FoodieBuddha.com

I make no bones about my general disdain for a company that embeds personal information into audio files that you purchase (see: Apple).  That said, I know a big thing when I see it … and for better or worse, the iPad is a big thing.  That I have no intention of playing with it for any significant amount of time is neither here nor there.  What’s important is this: we’re foodies and the iPad will be good to some of you.  So … were you one of the 300,000 people to rush out and purchase an iPad on day one?  If so, check out some awesomely cool things you can do with it after the jump (with a tip of the hat to awesomeness that is Super Mario Brothers)!

Continue reading…

 
Just wanted to drop in and let everyone know that I started a twitter list for Atlanta area restaurants, chefs, and other professional foodie personalities.  You can find it here and us it to see what’s going on in and around the city.  I’ll be busy over the next few days adding to the list (currently at 75); however, you can hit me via @foodiebuddha if you know of a place that needs to be added.  Cheers y’all!

Those that read this know I’m just a techie moonlighting as a foodie.  Knowing how to download music for free, especially MP3’s, is a hot topic in the technology world these days.  So while I like to keep things here focused on food, I can’t help but venture outside my plate a little.  After mentioning this tip via twitter, my inbox just blew up … so I’m going to save myself the trouble and show everyone how to do this … COUGH COUGH … completely legal and legitimate activity.  I’m not in any way telling you what is or is not legal, only what is possible.

For those of you on Firefox or Chrome, you just need to create a bookmarklet (explained on wiki).  If you’re still using Internet Explorer, ditch it and ditch it now (okay, I lied, this will still work, but get away from IE anyway).  All you need to do is click on the link that follows and drag it to the bookmark bar: Music Download

As I know my site isn’t geared toward the techies out there, if dragging this to your bookmark bar is confusing, do not be deterred.  If you use chrome, here’s a video for you.  If you use Firefox, here’s another one.  Note about those videos, all you need to do is the first part of it where you see the link being dragged.

Last but not least, I did not write this – I don’t remember where I saw it … hit me up if you know where I did.

While this is a food blog, there is no doubt that the techie in me wants to take every opportunity to drop some nugget of wisdom every once in a blue moon.  Today is just such a day.  UrbanSpoon, a social review site for restaurants, just launched an Android version of their popular iPhone app.

For those of you with accounts (like me), you can use the app to login to the site and go about your daily business.  However, the coolest feature doesn’t require an account.  As you’ll see below, they have a slot machine toy.  Shake your phone, and US will suggest a nearby location for you to eat based on neighborhood, cuisine type, and budget.  Pretty slick and I’m glad they’ve ported the application over to the Android ecosystem.

For those of you who are still with me, this only works on Droid and Nexus One phones.  If you’ve got the barcode scanner, here’s the direct link to install:

Download UrbanSpoon:

[via us]

Now this is one hell of a great idea!  RoamingHunger.com is a site dedicated to those lovely little food trucks we’ve heard so much about.

While these little wandering snack shacks are noticeably absent from Atlanta’s dining scene (since the demise of Via Elisa), this is a great site for the foodie on you. [sic ]  Roaming Hunger is a glorified twitter aggregator that tracks the daily location of roughly 200 trucks.  It comes complete with user ratings and little tidbits about each truck. 

Food trucks are a trend that has grown from underground “coolness” into on the cusp of being overdone.  I’m sure it will definitely hit here sometime … but for now, we have Ketel One vodka’s alcohol-free truck on the loose.  Top Chef’s Ilan Hall is behind the wheel on that.  Meanwhile, Taco Bell got busy, and Ingrid Hoffmann (of the Food Network) is doing it up Miami style.

[thanks FC]

Though slightly off-topic, we here at Foodie Buddha do recognize the symbiotic relationship between drink and morsel.  Hence, this post! 

We all know the feeling.  You’ve had a few too many, you’re either completely elated or totally depressed, and all you want to do is call that person.  Perhaps it’s your wife and you want to tell your you love her (don’t – you’ll sound like an ass), perhaps it’s your significant other (don’t – you’ll sound clingy), or perhaps it’s the one that got away (DEFINITELY don’t – you’ll sound like a dwebe because you are one).

So while we all know these are things we shouldn’t do … we end up knee deep in the shit.  Thankfully, technology is here to help.  Enter The Bad Decision Blocker (website).

So yes, this little phone app is here to prevent you from drunk dialing.  Sadly, it is only available on the evil empires platform…but rest assured, it will probably end up on a phone near you sometime soon.

Yelp! can’t avoid trouble for love or money.  It seems like almost everyday, the hugely popular review site finds itself in some sort of public hot water.  Be it lawsuit, business backlash, or even bribery, they have their share of public relation problems.  The latest snafu comes at the expense of Apple, and their seemingly ubiquitous iPhone.

This isn’t a tech blog, so I’ll spare ya’ll the techie talk … but here’s the long of the short.  Apple has introduced something called Augmented Reality (AR) [Wikipedia] for the iPhone.  In this case, AR allows you to utilize a mashup (tech talk for “combination”) of online maps, street view, and yelp reviews.  Here’s how it works:

Looks and sounds pretty cool huh?  The problem is … the developers of the Yelp App had to jump through some hoops to get it in place before the release of the upcoming iPhone update. The end result is the Easter egg described above.  Now there’s been a lot of love bestowed upon the app and its makers (here and here), but a guest post over on TechCrunch raises some points that have some people scratching their heads.

Yelp isn’t a frequent stop for me, but I do shoot over there every once in a blue moon (foodiebuddha.yelp.com).  It’s a site that absolutely has some utility … but I just can’t figure out why they keep pissing so many people off.  Keep in mind, I’m not talking about the people who frequent Yelp or our very own Ambassador.  I’m just sayin’ – the people calling the shots seem to have a pension for punishment.

Speaking of just sayin – here’s your laugh of the day:

Who says computer geeks can’t cook?

Lifehacker.com is one of my daily reads (as it is for most every other professional in the technology sector).  Every once in a blue moon, they drop something cooking related.  Such was the case with yesterday’s post.  Creatively named “The Lifehacker Cookbook,” you’ll find a collection of [mostly] American grub all linked up and ready to go.

Fear not my fellow foodies, the cookbook is really just a link resource to some really excellent stuff.  It includes real stuff from real cooks.

Of the available recipes (which are sorted by meal of the day), my favorite is the homemade ginger ale recipe.  Granted, I haven’t tried most of these recipes.  The post for the ginger ale hit the web-waves just a few days ago; but, the recipe has been around for a bit.  It was extracted from the Jean-Georges Vongerichten cookbook entitled Cooking At Home with a Four-Star Chef.  I had a lot of luck with it; my friends and I gladly polished off a couple of batches in a single sitting.

You can now get Epicurious on your iPhone, that little gadget that seems to do everything but provide good call quality.  Actually, this is pretty much awesome!  Relying on sources like gourmet.com and bon appetit, you can find many many thousands of recipes on this bad boy.  Heck, the entire Gourmet Cookbook is available!  Supperlicious!

The real cool thing is that this sucker is actually usable.  You can take the recipe and turn it into a shopping list.  I just spent a few minutes playing with the app and think it is not half bad.  There is some room for improvement; but, given that this is free, I can’t complain.  Download it here: Epicurious for iPhone

[via too many sources]

 Foodista is back in the news again.  Last time I checked in, I wasn’t optimistic about the idea of a recipe wiki.  However, a lot has happened in the past few months – but nothing that changes my mind.

To start, a group of investors from Seattle and Amazon have decided to throw away invest over half a mil in the site.  That’s not as much cash as it sounds like; but, it’s still more than I’d like to see handed over to a company with no apparent ongoing revenue stream on the horizon.

Back to that Seattle connection … apparently Foodista has decided to organize a conference in Seattle.  Targeted at yours truly, and the like, the International Food Blogger Conference is scheduled to hit the ground running in mid-May.  Okay, so there are some impressive sponsors and some great topics; but, I already have plans.  Thus, no visits to see my sister. Seriously though – 500k in investment!!!! What’s up with that people?

Nonetheless, the site is worth checking out … so head on over to foodista.com and see what you think for yourself.