How NOT to market an app

There are hundreds of approaches one could take to marketing an App, to me it seemed that there were far too many. So I started thinking about the worst ways to market an app. This could prove entirely pointless (although I like to think I will find a point eventually), but I think it’s a good idea to address the issue from the opposite angle.

It’s a growing list…

1. Threaten an innocent bunny

2. Lie about what it does

Sunny London

I took a flight yesterday morning from Barcelona (where I’m currently living) to London. A month or so ago I decided to buy an Easyjet Plus card – and particularly for busy flights like the one I took it was a smart purchase. For £109 (as of March 2012) you can check your bag in at a dedicated (and usually empty) desk at the airport and skip the huge line to be on the plane first and pick your favourite seat. The only downside is that you have to wait for quite a while as everybody has to board. Maybe they could put the other passengers straight into the aircraft hold to speed things up a bit more…

Last evening, I had a lovely catch up with old friends and acquaintances at the RAF Club in London. The building is steeped in character and history, and has magnificent views overlooking Hyde Park.

This morning I managed to catch up with one of my best friends from when I was at school in New York. The weather in London today was beautiful. I really miss the UK – might be getting a little homesick…

The real way to learn a language

As a linguist, I have a strong love for languages (both natural and computational) but also a severe dislike for language classes. For years, I’ve taken classes in how to speak languages, which in some respects are essential but always profoundly boring. Grammar classes can be useful, however, classes in which the aim is to practice a language in order to become better at it are never productive.

Last summer I improved my French by studying history, literature and philosophy at the Ecole Normale Superieure. I also made a blog which is mentioned on their website.

“The real way to learn a language is to trick your mind by doing something else that you’re passionate about.”

As I’m living in Barcelona at the moment, I decided to find a classical Spanish singing teacher. I came across the world’s leading specialist in Latin American and Spanish singing. Patricia Caicedo (www.patriciacaicedo.com) is a Colombian singer and musicologist who teaches in Barcelona and New York. I’ve had one lesson so far and I understood everything except the spanish word pitufo which means smurf.

Above: Patricia singing ‘Pueblito Viejo’ with the Moscow City Symphony Orchestra.

I’ve only had one class so far. Once I get going I might post a video of me trying some classical Latin American/Spanish songs.

We’ll see…

i went to the circus

Barcelona is a great city to explore.

Circus

Last week Charlotte visited and we went to see Corteo (Cirque du Soleil). Arrived in freezing cold weather (-1c) and I wasn’t too thrilled to be heading towards a large tent. Inside, however, it was super warm and fully decked out. The show was great in terms of circus tricks and superhuman feats of strength and balance, but as a story it wasn’t very clear and the acts lacked continuity. It was also in Catalan, which as a French and Spanish speaker, felt like a creepy nightmare.

MACBA

During the past few days, I have done quite a bit of walking around. I managed to find my way home from Borne (a 40 minute walk right through the city). I found some nice bars hidden away a few streets off La Rambla and stumbled upon the Modern Art Gallery (Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona). As well as the mind-bending art you’d expect in a major city gallery, the centre contains some really good photographic exhibits and paranoiac installations. I became a member – better to explore on your own than with Mum and Dad.

food experiments

Barcelona is great for buying really fresh food. I’ve been busy experimenting – the Spanish way.

 Click the ‘i’ (top right) for more information

donut social networking

A good summary of social networks:

restart page

I found the most pointless site/page on the internet today. It’s called the restart page and it’s great for procrastinating.