When I received an email from Ming in June about doing SEO for Jipaban, I’d thought to myself “oh no, not another blog shop directory!” I was also skeptical about the name, I mean, how far can you expand your business with a Hokkien name like Jipaban??

Most average SEOs shudder at the mere mention of “Blackhat SEO”. The major concensus is that it will get your website banned by Google Almighty and company. But what if you have played all your whitehat cards and yet your rankings are “stucked” at a certain position? Or you happen to be in a popular niche like health and finance, where many Internet Marketers are also vying for the top spots to make a couple of bucks from Adsense?

Apparently, even American Idol judge Simon Cowell uses SEO …to demote negative content about himself in Google’s search results. Known as Online Reputation Management (ORM), an increasingly popular service using SEO to manage bad PR on search engine results, the NYDailyNews article claims that you now have to wade through 20 pages on Google before seeing any “adverse” comments about Cowell.

Having been disappointed with a number of Windows Mobile devices since my first HP clamshell (ran on WindowsCE back then) in 1999, I took the plunge anyway and picked up an Android-powered HTC Desire to see what the fuss was all about. I mean, with 160,000 Android phones being activated everyday, it can’t be that bad, right?!