back to article Dinner Spinner

Dinner Spinner is a classic example of the slick and inventive apps that have made the iOS App Store what it is today. It’s also a good example of the way those same apps are now migrating to Android. The idea is blindingly simple and perfect for anyone who - like me - thinks that cooking involves a telephone and knowing the …

COMMENTS

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  1. jonathan keith
    Happy

    I'm as sober as a judge, and furthermore I'm a magistrate.

    Just here to say well done for the splendid Henry Rawlinson quote.

  2. Some Beggar
    WTF?

    Would it not be simpler to just move back in with your mother?

    Anybody who needs this app clearly isn't ready to inhabit the big bad world of adulthood.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Flame

      Or...

      Or, y'know, likes to try new things? Are you /really/ against cookbooks?

      1. Some Beggar

        re: "Or..."

        Cookbooks don't hold my sweating hand as I wander baffled and terrified around the scary scary supermarket.

        1. Some Beggar

          Not that I have anything against this sort of mollycoddling app.

          It is probably cheaper than providing all you life failures with a wetnurse.

          1. Gene Cash Silver badge
            Facepalm

            Sigh...

            I miss Sarah Bee already...

            1. Some Beggar

              @Gene Cash

              Why? Did she hold your hand to stop you getting lost in Asda?

    2. SkippyBing

      Not and get to work.

      As I live several hundred miles from my mother it'd be a bitch of a commute.

      But pray tell, how do you learn to cook new things, divine inspiration?

  3. dotdavid
    Facepalm

    iOS Heritage

    "The icing on the cake is the app's iOS heritage, which shines through at every turn - it’s simply a pleasure to look at and play with even if nothing ends up in’t pot."

    In my experience, "iOS heritage" often means "we couldn't be bothered to work out how to create menus in Android apps, so we put hundreds of unnecessary buttons on screen instead".

  4. Pen-y-gors

    Or of course....

    You could just go to allrecipes.com in your browser and search for 'chocolate' in 'soups, stews and chillis' and lo, up comes the recipe for Big Game Chilli - why faff around with an app? Or if you just google for recipes for soup with chocolate you get some wonderful-sounding suggestions. Anyone for chocolate soup with caramelized bananas?

    Mmmmh....chocolate.....

  5. Caff

    wp7

    Works on wp7 too, just downloaded it.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Doesn't beat this website......

    whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com

    funny viral marketing website

  7. jake Silver badge

    recipesource.com

    It's there, has been for a decade and a half

    It works, has done for a decade and a half.

    If you need to eyeball your phone in order to purchase ingredients at your local mega-mart, I respectfully suggest you should probably stay out of your kitchen ... it is full of sharp objects, hot objects, and freezing objects ... maybe even containing salmonella and other ugly bugs!

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    I will not install this,

    It needs these weird permissions.....

    System tools

    retrieve running applications

    Allows application to retrieve information about currently and recently running tasks. May allow malicious applications to discover private information about other applications.

    prevent device from sleeping

    Allows an application to prevent the device from going to sleep.

    Why ?

    1. Mr Brush
      Boffin

      Can't speak for the other perms...

      ...but prevent device sleeping is handy to stop the screen going to low power mode when you've plonked the device down and you're working from the displayed instructions. Otherwise you'd have to keep jabbing the screen with a (possibly dirty) finger to keep the lock from coming on.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      re: I will not install this

      "prevent device from sleeping

      Allows an application to prevent the device from going to sleep.

      Why ?"

      Purely on this point, I'd say it's because its pissing annoying when you are trying to read something and the screen keeps going black. You'll find that all the good e-reader apps do this as well.

      Can't comment on the rest though.

  9. Rovindi
    Thumb Down

    Odd interface

    I installed it and decided to click on Bread. Rather than show me recipes for bread, I had to select Grain as a second option. Finally selected Any for cooking time and got a wadge of recipes. OKish, but clumsy.

    So, rather than select bread and get a list or next level of filters, I have to tell it that I want bread recipes made with grain and not beef or pork or legumes (FFS!), although steak sandwich with onions on ciabatta is the dogs and a good bacon sarnie is, well simply, orgasmic.

    The Spinny interface doofer, whilst having its merits, doesn´t work for all occassions and makes the app a little infuriating after a short period. Why would you want to search for a beverage made with chicken or a dessert made with pork?

    Odd UI and American-centric recipes. Force Close twice on Galaxy S in 5 mins. Uninstalled.

    Shame, as I love to cook and like to try different things out.

    @AC whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com - most excellent!

    1. Neill Mitchell

      US Centric?

      Bet it is.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There was a lovely cooking application for the Nintendo DS

    Cooking Guide: Can't decide what to eat?

    Really good for total newbie cooks like me - it would talk you through the recipes with a nice calm voice and had the option to explain techniques and cooking terminology.

  11. thesykes
    Headmaster

    no, no, no

    "in’t pot".. what's that supposed to be? surely you mean "in t'pot"?

    As for pronuncation, it would be closer to "int pot" and not "in tpot", with a softer t in int than in pot, otherwise you'd get a harsh pause between the two words, rather than a fluid transition. This is a common failing of Southerners attempting a Northern accent, with terrible results.

  12. Dan Price
    Pint

    Nice, but...

    A nice app. I've used a few recipes from allrecipes.com in the past and they're generally pretty good - though since they're mostly user-submitted the quality can be variable.

    It works nicely on my Advent Vega too, with one caveat: it's obviously not designed for larger screens or tablets, as the background on the main menu is a small rectangle in the middle of the screen and the app is forced into portrait mode.

    Beer because it's not designed for lager screens either.

  13. KidCosmique

    Broken promises

    http://www.reghardware.com/Design/graphics/icons/comment/unhappy_32.png Got very excited when at first attempt it spun me out a Chicken Based Cookie Dinner in under 45 min, but then couldn't provide a recipe :(

  14. Suburban Inmate
    Trollface

    Missing an option!

    Fuck it! I'll grab a...

    | Chippy || Chinese || Indian || Burger || KFC || Pizza || Kebab || Subway || Off License |

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