10x SEM performance: unlock the power of your own data

This piece originally appeared in FT Optimize on June 25th, 2020. With each passing year the utility of third-party cookies continues to decline as it faces barriers from web browsers and government regulation. The current system still works and there will be alternatives but it is always best to start preparing for the new status quo. FT Optimize believes that the best way to maximize SEM ad revenue is to use first-party data....

February 23, 2023 · Christopher Yee

Google Ads: digging deeper into target ROAS bidding

This piece originally appeared in FT Optimize on June 7th, 2019. Google has made a concerted effort to get more advertisers to switch over to their “smart bidding” platform. This technology uses machine learning to optimize max CPC at auction time by predicting future conversion rate and value based on historical data. The purpose is to relinquish bidding activities to Google so advertiser’s can divert their attention to other details of account management....

February 22, 2023 · Christopher Yee

Ergo block rewards: five year outlook

I came across a tweet about the potential price of Ergo five years from now when the mining block rewards are gradually reduced from 66 to 3: I don't know who needs to hear this: Currently block reward for #Ergo miners is 66 $ERG per block mined, that is approx. \(154,440 a day<br>In about 5 years block reward will be 3 <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%24ERG&amp;src=ctag&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">\)ERG per block mined, to maintain \(154,440 a day in rewards that brings the price of <a href="https://twitter....

March 24, 2022 · Christopher Yee

ERGO: how to setup blockchain analytics on Raspberry Pi

Last updated: 2022-01-31 This is a quick “copy & paste guide” for data scientists and developers who are interested in storing the Ergo blockchain to a standardized database format using a Raspberry Pi 4. We will be using the Ergo Blockchain Explorer (backend) but focus our efforts specifically on the Chain Grabber module. A few prerequisites before we get started… Clean install of Raspberry Pi 4+ Root file system mounted to SSD (60GB+) SSH enabled with stable internet connection...

December 5, 2021 · Christopher Yee

Recreating plots in R: the power of tiny gains

Once in awhile I find some great charts which make me stop and think. Below is one example of this: 1% better every day is all it takes to completely change your life. pic.twitter.com/kYbgGOzzZv — Santiago (@svpino) September 10, 2021 I really appreciate the inspirational message behind it: being deliberate about the change you wish to see in the world. With that in mind, I want to recreate that chart below using the R programming language (regardless if the trajectory path is realistic or not)....

September 21, 2021 · Christopher Yee

Crypto market cap: evaluating realistic price points

It may be tempting for new cryptocurrency investors to buy “cheap” coins because they assume a price of $0.03, for example, can turn them into future millionaires just by HODL-ing until it hits $100. Unfortunately, this is a common misconception as that future price may never materialize. This perspective only considers the demand side of the equation and completely omits data about the supply side to realistically estimate future crypto prices....

August 13, 2021 · Christopher Yee

Messaribot: cryptocurrency charts for Discord

tl;dr Messaribot (code) is a very simple bot which plots cryptocurrency data to assigned Discord channels. This is written in Python, crytpo data is pulled from the Messari API, and relies on the discord.py API wrapper to publish the finished graphs. Overview Most of the interesting crypto discussions happen on Discord (or Telegram). However, looking up market prices can be a hassle when you need to switch back and forth between different desktop or mobile apps....

July 1, 2021 · Christopher Yee

Types of cryptocurrency mining

Context: I had a friend email me about cryptocurrency mining and thought my response was helpful enough to share over Instagram. This led to other friends asking me about the crypto space in general. To keep the spirit of it I have posted the same email below (with some edits). Cryptocurrencies rely on distributed public ledger technology where you need a network of computers (in this case miners) to validate all those transactions....

May 29, 2021 · Christopher Yee