Apps this week - Secret & NBC Live Extra

I like to download, use and delete lots of apps and new products. In this weekly column, I write about two products which caught my attention.  This week I am looking at Secret, an anonymous way to speak your mind and NBC Live Extra, a way to watch all the Olympics and other content live on your devices.

Recap from last week

You can read last weeks post here, http://www.hansgill.com/apps-this-week-facebook-paper-flappy-bird/

Facebook Paper has established a permanent spot on the main page alongside snapchat, google maps, whatsApp and chrome. It's my goto source for news now, so long google news!

I played Flappy Bird everyday this week multiple times. If I had to put a time on it, I would say I spent about 10-15 minutes each day on average.  I rarely spend any time on games so the fact I wasted more than an hour in a week on this game is a amazing.  The big news out today is that Dong Ngyuen has decided to remove the game from the app store citing concerns that he cannot "..do it anymore".  Who knows the real truth about this. Perhaps he was bought out and buyer wants to keep the purchase underwraps or perhaps he is being strong armed by someone, whatever the reason he created an amazing game!

Secret - speak your mind anonymously

Initial thoughts

I wonder if I know any of these people who are posting?

There's a lot of nonsense being posted in here.  Wait a minute this is part of my network 1 to 2 links away, I know most of these people.

Not everything being shared in here could be real, could it?

People make up lots of stuff.

What is Secret about?

Ever had the need to share something deep, dark, exciting but weren't sure how people would react? Scared that if you post a picture of a kitty kat your manhood will be questioned?  Then this is the app for you.  Assuming you want to share your opinions with the world and be judged by strangers whose opinion you have to take with a grain of salt then this seems like a great app.

I started using the app last night and right away the first red flag was my wife's comment

Ya you're too busy on secret posting who knows what

It didn't matter if I tried to explain to her that this is about anonymously sharing your thoughts without the worry of ridicule. Even though that is just one use case i'm sure its one of the prime reasons people will use this platform.

What I do know is that this is not something my wife will use.  Since I give each app a week test drive, i'll have to continue along on the secret app.

Making money?

Seems like a cool app to build but definitely a buyout play and no other way I see them make any money.

How are these guys going to make money?  The last two apps I featured both are money making machines. Flappy Bird was pulling in 50k a day from in-game ads and Facebook Paper enables further reach for advertisers who pay Facebook billions!

I can't imagine user's wanting to pay for this. Neither can I imagine that this platform is going to get the critical mass to sustain on ad revenue alone.

NBC Olympics - Watch all the live events in Sochi

Initial thoughts

Awesome, I can watch all the olympics on my phone now since I don't have cable anymore

Oh wait, that's not possible because in-order to watch the games you still MUST have a subscription to the games. Time to call a friend with comcast :)

The streams freeze a lot.

What is the app about?

NBC knows people want to consume their content on many devices other than just the TV but the cable networks control all the consumers, so this app allows you to consume the olympics on all your devices IF you have cable subscription.  That is a big if these days because the movement towards "No TV Home".  My household falls in that category.  We subscribe to Netflix and also get Amazon instant because I have a prime subscription.

The app has a slick interface and I can see myself using this for other events on NBC as well.  2016 olympics in Brazil perhaps? I have already put the my notifications for all the men's hockey games, Go team USA!