Apps | Demo

August 8, 2017

Food Delivery App Donates A Meal

Doing something good is now a piece of cake.

Sharebite, an easy-to-use food delivery app, donates a free meal to a child in need with every order placed.

The app, which is only available in New York City, has partnered with City Harvest, an organization that provides food to low-income communities within New York and rescues food that would have been otherwise thrown out. When someone places an order through Sharebite, the app takes a portion of those proceeds and sends it to City Harvest.

“The larger the order, the more meals we share,” Mohsin Memon, co-founder and CEO of Sharebite told The Huffington Post. “With an average transaction of $25, we are sharing enough to donate two meals for every order.”

For the month of December, the app is upping its do-gooder game and will be donating five meals per order to kick off its “Million Meal Mission,” a campaign in which Sharebite hopes to donate a million meals to New York kids within a year.

August 8, 2017

Dear Instagram, We Hate The Stupid Algorithm

It’s dumb, it’s wrong, it’s counterproductive, it’s rude, it’s frustrating, it’s confusing, it’s downright evil. All these things and a lot more can be said about a stupid algorithm created by really smart people.

That’s just it, the Instagram executives are too smart for their own good. They think they’re helping us and their financial bottom line at the same time by having the algorithm only show us what they think we want to see.

What they failed to remember is that the number one most functionally amazing technology ever created to tell Instagram with extreme accuracy what I want to see in chronological order is the follow button!

The follow button was masterfully crafted with 100 percent accuracy to show users only what they want to see in their feed.

The other aspect that these extremely book smart—but clearly not street smart—IG executives failed to realize when deciding what posts are most relevant to show us, based on our previous engagement with accounts, is that there’s lots of accounts that we’re forced to engage with for political reasons—like if my nephew, mother-in-law or co-worker posts something, I’m obligated to “like” it.

On the flip side of that, I’m never going to like an @anacheri photo because it’s too sexy and my wife would be infuriated, and I’m never going to comment on @danbilzerian’s exploits on his page in fear of getting in trouble as well.

But it obviously doesn’t mean that i don’t wanna see Ana and Dan’s posts just because I don’t engage with them. It’s far from that! I’m on Instagram to get a rush of endorphins to feel good, so I’d much rather see their entertaining content than my cousin’s dinner salad.

But with the way the algorithm works, I may never get those endorphins because it may push those pages way down in my feed or completely ignore them, all at the algorithm’s discretion.

Note: just because I never “like” my competitors page doesn’t mean I don’t wanna see what the restaurant owner across the street is posting in real time. It’s an easy way to stay on top of their marketing and specials.

August 7, 2017

Airbnb’s New ‘Trips’ Service Helps You

We may never fall for a tourist trap again.

Airbnb is launching a new service called Trips that allows travelers to schedule adventures with local experts instead of bumbling around on their own, CEO Brian Chesky announced on Thursday.

The news got the Internet buzzing, as it could mean BIG things for the way we vacation in the future.

Consider this: Instead of simply hitting up the typical tourist attractions on a trip, travelers can use Airbnb Trips to book real-life experiences with locals who are willing to show them around. Travelers could sign up for a day of surfing with pros in Malibu, hunting for truffles with Tuscan locals or taking lessons from a Japanese samurai master, according to a company press release.

Trips are bookable either as one-off experiences or longer multi-day tours through Airbnb’s updated app. Half of the Trips are priced at $200 or less, according to Airbnb.

Five surfers walk along beach with surf boards.

It’s perfect for those sick and tired of relying on online reviews or chance encounters with friendly locals in order to experience a town’s true culture. The entire point of Airbnb’s new move, says Chesky, is to keep travelers away from long lines at overrated tourist destinations and give them a chance to feel what it’s really like to live in the places they visit.

“The magic is in the people, it’s all about immersing in local communities,” he said inThursday’s announcement about the product.

The feature is currently live in 12 cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, London, Miami, Paris and Tokyo, with plans to expand to 50 more cities by next year.

August 7, 2017

Chrome Extension ‘DoneGood’ Tells You Ethical Places To Shop

Now you can go green while spending some green.

DoneGood, which launched nationally on Nov. 28, is a new Chrome extension and app that helps users find ethical and sustainable places to shop online. Businesses the app favors include those that are green, make high-quality, long-lasting products and support their workers. The companies that work with DoneGood also offer discounts to people who use the app and extension.

To use DoneGood, all you have to do is download it for free. Once installed, shop online like you typically would by searching for a product — like buying baby gear — on Google or Amazon.

If there’s an ethical or sustainable company that makes baby products that are, say, natural or toxin-free, DoneGood will alert you.

And baby, that’s pretty much it.

May 29, 2017

6 ‘Pokemon GO’ Tips for Playing at Night Without Getting Arrested or Stabbed

Pokémon Go, the augmented reality sensation swallowing the nation, makes few real demands of players, but those it does are simple: go outside, walk around, and discover various landmarks. That’s all well and good for folks that can wander about in the daylight, but things become infinitely trickier at night.

The problem is that not everyone has the luxury of seeing the sun on the regular, thanks to the likes of work and school, which leaves hours of Ash Ketchum cosplay to the dark. No reasonable person can be expected to catch them all while limiting themselves to, if I may borrow an entirely unrelated phrase from The Lion King, everything the light touches.

Which is why every self-respecting Pokémon master needs to keep these tips in mind when throwing down at night.

Don’t Skulk

This one’s a bit broad, but that’s because it applies in nearly every situation. It’s just that it applies doubly so at night. Skulking is never a good look, and attempting to hide the fact that you’re playing Pokémon Go is fine during certain hours — but those hours end when the stars come out or light pollution prevents the stars from coming out. And you’ll look way shadier doing it at night.

Avoid Closed Parks and Stores

Locations like Central Park are incredible for burgeoning trainers, but most places have set business hours that should be respected. Having three Pokéstops right next to each other is lovely, but not being arrested for loitering outside a church late at night is lovelier. See also: the aforementioned “don’t skulk.”