Archive for the ‘Food’ Category
My Mother Always Warned Me About Taking Advice From Strangers
Sunday, December 23rd, 2007I find myself writing my first review of a Facebook application: Local Picks by TripAdvisor. From this point on the application will be referred to as LPT since I have no desire to a: type that whole name out again or b: hit ctrl-V to paste in the name of the app (half my readers just scoffed at me for admitting to typing on a PC).
So, who wants to know what I think about restaurants or what dives I spend the most of my time in? Well with the LPT you can be that person! You will also gain the power to see all the restaurants I eat at neatly pointed out on a map in case you want to stake the joints out and see me eat my sad sad meals alone.
That being said you can’t take the map for face value, again I know I am never supposed to talk bad about “the Google” but it has my favorite restaurant being located by Howard University, which it is not, China Town Express is located in China Town of all places (stupid Google).
If I could complain about anything, I can and do thank you, I would like to see a photo upload or photo link function built into this app. I have taken TONS of pictures at restaurants around DC and I would love to show random strangers what I look like eating crab enchiladas at Lauriol Plaza.
I could see this app being fun if you were going to head up to a city you have never really been to and were looking to see what similar minded people thought, but I know my friends, they have horrible taste and will eat about anything. Strangers, well their advice is like dog with no tail: Sure it might look fine from the front, but without a clear indication of what he is thinking you just have to be careful.
-Anthony
Restaurant Reviews on Facebook
Friday, November 2nd, 2007
While attending the Snap Summit last week I was asked by a Marketwatch reporter what I thought the current trend on Facebook is. My response was “crappy apps.” The majority of applications that I filter through every day are pretty poor. Once in a while though, a great application comes along that I know I will use on a regular basis and won’t remove from my application installations. The most recent application that has qualified for my mark of excellence is the Restaurant application.
Restaurants are one of the most social activities for people; any application that takes an already socially popular activity in the real world and brings it online is sure to have a great chance for success. One of the first places that I turn to when I’m looking for a great restaurant is my friends. As such, I’m going to go straight to this application anytime I’m looking for a great restaurant. This would also be an amazingly useful application to convert to mobile. Imagine getting off a plane, loading up your Facebook app on your phone and checking out what the best restaurants in town are based on your friends’ recommendations!
This is only the first phase of this application but the opportunities are endless for making this a more useful application. There were some issues with the restaurant search tool and a couple browsing issues but aside from that, this application works amazingly. I’ve communicated all the issues to Hungry Machine, the developers of this application, and they said that they are working on resolving the issues now.
One other great feature about this application is that you can immediately make a reservation via a link to OpenTable. So right after you view your friends’ favorite restaurants you can set up a reservation for later that evening. I have a feeling that this application is going to gain millions of users just because it’s so useful. This application (along with the CourseFeed application) may be one of the most useful applications I have seen on Facebook to date. Is it the “golden application” that I have long dreamed of? Not quite sure but I know that I’ll be using it a hell of a lot.
If you want to review restaurants or find great restaurants via recommendations from your friends, go install the Restaurants application.
Facebook Food Fight Find Friends Fast
Tuesday, June 19th, 2007
The beauty of Facebook applications is that you never know when you’re going to find a new one. You neither know when, nor how you’ll come across a fun little app that lets you kill some time online. Yesterday, I was surprised to find that a friend of mine had used the Food Fight Application to throw a hot dog at me. Very interesting, I thought….a virtual hot dog…thrown…at me.
Update: It turns out I’ve had two hot dogs thrown at me now. I decided to toss some milk at my roommate for good measure and I threw a full shrimp cocktail at the gal who has been throwing virtual processed meats my way.
As of the time of this post 907,815 people are using this application. Grab the Food Fight Application here.
Odd Application Proves Popular
Sunday, June 17th, 2007
So you are sitting in your dorm room trying to figure out what to eat and who to eat with. One thing is for sure, you are starving. Rather than digging through all of your delivery menus or running through your mental list of local restaurants, you decide to go add the “I Am Hungry” application on Facebook. You then proceed to set up a notification to all your friends that you are in fact hungry. While waiting on a response you can browse through your other friends to see if any of them are hungry as well. Within a short span of time you are miraculously matched up with a friend who can join you in the satisfaction of a fulfilling meal. Close to 200,000 Facebook users have already added this application to their profile. That’s pretty impressive for such an odd application. Apparently, college students are now spending as much time on Facebook as they are on IM. Otherwise, this application would prove useless since your friends wouldn’t be receiving immediate updates. Young people continue to push the boundaries of basic social interaction. If you are one of those who spends way too much time on Facebook and needs helps finding people to eat with, go check out the I am Hungry application.
