Reason #1 To Get Epicurious iPhone App: Entire Contents of Big Yellow Cookbook [IPhone Apps]

The big yellow Gourmet cookbook is one of my go-tos for weekend dinner planning. Now the entire contents of Ruth Reichl’s culinary bible are on a free iPhone app—one that makes shopping lists for you.

It’s great—you either search for recipes you already know (from the pages of Gourmet, Bon Appetit and a bunch of other Conde Nast-y pubs), or you browse the featured dishes—25,000 in all, including cocktails too. Once you’ve settled on a recipe, click the plus button to add it to your favorites, or better yet to your shopping list. Add all kinds of recipes to the shopping list, and it organizes all of their ingredients for you in a logical way for shopping: Produce, Meat & Poultry, Condiments, Canned Items, and so on. Already have salt? Just clear that bastard off the list and move on.

There are two things I don’t particularly like: For one, you can’t adjust the size of your recipe. You can’t even add it twice, as if to double it. You can add as many recipes, but you can’t double one.

The other thing I don’t like is that it’s hard to browse subcategories. I select “Side” from the Meal/Course browse menu, fine. I get 4364 results. I type in “rice” and it’s whittled down to 490. Are these going to be the same basic set every time, in the same order? Maybe searching “rice” and “cashews” or something might whittle it down more, but there should be some middle ground, a randomizer, or like one of those other iPhone apps, a place to list all that you have in the fridge, so that it can suggest a dish. Maybe it’s there, or coming soon. I’ll keep looking, because it’s free, and I already love it. [iTunes link via Wired]

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Apple mulling price cuts, developing netbook competitor?

Sure, Apple just posted a record quarter of earnings, but it’s been taking a beating lately on the price issue — not only have cheap netbooks become the hottest category in the market, Microsoft’s Laptop Hunters commercials have reignited the Apple tax debate. That appears to have the wheels in motion in Cupertino: AppleInsider says the MacBook and iMac lines are soon to be bolstered with lower-cost options that should take some of the bite out of Redmond’s marketing. That’s certainly interesting, but here’s the real noise: according to AI, the low-cost machines are just an interim solution while Apple preps a new tablet line to take on netbooks directly without making any of the design sacrifices Steve Jobs has repeatedly pooh-poohed. Wild — but it jibes with those recent whispers about a Verizon / Apple meetup and those reports that Quanta’s busy building something with a 10-inch display. So — cheaper Mac in the short term, crazy-insane iPhone tablet / MID thing riding a unicorn sometime later. You believe any of that?

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Apple mulling price cuts, developing netbook competitor? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Palm Eos: Palm’s Tiny $99 WebOS Phone Is Super Skinny and AT&T-Bound [Rumor]

It looks like that blurry little blob from before is the Palm Eos, the cheap WebOS successor to the Centro. Engadget’s got the pic, and better yet, the specs for little stunner: UPDATED

It’s 10.6mm thin, measuring about 2.1 by 4.3-inches, with a 2.63-inch 320×400 res capacitive screen. And the good news for AT&T peeps: It’s quad-band GSM/HSDPA, so you guys will have your comeuppance, it seems. Update: Techcrunch adds that its codename is “Pixie” and they’re aiming for a $99 pricepoint (obviously after rebate).

And the full purported spec list is in. Here’s what Engadget’s got:

* 4GB storage
* Price: $349 (pre-rebate)
* Camera: 2 megapixel fixed focus digital camera and flash / video capture
* Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.1 w/ A2DP and EDR, USB 2.0 via micro USB
* Removable 1150 mAh battery (4 hours 3G talk time)
* Messaging: SMS, MMS (picture and video only), integrated IM client
* Contact sync with AT&T Address Book
* MediaNet
* Cellular Video
* Email: POP3, IMAP4, and EAS support
* A-GPS
* Audio: WAV, MP3, AAC, AAC+ ringtones
* Video Playback: MPEG4, H.264, H.263

Interesting that it has a bunch of AT&T services built in, if that’s really the spec list—totally different tack than the iPhone.

There are some conflicting reports as to whether Palm’s blazing ahead on it or waiting to see how the Pre does, according to Arrington. So while not 100 percent verified, obviously, with multiple independent sources leaking this thing, it’s clear there’s something along the lines of a cheaper, smaller Centro-like WebOS phone in the works, probably landing this fall. Hopefully for $99. Palm Pre what? [Engadget]

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Verizon: ‘We Could Offer 400Mbps, We Just Don’t Feel Like It’ [Broadband]

Verizon decided to respond to Cablevision’s new limited 101Mbps service, and, well, it’s a bit contradictory.

Essentially, Verizon argues that Cablevision is trying to pump all this bandwidth through their crappy cable infrastructure, and it won’t hold up, with bandwidth hogs lowering everybody else’s speeds. Furthermore, the true speeds will be slower once users have to deal with the speeds of the servers they’re trying to access. Oh, and also, nobody wants such high speeds.

But then they start bragging about how fast their service is. But wait, I thought no one wanted fast speeds and, in any case, fast speeds were impossible to actually get thanks to slow servers? Which is it?

The fact of the matter is this: Cablevision is offering higher speeds at lower prices than you, Verizon. You can make your BS contradictory arguments all you want, but no one is going to pay you much mind. Offer up higher speeds at lower prices. That is what people will notice.

Bring on the battle of the high-speed providers, I say. [Verizon Policy Blog via Boy Genius]

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USB Vibrator Brings Bodily Fluids a Bit Too Close to Your Ports [USB]

Look, I’m sure it’s super convenient to charge the ol’ vibe using your laptop, but is this really necessary? We all know how water damage voids warranties. [The Frisky via The Daily What]

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The Rovio may not have inspired quite the same level of modding as something like the Robosapien, but it’s far from completely lacking in the department, and RoboCommunity member Colt45 looks to have delivered one of the more impressive hacks to date with this new and improved fire extinguisher bot. As impressive as that top-mounted CF2ClBr fire extinguisher and remote-controlled nozzle is, however, the real standout piece may actually be the software, which apparently uses a machine vision app that can recognize fire and automatically extinguish it when necessary (assuming it remains around candle size). Unfortunately, there’s no how-to for building your own just yet, nor is there any word of a planned face off with a Flame-o-Sapien, though you can be sure we’ll let you know as soon as that happens.

[Via SlashGear]

Filed under: Robots

Rovio finds new purpose in life with fire extinguisher mod originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Apr 2009 06:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Via [Engadget]

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The White House Has a Flickr Stream [Obama]

The White House just put up a Flickr Stream (291 photos uploaded yesterday, 1 uploaded today) of their comings and goings. These are some pretty good shots.

If you can’t get enough of your Obamas and Bidens and Emanuels and presidential dogs, look no further. If not, look at little further.

Also, if you’ve got one of those digital picture frames with Flickr support, you can probably hook up your frame to directly feed photos from the White House stream and pretend you’re some kind of secret agent or witch, being able to see their every move. [Flickr]

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PeeWee debuts drop and spill-resistant Pivot Tablet Laptop

At first glance, PeeWee PC’s Pivot Tablet Laptop is a formidable rival to the long-standing OLPC XO. Unfortunately, the lofty price tag puts it in a class of its own, but it’s still a solid machine for those looking to a learn a bit (or just give their kids a wholesome distraction). Debuting today, the three pound convertible tablet boasts a spill and drop-resistant shell, a carry handle, a presumed 10-inch touchscreen display and a 6-cell Li-ion battery. Within, you’ll find a 1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, two USB 2.0 ports, a 60GB HDD, 1.3 megapixel camera, Ethernet, WiFi, Windows XP Home, a proprietary security suite to keep kids from picking up a new favorite stalker and ten age appropriate software and game titles. If your kid’s been bugging you for a new netbook, you can quell the squealing by snapping one of these up today starting at $599.99. Full release is after the break.

Continue reading PeeWee debuts drop and spill-resistant Pivot Tablet Laptop

Filed under: Laptops

PeeWee debuts drop and spill-resistant Pivot Tablet Laptop originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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106 Historical Scenes Rendered Hilariously Inaccurate by Technology [Photoshop Contest]

For this week’s Photoshop Contest, you were charged with inserting technology into historic scenes where it didn’t belong. History would be a lot more interesting if there were this many Wiimotes in it.

First Place — Dan Fruzzetti
Second Place — Ryan Warner
Third Place — N. Dwyer

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HP ProBook 4710s hands-on

We just had a quick run-in with the 17-inch version of HP’s new ProBook s-series laptops. The design is almost startlingly nondescript, but not so minimal that it feels like they aren’t trying. Build quality isn’t legendary — there’s a little bit of keyboard flex, as noted by Laptop, and the whole thing feels a bit overly plastic — but on the plus side it’s lighter than it looks and should certainly hold up well to most pursuits. The keys have a bit of casual wobble to them, but they’re clacky in the right sort of way, and very well defined. The screen is oh-so-thankfully non-glossy, and plenty fine to look at, but the lid on the back is regretfully smudgetastic. Overall it seems like there’s plenty there for the money, but it’s not going to have high-end business buyers confused in the slightest.

Filed under: Laptops

HP ProBook 4710s hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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