A Few Food Apps That Are Worth It

The Apple App Store which has been around ever since the creation of the I-Touch and I-Phone has brought several different hobbies to the palm of mobile phone users hands. Sport's Apps, entertainment apps, and games have been the most popular thus far. However, food Apps have found a place in the App Store and enthusiasts are taking notice.

The Chipotle App is probably my favorite app, it makes me feel like a celebrity. Imagine being able to skip the entire line when it reaches around the store, walk right up the register, tell the cashier your name, grab a bag with your favorite burrito, and walk out. With the Chipotle App this is possible. I particularly like this app for the reason I just mentioned, I can show up to Chipotle and get my favorite meal with out any waiting. Other cool features include being able to save your credit card number with them so you can pay via your I-Phone or I-Touch. Whatever it is you order you can save to your favorites so whenever you want to show up again you don't have to go through the process of virtually making the burrito again. Let's say you work with other people who like Chipotle, you can save their favorites too so ordering is just a matter of clicking the screen on your phone. A confirmation email is always sent to you to ensure that you know your order has been received. The app is easy to navigate and read, the layout is appealing to the eye. Chipotle doesn't deliver, but this is the next best thing.

Next, Open Table is an app that I have noticed gaining popularity among restaurant goers. I have noticed a number of people who have this app on their phone. This app makes it easy to make a reservation at a restaurant. It is very simple to use. You simply select the metro or city you want to make a reservation in. The Open Table network is huge, you can make reservations using this app from Beirut to Jackson Hole. Before picking the restaurant you pick the time and date, and then a list of restaurants that have reservations open will pop up and you choose one. In addition to the reservation making capability, it also serves as a kind of Zagat sort of app. The restaurant you click on has reviews, price range, cuisine, and a short summary of the restaurant. I would definitely recommend this app for someone who travels a lot, or is a restaurant aficionado and dines a lot.

EveryScape's series of Eats! apps is an interesting concept. This app takes advantage of technologies such as Google Street View and applies to restaurants. In my opinion this app is very young and still developing, I do not feel it has reached it's full potential. It is no different from the Yelp, Zagat, or CitySearch apps except this app gives the user a screen shot of the interior of the restaurant, and using Google Street View the opportunity to view the exterior of the restaurant and it's surroundings. I can think of times this app could be useful from a personal standpoint. Several times when my family goes on vacations my father does all the planning and makes reservations at restaurants that appeal to him, have gotten good reviews, or are famous in the area. However, sometimes when we get to these restaurants my mother disapproves and is not flattered by the restaurant. If my father used this app he could show my mother a picture of the restaurant's interior and exterior to get her seal of approval. To go off on a little tangent this app would've been very helpful when I was with my family in Vancouver Canada. My dad got a reservation at the best chinese restaurant in Vancouver's Chinatown. However, my father was not aware that this chinatown was not the safest neighborhood and the restaurant was in the heart of this neighborhood. It was a very interesting day to say the least.

Middle East Journalists Panel Extra Credit

I thoroughly enjoyed the panel that was in class this past thursday that talked about what it is like to be like a journalist in the Middle East. It was enjoyable to hear their opinions on our questions, their response to our questions, and the way they operated in their country. The thing that stood out to me the most is how when one of us asked a question and the panelists heard just a bit of the question from the translator all of their hands shot up almost immediately. To me it seemed to me like these journalists came here wanting to learn about us as American college students, but more I feel like they wanted to teach us something. They wanted to let us know what it was really like to be in the Middle East. What it was really like to be on the frontline of what we see on the news everyday. In my opinion they saw this as an opportunity to filter out the American media where we get our news from and to let us know what it was really like. I appreciated that and thought it was interesting to hear their opinion. 

Out of all of the panelists the one that intrigued me the most was the reporter from Palestine. It was clear to me that he was the most into the panel and was having the most fun. I previously spoke about how they had a message they wanted to get across, the Palestinian journalist had the most to say. At the end it was so interesting to see them all campaigning to get their final points across. The journalist from Palestine was by far the most outspoken. I am not surprised about the argument that he made about American journalism at the end of the panel. In America we do make a much bigger deal about a suicide bombing by someone from Palestine, than we do make a big deal about innocent Palestinians dying at the hand of the Israeli army. However, recently American media has been portraying Israel in a poor light with their naval blockade. 

Finally, I found it interesting when a student asked if they felt women had the same opportunities   and one of the female reporters responded by saying that female journalists in her country was becoming a trend. This diminishes the stereotype that Middle Eastern countries do not give women an equal opportunity to succeed. That is an example of how I learned that the media really is not that different or far behind as the media here.  

Photo Assignment

First Photo: For my first photo I took a picture of my television while it was on the Food Network. This photo describes my topic because throughout much of my blog I have discussed the Food Network and how it has contributed to the digitalization of the Food Industry. The Food Network is a prototype for examples of visualizations of the Food Network, their entire channel is based around visualizing food.

Second Photo: I took tis Photo While I was pulling an all-nighter and writing a paper. I was hoping to show how the Food Industry has entered the world of college students. Ideally I would've like to have a giant energy drink to show how big the energy drink business within the Food Industry is. However, I don't drink energy drinks and a Diet Coke had to suffice (the Diet Coke keeps me awake just as long as an energy drink would). Visualization is the main way that energy drinks try to target their potential clients. They do this through illustrious graphic designs on their cans and commercials with clear exaggeration.