Gadgets

E la Carte: Restaurants' Electronic Menus Revolutionize Ordering

by Jason Best, Posted Apr 21st 2011 @ 4:00PM

Technology has managed to make all manner of service employees practically obsolete -- bank tellers, travel agents, grocery store checkers. Are waiters next?

When you think about it, the newfangled gadget that tech startup E la Carte released this week has been sort of a long time coming. It's basically a more rugged version of an iPad that allows you to touch-screen your way through a restaurant menu, order and even pay.

The crotchety misanthrope might ask, "How is it that I've been able to scan and bag my own groceries for years, but still I have to make chit-chat with the waiter at Applebee's?"

Right now, reports our our sister site TechCrunch, only about 20 eateries have the device, mostly in San Francisco and Boston. But E la Carte says it has a long waiting list of restaurant owners eager to try the thing. One reason is because restaurants that have tested it have reported a 10 to 12 percent spike in overall revenue, since E la Carte is great at up-selling. ("Would you like a side salad with that for only $3 more?" Here's a lovely picture of the side salad. All you have to do is press this button.)

Filed under: Trends, Restaurants, Gadgets

New App Counts Calories with iPhone Camera

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by Jessie Cacciola, Posted Apr 18th 2011 @ 12:00PM

MealSnap iphone app Photo: iTunes

Calorie counts can now be made with a flick of your iPhone. Meal Snap, by health and fitness brand DailyBurn ($2.99 on iTunes), allows users to calculate calories for any food item in the app's 500,000-item database, from an apple to a bag of chips, simply by snapping its picture. Users can then choose to log it into a food diary, to keep track of daily intake, or share findings on Twitter, if you're a lifestyle pusher.

But the counting isn't exact. A few minutes after snapping, a reading reveals a range of possible calories -- an apple could be anywhere between 64 and 96, while a container of yogurt registered between 135 and 204, notes the Daily Mail, who ran a test of their own. So nutrition sticklers, beware, these are mere estimates. The app will also estimate fat content, vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins and other breakdowns, notes chief executive at DailyBurn, Andy Smith, according to Daily Mail.

And it may do wonders for our appetite, says Smith. "The pure act of tracking something can cause a psychological change that can help people on their health and fitness journey," he tells the Mail. "Just the simple fact of logging it makes me more aware of what I'm eating." No lie. Weight Watchers members have been doing just that for decades -- without a camera.

Filed under: New Products, Gadgets

The Food Processor Turns the Big 4-0

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by Jason Best, Posted Feb 2nd 2011 @ 3:00PM

Photo: Aimee Herring

The food processor revolutionized home cooking, and the cry of its pitchmen would resound in the cultural memory of an entire generation: "It slices! It dices!"

This year the kitchen gadget that changed the way we make everything from coleslaw to pie crust is celebrating its 40th anniversary. The Chicago Sun-Times has put together a glowing tribute to this icon of the modern kitchen. Who knew that such a cold little machine whose main feature is the blind, lethal whirling of a devilishly sharp blade could inspire so much love?

Filed under: Food News, Gadgets

Holiday Gift Guide for Foodies & Cooks

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by Jennifer R. Beck, Posted Dec 16th 2010 @ 11:00AM

People who love to eat and cook often have a kitchen stocked with the essentials and possess an array of specialty gadgets or food-themed décor. So looking for a dinner party hostess gift or an on-point present for the passionate foodie in your life is often quite the challenge. This year, we've rounded up some of the coolest new tools and goodies we could find – items that are brand-new or unique – to make your holiday shopping just a little easier. What's even better? They're all under $50. Click through the gallery to see our top gift picks.

Hungry for more? Check out all of our Christmas menus, recipes and entertaining tips. If you're all about cookies (who isn't?), we've got 25 days of Christmas cookies. If you want other sorts of sweets, check out Gail Simmons' Christmas desserts.

Additional reporting by Lindsay Damast.

Filed under: New Products, Gadgets

Robots to the Rescue

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by Jason Best, Posted Dec 7th 2010 @ 1:00PM

robot to debone a ham Photo: YouTube

We may still be a long way from the kind of future where C3PO is on hand to decant your favorite wine for you, but it seems we're inching ever closer to the age of the robot.

To wit, the recent Fourth Robot Awards, in Japan, where two industrial food-processing robots took top prizes. The first is a machine that looks downright terrifying -- just a long, sleek robot arm with a gleaming knife welded to one end. It's the HAMDAS-R, developed by Mayekawa Electric, and it's designed to remove ham bones -- a lot of them. Five hundred in an hour, which is twice as fast as a human's capability to debone a ham.

As Popular Science reports, what's previously kept robots out of the gruesome business of meat processing is that they generally haven't been so good at telling the difference between meat and bone, leaving results that we're guessing looked something like tossing a pork chop into a blender. The HAMDAS-R, however, "is able to consistently distinguish meat from bone," which garnered it the top prize in the Small Business and Venture category.

Filed under: Science, Gadgets

Can't Find That Wine? Try Snooth

COMMENTS 1

by Jennifer Lawinski, Posted Sep 27th 2010 @ 4:00PM

Snooth Wine Pro Photo: iTunes

You're out at a restaurant for a special occasion and have ordered an absolutely delicious bottle of wine. It's so good, in fact, you'd like to know if they sell it at your local wine store. With Snooth Wine Pro, a new iPhone app, you can find out simply by taking a quick photo of the label.

Snooth Wine Pro can identify that wine and then provide you with reviews, locations that carry it and even online ordering options in seconds. You can even find other wines from the same vineyard.

We tested out the app on the only bottle of wine we had in the house -- a housewarming gift and the only bottle in the wine fridge: a Grgich Hills Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2002.

We snapped a photo of the label with the iPhone and the app was able to not only identify the wine, but other vintages and other varietals made by the Grgich Hills vineyard and it listed stores across the country where you could find the bottle. (The nearest was 57 miles away in Middletown, N.Y. which sells it for $69.99.)

Filed under: Gadgets

Ballpark Dining Goes High-Tech

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by Jason Best, Posted Sep 24th 2010 @ 4:00PM

Hot dog and fries at Phillies baseball game Photo: ShellyS, Flickr

Don't want to spend the seventh-inning stretch standing in line for food? There's an app for that.

Major League Baseball Advanced Media is testing a new iPhone app at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, home of the Phillies, that allows fans to order food and have it delivered directly to their seats. If all goes well, the plan is to have the service available at ballparks across the country by next season.

The food-delivery option is bundled with MLBAM's At Bat 2010 iPhone app, which offers live streaming games, stats and scores and and currently sells for $7. It's not clear whether, beyond having to buy the app, there will be an extra fee for food delivery on top of the already sky-high ballpark prices (e.g., $13 for a BBQ turkey sandwich).

Filed under: Gadgets

The Ohio State Fair Food App

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by Naomi Shulman, Posted Jul 29th 2010 @ 1:00PM

food concession stand at the state fair Photo: Kevin Dooley, Flickr

In many corners of the country it's fair-going time, and you know what that means: whiplash-inducing rides, cheap stuffed animal prizes, and oh yeah, food. Lots of food, mostly the kind you rarely let yourself indulge in -- cotton candy, for example, or (kill me now) fried dough. If you're going to schlep your way to the fairgrounds and bump elbows with everyone else in the county, you're going to want your yearly fix of the bad (but oh-so-good) stuff. So how are you going to find it in the crowds?

That's where the Food Finder comes in. The Ohio State Fair, anticipating a throng of hungry patrons, has created a mobile app that tells you exactly where to locate that Italian sausage or cheese on a stick you've been longing for. Many state fairs and amusements parks have put up websites detailing all the food options; Ohio's info can even be accessed right on your cellphone -- so while your kids are screaming on the Tilt-A-Whirl, you can scope out the nearest candy-apple cart.

Of course, the app does more than satisfy fair-going appetites -- it gives vendors a boost, too. Brian Shenkman, whose fried buckeyes were one of the hottest thing going at least year's fair, told Ohio's News 10 Team that he expects the new technology to help his business. "[W]e won't have the complaints that we had last year with people saying they can't find us," he said. "You'll find us now."

In other words, everyone wins -- except perhaps our waistlines. Deep-fried Snickers bar, anyone? Meet you at the Ferris wheel.

Filed under: Gadgets

One Restaurant to Go, Please

COMMENTS 3

by Slashfood Editor, Posted Jul 20th 2010 @ 4:00PM

Photo: Muvbox

Is it your dream to become a restaurateur? Or to travel the world? Now you can fulfill both wishes thanks to Muvbox, a "partially-solar-powered, 12,000-pound shipping container that transforms into a restaurant with seating areas shaded by large awnings." The Transformer-like concept boxes are made to order, so any restless chef could give their eatery a go on one continent, and then ship it across the world and start anew.

Head over to Eater to read more about the Muvbox, and see a video of its amazing assembly.
[Eater]

Filed under: Business, Restaurants, Gadgets

Locally Grown Fruit in Seattle? There's a Map for That

COMMENTS 2

by Jason Best, Posted Jul 14th 2010 @ 3:00PM

Photo: elisfanclub, Flickr

As anyone who's ever owned a fruit tree knows, there's nothing quite like sinking your teeth into that first ripe plum (or fig or cherry) of the season -- but what do you do with the other, oh, five thousand of them?

Once you've plied your family, friends and neighbors with bushel upon bushel, if you're lucky enough to live in Seattle, you head to City Fruit. The founders of the local nonprofit recognized that there was a whole bounty of fresh, locally grown fruit literally going to waste, from backyard Bartlett pears to "feral" apples growing on public land.

The group not only educates fruit-tree owners on how best to care for their trees, it also organizes "harvesting groups" and maintains a list of food banks and other charitable organizations that welcome donations of fresh fruit.

It all sounds very quaint, yes, but these folks aren't stuck back in the days of Johnny Appleseed. In what is perhaps one of the coolest uses of Google Maps to date, City Fruit has unveiled the Fruit Tree Map of Seattle. The map gives tree owners who are stuck with an embarrassment of riches a chance to share their harvest, and it also allows anyone who happens to spot a public tree that's ripe for the picking to alert other fruit fans to its location.

Filed under: Gadgets