How to reduce the size of digicam pictures

Have you tried uploading pictures to Friendster or Yahoo Photos and ended up with an error message saying the file size exceeded their limit? My guess is that the picture file you are uploading is a picture you took with your high mega-pixel camera which is more than 1 mb in size. You need to resize it first before you can upload them easily to sites on the net.

The question is how. I do it using Photoshop. You open the picture file. On the main menu, click on Image. Then, on the drop-down menu, click on Image Size. A dialog box will then open. First, make sure that the box before "Constrain Proportions" is checked. Then change the width in Pixel Dimensions to 640. Notice that the height also changes in proportion to the new width. Click on OK.

We're not finished yet. On the main menu again, click on file. On the sub-menu, click on "Save for Web". A dialog box will open with a view of your pic. On the right, choose "JPEG High" for Settings and check the box before "Optimized". Then, click on save. My suggestion is that you save the file with a new file name and on a different folder.

You now have a reduced version of your picture that you can upload easily to say Friendster or Yahoo Photos. Clue, if you're not a techie like me, just follow the steps blindly and ignore all the other options you see along the way. The important thing is that you get the task done. :)

By the way, take note that I am using Photoshop 7.0 with settings at default. There may be command variations for other versions of Photoshop.

Stock Trading Basics

My research and experimentation on stock trading continues. My notes says...

Trading in a stock market like the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) means you buy and sell shares of stock of companies listed there. You can do this either through a stock broker or by yourself online. To earn from this trade, you have to know when to get in (buy) and when to get out (sell).

Of course, the stock market provides you some basic information. This include the bid price, ask price, volume and value of all trades for the day. The bid price is the price that buyers are willing to pay for the stock. The ask price is the price that sellers are willing to accept as payment for the stock. The volume and value of stocks traded are also available.

The bid and the ask price is never the same. The ask price is always higher than the bid price. The difference between the two is called the bid/ask spread. I read something about the spread going to the brokers, but newbie as i am, am not exactly sure. For now, it is enough that we are aware that there are bid and ask prices.

Now, I understand that in order to buy a stock, you may order it using the bid price (in that case you get queued with everyone bidding), or you can use the ask price (buying it instantly from those who have expressed willingness to do so. Once you've bought the stock, you then watch if the price of the stock will go up or go down.

In monitoring, you have to take note of the opening, high, low and closing prices. The opening price is the price at which the stock was being traded upon opening of the stock market. Take note that the PSE opens at 9:30 am and closes at 12:00 noon. The closing price is the price at which the stock was trading upon closing.

The high and low prices on the other hand are the highest and lowest prices at which the stock was traded during the day. All these, together with the volume and value of the trade, provide you clues on when to buy and sell a certain stock. To know more, visit Investopedia.com's Stocks Basics.

Increase Adsense clicks thru ads in between posts

Guess what, I am now close to getting my first Adsense paycheck. A few months ago I thought I will never be able to get this far. But things started to change. I think it was because I moved my Google ads from the sidebar to the spaces in between my blog posts.

It wasn't easy transferring the ads. In fact, it was complicated placing them in between posts in (Blogger) blogs like this one. After successfully doing it, I couldn't help but write about it. Google probably noticed our plight and added some tweaks in Blogger to enable us to do the job with a few clicks.

Here's how. (1) From your dashboard, click on layout. Then, (2) click on edit blog posts. In the dialog box, (3) check the box opposite "Show ads in between posts". The dialog box will then show the configuration options of your Adsense units. After configuring, (4) click on save. Voila! You now have Google ads in between posts.

A quick note. This shortcut is not seamless. I tried doing this with my Bol-anon blog but the resulting ads turned out to be misaligned. I ended up keeping the ads on my sidebar. On the other hand, the trick worked quite well on my Quick & Random blog.

How about you guys?

Be a stock trader with five thousand pesos

In the Cashflow 101 workshop I attended a few months back, I learned that it is not enough that you save. You must know where to invest your savings, know how to make your money work for you. One suggestion was to invest savings in stocks apparently because stocks offer a higher return on investment.

Simply put, a stock is a share in the ownership of a company. It represents a claim on the company's assets and earnings. It is also referred to as a share or equity in the company. As you acquire more stocks, your share in the ownership of the company also increases.

Like anything of value, stocks can be sold and resold. The trade of stocks are usually done through a stock market or a stock exchange. In our country, stocks are traded through the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). Its history goes back to the founding of the Manila Stock Exchange (MSE) in 1927 and the Makati Stock Exchange (MkSE) in 1963.

Traditionally, the buying and selling of stocks had to be done on the floor of the Exchange through licensed brokers. With the advent of technology, however, online trading is already possible. That means you can now buy and sell stocks at the comforts of your own home or office.

There are now 7 authorized online stock trading facilities authorized by the PSE. These facilities are in line with PSE's efforts to promote more local investments in companies listed with them. They provide greater access and removes many of the barriers to stock trading.

The big surprise is that you can now get an online stock trading account with as low as P5,000 pesos. Transaction charges are also very minimal at only .25 percent. With this, I think it is now very possible for you and I to earn from the stock market. For those interested, you may want to attend the orientation seminars conducted by Accord Capital's Philstocks.ph.

A word of caution though. Everyone says online stock trading requires a lot of research and monitoring. It is because when you are trading online, you practically don't have a broker to rely on. While your earnings can be limitless, your losses can be tremendous as well.

Still, I'm excited to plunge into this thing called stock trading. I feel like this is the beginning of something great. God bless me.

Attend a coaching session with a magazine

Mansmith and Fielders, Inc. in cooperation with Business World and the De La Salle Professional Schools Ramon V. Del Rosario, Sr. Graduate School of Business presents "Entrepreneur Coach Marketing Rescue" to be held on October 6, 2007 at the 5th floor of RCBC Plaza, Makati.

The session will feature Josiah Go of Mansmith who will answer questions submitted by the attendees themselves. It is designed to encourage entrepreneurs to discover, innovate, get ahead and be on top of the entrepreneurial game. It will teach them how to stay focused on their marketing strategy despite limited time and resources, and despite uncertainties and emergencies arising left and right.

To reserve a seat in this marketing coaching session, you just have to email your name, company, position, contact number and email address to entrepreneurcoach@summitmedia.com.ph. To send in questions, you may email them to the same email address.

And your ticket to get inside? You just have to get a copy of the October issue of the Entrepreneur magazine available at the venue itself.

Negoskwela's upcoming seminars

Got a copy of Negoskwela's schedule for the second half of September and October this year. As usual, there are lots of interesting topics in the list. My present personal favorites are those on meat processing, reflexology, massage and spa products. The registration fee for these seminars is just P1,600+ and thus affordable to the likes of me. See the schedule here (updated).

Stand Out with Josiah Go and Francis Kong

The Markprof Business Academy presents Stand Out, an event featuring Josiah Go and Francis Kong to be held on October 3, 1:30 to 5:3o pm, at the Philam Life Theater at the UN Avenue in Manila. Go will speak on "Strategic Focus on via Blue Ocean Strategy", while Kong will talk about "You Inc.: Creating your Personal Brand".

According the Markprof, "Stand Out" is about growing demand and breaking away from competition. It is also about building your own life brand and making yourself stand out.

In his topic, Go will help us understand the tools and framework that sets blue oceans apart, and to perceive the Blue Ocean Strategy not only as a strategic tool but also as a scientific approach in systematically taking smart strategic moves for your brand.

Kong, on the other hand, will help us understand the tools and principles that creat strong personal brands, and help us learn how to equip oneself with tools, behaviors and attitude to maximize individual potential and enhance individual contribution for ultimate personal achievement.

Seminar investment (registration fee) is P1,200 for early birds (before September 18), P1,500 at the regular rate (before September 28), and P1,800 onsite. To register, download and fill-up this form and fax or email it back to Markprof.

To pay, you can just deposit in the Metrobank account of Markprof Foundation, Inc. no. 189-3-1895-12652 and fax the deposit slip to Markprof with the name of your company, contact person and telephone no. To reserve, call 8282038 t0 40 local 103, or email desmdeleon@yahoo.com.