Calvin's Hub

Blog traffic and how they translate to AdSense earnings

Calvin — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:08:49 +0000

If you’re trying to monetize your blog via Google AdSense, how much traffic do you think you need before you really start earning even for just a dollar a day? 500 page hits a day? 3000? 15,000? What I mean by “page hit” is the accumulated number of visits all of your pages receive per day. If a reader visits two pages on a single session, that’s 2 hits.

I’m going to lay this one out right now, traffic without clicking ads doesn’t really translate to dollars (cents maybe). Let’s take for example the number of impression my side ad made on a day and its equivalent earning:

According to my AdSense reports, my side ad appeared 2,506 times with 2 visitors clicking and this translated to 20 cents! Hahaha.

Don’t fret though, that’s only one ad. What if you have 3 ads per page right? It would make your blog rather unappealing but at least there’s more chance that people will click them…. or not. That’s one sickness of personal blogs or blogs with mixed content, Google can’t give you quality ads because you keep on changing your topic.

What you need to do is improve the quality of your visitors. What good is having hundreds of friends/fans daily if they’re not likely to click on your ads? They’re good for your blog health or community but it won’t translate to better AdSense income.

Now compare this to ads appearing to visitors coming from search engines. They’re the ones looking for information on your blog and are more likely to click on ads displayed. You should focus more on developing this if you really want to earn from AdSense.

It’s better to strike a balance between posts that would interest your daily readers and posts that would benefit people coming in straight from Google. You maintain your average traffic but you also attract search engine traffic to make your AdSense program work.

A healthy, earning blog gets a lot of traffic from search engines (in blue).

In conclusion, your AdSense earning is not really dependent on the amount of traffic but more is always better. I was able to achieve 7,000 page hits before but only get a dollar from AdSense that time. What’s important is the quality of traffic reaching your site due to the quality of posts you have.

Once you have a healthy amount of quality traffic, the next best thing to do is optimize your ad placement for better cost-per-click but that’s for another post.

I’m not claiming to be an expert on AdSense. In fact, I’m not earning a lot from it. I’m just showing how an average, non-ad-centric personal blog would perform on Google AdSense so beginners can look at some real-world values.

Finding the right running shoes for your feet

Calvin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:10:19 +0000

Well how about that? I just found out that I’ve been using the wrong type of shoe for the past four months I’ve been running. I just had my running gait analyzed at the Runnr shop at Bonifacio High Street yesterday and the shoe guru there explained to me the type of running shoe that my feet needs.

Wearing the wrong type of shoe for prolonged running can lead to shin splints, stress fractures, plantar fasciitis and other foot/ankle/knee-related injuries.

According to my gait ,which is over-pronation, wearing my current shoe when running will lead to what they call runner’s knee. Luckily, I haven’t started long-distance running yet.

There’s more to buying a pair of running shoe than just style and comfort.

Uhh pronation what??

Before you find out what running shoe you need, you must know what type of running gait you have, whether you over-pronate, supinate (under-pronate) or simply have normal pronation.

Pronation refers to the inward roll of the foot during normal motion and occurs as the outer edge of the heel strikes the ground and the foot rolls inward and flattens out. You can’t do anything about your pronation because it is dependent on the physiology of your feet.

What you can do is support your pronation with the correct shoe so that your gait is angled correctly to avoid injuries. I found out that my gait is a few angles off a normal one.

If you’re serious about running, have your gait analyzed at Runnr or Second Wind. You will be asked to run for a few seconds on their treadmill so they can record and explain to you your running style. It’s free and the staff are quite knowledgeable and will give you tips on how to improve and what type of shoes you need.

Alternatively, know your foot arch

If you don’t have the time to have your gait analyzed, another quick way to know the type of running shoe you need is based on the arch of your feet. It’s either you are flat-footed to low arch, normal arch or high arch.

To find your foot arch type, what you can do is wet the sole of your feet, step on a dry surface and compare the imprint you left to this:

Based on your arch, you can then find out what type of pronation your feet is doing and know what type of running shoe to support it.

Types of running shoes

Now you know your gait or how your feet pronates, it’s time to find which type of shoe that provides the right support for you.

There are basically three types of running shoes:

Neutral. For people with high arch feet or what you call neutral runners whose feet do not pronate effectively. This type of shoe has a softer midsole and more flexibility that will provide the extra shock absorption that the lack of pronation is missing. (Men’s | Women’s)
Stability. For people with normal or medium arch or for those who are light but with flat or low arch. If you have mild to moderate over pronation, this is the shoe for you. These shoes have some medial support and good midsole cushioning. (Men’s | Women’s)
Motion Control. For low to flat-footed people that tends to over pronate severely. These shoes have extra support devices on the medial side to slow excessive pronation and tend to have wider and flatter outsoles. (Men’s | Women’s)

My new stability running shoes. Can't wait to try it out and see if it would really help my running.

So if you’re going to buy a new pair of running shoes, don’t just look at the style and what’s the latest. You should buy the type of shoe that your feet needs. Most stores selling running shoes now have labels on what type of shoe is being displayed.

Asics Expo at the Condura Village

Calvin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:44:45 +0000

Well I was invited to attend this Asics Expo at the Fort and being a newbie runner, I went to check things out. I heard that when it comes to running shoes, Asics is one of the leaders in the industry.

Anyway, aside from Asics shoes of up to 40% off they also brought along their Foot Scan ID at the expo. It’s not the gait-analysis scanner that other running store have but the Foot Scan ID will only determine your shoe size.

I thought to myself, what happened to the old way of knowing your shoe size? Like trying different sizes until you find one that feels comfortable. Hehehe, anyway it’s just one of the type of scanners that Asics will have on their first store here in the Philippines this coming May.

So if you’re interested in knowing the size of your feet or want to buy discounted Asics running shoes, do drop by at the expo until this Sunday (Feb. 7) at the Condura Village in Bonifacio High Street, Fort Bonifacio.

Oh yeah, I impulsively bought a pair of Asics GEL 1150 myself for P3,800 from P4,700. Can’t wait to try it out on my next run to see if it’s worth the buy. I feel that my adizero is not suitable for my running gait.

Lastly here’s a trivia, ASICS was named after the Latin phrase “Anima Sana in Corpore Sano” which means “Sound Mind in a Sound Body”.

Appulo.us is out Apptrackr is in

Calvin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:49:00 +0000

If you own a jailbroken iPod Touch or iPhone then you’re probably well familiar with the Appulo.us site and all the treasure it holds for your iPod. If you’ve been experiencing trouble accessing the site then maybe it’s time for you to move on to the next free iPod App site, Apptrackr.

The site is very similar to Appulo.us but is better looking, much faster and often updated. Cydia’s Installous is reported to be connecting to Apptrackr instead for on-the-go downloads.

Yay! If you’re wondering how you can upload those apps to your jailbroken iPod, head over this link. Oh, do try the game Battle of Puppets. Just look for it.

Apple released iPhone OS 3.1.3 firmware upgrade

Calvin — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 05:17:00 +0000

Ok iPod Touch (and iPhone) users, there’s a new firmware upgrade available. iPhone OS 3.1.3 has very minimal fixes that is probably not worth upgrading to unless you’re the type who always want the latest firmware.

So what’s new with firmware 3.1.3?

improves accuracy of reported battery level on iPhone 3GS
resolves issue where 3rd party apps would not launch in some instances
fixes bug that may cause an app to crash when using the Japanese Kana keyboard

Pretty unexciting actually. Blackra1n and redsn0w doesn’t recognize 3.1.3 yet so those with jailbroken iPod Touch/iPhone should think twice before upgrading. Or skip the update altogether unless a lot of your apps are regularly crashing.

The mystery behind L-carnitine

Calvin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 09:40:40 +0000

It seems that L-carnitine is the rave these days if you want to stay fit and lose weight. Cold beverages and snacks left and right are incorporating the magical L-carnitine into their products to attract people looking for a dieting alternative. Is it truly magical?

I’ve been reading a lot into this L-carnitine thingy from the web before I start writing this post. I stayed away from articles posted by those trying to sell something to avoid any bias on my research.

What I found common in all that I read was pretty unremarkable. There’s no hard evidence to suggest that L-carnitine is really that effective in losing weight. Crap huh? But wait before you go, you might want to know these important details about L-carnitine first.

What does L-carnitine do?

L-carnitine is the nutrient that helps the body turn fat into energy. Mmm sounds good right? Usually, your body turn to carbohydrates for energy but L-carnitine will help it use fats instead.

Don’t bet too much on it though since L-carnitine is only one tiny cog in the body’s energy-conversion engine. And energy that is not used is converted back into fat so keep that in mind.

L-carnitine accelerates the speed of fat acids splitting and provides the protein synthesis which is necessary for muscular growth. In fact, serious sportsmen take this supplement to help prolong training sessions and reduce time needed for the body to rest.

So can you really lose weight from L-carnitine?

With only L-carnitine? Probably not. And just like any other legit weight-loss products, you should match your L-carnitine intake with proper diet and regular exercise. Again, there’s no hard evidence on the effectiveness of this in weight loss since most people don’t need that extra L-carnitine anyway.

Benefits of L-carnitine

Even without losing weight, there are some benefits in taking L-carnitine that I found out aside from supplying the added energy you need for your workout.

It is beneficial for people with cardio-vascular diseases
Prevents atherosclerosis
Cleans your body from wastes and toxins
Helps alleviate alcohol-induced liver damage

It is recommended that you take L-carnitine after breakfast or lunch if you feel fatigued or sluggish during the day. If you’re working out, feel free to take it before and/or after your training.

Side effects of L-carnitine

You would feel the effect of L-carnitine if you feel energetic throughout the day. Fortunately, it is very rare to experience side effect from taking too much L-carnitine. Do watch out for these side effects though:

Diarrhea
Nausea
Bad odor

There it is! L-carnitine sounds promising but again, it’s not clinically proven that it will help you lose weight but feel free to take those fruit juices with L-carnitine as much as you want.

In the end, just like it has been since the beginning of time, it’s the regular training and proper diet that will help you lose weight.

How to add themes to your iPod Touch the easy way

Calvin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:41:49 +0000

So you’ve jailbroken your iPod Touch. The first thing you would probably want to do is change the boring black theme and icons. Here’s the easiest way to do it but first, the requirements:

WiFi connection
Winterboard app

Get WinterBoard

WinterBoard is the app you need to manage your theme files. You can easily switch between different themes.

Go ahead and launch Cydia then search for the WinterBoard App and install it (make sure you have WiFi internet available).

Download your theme

1. In the Home section of Cydia, click the Featured Themes for starters. This is where the good looking themes are located.

2. Under the Springboard Themes, select the one that you want. I’m going to choose Leaf.

There are other themes in the Sections part of Cydia if you don’t find anything that you want.

3. Go ahead and Install the theme.

After it finishes downloading, you can exit Cydia or download more themes.

4. To activate your theme, launch Winterboard. Select the theme you downloaded and make sure it’s the only one selected. Sometimes, a theme will have multiple elements and you must select them all to see its full effect.

If you click the Home button, your iPod will pause for a bit while it loads your new theme.

The Leaf theme doesn’t suite my taste. Heh.

To manually add themes to your iPod if you download it from the internet, check out my guide here.

Top 10 Facebook games for February 2010

Calvin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 08:03:09 +0000

It’s the start of the month once again and this time we’ll be looking at the top 10 Facebook games coming into February. Will FarmVille ever relinquish its number 1 spot? Who are last month’s biggest movers? Let’s find out! Here are the top 10 games in Facebook based on their daily average users in case you’re stuck on Valentine’s Day without a date:

10. Bejeweled Blitz – 3,065,752 daily active users

Bejeweled Blitz is back in the top 10 ousting long-time farming game, Farm Town thanks to its steady number of players. It’s not because there’s something new with the game, it’s because Farm Town is losing its appeal to its players.

9. Restaurant City – 3,325,225 daily active users

Still barely in the top 10, will Restaurant City ever be rejuvenated? I don’t think so. Zynga’s Cafe World seems to be the restaurant game to play.

8. Pet Society – 3,929,044 daily active users

Slowly moving out of the top 10.

7. Petville – 4,478,478 daily active users

This game can’t seem to advance further into the top 10. It only went up one spot overtaking its competition, Pet Society. Come on Zynga. Work your power. You can market this game much better.

6. Texas HoldEm Poker – 5,591,533 daily active users

Just like Bejeweled Blitz, it has it steady supply of loyal fans. Texas HoldEm has been sitting comfortably in the middle of our list for the past few months now.

5. Happy Aquarium – 5,983,972 daily active users

Zynga’s fish game has successfully distanced itself into its main rival from Crowdstar. Happy Aquarium moved down two spots in the past month but I’m thinking that it will stay in the number 5 spot for the whole month unless people start player with Petville even more.

4. Mafia Wars – 6,552,334 daily active users

With the opening of the beta version of its Bangkok expansion, the fans are back into the seedy world of Mafia Wars trying to get ahead from other mafia.

New gameplay with the introduction of factions and faction store makes people want to revisit their account and play again.

3. FishVille – 6,587,592 daily active users

Zynga must have been doing something that Crowdstar can’t as it’s fish game, Fishville, went from number 5 up to number 3 in just a span of 1 month.

2. Cafe World – 9,685,190 monthly active users

1. FarmVille – 28,341,707 daily active users

Still with a whopping number of players from the number 2 game, who says farming is dead?

What’s with Farmville anyway? Why can’t people get bored playing it? I don’t know but its been 5 months now when it debuted on the number 1 spot without letting up.

Zynga is really a winner when it comes to Facebook games as it clearly dominated the top 4 spots with FarmVille, Cafe World, FishVille and Mafia Wars.

Peeking just outside the top 10 is Crowdstar’s island game, Happy Island. It might make its debut to our list next month but I’m thinking that it will be squashed by Zynga’s own version of the game. Heh.

Joining the Century Superbods Run 2010

Calvin — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:37:00 +0000

For the month of February, we chose to join the Century Superbods Run 2010 on Feb. 21at the Bonifacio Global City. Most of our friends joined the Condura Run on the 7th but the registration was a bit expensive at P550 so we chose Century and its P600 registration instead. Hehehe.

At least the Century Run has a cool looking singlet. There are different colors per distance event so you won’t get confused running with the wrong group.

There’s also a timing chip (white circular thingy) that you must put into your laces so even if you are late you’d still be able to log an accurate time. Nice!

Registration was a breeze and the place is accessible. Until the 8th, you can register at Timex shops on SM Southmall, SM Megamall and SM Mall of Asia. You can also register at Nike Park at Bonifacio High Street until the 15th.

This run is one of the annual trilogy runs of Coach Rio and I heard that last year the events were a huge success. Money’s worth ika nga. Last year, guest celebrity was Piolo Pascual and this time around, it’s Derek Ramsay (5k only due to his knee injury).

I also heard that Angelica Panganiban will be running on the 3k. The Century Superbods will be joining as well and there will be Brazilian models manning the water stations.

So if you’re going to join a run on February, make it the Century Run on the 21st. Oh yeah, loot bags will be given away at the finish line. 21k finishers will also receive a shirt and a medal.

For more race details, check out the Century Superbods Run site.

8 Apps and Games that will fit the Apple iPad

Calvin — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:15:34 +0000

Still bummed at the Apple iPad for not having multi-task or Flash support? Well get over it. Now, if you’ve already gotten over the fact that the iPad will in no way replace your laptop or netbook then let’s move on and see what else we can do with it.

Here are some apps and games that I think would fit really well on the iPad. Not all of these are already available on the App Store but I hope it would give iPad App developers some ideas.

1. Board Games

Wanna play Chess on the iPad? You bet! Just set it on the table and off you go. It’s hard to do it on the iPhone but will be pleasant on the iPad. I’m sure an app like this can track and save moves for playback purposes. It should also allow multiplayer through wireless network with other iPad/iPhone or iPod Touch devices.

Monopoly and Risk works too but Scrabble does not.

2. Seek and Find Games

Seek and Find games like the Mystery Case Files just won’t fly on the iPhone due to its small screen. Now you don’t have to squint anymore if you play it on the iPad. You can ask the rest of the family to join in as well.

3. Reference Books

Encyclopedia? Dictionary? Almanac? Medical Books? Cookbooks? Sure you can fire up your browser and look it up on the net or you can just launch the app and off you go. Faster and simpler is a good thing right?

4. Kids’ Games

Is your kid playing his educational games on the computer too much? Bring him to the couch and teach him those shapes and numbers games in a more intimate manner. Touching the screen is somehow better for kids than using a mouse anyhow.

I’m not quite sure if the iPad can support lots of touches for a jigsaw puzzle game. Oh, beware of “whack-a-mole” games.

5. Scribble / Post-it

If you’re going to leave the iPad on your coffee table or near the telephone then why not use it to scribble notes too? Instead of using the built-in Notes app with the on-screen keyboard, it’s much easier to just scribble on it using your fingers or a stylus. The whole family can leave as many messages as they want.

6. Coach’s Playbook

Because it’s too small to use it for your D&D maps, how about using the iPad as a sports playbook? The app should be able to store all plays, player stats, notes and other useful stuff a coach needs.

It can also act as a coach’s dry erase board to show plays to the players. Just don’t throw it on the floor when your team’s getting blown out alright?

7. Yellow Pages

Sure you have your Contacts but if you want business listings, look it up on a Phonebook app. It will hook up to a local phone book’s online database to ensure the all numbers are updated and accurate. The app should allow you to bookmark listings or add them to your Contacts.

8. Get-together games

If you keep a lot of games like Taboo, Pictionary and all those Hasbro games suitable for reunions then you may want to have them loaded on the iPad instead. You don’t have to deal with missing cards or storing it afterwards anymore. Somehow, it’s much cooler to pass around an iPad than an iPhone. Just don’t drop it okay?

Now who needs multi-task?

Based on this list, I’m thinking that the iPad would be an excellent family gadget that requires little knowledge to operate. Kids will love to play games on it leaving the main PC vacant for you. Hehehe.

If this would be the trend then accessory makers should prioritize making cases, holders, sleeves or whatever to protect the iPad from family abuse.

So does the iPad still suck?