MacGourmet News

Yes, that time has FINALLY arrived! I'm looking for some brave souls to beta test the first version of MacGourmet for the iPhone/iPod touch: MacGourmet Touch.

What I need from people interested: Just your name and the id of your iPhone or iPod touch. The requirements are that you have a WiFi network, or WiFi-capable Mac, and are running Mac OS X 10.5 or later.

To get your phone id, sync your iPhone to your Mac, which will start up iTunes if it's not already running. Then, select your iPhone in iTunes and choose the Summary tab. Click directly on the "Serial number" label. This will toggle the display to show you the phone identifier. Without selecting anything, choose File > Copy and then paste the contents of the clip board into an email message (or just click this link to open a new email message), and send that off to macgourmet [at] advenio.com with a subject of "MacGourmet iPhone Beta". The beta test should get underway soon. Thanks!

Labels: Beta, Sneak Preview

Just another quick note: the Food & Wine site importer has been updated to version 1.2. You can download the latest version from the web importer page.

This new version accommodates changes made in their latest site redesign.

Just a quick note: the Cook's Illustrated site importer has been updated to version 1.2. You can download the latest version from the web importer page.

This new version accommodates changes made in their latest site redesign.

I know, it's been a while since the last preview, but I've been hard at work on the iPhone version of MacGourmet, believe me. Contrary to what you may think, developing iPhone apps that sync with desktop applications is no piece of cake. Apple doesn't give us any way to easily pass information back and forth between the two platforms, which means that as developers, we are all forced to come up with our own ways of doing things. The iPhone also has many limitations, and very different ways of doing things from how we do things on the Mac.

To sync data right now, developers really only have two options: One is to sync with a web site. That's great if you already have an existing, scalable, and compatible web site out there, not so good if you don't. I'm a Mac developer, not a web developer, so that wasn't a great option for me.

The other option is to use Bonjour and a wireless connection to swap data between the iPhone/iPod touch. This also isn't an easy path, as it requires knowledge of networking and streams programing. It also requires the user to have a wireless network, or at least a wireless capable Mac.

For MacGourmet, I've chosen the Bonjour/wireless path. This is definitely going to be a limitation for some at first, but I had to choose one. I expect connectivity options to change or expand in the future though.

In the interest of time, the first version of MacGourmet: To Go will only offer one way syncing of data for your recipes, wine notes and cooking notes. You will, however, be able to create and edit shopping lists on the fly as well as sync them from your Mac. Why this limitation? Time. Syncing is incredibly difficult. Apple does it, and even they can't seem to get it right (if the information that regularly gets messed up on my phone is any indication). If the first version included full blown on-phone editing, and back and forth syncing support, the release would take much, much longer. I think that the first version will hopefully meet the needs of most people: the ability to take the recipes, notes and shopping lists that they have entered into MacGourmet on their Mac, with them.

I still don't have a release date for the app. I wish I did, and I'm working on getting it out as soon as I can. These things just take time, and I don't want to rush things just to get something out. It's also not the only thing I'm working on of course, as MacGourmet continues to see development, bug fixes, etc. and takes a significant amount of my time each day.

[You can find the first preview post, if you haven't seen it yet, here: MacGourmet:To Go Sneak Peek]

MacGourmet 2.3.5, another free, minor update is now available.

This update fixes updates the web importers for FoodNetwork.com, YahooFood and Epicurious.com. For a full list of changes, please see the release notes.

As always, MacGourmet can be downloaded from the MacGourmet download page. MacGourmet Deluxe can be downloaded from Mariner's download page.

I also just noticed that Cook's Illustrated completely redesigned their web site, so I plan to update that importer, assuming their changes allow it, as soon as I get a chance.

FoodNetwork.com just redid their entire site. I'd like to update the importer for the changes, but they still seem to be in the process of changing things, so until their changes "settle" I have to hold off on making a new importer, otherwise I'll just be doing work for nothing.

It doesn't look like the new format is too complicated, so once I'm confident in things, it shouldn't be too bad to release a new importer for it. Stay tuned here for updates.

Check out this month's Mac|Life magazine for a 4 star review of MacGourmet Deluxe! They have this to say: "...the app cooks up some nice features, including menus, meal planners, shopping lists, nutrition guidelines, and, of course, your favorite recipes available at the click of a button." You can read the full review online here.

This weekend I sent out an email message with information on the MacGourmet/TasteBook partnership. This is the first time I've done a mailing, so I just wanted to provide some information on it, and make you aware of our privacy policy.

Over the years, I've gotten lots of requests from people who want to receive MacGourmet information for major changes, like new major versions, new major features, and new offers. I finally got to the point where I could try sending one. The list was built using the email addresses of those who left the "Contact Me" box checked when they ordered. It has always been checked by default, but I've now changed that so that it's unchecked by default. The last thing I want to do is send email to those who don't want it, and if getting the first mailing was a problem, I apologize profusely. Removing yourself from this new list is a simple as clicking the "unsubscribe" link in the email message, so if you don't want to receive anything in the future, please take a second and click the link.

If you do want to continue to get MacGourmet-related email, this list will only be used for major announcements, so mailings should be few, and you can unsubscribe at any time. This list is also not provided to 3rd parties and never will be, so it will ONLY be used for MacGourmet-specific news.

If for some reason, you are not on the mailing list, and would like to be, you can subscribe to the list below.

Name:


Email:

Just a quick note: the MyRecipes.com site importer has been updated to version 1.1.2. You can download the latest version from the web importer page.

This new version accommodates changes made in their latest site redesign.

You can now create cookbooks with the latest versions of MacGourmet and TasteBook, the best place on the web to discover, organize and share favorite recipes and turn them into personal hardcover cookbooks.

With TasteBook's simple drag-and-drop interface, making a personal cookbook is as easy as creating a "playlist" for your recipes. Complete with customized covers, each personal cookbook is a unique gift--or an everyday essential.

With Tastebook, MacGourmet makes creating your own cookbooks is as easy as exporting your personal recipes from MacGourmet and uploading them to Tastebook.com, combining them into chapters with recipes from sites like Epicurious and SimplyRecipes and ordering your personal cookbook. They make great gifts, why not get started on those Christmas presents early this year with personalized cookbooks from TasteBook?

For a limited time, create a new account and upload your MacGourmet recipes, and you can use the code RECIPESW to save 20% on your cookbooks. For more information and sign up, just head on over to TasteBook.com and create a free account. Once you do that, uploading your recipes is easy using these simple instructions.

The 20% OFF offer expires September 30th, 2008, 11:59pm, PST. Enter coupon code RECIPESW at checkout to redeem. The 20% off offer applies only to orders of $34.95 or more (not including shipping or tax). Cannot be combined with other offers. No substitutions or cash equivalent given.

[Don't forget that with the Cookbook plug-in, which is optional for MacGourmet, and included in MacGourmet Deluxe, you can also make PDF cooksbooks. TasteBook cookbooks are different from print-on-demand copies though. They use a format specifically tailored for cookbooks.]

Labels: Promotions