Satellite TV: Here to Stay!

In 1946 movie producer Darryl Zanuck of 20th Century Fox said, “Television won't last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” Of course today, we know that this is one of the top failed technological predictions of the recent century.

Decades have passed since the TV was introduced and the industry is bigger than ever. Today, there are TV stations for virtually any type of interest and language. Turn on the TV and you’ll marvel at the number of TV stations there are. That’s why Satellite DirectTV is very popular. Direct TV is definitely one of the prime options in TV viewing today.

DirectTV is only the most trusted name in satellite TV. It won’t come as a surprise to see Direct TV Satellite disc antennas installed on houses. It provides crisp reception in full HD for applicable channels--more than 130! And it hosts the best sports, movie, and international channels no competitor can ever beat! Call 800-378-9318 for more information.

Looks like the TV industry is here to stay after all. And satellite TV will be at the helm of the industry for a while.

More Taoist Temple Pictures

Here are more pictures of the Taoist Temple in Cebu.

Worry Not about Your Web Host

Getting a web hosting company to host your site is crucial to meet the demand of your clients to know more about your services. It is an important investment a web developer should take to promote his site and the services is offers. However, these days a good web hosting firm is almost synonymous to a big investment. The extremely good ones are really expensive while the cheaper ones are not really that reliable.

Good to know there’s Web Hosting Geeks. Web Hosting Geeks provides web hosting reviews, ratings and awards since 2004. Their site provides bloggers, web developers and site administrators more than just a comparison of the various web hosting firms available out there. Web hosting companies are compared by their features and additional benefits they provide their customers.

Web Hosting Geeks likewise bestows awards upon top web hosting firms. Best Budget Web Hosting, Best Blog Web Hosting, Best Unix Web Hosting, Best Windows Web Hosting and Best Dedicated Web Hosting are only some of the awards that they give to web hosting companies.

There are also articles from their blog that help web developers and site administrators. Want to increase site traffic? Check out their article, Six Tools for Better Website Traffic. Blogger User? Read the article, How to Incorporate a Domain into Your Blogger Account to help you get started on your own domain. Not getting the expected results from SEO? Learn more from How to Get a Better Service from Your SEO Firm.

Check out their site now and you'll be surprised to see what's in store for you.

The Taoist Temple in Cebu

I recently visited Cebu and took some amazing pictures of the Taoist Temple. Together with friends, I climbed the hundred-step temple in the heart of Cebu and found peace of mind and solitude. It was no wonder that the Chinese put up this beautiful temple there.

The Taoist Temple in Cebu overlooks the local Beverly Hills Village, home of the affluent. At the summit, people can purchase souvenirs and good luck charms.

Enjoy!

Amazing Hotel Deals Now!

If you’re thinking of traveling abroad during the Holiday season, think again. Traveling during the Holidays is very expensive, with plane ticket sales and hotel room packages skyrocketing as tourists travel to their Holiday destination of choice. It is therefore very unreasonable to do so.

So when then is the best time to travel?

The answer is really simple. The best time is now. And there can be no better time. The Accor group, a major global name and the European leader in hotels, is offering a 3-Day Super Sale from October 27-29, 2009. Imagine amazing deals from big names such as Sofitel, Pullman, Grand Mercure, Novotel, Mercure, All Seasons and Ibis hotel—all providing different rates as well as a vast range of affordable options. That’s one million hotel rooms providing very reasonable rates all across the entire Asia Pacific region—Thailand, Korea, China, Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Fiji, Indonesia, Taiwan, India and Bali. Your dream Asian destination is yours within reach.

And the best part? The Accor Hotels 3-Day Super Sale Asia Pacific neatly coincides with record-low air fares across the Asia Pacific region. Thus world travelers can enjoy some of the world's most exciting cities at amazingly bargain rates.

So what are you waiting for? Book your flight and schedule your trip now!

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

I have recently attended this seminar entitled, the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Sponsored by our company, the seven habits were each discussed separately to get their jist and to never use them out of context.

Here are the seven habits, according to how they would have been discussed:

Dependence to Independence

Habit 1: Be Proactive: Principles of Personal Choice
Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind: Principles of Personal Vision
Habit 3: Put First Things First: Principles of Integrity & Execution

Independence to Interdependence

Habit 4: Think Win/Win: Principles of Mutual Benefit
Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood: Principles of Mutual Understanding
Habit 6: Synergize: Principles of Creative Cooperation
Continual Improvement

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw: Principles of Balanced Self-Renewal

The 30th Manila International Book Fair

This year's Manila International Book Fair (MIBF) runs from September 16 to 20 at the SMX Convention Center at the SM Mall of Asia Complex. Now on its thirtieth year, MIBF showcases the largest collection of books ranging from literature and past-time to textbooks and self-help reading materials. Be sure to pay a visit and you'll get the chance to receive discounts when you purchase.

Survivor Philippines: Palau

Survivor Philippines returns with an explosive new season. Set in the island of Palau, the second season of Survivor Philippines promises more challenges and more excitement.

Here are the castaways for the second season. Photos courtesy of the Survivor Philippines official site.

Echo Caceres
20 yrs. old, Call Center Agent
Bicol




Louie Ang
24 yrs. old, IT Technical
Pasig




Justine Ferrer
29 yrs. old, Businesswoman
Kalookan




Suzuki Sadatsugu
21 yrs. old, Student/Model
Tondo




Tara Macias
19 yrs. old, Korean English Tutor
Cebu




Charles De Vera Fernandez
21 yrs. old, Businessman
Dagupan




Carol Gementiza
45 yrs. old, public school teacher
iloilo




Marvin Kiefer
18 yrs. old, Model
Cagayan De Oro




Amanda Colley van Cooll
25 yrs. old, Construction Worker
Mindoro




Cris Bolado
39 yrs. old, Basketball Clinic Instructor
Quezon




Maya Segovia
32 yrs. old, Military Officer
Batangas




Shaun Rodriguez
Government Employee
Zambales




Troy Perez
27 yrs. old, Mentalist Magician
Manila




Jef Gaitan
22 yrs. old, Print And Commercial Model
Laguna

Vlad Nesas
24 yrs. old, Professional Model
Las Pinas




Mika Batchelor
25 yrs. old, Chef And Restaurant Owner
Palawan

Darna Tops TV Ratings!

Darna premiered last Monday with a whopping 44.1% on AGB Overnight Ratings for Mega Manila and 47.6% on TNS.

Its winning streak has continued for the entire week and has toppled ABS-CBN topraters May Bukas Pa and Tayong Dalawa.

Marian Rivera as Darna

Philippine Primetime Queen Marian Rivera returns to the small screen as the greatest Philippine heroine of all time--Darna.

Clad in a red and gold suit, Marian Rivera--who plays the dual role of Narda and Darna--will only be the second actress next to Vilma Santos to play the role of Dyesebel and Darna, both Mars Ravelo creations. Marian also joins the ranks of Gina Pareño, Rio Locsin, Nanette Medved, Anjanette Abayari, Regine Velasquez and Vilma Santos in the portrayal of perhaps the most sought-after role in the Philippines. Angel Locsin last donned the Darna suit in 2005.

Darna premieres this Monday on GMA Telebabad. In the meantime, enjoy these exclusive pictures of Darna.

First, the protagonists:

Marian Rivera as Narda





Marian Rivera as Darna







Mark Anthony Fernandez as Eduardo





Robert Villar as Ding




Now here come the antagonists:

Nadine Samonte as Babaeng Impakta



Ehra Madrigal as Babaeng Lawin



Margaret Wilson as Babaeng Linta



Francine Prieto as Babaeng Tuod



Iwa Moto as Valentina, Babaeng Ahas



Paolo Contis as Cobra



Darna and Valentina





Darna with Babaeng Impakta, Babaeng Lawin, Babaeng Tuod and Babaeng Linta



Darna with Valentina and Cobra



Finally, two fanart images I made:

I'm Back!

The last post on my blog was dated June 30, but believe it or not, I have only been able to finish it today, more than one month later.

The last few months were really difficult for me. I have been struggling with my schedule, but my attendance in Time Management training was probably worth it.

I'm back.

Error stdole32.tlb solved!

Last week, I encountered a very weird issue on my computer. I have a desktop with Windows Vista Ultimate and Microsoft Office 2007 Professional Plus. It has been working for a while until I decided to install Microsoft Visio 2007 and Microsoft Project 2007. Then my problems began.

Everytime I started an Office application, it would act as if it were installing that Office program all over again.



Even the Office files were unassociated--DOCX and DOC files would not open in Microsoft Word by default.

But the key to getting this error fixed had to be the error message that appears whenever I open up Microsoft Excel: stdole32.tlb.

So what I did first was to uninstall Microsoft Office and Microsoft Encarta. But that did not fix it. I did it a couple of times but to no avail. I was desperate. I thought my Norton Antivirus was causing the problem so I uninstalled it, reinstalled Microsoft Office and Microsoft Encarta before installing Norton Antivirus but it was still unresolved.

I then installed Windows Vista Service Pack 1, thinking it would fix the problem. That too didn't fix it. I was ready to format my hard drive and start from scratch.

But then I decided to search online for possible solutions to this problem. Maybe I wasn't alone after all. I then came across this site and it really helped me lot to get my computer working again.

It turns out that there were no groups or usernames that HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT in the registry could be provided permissions.



In the Registry Editor, checking on permissions on HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT should reveal something like this:



However, mine was special, and it did not have any groups or users that can be provided permissions:



The fix involved using the SubinACL tool available from Microsoft as a free download. It should install in C:\Program Files\Windows Resource Kits\Toolsby default.

Then I typed the following code in Notepad:

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f /grant=restricted=r /grant=YOURUSERNAME=f /grant=restricted=r /setowner=administrators
subinacl /keyreg HKEY_CURRENT_USER /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f /grant=restricted=r /grant=YOURUSERNAME=f /grant=restricted=r /setowner=administrators

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f /grant=users=r /grant=everyone=r /setowner=administrators
subinacl /keyreg HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f /grant=users=r /grant=everyone=r /setowner=administrators

subinacl /subkeyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f /grant=users=r /setowner=administrators
subinacl /keyreg HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT /grant=administrators=f /grant=system=f /grant=users=r /setowner=administrators

replacing YOURUSERNAME with the computer username. After saving the file as officefix.cmd in the same path as where SubinACL was installed, I simply double-clicked on it and it repaired my registry.

Kris Allen Proclaimed American Idol!

Kris Allen took home the American Idol title Wednesday night defeating runner-up Adam Lambert after nearly 100 million votes, the highest recorded vote total in the show's history

Allen, 23, could hardly believe the news even after being declared the winner by host Ryan Seacrest. Aside from getting a recording contract with Simon Cowell’s Sony BMG, Allen also received a cash prize amounting to one million US dollars and a Ford Fusion hybrid car. Lambert received a similar package.

Allen is the eigth winner of the top-rating singing competition. Earlier winners Kelly Clarkson, Reuben Studdard, Fantasia Barrino, Carrie Underwood, Taylor Hicks, Jordin Sparks and David Cook have risen to superstardom after being declared American Idol winners.

American Idol Finals: Kris Allen

In the American Idol Finals, Kris Allen performed first.

In round 1, Kris sang Ain't No Sunshine, a song he personally picked. He sang a Simon Fuller pick, What's Going On in the second.

Returning this year is a winner's single song. Written by Kara DioGuardi, No Boundaries was performed by both Kris and Adam Lambert.

No Boundaries




What's Going On




Ain't No Sunshine

American Idol Finals: Adam Lambert

Adam Lambert performed next to Kris Allen in the American Idol Finals.

In round 1, Adam sang Mad World, a song he personally picked. He sang a Simon Fuller pick, A Change Is Gonna Come in the second.

Returning this year is a winner's single song. Written by Kara DioGuardi, No Boundaries was performed by both Adam and Kris Allen.

No Boundaries




A Change Is Gonna Come




Mad World

American Idol Performances: Adam Lambert

The epitome of performance in this season is Adam Lambert. Whether rocking his lungs out or singing mellow tunes, he is the person to beat.

Adam Lambert videos for the fans. From the American Idol website.

Cryin'



One

American Idol Performances: Danny Gokey

Sure, Danny Gokey went home but he was one of the early favorites in the competition. In fact, he never entered the bottom group until his elimination.

Danny Gokey performs. From the American Idol website.

You Are So Beautiful



Dance Little Sister

American Idol Performances: Kris Allen

Kris Allen did a wonderful job in his performances last night. Perhaps, his best rendition was One Republic's Apologize.

For fans out there, here are Kris Allen's performances. from the American Idol website.

Heartless



Apologize

American Idol: Top 3 Results

So there were three, but now only two remain.

Danny Gokey bade farewell to his millions of fans leaving Kris Allen and Adam Lambert to face off in next week's competition on American Idol.

Here are the judges' choices for the top 3:

Danny Gokey - Dance Little Sister

Kris Allen - Apologize

Adam Lambert - One


And here are their personal choices:

Danny Gokey - You Are So Beautiful

Kris Allen - Heartless

Adam Lambert - Cryin'


Studio downloads available here.


So it's the third time that American Idol will have a face-off between two guys.

An American Idol Birthday Party?

I absolutely love American Idol. It is currently one of the American shows enjoying a cult following in the Philippines. In fact, the top two of last year's season--David Cook and David Archuleta--are coming over to Manila to perform in a once-in-a-lifetime extravaganza.

It would be so nice to have David Cook come over to sing for you on your birthday. He's enjoying the time of his life now that's he's on top. Or would you like Kelly Clarkson to sing to you on your special day? Moments like these are indeed special. It's as if being inside heaven. Carrie Underwood could not have said it any better. I believe Fantasia Barrino, Reuben Studdard and Taylor Hicks are also a welcome addition to a memorable party—because it is, after all, your now.

The good news is, you can spend your birthday party the American Idol way! An American Idol Party is certain to draw in a lot of people. It'll definitely be amazing! Imagine getting all your birthday party supplies prepared for that American Idol theme! You'll be the star of the show—the American Idol! But where can you purchase your supplies? To stage a party as big as this one needs a topnotch supplier of birthday party needs. In the past it was very difficult to look for party hats, music, invites and many would actually take great lengths to purchase their needed supplies from various stores.

But now, Birthdayexpress.com has it all for you. A one-stop shop for all your birthday party supplies, Birthdayexpress.com has a huge assortment of different themed party favors, including American Idol!

So stop dreaming your dream party and start living out your dream! Be the star of your own birthday party!