1. Food was free
2. There was no evil in the world
3. All countries requiring visas operated on the same system as Australia…

I just completed the visa application process, and for someone who is Internet literate, perhaps even a tad technical, it was over in a mere 5 minutes! No more preparing the passport sized photos, no more waking up early, no more driving to the city, no more queueing for numbers and no more returning several days later to collect it.

First up, this process applies to you, if you hold a passport issued by one of the following countries:

Brunei
Canada
Hong Kong (SAR)
Japan
Malaysia
Singapore
South Korea
United States of America

What you will need:

Your passport (or the details handy)
A credit card
An email address (I believe several applications can share one email address)

Application for the type of visa I will show you is called Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) for visitors (Their code for this is: Subclass 976). I have a hunch the business entrant visa process (Subclass 977) is pretty similar. It costs AUD20 (as of March 2011).

Step one.
Head over to the secured URL: https://www.eta.immi.gov.au

Step two – end.
Follow the screenshots below.

To show you what some sites have done for their fan pages, here’s a cool website called Facebook Showcase that highlights what’s cool out there. You can even submit your fan page if you think you’re cool enough.

Today, it is hailed as one of the first apps an iPhone user MUST install, as it allows you to message your friends for free. As their tagline goes, “SMS is so 2008″.

However, WhatsApp was limited to just the iPhone and that was rather, errr… limiting? But not anymore. It has now arrived in the BlackBerry App World and it will surely capture a significant portion of BlackBerry users, and quickly. I’m predicting my list of numbers in WhatsApp will rapidly double.

The app costs USD$2.99 and you can get it from here.

Preliminary comments that have been posted for the BlackBerry version are not very favorable, but hang in there, every alpha or beta release will have a few niggling bugs. Most comments state that it has a horrible UI, but I’m sure you can rest assured they will be fixing it soon. The first version for the iPhone was rather basic too, but today, you can even send photos and videos to your friends via WhatsApp.

And finally, no, I am not a shareholder of this software, but a totally unbiased reviewer of WhatsApp!

However, WhatsApp seemingly does not support quite a number of countries, but there is a legitimate way around it. Their website quotes in their FAQ:

What countries do you support?

Most of them! We took extra steps during development to make sure WhatsApp works for almost every country in the world and even among contacts in different countries. However, WhatsApp is currently not supported in Malaysia, India, Indonesia, and Thailand

Step-by-step tutorial on getting WhatsApp working

1. Install WhatsApp from the iTunes Store.

2. Before you launch it, go to Settings, then go to the Phone section.

3. Click on My Number.

4. Key in your number preceded with the + symbol and click Save.

5. Now, launch WhatsApp, and if you haven’t ever launched it before, you will be asked whether or not to allow WhatsApp to send you push notifications. Click OK (or else your functionality will be severely limited. If you previously clicked Don’t Allow, you can go back to Settings to modify it under the Notifications section).

6. You will be asked to key in your phone number again.

7. Do so, and click Done. And now you’re really done! WhatsApp should be enabled for you. (Do leave me a comment if this worked for you – it helps my head grow bigger).