A lot of you are probably commenting to get a piece of the commentator’s link.  And it is really taking a lot of effort to be a fan of a blog because you have to log in, and to read and to comment… Unless you are a real fan of any particular blog, it doesn’t sound logical to give that kind of time and effort.  Another exception will be your friends who are looking at your blog.

The best comments that I have received so far is from my own facebook actually.  Most of them are my friends who are doing their own websites, and they give their thoughts as my blog RSS feed pushes information to the Facebook.

For the new year in 2011, BONTQ is approached me so that I have the chance to give away free stuff! Now, I have 3 accounts of $39-Plan – where the winners will get to use it for a period of 1 year – to give away.  Any interested takers?  Please scroll down to see how to win a BONTQ account…

What is BONTQ?

Basically, it is a “software as a service” (also known as “saas”) which allows a software development team to manage their projects in a more systematic way.  They also provided a tool for you to do screenshots so that the developers can understand the change requests better.  This very same tool can also record video screenshots so that you can better explain the issue to the team.

After I logged into the BONTQ account to understand more about what they can offer, the user interface reminds me of my basecamp subscription where I used it to manage my web projects with my team.  But BONTQ has formulated it in a very different way when I browsed around longer to understand how BONTQ works; They have actually consolidate all the bug issues and tasks assignment in one place called “Tracking Area”.  For the first time, I feel very crippled without seeing a calendar to have an overview of the milestones (as shown in my basecamp account).  And to make things easy for those who are still using basecamp amd fogbugz (like myself), they have a tool to import all the basecamp information.

I am not sure if I can do away without a milestone calendar to reference in BONTQ, but they have redefined the way how project management should be since they have researched on this for two years to look for a perfect balance between speed and stability.

How to win a BONTQ account?

If you are interested to get a 12-month account here, simply following the two steps below:

1. create a 30-day free trial account* with BONTQ,
2. leave your comment* here to tell us your experience, thoughts, and why you think this will be useful for you.

*Please remember to use the same email address in both your BONTQ account registration and when you leave your comments here.

I will handpick the three best commentators who are able to convince me that they should get the 3 accounts.  The 3 chosen winners will be notified via email by me, and BONTQ will then convert their free-trial accounts into $39-plan, free to use for one year!

Alright! I will leave this blog contest here until I get enough response for this giveaway!!  I know I am not as influential as many bloggers out there, but I am praying hard for this to be a successful contest!  Please support me wherever you can!  Hear from you soon!

Click here to get your 30-day free trial account now with BONTQ!

So what have I actually found out?

Take a look below…

http://twitter.com/TwitBird/status/14156770893111297

Since TwitBird is currently down, so they decided to use TweetDeck to update their tweet!  Though this is really nothing worth mentioning about, it gave me a good laugh to see yourself using your competitor’s application since your application is not working…

This recently, I have watched “The Social Network” (Video as above).  I love this movie very much because it depicts many familiar characters from the Internet, and it gives us an idea of how the Facebook was invented.  By the way, I heard from rumors that the co-founder Eduardo Saverin is now doing business in Singapore!

I believe the entire movie might have been exaggerated a little; I don’t think the chicken was part of the true story still.  (Watch it yourself and you will understand what I mean.)

I think some people may like it just because they are great fans of Facebook.  For me, this movie is now completing the story of my understanding of how Jason Calanis feel when he told us a lot of things about facebook in his private email list.  To get a sneak preview of what’s happening, here’s the link.

Privacy has been an issue with facebook for a very long time, with a lot of comments around the Internet.  However, they have done a very good job of getting the entire network up properly.  (And they have fine-tuned their privacy policy a lot now too.)

Whatever it is, facebook is still my favorite website to go to!  Oh by the way, I still have 10,000 fans in my facebook community with you..

Wish to have a quick posting about the power of focus since I was talking about focus with Dan.

I have been working in a big company for 2 years now.  It has given me great exposure where I get to present the new media marketing ideas to my colleagues around the world.  It is giving me the best mix of both worlds because I have focused on two simple things in my career – Internet marketing and Presenting the idea effectively to the corporate world.

Back in 2007 when I quit my directorship in a company startup with my friend, it took me about a year to understand and pick up the momentum of Internet marketing.  Back then, there are basically two schools of taught in the Internet marketing world.  One is the business person who believes a lot in spending money on pay-per-click advertisements and learning how to convert the traffic effectively.  The other believes a lot in the free traffic where we can build upon the websites with natural search.  And as we move into 2008/2009, social media came into picture naturally and everybody starts to speculate if the social media market is worthwhile to look at.  And finally, Facebook and Twitter have confirmed a lot of people that social media is fast becoming the right tools to work with if you want to continue to be in this new media.

While I continue to learn about the new media, I started to take up a corporate job as an executive in 2008.  It gave me tremendous opportunities to present my ideas slowly as I wanted to bring the best to the company.  It’s not easy as a start because I was still learning how to communicate effectively in the corporate world… After spending 2 years in the company, I started to get the momentum of presenting the new media more and more effectively to the bosses.

And now, I am always striving to work and learn how to be better than yesterday.  Right from the start where the main websites are built from scratch, to the direction where the new media is… It is something where no amount of words can ever describe the kind of experience I had been through, except for my own vendors who worked very closely with me.

Things are definitely moving up… We are looking positively towards the direction where I can really envision how it will become in the near future… And while my work is catching up with what I have learnt, I am also looking forward to test and improve with what I have… Working on this blog… trying out a couple of niche websites… working out communities in Google buzz and twitter… and next I will be working on Podcast and Facebook app!  Watch my blog as I see how to leverage on these few things and try a new experiment…

That’s all I have to say for now… Anything you can share with me about how you have focused yourself in your own life?

10 Ways How Photoshop Has Changed The History Of Photography
I find this link interesting because it reminds me that almost everything you see out there have been photoshopped.  (i.e. they must have used Adobe Photoshop to touch up the pictures.)

52 Worst Photoshop Mistakes In Magazines
Now that we have seen how Photoshop has changed the history of photography, here’s an interesting article from Hong Kiat on the photoshop mistakes that people make when they design for magazines.

Let’s See Steve Jobs Unveil Something Other Than an Apple Product [PhotoshopContest]
How about a photoshop contest of Steve Jobs presenting something else?

30 Design Blogs that can Help you Improve Photoshop Skills
How about improving your photoshop skills from 30 design blogs?

25 High Quality Gradient Sets for Photoshop – 750+ Gradients
Take a look at some really cool gradients here.

What do you need to get started?

First of all, you need to register a domain name of your own.  This is where you can have your own name such as CharlesLau.com for myself.  A full URL link will be http://www.charleslau.com or http://charleslau.com .  I will recommend you to use GoDaddy to register all your domain names because they provide very professional service and yet extremely affordable as well.  It should cost you below US$15 per year (depending on their promotions).

Secondly, you will need a web hosting plan.  This is where your website files will reside once your visitor clicks on your URL.  I will highly recommend you to use HostMonster as a starter.   They are always costing between US$5.95 and US$6.95 per month.  And you will only have to dedicate 1 year, which I think it is just nice to try it out.

That’s all you need.  An investment of less than US$100 to try out starting a website for one year!  :)

So how to start a website with your own domain name?

Step 1: Simply do a search of your ideal domain name at GoDaddy website.  Once you have found it, get your credit card and purchase it.

Step 2: Once you have gotten a domain name and login, go to your Domain Manager found at the top left corner (as shown in the screenshot below).

Step 3: Tick on your domain name, and click on “Nameservers” (as shown in the screenshot below).

Step 4: A pop-up will be shown.  Just fill in the two nameserver addresses as follows:

Step 5: You are done with GoDaddy.  Now, work on your web hosting plan with HostMonster.  Start purchasing a plan with them, and log into your account.  It’s advisable to get their free domain name as the name of your control panel for internal usage.

Step 6: Look for this link “Addon Domains”.  Click on it.

Step 7: Fill in your domain name and get yourself started!

You are done!

There are basically two camps for IPad…

• There’s a supportive camp…
• and there’s also a resistance camp…

You cannot compare Apple IPad with laptops

I think the resistance camp is basically comparing too much with the actual specs of laptops.  I think this is a wrong perspective of looking at IPad… IPad is more like a gigantic IPod touch actually… Many of us (including myself) think that Apple IPod touch is a waste of money when you can get an Apple IPhone… Now that they have increased the size of an Apple IPod touch (and called it Apple IPad), this is a really different ball game to play with.

You cannot compare Apple IPad with Amazon Kindle

While I am envious of the Americans who can get to own an Amazon Kindle, I think that it is wrong for those of you to get rid of Amazon Kindle for an Apple IPad.  (Robert, you hear me?)  Thanks to the presence of Amazon Kindle… I can finally sense the presence of the ebook readers around the world… That’s when I found Hanlin A9, which I am still waiting for them to start manufacturing in the Q2 of 2010.  No matter what, an Apple IPad is still a big LCD screen where it will tire our eyes after reading for a while…  That’s where ebook reader shines… But of course, you got to have an ebook reader which has more capabilities than the existing versions of Amazon Kindle… It’s not enough when you can’t read websites, powerpoints, excel spreadsheets and word documents…

Do you think I will get myself an Apple IPad?

Very unlikely… Even if I have paper books to catch up from the PR folks, I think an ebook reader is still a better choice… No, I have not gotten an ebook reader yet… But I will get one for sure… Trust me that I will get an ebook reader very soon!

I would think that Apple IPad will be suitable for those who enjoy surfing the Internet at home with comfort.  It’s more like a luxury where you have extra cash in your pocket to spend on.  Apple IPad will be a good-to-have gadget.  Just see how easy it is when Steve Jobs surf around the net with Apple IPad…

Thanks for your participation!  I am glad to announce that I am still able to find 5 winners after trying so hard to ask for comments from the various social media sources.  I’m so blessed that I have 5 participants in this contest so so that I can give away the Gold Accounts to these 5 winners!  It could be either because there are a lot of my blog readers already have their accounts, or they are just not interested in it.  If I were you, I will just give my comment anyway!
Nevertheless, I just wish to thank God that I have been able to find five winners to answer to the sponsor of Producteev!

I have already informed Producteev to activate all of your accounts, and I will send an email to all of you shortly to inform you of your freebies.

Personally, I also wish to thank Ilan – the founder of Producteev.  He has been very supportive in my blogs when I asked for an interview of him in my other blog.

Now, please allow me to introduce each and everyone of the winners below in my blog!

Our First Winner: Kate

Kate has a website called Lansing IT.  Lansing IT is a Michigan based “Small Business” consulting firm. They provide services to firms throughout the state of Michigan that don’t have IT departments, and offer consulting services for in-house IT departments.  Like most IT services out there, this company don’t get themselves involved much in Internet marketing but at least they offer people to contact them via the website or phone call.

Kate says:

I am addicted to organizational management and Producteev could be the cure to my endless searching for a project management tool that allows me and my unorganized business partner. Producteev is something that can work for both of us PLUS allows us to integrate our clients into the task management side of our day to day work.

Why Gold for Free?? We are small. We are growing. And growing. We are small, mighty, and in need of Producteev to keep ourselves sane and our clients happy!!

Plus, people in my life come to me for tips on software, programs, organizational management, etc…. and of course, I promote what I like and what I use. I bring residual income

Pick me

Our Second Winner: Michael

Michael says:

We’re a not-for-profit charity that conducts free training around the world, mainly in developing nations to develop students to their full potential in advocacy for minority religious groups.

Producteev will allow us to assign tasks for our volunteers and past students who want to contribute. This would save an enormous amount of time and effort. It will allow our own “local” volunteers who are spread all over the place to collaborate more effeciently and effectively.

Many thanks.

Michael

Our Third Winner: Paul-Henri

Paul-Henri has a twitter account at @phb.  You may want to check him out.  I found him to be a real iPhone addict and also another social media enthusiast (like myself)!

Paul-Henri says:

I have just discovered our blog and I discovered Producteev yesterday by looking for a greal tool to improve my productivity on the web with collaborators at school and web project. Producteev seems to be the best tool (nowadays) to organize my work by using the different platforms available.

I would be very pleased to get a gold member account to have a full access to the service (however i’m a student) but it could be interesting for me to have 1Gb for files storage. Thanks for your reading !

Our Fourth Winner: Jeremiah Stover

Jeremiah Stover has a website called jeremiahstover.com.  He has a very interesting landing page telling people about himself in three different sections “Freelance“, “Projects” and “Resources“.  From my understanding as a visitor in his website, he is a freelancer who offers customization of web designs and programming codes.  He should be 26 this year, and he also mentioned that he is a real estate investor (with not much info about it).

Jeremiah Stover says:

I am a software developer running a small team (around 10 people) so I don’t really need 100 licenses. I am currently writing a book on time management and am always checking out new tools that can help with productivity. Whether I win a copy or not I will be checking out more details on producteev.

Our Fifth Winner: Mac Lee

Mac Lee says:

Hi Charles, I chance on to this platform from the Facebook group “Entrepreneur SG”, where you posted the link. Being new to your website, i believe there are tons of interesting stuff for me. Will slowly explore. Will share with the rest of my FB network.

Firstly, thanks for the opportunity given to the readers to earn themselves a producteev gold a/c. Without clicking on the link, i wouldn’t have chance upon such a awesome tool. It served as a platform for ALL our connectivity and productivity needs. It has bring “work” and “social” together, capitalizing the potential of social media, to maximize productivity on work. I can also sense the element of “Fun” within this platform. This definitely will revolutionize how productivity work can be organised.

Being a manager, i’m definitely going to fall in love with this. On the other hand, i believe the “team members” is not going to enjoy it…. why? cos they know that their tasks are more closely monitored by their bosses ….. therefore, for those who going to try this, pls implement with care, especial how your team members feels about it. A “Change Management Plan” may be required.

I’m a manager in a SME, managing a group of 4 engineers. We deal with projects for the company and such tools going ease our burden alot. IT supports for productivity tools is definitely not on the priority list of the company. Hence, we have used more 1G method of keeping track of tasking. I hope we are earn this chance to go 3G.

Would appreciate if i’m selected.

thanks

Wish to thank all of you again for your participation.  If there is another such opportunity, I just hope all of you will be able to participate and give yourselves a chance to win the prizes instead of just lurking around and seeing people taking away the prizes…

Thank you!