ASUS PG191 19 inch Silver-Black LCD monitor for ultimate gaming and video experience

Taiwan based ASUS's PG191 LCD monitor incorporates super bass system and the fastest 2ms gray to gray response time to deliver better audio and video performance demanded by hardcore gamers.

With a unique industrial design, the black and silver PG191 comes with a sleek aluminum alloy neck, a circular base and a glaring piano-black panel frame, making it a stylish huge piece of decor. The bundling up of the webcam, speakers and woofer along with the monitor saves a lot of desk space too!


The model comes with 2.1-channel speakers (2x10W speakers and 15W super bass system) to deliver a thrilling audio experience when battling in the virtual world. Complemented by SRS Lab's flagship TruSurround XT audio technology, the display supports the latest game titles' 5.1 and 6.1 channel sound standards.

PG191 incorporates the Trace Free technology, which accelerates gray-to-gray response time to 2ms to enable smooth video quality, whether it is football match, 3D gaming or DVD playbacks.

The built-in 1.3 mega-pixel HP webcam along with headphones and microphone jacks together offer a total interactive solution for online gaming. The bundled life frame video communication software further lets users take snapshots and record video with ease.

The PG191 offers hot keys to activate its special audio and video modes. It has five audio modes: standard, first-person shooting games, RPG games, theater and music; and five image enhancement modes: standard, scenery, night view, theater and gaming.

The innovative technology also enables users to select three skin tone options for the best visual results in different video applications.

Other features include a tilt and swivel angle adjustment and three USB 2.0 ports.

The PG191 has a native resolution of 1280x1024 pixels, aspect ratio of 4:3, contrast ratio of 800:1 and 320cd/m2 brightness. You can find the detailed specifications of the monitor at the ASUS website here.

While other 19 inch LCD monitors are available for almost half the price of ASUS PG191, it has loads of extra features to justify its price. You can check out the price or buy the ASUS PG191 LCD Monitor right away on Amazon or SHOP.COM. » Continue reading

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The secret to improving your Google PR and Technorati Ranking

These days almost everybody in the blogosphere seems to dream about becoming a dot com mogul. One such soul is Cheewee Ng. And if that was really tongue twisting then you could simply call him Betshopboy. For a detailed explanation of why he's called Betshopboy, read his profile.

Betshopboy was the third to submit his review of HashOut as part of the Review My Blog campaign.

If you've ever been to John Chow's blog then the first thing you'll notice on Cheewee Ng's blog is that he has got a similar bottom line for his blog.

At first sight the blog seemed to be very amateurish, but as I sifted through the blog posts I was quite astounded to see that the blog which ranked in the region of 1.8 million on technorati at the end of March, ranks under 52k and has a Google PR (Page Rank) of 2 out of 10 as on date. All this within a month and just a meager 56 posts on the blog!

So how did Cheewee Ng achieve this feat? Yes, you got it right! The link love that he received through his "review exchange and link swap" campaign skyrocketed his Google and Technorati rankings. This once again asserts the importance of building links to your blog and review exchanges are a much better alternative to link exchanges as it serves three purposes. Firstly you get links back to your blog, secondly the person who reviews your blog gets involved with your blog and may become your thick friend and a loyal reader of your blog and finally your blog gets more readers through the reviewer's blog.

However, Cheewee Ng's review exchange program is a little different from what I've seen at several other blogs. In that, he has reversed the roles. He reviews your blog first and in turn asks you to link back to his blog with the anchor text "make money online" and also to link back to his "free blog review" post. Seems pretty simple, even for a layman to understand. » Continue reading

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A coffin for a broken marriage

Unhappily married? Already divorced? What does one do of the wedding ring when a marriage dies?

Let it stay in the remote corners of a sock and underwear drawer so that you find them while cleaning away your stuff, some day in the future, and revive your already forgotten sour memories? Bury your wedding ring and bury your past!

A New York divorcee has come up with a miniature coffin to lay those unwanted wedding rings to rest. The 15cm by 5cm solid wood coffin has a black velvet ring insert, a choice of six brass plaques inscribed with messages including 'I do NOT!' and 'Six feet is not deep enough'. Get it for $30 from Jist Enterprises, the creators online store, and "Give a dead marriage its proper, final resting place." » Continue reading

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The secret to living a passionate life

Sam Chan of Acquire Wisdom and Live With Passion was the second to submit his review of HashOut as part of the Review My Blog campaign.

Acquire Wisdom and Live With Passion is your daily dose of Wisdom. Not just that! Sam Chan's posts just livens up the day and true to its name, fills your life with passion. He is a professional at Self-Improvement. Don't take my word for it. Go through his blog posts to have a first-hand look.

The more I think I had learnt the more I know I still have to learn. Everyday when we face problems, we are actually learning. How we tackle problems determines whether we are acquiring Wisdom or getting more stress that kills. - Sam Chan

His philosophy of life is that we learn everyday from our experience, but we shouldn't limit ourselves to our own experiences. We should also learn from others' experiences. It could be anyone for that matter.

A wise man is one who learns from all men. Learning only from our own experience is like learning the traffic rules by accident. - Sam Chan

Sam makes his posts even more interesting by clubbing an apt and lively picture with all his posts.

Take a loot at the blog study I did of Sam's blog earlier. » Continue reading

Read more on Review My Blog, Tid Bits

Finding businesses online made easy

Google these days is sort of throwing up all irrelevant search results. I've been totally annoyed and was hoping to find a better way to find information that I wanted.

I feel information specific search engines like people search engines are doing a better job these days. These kind of search engines have advanced data mining technology that helps them crawl information from the web and then sort and arrange them automatically for systematic viewing.

Just like how people search engines help you find real information about people, masterseek helps one find real information about businesses.

Masterseek lets you search for businesses using whatever information you have about the company like company name, phone numbers, email address, website address etc. You can also find companies selling a product in a particular country. As of September 2006 Masterseek's database contains 45 million companies from 75 countries.

One advantage of using such search engines is that you get information that you want and are less likely to suffer the WILF syndrome, by not accidentally bumping into some website which is of no use to you but which cleverly distracts your attention. » Continue reading

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What Was I Looking For?

When you log in to the Net, are you surfing or 'wilfing'? Surveys show that two out of three Web users are distracted by the unlimited pool of online information and 'wilf' -- an abbreviation of "What Was I Looking For?"

The survey says that wilfers lose two working days a month from aimless browsing, with men being the worst offenders. Shopping sites are rated most distracting. One-third of men quizzed confirmed that wilfing through tempting adult entertainment sites had damaged relationships with their partners. The survey pointed out that people log in with a purpose, get distracted by the choices and then forget what they are there for. » Continue reading

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Local money, a step backwards in global economics?

Despite being part of the US, the souther Berkshire region of Massachusetts has launched a local currency. Termed BerkShares, the exchange rate is set at 90 cents. That is, $90 will yield 100 BerkShares. BerkShares are printed in several denominations. Local businessmen accept these shares at full dollar value (i.e. 0 BerkShares=$10), thereby giving the consumer a 10 percent incentive for trading locally and strengthening the regional economy.

Berkshire region is not the first to get a local currency of its own. Local currencies are an old idea. Thousands of them were used during the Great Depression, according to Bernard Lietaer, author of The Future of Money and a former currency trader who helped implement the euro. They're a subset of a grouping called complementary currencies, which also includes airline frequent-flier programs.



The motive behind such local money, also termed as social money, is to promote local businesses that accept the currency, thereby building stronger relationships and a greater affinity between the traders and the public.

Local currency first resurfaced in the U.S. in 1991 in Ithaca, New York. Then-resident Paul Glover, now living in Philadelphia, says many of his neighbors were unemployed or underpaid, and he was looking for a way to fatten their wallets. He and a group of supporters created the Ithaca Hour, each one equal to either $10 or one hour of work.

Today there are over 2500 different local currency systems operating in countries throughout the world. LETS, Local Exchange Trading System, being one of the most prominent trading network supporting its own internal currency. LETS originated in Vancouver, Canada and as on the date of this writing there are 30 LETS systems operating in Canada and over 400 in the United Kingdom. Australia, France, New Zealand and Switzerland have similar systems. Time dollars, Burlington Bread and PEN exchange are among the most successful systems in the USA. In Germany, there are at least 16 regional currencies.

Even though these local currencies are treated as illegal in most countries and are under the watchful eyes of their country's controlling banks, do these numbers mean that we are moving back from globalization of economies to localization?

Sources: The Week, Forbes.com, BBC News, Wikipedia. » Continue reading

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