How to set up a blog on Blogger

I have had so many people asking me on how to start up a blog and I was seriously considering creating a video tutorial until I realised that there were so many good ones out there on the net. There is no point in reinventing the wheel.

For beginners I recommend starting a blog on Blogger, said to be the most popular blogging platform in the World (I actually have no way to confirm this claim). For your information, Blogger is part of the Google family.

Anyway, here is a short but extremely informative tutorial on setting up a blog on Blogger (hosted on YouTube).

Google Chrome out of Beta

Chrome - the browser from Google is now out of Beta. Right now the latest version is only available for WIndows but I read that the Mac version is coming out soon.



The download was really fast and installation was a breeze. However, I had to close my Firefox browser before the installation could go ahead.

The guys at Google are not joking when they said that it "starts up fast".

However, I am not ready to shift from Firefox just as yet. I guess the biggest advantage that Firefox has over Chrome are the customisable add-ons or extensions.

Microsoft Office Ultimate offer

If you are a student, I have some great news. Just found out about this amazing offer from Microsoft. You can now grab a copy of Microsoft Office Ultimate for ONLY £38.95.

That's a steal, considering that the package retails for £477.35 on Amazon UK.

All you need is a .ac.uk email address.

Microsoft Office Ultimate conatins Access 2007, Outlook 2007, Excel 2007, PowerPoint 2007, Groove 2007, Publisher 2007, InfoPath 2007, Word 2007 and OneNote 2007.

Oxite - the new blogging platform from Microsoft

Just got to know about Oxite - an open source blogging platform from Microsoft. Yes! We thought we would never see the day but Microsoft does give away software for free.

Check out the numerous open sources projects on Codeplex - their Open Source community site. Oxite is in Alpha, meaning that it is still in the Internal Test stage. Hopefully they shall have a Beta version out soon ready for public testing. Not sure how it's going to compare to Wordpress but it would definitely need to have more features if they are going to compete against the World's most favourite blog platform. From what I read, they might position it as a full fledged Content Management Systems like Joomla rather than just a blogging platform.

3 INQ phone

The 3 INQ mobile phone went on general sale on Friday.

No! It's not a touch phone but this phone has a number of advanced features at such an affordable price which makes it one of the best phones around.

It comes with the Facebook application preloaded which allows you to receive friend's status updates and profile pics in your address book. It also has Windows Live Messenger and Skype.

This slider phone has a big 2.2" QVGA (high res) / 262K colours screen and weighs 110g. It comes with an internal 50MB memory and 1GB MicroSD card included and also has a 3.2 Megapixel camera.

Tariffs start at only £15 a month. This includes unlimited texts and FREE internet (on a 18 month contract) plus 75 minutes (anytime, any network). Alternatively you can go with the Mix & Match 300 plan. Here you get 300 minutes or textsor any mix of the two - anytime, any network FREE Unlimited mins on 3 to 3 calls every month. Plus
FREE Voicemail every month. Howeer to access the net you have to go or the Internet Max addon and the total is £19.57 a month. You can also buy the phone on Pay-As-You-Go for £79.99.

Maybe I should have waited a bit longer instead of going for the Sony Ericsson 770i.

Nokia unveils the N97

Nokia recently unveiled the latest phone in their flagship N series - the Nokia N97. They call it "the world's most advanced mobile computer".



The new phone features a tilting touch display (like HTC's TyTn II), a 3.5" touch display with a full QWERTY keyboard, 5-Megapixel camera with high-quality Carl Zeiss optics, integrated A-GPS sensors and an electronic compass, among other features.

The N97 supports up to an amazing (for a mobile) 48 GB of storage, including 32 GB of on-board memory, expandable with a 16 GB microSD card.

It is expected to go on sale early next year at around €550 before taxes or subsidies. That's rather costly as compared to other comparable phones in the market. Hopefully it will come down.

Kodak C913 - Cheapest 9 MP digital camera

I have been looking for a good yet affordable camera to replace my old Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9. I love my Panasonic camera but something is wrong with the LCD screen - it went dead and I simply can't see the pictures I am taking.

I would have loved to buy a good digital SLR but budgetary constraints meant I had to stick to one below £100. So I did a survey of various websites including Currys, PC World, Misco, Amazon and Argos. I was set on buying the Nikon Coolpix L18 when i came across the Kodak C913 in Argos. I couldn't believe it. At only £49.99, it was the cheapest 9MP camera in the market (at that time). Just checked and found that it is presently selling at £59.99 on the Argos site. That's still cheaper than other comparable cameras.



This entry level camera has 9.2 MP effective pixels with 3X optical zoom lens and 5X digital zoom.

It's a bit thicker than my old Lumix (probably due to the fact that it uses 2 AA batteries but I found it to be lighter. I like the fact that the camera comes with 16 MB internal memory. The LCD display is slightly smaller at 2.4". The camera is fairly simple to use and I didn't even have to read the manual. A close of my kids inside the house came out quite well. They were moving a lot but the built in digital stabilisation seems to have done the trick.



I read somewhere that the camera is splash proof but I am not going to test that particular feature out.