App of My Eye

Big Oven

Platforms: iPhone, iPad, Windows Phone and Android

Creativity in the kitchen is so much simpler these days: with a couple mouse clicks or finger taps, you can get easy info on just about every cuisine, ingredient and technique there is. You don’t need a giant collection of cookbooks, much less purchasing a cookbook that’s a dud or too complicated for your skills. There are thousands of sites of sites on the web and multiple iphone apps. If you are tired of the effete & complicated recipes on Epicurious, give Big Oven a try. This lifestyle app has solicited over 170,000 dishes from it user base – so these should be easy for most home cooks to tackle. Big Oven can be accessed on the web or on multiple smart phone devices. You can create a profile and use it to save dishes so you can cook them later. Big Oven’s mobile offering also has a feature where you can list three items in your pantry you want included in your dish. This function is not as robust as Supercook but is fine for a mobile application. While you can download this app for free, additional features can be accessed for $15.99 (Mobile Food Glossary with ingredient substitutions, track dishes previously made, nutrition info and much more).

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W.C. Fields said, “Everything I do is either illegal, immoral, or fattening.”  I don’t wear a big old top hat, but I relate to those words.  Until I downloaded Lose It,  I never knew how many calories I took in.  This is a GREAT little free app where you enter your goal weight along with some other stats and it will tell you how many calories you should take in daily to achieve your goal.  You can tweak the amount of time to get to your goal weight and it automatically adjusts your daily caloric intake to achieve it.  The best thing is that it shines a light on how many calories you eat over time.  Right now, for example, I have 1200 calories left to consume today to stay under to my daily target.  When I have dinner, I will enter what I will eat and the app will tell me how many calories my meal is.  If I go over may daily target, it’s ok because I can make up for it tomorrow, since Lose It tracks your calories over time.  Plus, it will factor in exercize too, so if you want to eat one cookie more, take a walk to be sure you burn the calories.  It makes losing weight like a role playing game, but instead of leveling up, well you, uh… level down… I guess.  Price: Free.

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When I was working downtown, it would only take me 5 minutes to get to the office, but I often wondered how much money I would save if I used my bike instead.  Needless to say, I never did because 1) I’m lazy and 2) how could I determine how much money I would be saving?  Well now, at least I can find out with Bike Your Drive by REI, which determines not only how much money you save, but also how much carbon is offset as well as calories burned using the onboard iPhone GPS.  Furthermore, take pictures of points of interest, which you can geotag to your route, and save each trip as reference.  Associated with www.EveryTrail.com, upload info to share with like-minded individuals.  All in all, it is a win-win situation for you, for us, and for the environment.  Note: iPhone compatible ONLY.  Price: Free.

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Protect yourself and your family from registered sex offenders in your area using StaySafe. Whether by manually entering your info or just using your current location, be aware of who has been convicted of a sex crime in your immediate vicinity.  Get details of the committed crimes, a picture of the offender, their vital stats, and even a risk assessment.  Updated daily for the best accuracy possible.  Highly recommended for family travel in unfamiliar areas, but also useful for house/apartment hunting and outdoor activities like jogging.  While the price may be high, there is nothing expensive about the safety of your family.  Price: $14.99.

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