Do you know that WordPress has its own built-in importer for your Blogspot blog?

WordPress Blog Importer Tool

Go to Tools -> Import -> Choose to import from Blogger. Your WordPress will download a plugin called “Blogger Importer.” It will ask you to authorize access to your Blogger account. After that, you will be presented with list of blogs in your Blogger account. Choose the one you want to import by clicking “Import” button next to whichever blog you want to import, wait until it finished downloading content, and click “Set Author.” That’s all to it. You are done. All your content from Blogspot.com will be imported to your WordPress blog.

Blogspot Import

One drawback was that you have to set the categories all over again. If your old and new blogs have same categories settings, you don’t have to worry, because WordPress will map each new imported posts to their corresponding categories. However, in my case, since I have different category settings, I have to remap all my new imported blog contents to their right categories. It’s not a bid deal if you have only 100 additional blog posts, like in my case. However, if you have thousand of blog posts, it will be quite a headache.

Most of the old blog posts that I imported to here are in Religious, Funny and Cool Stuff category now and dated back in 2007 when I first wrote blog posts. Check them out. I found some of the posts were really funny and cool, like “Some Important Laws that Newton Forgot” and “Amazing Billiard Tricks“. Since I posted them a long time ago, I didn’t even remember that I have ever published them on my old blog. LOL.

I also found that some of the pictures from the new imported posts are not linked correctly, so some pictures won’t show up. I will try to fix this gradually since they are so many posts. If you found one, please message me @StevenSentosa.

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FYI, I actually considered also ASUS 1005PE, ASUS 1005HA, and Toshiba Mini N305. But, I finally decided to go with ASUS 1018P (1018PB in this case). It doesn’t get as long as 14 hours battery life like in ASUS 1005P, but I don’t think I will use my laptop without plugging it in to power outlet that long either. The biggest plus point for ASUS 1018P is its unique design. As far as its capabilities, it is about the same like other netbooks.

ASUS 1018PB-BK801 Specifications

• Intel Atom N450 1.66Ghz
• Operating System: Windows 7 Starter Edition
• 10.1 inch display screen (1024×600)
• 1 Gb DDR2 memory
• 250 Gb HDD
• 3 USB ports
• Wireless B/G/N
• 10 hours battery life (4 cell Li-on battery) – ASUS Li-Polymer Battery Pack C22-1018. Rating: +7.4v, 6000mAh, 44Wh.
• Price: $350

Pros:

• Sleek aluminum design. Check out some pictures of my ASUS 1018P below. You’ll see how sexy this netbook is.
• Really thin (0.9″) and light (2.4 lbs.)
• Long battery life. I got at least 7 hours of battery with normal usage (browsing, streaming videos, and word processing). Best Buy’s website says that it supposed to last for 8 hours and 16 minutes.
• It actually can play online streaming videos well. I’m talking about 360p videos here. It can play 480p just fine, but you will find slight choppiness here and there. When I was in Best Buy, I also tried out ASUS 100PEB, which is one of the one I considered also, and it played online streaming videos really poorly, especially if you are playing 480p videos. It was really lagging.
• It has a webcam lens cover that you can slide on and off. This is really good if you want to cover your camera for quick without having to turn off the camera completely, just slide the cover.

Cons:

• Battery life meter is unstable depending your usage. I guess this is understandable. When you start working on something heavy on your netbook, the battery life will drop. Under normal use, the battery life will back up again to what it supposed to be.
• The left and right mouse clicks were little bit stiff. You have to press it hard when you want to click something.
• Microphone original settings was not really good. (see “Microphone Quick Fix“)

As you know with Win 7 Starter Edition, you can’t change the desktop background, which I think ridiculous. Luckily, ASUS provides you with the solution for that. Along with its ASUS Eee Docking, ASUS provides you with its own System Utility Setting add-on which you can get at ftp://ftp.asus.com.tw/pub/ASUS/EeePC/Utility/SystemSetting_Setup-1_1_0_8.zip to change your desktop background in Win 7 Starter Edition. This add-on is only working for ASUS computer, so if you are trying to install it on other brand computers, I don’t it will work.

Some software that you might need for your netbook:

• CutePDF (http://www.cutepdf.com/)
• OpenOffice (http://www.openoffice.org/)
• Image Resizer (http://imageresizer.codeplex.com/)
• EeePC System Setting Utility (see the link above)
• Avast Anti Virus (http://www.avast.com)
• Media Player Classic (http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/)

My old ASUS N61JQ-X1 will no longer feel lonely now. It found a new friend, ASUS 1018PB-BK801. Man…I got dizzy now with all these model numbers in my head.

[UPDATE 07/19/2010] – Microphone Quick Fix

I was testing my microphone for skype call today, and it was awful. My voice sounds too “crispy.” I don’t know how to describe it, but it was not good. To fix it, go to your Microphone Properties -> Enhancement. Its original settings were to set Immediate Mode, DC Offset Cancellation, and Noise Suppression on. Now, change your settings into the settings bellow. It should fix the problem.

Microphone Properties

Picture Galleries

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They will perform for their “A Beautiful Exchange Tour,” Saturday, 24 July 2010 at Mount Pisgah United Methodist Church and the ticket price is $25.

This live performance is actually to promote Hillsong’s latest album “A Beautiful Exchange.” Here’s a preview of their album:

I have been imagining something like this, but I guess I just have to wait for another chance.

I have this crazy idea though, how if I go to Mount Pisgah church next week wearing my jogging outfit, ask them if I can go to their bathroom, and immediately slip into the crowd and watch the concert? hmm….sounds like a good idea, right? but I’m sure they are already prepared for that. Plus, I don’t think it’s the right way anyway, but I’m running out of idea here. Maybe you could give me some “good idea” here.

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I know that taking notes doesn’t have to be on a piece of paper. It could also be a “mental” note. This method is fine and needed from time to time. It’s good for quick retrieval, but you will forget the details if you are only relying on your mental note abilities. Therefore, I will focus more on taking notes in a piece of paper, especially in a class lecture settings.

Before we start, I want to lay down one simple objective of taking good notes. To me, a note contains every main details that your instructor lectures. It should be thorough enough that when you recite your note, it is as if you are repeating what you instructor was saying. Pretty simple, isn’t it? ok, here we go.

1. Choose the right paper

The paper that you choose suppose to be not too thin that your ink bleeds and not too thick that it’s hard to fold.

Use ruled paper instead of the plain one. It will keep your handwriting straight and easier to read.

2. Choose the right pen

There are many different types of pen you can choose. I like to use ballpoint pen, especially the one with round end, not the pointy one. The round-end pen writes better. It glides as you write. This feature is useful to speed up your writings.

3. Use abbreviation

If you like to tweet or text, you know what I’m talking about. Abbreviation makes your writing faster. Granted that everyone has their own style of abbreviating, and it’s completely fine. Make your note personal to you. Unless you are writing notes for someone else, you can make up your own abbreviations. Just make sure you know what they are and be consistent with them.

4. Use pictures

People says pictures speak thousand words. This is true. Sometimes you can draw something to explain one paragraph in handwriting. So why are you using words if a picture is sufficient?

5. Write neatly

This is a really important point. When you write something, you want to be able to read it again next time. That’s the whole point of taking notes. So if you write poorly, you will be having a hard time to read it in the future. Here’s some tips to write neatly.

6. Stay awake

Keep yourself awake; otherwise, your handwriting will be a mess. Most students know what I’m talking about. Have you ever tried to write a note when you were sleepy? Yeah…not a good idea. Your handwritings will be like chicken-scratch with no shape and form whatsoever. Here is some tips on how to stay awake in the class.

7. Understand your teachers

What do I mean by that? It’s simple. You should know your teacher well enough to know which part of his/her lecture is important (HINT: more likely to be on the test) and which one that is not really important. I’m not saying to take partial notes. I’m just saying to take better notes at the important parts of the lecture.

If your teacher speaks really fast, use more abbreviations. If your teacher like to jump around on his topics, organize your notes to accommodate that. And so on….

8. Copying someone else’s note is NOT recommended

Unless you are sick (I mean a genuine sick), there’s little option other than to copy someone else’s notes. Other than that, try to take notes by yourself. Why? It’s because when you write your own notes, your brain is taking notes also at the same time. It’s like taking notes twice. Your brain will retain information better after you heard the information, wrote it on your notes, and saw the information as you write it.

9. Don’t just write, understand what you wrote

Writing is good, but understanding is better. Try to connect the things that you wrote in your brain. Make them relevant to you. This is also a good time to ask your teacher if something is unclear to you. You want to understand what you wrote when you look at your notes in the future.

10. Organize your notes

Separate your notes into sections. They could be by subjects, dates, instructors, time, etc. Find what works best for you. Don’t be hard on yourself. Make it easier for you to find your notes.

Hopefully my tips would help you become a better note taker. Which one works the best for you? Do you have your own tips you would share with us. Please leave comments below.

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Whatever your plans are, you need to remember again what Independence Day truly is. Here’s a YouTube video to remind you to some of the famous quotes given by the previous US presidents and to give a tribute to those who sacrificed themselves for the freedom that we enjoy every day in US. Happy the 234th birthday for US!

Photo courtesy of Irish Shreve Garrott and video courtesy of TaylorX04.

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So far, I’m pretty pleased with the way it looks. It lacks the theme setup like those in Thesis theme; but overall, it is much better than WordPress’ old default theme.

Also, since I was trying out a new tool called Windows Live Writer, you might see two new temporary posts in your RSS Reader. It will be something like this.

I’m really sorry about those temporary posts. When I was setting up Windows Live Writer, it apparently made two attempts to access my blog’s native settings and look, and created  two temporary posts like these. Please ignore these two temporary posts.

Another main reason why I changed the theme was also because my old theme, Arclite 2.02, didn’t seem to work well with Windows Live Writer. FYI, Windows Live Writer is a tool to access your blog from the convenient of your desktop software. Instead of going directly to the site’s dashboard, all creating and editing of blog posts can be done through your desktop software. It also has the ability to preview the post right in the software, so I don’t have to go back and forth, and refresh the preview page to see how the post look after I made any changes.

I  am giving Windows Live Writer a try now. I liked it so far. It’s really easy to use. It has a lot of plug-ins, and I don’t have to worry losing my copy again now when the Internet connection drops, because the draft post is saved on your computer instead online.

I hope you like the new look of My Internet Corner. As always, I welcome any feedbacks that you might have regarding this new changes.

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Morning Jog at the Central Park

This might not be an issue for you, but I’m sure most of us fall into this category. You just don’t have the motivation to exercise. I’m not blaming you. Some people have kids to take care of. Some have pile of works to do. You just don’t have the time and motivation to exercise. However, you feel the need to exercise. If you were like me, I always feel sad when I see myself on the mirror. It just doesn’t look right. Do you know what I mean? Then these tips are for you. I’m not saying you will start your exercise 1 minute after you read these tips, but at least they will help you to get started.

Thefrisky.com gives a bunch of tips that I will use here. Why? because they came from readers just like you, so the tips will be realistic and relevant for you, I’d think.

1. Start small. Nobody starts as an athlete. Everybody who are involved in sports start small. If you have never run before, don’t set yourself to run for 5 miles a day. Start with 1 mile or even 0.5 mile. Start with something achievable where you know you can accomplish it. When you do, it will start build your confidence to set yourself with higher goals.
2. Realize that it’s hard. If you think that exercising is hard, you are absolutely right. It’s not easy to start, it’s even harder to keep doing it. So if you are getting frustrated in the beginning, relax. It’s normal. The key here is how you response to that frustration? Are you going to stop or keep going? Well, you know the answer to that. Keep trying. You’ll get to the point where exercising become a part of you. If you don’t exercise, you feel something is just not right. When you are at that point, you are all set.
3. Don’t wait. This is the biggest problem I have. I always think that today is not a good day to exercise. I’ll do it tomorrow. And you know what? for some strange reason, I am having the same excuse tomorrow and the day after that. My point is if you are thinking of exercising, do it NOW. If you wait, the chance is you are not going to do it.

I hope these tips will help you to get started exercising. I’m still struggling too sometimes, and it’s normal. We are not Michael Phelps who trains six hours a day, six days a week, without fail.

Let me know how it goes for you. If I were to ask you what is your best tip to get started exercising, what would it be?

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My biggest challenges in blogging are language and flow. English is not my first language, so I will naturally have problem with copywritings. I know it will probably take my entire life to master English copywritings, so I just need to improve it as best as I could. I’m not demanding to become an English language scholar, but at least to become a fine blogger. I would also want to write with smooth flow, not too rigid but not too loose either.

Do you have any suggestion for good books or good websites to check out? Anything will do. It’s not gonna be easy, I know, but I’m willing to take the extra steps to be better at it. In case you are wondering, I will be blogging about real estate apartments and house complexes in different cities, so it will be pretty much about everything: apartment living, go green, health, food, social events, etc.

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I found this deal on ecost.com where you can get Jawbone Icon (the Thinker series – black) for $48.99. Do you know how much is the suggested retail price for this bluetooth headset? It’s $99. Check out here to get the deal http://www.ecost.com/Detail.aspx?edp=56242885&navid=155441519

Knowing that I got a good deal here (50% discount), I went ahead and bought it. There are couple things you need to know though before you buy this Jawbone Icon from ecost.com. You will not get the retail package like this one.

Instead, you will get something similar to this.

On this one, you will only get wall charger, micro USB cable charger, Jawbone Icon headset, ear hook, and 1 earbud. You are actually seeing 2 earbuds here, because the clear one (the black one was originally from Jawbone) was a Jabra mini eargel from my Jabra headset.

You might wonder why do I use Jabra earbud for a Jawbone headset? The answer is because Jawbone’s original earbud is really not comfortable. Plus, the original one seems pulling the headset away from my cheek, which is not good if you want the NoiseAssasin to work. After doing some research, I found out that Jabra mini eargel is the best replacement for Jawbone’s original earbud. It fits just fine and gives more comfort than the original one. I was kinda lucky because I had Jabra headset before, so I don’t have to buy another one.

Also, I just subscribed to Jawbone MyTalk. It’s kinda neat. You can update the software inside Jawbone Icon through Jawbone Updater application. This means you can add more functionalities to your Jawbone Icon headset. For example, I just added A2DP function to my Jawbone Icon. Now, I can listen to podcasts or songs from my Jawbone headset. You could also change the default audio in your headset to 6 different voices (your headset can tell you how much battery remains, incoming call, etc.)

Overall, this is the best headset I have had so far (compared to Jabra and Cardo Scala). Audio quality is good and NoiseAssassin works great.

Are you using a bluetooth headset? What is the best bluetooth headset in your opinion? Why? Is it because of the price, features, size, look, or any other reasons?

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If you are curious how big the spill is, take a look at this area map of gulf of Mexico. (click on the image for bigger view)

Taken from http://paulrademacher.com/oilspill/

As you can see, the spill start to reach the shore. I can’t imagine how this will affect the environment there.

BP has done couple things to fix this problem. Granted, none of them has been successful, but they are keep trying.

1. On May 7th, 2010, BP tried to contain the oil by dropping 280,000 pound (close to 115 tons) container dome to the source of the oil spill, but they failed because the combination of oil and cold water will produce Methane Hydrate which block the canopy at the top of the dome.
2. On May 11th, 2010, BP tried to use smaller container dome, but it still failed.
3. On May 14th, 2010, BP tried to use insertion tube to save some of the oil spill, which was saving 84,000 gallons (or 320,000 litres) of oil per day.
4. On May 29th, 2010, BP tried to use “top kill” method to seal the leak, but again, it was failed.
5. On June 7th, 2010, BP had successfully contained close to 620,000 gallons of oil per day using their Lower Marine Riser Package (LMRP) Cap Containment System.

The oil is still spilling though, so BP has still to find a way to properly seal it. There are also some recovery actions that are done to contain the oil that has been spilled, some of them are

1. Collect the oil by using containment boom.
2. Disperse the oil by using  oil dispersant, Corexit EC9500A and Corexit EC9527A.

Well…I am just hoping that all the efforts will work. If this continues, I’m sure there will be more damage done to the ecosystem and tourism around gulf of Mexico. I have heard from the radio and one of my friends that many people have cancelled their reservation this summer at those area around Gulf of Mexico, so this incident would also affect the economy in the Gulf of Mexico area.

I don’t think we should blame anyone for this. Everyone (ex: BP, government, etc.) have their own share of mistakes that contribute to this incident. What do you guys think? how long this disaster will continue? Whom to be blamed? most importantly, how can we fix this? well…if you know the answer of the last question, let me know. We can work something out and make BARRELS of money.

Lastly, in my attempt to cheer you up, check out and watch this funny, but yet true, video.

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