Showing posts with label foodspotting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foodspotting. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

FoodSpotting's Tech Has Been Stagnant

Ecuadorian ceviche, made of shrimp, lemon and ...Image via WikipediaYesterday as I spotted this exotic Ecuadorian dish I realized I had not blogged about FoodSpotting in a while. I guess the service had some good news at the last Facebook conference (I have not yet seen the video). (The HTML5 Whimper At F8)

Is it just me or FoodSpotting has looked the same since its inception?

I feel like I am done spotting the Desi dishes and now I want to venture out and spot global dishes. My next dish to spot might be Afghan.

What I feel is lacking is when you spot a dish you should have the option to show up for an eatup that is in direct relation.

A Small, Historic EatUp

The critical mass might not be there yet. But it will get there. An eatup self-organized around a particular food type or restaurant. You meet people who are passionate or curious about a particular food type.
Image representing Foodspotting as depicted in...Image via CrunchBase
FoodSpotting should become social and become an excuse to meet people, strangers. It should become a little bit like Chatroulette. Only there is no video camera involved. And it is offline, it is real. It is local.

My FoodSpotting Photos Are Being Viewed
FoodSpotting API
Twitter ---> Instagram ---> FoodSpotting
FoodSpotting's Dish As Starting Point

Or maybe even take it online. You get to video chat with people who are passionate about similar kinds of food, passionate or curious. I was not passionate about Ecuadorian food, but I was curious. That was a nice dinner.

Sean Parker's AirTime Could Net Him Tens Of Billions

Sunday, August 28, 2011

436 Friend Requests On FourSquare: Accepted

Foursquare (social networking)Image via WikipediaI just went ahead and accepted 436 pending friend requests on FourSquare. For the longest time I was like, do I really want you to know where I am? And now I feel like for me social media is primarily about getting to know people I don't already know. And FourSquare is as good as any. There are people in the far corners of the planet who would like to live my New York City life vicariously, and I am cool with that, I think.

These are people from all over the country and all over the world saying hello to me. And many of them have links to their Twitter and Facebook pages from their FourSquare page. So when I do want to get to know them a little bit better, that is an option.

They reached out to me. They did that months ago, more than a year ago. But so far I was like, do I really want you to know where I am? Now I am not feeling so edgy at all. If a location check in can start a conversation, I am all for it.

This move might also mean I might start checking in on FourSquare a little more regularly than I have.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Email: Still A Swell Medium

Whoever says email is yesterday's thing is wrong. GroupOn is 100% dependent on email. Have you noted? Just make sure people willingly gave their emails to you. And even after that make it super easy for them to unsubscribe. Email marketing only works when it is super targeted. And make it pretty.





FoodSpotting API
FoodSpotting Follows Me On Twitter
With Jeremy Frank Of FoodSpotting
FoodSpotting's Dish As Starting Point
Twitter ---> Instagram ---> FoodSpotting
Looks Like FoodSpotting Rocked Austin

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Nosh: The Starting Point Is Not The Dish

Image representing Foodspotting as depicted in...Image via CrunchBaseI have long been a proponent of adding a social element to FoodSpotting, (FoodSpotting API) and Nosh seems to have that element, but where Nosh does not seem to "get" it is that with Nosh the dish does not seem to be the starting point. That is a big minus. (FoodSpotting's Dish As Starting Point)

The social graph I have had in mind for FoodSpotting has been more the Color kind than the Facebook kind. FoodSpotting could be an amazing force for peace. And I don't feel like I am exaggerating. I do mean to talk geopolitics.

The Color Social Graph Might Work Better For Books, Movies, Music
Twitter ---> Instagram ---> FoodSpotting

But if I were FoodSpotting, this would be a wake up call to me. The brain behind Nosh was the same brain behind what today is Google Voice. The guy sure has the tech chops. And he is trying to fork into the FoodSpotting space from the Instagram paradigm. But he has already exhibited some major vision level blind spots. The name Firespotter borrows half the body from the name FoodSpotting. Thief!

Monday, June 27, 2011

FoodSpotting API

Image representing Foodspotting as depicted in...Image via CrunchBaseFoodSpotting's Dish As Starting Point
Twitter ---> Instagram ---> FoodSpotting

I was just reading this and it occurred to me that the solution to my number one gripe about FoodSpotting lies in the app releasing an API: social is for other independent developers to do.
Inc.: 30 Under 30: Alexa Andrzejewksi, Soraya Darabi, and Ted Grubb, Founders of Foodspotting: To learn about bootstrapping her book project, she joined Women 2.0 and started aggressively networking, talking about her plan to catalog restaurant dishes. Tech start-up veteran programmer Ted Grubb met her at a happy hour at Adaptive Path, where Andrzejewski was a consultant, and advised she steer her 20th-Century project into the smartphone era...... When he couldn’t find Andrzejewski a qualified technical co-founder, Grubb decided to learn iPhone programming himself, and he created a prototype Foodspotting app while in a decidedly un-2.0 setting: a tent in the wilderness. ...... New York media darling Soraya Darabi .... scored $3 million in angel funding. ...... "I know that I'm working more than—or as much as—I have in other jobs, but it doesn't feel like work, and that's the huge emotional difference for me" ....... on the forefront of the local, mobile, social app space ...... an international hit, with global "super spotters" staging "eat-ups" in hundreds of cities globally. ...... When it debuted in the iTunes app store, Foodspotting was one of just six apps in the location-based category. "The space has heated up a ton since last July—today it's a crowded space, actually—but back when we were raising money it was new to everybody," Andrzejewski says...... Despite initial investor skepticism, and nine months of bootstrapping, the trio was able to raise $3 million in funding from BlueRun Ventures. That's allowed the company to expand to ten employees: two in New York City, and eight in an open-air-café-inspired office in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood. To stay connected bi-coastally, Skype and SocialCast are open constantly on everyone's computers...... "And just as many funny things happen on Skype as in the office."
The API might also be the solution to the aspect that might most excite me about FoodSpotting personally: SMS enabled spotting of dishes around the world. Food is like music: you could discover endlessly. It is not possible to spot all the dishes that got made around the world just today, no matter how much crowdsourcing you do, and dishes morph. Recipes are alive, just like language stays alive. Good cooks improvise like jazz musicians.

Jessica Mah, Mark Zuckerberg
Jessica Mah: The Most Promising 19 Year Old Tech Entrepreneur In America

Dropbox, FoodSpotting, GroupMe, Hipmunk, inDinero, Instagram, and Quora are some of the names on the list that stand out.

The Color Social Graph Might Work Better For Books, Movies, Music

Friday, June 24, 2011

FourSquare's New Round

The first place I heard about it was here.


Then I went to the TechMeme site, pressed the F for find button and typed FourSquare. And I read up.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Dial M For Murder

Dial M For Murder (in Williamsburg) (photo) http://t.co/CkqiaCG reblogging @sorayadarabiless than a minute ago via Tweet Button Favorite Retweet Reply

Wednesday, June 08, 2011

Internet Week: Day 3: Taking It Easy

8:36PM: Charity Water GalaImage by lizstless via FlickrI am staying away from the Metropolitan Pavilion today.

Internet Week: Day 2

Instead I am going to these two events.

04:00 PM — 06:00 PM
Bar Basque, 839 Sixth Avenue, (Between 29th & 30th Streets)
Wine Tasting & Digital Curation Un-Panel

06:30 PM — 08:30 PM
Time & Life Building, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, 8th floor
10 NYC Startups To Watch

Saturday, May 07, 2011

FoodSpotting Follows Me On Twitter

I just realized FoodSpotting follows me on Twitter. They must not mind seeing me in their stream all the time. I show up often. It is like when I was doing democracy work for Nepal a few years ago. One visiting politician said, "I know a whole bunch of people in Kathmandu, the only person who ever emails them is you."

The First Major Revolution Of The 21st Century Happened In Nepal
FoodSpotting Third Thursday: Ai Fiori, 5-7 PM

FoodSpotting Third Thursday: Ai Fiori, 5-7 PM


Monday lunch at a food truck was perhaps not the best idea, even though it was on the 15th of the month. But I am so glad the biggest event at South By South West revolved around food trucks. 2011 they did on one day, I think the plan is to do every day in 2012. That is when things are going to go really crazy for FoodSpotting. They do that and then they can raise 10 to 20 million dollars. Yahoo is going to want to buy them.

"I am a man of the people."
- Laloo Yadav

Friday, May 06, 2011

Joe's Shanghai: Dumplings Nazi

The Best of The Soup Nazi
Seinfeld-Soup Nazi (Greatest Parts)
Seinfeld Soup Nazi Clip



I showed up on time and there was a long line. Amy Cao and Jeremy Frank had not RSVPd. Soraya Darabi RSVPing does not count, she does the Scott Heiferman thing, I have noted a few times. Scott will RSVP for events to be there in spirit. Besides, I was aware of the ongoing 99 Percent Conference. And I am thinking, there is this ridiculously long line, and Nick Rovisa is the only name and face I seem to remember from the RSVP list. If he does not show up, I will not even know who to look for. 10 minutes later I just went in.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Ai Fiori FoodSpotting DrinkUp

Photos From MetroMix

I showed up. On time. And I waited and waited and waited. This place was fancy. I took myself around. I was dressed in my usual black, only it was not a Brazil shirt with an overcoat on. It has been so nice these past few days. I was wearing a dress shirt. I am not much of a T shirt person. I like proper shirts. I like T shirts when they come with jackets.

I had some muchies they had at the bar. Then they brought a bowlful to my table itself. I finished one bowl. They brought another. I ordered a pineapple juice. I asked for a glass of water.