With Google Chrome, the Web browser becomes productive ground for bloggers.

Google Chrome provides quick access to blogging tools with handy extensions which allow bloggers to research content, produce content, capture screen shot, edit images, fast bookmark and enhance SEO.

This week we’ve managed to compile 22 most wanted Google Chrome extensions, exclusively for bloggers. Details next!

1. WP Tools

   This plugin allows you to quickly access information our wordpress blog and publish new content or existing on other websites.

   

2. Blog This! (by Google)

   Add a BlogThis! button to the browser toolbar, which lets you post to your Blogger blog from any webpage with just one click.

   

3. TypePad Blog It

   Post to your TypePad blog with just one click.

   

4. Word This

   Create a post on your Wordpress.com or Self Hosted Wordpress Blog about the current page you’re viewing

   

5. Aviary Screen Capture

   Take a screenshot of any webpage and edit it directly in your browser with Aviary.com applications. Plus convenient access to the Aviary website and tools.

   

6. Lightshot

   Easy and convenient screen capture tool. Allows you to make screenshot of any selected area, edit and upload it to server.

   

7. Instant Image Editor

   Edit any image or background image instantly by alt + right-clicking it!

   

8. Image Cropper

   Image Cropper lets you crop images in any website on the fly.

   

9. Pixlr Grabber

   Edit, Save or Share screen grabs and images.

   

10. Webpage Screenshot

    Fast & Simple solution to save JPG screenshots of any webpage. The first extension that captures the whole page.

    

11. Split Screen

    Prompts the user for two URL addresses and then displays both in one window!

    

12. Resolution Test

    An extension for developers to test web pages in different screen resolutions, with an option to define your own resolutions.

    

13. Wordpress Comments Notifier

    Be notified when you have new comments from your Wordpress blog.

    

14. whos.amung.us Users Online Counter

    Shows how many people are currently on your website in accordance with our widget use.

    

15. Chrome SEO

    The Google Chrome SEO Extension. Make your SEO tasks easier with Chrome SEO Tools, includes ‘all’ the stats and data you need.

    

16. Clip to Evernote

    Evernote’s Clip to Evernote extension lets you save interesting stuff you see on the web.

    

17. Digg for Chrome

    See what is being discovered and shared on Digg.

    

18. Page Monitor

    This extension allows your browser to monitor changes to web pages for you. It can inform you whenever a particular page changes without you having to go and check every time.

    

19. Google Images Large Images

    Shows actual image size on mouse over in Google Images.

    

20. FastestChrome – Browse Faster

    Save time and enhance your productivity! Get quick definitions, auto-load next pages, search faster, and more.

    

21. Web Developer

    Adds a toolbar button with various web developer tools. The official port of the Web Developer extension for Firefox.

    

22. Zemanta

    Enhance your blog with Zemanta for Google Chrome.

    

Favicon, also knows as icon for website, shortcut, URL or bookmark. It usually displayed in 16×16 pixel in the browser’s address bar and net to the page’s name in a list of bookmars.

Owners of a website like to use it as a logo or symbol to represent a website, regardless a blog or e-commercial site.

This week, we’ve collected 20 free favicon generators and editors that help you to generate favicon from scratch or an image. Details next!

Note: Tutorials on how to name, upload and display a favicon can be found can be easily found at the websites below.

1. Convertico.com

   ConvertICO is a Free Online Converter – fast (you don’t need to install the software and you don’t need to register) and easy to use (you need only 3 clicks to convert the PNG or ICO file) – which allows you to convert PNG to ICO (Windows Vista compatible) and ICO to PNG format files.

   

2. Faviconr

   Faviconr can make favicons from jpg, gif, and png files. (You can create transparent favicons if your source file is a transparent png or gif file.)

   

3. Favicon.cc

   favicon.cc is a tool to create or download favicon.ico icons, that get displayed in the address bar of every browser.

   

4. FavIcon Generator

   Use this online tool to easily create a favicon (favorites icon) for your site. It is a good way to brand your site and increase it’s prominence in your visitor’s bookmark menu.

   

5. Converticon

   Converticon is a simple icon utility. It can import ICO, PNG, GIF, and JPEG formats and export to high-quality PNG or ICO files. There is no software to download and it’s 100% free.

   

6. Bradicon

   Bradicon takes your image file and converts it — creating an icon resource that can be used for a shortcut, a program, or as a favicon.

   

7. Imagicon
   

   Imagicon is a graphics utility designed to convert multiple image files from BMP, JPG or PNG image formats into ICO.

   

8. Favicon.ru

   Make your favicon.ico with Favicon.ru, be different.

   

9. Favicon Editor

   

10. Favicon Icon Drawing Program

    Draw your own favicon or icon online for free using this entirely web-based, non-Java icon generator.

    

11. Favicon Generator Tool

    This tool lets you upload an image (JPG, PNG, or GIF – 100KB max), and easily convert it to a standard 16×16 favicon.ico file for display on your website.

    

12. Favicon Generator

    

13. Favicon Maker

    

14. Favicons Drawer

    

15. Favikon

    

16. Greenfish Icon Editor Pro 1.72

    A professional, yet free icon/cursor/animation editor. Also for editing icon libraries and resource files.

    

17. iConverticons

    iConvert converts and creates Windows, Mac and Linux icons in one step!

    

18. Iconfu

    iconfu is an easy-to-use free online icon editor, combined with an icon collection of over 12,000 free icons gathered from open-source collections around the world.

    

19. Genfavicon

    

20. Online Fav-Icon Creator

    Online Fav-Icon Creator allows creation of 16×16 icons (favicons) using simple drawing tools.

    

In order to get through spam filters, spammers have started to use ASCII to represent words. Even though it’s not entirely effective, it still allows spammers to convey their message to us.

I have received such abominations in my Yahoo inbox today. Apparently Yahoo needs to adjust their security line for it. The below picture shows how an ASCII Spam appeared in my Yahoo inbox.

From: Ibarra Latham Guidry
Subject: Vvvoodhnblbm

I have no idea on how Yahoo allowed this kind of sender name and subject but I personally think this is very creative and I admire the efforts put by those spammers.

How do you think?

I started this blog on January 2007. That was a time when most of my friends didn’t know how a blog is operated. Started up K-Director Dot Com wasn’t an easy task to me as there’s not much resources for me to learn how to begin a blog.

Researching and reading online had became my main resources to customize my blog and sharpen my writing skill. It was a tough path when everything was in dark, unsure, and scrabble.

Regardless you’re blogging for money or popularity, here’s some tips I believe they could show you a direction in blogsphere.

1. To Learn

Learning is a non-stop progress for a human. If you’re new in blogging, there are many things you should put some efforts for new knowledge. What should you know? A question you may doubt about.

1. How does a web hosting server work
2. How does a domain work
3. How to purchase a domain and web hosting
4. How to pick a good domain name
5. How to choose a suitable web hosting
6. How to moderate your cPanel
7. How to install WordPress
8. Customize WordPress theme
9. Install WordPress plugins
10. If you plan to make money from your blog, learn how does Google Adsense work
11. What is feed/RSS and how to burn your feed
12. How to use Google Webmaster and Google analytics to moderate your website

2. To Master

After you’ve a clear mind of what to learn, master them. Exercise of what you’ve learned and apply them on your blog. At the same time, start to blog and learn from the other bloggers. Writing skill is a key for better user experience.

1. Master how to apply text format – bold, italic, header, more
2. Master how to use images to beautified an entry.
3. Master how to write a good title.
4. Master SEO
5. Master good and original content
6. Master persistency
7. Master consistency
8. Master sharing is caring

3. Just Do It (Action)

Yes. For new startup bloggers, please settle down what is your preferably niche for your blog. Don’t be fickle minded and too greedy to write everything under sun.

On and off bloggers are not welcomed by Google Bot. So, just blog and write for good content.

4. Return

I believe after a blogger has goes through the above 3 steps, he/she will certainly will get some returns from blogging. It’s either returns in term of money or popularity.

Return always comes after efforts. This is for sure.

As a conclusion, Learn-Master-Action-Return is a natural cycle I have seen in blogsphere. How many blogs have been created every minute and how many blogs have been abandoned at the same time because don’t understand the cycle?

I joined BarCamp Malaysia today since morning till evening in Kuala Lumpur. This was my first official event as in a blogger’s stand. It took a whole day long but it was pretty enjoyable.

I didn’t bring my camera so these were what I basically involved in BarCamp Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia day 1.

8am: Registered myself and got the freebies from BarCamp. I was the first attendee. LOL.

8.30am: Had breakfast with HongKiat, LiewCF and James in McDonald. It was supposely to be in some hotel restaurant for DimSum but we ended up with McMuffin.

10am: Attended “Life of a GSoC Student”. We were there because the room for “Google Andriod” was super full.

11am: Attended “The OpenMalaysiaBlog Story”. OK, it’s nothing to do with blog or blogging at all. Just like what the speaker said in the sharing session, “it’s a complete waste of time“.

12pm: I was in “Monetizing YouTube?”. Basically it didn’t give a single clue on how to monetize YouTube. We were just given some information of a new technology that able to detect a particular shape in a video. That’s all!

1pm: Lunch with HongKiat, LiewCF and James at Mamak because they’re too famous to have lunch buffet at BarCamp venue. You know, celebrities like privacy.

2pm: Attended “Monkeying around with Yahoo! Search”. No comment on it because I saw several attendees were napping.

3pm: Attended “How to become 25% more productive: Essential free tools for the modern office” which conducted by James from FriedBeef.com. It was the best topic I have went through this whole day and it was seriously ‘25% more productive’ because the class ended up within 30 minutes.

3.30pm: Beer section with HongKiat, LiewCF, James and James’ friend. Sorry I forgot your name.

5pm: Was in “Blogging in Malaysia”. The speaker didn’t show up and we had our own discussion about blogging in the room.

6pm: Ciao.

So, see ya all at BarCamp Day 2 !

1. Vertu Constellation Monogram

The phone’s body is stainless steel, and the monogrammed leather back is handprinted in a four-hour process.

Price: Around $7,000 online

2. Mobiado Stealth

Its screen is scratch-proof sapphire. Designer Mobiado, based in Vancouver, Canada, produced a limited edition of 1,200.

Price: $2,875

3. Gresso Steel

Aircraft steel and sapphire glass figure in this phone, from Russian company Gresso.

Price: $5,500

4. Toshiba Cosmic Shiner

The Cosmic Shiner resembles more mainstream Toshiba phones, but with two key differences: diamond studs on its cover and a limited edition of 1,000.

Price: $4,000

5. Nokia 8800 Arte from Peter Aloisson

The company covered the Nokia phone with more than 21 carats of pink and white diamonds.

Price: $134,000

6. Apple iPhone by Amosu

London designer Amosu says he was the first to encrust the iPhone in diamonds. His diamond iPhone will set you back almost $40,000.

Price: $39,600

7. Chistian Dior phone

Christian Dior’s first cellphone resembles a sleek cosmetic compact and comes with a clip-on miniature phone that can be worn on a chain or attached to a handbag.

Price: $5,500

8. Tag Heuer Meridiist

Made out of 430 components and corrosion-resistant steel, it also features a crocodile skin back.

Price: $5,400 to $6,200

9. Porsche P9521

This Porsche phone has a fingerprint sensor for security. Its black-glass frame and brushed aluminum hinges are meant to evoke its namesake cars.

Price: $1,900

10. Asus Lamborghini ZX1

Asus teamed with Lamborghini to produce this phone, which has a large touch screen and built-in global positioning system.

Price: Around $1,500

[Source: http://www.forbes.com]

Some thoughts came across my mind few days ago. Somehow, I suddenly realized blogging industry is similar to food selling industry. If it’s hard for you to relate both industries, read my opinions below.

1. Flexibility

• Food hawker sell food at any place, anytime.
• Blogger blogs any place, anytime too.

2. Content is the king

• Consumers patronage certain hawker because of the food (content).
• Readers support certain blogger because of the blog entries (content).

3. Persistency

• If a hawker doesn’t run their business for few days in a roll, business will drop.
• If a blogger doesn’t blog for few days in a roll, traffic will drop too.

4. Promotion is needed

• Both industries need promotion to promote their business. (e.g. banners and newspaper ads)

5. Public praise

• Recommendation from others get the best promotion effect.

6. Space/Bandwidth

• Food hawker requires more space to serve more customers or else customers will feel uncomfortable.
• Blogger requires more bandwidth to serve more visitors or else “Page Loading Problem” occurred.

7. Creativity and Uniqueness

• Food hawkers need to create their own unique dishes to attract customers.
• Bloggers need to create more creative contents to attract more readers.

So far, these are what came to my mind. If you have any more views, leave me a comment.

On March 31 2007, for one hour, Sydney made a powerful statement about the greatest contributor to global warming – coal-fired electricity – by turning off its lights. Over 2.2 million Sydney residents and over 2,100 businesses switched off, leading to a 10.2% energy reduction across the city. What began as one city taking a stand against global warming caught the attention of the world.

In 2008, 24 global cities will participate in Earth Hour at 8pm on March 29. Earth Hour is the highlight of a major campaign to encourage businesses, communities and individuals to take the simple steps needed to cut their emissions on an ongoing basis. It is about simple changes that will collectively make a difference – from businesses turning off their lights when their offices are empty, to households turning off appliances rather than leaving them on standby.

So please don’t wait. Join us!

(Located in Taipan, opposite McDonald)

We ordered few plates of meats, very small portion dishes, soup, raw beef with egg and rice.

Kuan Yew, used to be our chef in our uni life… (Yew, I will remember your steak forever!)

The main purpose of having a gathering is of course not the BBQ dinner. It’s good to have such a gathering with friends to keep in touch with each other and flash back the old school memories together.

From left: Me, Kym, Belly, Kevin, Eve, KuanYew

From left: Me, Kym, Alex, Belly, Kevin, Eve, KuanYew

That was a wonderful night. I am looking forward to our next gathering – Chinese Lao Sum Dinner. See ya guys!

[Photos provided by Alexander]

Turn Off IM

Turn off all the chatting program like MSN messenger, Yahoo messenger and Skype before start blogging. Actually it’s not about people will message me while I am writing a post. But it’s because I like to maximize it and see who’s online, then minimize it back without sending any message. I can do that every 5 – 10 minutes if I am surfing web.

Turn Off Music

I am this kind of people who can get distracted by music easily. I can’t concentrate in thinking when there is a music on. Music or good songs can conquer my mind without any force. So I must turn off music before I start to blog. This even applied when I am doing programming in office.

Planning

Planning is important for us to write a fluent and readable article. Normally I will jot down all the points and keywords before I elaborate it. If necessary, a mind map will be done too.

Researching

Doing research is a must. The idea can’t just fall from sky. I need to get the information, statistics, official reports and references in order to get more details about the topic I am going to talk about.

Preparing Print Screen

To enhance a post’s readability, related images are always encouraged. Normally I will save an image from its official website or else I will print screen it from its reviews. Then, I will save it as png and upload it to my web hosting space.

Conclusion

So what do you do before you start writing a post? Share with me here.

OK. Less bullshit. Now talk about what I have done so far for my blog. If you’re going to start a new blog, this might be a good guide for you. At least, I re-design this site after 9 months of blogging. I know where to start correctly. It helps you to create a less mistake and more effective blog.

1. New Theme
As you see, this is a new theme for K-Director. This theme comes with 3 columns + 1 bottom row. At the top and bottom of sidebar, it merges 2 columns to 1 column. So I can insert a bigger size of widget up there and bottom there.
The font’s color, size and types have been changed too.
You can look for a free theme at http://themes.wordpress.net/.

2. New Tagline
I edited my tagline from “Download, Tech, Web, Make Money Online, Tips” to “Experience Web 2.0, Make Money Online, SEO, Blogging, Technology, Tips” and so does my home page title tag. The reason is simple. These tags are the contents I am going to focus on from now onwards. After 9 months of blogging, I finally know what I interested at. So, continue writing what I like is something can motivate me to maintain this blog.

3. New Google Custom Search
I am now using Google Custom Search. No more big big Google Search box at the top middle of my blog. The new Google Custom Search has been placed at a corner and I feel it fits my blog perfectly.
Google Custom Search allows user make money from its search result too. If you have no idea how to create a Google Custom Search for your blog, Dosh Dosh has a great post on how to set up Google Custom Search And Make Money.

4. New Comment Field
I installed WP-Grins plugin and TinyMCEcomments plugin to beautify my comment field. Now you can use a WYSIWYG editor on the comment field and at the same time, clickables smilies provided. And of course, you can subscribe my post comment via Subscribe To Comments plugin.

There’s still a lot to work at. Hopefully I can brief you more in phase 2.
If you have question about my rebuilding process, leave me a comment.

Beside that, I gonna deactivate and uninstall all the WP plugins that K-Director.com is using currently. The reinstallation of WP plugins will be carried on after the new theme has been selected.
After this redesign has been done successfully, I will tell you the reasons behind it.

Hopefully I can finish everything by tonight.
Wish me good luck!

Update: I don’t think I can settle everything by tonight. But at least the theme has been set. I will continue doing it when I am free (recently rushing a company project and it almost “take my breathe away“).

This afternoon I went to Subang visited my friend – Tony’s boutique, T & C Vintage ,which was launched last month. It located in Subang, SS15/8B. Somewhere near to Subang Inti College.

Address : 24, Jln SS15/8B, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor.
The shop lot is not too big but it actually contains more than 1000 clothes, jeans and pants. He is mostly selling second hand original branded t-shirt, collar shirt, jeans, office attires and etc.

Here are the brands that can be found in his shop:
Polo Ralph Lauren
Tommy Hilfiger
Fred Perry
Lacoste
Hard Rock
Nike
Adidas
Nautica
Levi’s

The prices are reasonable and negotiable. I believe his customers can always find some cheap and good quality stuff there. He even told me some of the clothes are under priced.

It’s good to have more entrepreneurs like him in Malaysia. Dare to take risk to own a business is not a simple task. Wish you all the best Tony!

Long long time ago…

Many of you might have no idea how did I start k-director.com. I was very active in a Director forum named domaj.com. After few years of answering and replying director users’ questions, the admin of the site – Tony Domigan, decided to reward me on helping him so much.

So, he offered a free domain name+1 free web hosting plan. And I decided to make something about Director too, that’s why u see my domain is k-director.com. K is my name(kay) in case you don’t know.

The original plan
So this is the original plan of k-director.com – a personal porn portfolio site. There suppose has a forum about director, a portfolio site contains all my works, and a blog too.

If you’re interested, I still keep the suppose to be version of k-director.com(made by flash+director).
Click this link to see : http://www.k-director.com/portfolio/