Archive for June, 2008

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How to increase Fuel Efficiency of your Car

Monday, June 30th, 2008

On an average, fuel bills over the last few months have increased by 20% for most of us. Led by the Global demand for oil, prices have skyrocketed to touch nearly 150$. Many speculators predict it will hit 200$ and then may be settle down around 125$. I hope it stays at 200$.

The spiraling costs of fuel should be seen as a blessing in disguise. For years we have splurged money on buying gas guzzlers with no thought given whatsoever for the adverse effects it has on the environment and also Geo-Politics. But now the world is taking notice and sees that high oil prices are here to stay and the ways to beat it is to increase efficiency, encourage alternate fuels and also to provide better public transport.

The only way we can insulate a country’s economy from the global oil shock is to decrease consumption , encourage better and environment friendly technologies. Investment is being channeled into various alternative technologies like fuel cells, ethanol fuel, hybrid technology etc.

The above things comes in the purview of policy makers. How can we as normal citizens contribute ? . For starters ,begin by getting better Fuel mileage from your car. We all now have to place a premium on the amount of miles per gallon we can squeeze out of our cars.

I am going to list out a few simple steps that you can undertake when you drive.

• Speed is the ultimate fuel burner. Faster the speed, faster your tank empties. I know all of us sometime have the need for speed, but it need not be all the time. So control the next time you just want to step on the gas ,cruising is also fun.

Fact : The difference in mileage between 55 mph cruise and 80 mph dash is approximately 20%.

• Accelerating Rapidly is another of the fuel burners. Don’t keep slamming brakes, shifting down and accelerate rapidly again. Anticipate braking ,slow down progressively and accelerate slowly. You will save your cars engine too. The extreme way to do this is called ‘Gliding‘ where you don’t apply brakes at all and let your car slow down and then stop by not accelerating. Remember lower the RPM, higher the efficiency.
• Reduce weight : don’t keep unnecessary weight in your car. Extra weight means the engine needs more energy, hence more fuel. Take all useless stuff out of your boot and keep your car clean.

Fact : Your fuel bill increases by 1-2% for each one of your 150 pound girl friends.

• Higher the time you spend in a higher gear the more your efficiency. Shift to higher gears as soon as possible. But don’t make wrong gear shifts and lag your engine. You should shift at the right time.
• Tire Pressure: this is a very critical aspect. Wrong or Lower tire pressure causes a huge drop in your kmpl. Check out your manual and maintain the manufacturer recommended tire pressure.
• Service your car periodically. Change air filters every 3000 km’s . It costs you only a little but breathes pure air into your engine making it last long and give you that extra mileage.
• Switching the car on/off : This is a tricky one. Switching off and later turning on in only sometime actually increases the fuel consumption. You can save fuel only if you have turned off for a long time. As a thumb rule, if your stoppage is for more than 3 min, then turn off.
• Go Hybrid

Fact : Hybrids increase fuel efficiency by nearly 30% (For e.g.. The Honda Civic hybrid)

• Roll up your windows if possible, as it reduces drag. Air conditioning should only be used when necessary. Time your drive such that you don’t go around town when the sun is steaming.
• Many people believe no fuel is consumed when the car is idling or when you are going downhill in neutral. The case is exactly the opposite, more fuel is consumed actually and I have seen this personally too when I left my car go downhill for about 40 kms in neutral. There was a drastic drop in my fuel efficiency.
• Challenge yourself every time you top up your car (Fill fuel) that you will beat your highest mileage achieved. This gives excellent motivation to ride sensibly. You can alternatively find a “mileage buddy” with whom you can compete in the mileage stakes.

Other Tips

• Buy a Small Car. Preferably Diesel.

Fact :The Tata Nano is said to give a mileage of 25 kmpl or more (around 100 mpg).

• Car Pooling is an effective and sociable way to decrease your fuel bill. Discuss in your network of friends and try and come up with a plan. It’s achievable and also reduces driving stress.
• Buy a bicycle for your short distance market hops. Gets your heart pumping well too.
• Organize and plan your trips into the city such that you don’t have to travel a lot in circles. Park at a clear place and walk to your destination.

The maximum I have achieved from my car (a Ford Escort 1.8 Diesel) is 24 km/per liter on a road trip (Highway) and around 18 kmpl in the city . I would love to beat it and am working towards it.

Your Comments and suggestions invited

Posted in Automotive 1 Comment »

Best Multiplexes in Bangalore

Monday, June 30th, 2008

5) VISION CINEMAS

• Location :- K.H Road .(Opposite Shanti Nagar Bus stand)
• Seating comfort and Visual Experience: – Average. Sound quality is not that great.
• Parking :- Ample Parking space inside the theatre. The traffic is moderate near it.
• Online Booking Facility: – Its availiable, but the website is slow and not correctly maintained.[ http://www.visioncinemas.net/vision-online/ ]
• Rates :- Not as expensive as others.
• WikiMapia Link :- Click to view the Location of Vision Cinemas
• Overall Experience :- Is pretty good based on what region of the city you are from. If you are desperate to get tickets for a movie when everywhere else its booked, you are most likely to find it here.

4) INOX

• Location :- Magrath road. (Walk down from Mayo hall, MG Road)
• Seating comfort and Visual Experience:- Good. Seating and screens are very good but the AC is bad. Either too hot or cold.
• Parking :- The traffic is bad most of the time if you are approaching from MG Road. Parking especially for Cars is a horrible experience. For 2 wheelers its fine.
• Online Booking Facility – Inox Online Bokking is availiable but again hard to use. They don’t update movies properly and booking for an inexperienced internet user is hard.[ http://www.inoxmovies.com/inox/wcms/en/home/insta-tickets/index.html ]
• Rates :- High ,especially on weekends and for big releases.
• WikiMapia Link :- Click to view the Location of INOX
• Overall Experience :- The location makes it ideal. But it has only 5 screens, so people who go there to watch a movie normally see houseful boards.

3) FAME LIDO

• Location :- Old Madras road. It’s on a one way so you cannot reach it from MG Road. Via Ulsoor is a better option.
• Seating comfort and Visual Experience: – Excellent . The seats are very comfortable and Sound is very good.
• Parking :- Parking space is easily available inside the theatre
• Online Booking Facility :- Fame Cinemas online booking is good and easy to book . But the username they automatically give you is hard to remember.[ http://www.famecinemas.com/ ]
• Rates :- Pretty expensive .
• WikiMapia Link :- Click to view the Location of Fame Lido
• Overall Experience :- The location is a little bit hard to reach as it’s on a one way. But the theatre has a very good ambience. Again only a 4 screen multiplex means your travel there may be futile. So check and go.

2) PVR CINEMAS

• Location :- Forum Mall, Koramangala
• Seating comfort and Visual Experience : Excellent. Great sound and the best screens in the big halls. But the smaller halls are not that great .
• Parking :- Big problem especially on weekends. Perennial traffic jams in front of forum means it’s a bore to reach PVR.
• Online Booking Facility :- PVR Cinemas have an excellent website but cumbersome online booking. They can make it much better. But they have a great kiosk booking facility.[ http://www.pvrcinemas.com ]
• Rates :- Expensive. Exorbitant for high profile releases.
• WikiMapia Link:- Click to view the Location of PVR Cinemas
• Overall Experience :- Lot of screens so you will get to watch a movie on a weekday. Long queues for booking tickets, a very crowded mall makes it a tad irritating. But once inside the theatre and the movie starts, it’s the best.

1) FUN CINEMAS

• Location :- Sigma Mall, Cunningham road
• Seating comfort and Visual Experience :-Excellent. The theatre has incorporated all the best features of other theatres.
• Parking :- Parking easily available inside, as the mall is empty most of the time
• Online Booking Facility :- Fun Cinemas online booking is Excellent. Use your Gmail or any other email id to log in and book easily. Best booking facility of them all.[ http://www.funcinemas.com/ ]
• Rates :- Not as expensive as others. Much better than PVR or Inox,but they are slowing increasing the rates.
• WikiMapia Link :- Click to view the Location of Fun Cinemas
• Overall Experience :- Is the best of all the multiplexes in Bangalore. Is at a very good location, the mall is not too crowded, has the best screens and booking facility. But again it’s a small multiplex so you may not find tickets to watch a movie.

Note : Innovative multiplex near marathahalli is by far the worst multiplex in Bangalore. They have the worst screens,sound and the saddest location too. To top it all, a very bad management .

New Multiplexes in the near future

Bangalores Builders are tying up with several Multiplex Chains to give you end to end entertainment in their malls. The Builders have observed that foot falls increase drastically if a mall also has a multiplex in it. Sigma mall is a classic example where the introduction of a Multiplex( Fun Cinemas) has added a lot of foot falls. I have listed below the upcoming multiplexes in Bangalore.

Fame LIDO is mostly setting up a multiplex at the Public Utility Building where Symphony theatre is present. It also plans to have a 1,350-seater multiplex at the upcoming Sigma Mall on the Outer Ring Road(closer to KR Puram bridge).

INOX is planning 3 more multiplexes in Malleswaram(mostly in the Mantri apartment complex) , Jayanagar and Koramangala.The Malleswaram multiplex plans to have 7 screens with 1,720 seats, Jayanagar multiplex,four screens with a seating capacity of 1,100 seats and the Koramangala multiplex ,1,860 seats for 7 screens.

PVR – Brigade Gateway the biggest township project in Bangalore will house a 11 screen PVR multiplex in Malleswaram-Rajajinagar area. People of these areas will have much more options after this too is set up.

In the location of erstwhile Minerva mills in Rajajinagar there will be a mall and a multiplex.

Please leave comments about your Experiences of these Theaters and also if you have any new information of a upcoming multiplex in bangalore. It will help other people. Also please take the poll below

Also Read

• 3 Idiots – Aamir Khan’s new movie preview

[poll id="3"]

Posted in General 3 Comments »

New Honda Civic India

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

The New Honda Civic is the ultimate expression of luxury, performance and style. Its all set to launch in India in the second half of the year. Its packed with features that go above & beyond its specification. With its sleek and futuristic style, its a car that apeals to all markets and a car to beat in its segment. This new Civic boasts quality & styling which has been carried through into the interior with loads of clever bits like a high mounted digital speedo and the switchgear being clustered together by theme. There is an ample space for four adults and a huge boot to load anything & everything. All the variants have a standard feature like airbags, power windows, ABS, trip computer & traction control. The i-VTEC engine pumps out 140 BHP, yet maintains a smooth & a refined ride.

Technical Features

• 140-hp, 1.8-liter, SOHC i-VTEC® engine
• MacPherson Strut Front Suspension
• Multi-Link Rear Suspension
• Power-Assisted Rack-and-Pinion Steering
• Power-Assisted Ventilated Front Disc/Solid Rear Disc Brakes

Safety Features

• Dual-Threshold Front Airbags (SRS)
• Advanced Compatibility Engineering™ (ACE™) Body Structure
• Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) with Electronic Brake Distribution (EBD)
• Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)
• Side-Impact Door Beams
• Immobilizer Theft-Deterrent System

Interior Features

• Air Conditioning with Air-Filtration System
• 160-Watt AM/FM/CD Audio System with 6 Speakers
• Power Windows with Auto-Up/Down Driver’s Window
• Power Door Locks with Auto-Lock Feature
• Cruise Control
• Tilt and Telescopic Steering Column
• Steering Wheel-Mounted Controls (Cruise/Audio)

Exterior Features

• Security System with Remote Entry
• Integrated-Rear Window Antenna
• Body-Colored Power Side Mirrors
• Body-Colored Door Handles
• Variable Intermittent Windshield Wipers
• 16" Alloy Wheels
• Heated side mirrors

Posted in Automotive 9 Comments »

Bachna Ae Haseeno Mp3 Songs

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

Bachna Ae Haseeno Hindi Movie

Movie Name: Bachna Ae Haseeno
Release Date: 15 August 2008
Director: Apoorva Lakhia
Starring: Ranbir Kapoor, Deepika Padukone, Bipasha Basu, Minissha Lamba
Music: Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani
Producer: Aditya Chopra

Bachna Ae Haseeno MP3 Songs List

• Khuda Jaane – KK, Shilpa Rao
• Lucky Boy – Sunidhi chauhan, Hard kaur, Raja Hassan
• Aahista Aahista – Lucky Ali, Shreya Ghoshal
• Jogi Mahi – Sukhvinder Singh, Shekhar Ravjiani, Himani Kapoor
• Small Town Girl – Shankar Mahadevan
• Khuda Jaane [Revisited] – KK, Shilpa Rao
• Bachna Ae Haseeno – Kishore Kumar, Sumit Kumar, Vishal Dadlani

Download all Bachna Ae Haseeno Mp3 Songs here

Bachna Ae Haseeno Trailer

httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=iGzGIef4GqE

Download Bachna Ae Haseeno Trailer

Posted in Hindi 1 Comment »

Ugly Aur Pagli Mp3 Songs

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

Ugly Aur Pagli Hindi Movie mp3 Songs

Movie Name: Ugly Aur Pagli
Release Date: 01 Aug 2008
Director: Sachin Khot
Starring: Mallika Sherawat, Ranvir Shorey
Music: Anu Malik
Cinematography: Somak Mukherjee
Producer: Rangita Pritish Nandy, Pritish Nandy

Ugly Aur Pagli MP3 Songs List

• Aa Nachle – Anu Malik,Vasundhara Das, Dibyendu Mukherji
• Karle Gunaah – Ishq Bector, Anushka Manchandani
• Karle Gunaah (Version 2) – Ishq Bector, Anushka Manchandani
• Karle Gunaah (Remix) – Ishq Bector, Anushka Manchandani
• Talli Main Talli Ho Gai- Hardkaur, Anmol Malik, Mika Singh
• Talli Main Talli Ho Gai (Version 2) – Hardkaur, Anmol Malik, Mika Singh
• Talli Main Talli Ho Gai (Remix) – Anmol Malik, Hardkaur, Mika Singh
• Yaad Teri Aaye – Mohit Chouhan
• Yeh Nazar – Sunidhi Chauhan, Shaan

Download all Ugly Aur Pagli Mp3 Songs here

Movie Trailer

httpv://youtube.com/watch?v=3tw8X724Znw

Posted in Hindi No Comments »

How to Centre a JFrame

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

[sourcecode language='java']
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter;
import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;

import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

// Displaying a JFrame at the center of the screen using Java Toolkit Class
public class CenterFrameDemo extends JFrame {

CenterFrameDemo() {
setTitle(”Center a Frame on Screen”); // jframe title
setSize(400, 300); // jframe size
this.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.DO_NOTHING_ON_CLOSE);
addWindowListener(new WindowAdapter() {

// java jframe close
public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e) {
if (JOptionPane.showConfirmDialog(null, “Are you sure ?”) == JOptionPane.YES_OPTION) {
setVisible(false);
dispose(); // jframe exit
} else {

}
}
});
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
CenterFrameDemo cfd = new CenterFrameDemo();
Toolkit tk = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit();
Dimension d = tk.getScreenSize();
cfd.setLocation((int) (d.getWidth() – cfd.getWidth()) / 2, (int) (d
.getHeight() – cfd.getHeight()) / 2);
cfd.setVisible(true);
}

}
[/sourcecode]

Posted in Programming No Comments »

Java Swing JList List Model Example

Sunday, June 29th, 2008

[sourcecode language='java']
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;

import javax.swing.DefaultListModel;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JList;
import javax.swing.JScrollPane;
import javax.swing.ListSelectionModel;
import javax.swing.event.ListSelectionEvent;
import javax.swing.event.ListSelectionListener;

public class JListDemo extends JFrame {

private JList list; // java JList

private String[] listColorNames = { “Red”, “blue”, “green”, “yellow”,
“white” };

private Color[] listColorValues = { Color.RED, Color.BLUE, Color.GREEN,
Color.YELLOW, Color.WHITE };

private DefaultListModel colorModel;

public JListDemo() {
super(” JList List Models Demo “);
colorModel = new DefaultListModel(); // jlist listmodel
getContentPane().setLayout(new FlowLayout());
for (String cN : listColorNames) {
colorModel.addElement(cN);
}
list = new JList(colorModel);
list.setSelectedIndex(0);
list.setSelectionMode(ListSelectionModel.SINGLE_SELECTION);
list.setVisibleRowCount(3);
getContentPane().add(new JScrollPane(list));
list.addListSelectionListener(new ListSelectionListener() {

public void valueChanged(ListSelectionEvent e) {
getContentPane().setBackground(
listColorValues[list.getSelectedIndex()]);
}
});
setSize(200, 200);
setVisible(true);
}

public static void main(String[] args) {
JListDemo test = new JListDemo();
test.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
}
}
[/sourcecode]

Posted in Programming No Comments »

Reservations In India

Saturday, June 28th, 2008

They ask “what is in a name?” I say “everything!” if you are an Indian. If you have a surname that figures in a certain list, you can be assured that you do not have to work hard or study, fail every exam and still make it to the best colleges, institutions and jobs in the country. On the other hand, if you are amongst the unfortunate ones, you may work as hard as you can but still be assured that your seat in the college or you position will always be occupied by someone much less deserving than you. Yes I am talking about reservation for SC/STs/OBCs and god-knows-what-else.

What exactly is reservation? I am not sure how it is defined in the Indian Constitution or the bills and laws our honorable (using this word only because I do not swear on the blog) Minister Arjun Singh and before him the Mandal commission defines it. I just don’t care. In reality, reservation in India is just another means of grabbing votes and ensuring that the country progresses as much backwards as it possibly could.

However, let me give you a bit of background. Reservation is not a concept unique to India. It exists in other nations too, most notably US, where a percentage of jobs are reserved for the African American or other “disadvantaged” people. In India too reservation was adopted with good intentions, to help the DALITS, who had been traditionally abused by the so called upper castes. After India gained independence, the constitution asserted that certain groups of people, namely the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribes, were under-represented in the country’s social structure because they had been historically oppressed. Reservation was an attempt to abolish the oppressions such as untouchability and reduce caste differences by giving the SCs and STs opportunities to better their lives and integrate themselves into the country’s social fabric. To this effect the constitution reserved 15% seats in government aided educational institutions and 7.5% jobs in the government sector for these “backward” classes.

However, several safeguards accompanied these reservation provisions. First the constitution laid down that the provision was to be reviewed after 5 years and the reservation of seats in the Lok Sabha and state legislature was initially set to expire after a period of ten years. However out of fear of losing the vote bank, this portion of the clause was totally ignored and the constitution amended several times- the policy is now set to expire on January 25th 2010. Secondly the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and STs was created, whose purpose was to monitor and evaluate the effect of these policies. Also the supreme court also rules that reservations cannot exceed 50%. However, states like Tamil Nadu (proposed 68% reservation) and Tamil Nadu (69% at least) speak their own story.

In spite of all the safeguard, government after government have gone on to amend the constitution, in order to grab votes and fulfill their own narrow interest of remaining in power without a second thought about the country’s future. The most interesting part of reservation is that it was introduced to abolish casteism, the Indian constitution preaches ideals of equality and social justice. But he whole concept of reservation is based on caste(which is dictated only by birth) and caste alone. Although reservations may be based on State of Domicile or even Gender, it is the caste or birth based reservation that is most primary.

What are the implications of such reservations? Simply saying, a SC/ST and now an OBC student needs to know only as much as a 5th class General Student to get admission into even the most premier institutions of India. In the IIT/JEE exam, a reserved category applicant need score only 65% of the last admitted General Category Student. In 2008, the IIT/JEE cutoff for General Category students was somewhere around 185/486. So a reserved category student needs score only about 120 to get admitted- that is approximately 25%. In AIIMS there are incidents of students scoring as low as 14% or 19% being admitted into PG courses! And we are talking about doctors here! These figures very well paint the scary situation of our country.

Economists are contemplating India’s sustainable growth. I wonder if we are not being a little over optimistic even debating such topics, while we are entrusting the country’s future to a whole bunch of under-graduates and graduates whose only qualification and achievement is their birth. After the last amendment, few years from now, each year we would have nearly 50% of graduating doctors, engineers and managers , who frankly do not deserve to be there. We will have doctors who might not even know the difference between the kidney and the heart., imagine getting operated by such a doctor! We shall have building/bridges being built by civil engineers who do not know the basics of engineering. We shall have MBAs who do not know to add 2 and 2. Forget sustainable growth! Where will these heralders of doom take the nation?

I do not have any issues with reservation, if that is implemented in the right spirit. But baseless reservations, just to grab votes in something I totally do not agree to. Why is reservation based on caste alone? Should it not be based on the economic and social standard of the person? Should a family who share the same neighborhood as a General family get preferential treatment simply because they happen to have a particular surname? If these people are in fact backwards, what are they doing in town, cities and the metros? How is it possible that these so called socially and economically backward people drive luxury cars, dine in fine restaurants and shop at the most fashionable places? Are they not backwards then? Or is it when they want admissions to colleges and jobs they remember that they are backward? I wish it was possible to siphon off all such people asking for “backwardness” into a separate country. They could have Arjun Singh as their PM and spend their time happily clamoring for even Stone Age status if they liked. If there was a 10th world, this country would be the first to qualify, ahead of even the current most- distressed country. These people would have rightly got what they deserve, a country which is as backwards as they claim they themselves are.

I do not know what we can do to stop such injustice. But in all anger, I feel we could implement a few crazy ideas-

1. Lets not vote for a party whose means of grabbing votes is increasing reservations.
2. General category people should take active interest in politics.
3. Before we consult a doctor lets make sure that he/she is not from the reserved category. After all we should be cautious about who we are entrusting our health or even life to.
4. Since the reservation policy propagates discrimination, the General category people (teachers and students alike) should also do just that. In colleges and institutions let us discriminate against suchundeserving students.

Why should only the General student slog and burn the midnight oil? Why should only we suffer? If a person claims he/she is backwards, that he/she is not intelligent enough, then what is their claim to these seats in premier institutions that they unabashedly queue up for? If they are not good enough to score as well as a General Category student, do they not realize it that it is not because the general category has discriminated against them but because they are simply not good enough? That the problem possibly lie somewhere in their foundation? Then why not implement reservation for primary education? And if two students have had the same primary education how can one be entitled to reservation privileges while the other is not? Why should promotions in Government jobs be dictated by caste? Once a person gets a job shouldn’t promotions be determined by each individuals performance? Why do the General Student/Employee have to pay the price for a reserved category person’s stupidity, under performance and inability?

When I think of reservation I feel ashamed to have been born in this country, a country which says “birth is supreme”. A country where intelligence and capability are secondary to one’s caste. A country which preaches discrimination, injustice and inequality in all walks of life, hiding behind the sham of reservation for the underprivileged. One day India will probably have 99% reservations! Thanks to all our politicians and even the people who are not even a bit ashamed to claim they are “backwards” – and in what? Backwards in their mental capability, backwards in their performance ability?

Hitler fought to prove that the Germans were the best amongst all, USA went to war to prove they are the most superior of all. We in India scream, fight and even kill to establish ourselves as the most backwards of all!

Comments are invited

Posted in India 10 Comments »

Choose your Favourite Blog Platform?

Saturday, June 28th, 2008

[poll id="2"]

I like Wordpress because:

• Its Free.
• It’s well supported with a strong active community surrounding it with plug-ins being developed for almost any feature required.
• Easy to install and add plug-ins.
• Free Wordpress Templates are available on the internet and these can be customized easily to suit your requirements.

Please cast your vote and post a comment supporting your choice for the same.

Posted in Blogging 17 Comments »

Earn money from Blogs

Thursday, June 26th, 2008

How to Make Money from Your Blog

Web 2.0 and especially blogging have now become a very popular source of income. I would like to present here, some useful tips and various ways through which you can Monetize your blog.

The most important challenge of monetizing your blog is to generate traffic for your blog. If you double your traffic, you’ll probably double your income with more ad clicks, more product sales, more affiliate sales, more donations etc.

I use WordPress as it’s got so much more features and also more control as to how you want to monetize you blog. After having used WordPress, Google Blogger and other similar options,i can safely say wordpress is the best.

Here is a Guide to Make Money via Blogging;

1. Sell AD Space: This is the most common means to generate income from your blog. For a blog you just created, you could consider services like Google AdSense or BlogAds.

An alternative to Google Adsense would be Yahoo’s YPN. Yahoo’s YPN is limited to only a few geographical areas. I have read that YPN pays you much more then programs like AdSense, Chitika’s eMiniMalls and CrispAds. But it lacks visitors via their own search network, and also their ads are not contextual like Adsense.
http://www.blogads.com/
http://www.google.com/adsense

2. Affiliate Marketing: Use Affiliates to help sell other’s products and earn money from commissions through affiliate sales. An affiliate program provides a means for your blog readers to click on related Advertiser products directly instead of searching them for on search engines. If you get targeted clicks/visitors to your blog, its better to use cj.com/linkshare than Google adsense to make much more money through Affiliate Sales.

Some popular choices of Affiliates for your blog are;

• Amazon Associates
• LinkShare (Commission on products sold, mostly books).
• ClickBank
• Commission Junction

3. Donations: (via PayPal or snail mail). Some people do mail a snail mail cheque if they love your blog and want to show their appreciation. Give your visitors a means to voluntarily contribute if they wish via paypal. It’s a nice form of feedback and appreciation of the blogger’s effort that a reader gives for certain articles.

4. Text Link Ads: Text Link Ads sell small text ads on your blog/site, split the revenue and deposit earnings directly into your PayPal account.

http://www.text-link-ads.com

5. Chitika eMiniMalls ads (pay per click): If you can generate traffic to your blog, you can make money with pay per click advertising programs. You can have Chitika ads on pages containing Google Adsense. It does not violate Google’s Terms and Conditions as they (Chitika ads) don’t compete because they not contextual and they also look quite different from Adsense ads.

6. Blog Flipping: It is very common to see bloggers creating blogs and selling them within 6 months to 1 year once it attains popularity and traffic. This practice is known as ‘Blog Flipping’.

7. Earn from Consulting: Usually serious bloggers are experts in their niche topics. Some make a living by becoming a consultant and giving expert advices to their visitors. While this is not so popular a way of earning money, this is high paying,as even for one consultant work per day, the going rate is usually $150 and above.

9. Pixel Advertising: You can add Pixel Advertising to the list of money making techniques. Some blogs are selling pixel space just like milliondollarhomepage.com

10. Factors like Google Pagerank: Blogs are the easiest way to make money if you have a high PR. The higher the Google PageRank the more people will pay you to get an ad space on your blog. Blogs get a good PR faster then a regular site as it is more continuously updated.

11. Sponsorship: There are many blogs today that are into sponsorship with advertisers. It’s easy for blogs with high readership to get Sponsors who deal with similar content/products. Some blogs have sponsorship with advertisers on a post by post basis too. These blogs make big money with hosting Sponsored Ads.

12. Get Paid to Write Reviews : If you have a high traffic blog, you can offer to write a review for other´s websites or products on your blog and get paid.

13. Other PPC Systems : There are plenty of other PPC Systems today that make money. I would like you to comment on these based on your experience as I have not used them anytime.

• Adgenta
• CrispAds
• Intelli Txt
• Tribal Fusion
• Adbrite
• Kanoodle
• AVN
• Pheedo
• TextAds
• Fastclick
• OneMonkey

But off course,WEB TRAFFIC is supreme. Without regular traffic, no one could make even a cent out of all those advertising networks mentioned above. Web traffic is the ultimate revenue generator. Advertising programs like Adsense, Chitika etc are just a medium or system to translate that traffic into money.

I own a blog and try to make some money out of it. I don’t write articles/posts just to make money. I also write because I love to write and feel opinions matter . If you have the passion to write and create Good Content then you would generate traffic automatically.

As a blogger who wants to generate income, you should always be experimenting with new income streams. May be come with a new stream too.

Comments and suggestions are invited.

Posted in Blogging 12 Comments » « Previous Entries