Barely a month after Apple releases its voice application, Siri, Google retaliated by pushing its own voice application to the public. The name of the application is simply called the “Google Voice Search”. The publicity comes through the form of a few videos of Australian Google researchers trying to explore the boundaries of Google Voice Search. The videos are done in a way that they demonstrate Google Voice Search’s ability to correctly identify words correctly after going through various mediums.

Of course, to display the adaptivity of the application, they have invited questions from Tourism Australia about the questions people would like to ask in the middle of the desert.

The second test was done as the first ever Google Voice Search in the Great Barrier Reef. That is done through a transducer, a device that receives digital signals (from the underwater microphone) and translates them into sound waves for the phone. I wonder what happened to the shark question.

As usual, they have invited a few other questions as well.

It is great to see that Google has stepped up its game in the voice application niche of the mobile business. However, I would like to point out that the videos only prove that the application manages to determine a broad range of different English pronunciations. It shows nothing about a user friendlier application like the Apple Siri does and does not convince me that the Google Voice Search works flawlessly in normal operating conditions (anywhere other than the desert or the ocean).

Also like the name suggests, Google Voice Search only takes you to Google search page. It is not intelligent enough to show you the answer you want based on your questions alone. Only certain questions such as weather or stock would appear without the need to press on the Google search page.

As of now, Apple is still ahead with its voice application in terms of user friendliness. To be able to answer your questions (taking into account of the previous questions you have asked), personalization and be able to throw out images when needed is indeed a great feat for a mobile application.

Perhaps Google saw more than that, perhaps Google saw the inability for Apple’s Siri to perform under conditions where sound waves are not perfect. As shown in many videos and especially demonstrated in this Simi parody.

Then again, Google was the one who announced their voice search application first on 14th June 2011. Apple felt a huge threat and decided to release a beta version of Siri and charging their customers for it. We will continue to observe and see what these giants have under their sleeves.

As a university graduate myself, I always wonder why my tuition fee was so expensive. Especially when I studied overseas where every dollar I spent was equivalent to 3 dollars back in my home country. Also, there is this saying, “you use only about 5% of what you learn at university” which gets everyone with a right mind thinking, why attend university at all if you don’t apply the things you have learnt?

The mainstream media have got most of us into this fairytale story telling us that if we do not graduate with at least a degree, we do not get a job. Well, that is just one side of the story that appeals to only the employers, not the students.

Here are why our university and college education do not appeal to you students and is definitely not worth your parents’ hard earned money.

University Education is Nothing near Advanced Technologically

If you plan to take engineering and hope to get hands-on experience with high-end manufacturing machines. Think again, you might want to double your tuition fees to take up postgraduate studies instead.

If you plan to take commerce with the hope to graduate with all the skills needed to success in trading and investment, you will fail miserably because in university they teach you nothing about diversifying your portfolio. They teach you to diversify your portfolio in stocks, which makes you a loser every time the market crashes.

If you plan to take IT courses, prepare to meet lecturers who have no idea what they are teaching.

If you plan to take law and medicine, you graduate working your heads off with companies that pays you dirt.

Either way, by the time you graduate, all the things you have learnt is outdated and you will have to re-learn everything when you join a corporation.

It’s All About Business Mate

Very few universities actually promote real, practical, hands-on education. Education is now an industry, your vice-chancellors care not about your welfare as a student. Even if you’re excellent in your studies at postgraduate level, they hire you just to keep you as a tutor and pay you enough (you don’t want to be earning only enough your entire life) so that you can produce more papers to promote the university. Yay free advertisement.

Highest Inflation on Your Tuition Fees

Believe it or not, the inflation in the university and college education sector is one of the most inflated industries in the world. I did a search while I was surfing around the other day and found this.

I then checked this graph with the CPI index of Australia and learnt that the inflation in education even higher than the inflation in healthcare!  So I have come to a conclusion that this graph represents most of the universities and colleges around the world. So much for the importance of tertiary education.

Do you know that the money I spent studying in Australia can be used as a down payment for about 3 houses back in my hometown. Can I buy 3 houses in the next 4 years as a university graduate working for companies that pays me dirt? Very unlikely.

The Ever Growing World Wide Web

Every second, data as big as the Library of Congress is transmitted over the internet. You can imagine the whole library swooshing around the world in the network cable. Almost everything you need to know is available on the internet. In fact, most of the assignment given to you in university or college requires the use of the internet to complete them.

Why would you still need to pay a huge sum of money to the education institutes to tell you things that can be easily searched from the internet for free?

What Can We Do About This?

I guess we could form a union and go on a strike on hopes that the universities will reduce the tuition fees, which sounds extremely impractical and dangerous. On top of that, going on a strike is also something done by a person who has no control over anything; to simply put it, a university graduate who is being kicked around in the society.

So what are our options?

A few months ago, I met up with a friend called Fred at a cafe. Fred was complaining about his expensive tuition fees, he said that he should have taken his friend’s suggestion before he entered college.

His friend’s suggestion was this. Instead of paying a lump sum of your university savings to people who teaches you a lot of impractical crap, spend those money on your first few businesses and professional courses.

US’s average annual tuition fee is about 25,000 USD, a university course is usually 3 to 4 years depending on which degree you are taking. Fred’s friend suggested that you spend 20,000 USD on a new business and spend the rest attending courses that will enhance your professional skills.

Most of the time, your first business will fail. But keep in mind that you have 2 more years of savings to work on and usually you learn a tonne after your first business failure. Pool them together with the knowledge you gain from the professional courses you attend, I am sure your second and third (if not your fourth) business will be a success. That is when you will have control over your life.

Please bear in mind that I am not exactly advocating these kind of ideas. However, I believe it is something worth trying out if the universities and colleges keep on jacking up their education fees.

Apple introduced its newest tablet style product called the Apple iPad on 27th of January at San Francisco. I watched the Keynote; everybody was dead silent when Steve Jobs ran through all the features available on the iPad, unlike the cheers and applauses on the iPhone during its first debut.

When I looked through Facebook, tonnes of disappointed Apple fans updated their status with “iPad, a gigantic iPod Touch”. Myself on the other hand think the Apple iPad is “the future” if Apple would be bothered to revise it.

Apple has always focused on user interface to redesigned our lives. On the Apple iPhone, Apple redesigned the way we use mobile phones.  On the iPad however, Apple have done a superb job focusing on user interface, but has it redesigned our lives?
From the looks of our many Facebook colleagues, not quite.

If Apple thinks that enlarging the iPod Touch and introducing the iBookStore would mean anything near to “redesign lives”, Apple is dead wrong. It is simply not going to work. Look, the iPad will be mostly used in offices or at home. We have high speed laptops and desktops at these places, why should we the iPad instead?

Here are the questions.

1. Is the iPad better at web surfing?
   I doubt so, can it open 30 tabs to work with?
2. Is the iPad worth $499 to share & view pictures with?
   Highly doubt so.
3. Does the iPad score better at watching movies?
   Definitely a no if you’re a fan of big screens and an audio freak.
4. Is the iPad better at listening to music?
   I already have an iPod touch mate.
5. How about email (Apple hyped a lot at this)?
   I can definitely reply email faster with my workstation.
6. But how about reading books with your iPad?
   Sounds like a future to me.

I beg to differ what Steve Jobs has explained in the keynote. He said the iPad is far better at doing some important things than the iPhone and the Macbook. From the questions I have asked above, I’d say the iPad failed at doing everything. It is just another “Improved Netbook” that fails at everything.

So the only reason I think anybody would use to persuade themselves to get the iPad is the book reading feature. But does that justify the need to get another $499 gadget ($829 at its best spec)?

I personally think the iPad was mixed with the hype of iPhone thus blinded Apple’s development team from searching an identity (or a specialty) for its newest product.

The Apple iPhone has an identity, a revolutionized mobile phone. The Apple iPod also has an identity as well, iPod revolutionize your music. The iPad? Let’s just say as things stands now, the iPad has yet to have an identity of its own.

Apple iPad, Revolutionize Your Home

When I first saw the size of the iPad, what came to me was that this is something I would love to play with when I am taking a break away from my workstation (a laptop or a desktop). Ultimately a gadget perfect for a home, where I can do whatever I do in the living room all in that one piece of metal.

A Library at Home

Apple has done this and I would say this is the biggest step to the future. Many kids have always read story books under a shade which could cause eye problems later in life, same goes to reading books in the iPhone, I can barely see the texts. Reading books in a laptop or desktop however, does not give you the sense of satisfaction.

Therefore the new iBookStore for the iPad in my personal opinion is a huge step forward. Apple iPad has the size of an average book size and is perfect for reading, in any position.

Of course, Amazon’s Kindle has done it before Apple, but is it as user friendly as the iPad?

Built-in Home Telephone

Home phones has run its course in human life now, it is old technology and should be replaced. I irk every time the telephone rings (especially the old ring noise) and how unfitting it is to room spaces and usefulness.

Sometimes it is even more nerve breaking when you are to jot down notes through your phone. You just couldn’t find the pen and paper! While iPad does it all with just a flick of a finger.

Built-in TV

While revolutionizing a home, a built-in TV should not be missed in the iPad. Build the iPad in such a way that it becomes a second TV at home, wirelessly. This way, parents and children would not fight for the favourite TV channels and end up with cold faces at dining tables.

I believe with all these built into the Apple iPad, it will give Apple targeted customers a reason to replace household things (especially the telephone) with the iPad regardless of its price.

What’s the point of creating a product when any older product can easily outdo it? Create one that is made to substitute older products. That is what triggers human nature to change, in which we call revolution.

It has become a growing trend whereby bloggers and website owners use Facebook’s multi-functional platform to spread their new articles over a wide array of readers. The application I am going to talk about today would be the built-in “Notes” application.

Facebook Notes in Detail

Facebook Notes, from what I can perceive is actually a mini blog for Facebook users. I have seen many friends posting their own Notes before, emotional Notes usually. The use of Facebook Notes does not just stop there.

Stretching further we have the “Import an External Blog” function. That is the function you can use to synchronize your website (blog) articles to Facebook Notes.

How does Import External Blog work?

FB Notes will be notified as your RSS feed is updated. It reproduces another a copy of your article and post it on your FB News Feed. However, the setback for this function is that you will not have hits to your blog because your readers actually read your article on Facebook.

I personally think having more readers to read your article on many platforms is better than limiting reader’s access to your articles only on your website.

How To Do It

As you can see at the bottom of the Facebook user interface, you can see the Application Bar, or whatever it is called. Let’s call it application bar for the time being.

At the most bottom left there is a button named Application. Click on that you will see the past application you have used before and the lot. Look for the application called Notes that has an icon of a notepad.

On next page, you will get to see all of your friend’s notes. On the right panel, there is this Notes Settings.

If you want to start writing notes right away, you could just click on the Write a New Note located at the top of Notes Settings. Otherwise, click on the Import a blog link.

Next you will see a textbox where you get to type in your RSS feed address.

Type in your RSS feed address, tick the disclaimer and import away.

With the growing trend of internet socializing, it is no doubt that Facebook is one of the “must-haves” for people of all ages to keep in touch with friends and families who are miles apart. However, as futile applications start to blossom within Facebook, paired with some of the attention seeking nature of human being, socializing in Facebook has become not as fun as before.

1. When you add people you don’t know, introduce yourself

Have you sometimes got some unknown people you have not seen before in your entire life replying to your threads? And sometimes, that person just wouldn’t leave you alone? Isn’t it irritating?

So, when you add somebody you think they have not met you before, introduce yourself and let them know you want to be friends.

2. Don’t message people in Facebook, get IM contact and do it there.

Even though Facebook is meant to be a socializing platform, but chatting in Facebook is really a pain in the ass. Get the person’s Instant Messenger and do your talking there!

3. Do less quiz, because nobody gives a shit

Honestly, all these quiz in Facebook, they are all b.s. and are regarded as spam to me sometimes. You want to know how many partners would you sleep with and which sex position would you use? By all means, do it quiz but don’t publish it, because nobody gives a damn.

4. 10101 does not predict your future

Wow, you are 100% lucky today. Well prove it, go out, stand in the middle of the freeway for 30 minutes and come back alive. Machines do not predict our future.

5. Stop sending the same app/game/group/event invites

Ok you have just sent like 20 game invitations to 20 of your friends today. Don’t do the same thing tomorrow, chances is that we will click the magic link “Ignore all”, because Facebook won’t tell you we ignored you.

6. Virus affected friends

They just contaminate the news feed with unnecessary information and links.

7. Quit Whining on Your Status Update

I am totally fine with people seeking attentions and shouting out of joy in Facebook, I would even join in and share their happiness as well. What annoys me most are status updates like…

“Im sick of you”
“My life sucks”
“Bad mood today”

Or anything of those sort. Seriously, that is not really a wise thing to do if you ask me. It is not effective and the 500 friends in your Facebook list couldn’t care less what happen to you. In fact, for every 10 people you tell about your problems, 7 will be happy that you have a problem, 2 will listen half heartedly and only 1 would listen.

A better choice will be to find that 1 person that would listen and whine to that particular person.

8. Quit begging people to buy you in Friends for Sale

Another irritating status updates are those who are begging people to buy them in the application called “Friends for Sale”. If people want to buy you (as if they would) they will buy you without having you to beg them like a dog.

9. Don’t emo in your Facebook

Even though this is sort of like what I explained at 7, but I purposely have this part separated because I once had a friend who literally took a picture of his emo self and posted it all over Facebook. I don’t see why anybody should remain in an emo state for such a long time.

The lack of attention maybe…

Fortunately, Facebook has created a function called “Hide”, where we can hide any applications and they will never appear again in your news feed.

Nonetheless, there is this application that utilizes your photo and that is…

10. Stop playing applications like “FanCheck”

The last and the least favourite things, the FanCheck application. Whenever a picture is posted in your profile by FanCheck and 20 of your friends has been tagged, a human kid died. Whenever somebody commented on the application, a kitten died. Whenever that thread of comment is replied, the Earth becomes hotter by a certain degree. So, for the sake of all the things God had created for us, stop playing FanCheck!

Any articles categorized/tagged in “Indifferent Thoughts” are the author’s perspective on the world. Statements are neither wrong nor right. It is up to us individuals to decide whether to believe or to turn a blind eye on the matter. However, discussions are always welcomed.

I have been with ServerFreak for a year now and had recently just upgraded my web hosting package. I will do my utmost best to review ServerFreak  in a very detailed manner based on my experience so that those who are still struggling to find a “proper” web host can profit from this article.

Uptime and Reliability

One of the most sought after element of a good web host. ServerFreak certainly had this under control, as I have yet to experience any downtime since the first day I used their hosting service.

I did not rate 10 because I feel that I have not stayed with ServerFreak long enough to rate it 10.

Technical Support

There is only one word I would use to describe ServerFreak’s technical support service, it is “faultless”. For every ticket you have sent, there is always a reply and most of the time it is settled in a day. No time is wasted.

When I first registered with ServerFreak, this website is hosted in Malaysia. Well, most Malaysians would agree that foreign traffic into Malaysia is extremely slow. I was living in Australia and I was suffering from the slow internet connection.

I emailed ServerFreak instead of sending a ticket. To my surprise, I was provided with Sam’s MSN 30 minutes later. Then I asked Sam for advice regarding my situation and in less than an hour, my problem was settled and my web host had been transferred to a server located in the US.

Customer Service

The technical side of the company is superb, but not everybody can escape from being imperfect, of course ServerFreak is not excluded as well.

Problem with the customer service is that sometimes I am asked to send a ticket when I am desperately need things done. I completely understand that sending a ticket allows the support team to pin point which user actually requires help and securities issues.

But it is still “not so alright” to ask the customer to send a ticket when all they think is getting things sorted out through instant messenger. Instead, I would propose ServerFreak to revise a system that relate the instant messenger users with their customer database.

Other than that, the customer service is awesome.

Package Prices

With so many competitors out there, I am very sure that ServerFreak does not have a competitive price (low, cost effective) to compete.

However, I can’t agree more with ServerFreak’s motto “You get what you pay for”. It is obvious that ServerFreak do not oversell and by paying more you get extraordinary support.

These invaluable element will compensate for the less attractive price.

Flexibility

Another thing I love about ServerFreak is how flexible they are.

I just changed my shared hosting plan a month ago and before I change, I talked with them regarding the extra space I would not use. I proposed to convert all the excess space into bandwidth at a certain ratio.

Immediately, they agreed and offered a conversion ratio of 50MB space /1GB bandwidth. Sounds like a reasonable offer to me. I took it and is extremely satisfied by the change.

To end this article, I think it is fair to say that ServerFreak is a fantastic web hosting service but they still have a few places to improve. Highly recommended.

I am sure a lot of you out there have heard countless complaints on Nuffnang not paying their publishers. I myself have even seen a screenshot of 15 thousand Malaysian Ringgits still lingering in the publisher’s account not being paid. How true are those? Does Nuffnang pay their publishers?

My Experience with Nuffnang Australia

On 20th of April, a mail was sent to my inbox congratulating me of my first Nuffnang Advertising Campaign by ANZ bank. It was a six weeks campaign and it ended at 30th of May. While I was checking out, the customer service was quite helpful, it sorted out my payment issues (long story) but it took some time.

After that I had successfully cashed out the money from my Nuffnang account. The status was pending and I did not expect to be paid anytime during May. And of course, it did not happen.

On June, I gave up checking on the pending status until a week ago (26th August) where I noticed the pending status was changed to “sent”. I immediately sent a support ticket half expecting a reply from Nuffnang.

Living to Nuffnang’s reputation for being slow, I did not get any replies for a week until 31st of August. David replied this time and explained that the cheque has been sent on 20th June, I did not receive any mails though. So after 3 emails with David, he cancelled the cheque and confirmed that he had sent the money to me through bank transfer.

My Point of View on Nuffnang Australia

As you can see from my experience above, Nuffnang do pay their publishers, just extremely a bit late. Still, better late than never, at least now I am paid and my hosting and domain expenses are covered by my own website’s revenue.

Also, for Australians dealing with Nuffnang Aus, also make sure you are dealing with the correct person. I have actually sent countless messages before to a different person (not David) but most of the time, there were no results. David on the other hand produces results. Look how long does it take for David to sort out my payment, 2 days.

On top of that, the same person, David also settled my featured blogger of the month in Nuffnang Australia.

How can Nuffnang Australia Improve?

Obviously, there is a lot of room for improvement for Nuffnang Australia. Here are a few suggestions to start with.

• Constant Feedback
  Customers want constant feedback from the company, a week of ignorance (especially on payment) is a big no.
• Train Incompetent Employees
  David is a good example of a competent employee, the previous person (which I will not mention the name) needs some serious training.
• Pay Publishers on Time
  Nobody likes being paid late and publishers are like the employee of Nuffnang. The last thing a successful company wants is the inability to pay their employees at the end of the month.
• Reply Support Tickets at Least Once Twice Day
  I check my email at least 10 times a day, my webhost (serverfreak) replies my email in less than 2 hours most of the time, my friends replies my email at least once a day. I don’t see any reason why a company like Nuffnang could not check and reply support tickets at least twice a day.

Of course, Nuffnang cannot change overnight and my suggestions would not necessary help at all. But one thing is for certain, it is faster to be a globally recognized advertising company if publishers are treated well.

So … Rumours? Is Nuffnang Trustable?

So what about the complaints on the internet regarding Nuffnang not paying publishers? Like I said earlier, I am in no position to deny that statement as other people have different experiences with Nuffnang.

However, do bear in mind that there might be a possibility that I was paid because my payment was small. While payments like the 15 thousand in the first paragraph are not paid at all.

Or perhaps it is some rumours other companies made to defame Nuffnang? You make the call.

To end this article, I have mentioned earlier that this article have two aims. The second aim would be to shed light to Australian bloggers that at least Nuffnang Australia still pays their publishers even though it might take a while to do so.

I can only comment on the effectiveness of Nuffnang Australia because I have personally dealt with them. For other countries such as Malaysia, Singapore or The Phillipines, I pray good luck to all of you.

Right, I can virtually see a few of you cringe even by reading the phrase “blog for money”. Before you press “X” button, here is an advice, be a little more open minded. I know blogging for money sounds cruel to some people but learning (and understanding) the truth is just a switch of perspective away.

If you answered “yes”, good on you. I wish you all the best so that your blog can be capable of providing food on the table for you and your family in the future.

For those who answered “no”, let me put this very bluntly for you. I think you are living life aimlessly, you do not know the potential of the internet and to simply put it, you are wasting valuable time blogging for nothing.

The Simple Truths

Here are a few simple truths I have understood after a lot of reading and observing.

#1: Truth about Our Money System

One thing you need to know about the money system of the world is – our money is eating itself from the inside (like viruses eating you from the inside). This process is referred as inflation and with a constant 7% inflation per year, everything doubles their prices every 10 years. A million in your bank account today will worth as much as a little more than thirty thousand 50 years later.

I will cover more on this in the future.

#2: Truth About Creation

Things are created because there are profits to be made. The internet is created because the potential to make big money is there. The same goes to companies, organizations, gadgets and EVERYTHING.

#3: Truth About Time

This is common, even your grandparents had advised you on this before. Time awaits for no men and if you miss the opportunity to make a living, you are losing out!

#4: Truth About The Internet

This has little to do with your blog but important to know.

Before the dawn of internet, systems such as barter, commodities, receipt money are used. These are slow because the physical item must be presented, traveling time is spent and targeted market is small.

It is the information age now, everybody wants to make money by the speed of light through the internet. If you are using the internet for your business, you are tapping into the international market 24/7, compare this with the store you just opened.

#5: Truth About People Saying “I Don’t Blog For Money”

Ugh, it is my turn to cringe when I hear people say that. Look, that is like saying “I don’t wear condom for sex”, that’s ridiculous! We all know that we need money no matter what, we need money to entertain ourselves, have a drink, house rental, mortgages, gadgets, get married, we even  need money when we die! Who’s paying for your coffin and the land to put your coffin?

Thus the simple truth about people saying “I don’t blog for money” is they don’t know how and they are lazy to earn a living even for themselves! They expect people to spoon feed them with money.

#6: Now The Truth About Your Blog

Here are a few easy-to-understand and straightforward truths about your blogs.

Your blog is not a tool to…

• Show off your pictures, Facebook can do the job better!
• Seek attention
• Rant about your life, bosses fire their employees for the constant complaints about the company in their blog
• Overrun your government
• Share pirated things
• Chat with your friends (there are a lot of software out there to do this job)
• And the list goes on!

The Good News

The good news is that all truth about your blog can be overlooked if they are generating money. I don’t really care how the money is flowing into your pocket. Maybe your sexy shots got you a modeling job or maybe your boss promoted you because you gave constructive complaints. As long as you are generating money legally with your blog, it is alright.

Look at the headline image of this article. That picture illustrates how the internet looks like. It looks like a limitless universe to me, limitless opportunity and profit too.

Can I still Blog for Fun?

Fun is a very vague word, I would call that blog for nothing. Of course, you could also continue to blog for nothing, but I can assure you that you don’t just blog for nothing. If you blog for nothing, you blog to

• Waste money
• Waste your time
• Waste opportunities
• Waste your youth
• Waste resources
• And more!

What can I do if I’m not blogging for money?

Honestly you are better off without a blog if you are blogging for nothing. That way you can spend more time with your family, friends, love ones and do something that eventually generates your income!

Nevertheless, it is not too late to change. You can always disregard whatever you have answered yourself earlier (the “NO”) and ask yourself again…

Do you or do you not blog for money?

PS, if I have directly or indirectly insulted you in anyway, I apologize.