For the uninitiated, Sunday Rest is a Bangalore-based mattress startup, specializing in a latex mattress and memory foam mattress with a compelling 100-night trial offer.

But then, it’s not the only company around — they are competing with Wakefit, Springwel, Urbanladder, Kurl-on, and a host of other latex mattress companies in India.

Let’s face it – you don’t buy a mattress every now and then. You invest in it maybe every five years or so. When you want to spend your hard-earned money on a mattress, you had better make sure it’s worth the investment.

I’m not writing this review to get an incentive from Sunday Mattress. For me, the real incentive lies in an honest review that actually helps potential mattress buyers make an informed decision.

So, here’s what you need to know before you decide on Sunday Memory Plus 4 Mattress or any other product from the same manufacturer for that matter.

#1 – The Reality about 100-Night Trial

Sunday Rest pride themselves on their 100 Nights Trial.

In fact, they have a page dedicated to this claim on their website. “Don’t be pressured into buying a mattress after trying it out for just 10 minutes in a showroom,” the page says, giving you an impression that there’s no harm in trying it out. After all, trying out a mattress for three months (risk-free) isn’t such a terrible idea.

However, beneath this sales speak, lie their long-list of complicated terms & conditions that you may not be aware of. Neither I nor my friend knew about it either.

So, what exactly the 100-night trial offer means? Is Sunday Rest actually so generous that they would happily take it back from you with no conditions attached?

Not at all!

Their process is quite complicated and it actually requires so much work from your end that it’d discourage you to entertain their request and be forced to retain your mattress instead.

Here’s what the process involves:

Step #1: They ask you to send the images of the mattress, taken from all sides and an image of the original invoice so they could check the condition of the mattress.

Step #2: They ask you to fill out an 11-page return form via Google Forms.

Step#3: They ask you to pack the mattress in the HDPE covers sent during the shipping and send images of the packed mattress. Please, not that unpacking the mattress is complicated enough. But the company asks you to put it back in the covers, you will need at least four to five people to help you out. I stay in an apartment and I didn’t have the luxury to seek help from so many people.

Step #4: This is the worst part. The company says:

Please note that after the mattress is reverse picked up, if it doesn’t meet our 100 nights trial policy requirement (mattress should not be stained or damaged and please return the original invoice at the time of pick-up), the request for mattress return will be rejected. In that case, you will have to bear the delivery charges in order to get back the mattress, which would approximately be Rs. 2500, Rs. 2000 or Rs. 1500 for King, Queen, and Single mattress respectively.

So, essentially, you’re at the company’s mercy with regard to the refund. In fact, many of their customers also air their frustration for this refund gimmick as shown in the screenshot above.

#2 – The Reality about Free Shipping

Sunday Rest claims they offer free shipping but the reality could be very different depending on who they’ve partnered with in your location. For example, in my city (Bhubaneswar), they have partnered with GATI Logistics and they insisted that I pay Rs. 200 or they would simply drop it off on the ground floor (I stay on the 2nd floor).

Even after I complained about it to the support team of Sunday Rest, they couldn’t offer any solutions. Eventually, I ended up paying the extra money as asked by the delivery team. I raised a complaint again but the support team at SundayRest failed to do anything more than simply saying “They’re Sorry”.

Worse, I wasn’t given any resolution on that complaint at all.

#3 – Foul Chemical Smell – What SundayRest Hides from You

The memory foam mattress I bought started giving off a foul chemical smell right from the time I unboxed the package. Initially, I thought it would go away in a couple of days but it continued unabated.

For your information, SundayRest doesn’t really let you know about the smell anywhere on their website. But when I called them up, they said the chemical smell was normal and that I should keep the mattress in a separate room for a couple of days until it goes away.

That’s strange but I think a customer is supposed to be able to use the mattress right away. If the company is advising the buyer to keep the mattress away for a couple of days, they probably should have done the same at their end before packing it.

Plus, the company was lying about the duration — I had to wait for nearly a full month before the foul chemical finally went away!

What about Mattress Quality?

It’s been six months since I purchased the memory foam mattress from Sunday Rest and the quality is quite okay — not bad but nothing extraordinary as such either.

A review left by one of their past customers also makes me wonder about their commitment to promises in the long run. Take a look at the following review and be very worried:

I bought a mattress 20 months back(March 2017), The mattress was lovely for the initial few months and sleep was brilliant. However in 16 months or so, the surface became uneven and there is now a depression on the sleeping area, making the mattress hard in the center and soft on the sides(this is a queen size mattress). Rotating helped for a couple of months but eventually, it was of no use. Sunday agreed to send a technical team for inspection after we sent them pictures. They came with a hardness testing device(whatever that is!) and tested in 32 positions with hardness varying from 39 to 51. They came up with a table that averaged the hardness by taking the median as 100% and the hardness varying from 88.8% to 112.2% and declared that nothing is wrong with the mattress. No idea what the validity of this method is, what the hardness is supposed to be, what happened to their 1-inch warranty clause. (The depression is definitely more than an inch). Going by their method(even if it is hogwash), there is a difference of 25% in softness in different areas of the mattress, not sure how that is considered normal! I now have a mattress that leaves me with back pain every morning.

When a company sells mattresses on the premise of giving you sound sleep, the first thing they should do is be honest about their promises. Maybe the 10-minutes experience at a local store can tell you more about a mattress than what the company website pretends to say! Who knows!

In this guide, I will share my experience at Kalinga Hospital, Bhubaneswar.

As per my experience, the three key aspects of a C-section are:

#1 — Info on C-section Delivery at Kalinga Hospital

#2 — Info on Admission into/Discharge from Hospital

#3 — Info on Aftercare of Convalescent Mom and Nursing the Newborn

Info on C-section Delivery at Kalinga Hospital

Things You Need to Know:

• How Much C-section Costs in Kalinga Hospital
• Process of C-section in Kalinga Hospital

How Much C-section Costs in Kalinga Hospital

The cost of C-section can vary from case to case; however, a c-section at Kalinga Hospital comes at around Rs. 50,000 including the room charges (standard single AC room). Ideally, they discharge a patient in about 4-5 days. However, some patients may need to stay longer if their case is unique.

Please, note that the overall cost of c-section can go lower than the given estimate (i.e, Rs. 50,000) if you opt for a general non-AC bed in a shared ward. Likewise, if you choose to stay in a Deluxe Room or Super Deluxe Suite or Executive Suite, the estimated cost could go upward of Rs. 70,000-90,000. Of course, if you have health insurance, a large chunk of that cost will be borne by the insurance company.

Please, get in touch with your insurance company or HR department for an educated estimate.

For a clearer picture, you want to contact the admission desk at Kalinga Hospital as well.

Process of C-section in Kalinga Hospital

If you’re opting for cash transaction, you simply need to deposit a certain amount at the time of admission. You may use cash, debit or credit card as per your convenience.

However, if you have insurance, you need to submit your insurance card and other supporting documents at the insurance section of the hospital well in advance, preferably one or two days before the due date.

It usually takes a couple of hours for the insurance company to approve your case. Once the hospital’s insurance staff gets a clearance from your insurance company, you’re good to go.

The process typically comprises the following steps

Step #1: When your insurance company approves your case, you get an SMS alert informing the status of your case.

Step #2: Choose your date and time of c-section procedure judiciously. For example, the insurance department opens at around 10 am. If your c-section is due early in the morning (say 9 am) and you’re asked to coordinate with your insurance staff, you may run into unwanted stress and unnecessary delay. The fact is the nursing department wants a proper clearance from insurance staff before sending the patient to the operation theatre. If you choose to get it done in the afternoon, you may not face any such issues though.

Step #3: On the due date, you need to visit the hospital, take admission and ask the insurance staff to coordinate with the nursing staff. Even if your case is insured, there are certain aspects that are not usually covered. The admission desk will ask you to pay Rs. 2,000 (refundable conditionally) and sign the consent documents and complete some paperwork.

Step #4: The patient needn’t wait while you complete the paperwork. A staff member will escort the patient to the labor room where she’ll undergo a few tests. It usually takes about an hour or so.

Step #5: Once, the tests are over, you will be escorted to your assigned room (based on your prior choice of room) where the staff will prepare you for the c-section procedure.

Step #6: Once the patient is ready for the procedure, she will sign some documents and approach the operation theatre for the C-section.

Info on Admission into/Discharge from Hospital

Things You Need to Know:

• Choosing the Right Room Type at Kalinga Hospital
• Rules for Visitors and Attendant
• Getting Discharged from Hospital

Choosing the Right Room at Kalinga Hospital

The stay of a convalescent mother at the hospital helps her a great deal in dealing with the inevitable challenges of post delivery. Choose the most appropriate room you can afford, to ensure a comfortable (often less challenging) path to recovery.

There are as many as 13 room types in Kalinga Hospital, of which 10 rooms are applicable to a patient. (Please, see the image below)

Starting from General Ward (Non-AC) to Executive Suite, you can select any of the 10 room types available, based on your budget and other preferences. However, there are a few things you need to consider.

#1 — The least expensive room type (General Ward Non-AC) may not offer the “privacy or dedicated care” you’re aspiring for. However, the most expensive room type (Executive Suite) may not necessarily offer you the best of everything either.

#2 — While choosing the room type, please, consider the location (proximity) of the room type from the labor room, OT or main entrance. For example, the Deluxe Room, Super Deluxe Room, and Executive Suite are located farther from the entrance than the Single Room (AC). Likewise, the difference between the Deluxe Room and Super Deluxe Room types may not be significant. However, you can always visit the rooms and analyze their costs/benefits before you choose them.

#3 — If you choose a single AC room type, you stay pretty close to the labor room and get easy access to the nursing staff. However, these rooms may not be as flashy (or even well ventilated) as the more expensive options. Single AC room types are also located on the ground floor, meaning less commuting for the attendant, doctors and visitors alike.

#4— Please, keep in mind that with higher room tariffs, the overall costs of your procedure could also go up. This might sound a little strange but you want to clarify this from the account section. You can also ask your doctor/consultant for some advice to get a realistic assessment.

Rules for Visitors and Attendant

Upon your admission, the admission desk will issue two types of cards — a yellow card for the attendant and two white cards for the visitors.

Understandably, the yellow card allows the attendant round-the-clock entry while the visitors’ cards offer entry for limited hours (between 5 pm to 7 pm).

This essentially means you’re not supposed to have a lot of visitors see you throughout the day. It’s important for the convalescent mother to take rest and fully recover so she can nurse the baby properly.

Similarly, the security staff may not allow visitors or attendant to carry any food items from outside.

While you can certainly bend these rules a little bit, you’re better off not trying to do so. According to the doctor, newborns are more likely to catch infections when exposed to random visitors indiscriminately. Break the rules at your own peril.

Ask the visitors to sanitize their hands before touching the newborn although most visitors would simply see the baby from the distance.

Getting Discharged from Hospital

In most cases, the newborn and mother both get discharged from the hospital about four days after the C-section. However, there are exceptions depending on the particular case and doctor’s advice.

Some mothers tend to recover faster than others. The nursing staff will, however, assist you to sit and walk around from the second day onward while the doctor will do the wound dressing on the third or fourth day.

It’s important that you should make efforts to sit and walk around the room even if it may feel a bit painful. However, you needn’t exert undue pressure on your wounds. Simply, follow the advice of your doctor and nursing staff.

Please, remember your discharge from the hospital depends on the clearance from your consultant as well as your pediatrician. You need to speak to them directly if you have any questions.

Once the doctor has given a green signal, the billing department will ask you to pay the amount that is due before your discharge. Once you have cleared the dues, they will escort you to the exit gate.

Info on Aftercare of Convalescent Mom and Nursing the Newborn

Things You Need to Know:

• Newborn Essentials You Should Carry
• Nursing the Newborn
• Right Room Temperature for the Newborn

Newborn Essentials You Should Carry

Make a list of things you will need during and after the delivery. There are items that are too obvious to miss while there are some that you would regret not carrying with you. Here is a list of things you will need for your newborn.

• Swaddle Blankets/Gloves/Socks/Napkins/Coconut Oil
• Tissues/Towels/Cotton/Powder/Water-Resistant Sheet
• Feeding Bottles/Flask/Feeding Pillow
• Formula Milk/Small Bowl/Small Spoon

Nursing the Newborn

Mother’s milk is best for the newborn. This is probably something we’ve heard umpteen times since kindergarten. However, this slogan appears simplistic to a convalescent mother who’s struggling to get her newborn to latch on to the breasts, let alone feed her baby properly.

Newborns struggling to latch on to their mother’s breast is an increasingly common scenario these days. Fortunately, there are enough resources to help you with that.

• Breastfeeding Position and Latch
• Latching and Positioning Resources
• Breastfeeding Latch: Proper Positioning

Despite your best efforts, if you’re unable to get your newborn to latch on, offering him/her formula milk is a healthy alternative often recommended by pediatricians around the world.

There are two different ways to feed formula milk to your baby — spoon feeding and bottle feeding, both of which have their benefits. Personally, I’ve seen bottle-feeding being a smooth process. That’s exactly why you should carry a few feeding bottles with you.

Right Room Temperature for the Newborn

It’s important to ensure the ideal room temperature for your newborn to make them feel comfortable. The doctor may ask you to completely turn off the AC or turn the fan speed down. However, in reality, it really depends on the weather and the particular behavior of your newborn. For example, we were asked to turn off the AC completely while it was the peak of summer. After a week or two, we realized it was actually making the baby feel uncomfortable. After consulting the pediatrician again, we ran the AC at 26-28 degrees.

The process is relatively simple and I have written a guide on that as well.

Usually, the method is pretty straight forward if you’re permanently redirecting from an old HTTP domain to a new HTTP domain. However, if your old domain is non-secure and you’re 301-redirecting to a secure domain name, things might get a bit tricky, confusing and complicated.

Recently, I moved a non-secure old domain to a secure domain name and then encountered an error while complying to Change of Address (CoA) in Google Console.

The error message reads: “We couldn’t find any 301-redirect directives for your site. For more details, check the Fetch as Google tool.”

How I Fixed the Change of Address Error Message in Google Console

If you encounter such an error, try the following steps:

Create Properties of All Variations Your New Domain Name

Add four separate properties of your new domain name. For example, if your secure domain name is https://www.yournewdomain.com, you should create four different properties in Google Console such as:

https://www.yournewdomain.com (secure www variation)

https://yournewdomain.com (secure non-www variation)

http://www.yournewdomain.com (non-secure www variation)

http://yournewdomain.com (non-secure non-www variation)

Validate Your New Properties and Add Sitemap

Validate all your new properties in Google Console and add XML sitemap.

Retry Change of Address in Google Console

Once Google Console has accepted all your properties, you should try the Change of Address tool for redirection. In my case, it worked pretty easily. However, if you still see the same old issues, give it some time; maybe, a day or two. Try again and it should work.

Hope this helps. Got any questions? Let me know in the comments below.

Featured Image Source: Kinsta

If you’re subscribed to any DTH service such as Airtel HD or Tatasky HD, your experience won’t dramatically increase with the 55-inch MiTV4. You need to find 4K content sources first.

By 4K content sources, I mean the videos that have been shot in 4K UHD mode, i.e, 3840×2160 (Horizontal and Vertical Pixels).

Why You Can’t Watch 4K UHD Content on Your DTH Connection

There are around 7 DTH service providers in India and none of them offers 4K content. However, TATA Sky offers the most number (88) of HD channels in India.

In most case though, the actual quality of the HD channels don’t reach their optimum level, thanks to the technical issues most subscribers are up against all the time.

Speaking from my experience with Tata Sky, I have never seen the signal strength and quality going above 60 or 70, which severely affects the quality of HD channels I’m subscribed to.

Therefore, if you’re planning to watch 4K UHD content on your MiTV using your current DTH subscription, you’re only going to be disappointed.

As an aside, if you’re a little tech savvy, I’d encourage you to sideload and install the Jio TV app on your MiTV and watch most of the HD channels for free. If you have an unlimited fast internet connection (e.g, 8 Mbps or higher), you should be able to watch high-quality HD channels on your MiTV.

How to Watch YouTube 4K UHD Content on MiTV

Even as the MiTV ships with a built-in YouTube app, it’s far from acceptable. The native YouTube app doesn’t have the option to stream YouTube 4K UHD content at all.

So, basically, here’s what you need to watch YouTube 4K UHD content on your MiTV:

#1: A Fast Internet Connection: When I say “a fast internet connection”, I basically mean the speed at which 4K UHD videos will play without any buffering. According to Netflix, 4K UHD content needs an internet connection of about 25 megabits per second or higher. I am subscribed to an optical fiber plan which offers unlimited bandwidth at 30 megabits per second. Using your mobile data for 4K UHD streaming isn’t a good idea as it can consume around 5GB data per hour. Unless you’re on an unlimited mobile data plan, that’s going to cost you an arm and a leg, for sure.

#2: A Supported 4K Streaming Device: In order to stream YouTube 4K UHD content, you will need to connect a supported device to your MiTV. While your options are many, I recommend buying a Chromecast Ultra device or Apple TV 4K. I recently bought the former from a friend of mine who purchased it from the US. Apple TV4K costs a bomb.

How to Watch Netflix 4K UHD Titles on MiTV

Of course, you will need a fast internet connection and a supported 4K streaming device as explained above. Needless to say, you will also need to subscribe to the highest plan on Netflix which costs around 800 rupees per month. Netflix doesn’t offer any 4K UHD titles on their lower plans.

So, as you can see in order to enjoy 4K content on your MiTV, you need to spend additionally. But, rest assured the experience is worth every penny, especially if you’re a movie buff.

What about Amazon Prime Video?

Although Prime Video doesn’t offer any 4K UHD titles in its plans for Indian consumers, the upscaled quality of the HD movies still looks pretty amazing on a larger MiTV, i.e, 55-inch MiTV4. At times, the quality is so good, it can be hard to differentiate between HD and 4K UHD content. Again, you should be subscribed to a high-speed, unlimited internet data plan to take advantage of this.

That’s all I have to share as of now, I will continue to update this post moving forward. If you have any questions about this post, please, let me know in the comments below.

User-authored JavaScript found on page (Critical)

Remove any custom JavaScript code from your page. AMP pages with custom JavaScript may appear in Google search results without AMP-specific display features.

When you’re on the Google Console Dashboard, the screenshot might look some like this:

AND, Here’s a screenshot of the warning.

When I clicked on one of the affected AMP pages, I could see the following window with details of the error message.

Although I could have easily ignored this warning but I hate seeing errors. So, I decided to dig in to figure out what might have triggered the errors.

If you are seeing similar issues, read on to know how to fix it.

Run AMP Validator

Although the warning already says your AMP page has some custom JavaScript, you need to run the AMP validator to establish the details of the issue and where exactly it appears in your page source.

Therefore, you need to go to the AMP Validator tool and enter the URL of the AMP page and hit on the “Validate” button.

Note: The AMP Validator is different from AMP Test tool which also tests if your AMP page is valid. It’s important to keep this in mind because the AMP test tool will still say your page is valid (because you’ve used AMP markup) while the AMP validator tool won’t (due to the user authored javascript).

The validator tool showed me the following error on the 27th line.

<script>if (document.location.protocol != “https:”) {document.location = document.URL.replace(/^http:/i, “https:”);}</script><script type=’text/javascript’ src=’https://cdn.ampproject.org/v0.js’ async></script>

https://gist.github.com/topleague/fa0e726f52a3655cb52681972a134bcc

Please, note that the user authored javascript issue could be different for different websites. Therefore, you may not see this exact code in your validation test. However, if you did, you’re in luck because I’m going to tell you how to fix it.

In my case, I wasn’t sure where to find such javascript snippet to fix the error.

A couple of random searches led me to get suspicious about plugins. But how would I know which plugin was responsible? Another thread blamed it on the custom javascript in the footer. But, I found no javascript in my footer.

Therefore, I turned to Google Search to find the solution.

I used this search phrase to see if anybody has faced a similar issue: “document.location.protocol + AMP”

Luckily, I found this thread in WordPress Support.

Uncheck Javascript Redirection in SSL Plugin

I’ve been using Really Simple SSL plugin ever since I configured my site with SSL certificate. The plugin never really created any issues early on or maybe, I never noticed it.

The document.location.protocol you see in the AMP Validator tool is triggered by this SSL plugin. Therefore, you need to go to the settings and uncheck javascript redirection as shown in the screenshot below.

Click on the save button and you’re done!

Go back to the AMP Validator tool and revalidate the affected page(s) and you should no longer any error.

That’s it!

Just wait for a couple of days until Google bots recrawl and reindex your AMP pages.

Update:

Here’s an updated report appearing on the 19th June, 2018, just 9 days after I fixed the errors. As you can see, the number of affected pages has automatically gone down from 41 to 23. At this rate, I’m assuming it might take one more week for Google Search to index to rest of the pages.

Hope you find this post helpful!

I’ve read a couple of reviews on the products already. I’ve also watched reviews on YouTube, especially reviews by Technical Gurujee and Geeky Ranjit.

However, I found they left out a couple of things such as DTH picture quality, IR Cable and so on.

So, here’s my review.

Xiaomi Mi TV 4 Specifications

• Design and Appearance
• Screen Size and Resolution
• Screen Refresh Rate and Viewing Angle
• Processor

• RAM and Storage
• Connectivity Ports
• Sound Quality
• Remote Control Device
• Interface and Content

If you’ve read or watched reviews on this smart TV, chances are you already know the general specs of Mi TV 4.

However, for the uninitiated, I will simply highlight the main specs that you should know about Mi TV 4.

Design and Appearance

MiTV4 has a futuristic design.

What does that mean?

Xiaomi claims, with its 4.9mm ultra-thin panel, the Mi TV 4 is World’s thinnest LED TV.

And, it probably is.

So, how thin is a 4.9mm panel?

To put this in perspective, the panel is thinner than most of the thinnest Android smartphones out there.

Only the VIVO X5 Max (4.75mm) and OPPO R5 (4.85mm) are thinner than the Mi TV 4. But then, it’s a Smart TV.

When the eKart delivery staff delivered the TV to my apartment, they unboxed it to show me the product was clean and undamaged. The ultra-thin panel doesn’t allow any margin of error and they were very careful about handling it.

The ultra-thin design makes the Mi TV 4 a visual delight even when it’s turned off, thanks to its aesthetical design and stable pair of legs that hold the panel steadily on the surface.

You still need to be extra careful about handling the TV whether you’re unboxing it and moving it around in your room. In fact, Xiaomi has specific instructions on how to hold it. Strangely, the eKart staff didn’t know about it.

Screen Size and Resolution

The Mi TV 4 features a breathtaking 55-inch LED screen with 4K resolution (3840 x 2160 pixels) and HDR support.

It sports HDR 10 capabilities and a 10-bit VA panel made by Samsung.

So, what does this really mean?

Let me explain.

If you’re planning to buy a 4K TV, you should aim for one that has a larger screen size, preferably 53-inch or larger panel.

This is because watching high definition content on a smaller panel may not give you all the best experience.

The 10-bit VA panel by Samsung means you’re getting an amazing deal for the price.

For your information, HDR10 is the standard form of HDR (High Dynamic Range) which essentially means your screen can produce the blackest blacks and whitest whites, bringing out clarity you would only see in real life.

With the Mi TV 4, I’m getting much better and richer visual experience with some HD channels (I’m on Tata Sky HD subscription).

My experience with YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, and Netflix is also pretty exciting.

But the real value of a 4K is visible is when you play some 4K HDR content.

I downloaded some 4K HDR samples from YouTube 4K HDR channel with the help of AceThinker app. When you play 4K HDR content on a 53-inch 4K panel, it’s a sight to behold.

However, MiTV4 was unable to play two of the downloaded samples for lack of format support. I’m not sure why this error occurred — I need to speak their tech support to find out.

Update: I shared my concerns with the Twitter team. Please, follow this link to see what they say.

Screen Refresh Rate and Viewing Angle

The Mi TV 4 has a 60Hz screen refresh rate and the panel can be viewed at an angle of 178-degrees.

So, what do these stats mean to a buyer?

Screen Refresh Rate (aka Frame Rate) is how many times a panel refreshes (or changes the image) per second. It’s a spec which enables a TV to produce better video in general, especially when you’re watching dynamic and action-oriented visuals such as sports and Hollywood action movies.

According to CNet, if a smart TV panel has 60Hz refresh rate, the visual experience should be good enough although having a higher refresh rate is simply a nice-to-have feature.

The point is, as the article says, the refresh rate is perceptible only a trained eye.

In short, the Mi TV 4 has a reasonable refresh rate.

Similarly, the viewing angle is just fine. The point is why would anyone sit at that angle anyway?

Processor

The Mi TV 4 boasts of a 64-bit quad-core Amlogic Cortex-A54 SoC processor, and Mali-T830 graphics processor.

These specs are decent for a 4K smart TV. Perhaps that’s why I didn’t see any lag while browsing the content on PatchWall.

I haven’t played any games on the Mi TV 4 but as per the Digit.in review, the gaming experience was fantastic.

RAM and Storage

The Mi TV 4 has a 2GB RAM and an 8GB built-in storage.

Again, the 2GB RAM should be good enough for general operations on a TV like this. Likewise, 8GB of built-in memory storage offers ample space for any future OS updates and apps you may add from time to time.

Connectivity Ports

The Mi TV 4 hosts a variety of ports which include:

• 1 Ethernet port
• 2 USB ports
• 3 HDMI 2.0 ports

It also supports dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) Wi-Fi 802.11ac and has Bluetooth 4.0 as well. Both work pretty well.

The only problem is the position of these ports.

They are at the back of the panel, which means they’re very hard to access if you decide to mount it on your wall. You will need a port extender handy for easy access.

The ports are so close to one another, I couldn’t find enough room around the HDMI ports to plug in the Chromecast-1 device. Again, you will need a port extender to get around this issue.

Sound Quality

The Mi TV 4 supports Dolby+DTS Cinema Audio Quality.

However, these specs offer no additional value in terms of sound quality. It’s not a downright deal breaker either.

Since the upper panel is very thin, the speakers are located below the panel which is thicker at the base.

As for the sound quality, I watched a couple of movies and the sound was loud and clear.

I’d never rely on a TV’s built-in speakers anyway. I’d go for a sound bar (which is becoming a popular TV accessory these days) to amplify the quality of sound.

The Mi TV 4 has AV and S/PDIF connection options. Unfortunately, I don’t have a music system compatible with these connection options.

The downside is the Mi TV 4 doesn’t support any standard 3.5mm audio jack which could allow users like me to connect their music system via an aux cable. For example, I have a Bose Sound Dock but I’ve not been able to connect it to my TV.

Someone on Twitter mentioned many folks are facing issues with regards to audio connectivity to their home theatre and soundbar via Bluetooth.

I’m planning to add an external Bluetooth device to it and see how it works. I will update this section once I’m done testing it.

Remote Control Device

The Mi TV 4 comes with a minimalist remote control device that looks awfully similar to that of my Apple TV.

It’s sleek and light, helping you navigate the PatchWall interface with ease. However, the TV’s remote device doesn’t have a mute button, which means you can’t put it on mute – you need to use the volume button to decrease the sound.

I got the Mi IR Cable Set-top box (STB) Controller with the TV for free. While the accessory is meant to double up as your DTH remote device, I found it hard to make it work properly.

Update: The IR Cable wasn’t working properly. But their service engineer came over and fix a configuration issue. Now, it works seamlessly. Go to the FAQs section of this post to learn how to configure it properly.

Interface and Content

The Mi TV 4 has been advertised as a game changer because of its PatchWall interface and content designed keeping Indian users in mind.

It looks great right out of the box and requires you to connect to your Wi-Fi network for the OS update.

You can see loads of content (worth 500,000+ hours) once you’re connected to the Internet. It has a universal search option and personalized recommendations based on your viewing patterns.

I tested the YouTube app (not official) and found a couple of issues:

• It has a poor UX, which made browsing videos a hassle
• The interface is pretty ordinary
• The YouTube videos don’t have 4K options and the highest resolution is only 1080p

I haven’t used the built-in apps (such as Voot) yet and I’m planning to write a separate review in a few days.

It might sound like I’m nitpicking, but the TV’s screensavers don’t look as sleek as the ones on my Apple TV.

All in all, the PatchWall UI looks unfinished and can use a couple of updates for improvement.

What’s the OS of Mi TV 4?

The Mi TV 4 runs on MIUI TV with a PatchWall interface which is crafted out of Android. The PatchWall looks different from Android TVs from other brands.

It’s intuitive and can help you browser content seamlessly.

I’m hoping it will get even better after future updates.

What Streaming Services Does Mi TV 4 Support Right Now?

The Mi TV 4 currently supports Hungama Play and YouTube (through a browser). As explained above, YouTube doesn’t have a good UX. The company is expected to roll out updates to bring more content in the future.

Does Mi TV 4 Support Netflix and Amazon Prime Video?

Answer: No, not at the moment. However, I think Mi will release a software update in the near future, which will hopefully bring these popular apps to its PatchWall interface.

I haven’t tested it myself yet, but according to iGyaan, Netflix or Google Play store didn’t work via sideloading.

They also warned that sideloading apps like Google Play store may also break the functionality of the TV. So, be careful!

Why Isn’t the IR Cable Working Properly?

During the TV installation and settings configuration, ask the service engineer to check if the IR Cable is working properly.

If this doesn’t work properly, change the settings of the DTH remote on your TV.

Does PatchWall Support All Set Top Boxes?

Mi TV is compatible with about 3500 DTH and set-top box service providers in India. When the DTH box is integrated, the channels and the content available on those channels are seamlessly integrated into the OS. You might want to get in touch with your DTH service provider to learn if their STB is supported by Mi TV. Here’s a thread on Twitter to learn more.

Why Can’t My MiTV Play YouTube 4K Videos?

Xiaomi India promotes its MiTV’s on the basis of 4K UHD (Ultra High-Def) content. However, the truth is the 55-inch MiTV4 doesn’t automatically display your standard content in 4K quality. Here’s how to stream YouTube 4K videos on your MiTV.

Use Your Phone as a Remote

The Mi TV 4 comes with a Bluetooth-enabled remote control device already. However, I’ve found two major issues with it.

• 1st Problem: It doesn’t have a MUTE button.
• 2nd Problem: A handful of buttons hamper browsing experience.
• 3rd Problem: To control DTH channels, it depends on IR blaster.

The good news is the Mi Remote Controller app on Google Play Store can help you get rid of these problems.

Take Screenshots on Android TV

The Mi Remote Controller app also has a feature to let you take a screenshot of your TV screen, which is a fun way to share great TV moments with your friends on social media.

Sideload a Third Party App Store

The MiTV doesn’t currently have any app store; it has a limited number of apps to choose from.

That’s right — currently, it doesn’t have popular apps like Netflix or VLC player.

Therefore, if you want to install any third-party apps, you can the common technique — sideload a third-party app store.

My choice is Aptoide TV.

However, before you download the Aptoide TV apk and sideload it, you should complete this one important step — enable the ‘Allow unknown sources’ setting on your MiTV.

It’s located right here: Settings > Security

Once you’ve done that, simply sideload the Aptoide TV apk and install it.

Go to the apps section of your MiTV, click open the Aptoide TV app and download the popular apps of your choice.

Note: Since Aptoide app is not an official method, you may experience minor issues. But the benefits sure surpass these small issues.

Cast Your Phone Screen with LocalCast

The Mi TV doesn’t have Chromecast built-in support, which is a real bummer!

While it ships with the Miracast app, it doesn’t offer the same freedom as does the Chromecast built-in service.

If you want to cast your phone’s content to your Mi TV screen, download the LocalCast for Chromecast app from Google Play Store.

Be sure to enable the DLNA service on the Mi TV by navigating to Settings > Security and then turn on the DLNA service toggle.

On your Android device, launch the LocalCast for Chromecast app, open the Discovery options and enable the option for DLNA Renderers.

Once you’ve done that, it will start searching for the active devices. Choose your Mi TV and you’re done!

Now, play any video on your Android device to cast it directly to your Mi TV screen.

Final Thoughts

Just one thing to keep in mind — Netflix doesn’t offer 4K support for Mi TV 4 yet. I watched a couple of movies on Netflix as well as Prime Video using Apple TV, and I found the picture quality on Netflix is very rich. So, as of now, the only way to watch 4K content on Mi TV 4 is to connect a device that provides 4K input, e.g, STB, Apple TV 4K, Chromecast 4K and so on. Additionally, you can download 4K movies and play them via the USB port.

Have you bought the Mi TV 4 yet? What’s your take on it?

Please, let me know if you want me to review any particular feature on the TV.

This is a crucial step because you need to decide the next course of action based on your findings. If most of your visitors use ad blockers and your ad revenues are taking a dip, you should find an alternative revenue model for your site.

While you can simply install one of those anti-ad blocking plugins on your site, it might slow down your site and affect the user experience as well. The point is why use anti-ad blocking plugin without even knowing if your visitors are using one to begin with?

In this guide, I will share with you an easy way to set up a custom dimension, create a new segment and custom report in your Google Analytics to determine the approximate number of site visitors using ad blockers.

Step #1: Add Javascript Code to Your Site’s Header
Step #2: Set up a Custom Dimension in Google Analytics
Step #3: Create an Advanced Segment
Step #4: Create a Custom Report for users with Ad Blockers

How Does it Work?

We’re essentially going to create a code snippet which will create an HTML element named “AdSense”. Then we add the code snippet to the header section of our website. If a visitor to the site has some kind of Ad Blocker enabled on their browser, the HTML element will not be visible. Moreover, we will create a new segment to categorize those visitors separately to give your a fair idea about the volume of traffic that are unable to see your Google AdSense ads.

Note: In order to create and install this code, you need to have admin privilege of the site as well as Google Analytics.

Add Tracking Code to Your Site

The following javascript is designed to capture the visitors who have a ad blocker installed and enabled on their browser.

Copy and paste the following code snippet to the header section of your website.

https://gist.github.com/topleague/7f6c9c86f951962b2a3d994bcafd8691

Don’t forget to replace UA-XXXXX-Y with your Analytics ID.

Click save when you’re done.

Setup Custom Dimension in Google Analytics

A custom dimension essentially helps you record additional data in Google Analytics. The standard dimensions such as source, medium, city, browser give you an diverse insights about your visitors and their behaviours. For our purpose, we will create a custom dimension, i.e, Blocked Ads so we can compare the data for future actions.

Even as the above code snippet captures the data related to ad blockers, it will not reflect on Google Analytics on its own. For that to happen, we need to set up a custom dimension and an Advanced Segment for Blocked Ads in Google Analytics.

Follow the steps below to setup a custom dimension in Google Analytics:

• Log into your Google Analytics
• Click on the Admin Icon at the bottom on the left hand sidebar
• Click on “Custom Definitions” under Property pane
• Then click on custom definitions
• Click on the red button named New Custom Definition
• Enter “Ads Blocked” in the Name and Click on Create button below
• In the next step, click on the SAVE button and your custom dimension is created

Create a New Segment in Google Analytics

• Go to Home > Audience > Overview
• Click on Add Segment
• Then Click on the red button named “New Segment”
• On the left-hand sidebar, you will see conditions under Advanced menu
• Click on the conditions
• On the Conditions panel, click on the “Ad Content” filter
• It will display a drop-down menu with search box on top
• If you type in “ads” it will show you the name of your custom dimension you created previously ie. Ads Blocked
• Click on it

Note: If you have limited access and are prohibited from searching, you can also scroll to the Custom Dimensions category and choose from there.

• In the next filter (under Include) choose “exactly matches” and in the box next to it, type in 1
• Give the segment a name, e.g, Ads Blocked and click on the save button next to it.

That’s it! You’re done configuring your advanced segment

Give it a week or so and you should be able to see the data

Create a Custom Report for users with Ad Blockers

If you want to create a custom report, e.g, All users vs Ads Blocked, simply create a custom report in the following way:

• Go to Home > Acquisitions > All Traffic > Source/Medium
• To add a segment, ie. Ads Blocked or All Traffic, click on the + sign and then choose a segment name and click on Apply button.

Here’s what a custom report looks like.

That’s it!

I hope you find this guide useful. If you have any questions, leave a comment below.

In this post, I’ll walk you through the steps required to display live tracking of your trip on your website.

Let’s go:

Contents:

• Sign up with SpotWalla
• Download Bubbler GPS Mobile App
• Configure Your SpotWalla Profile
• Configure Bubbler GPS App
• Create a Trip
• Embed Map on Your Website
• Go on a Test Ride

Sign up with SpotWalla

Visit SpotWalla.com and Sign up.

Download Bubbler GPS Mobile App

Download the Bubbler GPS App from Google Play Store. You will find two different versions — basic version (free) and advanced version (premium). Download the basic version if you were trying to test the app.

Enter your SpotWalla credentials to login.

Configure Your SpotWalla Profile

Login to SpotWalla website to configure your SpotWalla account.

On the top right corner, click on your username. From the drop-down menu, click on devices.

You should see My Devices page now.

Under description, you should see your device (i.e mobile device) now.

Click on your device name (e.g Redmi Note 4) to see a drop-down menu.

Click on Web API on the drop-down menu.

On the Web API page, you will see “Enable/Disable API” option. If it’s disabled, click on Enable button to enable your API. Basically, you’re enable your GPS device to send data to your SpotWalla account.

Once done, click on the “Devices” button the bottom right corner to return to your My Devices page.

On My Devices page, click on your device name and then click on “Widget”.

Look at the screenshot given below and make sure you follow the same configuration as shown in the screenshot.

Once done, click on the “Update” button.

Configure Bubbler GPS App

On your GPS Device (i.e mobile phone), you need to configure the settings to connect it to your SpotWalla account.

Click on the settings to see a menu. Click on the SpotWalla Device option to whether it detects your device or not.

If you have enabled your device in SpotWalla as shown earlier, you should see your device under “Device Currently Selected”.

Create a Trip

In order for SpotWalla to track your movement and show GPS data, you need to create a trip first.

To create a trip, head over to SpotWalla website and click on the “trips” on the drop-down menu under your username.

Click on the New button to create a new trip and configure it as per the following criteria.

Choose Your Device: If you have enabled only one phone, it will display your device on default. If you have multiple devices enabled, then choose the device you want to carry for your trip.

Trip Name: Give your Trip a name. That’s up to you.

Trip Description: Give a description. Again, that’s up to you.

Start Date/Start Time: Suppose you want to start your trip today, set the date from the calendar. Choose the current time as per your location.

End Date/End Time: I’d advise choose a future data, i.e last date of the current month. Choose any time of the day to set the end time.

Security Options: You need to make sure you set the security options to allow SpotWalla to track your GPS data and display it on your embedded map which is available for public view.

Leave everything as is if you’re creating the trip for a test ride.

Note: There’s an option that allows you to “Draw a line from one location to the next”. Make sure it’s enabled so you see lines on your map.

Now, click on the “Create” button to create the map.

Embed Map on Your Website

If you want to embed your map on website to let your website visitors track your trip live, you need to copy the appropriate code and paste it inside a widget (preferably, home page widget) on your website.

Go to Trips in the drop-down menu under your username, click on the “Trip Links” under your trip name (the one you just created), and copy the link under “Embedding”.

Alternatively, you can simply copy the code below, replace the default ID with your ID and insert inside the widget on your website.

https://gist.github.com/topleague/f71f4e20c324a9eefdf55bfbab2074b8

Go on a Test Ride

This is the last step. SpotWalla requires that you move at least 100 meters distance in order to help it track and display GPS data.

However, you can move a little farther to generate more GPS data if you want.

Here are a couple of things to keep in mind while testing:

• Carry your GPS device with you while traveling for test.
• Make sure the GPS device is connected to the Internet.
• Make sure your click on the update button on your Bubbler GPS app home page at some intervals. While the GPS app is supposed to send data to SpotWalla automatically, I couldn’t confirm if it was working that way. However, if you click on the update button, it will send the data to SpotWalla map.
• Don’t click on the “End Trip” button unless you’re done testing.

The SpotWalla embedded map is updated every fifteen minutes or so. So expect to see your tracks only after some time.

That’s it. I hope this guide helps you set up your live tracking widget on your website. If you have any questions, please, let me know.

NOTE: If you want advanced features, you can buy the premium version of Bubbler GPS app. You can email both SpotWalla and Bubbler teams and expect to get a quick reply. Also, if you’re feeling generous, be sure to donate to SpotWalla.

Therefore, it’s extremely important to know how to use images correctly in order to boost your page speed.

In this post, I’ll share with you a couple of tips that help me manipulate images in the Media library.

Here’s a list of things you need know to take control of your images in WordPress.

Contents:

• Things You Need to Know about Your Images
• Using Images as Featured Image for Your Blog
• How to Resize/Compress an Original Image in Use EZGif.com
• Resizing Images in WordPress Media Library
• How to Display the Image File Size in WordPress
• How to Display the Image File Dimension in WordPress
• How to Resize Your Images Individually
• How to Bulk Resize Your Images in Media Library
• How to Crop Your Images in Media Library
• How to Display All Image Size in Media Library

Things You Need to Know about Your Images

Most people upload images to their WordPress library without actually compressing them. I’ve seen many users trying to upload image files over 1 to 8MB in size! Those files will typically have a gigantic dimension as well, e.g. 4000px by 1000px.

Trust me! You don’t really need such heavy image files on your website.

What should you really do before uploading?

You need to resize and compress your images as per your theme specifications.

Most modern themes come with a hero image which typically requires an image to be around 2000px by 500px in dimension.

The original images captured on your mobile phones and DSLR cameras tend to have much higher size and resolution that your website requires.

Therefore, you need to compress and resize them before uploading.

There are a couple of free image compression tools you can use to resize and compress your original images.

• Picmonkey
• EZGif.com

There are many more but I’ve personally used these two tools for a long time. These tools offer many other features as well. However, I use them for image resizing, cropping and compression purposes.

Using Images as Featured Image for Your Blog

Featured images typically appear at the top of a blog post. When you share a blog post on social media (Facebook/Twitter), your featured images appear prominently on your followers’ feed as well.

Almost all WordPress themes come with a predefined size for your featured image. For example, the theme for this blog has a featured image with a dimension of 1200px by 600px.

Similarly, in the Twenty Sixteen theme by WordPress, the recommended featured image size is 1200px wide.

Therefore, if you want to use an image as your featured image, you need to resize and compress the original image using either of the two tools recommend above.

How to Resize/Compress an Original Image in Use EZGif.com

If you’re uploading just one or two images at a time, then you can simply use this free tool: https://ezgif.com/resize

Step #1: Upload your image or enter the image URL (if you want to resize an existing image). Then click on the upload button.

Step #2: *You will see the following*

Enter the recommended width and height (e.g 1200 and 600 in my case) as per your featured image specs and click on the Resize Image button.

Wait a couple of seconds to see the resized image to appear below.

As you can see, the tool reduces the file size and crop the image from the center to maintain the current aspect ratio.

Additionally, you can optimize the image losslessly, meaning you strip off the metadata but retain the original quality. This makes the image even lighter.

To do this, you can click on the optimize button and click on the checkbox against lossless. Then click on the Optimize Image button.

Now, you can right-click on the Resized and Optimized Image and save it to your desktop.

You now have a properly formatted and lightweight featured image ready for your blog posts.

Resizing Images in WordPress Media Library

If you want to resize and crop any existing image files in WordPress, you need to start with the media library.

To reach your media library, you need to go to media > library. The usual location is YourWebsiteURL.com/wp-admin/upload.php

You can see images either in grid view (default) or list view. When you click on a particular image, you can see the details of the image file such as file name, file type, dimension, file size and so on.

WordPress allows you to scale and crop images as per your needs.

However, inspecting file details and resizing them individually can be time-consuming.

By default, WordPress doesn’t show you any file information in the list view. Therefore, you need to use a few plugins or add a few code snippets to your functions.php file to display the file information in your list view.

How to Display the Image File Size in WordPress

Add the following code snippet to your functions.php file.

https://gist.github.com/topleague/3d0f3746ab1fbe90389c0d8be9bb10ef

How to Display the Image File Dimension in WordPress

In order to show the file size, add the following code snippet to your functions.php file.

https://gist.github.com/topleague/e5ae8476bf6da97b94865fe4290218f1

Go back to your media library, click on the list view and you should now see file size as well as file dimension information there.

What’s more, you can actually sort the files based on their dimensions. This will help you prioritize your image resizing tasks.

Now, you’re ready to resize and compress your existing images in your media library.

How to Resize Your Images Individually

If you want to resize only a few selected images manually, you could do so by clicking on editing option.

In order to resize a particular image file, you need to view its original dimension first.

Here’s what you need to remember:

Option #1: Crop the original image if its dimension is just slightly higher than that of your featured image.

Option #2: If its dimension is more than two times, it’s better to resize the image first and bring it down before cropping it.

How to Bulk Resize Your Images in Media Library

If you want to bulk resize (not crop) your existing images in the media library, you can use this nifty plugin called Imsanity.

It’s free and pretty straightforward.

Simply, install, activate and enter the value in the dimension area, and you’re good to go.

Please, remember this plugin doesn’t crop your image — it simply resizes your images.

How to Crop Your Images in Media Library

To crop an image you need to click on the edit button first. Then, you need to click on the image itself to select the desired area for cropping.

After selecting the portion to crop, click on the crop button at the left upper corner of the tool, and then click on the SAVE button at the bottom.

As explained earlier, you can directly crop an original image to resize it as per your featured image specs. This also reduces the file size, resulting in a lightweight image file.

How to Display All Image Size in Media Library

When you upload an image to your WordPress site, WordPress auto-generates various versions of the same image as per your theme requirements.

However, WordPress doesn’t display information related those files by default.

Thankfully, by installing this plugin, you can view the information and permalinks of those files. The lightweight plugin can complement Regenerate Thumbnails plugin.

That’s it! I hope you will own the medial library like a boss moving forward.

If you hav any questions, let me know in the comments below. Don’t forget to share this post with your friends on social media.

In this post, I attempt to address some of the most pressing needs of WordPress users in terms of image optimization and compression. So, let’s dive right in.

Contents:

• List of Best Image Optimizer WordPress Plugins
• Best Free Image Optimizer Tool: The Two-Pronged Approach
• Optimize Images for Google PageSpeed Insights
• WebP Image Format: Why Google Recommends it

List of Best Image Optimizer WordPress Plugins

When it comes WordPress image optimization, there are many freemium plugins vying for your attention, offering a wide range of features to accommodate diverse users. Here’s a review of the most popular image compression plugins in WordPress.

• WP Smush Image Compression and Optimization
• CW Image Optimizer
• Shortpixel Image Optimizer
• EWWW Image Optimizer
• Tiny PNG
• Imagify
• Kraken

So why are these image optimizer WordPress plugins so popular?

I tried each one of them and here’s what I found:

WP Smush Image Compression and Optimization

With over 900,000 active installations, WP Smush is arguably the most popular plugin for WordPress image compression and optimization out there. The only problem is that, like any premium plugin, it has a limitation for free users.

CW Image Optimizer

Although CW Image Optimizer is not as popular as WP Smush or EWWW, it still does the job for you. Unlike any other plugins, it doesn’t upload your images to a third-party. So, if you have privacy concerns about other plugins, this is a good option for you.

Shortpixel Image Optimizer

With over 60,000 active installations, Shortpixel Image Optimizer boast of some unique features and benefits. It offers you 100 monthly free credits after which you need to buy their packages for additional credits. If you’re planning to pay for an image optimization plugin, read their in-depth analysis of all popular image optimization plugins.

EWWW Image Optimizer

EWWW Image Optimizer boasts of over 600,000 active installations. It offers a slew of benefits including Automatic Resizing, Bulk Optimize, WebP images, CDN support to name a few. It offers 500 monthly free credits.

Tiny PNG

Tiny PNG plugin has more than 100,000 active installations and pretty good reviews. Having reviewed positively by many users, this is definitely worth considering.

Imagify

Offering 25 MB monthly bonus, Imagify is a premium image optimization plugin that is just as popular as any other freemium plugins out there. With a massive 90,000+ active installation to brag about, this is an image compression plugin for serious WordPress users.

Kraken

Kraken is yet another contender in the WordPress image optimization world, with over 30,000 active installations. It offers 100 MB free monthly quota after which you can buy their monthly subscription.

Best Free Image Optimizer Tool: The Two-Pronged Approach

Personally, I believe in not using any image optimizer WordPress plugins for image compression. However, if your WordPress site already has a ridiculously high number of uncompressed images, then using a plugin to smush them may seem like the only solution.

However, if your WordPress site has only about 400-500 images, I suggest a two-pronged approach:

Tiny PNG Plugin: Run the Tiny PNG Plugin for the existing images. Once done, deactivate and uninstall it.

EZGif.com: Use this free image optimizer tool to resize and optimize your images before uploading them to media folder in future. Make sure to convert your .png files into the .jpg format using the PNG to JPG converter.

Optimize Images for Google PageSpeed Insights

When you test your website speed on Google’s PageSpeed Insights, you will often come across images that need to be further optimized and compressed.

If you’re testing your homepage URL, you will see all image files that have room for optimization.

If your goal is to optimize only those URLs so you could get rid of the warning and improve your PageSpeed score, then you can resize them within your media folder itself.

Here’s what you need to do:

Step #1: Add this code snippet to your functions.php file to display sizes of image files in WordPress media folder.

https://gist.github.com/topleague/3d0f3746ab1fbe90389c0d8be9bb10ef

Step #2: Visit the URLs that PageSpeed Insights tool suggest optimizing.

Step #3: Install and activate EWWW Image Optimizer plugin.

Step #4: Locate those images in your media folder and click on the “Optimize Now” button to compress your images.

Optional Step: If you can compress your images to the recommended size, your job is done. However, if the PageSpeed Insights tool still shows some to be uncompressed, then you can optimize them manually.

Download those images, optimize them using ezgift.com tool (or similar tools of your choice) and then insert them in their respective posts again.

You should now see the “Optimize Images” warning vanish in the PageSpeed Insights test results.

WebP Image Format: Why Google Recommends it

Developed by Google, WebP is a brand-new image file format which provides superior lossless and lossy compression for images on the web.

According to Google Developer’s Team, WebP lossless images are 26% smaller in size compared to PNGs and 25-34% smaller than comparable JPEG images at equivalent SSIM quality index.

No wonder then why Google recommend using images in WebP file format.

However, there’s a problem.

Because this format has been developed by Google, not many popular browsers have support for this format.

But if you really want to experiment with this new image format, there’s a workaround for WordPress users.

Here’s what you need to do:

Add the following rules to your .htaccess file.

https://gist.github.com/topleague/1bf42403e5309db54fa275380844c53a

This rule essentially rewrites your .jpg/.png files and make them available for any supported browsers to display. The file name, however, remains the same. This is a win-win.

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