Awesome cooking apps to make your Super Bowl snacks amazing

• Best First Overall
• Best for the Last moment
• Best for Sharing
• Best from TV

Best overall

Yummly Recipe & Shopping List

See at Play Store

Yummly is easily the best cooking app out there, especially when it comes to finding something great for Super Bowl Sunday. Filled to the brim with recipes, Yummly really shines by giving you tons of options for searching for recipes, including vegetarian-only options and the ability to filter recipes based on your dietary restrictions.

After you search and find that perfect recipe it delivers all the details, from what the ingredients you’ll need to step by step instructions on how to make it, to pictures of the finished product. Another huge perk of using Yummly is that it helps you organize your shopping needs based on the recipes you plan to make. From the recipe page you can save all of the ingredients to a shopping list, which is synced across all your devices provided you are signed into Yummly, and also organizes your shopping list so it’s quick and easy to grab what you need when you stop at the supermarket on the way home from work.

Bottom line: Yummly gives you the power to find the exact type of recipe you are looking for, and helps to make sure that you never forget a single ingredient when you are at the market.

One more thing: There are dozens of recipes uploaded by other users specifically for the Super Bowl.

Why Yummly is the best

Yummly delivers a great system that lets you filter and find the perfect recipe, as well as making sure you have a shopping list with each ingredient on it.

While there are plenty of apps out there that can help you find a great snack for the Super Bowl, few do it nearly as well as Yummly does. Their selection of recipes is seriously impressive with over one million recipes, and handy options for filtering your search to meet your needs. You can filter each search by dietary preferences, nutrition, tastes, techniques, prep time and more. You can also search for recipes related to events — right now there are over 11 thousand Super Bowl recipes available for you to browse through.

When you find the recipe that you never knew you needed, you also have the ability to save it. You can save as many recipes as you’d like, and separate them into collections. This makes it easy to save recipes for later and then easily find them when you’re ready to prepare them.

If you’re already prepared to head out to the grocery store, then you can add the items you need for a recipe to a shopping list. Yummly automatically separates every ingredient on the list by type or aisle, so that your trip to the store is as stress free as possible.

Best for the last minute

Allrecipes Dinner Spinner

See at Play Store

Let’s face it: life is busy and full of distractions, and small catastrophes can throw all of your plans out of whack. If you’re panicking that the Super Bowl is only days away and you don’t think you’ll have time for a proper trip to the grocery store, that’s the exact situation Allrecipes Dinner Spinner was designed for.

While Dinner Spinner gives you access to the massive library of recipes found at Allrecipes.com, it can also help you discover recipes using only the ingredients already in your kitchen. Usd the Dinner Spinner feature in the app to find recipes using specific ingredients, cooking time, or the type of dish you’re looking for. It isn’t perfect, but it is a great way to get ideas for something you can throw together in a pinch, without having to spend much time searching through recipes.

Bottom line: Allrecipes Dinner Spinner is handy for finding a brand new recipe, or just figuring out what you can do with ingredients that you already have on hand.

One more thing: When you find the recipes that you can’t bear to lose, then just favorite them. There on out, they will live in your favorites folder and are easy to find in a pinch.

Best for sharing

Cookpad

See at Play Store

Social media and sharing every aspect of our lives has become ingrained behavior for many people. If you’re the type who likes to share recipes already, or you’re looking for recipes with a more personal touch, then Cookpad is where it’s at. While Cookpad has a sizeable library of recipes with plenty of options to filter searches, it’s way more than that.

Cookpad actually functions as it’s own social media platform, revolving entirely around food. You can share your own recipes, see what your friends are experimenting with, and discover recipes that don’t seem as manufactured as those found elsewhere. There is even a location feature that allows you to see what people in your area are cooking up for themselves. You can even search out recipes for specific occasions — and that definitely includes the Super Bowl.

There is even a chat function, which allows you to privately chat with other users or create a group. If you’ve decided to roll with a potluck Super Bowl, the chat is a great way to easily discuss what everyone is bringing to the game. Especially since you can swipe between searching out the recipe you’re looking for and your conversation.

Bottom line: Cookpad offers a full social experience for your culinary adventures, with plenty of features, and occasion specific recipes.

One more thing: Cookpad is available in 8 different languages making it accessible for anyone who does not read English.

Best from TV

Food Network in the Kitchen

See at Play Store

There are plenty of folks out there that find new recipes or improve their skills in the kitchen by watching the Food Network on TV. If you missed part of an episode, or you’re trying to find a specific recipe you saw made on a show, then their app is most definitely the place to check out.

You can filter your recipes search for recipes by celebrity chef, type, event and even cooking difficulty to find something new. If you’re looking for something from a specific chef or show, you can also find recipes that way. Some of them may have video accompaniment, and there are new recipes added each month.

Bottom line: Food Network in the Kitchen delivers tons of great recipes from your favorite cooking shows. They also deliver tons of unique recipes you would have never considered, which will help you to deliver excellent food for guests at your Super Bowl party.

One more thing: If you aren’t a pro, don’t be worried. Each recipe comes with a difficulty level so that you can be prepared for whatever dish you are cooking up and don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Pokémon GO surpasses $1 billion in worldwide gross revenue

In case you were wondering if Pokémon GO was still an absolute juggernaut in the world of mobile gaming.

Just over seven months after it’s release last July, Pokémon Go has surpassed $1 billion in worldwide gross revenue, according to data collected from both the Google Play and iOS App Store and reported by Sensor Tower in their latest blog post. Since the game is a free download from its respective app stores, that means that number comes strictly from players invested their own cash into in-game purchases. That’s a lot of Poke Balls!

This is an absolutely incredible achievement for the developers at Niantic. To illustrate that point, Sensor Tower compared Pokémon GO’s success to another wildly popular game from 2016, Clash Royale:

By comparison, Supercell’s Clash Royale, which is itself closing in on $1 billion spent in-app by players, was released nearly 10 months ago, on March 2, 2016. In its first seven months, it grossed approximately $550 million worldwide according to our Store Intelligence estimates.

The report points out that while Pokémon GO’s daily revenue has significantly diminished from the it’s record $18 million earned in just one day back in late July, it’s still averaging between $1.5 to $2.5 million dollars a day recently and saw revenue jumps around the limited-time events launched around Halloween and Christmas.

With more limited-time events on the horizon, along with expansions to include the second generation Pokémon into the game, there doesn’t appear to be

Oh, and if you’re wondering what other mobile games have broken the $1 billion barrier, the first game to do so was Puzzle & Dragons which reached the milestone back in 2014.

Android Gaming

• Best Android games
• Best free Android games
• Best games with no in-app purchases
• Best action games for Android
• Best RPGs for Android
• All the Android gaming news!

Plex now supports Alexa commands via new skills for your Amazon Echo

Get the party started and much more with the Plex skills for Amazon Alexa!

If you use Plex to manage your personal media collection, it’s time to get an Amazon Echo speaker. Plex has finally come to Alexa, allowing you to not only control your media with your voice, but also use Alexa to help recommend music, TV shows or movies for those times when you just can’t figure out what you want to listen to or watch. Coupled with the ability to order Dominos pizza, we may never leave the couch again!

For those unfamiliar with Plex, it’s an incredibly powerful media server that allows you to store all your media in one place, then access it across all your devices via the wide selection of Plex apps — it’s available for Android, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Chromecast, Kodi, NVIDIA Shield, Roku and much more so you’re definitely covered no matter what devices you got around your house.

With Alexa, you can make requests to play specific content on whichever Plex-enabled devices you have around your home. For example, you could say “Alexa, tell Plex to play The Big Lebowski on Chromecast” or, if you and your mate are struggling to agree on something to watch, you can say “Alexa, ask Plex to suggest something to watch” and it will recommend something from your library. You’ll also uncover wonderful easter eggs as you go. You can find a full breakdown of everything Alexa can do with Plex here.

These new Plex skills are currently only available in the U.S. and UK Alexa Skills Stores. If you’ve got Plex up and running in your home along with an Amazon Echo speaker, we’d love to hear your experiences with it!

Apple’s ‘polarizing’ new products are paying off

Throughout much of 2016, it seemed like lots of Apple fans were unhappy. The year brought few updates to the Mac (and the one big change was quite polarizing), a barely redesigned iPhone with no headphone jack, AirPods that shipped two months late and a new Apple Watch that was a modest improvement to a product still seen as nonessential.

But it’s time to accept that the complainers on the internet (including those of us in the media) might not have our fingers on the pulse of Apple fandom. Case in point: Apple just reported a massively successful quarter. According to CEO Tim Cook, both iPhone and Apple Watch sales hit records for both unit sales and revenue. In the case of the iPhone, that reversed three consecutive quarters of declining sales. The iPhone turnaround had to be a huge relief for Apple: The product is the company’s biggest revenue source by far.

Mac sales also generated record revenue, despite the fact that the new MacBook Pro was limited in supply and the rest of Apple’s computer lineup hasn’t been updated in a long time. Meanwhile, Apple’s services business (iCloud, Apple Music, Apple Pay and so on) increased 18 percent over last year. Tim Cook has been talking up the company’s services for a year now and says the goal is to double its size over the next four years. The one weak spot in Apple’s quarter was the iPad, which is facing three years of declining sales and had the second-worst holiday quarter in its history. (The worst holiday quarter for the iPad was in 2010, when the original iPad was less than a year old and just carving out a place in the market.)

The iPad’s ongoing struggles aside, this quarter suggests Apple might actually be giving customers what they want. Or, more cynically, customers who’ve become locked into the Apple ecosystem decided that now was the best time to upgrade, not jump ship to another platform. The truth is likely somewhere in the middle. While power users might miss the MacBook Pro’s full-size USB ports and longer battery life and those with great headphones might be annoyed at having to use a dongle with the iPhone 7, it seems the majority of “normal” consumers out there are not rejecting Apple’s new products en masse because of these changes.

The iPhone’s strength was particularly surprising when you consider how many viewed the iPhone 7 as an iterative update. It has essentially the same design as the iPhone 6 and 6S, and many believe that Apple is saving a radically redesigned smartphone for later this year, the iPhone’s 10th anniversary. But dismissing the iPhone 7 because of its looks does the phone a disservice. The dual camera and portrait photo mode in the 7 Plus are huge steps forward in mobile photography, and they appear to resonate with customers. Tim Cook specifically called out unexpectedly high demand for Apple’s larger phone in this week’s earnings call.

Waterproofing and the expected battery and performance improvements make for less-dramatic but nonetheless welcome updates. And when you figure it’s been two years since Apple’s positively massive quarter that accompanied the iPhone 6 launch, it stands to reason plenty of people were in the market for a new phone.

It’s a little harder to explain the Mac’s successful quarter. But the simple answer is that the Mac is fitting customers’ needs, despite the relative lack of updates over the past 18 months. Indeed, last year’s tech is more than enough for the average consumer at this point. Pros might bristle about not having the latest Intel processor, but for those who aren’t rendering video or dealing with massive Photoshop files, the Macs out there are more than capable. That plus a bump from the new MacBook Pro was enough to put the Mac back in the black.

A year of iterative updates that were nonetheless successful with consumers last quarter speaks to an industry-wide trend of modest improvement in both PCs and smartphones. These product categories are extremely polished at this point, and there are simply not going to be sweeping, massive changes every year anymore. That might be a bummer for those of us who breathlessly await new products from the tech industry’s biggest companies. But you can currently buy a Mac or iPhone and rest assured that it’ll last you years, even if it doesn’t have a shiny new form factor or the latest Intel processors in it. For the average consumer who just wants to buy something that works well with minimal fuss, that maturity is a good thing.

Introducing the new Engadget app!

We have some big news today: Engadget has a new app for iOS and Android! (About time, right?) The new mobile app has been completely rebuilt and redesigned. You get all the same great content from our site, including breaking news, reviews, galleries and videos, but there’s so much more:

• Topic Subscriptions: You can now customize your Engadget experience by subscribing to the topics that are most important to you. This creates a personalized feed of articles and videos.
• Customized Push Notifications: Based on your subscriptions, the app will notify you of the breaking news that are important to you.
• Enhanced Video Experience: The app provides full access to all our shows and amazing video reviews. The experience is designed exclusively for phones, and makes finding and viewing videos faster than ever.
• Save-for-Later: You can save your favorite stories for later on your mobile, tablet or on the desktop.

And this is just the beginning: We will continue adding features in the months ahead. So stay tuned!

If you already have the Engadget app, please go ahead and update; the new app will replace the old one. If you don’t have the app, you can download it here for iOS and Android.

Source: iTunes, Google Play

‘Rocket League’ cars are the new hot wheels

In Rocket League you slam around a Thunderdome-style pitch in hot rally cars while trying to smash a gigantic “rocket ball” into a goal… Basically, it’s the perfect marriage of soccer and demolition derby. Now imagine bringing that into the real world with these new tiny replicas of the digital autos from the hit game itself.

Collectible toys that tie-in to video games are hot, with properties like Activision’s Skylanders, Nintendo’s Amiibo and Disney’s Infinity selling well with consumers.

The initial run of 12 digital racing cars from Rocket League will go on sale this spring, each packaged in a tiny little “rocket ball,” which doubles as a soccer ball in the game.

The cute little toy line is based on the Original Minis series from Zag Toys, and some will come with special codes redeemable for in-game cosmetic upgrades for the digital autos. To play with one of these analog toy cars, you’ll just place it on the floor, pull back, and let fly — just like the little cars we all played with as kids.

Check out this gif to see for yourself.

Cute, right? The first Rocket League racers coming to the toy line are named Octane, Dominus, Masamune, Hotshot, Grog, X-Devil, Merc, and Backfire, with four other as yet unnamed variants vying for your dollar. If you’re waiting for even more Rocket League mini car fun, VentureBeat says that Zag is on it.

Via: VentureBeat

Source: RocketLeague

Microsoft asks for exceptions process in Trump’s immigration ban

Trump’s immigration (read: Muslim) ban has already negatively impacted America’s tech industry. Microsoft alone has 76 employees, along with their 41 dependents, who are subject to the president’s executive order. And while the rest of the industry has slowly begun rumbling in opposition, Microsoft is taking the lead. The company has not only thrown its support behind Washington State’s lawsuit against the federal government. On Thursday, Brad Smith, Microsoft’s President and Chief Legal Officer, called on the State Department and HHS for specific exemptions to the immigration ban.

“There currently are law-abiding visa holders who are parents that were outside the United States last Friday and therefore cannot re-enter the country,” Smith argued in the Microsoft on the Issues blog. “These parents are stranded and separated from their children. Other individuals are confronting genuine family emergencies such as the need to visit a critically ill parent.”

The proposed exemptions, dubbed the “Responsible Known Travelers with Pressing Needs” provision, would require those detained to meet four requirements:

• The person would need to either hold a valid work visa sponsored by an American employer enrolled in the E-Verify program, hold an F-1 student visa, or be an immediate family member of the visa holder and possess a derivative nonimmigrant visa.
• The person would need to have a clean criminal record.
• The person must have an “exigent family-related emergency or for the business need of an employer” and not be out of the country for more than two weeks.
• The person must not be travelling through any of the seven nations subject to the ban.

Smith admits that this proposal doesn’t wholly solve the issues created by the immigration restriction, however he argues that it is at least a start and is calling on others to help improve the provision. There is no word if this provision has been seen or is under consideration by the State Department or Department of Homeland Security.

Via: Brad Smith (Twitter)

Source: Microsoft

With new method, scientists find water on an exoplanet

Finding planets is hard, finding water on planets is harder, and finding water on exoplanets is pretty damn hard. And yet, a group of scientists claim to have achieved just that with the help of the Very Large Telescope in Chile. They believe that 51 Pegasi B, (also known as Dimidum), an exoplanet more than 50 light years away, has traces of water in its atmosphere.

As New Scientist explains, all previous discoveries of water have relied upon planets passing between its host star and the Earth. But exoplanets rarely “transit” in this manner, making it nigh-impossible to study their atmospheres.

So, the team took a different approach, observing both the planet and the star as they interacted with each other. For four hours, the telescope as pointed at both bodies, watching what light was reflected between the two.

One the data had been cleaned up, the team were able to draw a handful of conclusions about the celestial body. For instance, there is about 1 part in 10,000 of water in its atmosphere, with negligible quantities of carbon dioxide and methane.

Of course, we won’t be able to validate their findings until someone’s brave enough to head over to 51 Pegasi B for a look. Which might take a while, since the planet is closer to its sun than Mercury is to ours, and is hurtling around on a four day orbit.

Via: New Scientist

Source: Arxiv

Audi’s concierge-based car rental service is outstanding, but pricey

Normally when I rent a car it involves a meandering line, a long counter and an associate who’s almost always very cordial and helpful, but very much in a hurry. It feels impersonal. It’s like going inside the bank to make a withdrawal. It’s not a horrible experience, but there’s an easier way to get to your money. For renting cars there’s also a better way. And if you’re an Audi fan and live in San Francisco, that way is actually quite superb — if you can afford it.

Launched over a year ago in beta and still under the radar, Audi on Demand is the automaker’s premium car rental service. As you’d expect, it’s for Audis only. But if you’ve ever had a hankering to drive an R8, you can fire up the app, reserve one, and make all your friends jealous when it gets delivered to your home or office.

This is actually one of Audi’s first steps into mobility. The company is using San Francisco to test the service before going live elsewhere, and so far has largely been relying on word-of-mouth to find customers. The automaker only recently offered me the opportunity try out the service for myself and while I didn’t get behind the wheel of the German automaker’s supercar, I was able to score an A6 3.0 TFSI Quattro for a few days. The car itself was great, but that’s not what I was testing: I was interested in the experience and I wasn’t disappointed there either.

On the day the car was delivered the concierge gave me call to say he had arrived at my home. When I stepped outside I ended up having one of the best customer service experiences ever. While I filled out the necessary paperwork, the concierge and I chatted casually about the vehicle and the service.

We did the typical walk around the car to make sure there was no damage. But in addition to that, I was given a video of the vehicle both at delivery and at pickup. It’s a small thing, but helpful if Audi were to say I dented the car and I had video evidence otherwise.

When we got into the car, the concierge explained all the features and where the start button was located. (Audi has a habit of moving the start button on its cars from year to year.) I was told that Audi would pay for any tolls I accumulated during the ride. The gratis stuff doesn’t end with tolls. If I had a kid, I would get a child’s seat for no additional charge. And for adventurous types, the company will add bike or ski racks to the Allroad, Q5 and SQ5 at no extra cost.

The service and the extra stuff it comes with all sounds spectacular until you note the price. The cheapest vehicle, the A3, costs $130 a day. The amazing R8 supercar will set you back $1,195 a day. Ouch.

Andrea Sievers, Product Manager for Audi on Demand, said that the service is exclusive to San Francisco right now because for companies like Audi, it’s the epicenter for testing new services. That’s true. But it’s also home to a lot of tech money. The automaker has plans to eventually expand the service beyond the Bay Area, but doesn’t have any details to share right now.

Sievers did say that On Demand is a part of Audi’s mobility plan. Like most automakers, Audi’s long-term goal is to get people who don’t own vehicles of their own into cars even if only for a few days. But what sets this service apart from others are the personal touches. Those helpful concierges are Audi’s not-so-secret weapon to retain customers.

At the end of my rental period another concierge met me at work. He was just as cordial and informative. We chatted a bit about my trip and the car. I handed him the keys and walked away debating the pros and cons of paying more than I usually would for rental to get a premium vehicle and wonderful customer service. I’m a thrifty person, but I could see why a service like this would do very well in San Francisco and I’m surprised the automaker hasn’t yet targeted the affluent pockets of New York and Los Angeles. As for the rest of us, we’re going to have to make friends with richer people if we want to get behind the wheel of an R8.

Source: Audi

Comcast employees around the US protest Trump’s immigration ban

Google isn’t the only big tech company to stage a walkout over Donald Trump’s controversial ban on immigrants and refugees from seven predominantly Muslim nations. Today at 2PM ET, hundreds of Comcast employees walked out of their office in downtown Philadelphia to protest Trump’s new policies. Pictures of the walkout are all over Twitter and Instagram, many of them including the hashtag #TechHasNoWalls.

John Raviello, protester and Comcast employee, shares why he’s at the #TechHasNoWalls protest: pic.twitter.com/04skUkD1W7

— Technical.ly Philly (@TechnicallyPHL) February 2, 2017

The protest was planned to last about an hour and started outside Comcast’s offices before making its way to nearby city hall. Philadelphia was one of four cities where Comcast has offices that took part in today’s demonstration; Philly.com says that others were planned for Washington DC, New York, Silicon Valley Philadelphia suburb West Chester. According to Pennsylvania news site Billy Penn, the action was organized through internal Slack rooms and came with the blessing of Comcast bosses, who gave employees who wanted to participate time off to do so.

Comcast anti-Trump protest #techhasnowalls

A photo posted by Matt Stroud (@matt.stroud1) on Feb 2, 2017 at 11:06am PST

Indeed, the issue hits home for at least one Comcast executive. Sree Kotay, Comcast Chief Technology Officer, is an immigrant from India. He “stood front and center” at the Philadelphia rally, says Billy Penn. “I’m so proud of my coworkers and colleagues,” he told the publication. “If nothing else, the turbulent times have reawakened all of us to democracy being a participatory sport.”

Comcast employees, protesting near the White House. Story: https://t.co/5ms7ZBxjDP #TechHasNoWalls pic.twitter.com/krNU1AP9tV

— Tajha C-L (@TajhaLanier) February 2, 2017