Zoombulu - 2.0
is the perfect app for learning the rules of the road and passing the DMV written test.
is the perfect app for learning the rules of the road and passing the DMV written test.
Zoombulu app has all-natural ingredients. They are practice questions, mock tests, car and insurance buying tips, friendly coaching messages, and inspirational badges. Sprinkle on top is clean original writing and the latest natural speech technology. It's lovingly baked over a beautiful, responsive, intelligent layout.
It's everything you want with no ads, no add-ons, no in-app purchase, and no trans-fat.
The app requires no network connection, i.e., runs in offline mode so that you can use it anytime and anywhere.
You can use it on the train, on the plane, and while drinking non-alcoholic champagne.
The faster you passed the DMV tests, the sooner you're free. Free to explore, free to roam, and free to be yourself.
You can drive here. You can drive there. You can drive to your cardio, and you can drive with your armadillo.
Available on Apple iPhone, iPad, Android phone and tablet.
*Works on iOS 11.0+, Android Lollipop/5.0+
*Apple iPhone and iPad version price is $3.99
*Android phone and tablet version price is $4.99
Usage:
"I have achieved the zoombulu state of mind while driving in Manhatten."
"Only the zoombulues can drive in the morning commute from San Jose to San Francisco without losing their mind."
"The zoombulu is strong within you, young car driver." – to paraphrase Obi-Wan Kenobi
VerbUsage:
"I zoombulued out, and I breezed through the DMV test."
"He is zoombuluing to the airport."
Origin
Inspired by Erin McKean's TED Talk titled "The Joy of Lexicography." "Zoombulu" is a new word in the world dictionary.
"Zoom" is a sound from a vehicle that moves fast toward or away from you. It's the Doppler Effect. The effect causes the sudden change in pitch noticeable in a passing siren.
"bulu" does not refer to the Bulu people of Cameroon.
"bulu" origin is as follows.
"bulu" is originated from the Yogi bear phrase "C'mon Boo Boo." It primarily means "time to get started" or "it's now or never."
However, "Zoombooboo" sounds fabricated. We are a multicultural programmer team, and one of our pronunciation of "boo-boo" sounds more like "boo-lu," and there it is. "Zoombulu,"/zoom-boo-lu/, with the emphasis on the middle -boo-, like a perfect bell-shaped curve rhythm, becomes the new word in the world dictionary.
Hallelujah, "Zoombulu" is the perfect word and the name of our app.
Practices make perfect. There is no more natural way to learn about the rules of the road then to do a lot of practice tests. The app has no ads, no waiting for the download, and no online network so that you can practice the DMV written test anywhere and anytime. You can do a little bit at a time, or you can do a long midnight session. It makes no difference as long as your practice frequently.
Furthermore, the "questions and answers" are 100% rewritten by elite professional writers. They are grammatically correct, easy to understand, and in the form of a "question." The answers are peppered with humor and sometimes debunked urban myths about driving. Unlike the DMV test, the app questions are not trying to trick you. They are for more accessible learning of the driving laws.
The app designs to make your life easier. You can swipe up anytime to hear the app read the questions and answers. It uses the latest natural voice technology. You can swipe down to see the menu and swipe left or right to move to the next page or the previous page.
For a practice session, the app randomly selects 40 out of 450 questions. Mathematically, it is highly unlikely that you will have the same practice session twice. The app displays the correct answers in realtime, i.e., there is no need to wait for the server-side to respond.
The app designs with meticulous care in the animations, icons, and sliding panels. They are fun to watch but unobtrusive. The responsive UI looks great on any mobile device with different pixel sizes and both on portrait and landscape.
The goal is for you to understand the rules of the road entirely. Safe driving is a lifelong lesson that is better learned earlier than later.
The "Mock test" section is to simulate the DMV test. You have 20 minutes to answer 40 questions. There is a countdown clock on the top to help you keep track of the time. In addition to the countdown clock, the dots are slowly morphed to different hues so you can gauge how long you have spent on each question.
After you completed the test or when the time is up, the test-score will reveal immediately. The "Mock test" will reset to a new set of questions. With so many questions in the app, you will never take the same "Mock test" twice.
The "Mock test" has all the benefits as in the Practice session above, such as there are no ads, no waiting for the download, no online network, 100% professionally written questions, advanced natural voice, responsive layout, and unobtrusive animation.
The goal is not to 100% replicate the DMV tests because, as long as you understand the laws, you can pass any DMV tests. Furthermore, the states wrote the DMV booklets in an unnecessarily complicated matter. It feels like the DMV booklets and the written-tests are trying to confuse and trick you rather than helping you to learn the safe driving laws.
When you have passed the "Mock test" three times or more, you are ready to take on any written-tests that the archaic DMV can dish up.
The "Car tips" section is a guide to help you through the process of purchasing a vehicle, which can be intimidating. A car is a substantial investment, so please do your homework before buying one.
The "Car tips" contain a chock full of research insights as well as common sense advice. It helps you to avoid the pitfalls of dumb mistakes and taken to the cleaner by the car salesmen. Two elite professional writers rewrote the tips for clarity. The app strikes a balance between facts and common sense advice. Swipe up and hear the app reading the tips.
The "Car tips" section has no ads, no waiting for the download, and no online network, advanced natural voice, responsive layout, and unobtrusive animation.
The goal is to demystify the automobile buying experience for young drivers in purchasing their first car.
The "Insurance tips" is a guide to educate on how to choose a custom automobile insurance coverage for your needs, at a price that you can afford.
For young drivers, insurance is one of the last things on their minds, and the automobile insurance companies' options are unnecessarily complicated. Furthermore, a dishonest agent will sell you a policy at a high monthly premium cost and full of coverages that you don't need. Even worst, some policies may not adequately ensure if you are in an automobile accident.
The ironic thing is that the concept of insurance is straightforward to understand. You pay a relatively "little bit of money" every month, and it should give you peace of mind by paying for the cost when you are in an automobile accident.
The goal is to demystify the automobile insurance terminology for young drivers. Working with a knowledgable and caring insurance agent, you can customize your insurance policy at a price that you can afford.
The badges are a fun feature to keep track of your status. Every time you complete a section, such as the "Practice," the "Mock test," the "Car tips," and the "Insurance tips," you will earn a new badge.
We morph the "SyFy" theme with the Zoombulu theme because we are computer nerds, and we are proud to be one.
There generally two types of coaches, a "sports coach" and a "life coach." Initially, our coach-code was like a sports coach metaphor. It frequently interrupts and urges you to practice more and do better at the mock test as well as encourages you to read the tips section. However, after the combined hundred of build cycles and thousand of hours coding the app, we found the frequent interruptions annoying. Therefore, we trimmed the coach-code from the GIT source tree to a bare minimum.
The coach-code now only reminds you what needs at the beginning and tells you how well you did at the end. Speaking for computer nerds all over the world, how sweet would it be if we could turn the "sports coaches" in our life into the "life coaches" as simple as changing the software code in GitHub.
The Zoombulu app builds around the driving laws, and therefore, before we write the first line of code, we took our time to do the competitive research, and we held rigorous discussions on the content. The "questions and answers" have to be just right.
The target audiences are young drivers, so we chose a conversational writing style and peppered them with humor. We hired elite professional writers to rewrite the content entirely. There are no competitors, including the DMV, that take so much care in writing the contents.
The goal is for young drivers to understand the laws. Safe driving is a lifelong lesson that is better learned earlier than later.
User convenience is the primary focus for the Zoombulu app, and what is more convenient than letting the app read for you. At any time on any screen, swipe up, and the app will read the content.
The app uses the latest natural speech technology. It is not the old-style monotone computer text-to-speech reading. The app will read with inflection. It’s not as good as Siri, Alexa or Cortana, but for a mobile app without relying on AI cloud computing, it did remarkability well.
We were considering using voice actors, but storing and processing thousands of MP3 files are inefficient. The only option is taking advantage of the modern mobile device processing power to simulate natural speech.
The app has gone beyond responsive User Interface (UI) level and to the Intelligent UI (IUI) level. The IUI level includes a responsive layout on any mobile device screen dimension, portrait, landscape, automatic font adjustment, vector icons, vector graphics, and animation.
The animations are smooth and natural because of the extensive use of easing and elastic effects. The natural speech and four directional swiping are part of the IUI.
It is universal acceptance that swiping "left," or "right" is for moving forward or backward, i.e., displaying more content. The competitors are using swipe "up" or "down" to scroll, which is also for posting more content. Therefore, the swiping "up" or "down" is redundant.
The app pioneers the new concept in using swipe "up" or "down." In the Zoombulu app, swipe "up" will cause the app to read the text, and swipe "down" will cause the "menu" to display.
Understandably, the competitors are not able to code at the IUI level with the "up, down" swiping because they are using a "cookie-cutter framework." It may help them develop their app faster, but they lack originality.
Developing IUI with alternative "up, down" swiping will challenge programmers and designers. It is not easy. A good analogy is the "carpenter" analogy, i.e., "if you are building a table, chairs, and a bookcase by assembling IKEA kits, then don't expect originality and leading-edge design."
Available on Apple iPhone, iPad, Android phone and tablet.
*Works on iOS 11.0+, Android Lollipop/5.0+
*Apple iPhone and iPad version price is $3.99
*Android phone and tablet version price is $4.99
We are a team of programmers, a.k.a. the corporate "code slingers" or for the nonprofit crowd, the "code walkers." Altogether, we speak four human languages and three dozen computer languages.
We are a prolific writer, presenter, and contributor to GitHub and BitBucket open-source projects. We have mastered our craft, so when it comes to writing our mobile app, IoT app, AR and AI/Deep Learning, more often than not, we choose to code the app from the ground up. To use a "cooking" analogy, "Would a master chef use shake-and-bake to cook his/her family dinner?"
Available on Apple iPhone, iPad, Android phone and tablet.
*Works on iOS 11.0+, Android Lollipop/5.0+
*Apple iPhone and iPad version price is $3.99
*Android phone and tablet version price is $4.99
Silicon Valley and Half Moon Bay California