In class we have been talking about the inner workings of computers, including the parts and how the parts work. We discussed bits and bytes and how language was encoded, and how ASCII encoded the english language but as computers became more popular it was not a sufficient method of coding for all the worlds languages. So Unicode was invented and it uses 2 bytes to encoded every letter/character which allows for more letters and characters to be covered. The recipe ipod would have to be created using unicode because I would want the whole world to be able to use it. The program would have no idea how to read or understand a Chinese recipe if it did not know how to interoperate the characters. It would be interesting to see a translation program could be added to the recipe ipod, since i come across a lot of recipes that seem awesome but they are in another language. Right now when that happens, I have to use google translate but it would made the recipe ipod ten times more awesome if it could do it.

Last week in class we talked about the parts that make up a computer and I know that the recipe ipod would need quite a few of these things as well. It would need to have a motherboard and processor in order to run its program and allow users to connect the recipe ipod and their computers. It would need memory in order to store the recipes but I not know if it would need to be RAM memory or Hard Drive memory. I would like the recipe ipod to be touchscreen since that would make using it easier and it would eliminate key/buttons to get flour stuck in. It would need a mic and speakers in order to run the voice recognition software and to read the recipes out. Those are the basics, but I'm sure there would a lot more parts needed for the recipe ipod to work.

Software and eCommerce

This week we discussed hardware and software, and how hardware is the actual components of a computer but they are pretty useless without the software which tells the computer how to work. My recipe ipod would rely on software for sure. It would need an application in order to run at all. The application would probably be set up like itunes since that is what my idea is based on. It would probably need two programs actually, one for the computer so that the recipe ipod could hook up to it, and another for the recipe ipod itself. The recipe ipod would need software in order to tell it how to read the recipes, how to find the recipes, how to understand the verbal commands from the user, and how to save/ move recipes based on how they are tagged. The user would be able to assign recipes categories, so that if one night they want Italian they can just look though that folder (haha it would be cute to call those chapters instead of folders, just like they are playlist on the actual ipod). The computer would need to be able to do the same things, as well as knowing how to convert downloaded recipes into something that the recipe ipod can read.

Last week we discussed eCommerce and that got me thinking about selling recipes online. It would be hard since there are so many good ones out there that are free. But I was thinking that a celebrity chef could be asked to think of some exclusive ones that could be sold in the recipe store for maybe a $1. Demo videos could be added, you could have dictionaries for ingredients, and maybe there could be a way an app could be developed that could be sold telling people what wine parings went with certain dishes. A deal could even be made to let people buy episodes of cooking shows that would come with the recipes (which is like when you get a music video on itunes you get the song too. You don;t have to watch the video to listen to the song). I feel like there are a lot of ways to make money off of the recipe ipod besides selling the program and device.

Ok that's it for this week. Thanks for reading :)