Tag: Food »

It's summer time for many of us which means it's the ideal time for a barbeque! So, it's pretty good timing to see the launch of grill maker Weber's official recipe app: Weber Grills.

Weber Grills offers over 75 different recipes, delivered to your iOS device every Friday, just in time for the weekend. Each recipe comes with full-color photos, a list of ingredients, recipe notes, reviews and the option to share via e-mail. In each case, they're ideal for making on any kind of grill.

A prep school section goes one step further in aiding keen chefs with guides to all the essentials such as knife skills, food preps and how to tell when something's cooked thoroughly. Videos of how to master favorites such as steak or ribs are also included.

For the keen barbequer, Weber Grills should prove an invaluable source.

It's out now and it's free.

Where To?, Editor's Choice winning local search app (reviewed years ago by our Editor In Chief, Jeff Scott), has just released its next major version of the app Where To? 5.0. In this fifth major release, new features are added in the favoriting and navigation area.

Specifically, the app has four new major features. Two of those features have to do with favorites. Users can now favorite places to come back and access them later. In addition, those favorites as well as the apps settings can be synced over iCloud. And now, when searching for restaurants, hundreds of thousands of the US restaurants in Where To? include menus for users to search through before they decide to make that tough decision of where to eat. And the app now supports three more navigation apps when users decide to visit a location (iGo Prime, VZ Navigator, and Gokivo). The details pages for places also have a new design.

Where To? is a location-based search app that brings up points of interest in the area around the user. The app is also known for its augmented reality (AR) technology which can be added to the app for an additional fee. Where To? is $2.99 and made for the iPhone. An additional $0.99 will earn users the 3D and Augmented Reality features.

This week at 148Apps.com, two great new apps for kids were featured: AutisMate and Ruckus Reader. Writer Jennifer Allen had this to say about AutisMate: "AutisMate was designed by Jonathan Izak, someone whose younger brother and first cousin who have autism. It allows users to add their own pictures, videos and voice recordings to the app in order to create scenes that help promote positive interactions."

Kevin Stout contributed the following about Ruckus Reader: "When a child is in possession of a device as versatile as an iPad, it could be just as distracting as it is productive. A new series of apps by Ruckus, Ruckus Reader, has been released that help parents keep track of their children’s progress through Ruckus Reader books."

Read more about AutisMate here and about Ruckus Reader here.

Meanwhile, at GiggleApps.com, Amy Solomon was investigating the hidden joys of Smash Your Food HD, "Smash Your Food HD is a highly entertaining app for iPad dedicated to the better understanding of the amounts of sugar, salt and oil found within foods that are commonly eaten. With five levels included, players are asked to determine the amounts of these substances by reviewing the nutritional facts of each food in question and then watching as these foods get pulverized – much to the delight of children."

Read more about Smash Your Food HD at GiggleApps.

And last, but certainly not least, 148Apps.biz writer Kevin Stout reported on Apple's recent change in policy regarding iAd revenues: "Before April 1st, developers earned 60% of the iAd revenue they generated within iAd-supported apps. Now developers will receive 70% of iAd revenues, according to Apple’s Developer Center. Developers will now receive this higher percentage for both app download and iAd revenues. This is likely to be a rather large boost in income for developers that use iAd as their primary source of revenue for their free apps."

Read more about this change at 148Apps.biz..

And, to paraphrase Cronkite, that's the way it was. Keep track of all the latest happenings across the iOS and mobile universe by following us on Twitter and liking us on Facebook. You'll be glad you did. Until next time, watch out for the hoary hosts of Hoggoth!

Spinning Meals in an app that's meant to take the guess work out of planning meals for a week. By mapping out meals, acting as a recipe database, and keeping tracking of necessary ingredients, the app intends to be a one-stop shop for people who are in change of organizing meals for the week.

The app handles planning all 3 meals for as little as 1 day and for as many as 7 days. The settings of the app allow users to specify certain meals to spin for or not spin for.

Meals consist of multiple recipes and are the main focus of the app. Currently, there aren't many recipes in the app, but users have the option to add their own recipes, complete with ingredients, instructions, and notes. The recipes have an estimated preparation and cook time associated with them, which allows the app to plan shorter meals on specified days.

The app automatically creates a nicely formatted shopping list with all the ingredients needed for the planned meals. The groceries are organized according to type and tapping an ingredient indicates in what recipe it will be used.

Spinning meals combines the various tasks of planning and making meals. The app will definitely appeal to people who hate deciding what to eat. Hopefully in the future more recipes will be bundled with the app or the ability to download recipes from websites will be added.

The Travel Channel and Anthony Bourdain have just released a new iPad app meant to help travelers plan their trips. The app includes a ton a features and has a very high production value. Anyone traveling to one of the cities included in the app should definitely download it.

The main theme of the app is creating "layovers", which are itineraries of locations to visit. The app includes suggested layovers and users can create their own by selecting from the locations and restaurants in the app's database. The app will also estimate the amount of time it takes to visit a location and the amount of time it takes to travel from place to place. Currently, the cities in included in the app are Amsterdam, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, New York, Rome, San Francisco and Singapore.

Every city has a bunch of locations to choose from, ranging from restaurants, bars, and sightseeing destinations. Each location has plenty of pictures and information about it, such as the hours of operation. The list of locations can even be filtered to only show certain types of places, like bars or restaurants.

Every city begins with a video introduction in which Anthony Bourdain talks about why he loves the city and some of his favorite things to do in it. The production value of the videos rivals the television show. The quality of the photos is also first-rate. In addition to the introductory video, each location has a list of Dos and Don'ts, notes of what "inspires" Bourdain about the city, and information on traveling to the city.

The app definitely has a focus on food, which is no surprise given that Anthony Bourdain got his start a chef. The biggest category of locations is bars and restaurants and Bourdain usually talks about the food in the introduction videos.

For users who are actually in the city, there is an interactive map that displays locations with information, suggested layovers, and the user's layovers. The app integrates with a lot of social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, and allows people to check-in on Foursquare.

LoSo, a location-based restaurant and bars app which bills itself as a combination of FourSquare and Yelp, has announced a complete redesign as part of the version 2.0 update. New features include user profiles, as well as a real-time news feed linked to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

The most significant new addition is the What's Up! feature, which allows users to take photos or videos of local bars and restaurants and instantly upload them to your Facebook page, the restaurant's Facebook page, and LoSo's listings. The app also allows users to check out menus, drink specials and happy hour deals of all participating businesses within 10 miles of their current location. Checking in at participating businesses grants QRewards Points, which can be redeemed for free food and drinks, as well as other prizes.

LoSo is currently testing in the Philadelphia and Boston markets, and will be expanding to Washington D.C, Chicago and Dallas soon.

Thanks to the ever steady growth of social networking, savvy users are keen to use specialist services. While those seeking work may look to LinkedIn, foodie types can revel in the wonders of DishPal.

DishPal allows users to share dishes and ideas with friends and other food fans, all from within the app. Offering Facebook style commenting services along with photo uploading capabilities, DishPal goes one step further with the ability to participate in themed parties in which people can share their preferences and tastes while learning new ideas connected to the theme. Tagging functionality also aids users in discovering new ways to cook and new friends.

Also offered is a magazine section that can be customized according to the user's tastes, comprising of exactly what they enjoy most in the food world.

It's all tantalizingly attractive and a great way to share new recipe ideas and creations.

DishPal is out now and it's free.