Waching daily Nov 2 2017

Hey, this is the Daily Overpass! My name is Eric and I make apps! Now today, I want

to talk about how in the app market quality is not enough.

Alright, so, it's 1:30 in the morning. I'm in the office watching game seven of the World Series.

It's in between innings at the moment. It's really exciting, but I want to talk

a little bit about app marketing, you just sort of in general terms. So

yesterday, I had a conversation with somebody who wanted me to have a look at

his app on Google Play and I said, 'Yeah, well I'll have a look, but I'm not - I'm

not an expert or anything, but, you know. I could give any advice if I can."

So, I have a look at it and I said - some comments about the icon,

and the description, stuff like that. The same old bread-and-butter stuff.

And then - but then I looked at the related apps. Now, the app was

kind of like - oh, it was a type of game one you probably heard of. But

it was, you know, put into an app and everything like that. I won't

tell you what it was because I didn't want to - I don't want to do

that. But then I looked at related apps and I saw there were loads of the

same kind of app there or loads of this very the same concept, right? I

mean, there were like hundreds. It was like a lot. So, I said - I said

this is a very crowded market. I mean, how are you going to differentiate

yourself from all those other hundreds of apps. And he said, if you look at

the top app of that type, the quality is really low and my app is much

better. My app is higher quality and it's much better. And this is - I

guess what bothered me about him saying that, was because one of the

things I talk about all the time, one of the things that I figured out very early

when I got knocked around in the app market in the early days, was that the

quality of the - I mean, first of all the quality of your app is really important.

The reviews are really important. The user experience all very, very important,

but it's not enough. The big problem we all have is getting people to

find it. Getting people to download and getting people just to notice it. If

they're gonna do a search, what are they gonna search on? If they see a list of

search items, how is yours gonna stand out? You know, all that kind of stuff. What

kind of keywords are you looking for? Who's your target audience? All that kind

of stuff. There's so many different things that play there. And one of

the things I like to think about, one of the things I think about is cult

classics. Alright, there's so many movies and TV shows you probably

discover. Like a movie that, you know, it's a cult classic because when it

was in the box office, when it was at the cinema, it had very low

box-office take or whatever. And because people didn't know

about it or it didn't really look very good to them. But then, they -

later on and DVD, it became like a big cult classic because everyone loves this

film or whatever. Or TV shows, you know, like that TV show Firefly, which

if you've ever seen on Netflix is really good, but it only had one season because

people didn't watch it. In every case of the - or in most case of these

cult classics, the quality was better than anything else. That's why they

became so popular after their release or after their

initial run. But the marketing was bad. People didn't notice it or they

may have looked at it and think, "that looks kind of stupid." For me,

you know what, I watched the 40 year-

old Vrgin that just - when I saw the poster for that, all that kinda stuff,

it looked like the stupidest movie, right? But then when I saw it, I thought this

was like one of the most hilarious things I've ever seen! It was

was hugely funny. But, you know, for some reason when I looked at it, it

just didn't look like it appealed to me. This is one of the problems we all

face as app developers. It's that when you look at something, it's just you -

the quality is not - you can't see what the quality is by looking at the outside. You

can't tell what the quality is by looking at the icon and you're not gonna

try - you're not gonna go out - just like you're not gonna go out and watch every

single movie. You're not gonna go out and download every app and none of your

users are either. So, if a market is really crowded, you have to think about

how you're gonna differentiate yourself and the easy answer is ads, right? I mean,

but if your budget is limited like for me, if I make a - you know, if I

make less than a dollar per user, which I do a lot less, then I can't pay a dollar

per user acquisition for an ad. It's just -

so, we have to think about all these other ways. Say, how are we gonna

get it noticed and it's just always an ongoing battle. So, my message today is

that the quality is not enough and most of you, guys, know this already. And

you know, even he , but I think he knew it when we were talking yesterday. The

quality is not enough. It's important but there's - you have to think about so

many other different ways, because even if, you know, if the movie

promoters can't sell the quality of a film, then how are

we going to do with apps? But, anyway, those are my thoughts for today. That's

it for today. I'll talk to you, guys, tomorrow.

For more infomation >> Quality is Not Enough in the App Market - Duration: 5:19.

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'It is a SAUCER!' UFO hunters on high alert after 'sighting' over California - Duration: 3:21.

'It is a SAUCER!' UFO hunters on high alert after 'sighting' over California

A video uploaded to YouTube by the channel SuspectSky appears to show a UFO in the skies above California.

The footage was captured in Rowland Heights, just east of Los Angeles, California, and shows a small white craft being followed by a larger craft.

The two objects, in the clip titled 'Large Black UFO with Another Leading Object Seen in California', appear to be moving over a mountain range and were spotted on October 24.

The man behind the camera, who took the footage when he was driving, says in the video: "If it is an airplane, it is moving very quickly.

"I was driving when I saw it and I had to make a U-turn to come back to see this "At first it looked like a cigar shape, right now it looks like it is almost a saucer." Some of the commenters beneath the clip, which has racked up more than 15,000 in less than 24 hours, were convinced that it is a UFO of extraterrestrial origin.

One person wrote: "The smaller object in front of the black one,now thats not right! It looks like a ufo to me!". Another added: "Too fat to be a plane. The white object might have been a regular passenger plane.

The black one might have been a UFO." However, others offered more plausible explanations. One said: "This is simply a plane pulling an advertisement behind it.

Nothing suspicious or suspect about it." Many believed it could have been military crafts, with one person stating: "It actually looks like one of those military helicopters with double blades - Chinook.".

Just last month it was reported a police helicopter was investigating a bizarre-looking circular "UFO in almost the same spot.

The video, filmed over Los Angeles shows what has been described as an LA County Sheriffs helicopter checking out a hovering spherical object. However, hopes that evidence of aliens may have been discovered above California, were soon dashed however, by sceptical debunkers.

The LASD aero bureau later confirmed what it was investigating. The spherical object turned out to be an advertising helium balloon for vape company Brass Knuckles.

For more infomation >> 'It is a SAUCER!' UFO hunters on high alert after 'sighting' over California - Duration: 3:21.

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BBC 6 Minute English - Pedestrianisation - is it good for cities and towns? - Duration: 6:18.

Hello, I'm Rob, and welcome to 6 Minute English, where today we're chatting about a pedestrian

topic and six items of related vocabulary.

Hello, I'm Neil.

A pedestrian is someone who walks around rather than travelling by car or bus.

But in Rob's sentence he used the adjective, and in this context it means dull or uninteresting!

And of course I was making a pun, Neil.

Because of course the show is going to be extremely interesting!

It'sabout safety on the streets – and whether pedestrianisation is a good thing

or not.

Pedestrianisation means changing a street into an area that can only be used by pedestrians.

Well, it sounds like a good idea – no traffic, less noise and air pollution.

And no chance of getting knocked down by a car or a bus!

There are plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street, which is one of the busiest shopping streets

in London.

That's right.

The Mayor of London wants to tackle – or make an effort to deal with – air pollution

in this very busy spot – where the amount of traffic is definitely a problem!

In fact, can you tell me, Neil, what's the average speed of a bus travelling along Oxford

Street?

Is it: a) 4.6 miles per hour,

b) 14.6 miles per hour or c) 46 miles per hour?

And I think it's 14.6 miles per hour – a) sounds too slow and c) sounds too fast!

OK, we'll find out the answer later on.

The problem is – the traffic doesn't just disappear.

You ban it from one area – and it gets rerouted somewhere else.

Ban means to say officially that something can't be done.

And reroute means to change the direction you're travelling in, in order to reach

a particular destination.

That's true, Rob.

It must be a big headache for city planners.

Well, let's listen now to Joe Urvin, Chief Executive of Living Streets.

He's going to talk some more about why traffic is causing problems in our towns and cities.

In 1970 we had 20 million cars in this country.

Now we have over 30 million cars in such a short period.

So that creates three big problems.

One is space – because we've still got the same street structures in our towns and

cities, causing congestion.

It causes pollution, which people are concerned about more and more.

And actually, it's kind of engineering walking out of our lives.

So we're actually not getting enough exercise, which is a cause of a health crisis.

Smart cities are looking at pedestrianisation – in Glasgow, in Birmingham, in London for

example, Manchester – as a way of not only making their places, cities better and more

attractive, actually, building their local economy.

So Neil Urvin identifies three problems – the first is that our city streets have stayed

the same while the number of cars on the roads has increased dramatically.

That's right – and this has led to congestion on our roads.

Congestion means too much traffic, making it hard to move.

The second problem is pollution – which we mentioned earlier.

Pollution is damage to the environment caused by releasing waste substances such as carbon

dioxide into the air.

And the third problem is that by travelling around on buses or in our cars we aren't

getting enough exercise.

And we all know that's a bad thing!

Would pedestrianisation engineer walking back into our lives do you think?

I'm not sure, Neil.

It would be great if we could go shopping or walk to work without breathing in fumes

or worrying about getting knocked down by a car.

But banning all motorised traffic from town centres might make life difficult for people

to get around.

Well, I'm not a town planner – and I don't have the answers.

But I would like to know if I got the answer right to the question you asked me earlier!

OK, well I asked you: What's the average speed of a bus travelling along Oxford Street?

Is it… a) 4.6mph, b) 14.6mph or c) 46mph?

And I said 14.6mph.

And that's not slow enough, Neil, I'm afraid.

The answer is actually 4.6mph.

And we pedestrians walk at an average speed of 3.1mph apparently!

Good to know.

OK – shall we go over the words we learned today, Rob?

Sure – the first one is 'pedestrian' – a person who is walking, usually in an

area where there's traffic.

'Sorry – you can't ride your bike here.

This path is for pedestrians only.'

The adjective – 'This book is full of very pedestrian ideas.

I wouldn't read it if I were you.'

I've crossed it off my list, Neil.

Thank you.

OK – number two is 'to tackle' something, which means to make an effort to deal with

a difficult problem.

For example, 'The government isn't really tackling the problem of air pollution.

It needs to do much more.'

Very true.

OK, 'ban' means to officially say that something can't be done.

'The UK government will ban the sale of diesel and petrol cars from 2040.'

And number four is 'reroute' which means to change the direction you're travelling

in.

'The council has rerouted all buses to avoid the town centre.'

'Congestion' is number five – too much traffic, making it difficult to move.

'Road congestion always gets better in the summer when a lot of car drivers are on holiday.'

That's true, isn't it?

London always seems emptier in July and August.

Except for all the tourists walking around – congesting the streets!

Very funny!

And finally, number six is 'pollution' – which is damage to the environment caused

by releasing waste substances such as carbon dioxide into the air, or plastic into the

sea.

'You can help reduce air pollution by walking to work every day instead of driving.'

Are you talking to me, Neil?

I always walk to work!

I know you do, Rob – you're an example to us all!

OK, that's all we have time for today.

But please don't forget to visit us via our Twitter, Facebook and YouTube pages!

Goodbye!

Bye bye!