Category: General Articles

How to Fix Yellow Light of Death Or YLOD

The PlayStation 3 is the most powerful console in the world, but this doesn’t mean its infallible. Although it does boast all of the top accolades such as, graphics, sound and an on board blu-ray player this doesn’t mean it isn’t prone to the odd glitch.

Microsoft were hammered for their red ring of death syndrome by Sony fan boys, but it seemed that shortly afterwards Sony experienced a similar problem albeit with a different color.

The yellow light of death as it is known became an epidemic across the globe. Unlike Microsoft, Sony refused a free repair, refusing even to acknowledge any manufacturing defect. All across the country people are turning on their PS3, to be greeted by the notorious yellow light. But all is not lost, fear not fellow yellow death light sufferers, help is at hand.

Its important to not that the cause of the problem is the same for both the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, so the fixes are applicable for both. First thing you need to do is ensure that you cannot get it repaired for free under warranty, no, good. Next you will need to be capable of minor electrical repairs and the right tools for the job, mainly screwdrivers. Also you will need some replacement thermal paste, this is very important.

The process is called re-balling and involves the CPU and GPU chips on the motherboard. Basically the thermal paste transfers heat from the chips to the the fan. Sony of their own admission used a cheap thermal paste, it has a tendency to harden and crack, depleting its ability to function. When the thermal paste cracks and depletes the solder inside the chips starts to heat and cool quickly, when this happens the solder gets mixed, bridged is the technical term and cracks. So in theory you need to remelt the solder fully to take it back to its original state, causing it to resettle back into its relative slot. Finally replacing the thermal paste with an improved version.

Although this sounds very complex it can be done by anyone with very limited electrical knowledge, but because it is such a delicate operation its easy to get wrong. If you do get it wrong you risk causing more harm than good, possibly even destroying the chips. That’s why it would be recommended that you use a guide to walk you through the steps. Some of the guides you find on the internet are scams, but these are the best:

PlayStation Memory Card Maintenance and Fixes

The Sony PlayStation 2 or PS2 requires a PlayStation memory card to save your game progress, although the console allows you to play thousands of games that are made specifically for the PS2 and the original PS. The main thing to understand is that you will need to delete saved games periodically or transfer them to another card, to give you enough space to save a crucial in-game progress. For this reason, it is always good to have an extra card that is free of used memory blocks, if you can keep them properly maintained. This means always consolidating, deleting or copying games over to make enough room on one card to hold a current game you need to save.

If you insert the card into one of the two memory slots on the front of the console, you can turn on the PlayStation and browse the contents of your memory card. When you select the “browser” on the startup menu, selecting the memory card icon will show you the contents of your saved games, listed by icon. You can view the details of the saved games or scroll through them with the directional pad on the controller.

If you want to copy or delete one of them, you can press the “x” or you can copy or transfer files from one memory card to another, if you insert a second card into the second slot. Occasionally, your PlayStation memory card might become corrupted and it will act like it has a mind of its own. The reason for this is that it is possible you used products that required codes and unlockables through Pro Action or Gameshark, but these can corrupt existing files that have nothing to do with their files, besides the ones that do.

You will need to go through the corrupted memory card and delete the corrupted files, in order to be able to use that memory. The problem is that it is difficult to ever repair them. For this reason, you may want to avoid these “unofficial” devices, but you can complete the process by deleting the files you know are corrupted and you may need to be suspect of ones that aren’t related. Once you have completed the process of maintaining your PlayStation memory card and deleted corrupted files, you can press the circle to return to the “browser” and load your game.

You will see the disc icon after the game has completed loading and you will need to read the instructions to find out about saving the game, since there are thousands of them to consider, but most of them are similar. By keeping it properly maintained and using the recommended devices, you will suffer from fewer corrupted files and have plenty of space to save your in-game progress. It is possible to find memory cards in a variety of sizes and a 32MB is becoming a popular choice, compared to the 8MB, for obvious reasons.…

What Do People Like To Customise?

In the consumer driven society we live in, our possessions have become more than just things we use to do stuff. They have become extensions of our beings, additions to our personalities and in the case of some people, objects that define us. While it can go too far for some people, for most it is all just a bit of harmless fun that allows us to enjoy using these everyday objects that little bit more.

Mobile Phone

Before smartphones hit the market the most could do to your phone was to have a slightly different electronic ringing tone and change your cover to one of a slightly different colour. While this was extremely popular at the time, now the options are far more extensive. At a base level you can choose what operating system you want your phone to run on giving you a range of different interface styles. You can have any song known to man as your ring tone and you can set your desktop to any image. Changing covers however; seem to have become less popular as many smartphones need to be more solid so no longer give you that as option.

Cars

With shows like ‘Pimp My Ride’ very popular on television the number of people customising their vehicles has greatly increased. Everyone from your friendly neighbourhood boy racer to your Aston Martin driving executive has caught the bug with alloy wheels amongst the most popular customisations.

Homes

There have always been ways to customise homes since houses were invented. Extensions adding extra rooms, conservatories adding new light filled annexes and garages for your newly ‘pimped’ car are all common sites in our streets and estates. Also, homeowners who may have found themselves stuck in their current location thanks to the credit crunch and the mortgage dip are increasingly turning to home improvements to increase their house value while they wait for the market to improve.

Computers

Any computer games enthusiast worth his salt will have a custom built PC. While console gaming is ever popular, a good custom gaming PC will always outperform it for speed and gaming power. Plus you can endlessly upgrade your PC as new hardware is released, while every console will eventually be obsolete.

Bodies

Since the dawn of time people have been customising their bodies using tattoos and piercings. This is still extremely popular today and getting more so as it becomes more accepted in the mainstream with celebrities now regularly seen sporting new body decorations.

What Every City Hypnotherapy Clinic Should Know About Search Engine Marketing

City hypnosis therapists as well as city hypnotherapy practitioners have been successful in treating patients who desire change in their lives. Whether it’s quitting the smoking habit or overcoming fear of public speaking, hypnosis can effectively dispel self-destructing thought patterns. Unfortunately, not everyone is excited about the idea of using hypnosis to treat psychological or physical problems and addictions. Some people may think you’re weird or suffering from a case of dementia when you’re undergoing hypnosis therapy. But there are people who are interested in seeking other methods to better themselves and hypnosis provides a safe and permanent solution. And as far as interest in hypnosis is concerned, how do you think people nowadays search for information about hypnosis therapy? You guessed it right. It’s the internet.

The internet is a powerful tool in increasing your market visibility in search engine results pages. When we talk about search engines, Google, Yahoo and MSN come to mind. So, what does that have to do with city hypnosis and city hypnotherapy? Search engine marketing is growing at a faster rate than any other marketing strategy online. Traditional offline marketing still exists but it does not bring in leads as much as search engines do. Plus, online marketing enables you to expand your business internationally. In addition, potential clients coming from overseas are the type of clients who are willing to pay cash for quality services.

If other hypnosis therapists have gone online, how does that affect your practice? One, you may lose out on prospective clients. Two, you are limiting your opportunities to expand your existing clientele. And three, you’ll have a lot of catching up to do if you so decide to join the online marketing race at a later period.

There may be more advancement in online marketing in the years to come or maybe even months or days, as the internet gurus are always cooking something up to propel the internet-based technology. The important thing now is to get your city hypnosis or your city hypnotherapy practice out in the search engines. You don’t want to lose out to competition, wouldn’t you?

Don’t Get Burned on a Gaming Laptop

The markup on gaming laptops is often high because, let’s face it, gamers are usually hardware geeks who will shell out the cash for even a moderate improvement in gaming experience and overall system speed. Many manufacturers will add pointless bells and whistles to a gaming laptop in order to justify an inflated price. So how does a consumer in the market for a gaming laptop avoid getting burned?

Don’t buy a gaming laptop because it’s a “Gaming Laptop.”

There is nothing in particular that sets a gaming laptop apart from any other laptop; it’s all about what’s inside. The minute a manufacturer puts the “gaming laptop” label on a product and spray paints it neon green they’ve probably added another 30% to the price.

Most of the additional cost of designated gaming laptops comes in the form of exterior cosmetics and branding. The newest isn’t always best. A buyer should be wary of first generation technology-early adopters are unfortunately seldom rewarded for spending extra on brand new technology.

More often than not, new technology is not matured enough to be fully functional or fully supported by software applications or drivers, and by the time the new technology comes into its own, the rest of the laptop is now too outdated for the new software.

Case and point is when 64-bit processors came out: Only special versions of operating systems even knew what to do with a 64-bit processor and very few games supported it. It was new, it was great, and it was rather useless and expensive.

Of course, the above example is from before gaming laptops were around, but using the recommended system configuration for the most intense game the buyer wants to play is still a good benchmark to base a system around.

Get a warranty, and don’t void it.

When cramming a bunch of highly expensive and sensitive gadgetry into an itty-bitty living space it can result in a system that is less than robust when it comes to resisting wear and tear. The most likely time a system will be damaged is while it is being transported, and a laptop being a system designed for mobility, is highly susceptible to turning into a paperweight without proper care.

A buyer should never skimp on the warranty; get coverage that includes repair and replacement in the event of damage from operator error or mishandling. This is especially true for hardware geeks who tend to experiment a the laptop does fail, many warranties are void if the owner has played amateur surgeon on it. A laptop is a very personal thing. A one-size-fits-all “Uber-Laptop 9,000” might not be what is needed for a specific customer’s needs.

Knowing what is needed to accomplish what is wanted is the best advice that can be given to a prospective buyer of a gaming laptop.

3 Steps to an Effective Social Media Profile

Your Online profiles on different networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are the online equivalent of that first moment you meet someone.

What do you think your profile says about you, as it stands right now?

Does it make you feel proud of who you are? Does it show what you stand for? Does it tell people more about you and who you are and what you do?

A good profile will do all this and more. Before you start with any specific profiles, it’s worth taking some time when you set up the account to look at exactly what kind of data you will be allowed to enter. Different sites have different rules about what you can share. They also have different privacy settings you may want to consider, so you are only ever sharing what you want to!

Here are my top 3 things to make sure you have set up right on any profile you create.

Tip One: Be easy to find

Check out what others are called on the site. Is it the done thing to call yourself your full name, to have a user name or to create a business profile? Whichever it is, and you may be able to choose, take some time to think in advance which you want to get found for. This is a good starting point as you may not be able to make changes to this afterwards.

Think about your message and purpose when you do this – for instance any keywords which are important to you, as well as your primary name.

Tip Two: Add the detail

Thinking about when you meet people for the first time, in real life, they are able to start making their own picture of you because they can visually see you. Online, your profile is the equivalent of this. What you want to do is start building a picture so that they can understand who you are and how you work. Details like a good, professional looking picture, a link to your website, and contact details, as well as the additional detail sites will let you have, help people “get you”.

Tip Three: Be consistent

Consistency is really important. Whilst you want to take the differences of different social platforms into account, you also want a consistent look and feel so no matter where people first find out about you, there is a consistent approach, visual look, and message.

A final tip for free…

Remember to go back in and update your profile if anything changes. Keep a list of profiles you have created, in an easy to find place, so that if you move or change business direction, it’s easy to go back in and ensure you don’t miss out on any new business.

Three Bases For Healthy Social Media Marketing

The internet presently is far from the initial concept it was first created from. With its humble beginnings as a mere medium for data transfer for business and commerce, it quickly burst into a huge virtual universe of different communities and cultures. Everything grew in the internet, from the number of subscribers, to the amount of information and potential for profit. One such outgrowth is social media marketing.

Social media marketing became of the most innovative methods for online promoters to get things profitable. Using the power of information distribution of the internet, getting the facts and content across the globe became so much easier than manual multimedia advertising such as radio and television.

But this doesn’t mean that everyone who uses social media marketing for profit would be successful. Even with a lot of viewers being reached with a campaign, there are still very important considerations to take note so that customer interest and potential return of investment through sales and services would be realized. Here are three of the most important factors to consider.

What’s inside. We get to see a lot of advertisements of products or services being promoted when we log on to our favorite websites. Even the most popular social networking sites we are subscribed in are not exempted from being riddled with advertisements. Haven’t you noticed that you don’t even try to bother checking out most of these promotions. This means that the content of advertising is important to strike the interest of any online user.

What it runs on. Similar to conventional marketing strategies, social media marketing also rely on the consistency and gradual development and variation of the content it is being promoted. The time it takes to have interested online users hooked up to the campaign varies on each user.

Some may accidentally stumble upon it online and get connected right away, while others may never find it at all. To balance out the risk and probabilities of gaining subscribers and clients, it is best to keep promotions running over a long period of time. Perhaps the intensity of promotions may be lessened once a huge enough client base has been reached.

What’s keeping it up. The key to a long lasting online promotion using social media marketing is its consistency. Similar to the duration of the campaign, maintaining the interest of online users may be the harder aspect than initially getting their interest. A good way to augment this problem is to keep them abreast of what may be expected in the near future so that they will have something to look forward to.

The tool of social media marketing is as useful as it can be if utilized correctly. Without the proper fundamentals, it would just like be a useless stone that would not be worth anything. To those who have the know how, it is a well spring of potential wealth and profit.

Will SOCOM 4 Be a Great Addition to the PlayStation 3?

Sony has recently announced that the next installment in the SOCOM series will be coming to the PlayStation 3. This has received mixed reactions from everyone in the gaming community. Some people think that this will be great, while others think that the PlayStation 3 has too many shooter games, and this just adds to the bunch.

However, what many people do not realize is that SOCOM was one of the games that got Sony’s online network started. The first SOCOM game was the first online game for the PlayStation 2, and raised the bar by having a headset so you can communicate with your friends. Since then, each SOCOM game has brought new community and game play features to online shooters. It is no doubt that SOCOM 4 will bring new features to online gaming on the PlayStation 3.

Many people are complaining that PlayStation 3 has too many shooting games and that it does not need another one added to the list. However, most of the shooter games on the PlayStation 3 are not that good, and do have the same tactical feel as SOCOM. The game requires lots of patience, and teamwork in order to win online games.

SOCOM 4 will also feature 5-player online cooperative play in addition to the 32-player competitive play. Whether you want to play competitively or cooperatively, SOCOM 4 will be a great game for you. However, if you do not enjoy tactical, military shooters, then you may want to pass on owning this game.

Alternative Job Market for the Social Media Generation

Thanks to the internet and the rapid growth of social media platforms, the present generation of job seekers have witnessed the birth of another job category in the ever expanding job market. The emergence of “social media jobs”as one option in the choice of careers has been gaining tremendous popularity specially among the internet savvy and the social networking populace. The rise of SEO (Search Engine Optimization), social network marketing, and online shopping were the key instigators to this revolutionary phenomenon which has redefined the face of commerce forever. Some avenues have even gone as far as giving people the alternative choice of earning income while logging in to their favourite social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, And StumbleUpon. Big companies are spending much of their advertising budgets on payments to users who are willing to help strengthen their business’s online presence and reputation by merely submitting persuasive reviews in forums and promoting business brand in Facebook or twitter status updates.

In a more formal job structure, social media careers have also invaded the marketing arm of every company opening the doors to the inclusion of jobs such as Email Marketing Manager, SEO Executive, Digital Account Manager, PR writer, SEO Manager, Webmaster, and Social Media Director, all geared at conquering the complex battlefield of internet marketing which has been complicated by unbreakable algorithms unleashed by highly secretive search engines such as Google and yahoo. Their mission is to drive targeted converting traffic to the business website and ensure high ranking in every SERP (Search Engine Results Page). The salary of these new breed of professionals ranges from A� 19,000.00 to as high as A� 60,000.00 per annum depending on experience and skill.

On another related note, “social media jobs” also have its self-employment option. One can choose to play the game on his or her own by being an “Affiliate Marketing Partner” of any brand or company which best suits his or her own lifestyle, preferences, and interests. As affiliates, they do not need to have products of their own. Their job is to promote products and in every purchase using their identity embedded “links”, they earn a commission from the merchant in accordance with the agreed terms of affiliate partnership. Success in this option depends heavily on the strategies one is willing to employ. To some, Facebook has proven to be an efficient promotional venue. Unknown to many, most of the products, images, brands, and offers being circulated and shared are most likely affiliate linked and the more likes and shares mean wider audience hence a greater possibility for sales. This is an example of “Facebook monetization” or “social network monetization” in internet marketing parlance.

With the continuing threat of recession and the rising rate of unemployment, these could be viable alternatives to traditional professional jobs as an income generating engagement along with service outsourcing and other online ventures but, like any other jobs, these would also require hard work, …

Get Your Latest Game On-The-Go With Asus G73JWXA1 – The Best Gaming Laptop

What if someone told you that business people carry their laptops with them everywhere so that they could do their work on-the-go. You might respond “Well, that’s pretty obvious fact, right?” But consider this idea, hardcore gamers carry their laptops everywhere to be able to continue their last stage in Assassin Creeds on-the-go. I believe that at least 7 out of 10 people will respond by saying “Wait a second, are you seriously telling me that hardcore gamers will play their game in a laptop? Not a chance!” People used to think that laptops are for business people and have pretty decent (in other words, crappy) gaming capability and will be unable to render the latest game smoothly. Of course, that maybe true in the past. However, with the coming of Asus gaming laptop, the ROG G73JW-XA1, you should re-program your way of thinking.

Before that, let’s talk about what makes a perfect gaming laptop:

Speedy processor

Massive RAM memory

High-performance graphic card

Huge storage capacity

Overclocking capability

Other factors (cooling system, display, speakers, etc)

One question will arise, “Do Asus G73JWXA1 meets all the above requirements?” Well, in order to be able to answer that, let’s take a look at the following specifications:

Intel i7-740QM quad-core processor

8GB DDR3 RAM

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460M with 1.5GB of GDDR5 VRAM

1 Tera Byte hard-disk capacity

Overclocking at a simple push of a button. Overclocking has never been this easy before!

Asus G73JW-XA1 is equipped by the latest cooling system from Asus, a 17.3 inch LED-backlight screen and Altec Lansing speaker with EAX Advanced HD 4.0

You even get a Razor mouse as bonus

All those high-end specifications will ensure that you will get nothing less than the best gaming experience and the best of all, everywhere you go. So, Is Asus G73JWXA1 truly the best gaming laptop available in the market? Just take a look at and you’ll find out that it’s listed as one of the bestselling laptop in , outselling even the popular MacBook. In the end, what are you still waiting for?