Got curious about how the different traffic rating services ranked the top 10 websites in the United States last month.

Here’s what I found:

Alexa:
1. Yahoo!
2. Google
3. Myspace
4. Youtube
5. Facebook
6. MSN
7. Ebay
8. Windows Live
9. Wikipedia
10. Craigslist
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Migs twittered that Filipinos can now receive payments through Paypal. That led me to this blog post on PinoyMoneyTalk. Indeed, after checking it out myself, it’s now possible!
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Google turned 9 years old yesterday, and what better way to celebrate it than to roll out the Western Union Quick Cash option for Adsense publishers!

IMO, this is far more convenient and virtually worry-free compared to receiving it through mail. Knowing all the thefts going on in our corrupt local post office, I hope this sad chapter of our online lives will finally be over. For now, supported countries are the Philippines, China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Romania, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Colombia. Google will expand it to more countries but did not specify when.

For instructions on changing your form of payment to Western Union Quick Cash, head over to Abe’s post.
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It’s the big G’s 9th birthday! Wishing you more success and Adwords clients!

Wordpress released version 2.3 of their blogging software yesterday, nicknamed “Dexter”. Definitely a major release just by looking at all the work they put into it. But Abe warns against upgrading too soon because not all plugins are supported. At best, those intending to put up new blogs will be the ones benefiting from Dexter the most. But then again, their choice of plugins will be a bit limited.

Before you jump the gun, Aaron lists 10 things you need to know about the release. And he says, just like I would after each major release, that it’s best to wait it out. One suggestion I can give is for you to install 2.3 on your desktop (via Xampp) and import your existing database and plugins to see if anything goes awry. At least in that situation, you can troubleshoot without having to worry about breaking your live blog.

Play MMORPG’s much?

If you’re perpetually in front of your computer, consider taking short 15-minute breaks every few hours. I’m not a doctor, but it’s sound advice. You save yourself from unnecessary health problems such as stress, eyestrain, poor posture, headaches, not to mention poor social skills. Like the saying goes, too much of something can be bad for you.
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I read an interesting post by Bob Martin in his Live in the Philippines blog. In the article titled “I know better than they do!“, Bob recounts his experience with a fellow American who was planning on living in the Philippines. As they were driving around town (General Santos City), his friend quipped that he was gonna teach “these people” (Filipinos) how to grow tomatoes. He reasoned that most tomatoes sold in the market are green, and if they were sold riper, they would be able to sell more. Bob quickly rebuffed him by saying that Pinoys actually preferred green tomatoes. If they were too ripe, nobody would buy them! Bob couldn’t have concluded it more aptly:
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As my entry for Janette Toral’s Filipina Writing Contest, I’d like to put the spotlight on a few Filipina bloggers that I enjoy reading.

First and foremost, and not just because she’s a friend, I make it a point to visit Aileen Apolo’s blog every chance that I can. Aileen can talk about the most mundane things in life but still manages to be profound and entertaining. I love it when she talks about the stuff that make us uniquely Filipino. Warm, fuzzy feeling indeed!
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Can’t believe it’s been 6 years. I can still recall quite vividly the time my friend was buzzing and begging frantically on our apartment intercom to let her in. I had no idea what was going on until I walked out on our street on 6th Avenue and saw the twin towers completely gone. There was a thick cloud of smoke that looked as if an atomic bomb had just exploded. New York City had been attacked! For the two years that I’ve been in the city, it was only a month before 9/11 that I decided to go up the towers. Good thing that I did. New York was and is still the most beautiful city in the world. It’s taught me to appreciate life, family, friends, not to mention history, the arts, culture and wow, the food. Next to where I live here in Davao City, I consider New York as my second home.

Looking forward to a reunion next year!

I <3 NY

Map illustrating how close I was to the catastrophe:
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Noticed something new on my Google Adsense panel.

Google now gives Adsense publishers the ability to create a whitelist of URL’s that are permitted to display Adsense ads under their client ID. After only a few hours of activating it, I already found 7 sites illegally using my ID. Activating it also means that ads displayed on disallowed sites won’t be counted as impressions or clicks. You won’t earn anything nor will the advertiser be charged.
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