This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of faceVsion Technology USA. All opinions are 100% mine.

Any experienced freelancer knows that communication is the key to building successful projects which, in turn, results to keeping good clients. My means of communicating with clients at present is through email, instant messaging services, voice and video calls. I haven’t explored yet the possibility of using video conferencing to work with other people. One reason is that leading video conference solutions such as Polycom, Tandberg and Radvision are way above what home-based individuals like me could afford.

Video conferencing would have been such an awesome and better communication tool to use – especially when working in groups!

Before I became a freelancer, I had co-workers. Approaching the boss or a co-worker at the right time and mood sometimes help me accomplish a piece of work, or even get an assignment that I want. Obviously, I should avoid talking to the boss or co-worker who is in the middle of a foul mood.

Things are different when using emails or instant messengers. We simply don’t know if we are trying to talk to a person who just had a lousy day. Without video we take words at face value, and not based on the kind of facial expressions we see.

Fortunately, HD video conferencing is becoming affordable. I have stumbled earlier across faceVision technology USA which claims to be the HD video conferencing solution that is affordable to the masses. One of their most affordable products is the faceVision FV Express Combo which is worth only $149.99 at their faceVision on line store.

At a glance:

• Native 2 megapixel sensor with autofocus
• Up to 30 fps True HD (720p) video calling experience
• True plug & play experience
• Auto-focus
• 28mm wide angle
• iF award-winning HD camera
• For Notebook PC

FV Express Combo product image

FaceVision FV Express Combo is Gmail-friendly, so these Gmail users will be pleased to find out that this gadget could deliver high-quality video resolution over the internet without any special software. The presence of H.264 hardware encoder and decoder chip is what gives this faceVsion gadget the capability to stream HD videos over the internet. Moreover, owners should be pleased that FV Express Combo HD Video Conferencing doesn’t behave like Microsoft Cinema and Logitech Pro 9000: both of the latter devices are capable of taking high-resolution videos but are not able to stream these at the same high quality.

FV Express Combo is available through shop.facevsion.com and other value added partners. On-going promotion with $10 off any purchase, using the promo code of FVTBTS2 while checkout. The promotion ends 09/30/’10.

The procedure also applies to those who wish to receive their Google Adsense payouts.

If you are looking for information on how to send money via Western Union, then check out this post from an OFW: How to send Money via Western Union

Long ago, I decided not to blog about my experience in getting my Google Adsense paycheck via Western Union. However, I decided to write this post because I had this one rare chance of receiving money from a friend who is working overseas.

I live in Baguio – a city that’s around five to eight hours away from the Manila, Philippines – but there are plenty of Western Union branches available to claim money. However, most of these branches close as early as 6 PM. It’s always good to make a call to your preferred branch before the closing time. Not all branches are the same.

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I know, this post is long overdue. The seminar happened a few months ago. Also, I did not my own camera – so I got the pictures here from the photographers who took shots of the seminar. The RA9292 PDF is located within this post.

Last April 24, 2010, I was able to attend one of IECEP’s seminars, which was held here in Baguio City. IECEP stands for Institute of Electronic Engineers in the Philippines, an institution where one of its main goals is to keep registered electronics engineers in the Philipines keep abreast with the latest technological advancements in the field.

What is a lady programmer like me doing with these group of engineers?

IECEP seminar: Can you spot me in the picture?

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This post was written using this notebook.

As soon as I learned that I was able to get a salary loan from SSS and a multipurpose loan from PAGIBIG, I went out looking for laptops that satisfy that budget. After those few years of working at home at a desktop computer, maybe it is time for me to get out of my home and explore the world, right?

When I went out shopping, I already had set my sights on the ideal computer that I want: as light as a netbook but as powerful as a laptop. Performance was my first consideration; weight comes second. Soon I learned that finding one was difficult at this time.

After scouting around I decided to get an Acer 4740G notebook computer. Any person looking over this laptop gets to see these specifications written at the palmrest just below the right hand side of the keyboard.

• Intel Core™ i3 processor 330M (2.13 GHz, 3MB L3 cache)
• NVIDIA® GeForce ® 310 M 512MBVRAM
• 14.0 inch HD LED LCD
• 2 GB memory
• 320 GB HDD
• Acer Nplify ™ 802.11 b/g/n

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This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Nexx Online. All opinions are 100% mine.

Weeks before I heard this news from some blogger friends of mine that they were able to buy a new webhost at Nexx which only costs $10. That deal covers Unlimited Web Hosting and a free domain that comes with it. This is the most inexpensive web host deal I had discovered so far.

Normally, Nexx offers webhosting that costs $5.95/month for a year’s subscription (which amounts to $71.40. Pay only $10 for the first year by applying the promotional code SPARK10. This limited offer is good until June 30, 2010.

The only catch I can see here is that the $10 seems to apply only to the first year subscription. However, the value is low enough to attract webmasters like me to try their webhosting plans for a year. Even bloggers who want to try out having their own domains on a self-hosted WordPress would definitely find this deal much affordable for them – this is such a good opportunity for them to try out this platform!

Here’s what is offered in that hosting plan:

• Diskspace: Unlimited
• Bandwidth: Unlimited
• E-mail: Unlimited
• Free Domains: 1
• 24/7 Customer Support
• **Google Adwords Credits: $50
• **Facebook Ads Credits: $50
• One-Click WordPress and Blog installations.

Upon learning this friends did not miss a beat and they had immediately signed up for this offer. I was about to do the same, but I stopped at their payment methods – I was ready to pay but they only accept credit cards at this time – which happened to be all out of funds.