FHM USA Publication Has Stopped, Discontinued

FHM USA, a men's magazine, will cease publication with the March, 2007 issue. FHM USA was an import from the UK by Emap.

The article also includes data that showed FHM has really struggled recently: "Ad pages plunged 20% through November, according to Publishers Information Bureau, and ad revenue fell 15%, to $65 million." The magazine's website at FHMonline.com will continue publishing.

The last issue was March 2007. For me, I lost another monthly free men's magazine.
Fret not as I still have Maxim (I think)

Moving In to New Apartments or Dorms

It was moving day all over again. First, I had to move out of my summer sublet. Now I gotta move all those stuff back to my room, this time on my fall apartment. Rule of thumb for reserving trucks for moving day: do it as soon as possible. It's because chances are that everybody is moving on the same day. So it's best to plan your moving service ahead of time. Top Moving Companies is a moving directory which proved to be useful to me and all potential movers. If you're moving a whole of of things, you might consider a moving company. It helps you to get a moving service by the type of service needed categorized by date and location. You can also get storage rental services information on the website. To me, this is definitely the site I am going to stop by the next time I make my plans on moving day.

VLC Download Mirror Has University of Wisconsin-Madison

VLC media player's download mirror has University of Wisconsin-Madison listed as one of its mirrors. It's a http link and it's one of the twelve mirrors available on the download page.
Just another reason to be a notable Badger.

Michael Vick Pleads Guilty: "I Will Redeem Myself"

Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick has pleaded guilty to the federal dogfighting charges. Dogfighting is illegal in the U.S.

At the press conference, Michael Vick said, "I will redeem myself, I have to."

Chat Round the World at WireClub

Many of us are chatting addicts. Chatting is an easy way to kill your free time and fill your boredom. It's something casual and stress free. You're not liable to what you say. You can express yourself as you will. It's the webworld's freedom of speech. Nowadays, it is most widely done using instant messaging applications like Yahoo Messenger, AIM and Windows Live Messenger. I remember the days when I was still using ICQ and roaming around chat rooms in IRC. When chatting, one thing many people want is to get random friends from all over the world. WireClub is one place which offers you that benefit. It offers free chat rooms to its members. There is a Countries tab where you can browse chat rooms by country selections. Say you wanna practice your newly learned French and chat with someone from France, just head straight to France sub group and you're on your way to get some new French contacts! They also provide User Interests category for those who wanna find chat buddies in some specific interests like football or movies. You can even join and create your free Blog Site and share your personal views and your life with others. Feel free to meet new people, share your thoughts and make new friends. You can upload your profile photo to attract more potential new friends through WireClub. Choose from hundreds of chat rooms and maybe even join some random chat rooms.

Wisconsin's Jamal Cooper Suspended Indefinitely for Academic Reason

The Wisconsin football team has had its share of suspensions and troubles with their players in the past. From battery charges (Lance Smith, Booker Stanley) to theft (Jack's XBOX 360 case) to academic reasons (various). Some have stayed, some have been kicked out of the team. This time, it's senior DE Jamal Cooper.
On Friday, the University of Wisconsin football team has suspended indefinitely troubled senior defensive end Jamal Cooper, further weakening one of the thinnest positions on the team. It's the third suspension in a little more than a year for Cooper, who was suspended for "conduct detrimental to the team."
Background Check:
Jamal Cooper is a native of St. Louis, Mo., played in 12 games last season, recording four sacks — tied for third on the team — and 6.5 tackles for loss. He was listed as the starter at left defensive end on the two-deep roster UW released earlier this week.
Most of Cooper's problems have been with academics. He was held out at the start of spring practices by Bielema due to academic reasons, before being reinstated for the final 10 practices. "For us to be able to do what we need to do to have success in the classroom, you need to go to class, you need to be able to do certain things that our academic people say," Bielema said at the time. "Everybody's held to the same standard." The previous spring, Bielema suspended Cooper for UW's 2006 opener against Bowling Green. But Cooper was allowed to play by Bielema after improving in summer school classes. Cooper tore an ACL in 2005, which forced him to miss the remainder of the season after starting the first three games.

Wisconsin RB Lance Smith has been reinstated to the Badgers. Last month RB Lance Smith was suspended last month when he allegedly pushed his girlfriend and was charged with battery and disorderly conduct. He was the Badgers second-leading rusher last season and had five touchdowns. Smith srerves as backup to starting RB P.J Hill.

Partial Source: The Wisconsin State Journal

Stay Anonymous Using Hide My IP Address

If you don't want to have your IP address exposed when you surf certain sites, you can utilize IP hiding services which hides your true identity when you browse around the world wide web. Some might require you to input your destination URL into the address box on the provider webpage while some people choose to use a software which constantly hide your true location everytime you surf the internet. Hide My IP Address is one of the most renown service that provides with just that. It helps users to stay secure.

It is an efficient and easy way to constantly hide IP address. Most users are unaware that every website you visit can be easily tracked. Every e-mail you send and everything which you download is connected back to your IP address. Your IP address is unique and if efforts are made to track it down, they will know it is YOU and WHERE YOU ARE. Identity theft is getting more serious nowadays and online identity theft is not uncommon. Fraudsters can easily keep track of your internet activity if you don't protect yourself.

Hide My IP Address is a specially-modified browser, based on Firefox. So hooray for Firefox lovers. It's going to be really simple, user-friendly and easy to use, just like the revolutionary Mozilla Firefox. For those you really care about internet identity security, I strongly suggest that you stop by at http://www.hide-my-ip-address.com/ and have a look yourself. There's a list of reasons why you should use this software and what it can do to protect your identity. The details are easy to navigate through and presented in a organized manner.

Brought to you by Hide My IP Address

Spotting The Fake One: SanDisk Comfact Flash 2GB Extreme IV Card

Can you tell which one in the photo above is fake? Most of the cheap flash memory cards nowadays are fake and they are mostly manufactured in some shady factories in China. Almost 90% of the 1GB to 8GB flash memory cards found on eBay are fake ones. A whopping 90%! I personally had experience with buying fake flash memory card from eBay. The 4GB Sony Memory Stick Pro Duo I purchased from a seller turned out to be a counterfeit product. The packaging looks really original and the card itself looks exactly like the genuine one. But once I used it, that was when I really found out. I lost about half of my photos taken during my San Francisco summer trip. I lost my photos from the Postcard Row Houses and some other places. The card was purchased at $42.02 shipped and it is sold on Amazon for $64.53 (and $89.99 at BestBuy). It was from a seller with a 99% positive feedback ratings of more than 3000 feedbacks. The seller, ustransuto, refunded my money once I requested for one. So beware when you purchase cheap flash memory cards. If the price is much much lower than what normal retailers charge, chances are that they are counterfeit products. There are threads on eBay forums and guides to identify the fakes from the original products. The answer to the fake SanDisk Extreme IV Comfact Flash card is the one on the left.

Motorola Q9h Has No Wifi

The new Motorola Q9h, a revised version of the previous Motorola Q, to my surprise, has no wifi. I was all ready to colelct some money and save it up to buy one of it since the reviews mentioned that it has one of the easiest keypads to type on. My Blackberry Pearl's keypad is really hard to use. Not intuitive at all. I have to spend a few seconds for each letter which I want to input. The Motorola Q9h has a full QWERTY keypad. The advantage of Motorola Q9h over the Q is that it now supports GSM network. Last time I won a Motorola Q from a sweepstakes but it doesn't support any GSM network, so I needed to use it with Verizon Wireless but I am contracted to Cingular (now AT&T). Seems like I would be disappointed again because I think having wifi would pose a great advantage over any other smartphone. Motorola Q9h runs Windows Mobile 6.

Be A Team Captain of Alzheimer's Memory Walk 2007

Brief Overview
Do you have any friends or relatives who suffer from Alzheimer's disease? Ever felt that you really want to help them out and support them? Then what do you think about contributing to the nation's largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research? The Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk which is held annually across the country is a great opportunity for you to show your support. It is definitely a good chance for you and me to lend out some spare time and volunteer at this event. Like the breast cancer walk, this walk event is just as meaningful in supporting the fight against Alzheimer's. A quick fact: This annual Memory Walk has raised more than $225 million to help combat Alzheimer's. Prove your leadership by signing up as a team captain. Take the initiative as a leader would to invite your friends and family to join your team to support this good cause. As a team captain you and I can start recruiting people for the team and help raise some funds.

Don't feel like doing the recruiting job and all that? It's not a problem at all! You may sign-up as a Team Walker or if you wish to be free of all ties, just as an Independent Walker. However, signing up as the team captain grants you the authority to stamp your mark on your stand on the fight against Alzheimer's and encourage your peers to join you. There are 4 million cases of Alzheimer's alone in the US and 19 million people had a family member with Alzheimer's in the US and 1 in 10 over 65 years in the US have Alzheimer's. So it is really important to start realising that we can do something about it. Together, we can all contribute to this good cause. Join the Memory Walk. Fight Alzheimer's.

Apple iPhone Unlocked August 24 2007

The Apple iPhone is finally cracked. A group of technologists have successfully unlocked the Apple iPhone so that you could use it with any provider around the world besides AT&T.
It is reported on Engadget via this post that they succesfully became the first ones to be able to unlock the iPhone in a software-only solution.
Uniquephones has now surprised with word that it will be offering a downloadable software unlock service between 12 and 2 PM EST tomorrow at iphoneunlocking.com. Pricing will be somewhere between $25 and $50 with a 25 to 50 percent discount for people who have already signed up for the service -- apparently as many as 450,000 already have.

"The iPhoneSIMfree.com team called us up to prove their claim that they cracked Apple's iPhone SIM lock system, and prove it they did. (No, we don't have a copy of the unlock software, so don't even ask us, ok?) The six-man team has been working non-stop since launch day, and they're officially the first to break Apple's SIM locks on the iPhone with software. It's done. Seriously. They wouldn't tell us when and how they would release it to the public, but you can certainly bet that they'll try to make a buck on their solution (and rightly so). We can hardly believe the iPhone's finally been cracked. No, scratch that -- we just can't believe it took this long."

99 Ranch Market Santa Clara

The 99 Ranch Market in Santa Clara is a big Asian supermarket which sells fresh produce and fresh meat. The meat are freshly cut and the fish are also fresh. I have been there twice in four days and I am impressed with their food selection amid the expensive price tags. Unfortunately, they don't sell pizzas. They also have many electrical appliances on the shelves.
The $5.99 lunch box is where you can choose any dish you want on the trays and fit them in the lunch box. As long as the food fits into the box, you're all set for a $5.99 lunch. We gave it a try and I have to say although the food selection may seem tempting and good, it's nothing more than an ordinary Yummy Buffet deal. For $5.99, I can't complain. You get what you pay for.

How to Unlock Nokia Phones For Free

There is a website with a free unlocker for Nokia phones which is called Free SIM Unlock Nokia Online. Now you can unlock your mobile phone easily - Online and all by yourself!
This is very useful, if you have bought a new Nokia mobile phone, locked to a provider, and wish to use a SIM-card from another provider.
By filling out the following form, a code is generated. Enter the code on your mobile phone, and it's unlocked! :-)

First, you will need the IMEI code from your phone which you want to unlock. You can do that by simply pressing these keys on your phone.
*#06#

Choose the phone model, country and carrier/service provider you are locked to.
Once you have all the segments filled, hit the SUBMIT button on the website and it will spit out the codes you need to unlock your phone! Like magic! Don't fall for the limitations set by the service providers. Unlock yourself.

**At the moment the program supports the following Nokia-models:
Nokia 1100aNokia 1220Nokia 1260Nokia 1261
Nokia 2100Nokia 2220Nokia 2260Nokia 2300Nokia 2300a
Nokia 3100Nokia 3100bNokia 3108Nokia 3200bNokia 3210Nokia 3285Nokia 3300Nokia 3300bNokia 3310Nokia 3315Nokia 3320Nokia 3330Nokia 3350Nokia 3360Nokia 3390Nokia 3395Nokia 3410Nokia 3510Nokia 3510iNokia 3520Nokia 3530Nokia 3560Nokia 3585Nokia 3590Nokia 3595Nokia 3600Nokia 3610Nokia 3620Nokia 3650Nokia 3660Nokia 3810
Nokia 5100Nokia 5100aNokia 5110iNokia 5120Nokia 5125Nokia 5130Nokia 5148Nokia 5160Nokia 5180Nokia 5185Nokia 5190Nokia 5210Nokia 5510
Nokia 6090Nokia 6100Nokia 6108Nokia 6120Nokia 6130Nokia 6138Nokia 6150eNokia 6160Nokia 6162Nokia 6185Nokia 6188Nokia 6190Nokia 6200Nokia 6210Nokia 6220Nokia 6250Nokia 6310Nokia 6310iNokia 6340Nokia 6340iNokia 6360Nokia 6500Nokia 6510Nokia 6560Nokia 6590Nokia 6590iNokia 6610Nokia 6650Nokia 6800Nokia 6800aNokia 6810Nokia 6820Nokia 6820b
Nokia 7110Nokia 7160Nokia 7190Nokia 7200Nokia 7210Nokia 7250Nokia 7250iNokia 7650
Nokia 8110iNokia 8146Nokia 8148iNokia 8210Nokia 8260Nokia 8270Nokia 8290Nokia 8310Nokia 8390Nokia 8810Nokia 8850Nokia 8855Nokia 8860Nokia 8890Nokia 8910Nokia 8910i
Nokia 9210iNokia 9250
Nokia N-Gage
If your phone is NOT on the list, I cannot help you to unlock it. Currently BB5 Phones, this includes N-series (Nokia N70, Nokia N71, Nokia N72, Nokia N73, Nokia N80, Nokia N800, Nokia N90, Nokia N91, Nokia N93i, Nokia N95), Nokia 6630 and Nokia 6680, cannot be unlocked by any way except requesting the code from your provider. As soon as there's a solution or any news, it will be published here.

Buying Baseball Memorabilia

With the baseball season ending soon and football season looming around the corner, Beckham outclassing and the whole Galaxy team on and off the pitch, all hell shall break loose in the sporting world. A definite headline to remember in this MLB season is Barry Bonds finally breaking the home run record. Yeah, hurry up and go buy some Bonds jersey. I am still buying my Yankees jersey. I usually buy my baseball fan gear in stores. However, since I am an online shopping junkie/addict, I wouldn't pass on the chance of getting some of my baseball memorabilia online. I have never owned an authentic signed memorabilia. I missed the Wisconsin Badgers football family day again. 4 years as a Badger, 0 signed memorabilia. Total loser. At least I could have grabbed Bielema's signature on my Wisconsin football jersey. Dang. So now I am gonna redeem myself with a signed memorabilia from the MLB category. Free shipping is applicable for orders above $200 and gift certificates of any price. I am looking at some possible signed baseballs or jerseys. Signed bats are too much for my wallet and aren't that practical anyway in my humble opinion. The website layout is user friendly enough and shouldn't be too hard to navigate through. There are distinct link boxes on the right side of the homepage. A free newsletter is provided and the contact link is easily spotted in case you have any questions to ask. Signed and unsigned memorabilia are categorized accordingly on the left panel. Overall, I am pretty pleased with their features and product availability.

Sony's Latest Slim Camera T-200 with Touchscreen LCD

There's a new cool camera in town. It's a SONY. The Sony T-200 is a 8 Megapixel slim camera with touchscreen LCD which is 3.5 inch in size. It also boasts 5X optical zoom plus the face detection technology. Image stabilization feature is a must have and this sleek and slim camera has that. The retail price is set to be $400 and due to be released in September 2007, this gadget is sure to be a hot hit among slim camera enthusiasts like me. I am thinking about the touchscreen LCD, whether it is a great temporary novelty or a true technology upgrade. Pictures of multiple fingerprint marks on it definitely don't look appealing. It's available for pre-order on Amazon.com right now

Thanks to Freeze It, No More Shouldaches at the Age of 22

I was complaining about shoulder aches a few weeks back when I was still in school, taking summer classes and labs in the day, doing Matlab homework and lab reports in the night.As I mentioned, at a tender age of 22, I was starting to worry about my shoulder aches. I was afraid that the shoulder aches would slowly spread to backaches and headaches. Then I one busy day, I received some free samples of Freeze It. Bingo! Just the right remedy. I turned my girlfriend into a temporary masseuse and had her apply those cooling gels and massage it away. And it worked wonderfully well. I absolutely loved it and had the rest of the packets well kept under my nice glass coffee table. There's a cool, sort of revitalizing sensation after you applied the Freeze It gel. I felt better and better everytime I used it. Freeze It is comparable to Biofreeze, with the same active ingredients and the herbal extract, ILEX. My pharmacist friend once told me that I can buy generic Walgreens branded medicine over the more expensive branded ones since they contain the same active ingredients. I am guessing it must the the same in this case.

Here's a little Freeze It Tv commercial found on YouTube:




I would recommend this product to my peers as I have tested it and I think it is really an effective and affordable way to help with the body aches.

I never leave out the price factor, this time is no exception.It is available at many retail and drugstores for only $9.99, which is not too expensive for a jobless college graduate like me :P

Brought to you by FreezeIt

Movie Review: Hannibal Rising

We rented a copy of Hannibal Rising from Four Star Haven last night. Taking advantage of a night when it was raining cats and dogs outside, we settled in to a round of Texas Hold 'em Poker and a few bottles of beer before starting the movie. This movie is the prequel to the famous Silence of the Lambs. You all have watched how he did it in Silence of the Lambs, now you know why he did it. The story started out a little slow with the story build up. The overall horror level was unexpectedly sub-par. Although it was an unrated version, the movie wasn't that scary afterall. The storyline was clear enough for viewers to follow, which is always good because you don't wanna have unanswered questions lingering in your mind after you're done watching the movie. I don't remember exactly the details of Silence of the Lambs, but after seeing Hannibal Rising, I am much more interested to grab a copy of the movie made popular by Anthony Hopkin and see what happened next.
Overall I give Hannibal Rising a 3/5.

Moving out soon, selling many things

College students are wasteful. When moving out/moving in day comes, you see them first throwing away all the miscellaneous stuffs out or leave them by the trash bins for others who might find some use for them to pick up. Then when the new semester starts, they all go and buy back all the stuffs which they threw away last month. Furnitures, clothings, hangers, computer monitors, food and books are just some examples. The main reason they are doing this is because they can't bring them all with them. Most of them have parents driving their minivans to help them transfer their belongings back to home. Matresses, leather chairs, futons are some of the things one often sees outside houses in a college town like Madison when moving out day arrives. They dont have much of a choice sometimes. Some things are just too big and trouble some to bring along. Yes wasteful it is. But convenient it is too.

Rob Zombie's Halloween Movie Review - Boo!

Rob Zombie wrote and directed the upcoming movie Halloween. I watched the trailer a while ago (don't recall from where) and I was really interested in the movie's prospect when it hits the screens. It is a under the genre of Remake and Sequel, and Suspense/Horror on Yahoo! Movies. Distributed by MGM, this film's release date is set to August 31 2007, which is about 3 more weeks away. Halloween has been such a loyal tradition and a huge hit among Americans that I think this movie is going to be one of the top earners in gross earnings. It is dubbed as the new take and new chapter to the "Halloween" saga.

Halloween the movie is definitely one of the movies for you if you're a Halloween addict/fanatic. You can get the DVD and play it on Halloween day at your house's party. I can guarantee that many would stay and finish the movie before hitting the streets and bars. The dark settings and suspenseful scenes are going draw many's attention to the movie. The suspense tops up with the blend of violence and killing spree mixed into the mood of Halloween. This film is rated R and not suitable for the faint hearted. Evil has a destiny. You better watch it, yourself. Be there, August 31 2007.

Here's the review after watching it myself. I think we wasted our money by going for this movie. The storyline is so-so and doesn't really make a whole lot of sense. Some scenes were too unreal, thus suppressing the suspense. Not really a blockbuster hit I would say. Don't waste your time and money if you have something better to do.


Check out its trailer on YouTube I embedded below and decide for yourself how bad the movie is gonna be:

Facebook Now Offers Free Classifieds via Marketplace

Dear all Facebook addicts and fanatics, your favorite social networking site is offering free classifieds now. It's called the Marketplace. I have used it a few times and it seems to be a very good option for me to sell off my belongings before moving out next week.
This new added feature brings more competition to other sites like the ever popular Craigslist. So far my success rate has been at about 60%. This is an especially useful way to network college students and makes it a lot easier to sell things since you're all within the same social level network. So if your listings on Craigslist didn't fare so well, why not try the Marketplace on Facebook? It doesn't hurt to list them up in another place.

See related: MySpace Proxy Unblocker

I Was Cycling and Got Pulled Over by a Cop

I was cycling to work the other weekend when a cop car stopped in front of me and pulled me over. I heard a "Hey!" from inside the car. The officer told me to use the street instead of cycling on the sidewalk. I briefly nodded, okayed, and left the scene. I now walk with my bike, but I am still using the darn sidewalk!

I never got pulled over by a cop. Never would I have imagination power to picture myself being pulled over by a cop when I was cycling on my bike. Lesson learnt: use the bike lane.

But the bike lane is more dangerous, don't you think so? You're exposed to traffic and what if the car just banged me from behind? Not that behind. I mean hit the back of my bike. Furthermore, the sidewalk is a lot easier and faster way since it is easy to navigate and you can twist and turn anyway you like. That's why I like the sidewalk.

27% Japanese Want to Purchase iPhone

A recent survey showed that about 27% of Japanese are willing to purchase an iPhone from Apple. Everyone (who is not ignorant) knows that Japan is the land of hi-tech novelties and a lot more modern and gadgety if we were to compare to them, so 27% is a pretty good portion.

The smartphones currently in the Japanese market are really far more functional and have a better overall performance than those sold in the U.S. so 27% is definitely quite optimistic.
Should be mentioned that these 27% are divided into 5% as "very willing to buy" and the rest 22% as "possibly willing to buy".

The iPhone hit the Asian market in 2008 and the iPhone is not 3G friendly, which serves as a big drawback for the tech fellows in the land of the rising sun. However, what iPhone and other Apple products DO have is a very, very slick and sexy design, which will win not one million of hearts by the end of this year.

Electronics Shopping

This is supposed to be a larger TumriAd page with a promoted 5 times more productive (i.e. 5X more click throughs.. HOWEVER, it's not displaying right. I don't know why. Tumri sent me an email with this ad script included.

National Guardsman Changed His Name to Optimus Prime

A member of Ohio's 5694th National Guard Unit in Mansfield legally changed his name to Optimus Prime, the commander of the heroic Autobots and the main protagonist from the Transformers. He legally changed his name on his 30th birthday and now it's on everything from his driver's license, to his military ID, to his uniform
Now check this sentence: Optimus Prime is heading out to the Middle East with his guard unit to provide fire protection for airfields under combat. Fret not buddies, Optimus Prime is here!

What is BP Sweeps?

BPSweeps.com is a place where you can view online commercials as you would see on tv's and rate them. After watching each commercial, you're required to answer one or two simple questions to make sure you've really watched and understood the content. This is to prevent users from providing random answers after letting the video play on its own without watching it. Besides that, this acts as a form of quality control.

You get 1 entry to the frequent sweepstakes for every commercial you watch and evaluate. You can gather up to 10 entries for weekly sweepstakes period. (by watching 10 ads)
Signing up is free and BP Sweeps is really efficient in updating their website and content as well as in sending out their announcements and reminder emails.

So if you're into this, please head over to BPSweeps and try it out.

I just won 1000 BP points for last week's draw. Grand prizes vary from Sony PlayStation 3 to Nintendo Wii to Apple iPod

Won 1000 BP Points in July 2007 Live D Brandport Sweepstakes

I have been selected as a winner for the July 2007 Live D Sweepstakes on www.bpsweeps.com that recent sweepstakes!

My prize is 1000 BP Points to be credited to my account. One Hundred Winners are selected for the 1000 points prize.

Kevin Garnett Trade Takes Five Players and Two Draft Picks

After the Boston Celtics successfully traded Kevin Garnett, the Celtics now has the Big Three: Paul Pierce, Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett. For the Celtics to get their man, they had to sent seven the other way, yes seven. That included 5 current roster players plus 2 future firs round draft picks. The fuve 'casualties' are Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff. They obtained the former MVP and 10-time All-Star on Tuesday in a 7-for-1 deal -- the NBA's biggest trade for one player.

The Celtics won their last championship, the third with the original Big Three of Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish, in 1986. Could this be the year? Only time will tell. Boston Celtics fans, gather up and embrace yourselves. The crown might be coming to Boston after all. Now with the trio on their team, they should easily make the push for the NBA title.