How To Install HP D1660 in Ubuntu

If you have Ubuntu Lucid Lynx and have an HP Printer Deskjet D1660, and you found out that it is not printing, don't worry, below is a detailed instruction on how to make it work. And I do hope it will help. 

1. Go System> Administration> Printing
2. Right Clcik Deskjet d1600 series
3. Click properties
4. Click Settings
5. "Change" in Make and Model bar  ....it will search for driver
6. Click HP, click deskjet 1600 series
7. Choose the driver HP Deskjet D1600 Series, hpcups 3.10.2

With this, it simply means that HP Deskjet D1600 series still runs in hpcups and not with the latest hp printer drivers for linux.

If this post helped you, I would appreciate if you will leave a message of thanks below.:)

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7 Reasons Why I Blog

Since from childhood I always want to write. I don’t have the skills in writing and I struggle in English a little bit. But I really want to become a writer someday. I want to express myself through writing. I want to let the world know what I feel, what I think.

Then a few years ago, finally, I had a constant access to the internet and I became interested in website making.  At first, I was really busy trying to discover on how to make a website.  While having my own self study, I found out the latest trend on web development, Blogging.

Yes, blogging. I was more than happy to know that there is now a way for me to express myself. To give myself a freedom to write sharing all my interests in life. Sharing something that I know, something where I am the expert.

And that’s not it. I also found out that I can even monetize my blog which gave me deeper interest into it.  This tells me that I can earn more than the royalties that I can get from writing a book.

You don’t have to be a professional writer to be a blogger. After all, blog was designed to be an online diary. But nowadays, this online diary is being used to boost both online and offline businesses.

Here are few things that you can do in blogging:

1.    Express yourself. There are probably thousands of bloggers out there that use blogging to simply express themselves.
2.    Practice writing. Probably you are not a born writer just like me. So what? You can still write as long as you understand it. And why not practice writing by blogging?
3.    Help you make a book. As time goes by, as you write and express yourself consistently, you will find out one day that you can actually print and author your own book.
4.    Source of extra income. Why not make your personal journaling an extra source of income. It’s like hitting two birds with one bullet. You journal and get some income.
5.    Establish yourself to be an expert of something. Blogging can reveal where you are an expert. It can build you up as a person.
6.    Build a business. If you can have extra income out of it, you can definitely build a full blown business out of it. Talk about your business on your blog. You can build a good list of prospective customer out of it.
7.    Increase your knowledge. Blogging can definitely increase your knowledge on things that you write. As you blog, you will build your own community that has the same interest and as they contribute their own knowledge through commenting, you yourself is increasing your own expertise on that particular thing.

I don’t know if you love blogging. As for me, I already became addicted to it. It’s just so fun writing everything you know while other people read and thank you for sharing it. Blogging did not only fulfill my dream to be a writer, it also builds me up to be a better person.

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How To Increase Your Readership

The readership of your blog is one of the measures your blog on how important and meaningful it is. Marketing aside, you will see the importance of a blog literally on the number of comments that is being generated.

Statistically, you will see how long your visitor stays through Google Analytics. The bounce rate is the statistical data that tells how long your visitors stayed. The higher it is, the shorter your visitors stay on your blog. This means that you will have to decrease that high rate.

How?

Here are some ways to do it:

1.    High Quality Content – High quality content does not only increase traffic, but also encourages your visitors to read more. The more information you provide the more reason for them to stay.

2.    Plugins That Promotes Commenting – There are several plugins that you may want to install which are very effective in encouraging your readers to leave a comment.

• Yet Another Related Post (YARPP) – This displays the most relevant posts in your blog based on your post tags.
• Subscribe To Comments – Enables the one who commented to simply follow the comment thread in a certain post via email.
• CommentLuv – My favorite. You can read the whole article that I have made for this great plugin here: Why Install a CommentLuv Plugin

3.    Internal Linking – This is done by simply quoting and linking to some of your previously written posts. This is very effective especially if your content is highly relevant.

4.    Comment to Other Blogs – Commenting to other blogs is also exposing yourself to the whole blogging world. Try to leave comments to blogs that has CommentLuv plugins and those blogs with high commenting rate. In this way, more fellow bloggers will be able to see you with a link going to your blog. This will be a win-Win situation for you and to the blog where you commented.

These are just simple ways that you can do to increase the readership of your blog. Remember, the more repeat visitors you have, the more encouraging it is to write and blog.

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The Technical Thought Of You: How To Customize Your Blogger CommentLuv's Skin

CommentLuv was originally created for Wordpress users. When this is still new, I think I'm probably one of the first 2,000 users of this plugin. I installed it in my blog The Disciplers. This one might not be too important for those who really do not know the main use of this plugin. So here's the four main reasons why you need to install CommentLuv plugin to your blogger.

1. Encourage your readers to comment more. Why not? This plugin automatically place a link to the latest post on your visitor's blog. He just need to be sure that he filled up the website form for him to take advantage of this one.

2. It gives more discussion among the commentators. CommentLuv encourages to comment more. More comments, more discussion.

3. It widens your network as a blogger. As you see the links in the comments of your visitors, you will  probably be inclined to follow that blog. And there is nothing wrong in contacting the owner of the blog that you followed if you like his posts too especially if it is directly related to your site.

4. Increases Your Blog's Page Rank. If the blog being commented to is a "dofollow" blogs, then this will take out all the hustles in typing your link in this blog.

So? What are you waiting for? The link below will direct you to the instructions on how can your integrate CommentLuv with Blogger.

The Technical Thought Of You: How To Customize Your Blogger CommentLuv's Skin

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Blogussion Give Away

Just a quick line here, I just want to inform everybody that there is an ongoing contest until June 30, 2010. The prize is the licensed theme of Blogussion for Wordpress.

As we all know, Thesis is just an awesome Wordpress add-on integration which is being used by thousands of professional bloggers around the world. But you might wonder how in the world this young kid blogger was able to improve the designing capability of this awesome software.

Blogussion Theme is $44.95. But how about getting it for FREE???

I know a contest that you might want to join.

You can CLICK HERE if you want to join!

Now to give you a picture of what's inside this theme, here are some snapshots:

Practically, since it is based on the Thesis Framework, this theme is similarly awesome.

Again, this cost $44.95. But you can get for free if you will win the contest. But for easy access and without much-a-do, you can simply click the button below:

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Measurement of a Good Hosting Company

Before you start your blog, it is very important that you host your blog in a reliable hosting company. There are basically hundreds of hosting companies out there, but only a few offers a satisfactory service. Barely a handful of these companies can satisfy your need as a web master.


When I first started on pro blogging, I decided to go to the cheapest webhost that I know in the Philippines. To my dismay, I landed on one of those poor hosting companies who does not even mind emailing their clients for trouble shooting. Believe me, it caused me more troubles to salvage my 3 month old blog than starting a brand new one.

So what's the measurement of a good webhosting company? I already made a detailed lecture on this in one of my ebooks that I guess will be helpful for you to read. But here's a short list of the things that you may want to consider before deciding.

Client Support

This is the most important factor that you may want to consider. This is because client support will be the back bone of your blog or website when something goes wrong. Keep in mind that there is no blog or website that is exempted from crashes, errors, virus, and all other threats. Your client support will be your help line when something goes wrong.

As for my experience, my first webhost responds to my questions after 3 days. I usually have problem with my website especially when they started to transfer my files to another hardware. My website is usually down for a week every other week. It is was indeed a nightmare for any webmaster.

So I decided to move to another webhost. This time, I got a far better one. Even during holidays, the owner of the company himself will replies to my inquiry if his employees are not available.

Here's the tip that you don't want to miss. This is worth trying if you find a hosting company and is planning to work in it. Try this; try to send a technical question concerning webhosting in relation with the services they offer. If that hosting company replies within 24 hours, try it again for the second time. If he replies again within 24 hours, you probably have scouted a good hosting company. On the other hand, if that hosting company responded beyond 24 hours, then that company is probably a owned by only one person, or have a very poor service.

Important Technical Features to Consider
Capacity – Let us put this in this way, any file that is made by the computer or through the computer consumes a portion of memory and stored in your hard drive. Similarly, websites are composed of files which uses hard drives. The only difference is that, if you are hosting your website using a hosting company, these hosting companies provides a limited portion of the webhosting company's harddrive.

Bandwidth – Bandwidth is the amount of data being downloaded everytime a visitor access your blog. Usually hosting companies measure it by month. For example, the hosting company says that you have about 2 Gigabite bandwidth a month. It simply means that when you have tons of visitors visiting your website and your bandwidth already exceeded what was required, other visitors will no longer able to access your website until the next month. Therefore, as time goes by and your website gaining readers, you would likely need to consider upgrading your hosting account.

Platform Supported – There are many kinds of platforms out there. There is Wordpress, Blogger, Drupal, Typepad, etc. Not all hosting companies support all platforms. But most webhosting companies support almost all of these platforms. You have to remember that platform is not actually necessary to make a website, but platforms does help a lot in making your life easier in making your blog and website beautiful and easier to use.

As for my experience, I strongly suggest Wordpress since it is the one that I have been using. There are more platforms out there. So simply just choose what seems best for you.

On the other hand, there are hosting companies that do not use the regular platform, instead, they provide their own platform and gives their clients real good deal of tools in website making especially in SEO tools which is very essential for every website.

Here are my highly recommended Web Hosts:

Hostgator – Hostgator is probably the most well known cheap Web Host in the net. It supports a wide variety of platforms including Wordpress. There are hundreds of professional bloggers who uses Hostgator.

Site Built It – I ONLY recommend this if you are working on a Website other than a blog alone. Site Build It is easier for you to use if you are building a Website. But it will be a very technical job for you if you only want a blog and want to install Wordpress.

The advantage of this however is that, once you have set up your Website (which is far better than just a blog) you can also set up a blog using its own platform. Please note that they do not support Wordpress.

Aside from that, Site Build It literally provides EVERYTHING you need to have a website. It maybe a little expensive at the first look, but believe me, it is actually the CHEAPEST for it has all the things you need for a website. Such include Autoresponder, platform, email sign up, auto url submission, etc.

You get more than just a "site builder." You don't need to worry about looking for separate hosting, paying for a separate keyword research tool, handling site submissions, integrating autoresponders, etc., etc. See the full list of features here -- pick the most relevant ones for you and your reader.

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Official Google Blog: Blogger Template Designer now available to everyone

Good news to Blogger / blogspot users. The template designer that was first used in draft.blogger.com has now been fully integrated in Blogger.com. You can now fully customize your blog the way you want it.

You can choose from several blog designs plus you can customize 2 or 3 columns the way you want it. There are lots of customization choices that you will really like. For years, this has been a great set back from Blogger users. They have boring designs and a very minimal customizations. But this one is a great leap of Blogger.com.

All I can say is congratulations to Google for doing this. I think all is lacking is a more SE Optimization options similar to Wordpress.

Official Google Blog: Blogger Template Designer now available to everyone

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My Blog Extreme Ezine

If you love reading my blog, I’m sure you will also love reading my Ezine. This is basically the best way to get the latest tips and tricks in blogging and website making.

This is where I share all the things that I know and learned from 2 years of blogging and studying how the internet works and how can it change our lives. No hype included, I will be sharing here tips on how can you best optimize your blog may it be a Wordpress or a Blogger. I will also share some few tips about money making and how can you best use your blog for it.

• Receive the best tips and updates on blogging.
• Be updated and increase your knowledge about Web 2.0.
• Know how you can make money online using your blog.
• Make a full time job out of your part time job.

These are the goals of blog Extreme.

Subscribe now to Blog Extreme and see first hand just how much the “Real Deal” is. This is how you witness how powerful the FREE can actually be!

Simply enter your email at the “Subscribe Form” below!!!

Enter your email address:


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How to Add Adsense Within a Post In Blogger

Blogger made it easier to embed Adsense using the gadgets. But they don’t have the automatic feature in embedding Adsense within the post. What I don’t like with this method is that, your blog really looks like a “NEWBIE” blog. We want our blogs to look like a professional blog while earning a good deal of income with the most effective monetization model.

It’s easy to add Adsense on the sidebar, in between posts, and even above the posts. But we want more than that. We want to ad Adsense within each post pages. Not in the archives, not in the home page, but within the post pages.

Fact: Most blogs who have used Adsense effectively places Adsense within the top and side portion of the posts below the header line.

With this, I tried my best to have a little research on embedding Adsense within the post matched with the text wrapping of the content of the post. Now, this is very tricky because not all methods of embedding Adsense worked for me. This is why I am very eager to make a post on this so that you can try it for yourself if this can work for your template.

Disclaimer: This method worked for me. If you follow this, it’s completely up to you but I don’t have any responsibility on your blog.

Step 1. Log to Your Blogger Account and Back Up Your Template. First things first; back up your existing blog. You can do this by simply following these instructions:

1.    Log-in to your blogger account.
2.    Click  Design
3.    Click Edit HTML
4.    Click Download Full Template

The Download will automatically start and save it to your PC. Please note that it is just an xml code. It’s not a virus, but it is composed of codes containing the template of your blog. After downloading you can simply check it by using Notepad or Gedit.

Step 2 Get the Ad Codes and Parse It. Open a new window and go to www.google.com/adsense. Login to your account and set up the best Ad that you want. I recommend that you use 300 x 250 px Ad within the content. Once you set it up, copy paste the codes to Notepad or Gedit (which I highly recommend than Notepad)

Now you need to parse the Ad codes. You will have to open a new window and Google it. But here’s the link that I used for parsing:  http://www.blogcrowds.com/resources/parse_html.php
Copy paste your Ad code to the space provided and click “Parse”. Your new code will look like this: 

Step 3. Add some codes. What I mean is, you will have to add a div tag codes to wrap it within the post. But if you don’t want to wrap it, leave it as it is. But I love to wrap Ads within the post. It gives more beauty and have a more professional look.  So your new code will look like this:

Note: Some blogs recommend other methods like modifying the CSS codes. But this one works for me.

Step 4. Embed the codes to your blog. Go back to “Edit HTML” (DON’T FORGET TO TICK THE EXPAND WIDGET TEMPLATE) then follow the instructions below:

1.    Ctrl-F. This will open the “Find Bar”
2.    Type in:   data:post.body
3.    Press Enter
4.    Click Next, until you find the “last”  data:post.body
5.    Once you find it, copy paste the code that you have parsed with the div tags just before the

In my case I have this code:

 Therefore you need to copy paste the parsed Adsense code in between to look like this:



Click “Save Template”

That’s it. You will be able to see your Adsense wrapped within the post.

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Characteristics Of a Good Blog

After browsing and having my own little research, here are the things that I found as the characteristics of a good blog. May you find this helpful.

Search Engine Friendly

A good blog should be search engine friendly. Though Site Build It would say that blogging is less than a website due to some reasons, and one of those reasons is about Search Engine ranking, I would say that time have probably changed.

Today, there are hundreds of blogs now that ranks well on Search Engines. Some are even better than websites. It is because many blogs now looks like a website, and some are even more highly optimized than websites. So I believe that Search Engines now have respected blogs as well as they respect the real websites.

Easily Navigated

Have you seen a blog that is hard to follow due to poor navigation system within the blog? Visitors should easily see what to browse. Navigation bars should invite your blog visitor to click more, not just the ads but the content itself.

I find this a challenge especially in my early years of blogging. I was torn between the two; whether or not to place an ad, or navigation bar. Now I finally understand that between a nav bar or an ad, nav bar would turn out to be a more important one because it encourages the visitor to stay a little longer within your blog.

Open For All Commenting System
Perhaps this one depends on really on the purpose of the blog. There are blogs that were really intended for members only, while there are blogs that are open for general public.

If you have a blogspot.com blog, I would recommend that you go to Settings and Click Comments, and make sure that you highlight beside “Who can comment?” the “Anyone”. This will encourage your visitor to place some comments on it freely and without a hassle. And before I forget, also check that it was set to “Always” beside the “Comment moderation”. This is to guard safe your blog against SPAM.

Possess the Real Good Content
As the old blog gurus said, “Content is the King”. Good content accompanied by SEO means more visitors. Having the real good content means repeat visitors and more subscribers. There are thousands of blogs out there that were mainly made for their own selves and not for anybody else.

Some were made out of one purpose, “MONEY”. Well, blogs can be made for that, but real good content can produce more of that. If your content is helpful to people, it attracts more readers, subscribers, and Search Engines.

Monetized

I added this one because I believe that there should be a payback for all your labor. It’s tiring to work on something that does not pay you back. It’s hard to pursue a business that does not have any profit and all the more if it did not even produced a single cent. Why should you continue blogging if it can’t even pay your hosting and domain bills?

The idea of blogging is, enjoying your life writing about things that you love the most, while at the same time earning for it.

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How To Install Sexy Bookmark Plugin On Blogger

Sexy Bookmark plugin was originally created for Wordpress. And many Blogger users find this as a better social bookmark plugin than Sociable plugin. So, as a reslt, Blogger users made a way to install this. But it requires little technical skill.


 It is challenging to install this in Blogger since you will be dealing with codes… AGAIN… But you don’t have to worry because it is doable.

But just a note, not all themes are compatible with this process. Especially that some themes does not use the code:  

Here's the link for the detailed instruction: CLICK HERE

Hoping that you will be successful in installing this great Social Bookmarking plugin.

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How to Make Blogger Template

Blogger is probably one of the most popular blog platforms out there. For so long, I was puzzled how do Blogger users customize it or make a new theme. I find it more difficult to work on the codes of Blogger compared to that of the Wordpress. However, with the help of some good tools online,  I finally able to customize and make a whole new template out of it.  

For quite some time, I really envy some real good blogger templates. Unfortunately, before I find it hard to customize my blog the way I wanted because codes are not for everybody.

If you really desire to monetize your blog and make a whole new template where you seem best for your blog, I strongly recommend that you use Draft Blogger (www.draft.blogger.com).

What’s new with this tool?

Instead of working with the codes, you will now be working with WYSIWYG platform. All you have to do is to login in www.draft.blogger.com with your Blogger login details that you use in accessing your Google account. Then click “Design”, then click “Template Designer”.

The next thing you do is to customize everything from the main theme of your blog, to the arrangement of your Page Elements. You can also choose the how many columns and its arrangement on your blog. Now to give you an overview, here’s the list of the things that you can do with draft blogger:

•    Choose from 15 main designs.
•    Customize how many columns should your blog be.
•    Delete and add Page Element sections on the columns.
•    Choose backgrounds.
•    Customize the look and feel of your blog.
•    Do exactly what you can do with Blogger platform like posting posts, customizing page elements, monetizing etc. plus more.



Literally speaking, what was added from the Blogger platform was the ability to customize and even change the template to something that you really want. And I believe this is one of the most exciting things that have been developed for years. Now, you really don’t have to worry anymore if you want to customize your Blogger blog the way you want it.

With this new tool, you will definitely have new heights of your blogging experience.

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