At the time of writing there are 4 great themes offered for free download under the Free Themes section, namely Missile, Styleicious, Chameleon and Loveblog. Each theme is accompanied by a full feature list, a live demo site and of course the download link. Among these, Loveblog is my personal favorite, mainly due to the clean lines and easy to read layout.

The Portfolio section is where the author shows off his ability in creating designs for various platforms including Wordpress, PHP Link Directory, Forums and General Websites. Just taking a peek at the cleverly made Wordpress design previews you can tell that thaslayer is indeed capable of churning out an entire range of designs and themes suited to the needs his clients.

So the next time you are in need of a custom designed Wordpress site or other web design, head over to thaslayer’s website and check out what he has to offer. I am sure you will not be disappointed.

OPTION A) The free but lengthy way

STEP 1 : Identifying the video

Identify the full address of the video which you want to download including the YouTube address (eg : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk. You can get this from the address bar at the top of your browser window or by clicking on the More Info link at the right hand bar, from the URL box. Copy this address and have it ready to be used in the next step.

STEP 2 : Preparing for download

Open up a new browser window or tab and go to http://keepvid.com/. Here you will need to paste the address of the video you copied in STEP 1 into the box which says “URL”. Next click on the download button on the right hand side of the box DO NOT click on the Download, Convert and Play icons they are just advertisements.

STEP 3 : Downloading the video

Depending on the video you have chosen, you will be shown links which allow you to download the video file directly in a green box at the bottom of the page. Here you can choose to download either the low quality (FLV) format video or high quality (MPEG 4) format video by right clicking on the relevant link and choosing Save As. If you choose the Low Quality (FLV) option, you will have to rename the file from get_video to something else with an FLV extension, for example you may call the video “funny.flv”

STEP 4 : Playing the video

Depending on the video format you saved your file in Step 3, you will either need to have an FLV player to view the lower quality video file you downloaded in the FLV format, or an MPEG 4 player to view the high quality video file. FLV Player is a good player to use to view FLV video files. Apple Quicktime and many other video players are able to handle MPEG 4 videos without problems. Enjoy!

OPTION B) The cheap and quick way

STEP 1 : Download VideoPiggy

If you do not want the hassle of performing the steps above each time you need to download a video from YouTube, and want a quick and easy way to get your YouTube videos, I recommend VideoPiggy, an excellent piece of software which will make it effortless to download videos from YouTube and to convert them into any format you choose for various applications (such as inserting into PowerPoint presentations). Video Piggy will also download videos from other video servers including Google Video, Metacafe and MySpaceTV!

Click here to get VideoPiggy now!

The Internet has been responsible to liberate a lot of such constraints which have been imposed on Malaysians all this while, most notable is the easier access to uncensored local and foreign news on the the World Wide Web. But what about TV? We are still restricted as to what we can and cannot watch.

iSoftwareTV is the perfect answer to this problem. Essentially, it is a piece of software which gives you access to over 3000 channels featuring Full DVD Quality Movies, International TV Shows, Music Videos and much more! This amazing piece of software has received acclaim from CNN, MSNBC, CNET and America Online. The best part is that since it is software, it will work wherever you are in the world! All you need is access to an Internet connection.

Your Astro subscription easily sets you back RM 80- RM90 a month on average, and you get to watch reruns of the same shows again and again. If you are in the United States, traditional satellite TV and Cable services can cost easily in excess of $90/month. iSoftwareTV costs only $39.95 ONE TIME. There is no monthly recurring fee to be paid at all. Even if you convert that to Ringgit Malaysia, it comes up to about RM 120 which is what you are paying A MONTH if you subscribe to every channel on Astro (not including Box Office shows).

So the next time you switch on your TV and start flipping channels looking for something worthwhile to watch, consider getting . It is simply liberating!

For over a decade now Flash has greatly empowered the content we interact with on the Web. Initially Flash was designed to create animations and eventually evolved to becoming a fully interactive platform. The bulk of video content on the Internet including YouTube and other video servers is all based on Flash, a format known as FLV or Flash Video. Oringinally developed by Macromedia, the Flash platform now belongs to Adobe, after it bought over the former’s business.

The slick animation ability, coupled with object-oriented programmability of the Flash platform has made it very appropriate for developing interactive games on the Internet. There are many commercial and free games available on the Internet, with genres ranging from Puzzles to Arcade and Board games.

Arcade Temple is an excellent site which hosts thousands of quality interactive Flash games across various genres. Users are free to browse and play any game on the site, with the option to download the game to their desktop as well. Users can also opt to register as members of the site for free which comes with several benefits including being able to participate in the monthly $100 prize competitions.

So the next time you have some free time on your hands, head over to Arcade Temple and immerse yourself in a world of online interactivity. 

The handsfree profile allows it to pair with your mobile phone so that you can make and receive calls wirelessly in your car. A built-in microphone picks up your voice, while the voice of the other party is played over your car speakers. At the same time, the BLT 370 can also pair with a music device which supports the high-quality Bluetooth audio protocol, A2DP. Many mobile phones today also support this which means you can use your mobile phone for phone calls and music streaming with the BLT 370. The AVRCP profile allows the device to intelligently pause your music and switch to Handsfree mode when you place or receive a call while listening to music.

I have paired mine with my Motorola V3XX mobile phone and 4th generation Apple iPod Photo. I had to purchase a Sony Bluetooth Wireless Transmitter for iPod dongle to allow my music to be streamed via Bluetooth from my iPod. While there are many Bluetooth dongles available the small size of the dongle appealed to me. Plus, it does not need to be charged separately as it draws what little power it needs from the iPod battery itself.

If you are comfortable with messing with the electronics in your car, you can probably hook this device up yourself. I got mine installed from Quest Audio in Subang Jaya, for a mere RM 380 including installation. The sound quality is as good as what my in-dash 6-disc CD changer produces. Another plus point is that I can easily pass my iPod to a passenger sitting in the rear seat and they can wirelessly control the music in the car right from the iPod.

So if you are thinking of upgrading your car sound system, give the Clarion BLT 370 a serious thought. You will be glad you did.

There are several plans which you can choose, which differ in the number of visits delivered to your website as well as the source of the traffic. Naturally, the higher the amount of visits and the uniqueness of the location, the higher the plan is going to cost. That said, its worth mentioning that the plans are affordably priced, starting with only $7 for 5000 unique visitors.

What is even more interesting is that you are provided with a control panel from which you can track the number of visitors which have been sent to your website. Also, you can ‘throttle’ the maximum number of visitors the service sends to your site on any given day. This allows you to maximise the traffic you buy over a longer period of time.

So if you want to boost your web traffic, Google PR rating or Alexa ranking, head over to Megatraffix and you can literraly sit back and watch your visitor counter grow.

At the time of writing there are over 1500 screenshots of various screens in an entire range of applications, from utilities to productivity applications to blogging software. A distinguishing factor is the strict quality standards set on the website to maintain the quality of the screenshots offered. Anyone can upload screenshots of a particular software, as long as they are saved in the lossless PNG format, which is quickly becoming the standard for the web and print.

To assist users in locating a particular screenshot of an application, the images are presented in easy to navigate categories based on the operating systems on which the applications run. Once you click on any of these categories, you are presented with a list of application categories for which screenshots are available. Next to each category is a number representing the total number of screenshots in that category, along with the last update date.

Users are free to use any of these screenshots in their websites and applications, which makes Screenshots Archive a great resource for webmasters and application developers alike. Another interesting use of these screenshots is that they can serve the purpose of a quick evaluation as to the functionality and overall look and feel of an application before the user downloads or buys it. This in itself is a good reason to bookmark and return to this site often.

There is also an interesting category called Fun which lists various funny and amusing application screenshots. For example, there is one screenshot which shows an error message informing the user of a successful removal of an application. There is also a random image feature which is excellent for discovering long-forgotten applications.

So the next time you need application screenshots for your website application or video tutorial, just head over to Screenshots Archive.

In their registration form, they usually require you to key in your email address to which a verification email is sent before you can login. This is a surefire method to increase the amount of junk email you receive in your inbox everyday. One solution is to use a throwaway email address (such as mailinator.com), but if you are in a hurry and need to access the site quickly (or to quickly download something) but do not have the time nor patience to register, all you have to do is visit www.bugmenot.com.

BugMeNot is essentially a database of pre-registered username and passwords for many websites on the Internet. Since it is driven by the users themselves, there is a very high chance that the login you require is already available on the website. Better still, there is a voting system which automatically promotes logins which work so that you spend less time trying out logins which have either expired or have been banned. Naturally, if a login works (or does not work) for you, its best to go back to BugMeNot and vote for that particular login. After all, the content on this website is by the users for the users.

BugMeNot has also released a throw-away email service which allows you to quickly check any email address @bugmenot.com. This is very similar to mailinator.com and other throw-away email addresses work, and makes it easy to obtain all of these features from one site.

So the next time you are faced with a registration page which is holding you back from the content you need to access, head over to www.bugmenot.com for the solution.

If you were to go to any electronics store in Kuala Lumpur, you would notice that most sales personnel would try to sell you the latest Full-HD screens, whether or not you really need it. The reason? Higher commissions. Full HD screens have driven the prices of lower resolution screens down, which is an excellent thing. Unfortunately, if you are not fully aware of the technical details, you may get influenced by the sales pitch and end up with something that does not mactch your needs.

When deciding on which resolution to go for, the first thing you will need to know is the type of content you are going to watch on it. Chances are, like most people with basic entertainment requirements, you will be primarily watching Astro and an occasional DVD movie. This is considered medium to low resolution content with a typical resolution of about 500 horizontal lines. If you were to watch this on a high-resolution flat-screen TV, the content is going to pixelate. What this means is that the picture is going to look very blocky (like the image of the eye below). This is similar to what would happen if you took a photo with your digital camera at a low-resolution (such as 2 megapixel) and printed it at a large size.

If on the other hand, you are an avid gamer, and have an Microsoft Xbox 360, or a Sony PlayStation 3, you should get a Full HD screen to enjoy the breathtaking detail which videogames today have to offer. Another thing which would justify a Full-HD screen is if you are going to watch high definition video, which comes in either Blue Ray or HD-DVD formats. A Sony PlayStation 3 also doubles up a Blue-Ray player, so you can watch high definition movies.

Personally, if all you are going to watch is Astro and DVD videos, I would recommend that you try and source an older Flat Screen TV with a low resolution of about 1024×768 pixels. You may be able to get this set at a bargain and it will produce a smoother image compared to the newer Flat Screen TVs if you are watching Astro and DVDs.

So the next time you are at the electronics store, with breath-taking images being displayed on the Flat Screen TVs, ask the sales assistant to show you what the screen looks like with Astro or a normal DVD. Do not be surprised to see a pixelated image. But hey, its better to see it at the shop than once you take it back home with you.

One option is to purchase a web hosting account from a hosting provider and associate that hosted account with the domain name of their choice. While this is a good option, it may not be the most cost-effective method, since some people may have many domain names, and would instead like to share one web hosting account across all those domains.

The solution to this is domain-name forwarding, which is essentially a simple frame page which hosts the original site within it. This service is usually provided free of charge by most domain name registrars with the purchase of a domain name. The end-user can then key in the more meaningful domain name, while the original domain name is loaded in the background.

However, if you were to host a site based on Wordpress / Joomla or a similar CMS based on the PHP/MySQL platform, you may encounter that you are unable to use the user login (and admin login) feature if you were to access your site from the forwarded domain name, but works fine if you were to login using the original domain name.

The reason for this is that Internet Explorer uses the address bar in the browser to set the cookie (and not the URL of the originating content), therefore causing the inability to login. I first faced this issue when I developed a site using Mambo a long time ago, and found a solution which worked. Since then, I have successfully implemented this in my other sites using Wordpress and Joomla.

If you are facing this same problem, I would like to share the solution with you, and this is what needs to be done. Open up wp-login.php (it should be in your Wordpress root folder), and just below line 9 (in Wordpress 2.x) - the line that says header(bla bla), put this line: header( “P3P: CP=CAO DSP COR CURa ADMa DEVa OUR IND PHY ONL UNI COM NAV INT DEM PRE”);

What this does is that it adds a P3P Compact Privacy Policy to your site. Just by doing this, you should be up and running already, and nothing else needs to be done. However, if you need to know more about P3P or what this is doing in detail, let me refer you to the Mambo support page where I discovered this solution : http://forum.mamboserver.com/showthread.php?t=13076

All the best and do let me know if you need help with this workaround.