Too good to go

Too good to go!Too good to throw out. Toogoodtogo is an app that makes an effort to reduce waste. When a product is still pretty good a company can decide to toss it in the trash, or sell it with a big discount (or give it away, but that sometimes conflicts with the business interests). I installed the app and we have tried it twice!

Chinese foodFirst experience (4.99)
There were some left-overs available at a local Chinese restaurant. This felt like quite a risk, because what are you going to get? The left-overs from the buffet? Still we took a gamble, and what we got was unexpected. Four containers with freshly made Chinese food. Nothing to good to go, just normal Chinese food, with the only exception that we could not chose the menu. What we got was pretty good. White rice, rice with chicken, noodles with chicken and croquet’s. All very tasty, but not something that was at risk of being thrown away.

Meat!Second experience (3.99)
The second time we rescued a package from the trash from a big supermarket. This time we got lots of meat. Bacon, bacon pieces, sausages, yogurt (8x), and three apples. All the meat was from a pig. The best-before dates were all on the current date. Not bad, the products all looked pretty good, and we received a big amount of food. I spend the evening frying the meat and even though I would normally avoid pig-meat out of personal preference it looks like the next couple of days I’ll be having pig for lunch.

Conclusion
It is really a gamble. You don’t know what you will get, and you don’t know what state it will be in. I don’t think we will use this app a lot more. The food you get is cheap, and it can be a lot of food, but it is still a gamble. It is unusual to get something you really need. In our case it is much easier to simply pay a little more and get exactly what we want/need. As a game/gamble/surprise it might be fun to get something with friends.

For the company it is an easy way to achieve something. In the case of the Chines restaurant I think they used as a new way to advertise. A random menu for a low price, to maybe get some new customers. In this case I think there is a high probability I would try this Chinese place again, just to see what I will get next time. In case of the supermarkt the app clearly achieved its goal. Avoid throwing away food that was perfectly fine.

Companies that can really benefit from this app are companies that deal with perishable foods. Fruit, vegetables, bread, meat, fish, etc. These shops can avoid throwing away things and get some new potential customers at the same time. For the customer there is the potential for cheap food, but with a risk in not knowing what you are going to get.

iPhone SE 2020

I recently bought a new iPhone. I still remember my first one. It was the old phone my brother gave me when he got a new one. With his old phone I made the big step from dumb phone to smart phone. I liked the change. In the beginning it was easy to have a chat function that worked easily and my email. After this first iPhone I got the first SE and a few weeks ago I got the SE 2020. It is clean that the smart era is here to stay. I use my phone for everything. Chat, email, photo camera, banking, paying, checking on the tides, keeping my passwords, route navigation, keeping running statistics, reading the news, music, games. The strange things is that the only thing I don’t use my phone for is calling people, which I still hardly ever do.

Recognizable game

As a test/hobby project I have been building a game similar to minesweeper, but with a completely different theme. Instead of looking for mines you will need to look for mushrooms. The game logic was easy because it is shared lots of times online. The entire app structure was for me, and was basically what I wanted to learn/achieve. What I was missing was the assets. Images and sounds to make it all look perfect. For this I used fiverr and I hired an indonesian guy to make around 20 images for me. Great to have such a huge international marketplace. What I am still missing it some soundeffects. I will probably try and convince the kids to help me with this, because Alex has already showed me he does this very well, like the shooting effect in our stopmotion.

DatePad Mobile

DatePad MobileThere is a new DatePad!

DatePad was a great tool for Windows, but sadly the software did not survive the update from 32bit to 64bit. The software did not work anymore and I never made a new version. I simply did not have the time for it.

Recently I got involved with a new development environment and got to build a small app to see how everything works. It did not take long for me to decide to rebuild the old DatePad but now for a mobile platform.

The result is a super simple and easy app for Android. You can find the new DatePad Mobile in the Google play store.

Windows 10 and Ubuntu

Win10 Ubuntu!There was a lot of controversy about the latest version of the Windows operating system by Microsoft. It has been available for over a year, and in the beginning an update from an older version was even free. I like Windows 10 and I feel it is easy to customize to your own needs. The controversy originated by how this new version was introduced very aggressively. The new version was basically force-fed to the users.

The reasons for forcing the new Windows on to the users are unclear. Maybe Microsoft acted on their best intentions. Away with lots of old versions. People who really would not notice the difference and who would get a safer system. But maybe Microsoft was more devious and just wanted people to use a new Windows to keep a closer eye on their users, and at the same time be able to send them more commercials and other unwanted services.

I was quite happy with the new Windows version. A happiness which was enhanced even more recently during a mayor (free) update. Windows now offers an optional Linux subsystem as a part of its core functionality. Linux (or more specifically Ubuntu) that used to be one of the big competitors of Windows, now works from within Windows where both operating systems seems to work happily together.

The big advantage is that it is now possible to run Linux software directly in Windows, and there is no more need to mess around with dual boot systems, or emulators, or even entire virtual systems. Now you can simply start a prompt and go.

Still this integration is very new. There are bound to be some mayor updates coming our way, but even so the current situation had made me very happy. A lot of tools I use for my work are now available by default without installing lots of additional software.

The brand-new Linux subsystem is not available by default. If you want it you need to follow the installation instructions provided by Microsoft, which as stated require that you have Windows 10 installed.

Bugfinder

Bugfinder!What can you do when you find a little critter near your home and suddenly you get curious about what you found? Sometimes it can be very nice to investigate a little more and find out a little more about the bug you found. Lots of little animals have very positive properties and most of them would never hurt a human. Some of them are beautiful, and some have a important role then you might realize.

At Naturalis I contributed to the creation of the Bugfinder app (Dierenzoeker, for now only in Dutch). This fun free app is made for Android and iPhone. You can use the app to find out what bug you found and read all about it. The app is easy to use, made specifically for children from 7 to 11 years, but also very nice for all adults.

Ladybug!If you always wanted to find out what the strange yellow ladybug you sometimes find in the garden really is? After a little searching you will find out all about the little bug, including the fun fact that the little animal ‘plants’ his own crops.

With 300 little bugs and critters for sure you will be able to name a lot of the animals you find around your home.

Cats&Dogs

Dog!Cat!The wait is finally over. Cats and Dogs, Boys and Girls, a never ending battle between men’s best friends, combined with the most epic battle of all, the battle of the sexes. Action-packed in just half a minute of gaming frenzy.

An easy and exiting game, now playable on your Android phone. Practice your reflexes as you try to keep up with all the action on your mobile. This hot new game is available as an Android App on Google Play now and best of all, totally free!

The object of the game is as easy as it is challenging. Select either cats or dogs and boys or girls and start the action. Avoid touching the wrong animal or gender. Are you able to get the high score of the day, while only playing one minute? Don’t wait any longer! Get this game now!

View the all time high scores and today’s best scores.

Without advertisements

For one year my website contained a small line of text with a small advertisement and now my website is ‘clean’ again. The advertisement that was added to my website was just this line added to one of my old posts:

For sure you know them. The peanuts you like to eat when watching tv, playing free online poker or just when drinking a beer in a bar.

The post was about growing a peanut plant. I made a little over one hundred euros. Easy money.

Going with the flow

After quite some years it got time to make some updates. A fresh new look for my blog with a little less fuss and a nice changing image in the header.

The WordPress theme I’m now using is called twenty eleven (2011), so I’m just in time, because I would not want to change to something that is already outdated.