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:
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.
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:
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
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 awayinvest 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.
Well isn’t this just great! Just the other day, I was talking with a friend about how long various types of food lasts. Today, I hear about StillTasty.com. The site helps visitors to determine how long to keep particular types of food, provides storage tips, and does so through a very usable UI (user interface to all the non-techies here). However, not all is well in StillTasty Land.
Do I have an iPhone? Absolutely not. Will I ever get one? I seriously doubt it. Is that something Im proud of? Damn skippy! That said, foursquare (iTunes page) is a kick ass app that ALMOST makes me want to rethink my stance.
What exactly is foursquare? Its a location aware social media tool that allows you to update your location, send shouts to your friends, track your ‘achievements,’ and keep a to-do list that is shared with your friends. You can also add additional information about your favorite food or beer to your favorite hangouts.
Ive watched a couple of demos of this thing and I gotta say it looks like a winner. I, like the gang over at Read Write Web, think the real kicker to this whole thing is the achievement system. Think of it like the Xbox 360 Achievement system for your night life! Though Atlanta is not yet available, I am glad to see that they have a mobile version so those of us using dated technology (Treo 755p cough cough) can still play.
For those of you who live here in Atlanta, be patient Im sure theyll get to us soon. For now, the city selection is limited to Austin, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, San Francisco, Seattle, & Washington DC.
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