Diptic has one of the best basic but useful wysiwyg in-app photo editing functions. Brightness, contrast, saturation, and the ability to do a mirror image and adjust the width and colour of the border.

Collage apps are rare. Great collage apps are even rarer. This is the only one you’ll ever need. A steal at $0.99.

The amazing things in this app:

1. Uploading images to own server
2. Tags to edit your text
3. Insertion of links
4. Insertion and control of images
5. Preview screen

Here are some problems I faced:

1. Images cannot be added to post offline

2. Local draft posts disappearing

When trying to save a post, occasionally it loses a post. I found this out the hard way when I synced it online and found my post had disappeared. Other times it hung and lost the post. Eventually I gave up and returned to Blogpress.

3. No Categories for WordPress users

This is an important update and I really should have waited till it was added but I was itching to try another blog app. So here I am waiting and typing and holding my phone still so Blogpress won’t lose my post again.

4. Synchronization at the start up slow

BlogBooster has the potential to be an amazing blog app. I daresay THE blog app but first the bugs have to be fixed and the app has to be actually usable.

For now it is back to Blogpress, which I am starting to appreciate a little more.

I’m currently using Blogpress ($2.99) which does the job but for:

1. The extra spacing (br br) it gives above an image. I need to manually remove the auomatically inserted break codes. The developer should add a HTML version too rather than only a wysiwyg version which sometimes can go horribly wrong.

2. When I edit a published page on the computer which was published by Blogpress, the images revert to left aligned and I have to manually center them again.

3. Can’t add categories and tags till logged in. Surely there must be a way to download the categories like WordPress does and refresh when connected.

4. If for some reason your screen flips upside down, all your text is lost. Learnt that the hard way today.

5. You can only upload images to one selected server, even if you have multiple blogs. Although technically you can keep changing the selection under Settings.

I had been using WordPress but it is worse. It won’t even load one of my other blogs and you can’t insert images wherever you want. You’ll have to publish first then edit the HTML to get your images to centre or cut and paste to wherever you want to locate them.

Forget about iBlogger which costs $9.99 and has the gall to add its own advertising (posted with iBlogger on iPhone) to your blog posts.

Update 22/7/10: I bought BlogBooster ($4.99) which looks promising with the ability to insert links and codes and upload images to your own server, but I am still waiting for them to add Categories for WordPress and fix the saving local drafts bug which cost me a post that disappeared when I closed the app. Here’s a review from the Blog Herald.

So there really isn’t anything better for now. Alternatively, type your blog post in Notepad and just copy and paste when you login using Safari or Opera.

It took all of 45 minutes to:

1. Register a domain name

Netfirms had the best deal at $6.95 with a coupon. Remember to Google for coupons before you buy.

2. Point the nameservers to my host

Since I have unlimited space and bandwidth on my awesome host, JustHost, I set up my brother’s domain there too.

1. Go to domain manager (in this case Netfirms) and copy the nameservers from JustHost.
2. Login to cPanel at JustHost -> Add Domain -> Install WordPress.

And then simply wait for the domain name to be propagated, which can take anything from 1 hour to 48 hours. Usually less, from my experience.

In the meanwhile, I ran him through a free WordPress account. I showed him how to post and insert images, but he impatiently waved me away.

“I want to try the themes. Didn’t you tell me there are Free WordPress Themes?”

“Yes, yes,” I said, pointing him to the Appearance -> Themes in the WordPress Dashboard. “Look, now the latest version even lets you surf for New WordPress Themes and install them right away! No need to use FTP to upload them anymore.”

We oohed and ahhed for a minute and then I added, “Of course if you can’t find what you like, there are hundreds and thousands of New WP Themes online too, like the said link.” And I clicked it.

“Mm…” he nodded stoically, in a way only an older brother can.

He paused, and it was good.

“Thanks!” he said. I grinned. Awesome.

P.s. If you want to visit my brother, he is at gregsng.com and gregsng.net. The sites are probably not up right now but maybe by the time you read this they will. Peek at my post time and date. He’s a genius at buying and selling properties, very experienced in rearing exotic fish, and has a superb eye for watches. Altogether, an awesome guy. Hey, he’s my brother.

I had to politely decline but promised I’d lend my expertise if they (bribed me with pearl milk tea and dark chocolate cake and) babysat my kids who are currently running amok doing battle with multi-coloured balloons in my living room as I type this.

Now, I quit before Facebook became all the rage and social network marketing became THE place to promote your business but it is so simple to set up that I could simply walk them through the steps and they’d be all set.

It is really very straightforward these days, setting up shop.

1. Register a domain.
2. Pay for hosting (I like Just Host).
3. Install WordPress.
4. Install a WordPress theme you like (with widgets).
5. Do some Facebook marketing.

Trust the viral effect. There’s nothing more powerful than your friend’s opinion, particularly in areas you have no expertise or knowledge in. In some instances, it can even negate studies and statistics. Tap that.

I had used it as my website contact years ago but quickly switched to typing the various spam avoidance configurations such as emailaddress[at]yahoo.com, emailaddress[at]yahoo dot com, and even emailaddressNOSPAM[at]yahoo dot com.

But unfortunately, like a locust attack, the spammers were merciless. The ratio of actual emails to spam went from 5:1 to 1:5 then 1:50, and then I called it a day and laid that poor address to rest.

There are few ways around it. If you want people to contact you, especially if you’re an online store, you need a contact form or an email address. The latter is problematic because forms can fail, and many have.

There are programs that can help you hide your email address like A.T.G., aka AntiSpam “Mailto” Tag Generator which basically encrypts the ‘mailto:’ HTML code containing your clickable email address with JavaScript.

Here is an in-depth explanation of how it works. There’s a trial version with a watermark, but certainly worth a buy for $9.99 if you need to put your email address online for any reason at all.

While checking the SD Memory Card Properties under Device Manager in Control Panel, here’s the crap message I get:

Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware because a previous instance of the device driver is still in memory. (Code 38)

I tried:

- to uninstall and then insert the SD card again to spark a reinstall.

- update driver but was told it is already the latest.

- checking for solutions made me laugh because it offered none.

So it is back to Google to offer me a solution (I Googled the whole error message).

Now the solution appears to be uninstalling AVG. And true enough, it works.

To replace AVG, I have installed Avast and Avira.

I’ve always been a fan of overkill.

1. Fits Budget

First, decide how much you want to spend on hosting every month. It can be $5 or $50. However much you can spare, and however much you value your website or blog. With all wise decisions, setting a budget is a first.

2. Reliability

The some 4 hours I spent Googling message boards about Bluehost was worth it. Consensus was it was reliable and gave value for money. That’s the words you want to hear. Worse thing is a webhost that goes down half the time and is uncommunicative. Best place to start is the webhost’s message board. Then Google.

3. Fits your needs

What do you want your domain for? Personal blog? Business site? What CMS are you running on? WordPress? MovableType? Your own code? If you’re not savvy with CMS, check that there is a one-click solution. Check to ensure the host supports whatever you want to do and more. Expanding is a likelihood in all cases, as technology charges ahead. So be prepare to be scalable.

4. Back up option

I run on WordPress so WordPress has a feature that allows me to back up my work. That is, if I rouse myself to do so. Face it, we get complacent as time goes by, so unless there’s a one-click back up, it is easy to forget to back up. Well, even if there is…

Every one has different hosting needs so do check out many web hosting reviews before you commit. Your search engine is your best friend. Happy e-trails!