “Then verily, I should be in plain error.
25. Verily! I have believed in your Lord, so listen to me!”
26. It was said (to him when the disbelievers killed him): “Enter Paradise.” He said: “Would that my people knew!
27. “That my Lord (Allah) has forgiven me, and made me of the honoured ones!”
28. And We sent not against his people after him a host from heaven, nor do We send (such a thing).
29. It was but one Saihah (shout, etc.) and lo! They (all) were silent (dead-destroyed).
30. Alas for humankind! There never came a Messenger to them but they used to mock at him.
31. Do they not see how many of the generations We have destroyed before them? Verily, they will not return to them.
32. And surely, all, everyone of them will be brought before Us.
33. And a sign for them is the dead land. We gave it life, and We brought forth from it grains, so that they eat thereof.
34. And We have made therein gardens of date-palms and grapes, and We have caused springs of water to gush forth therein.
35. So that they may eat of the fruit thereof, and their hands made it not. Will they not, then, give thanks?
36. Glory be to Him, Who has created all the pairs of that which the earth produces, as well as of their own (human) kind (male and female), and of that which they know not.
37. And a sign for them is the night, We withdraw therefrom the day, and behold, they are in darkness.
38. And the sun runs on its fixed course for a term (appointed). That is the Decree of the All-Mighty, the All-Knowing.
39. And the moon, We have measured for it mansions (to traverse) till it returns like the old dried curved date stalk.
40. It is not for the sun to overtake the moon, nor does the night outstrip the day. They all float, each in an orbit.

41.And an sign for them is that We bore their offspring in the laden ship [of Noah].
42. And We have created for them of the like thereunto, so on them they ride.
43. And if We will, We shall drown them, and there will be no shout (or helper) for them (to hear their cry for help) nor will they be saved.
44. Unless it be a mercy from Us, and as an enjoyment for a while.
45. And when it is said to them: “Beware of that which is before you (worldly torments), and that which is behind you (torments in the Hereafter), in order that you may receive Mercy (i.e. if you believe in Allah’s Religion - Islamic Monotheism, and avoid polytheism, and obey Allah with righteous deeds).
46. And never came a Sign from among the Signs of their Lord to them, but they did turn away from it.
47. And when it is said to them: “Spend of that with which Allah has provided you,” those who disbelieve say to those who believe: “Shall we feed those whom, if Allah willed, He (Himself) would have fed? You are only in a plain error.”
48. And they say: “When will this promise (i.e. Resurrection) be fulfilled, if you are truthful?”
49. They await only but a single Saihah (shout, etc.), which will seize them while they are disputing!
50. Then they will not be able to make bequest, nor they will return to their family.
51. And the Trumpet will be blown (i.e. the second blowing) and behold! From the graves they will come out quickly to their Lord.
52. They will say: “Woe to us! Who has raised us up from our place of sleep.” (It will be said to them): “This is what the Most Beneficent (Allah) had promised, and the Messengers spoke truth!”
53. It will be but a single Saihah (shout, etc.), so behold! They will all be brought up before Us!
54. This Day (Day of Resurrection), none will be wronged in anything, nor will you be requited anything except that which you used to do.
55. Verily, the dwellers of the Paradise, that Day, will be busy in joyful things.
56. They and their wives will be in pleasant shade, reclining on thrones.
57. They will have therein fruits (of all kinds) and all that they ask for.
58. (It will be said to them): Salamun (peace be on you), a Word from the Lord (Allah), Most Merciful.
59. (It will be said): “And O you criminal sinners! Get you apart this Day (from the believers).
60. Did I not ordain for you, O Children of Adam, that you should not worship Shaytan (Satan). Verily, he is a plain enemy to you.

61. And that you should worship Me [Alone Islamic Monotheism, and set up not rivals, associate-gods with Me]. That is a Straight Path.
62. And indeed he (Satan) did lead astray a great multitude of you. Did you not, then, understand?
63. This is Hell which you were promised!
64. Burn therein this Day, for that you used to disbelieve.
65. This Day, We shall seal up their mouths, and their hands will speak to Us, and their legs will bear witness to what they used to earn. (It is said that one’s left thigh will be the first to bear the witness).
66. And if it had been Our Will, We would surely have wiped out (blinded) their eyes, so that they would struggle for the Path, how then would they see?
67. And if it had been Our Will, We could have transformed them (into animals or lifeless objects) in their places. Then they should have been unable to go forward (move about) nor they could have turned back. [As it happened with the Jews see Verse 7:166 The Quran].
68. And he whom We grant long life, We reverse him in creation (weakness after strength). Will they not then understand?
69. And We have not taught him (Muhammad) poetry, nor is it meet for him. This is only a Reminder and a plain Quran.
70. That he or it (Muhammad or the Quran) may give warning to him who is living (a healthy minded the believer), and that Word (charge) may be justified against the disbelievers (dead, as they reject the warnings).
71. Do they not see that We have created for them of what Our Hands have created, the cattle, so that they are their owners.
72. And We have subdued them unto them so that some of them they have for riding and some they eat.
73. And they have (other) benefits from them (besides), and they get (milk) to drink, will they not then be grateful?
74. And they have taken besides Allah gods, hoping that they might be helped (by those so called gods).
75. They cannot help them, but they will be brought forward as a troop against those who worshipped them (at the time of Reckoning).
76. So let not their speech, then, grieve you (O Muhammad). Verily, We know what they conceal and what they reveal.
77. Does not man see that We have created him from Nutfah (mixed male and female discharge semen drops). Yet behold! He (stands forth) as an open opponent.
78. And he puts forth for Us a parable, and forgets his own creation. He says: “Who will give life to these bones when they have rotted away and became dust?”
79. Say: (O Muhammad) “He will give life to them Who created them for the first time! And He is the All-Knower of every creation!”
80. He, Who produces for you fire out of the green tree, when behold! You kindle therewith.

81. Is not He, Who created the heavens and the earth Able to create the like of them? Yes, indeed! He is the All-Knowing Supreme Creator.
82. Verily, His Command, when He intends a thing, is only that He says to it, “Be!” and it is!
83. So Glorified is He and Exalted above all that they associate with Him, and in Whose Hands is the dominion of all things, and to Him you shall be returned.

I will talk about the core essence of each verse and the uses it had in the modern society in another part.

Losing your plastic is one thing that really a thorn in the rear especially when you need to use that card for a purchase immediately. I for one have many credit and debit cards (also known as check card) and my daily life evolves around the plastic, and mainly for the fear of me losing more than my petty cash. One thing a card holder must do is have a list of his credit card numbers and the bank support numbers handy should that happen. If you are overseas, always look up VISA, MASTERCARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS and DINERS CLUB one stop number. There is none for Discover and only certain countries support JCB Card or Japan Credit Bureau.

Many don’t know about the Card Protection Plan or CPP for short. Made readily available for just $10 annually, it notifies your card companies and replaces all your credit card at one go. It is an optional checkbox in the application and by doing so, you save a huge hassle going through each card center, waiting in line and costing you money for long distance numbers as the toll free numbers don’t work outside the US.

So, say you already reported it, what next? CHECK YOUR STATEMENT. I had an issue of OCBC BANK authorising my STOLEN CARD weeks after it was stolen despite card holder not present, and the transaction happened 600 miles away. Some of them clone your card with fake details and purchase items on board aircraft or places where card authorisations are not needed and basically you still have to pay for it, as the card is ‘present’.That is why you should keep your receipts separate from your card or checkbook. One way not to be hassled is use one card at a time. Keep just one Debit card plus a Visa and a Mastercard or AMEX in your wallet,so if one get pinched, you don’t have much to do, at least you can work with other card facilities and not leave you stranded. At least when you don’t use that stolen account for the next few months other than to pay the dues, you know you have yourself covered.

American Express protects their card members more, by offering immediate card replacement so you don’t get stuck in the middle of nowhere. So,it’s useful if you travel often, but Visa and Mastercard has similar Emergency Card Programs too, if you need access to your account.

Check your agreement for the fine print as normally you are liable for the $500 of fraudulent transactions as you LOST your card, not as a result of a robbery which limits you to $50 after a police report is lodged. Always lodge a report with the local police of this loss to cover yourself against any future problems.

Don’t you see many people talk about the way to create a web page is using some expensive tools whereas you can avoid all these literally when there are many ways to create a web presence without many hassle or headaches.Mainly it uses what is given out as freebies by your web host provider but if they have fantastico or Control Panel, there are bound to be some free application to create your online presence.

Let’s take it that you have already purchased a domain or got one for free from your web hosting provider. The options are plain simple, if you just want a shopping cart, you will then install a shopping gateway like Agrocart or ZEN but if you want something fancy, you can go for content management system where you can integrate your blog, information pages, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Contact details and products and maybe a shopping trolley with checkout functionality without even being a programmer or knowing how HTML works.

Otherwise, if you just want to have a corporate or personal information system, a blog would do just nice. Just make sure you have a nice theme.

Before you embark, there are a few options, namely knowing how each look and feel. There are a few in the market, free open GNU/GPL licensed like Joomla/Mambo (same,different gang), Drupal, PostNuke, PhPNuke. Each have it’s plus and minuses. Look into their development pages and see if you can see a free theme that you like as drupal is a no brainer, but less flexible in terms of codes compared to the Mambo-Joomla but if you have an error, it’s a murder to debug and themes cost money. It involves some CSS codes and styles and php codes behind the scenes. So, pick a theme you like and stick by it. Configuration and modification cost at least $350.

These can have add-ons like Google Checkout, Google Adsense and Banners displayed on your site so you can monitor, monetise and promote your own products within. Those are cool add-on applications and you can even put Facebook on them! You can find out more about these CMS on Helium’s pages. That is a plain simple way to do things.

But what if you want something simpler? Site Deluxe is the solution. Some ISP provides this service so you can pull and drag a plain simple landing page for your place.It’s a no brainer, no need to FTP or Upload data. They do it all for you. I saw this with POWWEB. And stay away from GoDaddy. They are a nuisance.Low Value for Money. Same with Yahoo.

Good luck.