Absolutely Random Stuff

Well if you don’t know about the current interlacing issue that has been plaguing the PSP 3000 since launch then you obviously haven’t been paying much attention.

But for those uninformed here’s the full description of the problem:

“Soon after the release of the PSP-3000 it emerged that the new screen showed visible dark lines, similar to traditional scan lines, and displayed interlacing-like artifacts during on-screen motion.It has been shown that the new screen possesses a new horizontal subpixel structure, which is thought to be the main contributory factor to the screen's scanline-like appearance. The exact cause of the interlace-style artifacts is unknown, but has been confirmed by SCEI as being an intrinsic characteristic of the new LCD panel.”

Here's a video to illustrate the problem / feature:

If you’re planning on earning an income from blog there’s a few things you should avoid, but before we get to that let me answer some questions you already might have. You might have noticed that my spelling and grammar aren’t always as good as it should be and the honest reason therefore is because I’m actually Afrikaans. I do however feel that my information, perspective, tips or even reviews might be helpful to some and therefore I accept the challenge of blogging in English. I believe that the more I blog in English the better I’ll get at it.

You might also wonder why my blog is so empty and the obvious reason would be because it’s still pretty new. I did however create a few sites before this one which did extremely well. I also do quite a bit of daily reading and researching online as there’s always something new to learn.

Well let’s get back to the topic. Making money from your blog is possible but won’t happen overnight. Some people might even end up blogging for months or even years before they actually start earning some income. At the end of the day the question you should ask yourself is: How long am I prepared to wait?

“Patience is waiting. Not passively waiting. That is laziness. But to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.” – Author Unknown

When you however do decide to create a money generating blog I would suggest the following tips to help prevent your blog from failing.

Don’t lie!

A very simple concept most people tend to overlook. Always keep in mind that by blogging you’re also creating a personal connection with your readers. As soon as you start lying to them you’re actually creating a fake image of yourself and end up displaying a totally different person towards your readers. Be honest and be yourself since it makes blogging much easier and better in the long run.

Empty comments make your blog look dead.

The only reason why I have comments enabled on my fairly new blog is because I support Do Follow which allows readers to build links to their site. If you have a new blog I would suggest disabling comments until your blog starts to generate some traffic. Remember to respond to comments left on your site to show participation and interest with your readers.

Google Adsense may just kill your reader base.

Simply put, if your blog is new then please avoid advertisements (unless you’re marketing something) in the beginning. Don’t give your readers the impression that your blog is only created for earning profits. Content and readers come first and therefore a new blog stacked with adverts will only drive your visitors away.

An advert in my face is a big disgrace.

When you implement adverts on your blog try not to place it inside the reading area. I know that placing adverts inside the post itself generates better click traffic but keep in mind it does annoy readers. Experiment with ad placement until you find the optimal positions that works the best without hindering the actual reading part. Maybe try placing adverts in the bottom of your post.

Don’t use spam adverts!

Hyperlinks that actually directs you to handy products and services are always welcome but the one’s that claim that you’re the ten millionth visitor who has supposedly won something is just plain annoying and cheap.

Be careful when linking.

Linking to stuff is a nice way to introduce visitors to products and services, however, over linking words in your post might just do the opposite. Try not to hyperlink every second word and focus more on the important key phrases.

Review products and services you’ve actually used yourself.

Quite a few sites offers bloggers the opportunity to get paid doing product reviews. Keep in mind however that your readers will want to read your opinion about the product or service and not some description created by the advertiser. The best option would be to try and recommend the ones you actually have personal experience with.

Balance out adverts and content.

Never allow your site to actually have more adverts than actual content (unless it’s a marketing or shopping based website). Also try not to duplicate content from other websites since you won’t really build any reputation. Blogging is all about your opinion and not someone else’s.

There’s a place and time for everything.

If you’re maybe planning on running a competition or similar to attract more visitors (which is a good idea if you can afford it) only do it when your site actually has reasonable traffic. Running a competition on a “dead” site won’t help much except for the handful of people who entered that suddenly has a much higher chance of winning.

Help your blog help you.

Traffic gives your blog life and blog life also allows for profit to be made so don’t just sit there and wait for visitors to arrive. Be active on the net by submitting your blog to directories, comment on the other people’s sites or even ask other bloggers to exchange links.

Remember, the more you put in the more you’re going to get out.

This is part 2 of my Manipulating online traffic via Google experiment. Even though the previous post provided some traffic it wasn’t enough to warrant the test successful. Here’s my second run so let’s see how it goes.

Once again I’ll be updating this section regularly to inform you of my traffic changes and to tell you which keywords are actually responsible for it. Here are some of the top search engine trends that supposedly drives traffic.

• bigfoot searching for dead
• kill switch iphone
• how to kiss
• sandy allen
• Boston Red Sox
• barely legal
• Resistance Xbox
• edna parker
• free axxo downloads
• Heath Ledger Batman 3
• paris hilton nude
• replace Windows Vista
• google tips tweaks tricks
• corey delaney naked
• cheat codes
• speed racer download
• what is love
• traffic generation
• Facebook 2
• Fable 2 PC
• all news
• how men think
• free movie downloads
• saving enviroment
• free copyright
• worlds tallest woman
• who is God
• Batman 3 movie
• Carmen Electra disaster
• online poker
• how to dance
• easy levitate
• Resident Evil 5 download
• Clay Aiken new father
• tv news
• free Wall-e download
• Green mountain coffee
• UFO area 51
• more MySpace friends
• find area codes
• Britney Spears nude
• Free Sony PSP

My previous experience with Resident Evil 4 was a pretty short one since I unfortunately had to sell my PlayStation 2 at the time (financial issues). I only played to the point where you had to escort Ashley (the president’s daughter) to safety.

Sunday however that changed when I received a copy of Resident Evil 4 as a present (super awesome). Since I don’t own a PlayStation anymore I became the proud owner of the PC version and boy was I excited. I however wasn’t expecting the game to have the same quality as compared to the console counterparts but to my surprise it turned out much better than I imagined.

My main concern was the controls but luckily my Logitech Rumblepad 2 was automatically detected after installation (even the button numbers correspond to the in game actions) and played exactly like the PlayStation 2 version. After loading the patch update I also had full support for my LCD’s native resolution (1280 x 1024) which made the game look absolutely gorgeous even when compared to today’s standards.

All and all I’m really impressed with this game and the job the developers have done porting it over to the PC. So if you’re a fan of the Resident Evil series and own a Logitech Rumblepad 2 or similar I would fully recommend you to pick up this extremely well priced title.

Since I’m a real fan of retro emulation I decided to purchase the Logitech Rumblepad 2 (well it was more like an exchange I made at work). I was honestly pretty skeptical of running a controller on PC and all but I decided to give it a go.

Here are some of the features:

• Dual vibration feedback motors: Feel every hit, crash, explosion, and more
• Rubber grips: Get a solid grip with specially textured rubber.
• Familiar button layout: Control the action with 10 programmable action buttons, plus Mode and Vibration selectors and an eight-way D-pad.
• Analog control: Feel the performance edge with two analog sticks and smooth, precise control.
• Software included: Lets you customize buttons, download game profiles, assign a shift-button function, and more
• Quality construction: What you've come to expect from Logitech.

Installation on my Windows XP Professional machine was a breeze. Actually all I did was plug it in. There is some button mapping software included but since Windows nativity detected the controller I felt no need for installing the third party application provided. After detection my control was pre-calibrated and ready for action.

I tested the controller with the following applications to see if it justified the pretty hefty price tag (the XFX version costs about half).

ZSNES – Super Nintendo Emulator

Controls mapped pretty easily and corresponded fully to the high speed button action.

Rocknes – Nintendo 8bit Emulator

Pretty much the same as the ZSNES emulator.

Gens – Sega MegaDrive / Genesis Emulator

D-Pad not supported (resolved via the integrated mode function) but fully functional with analog control stick.

Silent Hill 3

The controls were mapped automatically for the Logitech Rumblepad 2 which was quite a nice addition. The analog sensitivity however could not be set and therefore it was quite difficult to navigate the onscreen character movement which I guess is a game related fault and not the controller.

Need For Speed: Underground 2

No problems here and also had the added bonus of vibration feedback.

The only con to the controller I could find was the relatively short integrated USB cable (which was resolved by using an USB extension cable) and the slightly flimsy D-Pad.

Overall I will suggest the Logitech Rumblepad 2 to anybody who loves PC gaming and who’s familiar with the Sony PlayStation button layout.

I will just like to inform all my readers that Abrastuff now officially supports “I Follow / Do Follow”. I feel that bloggers don’t have loose out on the benefits of interlinking due to the activities of spammers.

Feel free to leave as many comments as you wish and link them to your personal site for extra exposure. If you however do have “I Follow” disabled please consider enabling it for extra exposure and comments. I would however suggest you enable comment moderation for extra security.

Well it’s been long day so I’m off to bed…check ya later!

Recently I purchased the Vizo Luxon external enclosure to backup (something I never seem to do) some of my data. I actually wanted to get a Vantec Nexstar since I’m familiar with the unit but unfortunately my supplier did not have stock (as usual).

At first I was pretty impressed with the specifications of the Vizo Luxon since it supported eSATA and USB2.0. The bay itself is also build from high quality material which makes it an even better purchase. The only downside was that it didn’t include an eSATA bracket (which kinda sucks since my motherboard doesn’t have one integrated) so I had to purchase one separately.

The decided to use my old Western Digital 120GB hard drive and installed it into the enclosure without any hassles. All detected and worked fine with the eSATA until I attached the plastic bracket provided that allows to unit to stand in an upright position when my hard drive suddenly didn’t want to detect. There’s nothing I hate more than to troubleshoot new hardware. I also experienced exactly the same problem when I connected the enclosure via the USB cable provided. The unit simply didn’t want to work in the upright position.

The only explanation I can think of is that the connector inside has a problem pickup up the drive. I’ve also tried a different hard drive which gave exactly the same issue. I did return the bay to my supplier but they could not find any fault (since they're idoits) with it.

I should have waited for the damn Vantec stock to arrive.