Posts Tagged ‘cousin dave’

supercook saves the day

what’s for dinner?  it is a question heard every night in most homes and unless you are a gourmet cook like my mom, you’re staring into the refrigerator pondering your next meal. well, you can always look up a recipe on plenty of websites like allrecipes.com and epicurious.com. unfortunately, they do not take into account what you already have in your kitchen.  so you might come up with something extraordinary only to find out you can’t make it because you do not have the necessary ingredients around the house.  not a time saving concept there.  enter supercook!

supercook tells you what’s cooking with what you already have in your cabinets.  essentially, supercook is a recipe search engine that uses a database of 300,000 plus recipes.  you simply type in the ingredients lying around your kitchen into a section on the website that says mykitchen. the more ingredients you put in the search, the better the selections. then using its digital algorithms, supercook gives you a list of potential recipes, using just what you have, or with the addition of another item.   supercook assumes you have some basics like salt and pepper and still may send you to the store for a few items from time to time, but the majority of recipes works with whatever you have in the cupboards.  supercook lists the items needed to be purchased clearly, so you do not have to sift through recipes to find the right one for you. results are filtered by starters, entrees and desserts.

like most of our web wednesday features, supercook is a free service which requires no sign up. signing up for an account is free and allows your to save your list for future recipe searches.

so the next time you’re staring into the refrigerator asking what’s for dinner, try supercook.

happy web wednesday

web wednesday from cousin dave

web wednesday features flightstats

in these days of long airport delays, flight tracking and flight-status alerts have become important tools for travelers. it’s not easy tracking people and planes. all people do not have access to the same information. the problem with most of these services continues to be the accuracy of the information send via email or text. several services have challenges knowing the status of flights which are held at the gate for long delays.

one service that stands above the rest in offering complete, objective, real-time flight information is flightstats. flightstats succeeds where others fail by collecting information from places that include airports, airlines and the federal aviation administration. this service sends messages at the time of a flight’s actual take-off and landing. in fact, the site offers more then just a place for flight updates but a complete wealth of travel information from flights, airports, airlines, mobile applications and travel planning.

like our other web wednesday features so far this year,   you can go directly to the site and start using the services.   you can also register for the site which brings you the following additional features:
·access information on historical flights
· contribute to the flightstats
community forums
· use the flight alert application to receive flight alert messages
· early preview site enhancements prior to release
· date and time formatting options

stop waiting at the airport for the next pick up or delivery and start using flightstats.

happy web wednesday!

web wednesday: another favorite website from cousin dave…

ever wonder who has the best online movie showtime site? ten years ago, moviephone was the go-to place when you needed to know showtime information. then came fandango which provided better access to show times but also featured a cluttered view. i agree with m.g. siegler who wrote about this issue last year. i too, could care less about the lives of celebrities and all the rest of the behind the scenes movie info that the website provides. someone should tell those guys that the whole idea of the service is to provide quick access to showtimes.

quick access to show times is exactly what you get when you log onto showtimefu. no worries about registrating for the site. log on, put in your city and you’ll get a full listing of every movie playing at that location, with showtimes and at what theaters. you even get the ending time for each movie.

what i like best about this site is a filtering option that allows you to see results by title, theater, ratings and even show times. if you click on a movie you’re interested in, showtimefu loads a new page in the main column which contains a description of the movie (along with links to its imdb and rotten tomato pages), a map of where the theater showing it is, and the play times.

unfortunately, the one thing you cannot do do from this site is purchase tickets. it seems like that would be an easy enough feature to add. personally, i never buy tickets over the web anyway. i just want the showtimes. from there i head to the theater to get the actual tickets. the lack of an onsite purchase option is fine for a guy like me.

so if your interested in looking at a simple interface to find out “what’s playing in your area, try it out!

happy ‘web wednesday!”

web wednesday by guest blogger cousin dave:

there are plenty of websites that allow you to create your own greeting cards and send them to loved ones, but most of these cards are cheezy looking. those don’t have the same effect as a real card that your friend, significant other or family member can hold in his or her hands.
finding and mailing that perfect greeting card is now simplified with enGreet, a new online greeting card store that offers a more convenient way to choose, personalize and mail unique greeting cards without leaving your home. enGreet showcases a diverse selection of cards designed for every occasion, including traditional events such as birthdays, anniversaries and religious holidays, as well as a variety of nontraditional occasions.
you can customize these cards with your own words, fonts and images before sending them out to the recipient with as little as one day’s notice. once the card is done, you can either ship it to yourself to sign it and deliver it in person or have it sent directly to the person you made it for. either way, it’s more personal than an e-card.  no running to the post office for stamps!  no last minute driving to the mall to find a card!  
scheduling is available, too. for example, if you’re afraid you’ll forget an upcoming birthday or anniversary, you can go to enGreet right now and schedule a card to be delivered in advance. no excuse for missing that special memory.
enGreet uses other services to make sure you’re on top of special events. you can sign up for e-mail notifications of upcoming dates that are important, and soon the site will integrate with facebook to import friends’ birthdays. text message reminders and follow-up calls are in the works too.
i recently used the service and for $3.43, I was able to send a beautiful personalized card from my desk.  try it out for yourself.  i think you’ll like what you find. 
Happy Web Wednesday!

cousin dave debuts his first guest post:

friends and family are always asking me how to get up to speed on technical issues. the best way i’ve learned to develop my knowledge of new concepts is to just jump right in. with that thought in mind, i’ve started a project i’m calling “web wednesday”. “web wednesday” is my attempt to showcase unique web sites that provide not only interesting information but through their use can add a practical benefit to your day to day living. these sites can make what you do in every day life just a little easier.

forget to remind your child about a school assignment? how about telling your spouse to bring something home from the store? better yet, what about a note to remind yourself about an appointment some time later this month? there’s the option of doing things the old fashioned way by sending yourself a voicemail message or leaving a sticky note posted somewhere and hope it remains in place. or, why not try something different like ohdontforget.com.

ohdontforget.com is just like the name says. it’s a great way to remind yourself of tasks by having the reminder come directly to your phone as a text message. just enter the cell number you want the reminder sent to, the date and time you’d like the message sent and the text of the message you’d like to receive. there is a mobile site as well if you find yourself on the go. you can send the reminder to yourself or any cell number of your choice. sending free text messages has been covered in the past using other services but what makes oh! don’t forget a unique service is two great features:

1. there is no registration. you just go to the web site and put in the information you want to be reminded about.

2. you can schedule the text to be sent at a future time and date.

try it out for yourself. i wouldn’t look to use the service for managing a lot of long-term reminders but this is probably the simplest tool i’ve come across for creating quick SMS reminders.

hope you find this useful and happy web wednesday!

david bailey can be found most evenings surfing the web in search of the latest social media developments. he’ll be writing about his adventures each wednesday here at get-with-the-program.com. he also has started a blog at computerblues.posterous.com.