MacGourmet: To Go - A Status Update
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]
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posted by Michael on 11:35 AM
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15 Comments:
yahoo! Bring it on! How about using .Mac for syncing?
Sounds like a ton of work, but keep it up! It looks great!
Hey! I'd much rather wait and have the software work right than get something that didn't. I left the PC world, and my beloved Mastercook, as Apple and Apple developers take their time to do it right.
Keep up the good work! I LOVE Mac Gourmet and that says a lot because I loved and used Mastercook since 1994 (MC3.xx).
MA
This is an excellent first step. I'd love to simply be able to use my iPod Touch as the device in the kitchen that I'm reading the recipe from while cooking. A one-way sync to the iPod, nee iPhone, will do that wonderfully.
Excellent. I can't wait.
Cannot wait!! A thing like this is worth waiting for..
Ready to click install
I second sscutchen's comment about just being able to read the recipe in the kitchen from the iphone instead of my laptop. Plus, being able check on ingredients while at the store is a major plus. Looking forward to it!
Looking forward to this, I'm tired of dragging my laptop upstairs to the kitchen just to follow a recipe.
As for syncing, wireless is ok with me! I have PocketPedia installed which uses the same method, and the bonus that if the Mac is on a wired network that the iPhone is connected to wirelessly, it will still sync.
Looking so forward to this.
Id love to see a mini version with recipes i want to cook and the shopping lists for them!!
Any beta to try?
I am so dying for this. A mini portable mac gourmet with recipes i may want to cook along with shopping lists. Wow.
I'm excited to finally have my recipes with me on my iphone. Hopefully it will be available soon. I know we'd all just be so excited to hear when you hoped to have this available... but don't want to put you on the spot! Thanks, in advance, for your effort!
I LOVE Mac Gourmet!
Can't wait! I check iTunes app store every day for a good recipe manager and to have MacGourmet on my desktop and iPhone would be amazing. Love to be a beta tester.
Can't wait for this to be released... it will easily make Macgourmet one of my favorite mac apps and save me alot of time as well as make my dinners and life so much easier...
I am anxiously awaiting this one... got my wife macgourmet and she loves it but keeps complaining about not having a computer in the kitchen..she is getting a iPod touch for Xmas so this will be great...
If you need a beta tester let me know!
Oh I can't wait! This is exactly what I have been looking for especially since I already use my MacGourmet so much. This would save a lot of time and little paper slips :)
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