"iphone" news and stories

By Pervaiz Shallwani
We're big proponents of buying local when possible and just spied some curious data about 5,500 iPhone users buying a $3 Locavore app (created by a Slashfood friend) in a mere month. It tells iPhone addicts what's in season, what's en route and where nearby farmers' markets are located.

Whoa. We wondered what other yummy things we could do if we got with the times and finally embraced an iPhone for our foodie needs. Boy, were we shocked. There are hundreds of free and paid downloads including one for beer, one for soda and a fast-food meal calorie counter.

Not only are food nerd darlings Serious Eats, Food Network and Yelp at our fingertips, so is the FDA with food recall news (though their freebie Twitter also works), a guide to finding cheap or free kids' meals at nearby eateries and Twecipe, which matches the dregs of those fridge contents to a recipe.

All this edible ammo available at the touch of a button makes us wonder whether Googling our munching needs is becoming just so 2008 and whether we should cave to the iFeed – er, iPhone -- trend. Have you?

For those of you out there with iPhones, there are all sorts of great food-related applications available for your nifty gadget. You can plan your evening meal with the Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner or find the closest grocery store or take-out joint with Fast Food. The UrbanSpoon app allows you to find area restaurants with a simple shake of your phone.

Kraft Foods has decided to get in on the iPhone app-action and to do it has creating the iFood Assistant. This app serves up a daily recipe, as well as ideas for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner. However, as far as I can see, there are a couple of glitches in Kraft's plan for iPhone domination. When it comes to healthy eating, Kraft's reputation is a bit dubious. I would be concerned that the recipes it serves up would be laden with overly processed, chemical-laden ingredients. Second, they've decided to charge $.99 for their app. I could see people downloading it if it was free, but I'm not sure how many takers there'll be for a this sucker when it's got a price tag on it (especially since the Allrecipes.com download is free and offers many of the same services).

For those iPhone accessorized foodies in the audience, does Kraft's app appeal to you? Would you be willing to pay a buck to have recipes and meal suggestions sent to your phone?

[via Deidre]

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It's a common question: How can I turn my iPhone into a virtual glass of beer that I can fake drink to impress my slightly moronic, non-iPhone owning friends?

Until recently, there were two answers. Last year, magician Steve Sheraton began selling just such an application called iBeer from his own website. So imagine his rage when, after the launch of official iPhone App Store in July of this year, he discovered that Coors was offering a similar simulated beer drinking experience to iPhone users for free to promote their Carling brand.

Looks like the Coors app, called iPint, is being called an iKnock-Off, as Hottrix (who owns the rights to Sheraton's program) is suing Coors for a whopping $12.5 million dollars... or approximately 2.5 million "real" beers.

If that figure seems excessive, keep in mind the accusers say that iPint has been downloaded over 6 million times since its launch and both programs ranked in the top 10 of their respective categories of either free or paid app downloads.

I have an idea, guys. Why don't we all just sit down and settle this like men over a real beer?

[via The Age]

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NEWTREE is having the ultimate chocolate lover's contest. One winner will receive a bar of chocolate every day for a year! Not only that, but they will get the new iPhone - making it easy to brag to their friends about all the chocolate.

To enter, you need to create a text message short story that includes the names of all of their chocolate bars: PLEASURE, VIGOR, RENEW, REFRESH, FORGIVENESS, SEXY, BLUSH, TRANQUILITY, COCOON, REJOICE and CRAVE. Get the complete details and enter on NEWTREE's site.

Good thing the contest doesn't ask you to pick one of the two prizes. I'm not sure which prize I would be more excited about; it would be a close call!

You can win both, but let us know which prize you'll be more excited about - the techie or the foodie prize.

I have a cell phone that is just a phone. It makes calls. I am online eighty percent of my day. When I'm out of my house, I like to talk to live human beings.

The Los Angeles Times reports that "Wil Shipley, a Seattle software developer, uses his iPhone at the Whole Foods fish counter to check websites for updates on which seafood is the most environmentally correct to purchase. He quizzes the staff on where and how a fish was caught."

Why not trust that the guy behind the fish counter knows about the fish he sells? Do we only place our trust in Google now and not the people who work in our neighborhood shops?

Do you think it was smart for Wil to question the fish counter staff or just plain rude?

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