Google Adsense Alternative - Chitika

I have signed up for Chitika and placed ads in my blogs since 28 November 2014. The revenue is pathetic. To date, I have only $0.05 in my earning. There are 1852 impressions and 14 valid clicks. Looking at the numbers, I cannot tell whether this ads network is good or not. I have the impression that the revenue will be higher if the clicks or impressions are from USA and Europe.

Chitika report - breakdown by month

From USA/CA, I only got 121 impressions with 0 clicks. The valid clicks are from international regions. I don't know the CTR and CPM from USA/CA as I have zero from the regions. Hopefully, in another few months, I get more visitors from the USA/CA regions to have some data to share. Well, I have only $0.05 in my account now but I'm not giving up on Chitika yet. I hope to drive more traffic from USA/CA to view my blogs and give me comments on how to improve my blogs.

Chitika report - breakdown by channel

Looking at the report with the breakdown by channel, hover app and chitika default ads settings have the most impressions. Valid clicks came from chitika default. From the report, it does not seem to set the hover app in my blogs and I have set it off for now. I will only have chitika default setting and will monitor it for the next months.

So far, I have Infolinks, Chitika, RevenueHits and Bidvertiser. Only Infolinks and Chitika have revenue, I would recommend Infolinks for now but I have not yet reached the threshold for payment. So, I'm not sure whether there will be payment from them but I will let Infolinks stay in my blogs for now.

Of course, the best ads network will be Google AdSense but it is difficult to get into the program and also to maintain it. Most people will get their account disabled due to invalid clicks activities. However, Google will not re-instate the account eventhough you may be innocent. Some people have nothing better to do and clicked the Google ads to create invalid activities and when Google detected this, they will disable your account. So, ads network should not be your sole income and I would recommend people to start blogging and when they are ready, apply Google AdSense and just leave it there to generate income. You may not want to promote it because that way, someone who hated you may click excessively on your blogs. Well, it is a chicken and egg situation. On one hand, you want to increase traffic to your blogs, but the other hand, you don't want to risk people click bombing your blogs. That will be the end of your partnership with Google AdSense because once you have been disabled by Google, you cannot join the program again and forever!

Pruning avocado seedling to keep it dwarf

I planted the avocado seedling on 1 January 2015. After 10 days, I think it is time to prune the seedling. The third avocado seedling had seven leaves and I thought I would leave only 3 leaves after pruning. However, I did not want to over-prune it so I just cut away the top 2 leaves.

Third seedling

I used a sharp penknife and cut at an angle to remove the top two leaves. In the internet, some people recommended not to use a pair of scissors because the cut would not be clean. Most recommended a razor blade or sharp knife. The cut area will be able to heal faster and less likely to get an infection.

Sharp penknife to cut the stem at an angle

The cut area is clean and there is no juice or sap coming out from the cut area. I did not clean the area. I hope this is the correct way and will monitor the health of the seedling for the next few weeks. If everything goes well, new buds will appear at the base of the leaves and new branches will grow from there. Some people recommended to remove the small leaves along the straight stem. I'm not sure about this so I just keep them.

The cut area of the seedling

I will update this in SG My Garden Is Good blog. Come and visit the blog to see the progress of the seedling. I will also show the pruning photos of the second avocado seedling.

iOS 8.1.2 updated!

I had updated my iPhone 6 to iOS 8.1.2 and so far there is no issue encountered. Battery life on iPhone 6 did not improve and become worse. I think it is comparable before and after the update. I have taken screen image captures on the battery usage for at least 3 days but I'm too lazy to post it in this blog. I will try when I happen to find them. So, if you are worried that your iPhone 6 or 6 PLUS has issue updating to iOS 8.1.2, you don't have to worry anymore. Update and enjoy! Just a note, I'm not liable for any damages to your iDevice when you update.

Google Adsense Alternative - Bidvertiser

I'm reviewing one of Google Alternatives which is Bidvertiser. I enrolled into Bidvertiser on 27 November 2014. I intend to keep the ads in my blogs for at least a month to check the revenue. Most people recommend to keep the ads for at least a few months to see what the revenue that your traffic can generate. It was zero revenue for me in November since I joined on 27 Nov.

Bidvertiser Nov 2014

It is now middle of December. The revenue is still zero. The is zero revenue point even though I have impressions.



Bidvertiser as at 17 Dec 2014 

iOS 8.1.2 Software Update

Apple has released an iOS 8.1.2 software update. The question in many people's minds now is whether to update or not. Generally, it is better to wait for a couple of weeks and check the internet for news on the update. Many people would have updated the software and tested out. There will be many reviews on the performance and also users' feedback. There will be nay sayers and others.

Definitely, the question will be whether you want to take the plunge or not. Well, I will wait for a couple of weeks before I will make the decision. In the meantime, if you have updated and may or may not have any issue, please tell us. Thanks.

iOS 8.1.2 software update

iPhone 6 transparent casing + screen protector from Qoo10

I got my iPhone 6 gold 64gb on 3 Dec 2014. I was very excited because this is my present for 2014. I have waited for one month to get this since I could already renew my mobile contract in November. However, iPhone 6 and 6 Plus are always sold out in the SingTel shops. Well, I'm lucky to get the iPhone 6 and the Gold version in December. I'm sure there are few thousands people who are still waiting to get their hands on the iPhone 6.

There are a lot of iPhone 6 16gb in the shops and I don't recommend buying 16gb version. This is because more apps are developing for high end mobile devices and the 16gb version will only give you say 10gb of space. After you take say 1000 photos, plus a few videos, you will run out of space. You will need to delete and free up space for new photos and videos and not considering new apps. I would say go for a minimum 64gb and if possible a 128gb version. You will not regret it because it is much more convenient to have >64gb as you don't need to worry about running out of memory. Just imagine that you are taking an important photo shoot or video and your iPhone runs out of memory...arg...

The casings from the accessory shops are about S$7 without screen protector. I think the cost of the casing with screen protector will be around S$10 and above. This is expensive, so I quickly went online to Qoo10 to buy a transparent casing plus screen protector. I was looking for the back protector but most sellers had only front screen protectors for sales. I got a transparent casing and front screen protector for only S$6.25. The delivery took 4 working days and I had to use my old iPhone 5S while waiting for the package to arrive. The package arrived on 9 Dec and the quality was what I had expected.

Transparent casing plus screen protector for my iPhone 6

Hunting for an iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus Gold

The hunt of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in Singapore is a hit or miss thing. iPhone 6 was launched on 19 Sep 2014 and even though my wife got a registration with SingTel, she was unable to secure a time slot for the iPhone 6 launch event. Of course, she was disappointed and she had patiently waited for the launch. She was using a Samsung Galaxy S4 and she was very, very, very disappointed with the performance. Though the screen size is big but after one year, the S4 will start to give problems such as battery weak, charger not charging, etc… She waited for her 2-year plan to expire (the S4 was from her mother’s mobile plan) and wanted to quickly get the iPhone 6 Plus that she had waited for, BIG SCREEN and LONGER battery life. She wanted the Gold version.

She had used iPhone 3G, iPhone 4 and she had no complaints so far except that the screens were too small.

On 12 October 2014, we were having breakfast at West Gate McDonalds. The telcos shops normally start operations at 11am. I told my wife to quickly go and queue at the shops before they opened for business. Well, she went to a StarHub shop at JEM at about 11am and was the first one in the queue. I think most people already gave up to get an iPhone 6 Plus already so no one was queuing up. She asked the counter staff and he told her that there was no more stocks. However, she insisted and the manager checked the system and told her that there was one iPhone 6 Plus Gold 128gb available. My wife quickly told him that she wanted that. She had to port her SingTel line to StarHub and she got her iPhone 6 Plus Gold… She was happy and excited.

My hunt for an iPhone started out in November 2014 because I could only upgrade my handset then. It was almost impossible to get one because they were either in grey, silver or 16gb only. I’m looking at Gold and at least 64gb version. I don’t mind iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus because this iPhone will be given to me as a gift and I don’t mind whichever. But after using my wife’s iPhone 6 Plus, it is very clear now that I will not be able to bring the big phone with me in my pocket. My wife asked me to hold onto her iPhone 6 Plus and I placed it in my back pocket. It was very risky as I nearly accidentally sat on a seat with the phone in my back pocket. Luckily, it didn’t go into bendgate situation. I think I will sit on the phone eventually if it is mine.

So, I have decided that whichever iPhone 6 comes by, I will buy that. So yesterday, 3 Dec 2014, I was on half day afternoon leave and I happened to pass by the SingTel shop at Bugis junction at about 5.30pm. I saw that it had the iPhone 6 Gold 64gb available. I quickly went in and collected a iPhone 6 slip (see below). This slip would entitle me to buy the iPhone 6.

iPhone 6 slip

I waited patiently for my turn, 8 persons in line and within 15 minutes, it was my turn. I asked the staff why it was always out of stock. She said that Apple had given limited stocks and that day, they had only 30 sets of iPhone 6 Gold 64gb. She said I was lucky to get one because the stocks just arrived a couple of hours ago. I told her that the update notice on SingTel website is not reliable as when it is not updated in real-time. I would recommend that if you want to buy an iPhone 6, you need to go to the telcos either in the morning or late afternoon to see whether they have stocks. Don’t bother to go there if it is around 7pm because the stocks would have snapped up by others already. So, if you happen to pass by any telcos shops around 4 to 5pm, drop in and ask on the stocks, maybe you will as lucky as me to get the iPhone that you have dreamed of.