AdesBlog.com

ClickBank started to accept Malaysians again. It’s a great news for all the Malaysian publishers and affiliates.

Previously Malaysians were banned because of too much fraudulent transactions. I just hope people won’t abuse it again…

As you know ClickBank offers tons of great products where you can earn money promoting them.

Thanks to Adi for the heads up.

REDMOND, Wash. - Microsoft has pounced on slumping Internet icon Yahoo with an unsolicited takeover offer of $44.6 billion, seeking to join forces against Google in what would be the biggest Internet deal since the Time Warner-AOL merger in 2001.

Yahoo repeatedly has rebuffed Microsoft’s advances in the past but in a statement Friday the company said it will “carefully and promptly” study the bid. full story

What do you think about the above news? Microsoft’s acquisition of Yahoo, do you think it will happen? I think it will, because Yahoo has been struggling all these while. Under the reign of Terry Semel, Yahoo lost its glory. And I do not see Jerry Yang doing anything special to turn Yahoo around. So I think Microsoft’s offer is like a just-in-time rescue for Yahoo.

If it happens, do you think new Microsoft (+Yahoo) can beat the big-G? I think very little will change, because Google is too competitive for any company at the moment. It’s just impossible to bring Google down at the moment.

Your comments…

Remember Agloco? Well, it’s officially over. I am sure you have received the email already. If you didn’t, then here is what they said.

We would like to update you on the status of AGLOCO’s operations. We continue to believe in the AGLOCO concept, but our revenue is currently not sufficient to give Members a meaningful distribution. And though there are increases in membership, the resulting revenue is not enough to support operating costs. As a development team we are unable to continue to use our savings to fund the operations. If any Member would like to pursue continuing the operations of AGLOCO, you may contact us at agloco1[at]live[dot]com.

We would like to thank every Member for supporting our effort to bring a piece of the Internet directly to the user. We hope that we can find a way to keep the operations going.

AGLOCO Development Team

It’s a shame the management of Agloco (whoever they are) couldn’t pull this through. They were so close to becoming millionaires.

I checked my stats after hearing this news, and I was surprised to know that my total referrals were over 1000 members already (see screenshot). But it’s too late to be happy.

It’s not a big deal for members who have not spend a dime to promote Agloco (like myself). But I feel sorry for those who had purchased domain names, hosting and set up special websites for it (eg. www.agloco.com.my - Regional Agloco for Malaysia?)

Google shows over a million websites for the keyword “agloco”. I hope nobody lost big from this Agloco failure.

So long Agloco! Rest in peace! But I am sure there will be similar programs mushrooming in the next couple of weeks. Because, where there is a crisis, there is an opportunity. So, now that all programmers know Agloco is dead, they have all the reason to start their own program - which might actually work, unlike Agloco-toolbar ;). Because Agloco has been working on the toolbar-server-connection problem for the past one year, with no avail. Now I am wondering if they were trying to connect to someone else server instead of their own? ;) Coz how hard it can be, to connect a software to the ad server?

P.S Did you join Agloco? How many members did you get? Did you spend any money on the promotion? Would you join another similar program if it comes up again?

I have just upgraded my blog to WP 2.3.1. Together with new version, I have launched my new blog design too. I hope you like the new theme.

Upgrade went very smooth and was over in about 15 minutes.

But before that, I had tested the new blog theme on different location first. I made sure it was working without any problems on WP 2.3.1. All the plugins that I use on this blog were also checked with the new version of WP. Most of them were already compatible, so I didn’t have any problem with the plugins.

After the theme was working well on different location, I downloaded the new fresh copy of WP 2.3.1 from wordpress.org. Next, backed up all the files, including the database of my blog. Just in case, I also jot down the settings of my blog (e.g permalink format, plugin settings..etc).

After that,

1. First, I uploaded a new custom index.php to the main directory of my blog, it had a text that said “Be right back with a new theme!, Please check back after 15 minutes”.

   This was to ensure that people who visit the blog during the update wouldn’t see error messages (i.e 404 page, database error messages..etc)

2. Next, deleted all the wp files except for wp-config.php. You should not delete wp-config.php, because it has all your database connections.
3. Uploaded my new theme to wp-content/themes/
4. Uploaded WP 2.3.1’s original index.php to the main directory, replacing the file in Step 1.
5. Then pointed my browser to http://www.adesblog.com/wp-admin/upgrade.php and upgraded wordpress. Just one click and it was upgraded.
6. After that, went to “Theme Editor” and selected my custom theme.
7. Activated all my plugins.
8. Blog had a new design!

These were the steps taken to upgrade my blog to WP 2.3.1 and implement my new theme. I hope it will give you some idea on the upgrade process, if you haven’t already upgraded.

I have added six more new icons to my project UserInterfaceIcons.com. For those who are not familiar with UII, it’s a website that provides high quality user interface icons for free. No strings attached.

Latest Icons are: Podcast, Newsletter, Dialog Box, Notice Board, Vacancy and Forms. You may see them at what’s new page or download them here.

Feedbacks: Since the project launch, I have received tons of feedback. Most of them are emails thanking for the free icons. I have also received some feedbacks on the theme of the icons. They said while they liked the icons, the blue and yellow theme was not suitable for their web application. I have noted about this, and for the next icon-pack I will release realistic type of icons. Realistic type of icons are the ones, like you see on your Windows Desktop, each icon having its own unique colors. That way everybody will be able to use the icons. www.userinterfaceicons.com

Thanks to you AdesBlog readers, now my blog is through to Semi-Finals. Now, I am up against Pointless Banter, he has over 700 readers and I am anticipating a tough competition. Currently he is leading with two counts 2:0.

So guys, do cast your votes and support AdesBlog, thanks in advance. And thank you for supporting AdesBlog all the way to Semi-Finals. Please vote here (scroll to the bottom of the page).

KL Blogger Gathering

On another note, there will be first Kuala Lumpur Blogger Gathering in KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA.

Event details are as follows: Date: 17th Nov 2007 (tomorrow), Venue: KL Sentral - Starbucks, Time: 2pm - 5pm.

You can confirm your attendance here, but I am not sure if there is any seats left.

Unfortunately I won’t be coming for the gathering, tomorrow I will be busy till afternoon - will be out of KL. After that, at 3pm I have my MBA class, which will span til 6:30pm. So, I don’t think I can make it. But if I can, I will drop by to say “hi” to my fellow bloggers. If not, hopefully I will make it the next time. Hafe fun!

P.S I know there is two topics in this post, but don’t forget to vote huh? ;)