The 2010 World Cup in South Africa will soon be here and I hope the rest of the world is as excited as I am.  As in any major sporting events, companies and organizers are creating collectibles and promotional items in bunches. You can find almost anything with 2010 World Cup logo on it.

One of the item I am excited about is the Panini Sticker album. I collected a lot of Panini stickers when I was little; the Disney and the World Cup. This year is no different. Well, actually there is. Instead of buying the real stickers, Panini is partnering with FIFA to create a virtual Panini sticker album.

You don’t buy the actual stickers. Instead, you will sign in to your fifa account (you need to register for a free fifa.com account in order to participate) and will be given a few virtual packs a day. Each pack consists of 5 stickers. You can create your own group for sticker swapping or you can swap your duplicate stickers with stranger.  If you complete the album before July 16, you will entered into a random drawing for a hand on one of 100 completed limited-edition hardcover print version of Panini’s virtual online version.

The stickers are divided into 3 categories:

1. Hidden Stickers

These are the stickers you will uncover from FIFA website. Look for the link to add the stickers to your virtual album.

World Cup Trophy (Add the sticker automatically)
2010 South Africa (Add the sticker automatically)
Emblem (Add the sticker automatically)
Jabulani Ball (Add the sticker automatically)

2010 World Cup Panini Sticker Album Page 1

Stadium
Green Point Stadium, Cape Town (Add the sticker automatically)
Moses Mabhida Stadium, Durban (Add the sticker automatically)
Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg (Add the sticker automatically)
Soccer City Stadium, Johannesburg (Add the sticker automatically)
Free State Stadium, Mangaung/Bloemfontein (Add the sticker automatically)
Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth (Add the sticker automatically)
Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit (Add the sticker automatically)
Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane (Add the sticker automatically)
Royal Bakofeng Stadium, Rustenburg (Add the sticker automatically)
Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Tshwane/Pretoria (Add the sticker automatically)

World Cup Slogan (Add the sticker automatically)
World Cup Poster (Add the sticker automatically)
World Cup Mascot (Add the sticker automatically)

2010 World Cup Stadium Panini Sticker Album

2. Player stickers (11 players per team for all 32 participating teams)

You can only get the player stickers from the virtual packs. Swap your duplicate with others to complete your album.

3. National Team Emblem (32 teams)

You will receive the National Team Emblem once you collect all the player stickers of that team.

2010 World Cup team USA and team Emblem Panini Sticker

How to earn additional packs

There are promo codes you can enter to earn additional virtual packs. In certain countries, you can find the promo code on some Coca-Cola products.  Here are a few promo code you can use to earn additional packs:

3y69p7bj – 4v8qbyu7 – 4TNL2XLY – 7BUY39F7 – 23EJAFW5 – 4L6QUVV5 – 4FBGE83A – 6634L9WC (no longer work)

You should join a collector’s group. Each group can have a maximum of 11 members. When a collector completes his/her first national team, each member on the group will earn a virtual pack.

Update (04/27/2010)

You can earn an additional pack by playing the FIFA World Cup Trivia. You start at Level 1. Each level has ten questions you have to answer. When you complete one game at Level 1, it will unlock level 2 and when you complete one game at Level 2, it will unlock Level 3. When you complete one game at Level 3, you will earn 1 (one) Virtual Pack.  You can only earn 1 pack per week with this offer (the week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday.)

Update (05/31/2010)

The above promo codes no longer work.  I am not sure why.  Here are a few codes that would work:

COCA-COLA
FELICIDAD
DESTAPA
CELEBRA
GOL
FELICIDADE

Update (05/31/2010)

You can earn additional pack from Coke Zone by buying one virtual pack with 2 Coke Zone points. You can register at Coke Zone and earn up to 7 points. You earn points by entering the codes found in Coca-Cola products.

Update (06/01/2010)

New promo code COMEMORE (thanks mteodosio)
New promo code 27737426 – 68557128 – 53143310 (thanks Piksi_SRB)
New promo code 72152404
New promo code 28223571 (thanks Daniel)

You can get additional promo code by visiting Panini Group (thanks Abdi) and you will see an ad (like the one below) on the left.  The ad will show a promo code that you can use to get an additional pack.  It’s an animated flash ad so wait until it shows the code and then write it down.

Update (06/02/2010)

New promo code 20563354 (thanks chung)
New promo code 25383605 (thanks Imamovic_BiH)

Update (06/06/2010)

Guys, I just arrived in South Africa a few days ago to attend the World Cup. So far internet access has been sporadic for me. I will try to update it in a timely manner when I get to Durban on June 9, 2010. I will be writing reports (hopefully daily) on this site so please check back once the World Cup starts.

Update (06/09/2010)

This by no means new promo codes. I am merely consolidating all the promo codes from the comment section. Thanks to everyone who contributed. I deleted some comments (duplicate or group offer) to make it more manageable and easier to view.

9RBSF73K – 9PLJHCSX – ADJ95C9E – A9CJE9BW – CESLY7P9 – 8ZF7LALS – 9HJLK6XG – AM2Z6HCP – 8AJ2NAXY – A4W4CZZN – 8Y6RANPD – 8MN86KUS – BAB3ZKVB – CTGLQU6E – 8K2J34CZ – CP38NREY

Update (06/10/2010)

New promo code ABGQK588 (thanks panda)
New promo code BC6CE9XU (thanks Nibzilla)

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Northwest Airlines offers online courses through WorldPerks University where you learn about the WorldPerks program. 

The courses are as follow:

• WP101 – Introduction to WorldPerks
• WP102 – My WorldPerks Number
• WP200 – A Global Prespective – SkyTeam
• WP201 – WorldPerks Mileage Partner

Each course has about 3 slides of information and at the end of the course you will have to answer 3 easy questions. Don’t worry about getting the answer wrong.  You will get a second chance at it. Once you complete the short courses and quizzes, you will be able to earn 100 WorldPerks miles for each course.

I took the courses yesterday and the 400 miles were credited within 24 hours.  Hurry up and earn the FREE miles before WorldPerks program integrates into Delta Airlines SkyMiles at the end of the year.

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So Microsoft came up with a few commercials of their own and whether they are effective or not, they certainly put Apple and Mac lovers on the defensive. Gotta love it when these I-love-everything-Apple crowds have to go on the defensive to defend Apple.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not bashing Apple. I still love their iPod products, including the new iPod Shuffle which I think is really cool. I don’t care much for the iPhone simply because I don’t need it. Mac on the other hand is a NO NO for me. Yes, it looks sexy and all but when it comes to personal computer, I have to choose what works for me; not how it looks. Like an underwear; Mac is like a G-string and to some it is so sexy but it just doesn’t work for me. 

So to all you I-love-everything-Apple crowds, payback is a bitch.

These are the two commercials that were released. Check it out.

Laptop Hunters $1000 – Lauren Gets an HP Pavilion

Laptop Hunters $1500 – Giampaolo gets an HP HDX

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The navigation is easier to use now. I had problems with the old theme because the drop down box in the navigation bar did not display the correct content.  The main page is covered mostly in images.

The new design of A Romantic Spot

I added the rating system on the post level to allow users to rate each romantic spot. The rating is from 1 heart to 5 hearts (instead of the regular 1 star to 5 stars.)  I modified how Lifestyle theme displays the content for category, archive, tag, and search result. Instead of displaying every article in its entirety, it now only displays a featured image of each article; allowing users to browse through them quickly before deciding which one they are interested in.

Archive Navigation

A Single Post

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WordPress CMS themes are popular choices for webmasters who want to publish news site, sports update, entertainment gossip, magazine, photography, portfolio, travel, personal blog, etc.

Come check out these amazing WordPress theme designs for your new site or for your site’s next face-lift.

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If you have someone else in the house, you probably won’t have to go through all the troubles.  You can just have that person ring your cellphone.  But what if there is no one else around and you don’t have a regular landline.

Now there is a website just for you.  Where’s My Cell Phone? lets you dial your number so you can go look for it.  Sure there’s VoIP.  But you need to have an account; and there is probably a charge for it too.  Where’s My Cell Phone? service is free.  It’s only available in US & Canada for now.  It will save you time and effort from having to find your cell phone the old fashion way.

Now, if you have your cellphone on vibrate … then I can only wish you Good Luck.

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It claims it has indexed more than 120 billions pages to date. The main page greets you with a simple search box ala Google, in dark color.

The search result is delivered in a magazine-type layout. You can select a 2-column or a 3-column format of content delivery. Being so used to Google and other search engines out there, it does take a little while to get used to.

A quick search for joefiro yields 803 results but my blog doesn’t show up on the first page. The first few pages are dominated by my social bookmarking site. The same with Joey Rosario, it yields ton of results but my blog is nowhere to be found until later on. On Google, Yahoo, and MSN, search on both joefiro and Joey Rosario put my blog at NUMBER #1.

And whoops, I get this page while doing the search on Cuil.

I know today is the official FIRST day so traffic might be high. However, if they want to make a noise in the search market, they better fix their scalability issue or they will be a one-day wonder never to be heard of from again.

The site has been extremely slow today.

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From the map coverage on their website, coverage is mostly concentrated in the Haight-Ashbury, Bernal Height, and Mission district.  I have signed up as a volunteer but I have not received the device as of today.  The only thing I have received is an email acknowledgment informing me that I will be receiving an email shortly on how I can contribute to the project in my community.  That is the last I heard from them.

Well, I hope this will NOT be another Earthlink fiasco.  It shows promise so far.  For the very least, this project has got off the ground.  If you are a San Francisco resident, you can do your part to help this project by signing up as a volunteer on their website.

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However, if you are not a frequent traveler, you can always find ways to rack up those miles right and you can do that right here on your computer … free of charge. With majority airlines revamping their frequent flyer program, you cannot afford to let your account stay inactive and lose all those miles you already accumulated in your account.

I am a member of United Airlines Mileage Plus (which I think the most generous of them all), Northwest Airlines Worldperks, and American Airlines AAdvantage frequent flyers. All but one of my free trips have been on United Airlines. I am not enrolled in Continental, Delta, or US Airways frequent flyer programs.

Here are a few website that can help you earn frequent flyer miles on these airlines:

1. MyPoints.com (United Airlines Mileage Plus)

You earn points by reading their promotional emails, take surveys, or sign up for their offers. Easy points are available periodically. Typical email will get you about 5 points. Answering survey will get you about 30-60 points depending on the survey. Signing up for offer can net you anywhere from 25 points to over 1000 points depending on the offer.

You can redeem the points for frequent flyer miles (gift certificate and other awards are available as well). You can redeem 5,000 points for 2,500 United Mileage Plus Miles or 10,000 points for 5,000 United Mileage Plus Miles.

Mypoints.com is a bit stingy with the points but I still manage to rack up the 5,000 points without signing up for any significant offers in a little over a year. Most points have come from reading the emails. To receive enough emails, you should opt-in on every categories of email to receive.

2. e-Rewards.com (Northwest Airlines Worldperks and others)

e-Rewards offers rewards in term of currency for each email you read or for every survey you completed. Some surveys are worth more than $10.00, others as little as $1.00 or less depending on the length of the survey. Although dollar value is rewarded to your currency, no actual cash is paid out. Reward is redeemable in $5.00 increment.

You can redeem 500 Northwest Worldperks miles for $25.00, 1,000 Northwest Worldperks miles for $50.00, and 2,000 Northwest Worldperks miles for $100.00. You can redeem the Northwest Worldperks miles ONCE per calendar year. (Update 09/14/2009: It’s now redeemable once every 6 months (180 days) per Terms and Conditions.)

One thing I don’t like about this program is 75% of the currency you earned prior to June 30th will expire on August 1st. I think it’s stupid because it forces you to redeem an award whether you like it or not. I have earned about 5,000 Worldperks miles, 2,000 AAdvantage miles (redeemable only until June 11, 2008), 18,000 Hilton Honors Points, and other rewards as well.

They also offer Delta SkyMiles, Virgin FlyingClub miles, US Airways Dividend miles, and Air France/KLM Flying Blue miles.

(Update 06/27/2008) E-Rewards is invite-only.  I found this link to register with e-Rewards if you are a member of Northwest Airlines Worldperks Program.

3. e-Miles.com (Northwest Airlines Worldperks and others)

e-Miles offers frequent flyer from Northwest Airlines, Continental Airlines, US Airways, and Delta Airlines. You earned 5 miles for evaluating their offers. Sometimes you will get an extra miles if you sign up for the offers. Once you evaluated the offer, you normally answer a few short questions regarding the offer. You can request for the miles to be deposited to the frequent flyer of your choice in 500 miles increment.

4. OpinionPlace.com (American Airlines AAdvantage)

I just signed up for OpinionsPlace in part because I want to keep my AAdvantage account current. You participated in the the survey and upon completion, you will be rewarded AAdvantage miles (100 – 300 miles per survey). I did one survey today for about 15 minutes and received 100 AAdvantage miles as a reward.

Well, I am sure there are plenty of programs out there that offer Frequent Flyer as a reward but for the time being, these 4 are the one I am enrolled in. You want quick miles? Apply for the airlines credit card. Most Airlines credit card waive the annual fee for the first year and you would receive 20,000 to 25,000 miles bonus miles on your first purchase. You can’t beat that.

5. Frequent Flyer Online Mall (Almost every frequent flyer programs)

I am sure most of you have made purchases online. The next time you want to buy something from Dell or Best Buy or Circuit City or other online retailers, go and check whether those retailers offer frequent flyer miles through the airlines online shopping mall. You will be surprised how comprehensive the list is and how generous they are in giving away the miles. For example, I recently purchase a Dell laptop for a friend and Dell offers 3 miles per $2.00 spent on United Mileage Plus Online Mall.

If you know other valuable (i.e. generous) programs that reward Frequent Flyer miles, please do share.

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When I write a new article worthy of sharing, I submitted the article to the Social Bookmarking site and share it with my contacts that particular social bookmarking site. It helps generate traffic and promote readership for my blog. My advise is to build a relationship with other bloggers with similar interest. Not only you will make new friends, you will also build readership to your blog and supporter for your articles on the social bookmarking site.

Although Page Rank is calculated based on the inbound links to your site, building traffic is ultimately the key success. After all, before someone can link to your site, they need to know that your site exist.

My traffic has also come from Social Networking site such as Facebook, Friendster, and Twitter. I use the note feature on facebook to import my feed. When I write a new article, the note will import my latest article and display it on my Mini Feed; and subsequently being displayed on my friend’s News Feed.

As for friendster, I use the shout feature to promote my new article. When I update the shout with my new article, my profile will be tagged as recently updated on my friend’s list and it shows what is updated.

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