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The concept of an online grocery-shipping company is one to be excited over. Recently, Amazon launched it’s AmazonFresh extension, allowing consumers to order groceries online. the service has been rolled out to Seattle, San Francisco, and now New York.

Here’s how it works: If you place an order before 10 a.m., your groceries will arrive by “dinner-time”, while orders placed later in the day will arrive as early as the following morning – just in time for breakfast!

However, for some zip codes, you must be present to receive your order during a one-hour time-frame for pickup. Other areas allow for a drop-off delivery service as any order over $35 is free to deliver.

The single catch is that after 90 days of free AmazonFresh usage, you will be enrolled in a $300 per year membership which is also includes Amazon’s Prime Membership for other purchases and deliveries. It is a common conception that online grocers and associated fees are always more expensive than a local supermarket’s prices. After a quick breakdown of a few staple’s prices and comparison, it is possible to se that AmazonFresh is very competitive when it comes to prices and quality.

“Amazon keeps its prices on grocery items in line with what you’d find at your local supermarket.” Says an AmazonFresh customer.

The average American tradition of getting in the car and heading to a supermarket adds up to about 44 minutes per trip, according to the USDA. The travel involves no more than 5 miles per trip and a spending of about $116.51 per week, according to the Food Marketing Institute.

For AmazonFresh, there is more to consider than price of travel:

Quality.
Everyone has their own little tricks to find the freshest, ripest produce in the supermarket. Putting that quality reassurance to the test when using robots and Amazon employees isn’t an easy decision. Usually, it is much of a gable. Though Amazon will refund any unsatisfactory orders, the replacement time period of those items causes great inconvenience when one could head to the local market instead.

Selection.
AmazonFresh has a wonderful variety of local, national, and international items.There is an abundant section of all sorts of produce, meats, dairy, and restaurant items. Even local, fresh-baked bread can be order with just a click on Amazon.

Shopping Experience.
Some people do enjoy grocery shopping at the local market, but not everyone shares this opinion. Especially living in a city like New York – Grocery shopping can be a grueling task that makes takeout look like a knight in shining armor. AmazonFresh is great for those of us who want to get it over will and takes about 15 minutes maximum per order.

AmazonFresh isn’t the first to attempt to break into the online grocery market – WebVan’s $1.1 billion failure shows us how trivial of a matter it could be. FreshDirect has made a name for itself within the New York Metropolitan area. The company plants to spend the next decade expanding to all of the boroughs in NYC.

Manuel Bornia

Amazon’s approach to the matter was similar as the company first launched it’s Fresh service in Seattle, targeting the densely populated areas. Now, as most of the west coast has access to the grocery delivery service, it is becoming much more prevalent. Amazon is a trusted house-hold name and as AmazonFresh makes its way to NYC, we should expect to see a few great competitive deals and faster grocery service to those who could use the help!

The idea of wearable technology has greatly caught on by the masses – especially for those who are health-conscious. Finally, we are able to keep track of our health with the help of innovative technology and devices.

Accurately monitoring diet has been the goal of many healthy-lifestyle apps, web apps, and optimistic devices that count calorie output throughout the day. The problem with these lies in the simple fact that they rely on users to self-report how much they eat. It is no question that this method can lead to unreliable data, as many people forget to report some meals or poorly estimate how much they’re actually eating. Some people even rig their reports on purpose.

Edward Sazonoc, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Alabama said in a statement, “Currently, people can estimate diet and nutrient intake, but the primary method is self-reporting.” Sazonoc is working on a brand new device that focuses on solving this self-reporting issue.

The device is called the Automatic Ingestion Monitor (AIM).

The device is worn around the ear like a Bluetooth earpiece and has a camera that takes photos of what you are eating or drinking. It also contains a motion sensor that sticks to your jaw that records movement for every time you chew or swallow.

The tracker is programmed to know the difference between talking, eating, and swallowing. The total mass and energy content of the food is calculated based on the pictures of the meals and how many times the person chewed during a meal.

Sazonov says, “The number of chews is proportional to ingested mass and energy intake.”

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The tricky part is that once the photo has been taken, the image is then analyzed by a nutritionist who identifies the food as well as actual portion size. Sazonov hopes to make this process automated in the future with a computer using 3D imaging and analysis to calculate the portion size.

Sazonov’s goal is to replace the unreliable self-reported data that many people currently rely on. He hopes his new diet tracking device leads to the development of new weight-loss aids and helps researches gain new information about the habit of overeating.

New methods like the AIM show a positive step forward in diet and eating habit analysis, which in turn could help many people regain control over their health. There are still many issues to work out, but eventually AIM will likely be the first marketed medical device to not let you cheat and help make sure you are getting the correct amount of nutrients. AIM is the ideal device for people who want to take control and track their diet with precision and accuracy.

 

Apps for your appetizers?

 

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Everyday, we are becoming more and more intimate with our mobile devices. We use them to learn, to teach, to flirt and a million other things that previously didn’t require a wifi connection. There seems to be no slice of our daily lives that cannot be improved by technology. The question on whether that is always for the better rages on, but let’s take a look at an arena of the home where new technology is beginning it’s attempt to make our lives easier: the Kitchen.

Websites devoted to storing and organizing recipes are nothing new. Popular recipe site Epicurious.com dates back to 1996 when the internet was essential primordial ooze. While these seemingly infinite databases of recipes are useful and thorough, they lack the magic of a dog-eared, annotated copy of Joy of Cooking that has been passed down for generations. Your grandmothers notes are surely worth more than the comments left by user MuffinQueen21 (no disrespect). Evernote, popular organization/productivity app owned by LinkedIn, has developed a food-focused version that aims to bridge that gap and help make sense of the voluminous recipe databases online.

Evernote Food does several things. Firstly, its a tool for searching and storing recipes from different sources online. It combines the most popular sites with more niche offerings, allowing the user to search a wide range of cooking styles based on various criteria. You can search specific dishes or run searches based on what ingredients you have handy. You can then clip and save your favorites and create your own cookbook. If the recipe you want is not on a website they’ve included, you can use their Web Clipper extension in your internet browser to send recipes to your collection.

Now this app already sounds interesting and useful, but what good is doing anything these days if you aren’t sharing it online? Evernote Food has an answer. You can save your creations in ‘My Meals’. Under this tab, you can photograph, caption and tag your meals for your own records or to share with friends and family. There is also a tab for nearby restaurants if you aren’t interested in cooking yourself. You can search your favorite cuisines or by geography (powered by Foursquare) and see the highest rated eateries available. Again, you can clip these selections and save them for later.

Evernote Food is a just one example of how developers are attempting to make our culinary lives easier. Will an app ever replace the handwritten recipe from a relative? Maybe not. However, if these kinds of apps make home cooking more accessible to a younger generation, then all the power to them.

Evernote Food is available in the App Store on Apple devices and in the Play Store on Android.

Recently, the app-based taxi service Uber announced on their company blog a new product they are testing in Santa Monica: UberFresh. UberFresh is a food delivery service offering lunch hour deliveries in 10 minutes or less. Uber has already shaken up the taxi industry with it’s main product and they are now hoping to break into the food delivery game as well.

Mondays menu, from Uber's blog.

Tuesdays menu, from Uber’s blog.

The test run for UberFresh starts August 26th and runs until September 5th and is only available in the serviceable Santa Monica area. If you are in Santa Monica and have the Uber app, then you can order food Monday through Friday, between 11:30 am and 2:30 pm (though not available on Labor Day). You may be thinking; how can Uber promise such quick delivery time, when competing food delivery services like GrubHub or Seamless, are still bound by the more traditional 30-45 minutes time frame? UberFresh offers only one meal at a time, changing everyday. There are no choices or substitutes, you can only get the specific meal they are offering on that day.The meals are prix fixe at $12. The culinary selections are from restaurants on the west side of Los Angeles in Santa Monica, both locally owned and franchised. Tender Greens, for example, is supplying the Tuesday and Friday meals for this week.

Uber is certainly going after ease and convenience. There is no delivery fee, only the $12 charge for the meal. It is not necessary to tip your driver — they suggest that the best tip is to leave a 5-star review. At this time, the drivers are not going into buildings to delivery the food. Just like their taxi service, you need to meet your driver curbside to collect your lunch.

It is likely that this will be a big success in Santa Monica. It’s success as it scales upwards and outwards is more suspect. Having only one option makes it possible to have lighten-quick delivery, but they will find that certain days are much busier than others. For instance, Thursdays with the Italian sub may be much more popular than Fridays with the Baby Arugula salad. That could mean delays on Thursdays and wasted food on Fridays. In either case, Uber is forging the cutting edge of delivery services. With alcohol delivery options popping up, more competition in the taxi service (Lyft, for example), and already successful food delivery options, Uber is taking the necessary steps in being the go-to for all things convenience.

Starbucks is embracing mobile apps

Starbucks is embracing mobile apps

Starbucks has made it even easier for cravers to grab their morning joe. Their new mobile payment app will allow customers to select their beverage and pay for it before heading to their local  Starbucks. Users will be able to jump the line and the rushed, often awkward interaction with the barista and grab their coffee, tea or food. The app appears to essentially be Seamless for Starbucks.

As mobile apps become more ubiquitous, it isn’t very surprising that Starbucks is embracing the trend of app-based ordering. Apps like Seamless and GrubHub have already taught millennials to hate ordering food over the phone, Uber has taught them to hate waiting for a taxi, and now Starbucks’ new app will teach them to hate waiting in lines. Shifting towards a more automated service could potentially reduce crowding during high traffic times. The app is certainly geared towards the more hardcore Starbucks costumer. Their phone application is already used in 14% of sales, with that number expected to increase as more costumers embrace the order-ahead feature.

“But what about freshness? Surely nobody wants old, cold coffee! And why should they have to drink less-then-fresh coffee because the train was late?”

Worry not, dear reader. Starbucks is anticipating drinks having to sit for periods of time due to lapses of punctuality (either because of unforeseen delays or old-fashioned tardiness). To prepare, they’ve set their Seattle-based test kitchen to finding recipes that will remain fresher longer, post-brew.

Another possibility for this app is a roll-out of a costumer loyalty or point-based reward system. Starbucks will be able to collect valuable information about demographics, patterns, geography of users, and much more. For instance, if many users whose credit cards bill to an address on 23rd Street are using the app to buy coffee from a location on 32nd Street, Starbucks could figure out where to build a new location.

Also, Starbucks is going to begin adding charging stations to their shops, a la airports.

Copyright Manuel Bornia © 2014.