26th October 2009, My Birthday, and also the End of the First Web Host I Used

Yeap, today is my birthday. While it marks 25 years of my existence in this world, it also marks the demise of one of the first few web host ever to grace the Internet, Geocities.

I started using Geocities to host my personal website during my secondary school days about 11 years ago. At that time, web was still pretty much primitive with most connections are as fast as 48.8 kbps. Never could we have imagined the possibility of web applications, online games or even Facebook. After 11 years, things have really changed.

That’s when Web 2.0 emerged. Social networking sites appeared like mushrooms growing in a rainy day. Every online citizen started blogs be it a personal one, sharing or even some sharing jokes. Streaming sites such as Youtube enabled us to share and show our personal talent to the world, without going through agents and companies. Suddenly everything seemed possible, everything seemed exciting. However Geocities did not move on.

Geocities was then acquired by Yahoo! in 1999. This move proved to be very unpopular as users started to quit using the service. It was then Yahoo started introducing Yahoo! Web Hosting to persuade current Geocities users to upgrade their accounts. However, Yahoo! Web Hosting is a paid service, whereas Geocities is free.

Geocities had so much potential with its neighborhood and homestead concepts. It could have easily been a geographical version of Dacebook if it was managed properly. Yet, whatever that’s done is done and vice-versa, on this very day, would be the day that Geocities is put to rest.

RIP Geocities (1994-2009)

p/s: This is a tribute to Geocities "who" served millions of users throughout the past decade.

Who is Eugene Kaspersky? Find out more in www.kklub.net!

Who is Eugene Kaspersky? He's the founder of the antivirus company that we all come to trust, Kaspersky-Labs. Still don't know who he is yet? Remember seeing those Jackie Chan commercials fighting computer viruses in TV? Yeap! That's it.

Kaspersky Labs now plays a very important role in computer and cyberspace security. His interest in computer security was actually ignited when the Cascade virus was detected in his computer. From then on, he continued to further his interest in this field, and eventually formed his own company. What a journey isn't it?

He also qouted that "Everyone should and must have an identification, or internet passport,... The internet was designed not for public use, but for American scientists and the US military. Then it was introduced to the public and it was wrong...to introduce it in the same way."

Keep up the good work!

Want to know more? Visit the Kaspersky club at http://www.kklub.net.

Recycle your Handphone & Get Cash?

Remember seeing those plastic boxes at shopping complex where you can put your gadgets and batteries for recycling purposes? In the near future, we might be able to get some cash by just recycling our old gadgets like what we do with unused papers.

ecoATM or Automated Recycling Stations was recently launched to promote gadget or metal recycling to consumers. Li-Ion batteries in particular, commonly found in modern gadgets and handphones, cannot be discarded the same as normal rubbish. Batteries should always be recycled because they are harmful to the environment if discarded incorrectly.

So, what does this new ATM machine do? Once you dump in your item into its slot, it will examine the item and tells you how much your item is worth. Should you accept it, you'll get the cash. If the item is of no value at all, a "free item' will be issued and a tree will planted by your name. Sounds good?

Currently not available in Malaysia yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Hope the government will bring this fella in soon.

Source