"mobile" news and stories

When Mobile city councilman Fred Richardson last year revealed he'd spent $9,000 of taxpayer's money on a 12-foot-tall mechanical banana moon pie, there were some skeptics. But Harriet Sharer of the Mobile Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau says the crowd at the city's first "MoonPie Over Mobile" celebration silenced all doubters.

"Some people thought people would make fun of us," Sharer recalls. "But we had 15,000 people show up and it's going to grow exponentially."

Mobile recently upped its commitment to the dessert, making the MoonPie hoist the Southeast's preeminent New Year's Eve celebration and dedicating an additional $25,000 to marketing the event. This year's festivities include live music, a gala ball and the slow rise of the snack.

"Everyone we knew does drops," Sharer says, explaining why Mobile's MoonPie defies New Year's Eve gravity. "Since the moon does rise, we decided to rise it up over the city."

We're big on the taco trucks here at Slashfood. We've blogged about them again and again, so it's appalling to hear that Los Angeles lawmakers made it a misdemeanor crime to stay parked in one spot for longer than one hour. Truck owners can be punished with a $1,000 fine or up to six months in jail.

The main reason the law was passed? Local business owners were complaining that vendors - like the taco trucks - were taking away the business of the their brick-and-mortar restaurants. The restaurateurs were also peeved because they are forced to pay more bills than the vendors do, so the competition is "unfair."

The part that really kills me, though, is that the president of the local Merchant's Association was quoted as saying, "I don't want to put anybody out of business, but it's the fairness of it all...It's a big victory for the merchants, and it's going to clean up the area."

I'm not a text messenger and have only done it a few times, but have many friends who live with their fingers on the buttons. Now I may have to change my whole viewpoint and join the ranks of avid texters. www.WineZap.com has a service that started last summer where you text them the name and vintage of a wine, and they will give you the high, low, and average price for that wine. Also if you include your zip code they will respond with the names of stores in your area, with their phone number, and their price for that wine. This way you can find the best price before you go to a store, or check if the price you see while shopping is a good deal.

As a person who has a lousy memory, and who has to write notes to myself all the time, I think this service sounds great. I don't have to worry about whether the wine shop down the road has a better price, and then go check it out before loading up on a sale. Just a few moments and WineZap does all the running around for me. Their search engine puts together lists from over 700 retailers nationwide, with the number increasing steadily.

They are now working on a feature where you send in a picture of the bottle label and you will get back detailed product and price information. Just whip out you digital camera phone, take a quick pic of the bottle, and you will soon know all the background info on the wine as well as prices and stores that carry it. What's the best thing about this service? WineZap.com is offering their Mobile Service for Free! All you pay is your cell phone text rate. WineZap.com also is available on the web through your phone or PDA if it is Internet capable. Now the world of wine is at your fingertips, at home or when you are out and about.

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