Aiyoh .. how can Chris Sligh get Voted Out from American Idol?

BOO HOO .. Chris Sligh got voted out from American Idol! Aiyoh .. how can-nya, so early in the competition. He has a good voice and an interesting attitude! Anyway ... America voted wrongly again last week. And Sanjaya still lives on! :)

Read on .....

It's over for Chris Sligh. Sligh, the curly-haired jokester who once claimed he was "bringing chubby back," said goodbye to "American Idol" on Wednesday, becoming the latest singer bounced in viewer voting.

The sacking of Sligh, 28, who hails from Greenville, S.C., winnowed the number of "Idol" wannabes to nine. The winner will be chosen in May.

"I think it's bye-bye, curly," predicted Simon Cowell, before the results were announced.

Cowell said on Tuesday's program that Sligh's rendition of the Police classic "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" was a "mess."

Haley Scarnato and Phil Stacey had the next-lowest vote tallies in the phone balloting, which drew more than 30 million calls and text messages.

Stacey, 29, of Jacksonville, Fla., managed to get on Cowell's good side after his solid cover of "Every Breath You Take."

"This may surprise you, Phil, but I actually thought that was very good," Cowell said Tuesday.

The acerbic judge was not as nice to Scarnato, deriding the 24-year-old Texas girl's take on "True Colors" as safe and forgettable.

(Question: Will Sanjaya Malakar, who is undoubtedly a national sensation, stick around until the finale? Could happen, as long as the "Idol" oddball keeps stoking watercooler discussion.)

Wednesday's elimination show also featured a get-up-and-dance performance by Gwen Stefani and rapper Akon, who performed Stefani's hit single "The Sweet Escape."

In its sixth season, "American Idol" continues to rule the ratings. It has attracted 26 million to 37 million viewers per telecast this season.

Source

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

YAHOO!! ... Yahoo's Email is giving Unlimited Storage

Now this is why I LOVE YAHOO Email! Have been using it for years! Have not let me down. Love the Yahoo Mail Beta, love the LIAMS that come with it!! What else can I say ... its now UNLIMITED Storage! Way to go YAHOO MAIL .. Way to GO!!

Yahoo announced Tuesday it was giving users of its web-based e-mail service unlimited storage capacity as a tribute to Yahoo Mail's 10th birthday and today's data-rich Internet lifestyle.

In a phased roll-out beginning in May, Yahoo will eliminate the one-gigabyte cap on memory for people with free e-mail accounts and two-gigabyte cap of memory for those who pay for premium accounts.

"We are viewing this as a gift to our users worldwide in recognition of what they have done for us and in recognition of what they are doing now on the Internet," Yahoo Mail vice president John Kremer told AFP.

"We see people increasingly sending more photos -- richer media formats in all different types -- really driving the amount of storage up beyond the levels they were a year ago."

Internet search titan Yahoo, based in Sunnyvale, California, bought web-based e-mail service Rocketmail and it had four megabytes of storage when it was relaunched as Yahoo Mail in October of 1997.

Four megabytes of memory would likely not be sufficient to hold a set of pictures taken during the course of a festive weekend by someone with a typical digital camera.

Apple introduced last year an 80-gigabyte iPod capable of storing as much as 100 hours of video.

"I remember getting in a room to plan our Rocketmail launch over a decade ago and worrying that our original plan of a two MB quota wasn't enough, and that we needed to be radical and double the storage to four MB per account," said lead Rocketmail developer David Nakayama, who now works at Yahoo.

"It's ironic that I routinely send and receive individual mail attachments bigger than that now."

Yahoo Mail is the most popular web-based e-mail service and had more than 250 million users as of January, according to industry-tracking comScore Media Metrix.

The elimination of the storage cap comes at a time when costs of computer storage are declining and in the face of a relentless trend for people to exchange video, music and other data-laden digital files online.

"We think people want to continue to be able to share their lives with friends, families, and communities," Kremer said.

"They want to be able to send and store as much of their photos and attachments as possible and not manage the storage. The right step is to take the worry out of it and give them unlimited storage."

Yahoo said its "e-mail server farms" around the globe were equipped to handle the storage load and the company will invest in improved capacity where necessary.

"Yahoo Mail is so important to Yahoo as a company that we are willing to make that investment," Kremer said. "It is important to show we are listening to our customers' needs."

The limitless storage is not meant to be used by people to back-up computer software by copying system contents onto Yahoo servers.

"It was intended for normal e-mail practices," Kremer said. "Our engineers built the technologies to understand what types of files are being sent and where."

Source
[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Google Adsense Made Simple

Its all about Ad Sense! Google Adsense. Smashing Magazine compiled a wonderful list of resources and tips for new comers. Read on.

Google AdSense is probably one of the most popular revenue generators in the Web. We hear the stories about bloggers-genies, who manage to turn their blogs into cash machines overnight. However, it’s not that simple to find the actual tips, which stick to Google policies, might increase your revenues and don’t try to trick out the readers of your weblog.

We’ve spent several hours, trying to find out, what might increase your Google AdSense income and which tools you can use to observe and track your revenues. We’ve selected the key-points of successful stories and useful tips as well as Google AdSense sites and services you can use on a daily basis. Let’s take a look.

Things You Most Probably Didn't Know About Google AdSense

“AdSense Earning = Impression-count x Click-though-rate x Cost-per-click x smart-pricing-factor. Viewing your on website will not get you banned. Just make sure you don’t click on the ads.

However, repeatedly reload your page to jack up page impressions can get you banned. Click-through-rate (CTR) is ratio of clicks per impressions. It can range from 0.1% to 30%, but most commonly around 1% to 10%.”
[100 Google Adsense Tips]

“First impressions count: make sure the ad unit with the highest CTR is the first ad unit in the HTML code of your page. Keep in mind that the first ad unit in the source code is not always the first ad unit that your users will see when the page finishes loading in their browser.”
[Inside AdSense: First impressions count]

“Ads placed near rich content and navigational aids usually do well because users are focused on those areas of a page. on pages where users are typically focused on reading an article, ads placed directly below the end of the editorial content tend to perform very well.”
[Where should I place Google ads on my pages?]

“Format is important for multiple ad units, display your ad units where repeat users will notice them, place a leaderboard immediately after the last post.”
[Six AdSense optimization tips for forums]

“The middle, above the fold location performs the best. Best performing ad format is the large rectangle, 336×280. So the wider ad formats are doing better than the other ones and the reason is that they actually take up fewer lines. And so with every additional line, you have a chance of losing that interested user.

So the wider formats do best so specifically, the top three formats are the 336×280 that you see on the page; the 300×250 medium rectangle; and then the 160×600 wide skyscraper.

We have a feature in the AdSense account where you are able to multi-select different color palettes that blend with your site to add some variety and freshness to the ads. And that also will help decrease ad blindness.”
[Google AdSense Optimization Webinar]

“The second most active placement in terms of click-throughs tends to be the right-hand rail or margin”. “Skyscrapers” and vertical banners do well when placed next to the content in the main body. Square and rectangle ads placed within the center column also do well, provided they are placed in context to the content. Ads placed below the fold tend to perform least well, although that isn’t a hard-and-fast rule.”
[Yahoo! Publisher Network: Location, location, location…]

“I found the most success in placing the Google Adsense medium rectangle either right in the middle of the page or in a middle right column as long as it has content above and below the ad unit. Its is fine to use Adsense Ads on a forum however expect a very low CTR.”
[Google Adsense Tips for Webmasters]

“Post Adsense ads on text rich pages, avoid titles like the approved ‘Sponsored Links’ and ‘Advertisements’, place Ads above the fold, Match the colors of your ads with the colour scheme of your site, Blend ads with your page - remove the borders by having a similar color as your background.”
[How to Increase Google Adsense CTR]

“To remove Public Service Ads (PSA) in Google Adsense develop sufficient good content with keywords, Ensure that META tags like ‘title’ & ‘description’ and the headings tags like h1, h2 etc. have content which matches the rest of your site.”
[How to Remove Public Service Ads (PSA) in Google Adsense]

“You can now run AdSense on the same page as other contextual ad programs.” (January 2007)
[It’s official! You can now run AdSense on the same page as other contextual ad programs]

“Google AdSense Policy: We ask that publishers not line up images and ads in a way that suggests a relationship between the images and the ads.”
[Inside AdSense: Ad and image placement: a policy clarification]

“Section targeting uses certain html tweaks to force the google adsense bot to focus on specific content. Section targeting is the latest and most effective addition to AdSense”.
[Display Relevant Adsense Ads Using Section Targeting]

“Over the weekend, I decided to change the number of ads units on my blog based upon where the traffic is coming from. I have a small PHP function that checks to see if the referrer is a search engine, and if it is, I display and additional 2 ad units. My Adsense revenue increasing by 284% on Saturday, Sunday and Monday!”
[Positive Adsense Experiment]

“Never click your own adsense ads or get them clicked for whatever reason. Never change the Adsense code. Do not run competitive contextual text ad (2006) or search services on the same site. Do not mask ad elements. Avoid excessive advertising and keyword stuffing.”
[ 15 Common Mistakes that Violate Google Adsense TOS ]

“Putting ads on your site won’t hurt your traffic. There are 6 sorts of bloggers’ income: Google Adsense, Donations (e.g. PayPal), Text Link Ads (sold for a fixed amount per month), Chitika eMiniMalls ads (pay per click), affiliate programs like Amazon, Advertising sold to individual advertisers (three-month campaigns or longer)
[How to Make Money From Your Blog - a VERY extensive article]

“A number of factors come into play when AdSense tries to determine what the page is about: The URL of the page, the page title, the anchor text of links, the keywords that appear most frequently within the page, search engine queries that lead to the page or to another page that links to the page”.
[How to Get Relevant AdSense Ads (Especially For Bloggers)]

“Ask yourself if you are willing to compromise your blog’s layout and over-all feel by adding ads in them. Look at your traffic and see if it’s enough to draw the crowd. Make good use of the Ad Channels. Give it time.”
[Tips on Blog Adsensification]

“You can put upto 3 AdSense units on a page. For short articles, CTR is best when ads are placed just above the content. For long articles, CTR improves if ads are placed somewhere in middle of the content. Go Wide - the large rectangle 336×280 is the best paying adsense format.”
[Adsense Tips, Layout Optimization Tricks for HigherCTR]

“Google AdSense folks have unveiled another useful feature for Adsense publishers - Section Targeting. The concept is simple but the advantages and possibilities are endless.”
[Display relevant Ads in Blogs: Just suggest Google]

Google AdSense Tools & Services

Getting The Most Out Of Adsense: Top 10 Adsense Tools
Contextual Ads Preview/Comparison Tool (for Google Adsense, Yahoo YPN, Chitika eMiniMalls), AdSense Calculator, AdSense SandBox, AdWords Bidding Tool/Traffic Estimator.

List of AdSense Trackers
15 AdSense trackers.

AdWords and AdSense tools directory
1200 tools and services for Google AdWords and Google AdSense.

Google Adsense Tips and Tools Collection
a compilation of common Google tips and tools to make more money from Google Adsense. Among them dozens of AdSense Tools.

AdLogger » Open-Source Click Fraud Prevention and Click Monitoring
intends to prevent click-fraud on your websites by tracking visitors clicks and limiting the number of clicks one may make. AdLogger tracks AdSense clicks in real time and compiles the data for you to review.

AdsBlackList.com - Filter them and increase your revenue !
increase your adsense revenue up to 50%, increase the reputation of your website by NOT linking to Made for Adsense sites, save the quality of contextual advertising in global.

Adsense Notifier
displays your Adsense earnings on the Firefox statusbar.

AdSense Tracking Software The Cutting-Edge Ad Tracking Solution
reveals the precise AdSense Ads that are being clicked most frequently on your site, the exact pages that your AdSense Ads are being clicked on, the actual Ad Formats that are bringing you the most clicks and more.

Free Charts Generated from your Google Adsense Reports
Charts include: total earnings, clickthru-rate, earnings per click, number of clicks, earnings per impression, number of page impressions, earnings by day of week and earnings by day of month. Most of charts include 7-day moving averages which allow you to spot trends within your results.

Using The Competitive Ad Filter To Increase AdSense Earnings
The purpose of the Competitive Ad Filter is to enable you to block specific ads, such as competitor’s ads, from appearing on your pages.

Google Ad Sense Tips & Resources

Adsense Tips for Bloggers
an extensive series of articles on how to make money from the Google Adsense Program. By Problogger Darren Rowse.

16 Adsense Optimized Wordpress Themes to Maximize your Contextual Ad Earnings
Ads Minded, Typo XP Reloaded, Seo AdSense and Problogger Clean.

10 Best Wordpress Plugins for Google Adsense
among them AdSense Deluxe, AdRotator Wordpress Plugin.

Monetizing WordPress Plugins
an overview of 8 AdSense-Plugins you can use with Wordpress blog engine. AdSense Widget Wordpress Sidebar, AdSense Paster, AdSense Injection and more.

What are alternatives to Google AdSense?
46 alternatives, among them Yahoo Publisher Network. Over 70 more services can be found on Other Advertising Networks Besides Google AdSense

AdSense Forum
is one of the most popular AdSense-related forums in the Web with thousands of questions and answers.

How To Market Your Blog in 2007
41 ways to kickstart your marketing efforts.

AdSense Niches
If you want to make money with Adsense, NicheGeek’s free AdSense niches will show you exactly what niche you need to be in if you want to make 20, 30, 50, 70 cents per click or even more.

Source


[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Two more LIAMS!!! - Liam Snorkel & Liam Basketball

Woo hoo!!!

Thanks to a Ken, we've just received two more LIAMs!! :) One is Liam Snorkeling in the deep sea and the other shows Liam spinning the Basketball on his finger.

Check it out the two Yahoo LIAMs!

Liam Basketball

Link : http://ads.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/a/ya/yahoo_mail3/20070309_84210_1_160x600_csky_basketball3.gif

Liam Snorkel

Link : http://ads.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/a/ya/yahoo_mail3/20070309_84210_1_160x600_csky_snorkel3.gif

Related Links

• DT The Liam Photo Album
• Check out the New Yahoo Liam doing the Hula
• Yahoo's Liam in now on a Fat Belt!!
• Liam is in Love .... Liam Heart Bubbles
• Just got a new Liam gif - Liam Ostrich (Yahoo Beta)
• 4 More New LIAMS .... from Yahoo Mail Beta
• Its Liam on a Reindeer (Yahoo Mail Beta)
• Liam is now Playing FIFA Football
• Liam is now Shadow Boxing
• Have u met Liam from Yahoo?

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Amazing MHN Stats, Averaging 500 - 600 hits a Day

This is amazing! MHN (or Malaysian Hotel News) was only averaging 150 hits a day for the longest time!

And suddenly there was this surge of hits that been's raining down on MHN!! We're reviewing the Stats, but its not telling much! But whatever it is, its good for us! :)

Check out the MHN Stats above for this week's hits! Today's 686 hits (and the day has not ended yet) is MHN's all time High!! :) Woo Hoo!

Its also pretty interesting to see that 70% of the people are from Malaysia, and that Singapore is hitting 15% and UK (of all places) is hitting 8%!! Woo Hoo! Let's hope the VMY2007 helps drive the continuous seach for Malaysian Hotel & Tourism News!

If you've not got a chance to visit MHN yet ... go check it out http://MalaysiaHotelNews.blogspot.com

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Oh No!!! What Has America done? They VOTED OFF the wrong person!!

'American Idol' makes a surprise cut

In a surprise, Stephanie Edwards — one of this season's best singers — was voted off the top-rated talent contest on Wednesday, while weak and sometimes unwatchable performers Sanjaya Malakar and Haley Scarnato were allowed to stay. The untimely departure of Edwards, 19, of Savannah, Ga., narrowed the number of "Idol" contestants to 10. The winner will be chosen in May.

Simon Cowell said on Tuesday's show that Edwards' rendition of Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" lacked the edginess and youthful energy that she brought to her previous performances. Paula Abdul echoed that sentiment, telling Edwards she should have "more fun" onstage.

Dodging viewer elimination was Chris Richardson, who had the next-lowest vote tally.

Richardson, 22, of Chesapeake, Va., had impressed judges with his smooth take on "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying." Cowell called it his "best performance so far," while Abdul praised him as "charming and sexy."

Wednesday's show also featured performances by this week's guest coaches:

Peter Noone, who fronted the 1960s British rock band Herman's Hermits, and singer-songwriter Lulu.

In its sixth season, "American Idol" continues to dominate the ratings. It has attracted 26 million to 37 million viewers per telecast this season.

Source

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Another Google Lucrative Way of Making Money - AdSense Referrals

Adsense Referrals is still in its beta stage. Apart from referring users to the Ads, users must click on the ads and must perform at least a Sale or Sign Up.




In Three easy steps you can sign up for Google Adsense Refferal

	You select the ads you want to appear on your site
Leverage your knowledge of your users to choose ads that will interest them and perform well.

	Users click on ads and perform a specified action
Specified actions may be a purchase/sale, a lead, a signup or some other advertiser-defined action.

	You get paid once the user completes the action.
As soon as the user completes the action, your AdSense account will be credited. Easy as that.

You may already be using AdSense referrals to direct your users to Google products like Google Pack or Google AdWords. Now, you can expand the earning potential of your website even further by directing users to products and services from our base of AdWords advertisers.

In just a few minutes you can hand-pick and display ads that will appeal directly to your users' tastes and interests. After choosing relevant ads or keywords, you will be able to customize referrals units that complement the look and feel of your site. Then you can start directing visitors to the products or services you've selected.

With referrals, you'll be paid when your visitors click through to an advertiser's site and complete an action defined by your advertisers, such as a sale or sign up. Because these actions are often more involved than a simple click or impression, advertisers pay more for these referrals, which can translate into higher earnings for your site. Further, you'll see the expected earnings and advertiser performance ahead of time, so you can make the best decisions about what to refer. You can also choose to target the keywords that will ensure you get the highest-paying referrals for your ad space.

This feature is currently available on a limited basis as part of our beta test. Read below to find out more.

Google Adsense Refferal - FAQ

Wanna try Google's Adsense Refferal - Click here

Source

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Check out the New Yahoo Liam doing the Hula

Woo hoo!! It has been a while since Yahoo came out with a new LIAM! (Almost a month)

Check out Yahoo latest gif animation of Liam.

Check out HULA Liam ... so CUTE!

http://mail.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/pim/dclient/d/img/hula_liam.gif

Related Links

• Yahoo's Liam in now on a Fat Belt!!
• Liam is in Love .... Liam Heart Bubbles
• Just got a new Liam gif - Liam Ostrich (Yahoo Beta)
• 4 More New LIAMS .... from Yahoo Mail Beta
• Its Liam on a Reindeer (Yahoo Mail Beta)
• Liam is now Playing FIFA Football
• Liam is now Shadow Boxing
• Have u met Liam from Yahoo?
• DT The Liam Album

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Will Chris Sligh (American Idol) Stand Strong to his Christian Morals?

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Chris Sligh, the "American Idol" contestant who has won fans thanks to his curly mop of hair and soulful voice, has a few people concerned with his departure from strictly Christian music. But for most others in this city of 56,000 about 100 miles southwest of Charlotte, N.C., Sligh has become a hometown hero.


Jonathan Pait, a spokesman for fundamentalist Bob Jones University where Sligh attended for several years, said: "We really are somewhat disappointed with the direction he has gone musically."

He nonetheless tunes in each week to monitor Sligh's progress.

Local fans — some wearing fake glasses and curly wigs and calling themselves the "Fro Patro" — gather each week at restaurants and bars to cheer Sligh on. The local newspaper has been tracking his progress on its Web site.

Sligh, a 28-year-old son of missionaries who spent much of his childhood overseas, kept his spot among the 11 remaining finalists last week with a rendition of "Endless Love." He'll try to improve on that performance, deemed "unemotional" and "uninspiring" by judge Simon Cowell, this week. The show will announce results Wednesday evening.

People who know Sligh well say that he may be singing rock 'n' roll on television, but he's always clear about the faith that motivates his music.

"He's not going to back away from the fact that he's a Christian," said Chris Surratt, pastor of Seacoast Church, where Sligh has been music leader for more than two years. "He's going to let that shine through in what he does."

Hundreds of people gather each week to hear Sligh's music at Seacoast, where his electric guitar and vocals have become an integral part of services, Surratt said.

Support for Sligh also is strong at North Greenville University, the small Baptist school he attended for several years after leaving Bob Jones in the late 1990s.

Cheryl Greene, the professor who helped Sligh hone his vocal talents, said just because Sligh may not be singing strictly Christian-themed songs shouldn't reflect on the depth of his faith.

"It would be like me being in a jazz band," Greene said. "You can be a Christian or non-Christian. It's a style of music."

But Greene said she still has worries over Sligh's long-term spiritual journey.

"Is he going to stand strong by his true Christian morals?" Greene said. "Christianity is a lifestyle ... and there are things in your life that you do need to stand for."

John Jeter, the owner of a Greenville nightclub where Sligh has performed with his band, said Sligh's wholesome attitude and his faith come through in his music.

"It speaks well to the fact that it's not all blood, guts and trash," said Jeter. "Music doesn't have to be filthy. You can have a good time in a good environment, and Chris is proof of that."

Seacost Church in Greensville

- http://www.seacoast.org/greenville/index.html -

Source

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Why is Sanjaya still singing on ‘American Idol’?

Is it charm? His hair? The pity vote?

He might have belted out the words "Ain't no mountain high enough/Ain't no valley low enough," but frankly there just ain't no reason good enough to keep Sanjaya Malakar on "American Idol."

So why is this 17-year-old still standing?

"Access Hollywood" investigates the many possible causes keeping Sanjaya's "Idol" dream alive.

"I think people have seen my voice but not necessarily the potential it could be," Sanjaya told Access at the Top 12 party. "I think I have a certain charm."

Charm? Hair? Pity? Or even an anti-Idol' plot?

There are so many possibilities why "So-So" Sanjaya is still in the running. But why?

"Um, is it the hair?" host Ryan Seacrest joked with "Access."

Well, let's ask the man behind the locks — "American Idol" stylist Dean Banowetz.

"He's 17. I think he's got a lot of gumption for just doing what he wants to do," Dean noted. "He wants the Farrah flip. And then he also wants the straight sleek, sexy hair. And then he did say he wanted his hair curled."

No matter what style he chooses, it always ends up being the scene stealer, and typically the focus of the judge's comments.

"Hair 'Idol'! You got it jumping off!" Randy Jackson barked.

And while folks may not envy his vocals, his hair is another story.

"I have many, many women calling me wanting Sanjaya's curls," Dean added.

Straight, curly or puffy — the girls go wild for Sanjaya. Want proof? Just check out the many fan sites chock-full of girls who ask each other, "Do you daydream about Sanjaya?"

Is it because he's the worst?

Booted "Idol" Brandon Rogers may have had the better voice … so how could Sanjaya have gotten more votes?

"How in the world did you get booted and Sanjaya's still there?" "Access' " Billy Bush asked Brandon when he visited our stage.

"The nature of the competition is America is going to vote for who they want to vote for," Brandon said.

Could a Web site be keeping Sanjaya alive?

On VoteForTheWorst.com, they urge their 2 to 3 million visitors to vote for the contestant who should lose under normal circumstances, which irks "Idol" producers and judges.

"We're oftentimes the thing that puts somebody over the edge to stay," VoteForTheWorst founding member Patrick Wells told "Access."

Among their millions of visitors — the King of All Media.

"I've joined, and I am definitely voting for the worst tonight," Howard Stern revealed.

"Any time you can get somebody who has a big following talking about you, it makes a big difference," Wells added.

Source

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

'American Idol' Christian Crew Pumps Up the Church

Christian singers are continuing to show success in the sixth season of American Idol as three Gospel Music Association (GMA) favorites - Jordin Sparks, Melinda Doolittle, and Chris Sligh - moved on past the vote last week.

Four Christian artists have moved into the final 11 for this season's Amerian Idol.

Among the contestants, one more vocalist has emerged as having a gospel music background – Phil Stacey, minister of music at First Coast Christian in Jacksonville, Fla.

This places four Christian artists among the final 11, encouraging viewers that this year’s winner may represent Christian talent.

Besides his connection with the church, Stacey also attends Liberty University, an independent fine arts Baptist university located in Lynchburg, Va.

Despite the fact that he passed this week’s vote, Stacey was one of the bottom vote-getters and may have to struggle to stay alive in the competition.

The GMA has been strongly supporting the four contestants, making them a large part of their weekly GMAil - a weekly industry email newsletter that contains weekly charts, news, links to resources, and information about upcoming industry events, available to GMA members only.

Besides the GMA, other groups are spurring on the finalists.

According to GMAil, Christian elite Michael W. Smith is telling his fans to vote for Sparks on his website; Music City is pushing for Doolittle, a graduate of Nashville Christian school Belmont University, as well as the local Fox affiliate; and Sligh’s home church in South Carolina holds weekly American Idol parties to support their favorite.

This past week, contestants sang to a Diana Ross theme night. On the upcoming show on Tuesday, the theme will be the British invasion.

American Idol is viewed by over 30 million Americans each week while 28 million votes were cast this last week.

GMA is also looking for more information on any performers with gospel roots.

Source

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

MHN Averaging Healthy Stats - 300+

One of our other Blog, Malaysian Hotel News or MHN have been receiving Healthy Statistics recently. On an average 300-350 hits a day for the last two weeks. :)

We know that MHN cannot compare with SNS's demand and therefore we are glad to see the daily hits maintaining to above 300+. Another good sign is that the Unique Visitors are also quite high. :)

Perhaps its the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 (VMY2007) which is the big draw to hospitality, hotel, tourism and travel-related news.

If you've not visited MHN before, check it out here - http://MalaysiaHotelNews.blogspot.com

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Try our local "Ad Sense" - Nuffnang

Have your heard of Nuffnang?

Well its like Google Adsense .. but Malaysian-ed! :)

Two guys got it started, Timothy and Ming.



Nuffnang is still on beta stage now, and i think they are trying to get Malaysian Bloggers to sign up. And they are also trying to get in advertisers too. If you don't have an Ad on your Blog and you wanna try one... go to Nuffnang.com.my and start one up! :)



Here's a short message from Tim today on Nuffnag's advertisers

When Nuffnang carried out its BETA launch a little more than 2 weeks ago, the
team at Nuffnang tried very hard to remind bloggers that it would take up to 1-2
months from launch before the paid ads start rolling out.

We said 1-2 months because we did not want to disappoint. We were afraid to promise too much too soon and end up delivering too little too late.But as I sit at my work station now after a long day of meetings, I can confidently say to all of you now that we have gotten advertisers on board and the first paid ads will roll out the
week after next on the 25th of March 2007.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up for Nuffnang.com.my lor.

Click Here to read more on Nuffnang from Ming & Timothy - Click Here

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Our First Google Ad Sense Check!

Woo Hoo!! After attempting to start our very first Blog in June 2006, we are very happy to see that we've added a couple more Blogs to our list.

We have SNS, MHN, NU, DT, dareNtiff and of course this blog!!

If we were to break down the Blog by category. ... we guess this would be the best way to explain the six blogs that own.

:: dareNtiff : Our Family Blog ::
:: shoppingNsales : Sales - Warehouse Sales - Sales and Sales ::
:: MHN : Malaysia Hotel News ::
:: NU : Unusual - Weird - Bizarre ::
:: DT : Church Stuff - Work Stuff ::
:: delephant : Random Stuff - Fun Stuff ::


Well after playing around with Blogs and the concept of Blogs, we were introduced to Google Adsense. We tested out Google Adsense in end September, and only started using it starting October 2006. It was pretty weird then, cos Blogger was going thru a revamp from Blogger to New Blogger Beta. But we stuck with it .. and just carried on.

Now after Four Months ... we are pretty glad to see that we have received our very first check from Google. :) YAY!!!

New Problem

Err .... since its only a small sum of USD100 .. .anyone has any suggestions how do we bank it? Or any experience ones out there who can gives some tips on which local bank in Malaysia has the lowest service charges or how do we go about it ? .. .. .. .etc

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

American Idol 6 - 12 Finalists

Woo Hoo .. its amazing ... its already the Top 12 Finalists of American Idol 6.

I am pretty glad that my guess for those that will be in the Top 12 was pretty accurage.

I was guessing that the following folks would be in the Top 12

For the guys, I was banking on Blake Lewis, Chris Sligh & Sanjaya

For the girls, I was banking on Lakisha Jones, Sabrina Sloan, Melinda Doolittle, Gina Glocksen

Out of the 7 that i was hoping to be in the 12, only one was wrong.

Sabrina Sloan was kicked out yesterday. Pity!!

The Following are the Top 12 Finalists of American Idol 6

Blake Lewis

LaKisha Jones


Chris Sligh


Jordin Sparks


Phil Stacey


Melinda Doolittle


Brandon Rogers


Gina Glocksen


Chris Richardson


Stephanie Edwards


Haley Scarnato


Sanjaya Malakar




More ... Read On

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"American Idol" slimmed down the competition Thursday night, leaving 12 finalists to compete for the ultimate prize — a record contract. Antonella Barba, Sabrina Sloan, Jared Cotter and Jason "Sundance" Head were cast off Thursday in phone voting, which drew about 37 million calls and text messages.

The performers who made the cut were Blake Lewis, LaKisha Jones, Chris Sligh, Jordin Sparks, Phil Stacey, Melinda Doolittle, Brandon Rogers, Gina Glocksen, Chris Richardson, Stephanie Edwards, Haley Scarnato and Sanjaya Malakar.

The show's tense final moments belonged to Malakar and Head, who were waiting to find out who would take the competition's 12th spot — and who would go home. Judge Paula Abdul was stunned to hear that Malakar, who is not exactly a judge favorite, was staying.

"I'm speechless," Abdul said. "This is a singing competition, and Sundance, you've been one of our finest."

How'd this happen? "The volume was turned down," quipped Simon Cowell, who has criticized Malakar, 17, of Federal Way, Wash., for his "weird" stage presence.

"Somebody give me a job," the 28-year-old Head, from Porter, Texas, said before leaving the stage. "I need a job."

The elimination of the talented Sloan, 27, from Los Angeles, was another let-down for the judges. "Sabrina should be in that top 12, dawg," lamented Randy Jackson, who said "America got that one wrong."

None of the judges was complaining when Barba, the focus of recent attention over some racy Internet photos, was shown the door. Each week, Cowell could be counted on to tell the 20-year-old Jersey girl that she wasn't good enough to be in the talent contest.

Cotter, a strapping 25-year-old from Kew Gardens, N.Y., told Ryan Seacrest he was "very" surprised to be leaving the show. Cowell had another opinion: "You're a good-looking guy, you've got to work on your vocals," he said.

Thursday's show also featured a performance by "American Idol" winner Carrie Underwood, who recently snagged a Grammy for best new artist. She sang "Wasted," a song from her hit country music album "Some Hearts."

So far this season, the show's sixth, men and women have been competing separately, with viewers voting off two of each sex weekly. When the dozen finalists return Tuesday, the sexes will be blended, with one singer voted off each week. The winner will be chosen in May.

"American Idol" continues to dominate the ratings, attracting between 27 million and 37 million viewers per telecast this season.

Source1 Source2

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Woo Hoo! I Won a Creative Zen Microphoto from Astro

This is really Awesome!!!

I had a call today from a courier company asking where is the best place to deliver a package from Astro. I was thinking wah Astro Magazine so high class, wanna send via Courier Co.

Later in the day when Tiff received it, she called and said ... we have a Zen Microphoto!

I was like huh? What's that? .... then when i saw the website
Ooooooooh .... an Ipod thingymajic with Photo viewieng and FM Tuner too!

That is so cool. I was telling Tiff.. how i wish i had an ipod! And Thank God ... we received one free! :) Happinesss!

** Yups .. it was Astro that sent it to us, cos we signed up for the auto debit thingy. :)

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

Snap or Google?

Hmmmmm ...... another Search Engine - SNAP!! Pretty interesting that it pulls out a picture, but it sorta lags a bit ... hmm perhaps if our bandwidth improves with speed and capacity, SNAP may be a pretty cool tool to use for Searches!

Google may be the most popular search engine to date but there are plenty of alternative search engines looking to grab a piece of the action – and we're not just referring to Yahoo! Search or MSN Search.

Here's a look at some of the more interesting ones out there.

If you ever wanted to have a more visually stimulating web browsing experience, Snap gives you exactly that.

What is interesting about Snap as an alternative to Google is the way Snap takes a different approach to searching the Web.

Instead of giving you back a set of plain old text search results, it gives you an actual preview of the webpage you are about to visit.

Search results are displayed on the left side of the page, while the other side provides a visual preview of the website (which you can choose to view in small, medium or large).

This visual display of images along with text is a refreshing change to looking at wordy description of websites on other search engines. The beauty of it is that you get to judge whether the search result is relevant just by previewing it.

Another cool feature of Snap is that it actively anticipates your search. From the moment you start typing in the search box, Snap will begin to actively anticipate you want to search for, offering popular terms, synonyms along with suggestions.

Scrolling through pictures: You can easily scroll through pictures while previewing them with Snap’s new image search function.

Snap also allows users to interact with a previewed website without having to leave the search engine and search results behind. For example, you can preview a travel website, enter your personal details, pick a destination and choose a flight time all while still having access to your results list.

However, the drawback to this is you have to be using Internet Explorer in order to benefit from this feature. Also, users are required to perform an additional step by downloading an Active-X preview control to make direct interactivity active by default in Snap.

Another thing we liked about Snap is its newly added Image search function. While most of us are all familiar with other image search engines like Google Image Search, Snap takes a rather unique approach.

Snap's image search looks very much like an image-browsing program. Images found are presented in the form of thumbnails on the left with a larger version of the picture is shown on the right.

The cool thing about this feature is the seamless transition of images as users browse through images. Still, the best thing about it is that it intelligently checks the previewed images and automatically discards images with broken links.

In short, Snap is a nice and simple search engine with a good layout that delivers search results clearly.

Snap's visually stimulating site preview feature offers something fresh that clearly stands out among the masses of text based search engines on the web.

Source
[tags : delephant fun stuff]

No more Congestions at Toll with new Multi Lane Free Flow system

Finally we see some progress!! Hopefully it will ease up congestion at all our Toll Gates with this new Multi Lane Free Flow (MLFF) system in place. Then we Malaysians can zoom past the toll gantries at high speeds of 80Kmh rather than the current 2Kmh. :)

Read on ....

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Auto debit at toll plazas soon

Blasch: Says the MLFF will reduce congestion

KUALA LUMPUR: It will be a smooth drive along the North-South Expressway when the Multi Lane Free Flow (MLFF) system is implemented by the end of this year.

Under the MLFF, which is similar to systems used extensively in Europe, the United States, Australia, Canada and Singapore, the toll charges will be deducted electronically as vehicles bearing special tags pass through toll plazas at normal driving speeds, as there will be no barriers.

Efkon Asia Sdn Bhd, a local consultant appointed by the Malaysian Highway Authority (MHA), is in the final stages of completing its feasibility study and submitting its recommendations.

The recommendations will be discussed in a committee comprising officials from the Works Ministry, MHA, toll concessionaires and Rangkaian Segar, the operator of the Touch ‘n' Go electronic payment system and SmartTag, before the MLFF electronic toll is implemented.

Efkon chief operating officer Helmuth Blausch said the MLFF would reduce congestion at toll plazas, be environmentally friendly and increase road safety.

“Some of the advantages include improved traffic flow, reduction in travel time, savings on fuel and cutting down the vehicle's wear and tear,” he said in an interview.

There are over 650,000 SmartTags in circulation at present.

Blausch said it was wise to expand on the existing system rather than replacing it.

“There is no need for the replacement of tags and the system infrastructure, and we also avoid the pitfalls from putting a new and untested system in place.

“All the technology used in the SmartTag lane is easily extended to high-speed MLFF,” he said.

Under the MLFF system, a laser scanner would detect and classify the vehicle, triggering the camera system to capture an image of it on the dedicated lanes on the expressway.

It will then debit the amount and inform the user of the correct payment.

Source

[tags : delephant fun stuff]

The Next Four Kicked out of American Idol 6

Bye Bye to Alaina Alexander, Leslie Hunt, Nicholas Pedro and A.J. Tabaldo

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In this photo provided by Fox Television, Alaina Alexander performs on Fox's 'American Idol,' more aspiring singers Thursday night, but Antonella Barba, the focus of recent attention over some racy Internet photos, was not one of them.

Alaina Alexander, Leslie Hunt, Nicholas Pedro and A.J. Tabaldo were voted off in the phone ballotting, which drew about 32 million calls and text messages. Sixteen hopefuls remain of the 24 who began the elimination rounds.

Perhaps the night's biggest surprise was that 20-year-old Barba, of Point Pleasant, N.J., was staying. "I thought you were worse than last week," Simon Cowell said Wednesday after her less-than-stellar cover of Celine Dion's "Because You Loved Me."

A close friend of Barba has denied she was the subject of some graphically sexual pictures purported to be of her that were posted on the Internet last week.

Another surprise: The early elimination of the talented Tabaldo, 22, who gave a rousing rendition of Nina Simone's "Feeling Good."

Paula Abdul couldn't hide her disappointment.

"Truthfully, this is a singing competition," Abdul said Thursday. "I don't feel tonight reflects this."

Tabaldo's song choice could be bad luck for "Idol" contestants — after all, Hunt also performed "Feeling Good" this week. The 24-year-old Chicago resident told Ryan Seacrest she "had a feeling" she might be going home.

An emotional Alexander, who sang the Dixie Chicks anthem "Not Ready To Make Nice," was too choked up to get through the song after Seacrest asked her to perform it one last time. (The "Idol" females were there to help the 24-year-old California girl along — and give a group hug.)

Pedro's take on "Fever" wasn't enough to keep him on the Fox talent show. "It's about standing out in the crowd," said Cowell, who criticized the smoky-voiced singer, 25, for what he called a lack of charisma.

Thursday's show also featured a performance by "Idol" also-ran Kellie Pickler, who crooned "I Wonder," a song from her country album "Small Town Girl."

"American Idol," now running three times a week and again ruling the ratings, will return March 13 to a twice-weekly schedule.

The final 12 will be split evenly between men and women. So far this season, the show's sixth, men and women have been competing separately. The winner will be crowned during the finale in May.

Source Source2

[tags : delephant fun stuff]