Making the Jump: from WordPress.com to WordPress.org

Actually the more appropriate and technically correct sub-title is “from free blog host to a paid, self-hosted blog”.  I just had to go with the “WordPress.com to WordPress.org” because it’s what I basically did and it sounds better (hehehe, sorry poor excuse).

But seriously, I just made the jump.  After blogging in Blogger.com for a couple of years then switching to WordPress.com (for certain career-related reasons, hehehe), I finally decided to blog in a self-hosted one.  I learned a lot in doing so (check my blog post about it – Top 5 Lessons in Upgrading Your Blog from WordPress.com to WordPress.org) and I continue to learn as I try to manage and maximize my online presence in my blog.  There’s definitely no regrets and I’m so glad I finally decided to make the jump.

So please check it out, it’s in http://jonasdelosreyes.com.  I was able to import all my posts from my previous blogs so everything’s there.  See you on the other side!

Prep up your blog NOW

After the launch of Social Median, the opening up of Yahoo! Buzz and the spread of micro-blogging with Twitter, Friendfeed, Plurk, Pownce, not to mention new ones like Utterz, Rejaw, and a lot more, NOW is the best time to redo, redesign, and relaunch your blog.

Social media provides us with the tools to communicate faster and easier to a broader audience, and as we have seen, it’s a great way to spread the word, whatever it is you may have to say.  This means, if you are blogging right now and you understand the fact that you’re blogging not only for yourself but for a wider audience, you better make sure you’re organized in what you say and how you say it.  This begins in fixing your blog and making sure it represents who you are and what you’re trying to say.

Which leads me to my point, there will be changes in my blog soon, changes for the better.  Let’s just say I got bitten seriously by the blogging bug and I don’t see it going away anytime soon.  So watch out for it.

Philippine Blog Awards 2008

Speaking of prepping up your blog, if you wish to see really good blogs, then head on over to the Philippine Blog Awards website and discover who gets nominated in the different categories of the award-giving body.  FYI, the Philippine Blog Awards was establish to recognize and showcase notable Filipino-owned blogs in their respective niches.

This is the second year for the event and based on what happened last year, I’m looking forward to a bigger, better and a more exciting ceremony.  The awarding takes place this September 21, exactly one month from now.  I had the opportunity to attend last year (even presented an award, hehehe) and I’m still hoping I’ll be there this year.  Congratulations to the organizers for making this a reality and advanced congratulations to the nominees and winners, we applaud your good work and look forward to the continuous growth and development of the Pinoy blogosphere!

Purple News: It’s Official, Yahoo! Buzz announces open house

It was just a month ago when I received an email from Yahoo! Buzz announcing it will soon accept submitted stories from anyone.  Today, I got an email from them announcing that it’s now for real.

Launched last February of this year, Buzz was initially limited to a number of invited publishers who can post articles in Buzz and benefit from a tremendous surge in traffic when it gets pushed to Yahoo!’s home page.  Now, just about anyone who publishes something online can benefit from this.

After my previous post about the importance of social media, the difficulty of average users from leveraging popular social news sites like Digg and Reddit, and the good news of emerging social media sites, Yahoo! Buzz opening up is like another cool breeze to all of us who are on the lookout for ways to bring traffic to our blogs and get more exposure for our content.  Of course, it’s not a guarantee that Buzz will bring a surge of traffic to your site (although technically it can), it’s just good to know that there are more alternative social news sites for us to choose from.

Social Median and 50 Fastest Growing Niche Social Media Sites

It’s not news anymore how important social media websites have become.  However, many people can be turned off by the fact that established sites like Digg or Reddit can be hard to penetrate, meaning not everyone will get the benefits they supposedly offer.

Enter Socialmedian.com, a fresh new social news network that connects you to personalized news and information.  It’s kinda like Twitter and Digg combined, enabling users to easily choose and filter news and information that’s relevant to them.

To get started with socialmedian, the first best thing to do is to sign up and join some news networks on topics that you find interesting.  Then follow the newsmakers to discover the news these people are clipping.  Clip the stories that appeal to you so you can show other peopel what you find interesting.  See for yourself and add me to your network – http://www.socialmedian.com/jonasdelosreyes.

Another thing, I’m relisting down this post I discovered which presented 50 niche social sites to provide you with more targeted links for your blog and definitely a much smaller base of competition. Check it out and see if there’s a niche site that will work for you.

Finance
1. Value Investing News
2. Real Estate Voices
3. Feed the Bull

Shopping & Style
4. iliketotallyloveit
5. Dealigg
6. Stylehive
7. Chictini
8. ThisNext
9. Kaboodle

Sports
10. ArmchairGM
11. BallHype

Causes
12. Care2
13. Gaia
14. Fivelimes
15. Hugg

Art & Design
16. Design Float
17. Design Sites Up
18. Ravelry
19. PhotographyVoter
20. Pixel Groovy

Internet Technology
21. DNHour
22. Hacker News
23. Slashdo
24. tweako
25. BloggingZoom
26. DZone

Business
27. KillerStartups
28. PlugIM
29. HubSpot
30. Gooruze
31. Sphinn
32. Small Business Brief

Entertainment
33. ShowHype
34. Video Bomb
35. IMEEM
36. Wordsy
37. Crackle
38. GamerDNA
39. Hey! Nielsen
40. VideoSift

Miscellaneous
41. Kirtsy
42. NewsHeat
43. Fark
44. Blogs4God
45. BlackPlanet
46. Yahoo! Buzz
47. Meme or Lame
48. AutoSpies
49. Daytipper
50. tipstrs

Catch the F1 Fever!

It was last week when I spotted this display inside Suntec City Mall, courtesy of ING, the insurance company.  A group of people have started to flock around the display, checking out the car and taking some pictures.  Just right for ING to capitalize on the buzz created by the Formula 1 Singapore Grand Prix this coming September 26 to 28 since they will be present there through the ING Renault F1 Team.

Anyone wanting to be here for the F1 should have started planning weeks ago.  If you’re just starting to plan now, allow me to share some valuable info about the event.

1. Date and Time of the Race:

September 26, 2008 – Friday:
* 1st Practice Session (4:00-5:30pm)
* 2nd Practice Session (8:00-9:30pm)

September 27, 2008- Saturday:
* Final Practice Session (5:00-6:00 pm)
* Qualifying (8:00 pm)

September 28, 2008 – Sunday:
* FORMULA 1™ Singapore Grand Prix (8:00 pm)

2. Ticket prices. This varies depending on the section of the track you choose and the day (if you choose to purchase a 1 day pass only).  All Ticket prices are inclusive of Goods and Services Tax.  The Grandstand areas are the most expensive (more than a thousand S$) but if you’re on a budget you can opt for the walk-about tickets.  Here are the standard prices for adults:

3 DAY WALK-ABOUT – S$168.00
1 DAY WALK-ABOUT FRIDAY – S$38.00
1 DAY WALK-ABOUT SATURDAY – S$58.00
1 DAY WALK-ABOUT SUNDAY – S$108.00

Don’t worry if your ticket is just walk-about because there are walk-about areas which can get you closer to the cars than the spectators in grandstand seats (as close as about 3 or 4 meters away from the edge of the track).

3. Buying Tickets. You can purchase tickets online through their website, www.singaporegp.sg, and through the ticket hotline, +65 6738 6738.  If you are not based in Singapore, your tickets will be couriered to you (with extra cost, of course).

4. Photo-taking. Photo-taking is allowed inside and during the race, however only photos intended for home use are permissible.  All telephoto camera lenses must not have a focal length of greater than 300mm.  Ordinary Ticket Holders must not bring into or use within the Circuit Park any professional video cameras, handy cams or tripod equipment.

5. Conduct. Better eat first before going to the event because you cannot bring in your own food and drinks into the Circuit Park, unless you’re ok to purchase food and drinks sold inside (which I’m guessing won’t be that cheap).  The dress code is smart casual.  Spectators are advised to wear comfortable footwear.

Although I’m not an F1 fanatic, I’m planning to watch the race because it’s not everyday you get a chance to do so.  Since I’m here in Singapore already, might as well grab the chance.  I’ll be content with a one-day pass, maybe even on a Friday.  Regardless, it will be an exciting and enjoyable time.  I just wonder if someone will be blogging about it, or even twitter and plurk about it, hehehe.

New York Times features Angelica Panganiban’s Photoshopped Pics

Remember this issue not too long ago?  I’m sure no one has forgotten it yet since it was practically everywhere in cyberspace (email, forums, blogs, etc.).  Just type “Angelica Panganiban Photoshop” in Yahoo! or Google and the results will say it all.

Well, apparently some people at the New York Times got a hold of the same pics we’ve seen months before.  Specifically, Stephen J. Dubner and Steven D. Levitt, the guys behind the opinion blog (and book) Freakonomics (described in Wikipedia as melding pop culture with economics), received the photos from a reader named Doranne Lim for their FREAK Shots section (which encourages readers to submit photos they think are worthy to be talked about in that section).

In this particular issue entitled “There’s No Kanye Pill,” they talk about false advertising and deceptive claims and yes, Ms. Angelica Panganiban, described by some as Retoke Princess, was one of the examples.  To see it for yourselves, check out this link: http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/freak-shots-theres-no-kanye-pill/

Another lesson in today’s world, whatever content is uploaded online will always remain online.  Advertisers and marketers beware, the customer is always watching.

You’ve Got Better Mail!

I’ve got two email-related news that I picked up from the press room that’s both Purple in nature and definitely worth checking out.

Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop – your one stop shop for all email needs

Zimbra, a Yahoo! company known for its open source, next-generation messaging and collaboration software, announced a few days ago the release of Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop Beta.  The cool thing about Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop is that it allows you to access a simple, centralized place to manage your emails even if you’re not connected to the Internet.  Through POP and IMAP protocol support, you can access your Yahoo! Mail, GMail or AOL Mail (not sure if anyone I the Philippines has this one, hehehe) offline at the same time, from the same place.  Zimbra also allows you to use the iCal standard to bring your calendar offline.

The Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop gives users the same sleek Zimbra experience and showcases the latest technologies that have until now only been available via Web-based applications including:

• “Mash-ups” with other services; for example, when viewing an e-mail, users can see their schedule by hovering over a date, or see the status of a flight by looking at a flight number;
• Powerful search that can quickly scan a user’s e-mail and pull up relevant content;
• Built-in organization capabilities including automatically converting e-mails into conversations and advanced tagging; and
• Advanced calendaring that gives users access to their most important appointments and schedule even when they are on the go.

Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop also includes a number of features designed to help users stay organized, such as document creation, spreadsheets, task management and document storage, giving users a robust alternative to other desktop applications. New features include online and offline access to:

• Zimbra Documents, a document and spreadsheet program, which gives users the ability to embed complex objects such as photos into documents and spreadsheets. With the addition of Zimbra Documents, Zimbra Desktop users can easily create and edit documents and simple spreadsheets without having to switch between desktop programs or e-mail large attachments.
• Zimbra Briefcase, which allows users to upload, store, and conveniently access any files including spreadsheets, documents, presentations and others. Instead of keeping all attachments in e-mail you can simply store them in the same place with Zimbra Briefcase, and access them from anywhere, online or offline.
• Zimbra Tasks, a task management system which allows users to manage to-do lists simply and easily by monitoring start and due dates, priority, progress and percent complete.

Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop Beta Version 3 is available for free download at Zimbra.com/desktop.

Yahoo! Mail – Numero Uno in Mobile

Excerpted from VentureBeat.

Mobile web usage grows, and it’s not led by the iPhone — yet.

It’s been known for a while that iPhone users in the U.S. love the mobile Internet, but that love is spreading to the rest of the population rather quickly, according to a new study by Nielsen Mobile.

Of the countries surveyed, the United States was first in mobile Internet penetration with 15.6 percent of all mobile users accessing the web from their devices in May. The UK was second with 12.9 percent followed by Italy at 11.9 precent.

The report notes that advertising has reached a critical mass in the U.S. with its over 40 million active mobile Internet users. Considering that China and India, the world’s two most populous countries, still have low mobile Internet penetration numbers at 6.8 and 1.8 percent respectively, the opportunities worldwide should only grow.

It’s interesting to note that this study did not include several countries including Korea and Japan, where mobile web usage is likely very high as well.

Another interesting tidbit from the report is that Yahoo Mail beat out Google Search as the top mobile web channel in the U.S. — and by a large margin. Overall however, portals were more popular than web-based email.

I’m not sure what the statistics are in the Philippines but I find it very convenient to be able to check my email through my mobile, I’m wondering if this is the same for you?