Engineering food and drink experiences by and for geeks

The geeks are cooking now. Or will be after they read “Cooking for Engineers.” Done by a software developer, Michael Chu, in Silicon Valley. Mmmm, this makes me hungry!

Noah Kagan sent me this one (he’s a user experience designer, used to work for Facebook). We were talking last weekend about potential videoblogs that might be fun to do. His idea was to do a cooking show, which I thought was a great idea. Why would that work and why is that an opportunity that isn’t filled by mainstream media like Julia Childs? Because, let’s say I have an iPod. Let’s say I had 50 different recipes downloaded onto my iPod, but each one is a video podcast. First 10 seconds of each is a list of ingredients you need from the store. Now, no program on TV does that. Why? Cause that’s a lame format for something where you’ll watch for 30 or 60 minutes. But an iPod is different — you can select from a number of choices and you can carry the thing around with you. The needs of an iPod user are DIFFERENT than the needs of someone sitting on their Barcalounger watching a TV screen. Don’t ya think?

This opens up a whole raft of new content opportunities. Imagine if Robert Hess converted all his cocktails on his Drinkboy site to videos? (He’s a geek who works at Microsoft, by the way).

I wonder what a food critic, like Hillel Cooperman’s TastingMenu (a geek who runs the Microsoft Max team at Microsoft) would be able to do with video? That site rocks, by the way.

Do you have a favorite food or drink site? Especially ones done by geeks with day jobs like these?

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57 thoughts on “Engineering food and drink experiences by and for geeks

  1. Well letsee, a whole cable TV channel, with Alton Brown even…stacks of Betty Crocker cookbooks, and you think people are gonna search the net download a video, sync up, and then fire up an iPod just to see pictures or lists of the ingredients? If they don’t know what the ingredients look like, they shouldn’t be in the kitchen in the first place.

    And people WRITE a list down on paper when they goto the store. Maybe a handful of crazed geeks carry a Tablet PC and view a video on the iPod when at the store…but pen and paper work for most, 99.9998% at least.

    Plus easier to buy a little kitchen TV set with DVD player and feed it FoodTV and cooking instructional DVDs if you need to follow along, the picture is much much bigger too.

    Like

  2. Well letsee, a whole cable TV channel, with Alton Brown even…stacks of Betty Crocker cookbooks, and you think people are gonna search the net download a video, sync up, and then fire up an iPod just to see pictures or lists of the ingredients? If they don’t know what the ingredients look like, they shouldn’t be in the kitchen in the first place.

    And people WRITE a list down on paper when they goto the store. Maybe a handful of crazed geeks carry a Tablet PC and view a video on the iPod when at the store…but pen and paper work for most, 99.9998% at least.

    Plus easier to buy a little kitchen TV set with DVD player and feed it FoodTV and cooking instructional DVDs if you need to follow along, the picture is much much bigger too.

    Like

  3. Christopher: yes, I do. Video cooking tutorials by good chefs will definitely be popular.

    The problem with DVD is you can’t take it into the grocery store.

    Writing things down? Dude, why do we all carry Blackberries? It’s obvious you aren’t married. The geeks all around me get emailed “shopping lists” for things we need to pick up on the way home. Heheh.

    Anyway, Noah says he’d watch a good cooking show that wasn’t pretentious and was aimed at young professionals like him.

    Hell, when I linked to a 16-year-old who did a couple of cooking videos I got email from all over the world about it. http://www.biancavision.com/ is the show.

    I had her in my kitchen working with a couple of professional chefs and it was fun to watch them working together.

    Like

  4. Christopher: yes, I do. Video cooking tutorials by good chefs will definitely be popular.

    The problem with DVD is you can’t take it into the grocery store.

    Writing things down? Dude, why do we all carry Blackberries? It’s obvious you aren’t married. The geeks all around me get emailed “shopping lists” for things we need to pick up on the way home. Heheh.

    Anyway, Noah says he’d watch a good cooking show that wasn’t pretentious and was aimed at young professionals like him.

    Hell, when I linked to a 16-year-old who did a couple of cooking videos I got email from all over the world about it. http://www.biancavision.com/ is the show.

    I had her in my kitchen working with a couple of professional chefs and it was fun to watch them working together.

    Like

  5. PS – Now value in videoizing it all up, but quibble not over formats. As Drinkboy on DVD, would outsell Drinkboy as an iTunes download. But content is the central point…not format usage scenarios, just put it out in those formats, and let the end user decide.

    Hess is a master btw, enjoyed his site well before I knew he was an Evil Empirer… 😉 Actually I converted his stuff to Tomeraider format back in the day, was databasey handier than that AvantGo sludge.

    Like

  6. PS – Now value in videoizing it all up, but quibble not over formats. As Drinkboy on DVD, would outsell Drinkboy as an iTunes download. But content is the central point…not format usage scenarios, just put it out in those formats, and let the end user decide.

    Hess is a master btw, enjoyed his site well before I knew he was an Evil Empirer… 😉 Actually I converted his stuff to Tomeraider format back in the day, was databasey handier than that AvantGo sludge.

    Like

  7. Well, you outted thyself with…”geeks all around me” get “emailed” shopping lists…

    Here in the Midwest, wives don’t much communicate with hubbys via Blackberries…they talk or if remote, they pick up a cell phone, so very weird eh? And furthermore, Wives demand Hubbys stop playing with the Crackberries…

    Noah says he’d watch a good cooking show that wasn’t pretentious and was aimed at young professionals like him.

    Goto ‘Good Eats’, been around since God was a boy…get out from under the LCD and you might see the world – http://altonbrown.com/

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  8. Well, you outted thyself with…”geeks all around me” get “emailed” shopping lists…

    Here in the Midwest, wives don’t much communicate with hubbys via Blackberries…they talk or if remote, they pick up a cell phone, so very weird eh? And furthermore, Wives demand Hubbys stop playing with the Crackberries…

    Noah says he’d watch a good cooking show that wasn’t pretentious and was aimed at young professionals like him.

    Goto ‘Good Eats’, been around since God was a boy…get out from under the LCD and you might see the world – http://altonbrown.com/

    Like

  9. Christopher: good enough, but even in the midwest I found geeks with their Blackberries. Remember, I don’t need a huge mega audience. Just an influential one. Why? My costs of creating content will be very small compared to the big networks. I just gotta find microcontent that the big guys aren’t willing to do, but that I can make at better quality than other videobloggers.

    Like

  10. Christopher: good enough, but even in the midwest I found geeks with their Blackberries. Remember, I don’t need a huge mega audience. Just an influential one. Why? My costs of creating content will be very small compared to the big networks. I just gotta find microcontent that the big guys aren’t willing to do, but that I can make at better quality than other videobloggers.

    Like

  11. The idea of the show is to create simple things that any college stutdent or young professional can make.

    Some of our future shows include:
    – Cool recipes using the foreman grill
    – What really is the best energy drink?
    – How to make a simple spaghetti

    There are many young people watching the food network that aren’t sophisticated enough to follow most of those recipes. We want to do shows that you can do with ease.

    Here is an example episode of using an iron to make a quesadilla. Yes, we have NO video making/editing skills.

    If you are a director and want to make cool stuff, let us know.

    Like

  12. The idea of the show is to create simple things that any college stutdent or young professional can make.

    Some of our future shows include:
    – Cool recipes using the foreman grill
    – What really is the best energy drink?
    – How to make a simple spaghetti

    There are many young people watching the food network that aren’t sophisticated enough to follow most of those recipes. We want to do shows that you can do with ease.

    Here is an example episode of using an iron to make a quesadilla. Yes, we have NO video making/editing skills.

    If you are a director and want to make cool stuff, let us know.

    Like

  13. I just gotta find microcontent that the big guys aren’t willing to do, but that I can make at better quality than other videobloggers.

    Well, ok, on that I agree 100%… 🙂

    Like

  14. I just gotta find microcontent that the big guys aren’t willing to do, but that I can make at better quality than other videobloggers.

    Well, ok, on that I agree 100%… 🙂

    Like

  15. that aren’t sophisticated enough

    Well, perfect then, cooking, fashion, gardening, interior deco and personal hygiene microcontent tips vlogged up for quasi-retarded navel-gazing uncultured geeks. Sorta Life Skills for Extreme Geek Dummies, gawd knows there’s a small big niche market for that.

    Like

  16. that aren’t sophisticated enough

    Well, perfect then, cooking, fashion, gardening, interior deco and personal hygiene microcontent tips vlogged up for quasi-retarded navel-gazing uncultured geeks. Sorta Life Skills for Extreme Geek Dummies, gawd knows there’s a small big niche market for that.

    Like

  17. I’m still not used to watching videos on my ipod and I would find it difficult watching a video while at a supermarket.

    What would be nice is that if i download a video from you guys about a certain recipe, that i can also download a list of ingredients and load them into my ipod. A list is much more accessible. I don’t know if the iPod syncs up notes, but you can create a contact card with the name as the title of the dish and the ingredients listed out somewhere.

    Overall, i would need additional formats/content to compensate for the downsides of video.

    Like

  18. I’m still not used to watching videos on my ipod and I would find it difficult watching a video while at a supermarket.

    What would be nice is that if i download a video from you guys about a certain recipe, that i can also download a list of ingredients and load them into my ipod. A list is much more accessible. I don’t know if the iPod syncs up notes, but you can create a contact card with the name as the title of the dish and the ingredients listed out somewhere.

    Overall, i would need additional formats/content to compensate for the downsides of video.

    Like

  19. Robert,

    Funny thing about recipes. Back in the earliest days of personal computers, when geeks and maketers tried to make lists of potential home applications, recipes always popped in.

    Back then, computerized recipes fit the classic definition of a non-product: a more complicated, more expensive way to get something done. How would you get the recipes into the computer in the first place? Much easier to clip and save paper.

    Fast forward a generation. We have the web and search tools (and a generation who has grown up with the technology), and now people actually use and get benefit from “recipes on computer.” The keys are browse, search, and scan. Look at http://www.epicurious.com

    Cooking for geeks is a fine video topic. But to make it really useful, you’ll need a little web magic around the videos: Let the geeks set some preferences for how they’d like to get the ingredient list into the store (email, SMS, iPod). Get your providers to supply metadata in text that can be searched.

    As for a recipe: Beer can chicken. Best chicken I’ve ever made. Works on a barbeque or the oven.

    Like

  20. Robert,

    Funny thing about recipes. Back in the earliest days of personal computers, when geeks and maketers tried to make lists of potential home applications, recipes always popped in.

    Back then, computerized recipes fit the classic definition of a non-product: a more complicated, more expensive way to get something done. How would you get the recipes into the computer in the first place? Much easier to clip and save paper.

    Fast forward a generation. We have the web and search tools (and a generation who has grown up with the technology), and now people actually use and get benefit from “recipes on computer.” The keys are browse, search, and scan. Look at http://www.epicurious.com

    Cooking for geeks is a fine video topic. But to make it really useful, you’ll need a little web magic around the videos: Let the geeks set some preferences for how they’d like to get the ingredient list into the store (email, SMS, iPod). Get your providers to supply metadata in text that can be searched.

    As for a recipe: Beer can chicken. Best chicken I’ve ever made. Works on a barbeque or the oven.

    Like

  21. Michael: I was at a BBQ place in Dallas where they called that “violated chicken.”

    I agree it’s a great way to make chicken, though.

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  22. Michael: I was at a BBQ place in Dallas where they called that “violated chicken.”

    I agree it’s a great way to make chicken, though.

    Like

  23. I have to second “Ctrl-Alt-Chicken”. As someone who isn’t that good at cooking, it’s one of the only cooking shows I watch. I just wish they came out with more episodes (or at least had a predictable pattern, like one a week).

    And I also agree with what’s been said above about delivery method. Instead of picking one, provide them all and let the viewer choose. I probably wouldn’t bring my video ipod into the store with me to buy the ingredients, but I would definately click a button that says “send ingredients to my cell phone (SMS)” because I always have my phone with me.

    Provide the ingredients in the video like you said, give them the option to SMS it to their phone, or print it out on paper (and of course they can just write it down).

    I really don’t care how you give me the ingredients, I just want the content. Start producing great cooking shows!

    Like

  24. I have to second “Ctrl-Alt-Chicken”. As someone who isn’t that good at cooking, it’s one of the only cooking shows I watch. I just wish they came out with more episodes (or at least had a predictable pattern, like one a week).

    And I also agree with what’s been said above about delivery method. Instead of picking one, provide them all and let the viewer choose. I probably wouldn’t bring my video ipod into the store with me to buy the ingredients, but I would definately click a button that says “send ingredients to my cell phone (SMS)” because I always have my phone with me.

    Provide the ingredients in the video like you said, give them the option to SMS it to their phone, or print it out on paper (and of course they can just write it down).

    I really don’t care how you give me the ingredients, I just want the content. Start producing great cooking shows!

    Like

  25. As for Julia Child, fine French cooking and exotic dishes — a phrase oft heard on tech blogs, you just don’t get it.

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  26. As for Julia Child, fine French cooking and exotic dishes — a phrase oft heard on tech blogs, you just don’t get it.

    Like

  27. Great minds think alike, Robert!

    Kathy Maister, one of our clients at stresslimitdesign, is currently in the middle of producing a series of short cooking videos about cooking basics (that’s why the project is called startcooking) designed *specifically* for iPods and other portable media players–in order to provide the sorts of features you just mentioned, like ingredients/grocery lists. (And I mean literally “in the middle” — she’s actually filming as I write this.)

    I’m sure Kathy would be happy to drop you and Noah a line once the videos are live — and if you want to compare notes, you can reach her at kathy AT startcooking DOT com.

    In the meantime, she’s blogging about the adventure of creating the videos at her blog, The Main Dish.

    My favourite food blogs would be Kathy’s and a blog by Amy Glaze, Ms. Glaze’s Pommes d’Amour, who is an American woman who’s been studying cordon bleu cooking in Paris, and is now doing her cooking internship. Her blog also includes some great cooking videos. (Afraid neither is a geek blog though — Amy’s is food and Paris culinary adventures and Kathy’s is a mix of entrepreneur rapportage and food.)

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  28. Great minds think alike, Robert!

    Kathy Maister, one of our clients at stresslimitdesign, is currently in the middle of producing a series of short cooking videos about cooking basics (that’s why the project is called startcooking) designed *specifically* for iPods and other portable media players–in order to provide the sorts of features you just mentioned, like ingredients/grocery lists. (And I mean literally “in the middle” — she’s actually filming as I write this.)

    I’m sure Kathy would be happy to drop you and Noah a line once the videos are live — and if you want to compare notes, you can reach her at kathy AT startcooking DOT com.

    In the meantime, she’s blogging about the adventure of creating the videos at her blog, The Main Dish.

    My favourite food blogs would be Kathy’s and a blog by Amy Glaze, Ms. Glaze’s Pommes d’Amour, who is an American woman who’s been studying cordon bleu cooking in Paris, and is now doing her cooking internship. Her blog also includes some great cooking videos. (Afraid neither is a geek blog though — Amy’s is food and Paris culinary adventures and Kathy’s is a mix of entrepreneur rapportage and food.)

    Like

  29. So….lemme see if I get this. A geeks finds that he wants to cook, so he and gets himself a portable device that will play videos..(iPod, PSP, whatever), download some video about how to make the perfect Italian dinner that will get him laid for the first time in his 35 years on this earth with is geek date this evening. So, get gets in his Prius with his trusty iPod and heads down to his local Frazier Foods store to buy he ingredients for is dinner. So, he walks around the store watching is iPod while buys ingredients? Then, assuming he doesn’t have to spend 5 hours buying ingredients because he’s had to rewind his video 50 times to make sure he heard everything correctly, he heads back to his geek crib and then is supposed to carry around his iPod in the kitchen while being taught to make this dinner? Really?

    What is the aversion to a printed list of ingredients and a printed recipe that I can always refer to very easily? What’s next? A downloadable video on how to assemble a small block Chevy engine that I can carry with me while rolling around underneath my chassis

    Like

  30. So….lemme see if I get this. A geeks finds that he wants to cook, so he and gets himself a portable device that will play videos..(iPod, PSP, whatever), download some video about how to make the perfect Italian dinner that will get him laid for the first time in his 35 years on this earth with is geek date this evening. So, get gets in his Prius with his trusty iPod and heads down to his local Frazier Foods store to buy he ingredients for is dinner. So, he walks around the store watching is iPod while buys ingredients? Then, assuming he doesn’t have to spend 5 hours buying ingredients because he’s had to rewind his video 50 times to make sure he heard everything correctly, he heads back to his geek crib and then is supposed to carry around his iPod in the kitchen while being taught to make this dinner? Really?

    What is the aversion to a printed list of ingredients and a printed recipe that I can always refer to very easily? What’s next? A downloadable video on how to assemble a small block Chevy engine that I can carry with me while rolling around underneath my chassis

    Like

  31. LayZ: I never said I thought it out completely. But, let’s spend some time.

    Let’s say our geek already has a 60GB video iPod.

    He subscribes to a food site, like one of those named in this thread. He does this cause she knows that sometime in the future she might need to fix a meal for someone.

    Let’s say he’s at work and finally got the urge to call that woman up that he’s been chatting with on MySpace for a couple of weeks. She says “I’m up for dinner at your place.”

    Oh, oh. Now what?

    Well, he clicks on “food videoblogs” on his iPod. Already stored there are 30 choices.

    Let’s see, first, gotta pick something out. She mentioned she wasn’t vegetarian and liked fish, so let’s see, there’s choices for:

    Beef
    Chinese
    Fish
    Salads
    Seafood
    Shellfish
    Thai

    He clicks on “Fish” and finds:

    Halibut, grilled
    Halibut, BBQ
    Halibut, baked

    He has a BBQ, so clicks on that.

    It pulls up a video. The first screen says “pick these up.”

    Oh, and “consider these other things” which includes Salad, wine, desert, atmosphere (candles, napkins).

    “Cool,” he tells himself, knowing things will be fine.

    Later, he leaves work, drives to a Safeway. Looks at the list of things he’ll need and picks those out. Buys them, leaves for home.

    At home, he puts the iPod on the counter and starts playing the video. It takes him step-by-step through how he needs to prepare the food.

    And onward.

    Now, why is that different from a cookbook?

    How many geeks have a cookbook at work?

    Why is it different from a cooking show on TV? Because how would the TV know he wanted to cook Halibut tonight? The shows they’ve been having on lately are all on pasta. His Tivo deleted the older shows. And, anyway, he can’t take a TV to the store.

    Why not just look up a Web site and print that out? Very doable. I’d certainly look at not just doing a video, but a whole blog post about that topic. Will help it get into Google, so maybe our geek will look up “BBQ’ing Halibut” I just did that and found this recipe: http://www.slashfood.com/2006/07/16/you-can-do-fish-on-the-grill/

    But wouldn’t recipes like this be better if they had an associated video that you could load on your iPod?

    Like

  32. LayZ: I never said I thought it out completely. But, let’s spend some time.

    Let’s say our geek already has a 60GB video iPod.

    He subscribes to a food site, like one of those named in this thread. He does this cause she knows that sometime in the future she might need to fix a meal for someone.

    Let’s say he’s at work and finally got the urge to call that woman up that he’s been chatting with on MySpace for a couple of weeks. She says “I’m up for dinner at your place.”

    Oh, oh. Now what?

    Well, he clicks on “food videoblogs” on his iPod. Already stored there are 30 choices.

    Let’s see, first, gotta pick something out. She mentioned she wasn’t vegetarian and liked fish, so let’s see, there’s choices for:

    Beef
    Chinese
    Fish
    Salads
    Seafood
    Shellfish
    Thai

    He clicks on “Fish” and finds:

    Halibut, grilled
    Halibut, BBQ
    Halibut, baked

    He has a BBQ, so clicks on that.

    It pulls up a video. The first screen says “pick these up.”

    Oh, and “consider these other things” which includes Salad, wine, desert, atmosphere (candles, napkins).

    “Cool,” he tells himself, knowing things will be fine.

    Later, he leaves work, drives to a Safeway. Looks at the list of things he’ll need and picks those out. Buys them, leaves for home.

    At home, he puts the iPod on the counter and starts playing the video. It takes him step-by-step through how he needs to prepare the food.

    And onward.

    Now, why is that different from a cookbook?

    How many geeks have a cookbook at work?

    Why is it different from a cooking show on TV? Because how would the TV know he wanted to cook Halibut tonight? The shows they’ve been having on lately are all on pasta. His Tivo deleted the older shows. And, anyway, he can’t take a TV to the store.

    Why not just look up a Web site and print that out? Very doable. I’d certainly look at not just doing a video, but a whole blog post about that topic. Will help it get into Google, so maybe our geek will look up “BBQ’ing Halibut” I just did that and found this recipe: http://www.slashfood.com/2006/07/16/you-can-do-fish-on-the-grill/

    But wouldn’t recipes like this be better if they had an associated video that you could load on your iPod?

    Like

  33. @20. Not a bad sceneario when you put it that way Cuz I’m sure our geek doesn’t have standard “can’t miss” meals he knows how to fix when “the time is right”. So, I can this this working…to a point. Doing quite a bit of cooking myself, I’m not sure one can rely on video along to hit it out of the park. Need to figure out a way to combine it with either print, or text. Some way to say, get the recipe in the notes section of the iPod. But, the problem there is you are catering to the specific iPod user as I’m not sure all portable media players have the ability to capture notes. Maybe a skill cook could survive on just video…not sure an amature can do that without continually needed to refer to a printed recipe. However, I do see your above scenario as a good start. And I see it appealing to college kids and even young newlywed with spouses that may be intimitaded by cooking for their new partners. I think it could play more broadly than just geeks. But.. I think you still need text. Just one man’s opinion.

    Like

  34. @20. Not a bad sceneario when you put it that way Cuz I’m sure our geek doesn’t have standard “can’t miss” meals he knows how to fix when “the time is right”. So, I can this this working…to a point. Doing quite a bit of cooking myself, I’m not sure one can rely on video along to hit it out of the park. Need to figure out a way to combine it with either print, or text. Some way to say, get the recipe in the notes section of the iPod. But, the problem there is you are catering to the specific iPod user as I’m not sure all portable media players have the ability to capture notes. Maybe a skill cook could survive on just video…not sure an amature can do that without continually needed to refer to a printed recipe. However, I do see your above scenario as a good start. And I see it appealing to college kids and even young newlywed with spouses that may be intimitaded by cooking for their new partners. I think it could play more broadly than just geeks. But.. I think you still need text. Just one man’s opinion.

    Like

  35. Screw recipes, man! 🙂 In a few years nobody’s going to cook. Hell, 80% what passes for cooking now is just heating things up. “Baking bread” means “put the bread mix in the machine and press a button.” 🙂 Nobody cooks in Singapore — it’s all takeout and restaurant food. It’s just going to take the rest of us a while to catch up.

    Instead of recipes:

    Do video reviews of fast food and junk food. Vending machine food. 7-11 food.

    Don’t aim for poulet chasseur; don’t aim for veal medallions with braised shallots in a white wine sauce. Aim LOWER. Totally underserved market there. 🙂

    Coke Blak: Does it taste any good? Does it have more caffeine than Red Bull? Is it the ideal drink for when you want the taste of coffee, but it’s 97 degrees outside?

    7-11’s P’EatZZa Sandwich: can you eat this while driving? Even if you have a manual transmission?

    Twizzlers vs. Red Vines: the ultimate showdown. There can be Only One.

    u.s.w.

    “In terms of fast food and deep understanding of the culture of fast food, I’m your man.”

    — Bill Gates, 1994 Playboy interview

    Robert Hess on would rock. LOL

    Drinkboy + The MSDN Show would rock, too. You could have Robert serving cocktails while interviewing software engineers…

    HESS: So, I assume WinFS will be managed code?

    QUENTIN CLARK: *hic* Yeah… I mean no… I mean mostly. Mostly managed. There’ll be some, uh, lega, legacy bits. Shay… thish is good, wasss it called again?

    HESS: It’s called “Truth Serum.” Why does WinFS need unmanaged code at all?

    QUENTIN CLARK: Well, ish kinda… ish mostly paformance isshues. Frankly ish kind of a dog right now. I think we’re gonna halfta rearchitect the whole thing. *hic* Oh jeez can I say that on TV? Heheheheh…

    HESS: We can edit this part out later. Let me top up your drink….

    Like

  36. Screw recipes, man! 🙂 In a few years nobody’s going to cook. Hell, 80% what passes for cooking now is just heating things up. “Baking bread” means “put the bread mix in the machine and press a button.” 🙂 Nobody cooks in Singapore — it’s all takeout and restaurant food. It’s just going to take the rest of us a while to catch up.

    Instead of recipes:

    Do video reviews of fast food and junk food. Vending machine food. 7-11 food.

    Don’t aim for poulet chasseur; don’t aim for veal medallions with braised shallots in a white wine sauce. Aim LOWER. Totally underserved market there. 🙂

    Coke Blak: Does it taste any good? Does it have more caffeine than Red Bull? Is it the ideal drink for when you want the taste of coffee, but it’s 97 degrees outside?

    7-11’s P’EatZZa Sandwich: can you eat this while driving? Even if you have a manual transmission?

    Twizzlers vs. Red Vines: the ultimate showdown. There can be Only One.

    u.s.w.

    “In terms of fast food and deep understanding of the culture of fast food, I’m your man.”

    — Bill Gates, 1994 Playboy interview

    Robert Hess on would rock. LOL

    Drinkboy + The MSDN Show would rock, too. You could have Robert serving cocktails while interviewing software engineers…

    HESS: So, I assume WinFS will be managed code?

    QUENTIN CLARK: *hic* Yeah… I mean no… I mean mostly. Mostly managed. There’ll be some, uh, lega, legacy bits. Shay… thish is good, wasss it called again?

    HESS: It’s called “Truth Serum.” Why does WinFS need unmanaged code at all?

    QUENTIN CLARK: Well, ish kinda… ish mostly paformance isshues. Frankly ish kind of a dog right now. I think we’re gonna halfta rearchitect the whole thing. *hic* Oh jeez can I say that on TV? Heheheheh…

    HESS: We can edit this part out later. Let me top up your drink….

    Like

  37. Good show. Twizzlers vs. Red Vines, that type of stuff could be a hit YouTube vid already or a running RocketBroomstick series, but serious cooking and grocery shopping with the iPod, I just don’t see it, nor would anyone halfway rational, and will it replace 50 years of cookbooks and Methodist Church plastic-ring binder recipe collections? Not a chance. But goofy Geek Fast-Foody reviews, perfect. And for the record, Twizzlers easy, Red Vines be teeth-grinding Good Year tire-filler, goes perfect with the too-long-in-the-store cemented Milk Duds.

    Like

  38. Good show. Twizzlers vs. Red Vines, that type of stuff could be a hit YouTube vid already or a running RocketBroomstick series, but serious cooking and grocery shopping with the iPod, I just don’t see it, nor would anyone halfway rational, and will it replace 50 years of cookbooks and Methodist Church plastic-ring binder recipe collections? Not a chance. But goofy Geek Fast-Foody reviews, perfect. And for the record, Twizzlers easy, Red Vines be teeth-grinding Good Year tire-filler, goes perfect with the too-long-in-the-store cemented Milk Duds.

    Like

  39. There are a ton of great Seattle food blogs out there. Too bad you’re moving away Scoble. TastingMenu is great!! Had no idea the guy has a fulltime job at MS! Very cool

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  40. There are a ton of great Seattle food blogs out there. Too bad you’re moving away Scoble. TastingMenu is great!! Had no idea the guy has a fulltime job at MS! Very cool

    Like

  41. Not to be a downer, but I think we’re missing a piece of this admittedly attractive scenario. Scoble talks about having an iPod and loading it up with a video podcast spontaneously while at work.

    I don’t know about anybody else, but my media base of operations is NOT my work machine – it’s my home machine. Also, assuming you have iTunes set to automatically sync your Library with your iPod (a good assumption seeing as how you have a 60GB device), the iPod will only connect and be loadable from one computer, which in this case is NOT your work computer.

    Now you are at work and have stumbled upon some great cooking video podcasts and want to load them onto your device. You have two choices: Replace the entire contents of your device with whatever is on your work machine, but get the cooking shows you wanted, or maintain your device as is and go back to copying down the information onto paper.

    It seems to me that we are not there yet on this one, Scoble.

    Like

  42. Not to be a downer, but I think we’re missing a piece of this admittedly attractive scenario. Scoble talks about having an iPod and loading it up with a video podcast spontaneously while at work.

    I don’t know about anybody else, but my media base of operations is NOT my work machine – it’s my home machine. Also, assuming you have iTunes set to automatically sync your Library with your iPod (a good assumption seeing as how you have a 60GB device), the iPod will only connect and be loadable from one computer, which in this case is NOT your work computer.

    Now you are at work and have stumbled upon some great cooking video podcasts and want to load them onto your device. You have two choices: Replace the entire contents of your device with whatever is on your work machine, but get the cooking shows you wanted, or maintain your device as is and go back to copying down the information onto paper.

    It seems to me that we are not there yet on this one, Scoble.

    Like

  43. I think any of these ideas would fly if Rachael Ray was involved (see the Food Network website).

    There are still many cooking markets that the mainstream doesn’t address. For example, the heart-healthy diets that more and more people require as they tackle the challenges of aging health. Not much information out there, but demographics put a lot of folks in that group.

    Like

  44. I think any of these ideas would fly if Rachael Ray was involved (see the Food Network website).

    There are still many cooking markets that the mainstream doesn’t address. For example, the heart-healthy diets that more and more people require as they tackle the challenges of aging health. Not much information out there, but demographics put a lot of folks in that group.

    Like

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