1 – Some of us have the habit of letting the world know where we are and what we’re up too, more frequently than others. How do we achieve this? By “checking in” using the geolocation api. Either on facebook or foursquare, we leave footprints of where we are and what we are up too. The places we check into, are semantically defined in the databases used by such systems. So bars, restaurants, parks and schools are entities that tell us about the nature of the place we checked into. One idea could be tapping into this user behavior, and design and application that keeps track of all our checkins in restaurants, and based on our behavior and using machine learning algorithms finds ‘similar’ places we might be interested in trying out, taking the cognitive load of finding more of what we like off the user’s shoulders. Alternatively, the app could be set in a way that it suggests varieties. So if you are a huge fan of Chinese cousine, the app makes sure you get enough tempting suggestions of other cuisines to flavor up your eating habits!
2 – Eating is not all about taste. It’s also about atmosphere. If you care as much as the quality of food about the quality of the experience you get out of your visit to a restaurant, one idea could be an app that gradually gets to know your eating habits, urges you to quickly rate the overall eating experience / restaurant atmosphere and gradually builds a database of such user-generated content. If you’re a fan of a cosy low-light places with loung / jazz music going, or if you want to get energized while eating, and see lots of colors and upbeat music, this app makes it possible for you to navigate the food industry based on your other senses, not just taste!
3 – (in collaboration with Maya Weinstein, continuation of a previously prototyped web-app “idliketoeat”): Do you live your life with a dietary restriction? Do you look for Gluten-free food on the menus in the hope of finding variety while maintaining your diet? Are you looking for a super quick and easy way to spot Halal food? Is eating healthy all you care about at this moment, and you don’t have a lot of time browsing through a sea of options to find the food you want? idliketoeat is here to help. Focusing on spotting food based on dietary restrictions as the core functionality, idliketoeat makes is easier than ever to narrow down your food search. Spot the nearest vegan restaurants in one click, and spend your time enjoying the food that’s right for you, instead of clicking on confusing checkboxes and nested navigation menus. But that’s not all. While maintaining focus on dietary restriction as the primary filter for finding food, “idliketoeat” also gives you choices for various cuisines, when available.