The Olympic Spirit

Thumbs up for the Vancouver Olympics.  The USA is thriving in the medal count, and Bode Miller and Apolo Anton Ohno are delivering.

The 2010 games have provided numerous examples of "sportsmanship."  Some of the highlights:

• Russian figure skater Yevgeny Plyushchenko graciously accepting his silver medal.

• Dutch speedskater Sven Kramer calmly accepting his disqualification due to his coach's errant instructions in the 5000. 

 

• Korean Short-Track speedskater Si-Bak Sung accepting the apology of fellow countryman Ho-Suk Lee.  Lee made an errant pass on Sung which cost both skaters medals in the 1,500.  Fortunately for the Koreans, their favorite non-Korean skater Apolo Anton Ono claimed a medal due to the crash.

 

• Julia Mancuso supporting her injured teammate Lindsay Vonn after Vonn's crash derailed a solid run from Mancuso in the giant slalom.

 

• Olympic bronze-medalist Scott Lago taking time out to say thanks to his fans.

 

 All these amazing stories are giving me Olympic fever.  Let's hope the last couple of days continue to deliver these uplifting Olympic moments.

ATTN: Meal Coordinators!!!

If part of your job requires you to take food orders from your colleagues, you will be pleased to know that we will perform that duty at no cost, not even hidden costs. You will be even more pleased to discover that we reward you for letting us help you.

We reduce your work into 5 easy steps....

1. Log into your GetQuik account
2. Select your restaurant
3. Mass email colleagues about group order
4. Wait for people to order
5. Checkout and confirm order

Your colleagues have it easier

1. Click "Join Group Order"link
2. Sign in
3. Select food
4. Submit order

If this sounds like a plan, contact us at support@getquik.com or (408) 884-3889

What's in a Name?

Before we get Qishan in trouble, this name game is purely hypothetical and has NO imminent practical basis.

Qishan's surname is "Soon".  Since no one can pronouce Qishan's name, he has to ask people to ..."Call me Soon."  We always chuckle at that one.

Along those lines, Yuan Lin has come us with a couple of names if and when Qishan ever decides to reproduce:

"To Be" - as in "Soon To Be" (using the Chinese/Asian naming convention of "sirname"  - "given name".

That one came in second to the ultimate winner, also submitted by Yuan Lin..."Coming"

Droid Day 3

After 4 calls to AT&T and 2 calls to Verizon, finally and sadly the iPhone is bricked.  The iPhone without a plan is pretty much an iPod Touch.  It works with WiFi so it still has decent utility.

I was wrong about the Droid lacking the intelligence to recognize phone numbers.  It is not so obvious, but if you touch a phone #, the Droid recognizes the number as a phone number, and like the iPhone autofills the phone number and launched the phone feature.  Unlike the iPhone, the number is not highlighted, so this feature is less obvious.  Thanks to Yuan Lin for the tip.

The Android Market is easy to use.  It functions similarly to Apple's App Store.  I downloaded Skype Lite, Flixster and Yelp so far.  I have not had a chance to explore these apps yet, so it will be interesting to see if there are any major difference from the iPhone versions.  I did not find TweetDeck, but I'll need to see if there is a similar app for Android or if I am just not searching correctly for this app.

Still trying to figure out how all the notifications and alerts work on the Droid, but so far finding most of the key functionality that the iPhone provides.  Yuan Lin mentioned that their is a new Android OS being released soon.  I am hoping that this will incorporate the pinch-zoom control.  Zooming in and out is not so easy on the Droid (tap to access zoom controls).  I have also noticed that the Droid is not as intelligent about guessing the optimal size of a page.  Therefore, the lack of the pinch-zoom control is even more frustrating.

The pull out keyboard is ok, but still not loving it.  The onscreen Droid keyboard is not as good as the iPhone's, so the pull out seems to be the way to go on the Droid.

I took Qishan's idea, and setup a new Google Gmail account and sync'd my iPhone contacts to this Gmail account.  Then I sync'd the Gmail account to the Droid.  The process was quite easy and the contacts came over without any noticeable problems.

A little early to tell, but seems like the battery is slightly better on the Droid than the iPhone.  Will need to keep an eye on this to see if the Droid can last two days instead of the customary 1 day that the iPhone provides.

Apple did a great job with the ring tones and beeps on the iPhone, so I was pleasantly surprised at how good the Droid's are.  The default phone ring is pretty rocking, and hearing the "DROID" alert noise puts a smile on my face.  Advantage Droid on the sound options.

My UnSmart Lunch

I have had fun times documocking some GetQuik bloopers.  The truth is that I am no stranger to my own "duh" moments. I had an after lunch meeting in Foster City, so I figured I'd do some exploring to see what the restaurant options FC has to offer.  I was running low on time, so I had to make a pretty quick decision.  I figured that I'd look for something simple like Subway or the Yellow Arches.  Next to McD's, I see an IHOP, and then I remember what Andrew reminded me..."free breakfast". 

Looking at the parking lot, I decide that it looks ok.  I can grab my free breaklunch and make my meeting.  So as I walk in, I am greeted by the server dude. 

Me - "Are you all still offering the free breakfast thing today?"
Him - ??????? "We do have the all you can eat pancakes deal if that is what you mean?"

Me - "What?  Your location isn't in on the huge SuperBowl free meal thing?"
Him - "You mean the Grand Slam?"

Me - "Yes!"
Him - "You are at IHOP not Denny's."

Me - "Uhhhh, Oh yeah, you are right.  OK, nevermind let me see a menu."

Conclussion:  $8.99 IHOP cheeseburger w/ fries.  It was just OK.  More like a bunt single.  Definitely not a grand slam.  I got served for my A.D.D. moment.

Open Group Orders for New Users

Following the previous tutorial on how to order your food within a group order, today I bring you yet another similar tutorial.

"The New User's Guide to Ordering Food in an Open Food Order".

Now that's a mouthful.

One day, your company decides to get their good delivery/catering done through the awesome GetQuik system. A few group orders are opened up and the participation links have been sent to you.

You probably would see this in your mail:
Clicking on any of the links would bring you to the GetQuik page for the Restaurant's group order if you're logged in.

If you're not logged in, you'll be brought to the login page with some red text indicating that you'd have to sign in to access the restaurant's group order.



If you do not have a GetQuik account, just click on the "sign up" link below the login boxes and you'll be brought to the sign up page as shown:

After you're done signing up with your email address, login using the group order link you clicked before in the first picture of this tutorial and you should be brought to the merchant's group order page as shown:

Click on "Choose My Meal" to start selecting the food items for order.

Users may click on any of the items they see on the menu to place an order for it.

After clicking, a window will pop up for the user to indicate further details and personalization options for the items selected, as shown below:

Click on "Add" to add the finalized food item to the checking basket on the right of the screen that has been following you around.

After you're done with selecting all the food items you want, remember to click on the "Submit" button within the checking basket to finalize your order.

Check the group order status box on the right side of the screen. Make sure the status underneath user's email is listed as "Submitted". If not, go back to the menu and click on "Submit" in the checking basket again.

Enjoy your meal.

Hello Droid - Day 1

After many days of deliberation, I have decided that it was time to make a move.  The iPhone is one of the greatest technology innovations of the last 20 years.  It is the best mobile consumer device ever - both in terms of design and impact.  So why Droid?  The answer has one A, two T's, and and ampersand.  This said company has now admitted what we in the Bay Area have know for years.  The coverage and download speeds in the San Francisco Bay Area and NY city are less than spectacular.

Like many US cities, the Bay Area is a two carrier town.  How many times have I had to borrow a friend's Verizon phone to make a call?  Numerous.  How many times has a Verizon friend asked to borrow my AT&T iPhone to make a call.  None.  Why?  They have coverage when I do not.  If they do not have coverage, I surely don't either.

The second reason I wanted to check out the Droid is email.  I use Gmail regulary, and my 1st generation iPhone's email is excrutiatingly slow.  The email experience is eerily reminscient of the dial-up days of Internet.  Remember?  Anxiously wait while logging in to your AOL account with a 14.4 kbps modem to download 2 emails.  No, I am not nostalgic for those days.  The Droid's email if far superior to the iPhone.  It is easy to setup push email to a Gmail account, and you can get email alerts as well.  Searching for info on Gmail, as to be expected, is far superior on the Droid.  I am still getting all the email settings tweaked on the Droid, but so far the email experience is already showing great performance and usability advantages.

Despite my flimsy iPhone case, I still ended up succeeding in cracking the screen after an unfortunate drop.  To the credit of the iPhone, it had experienced some serious drops prior to finally showing cracks - literally.  So one of the first orders of business is to protect my new robot phone.  I searched on Amazon and saw a few dozen different cases.  With the pull out keyboard, the choice of Droid cases is not quite as simple as the iPhone.  So rather than simply pay and pray on Amazon, I decided to go through the dreaded Fry's experience.  Big mistake.  There were around 40 different iPhone cases to choose from, where they seemed to have only one Droid case.  So now it's back to Amazon for the case.

Day 1 - Droid vs iPhone.

Usability:
WINNER - iPhone (LANDSLIDE)
The first day I used the iPhone, the usability was amazing, intuitive and magical (touch scroll, flick, and zoom - clear wow factor on these.)
The Droid is fantastically complex.  You have to get used to the application tool bars, which are far from intuitive.  Completing tasks are less than obvious, and beware the back button.  Apps tend to be left in the condition you last left, which sometimes is disorienting.  Toggling between different email accounts can be confusing.

Keyboard:
WINNER - Droid (slight)
The iPhone's onscreen keyboard is ok at best, and a little annoying at worst.  The Droid's pull out keyboard is better, but not as huge an improvement over the on-screen keyboard, at least on day 1.  Let's see if this keyboard advantage grows over time.

Email:
WINNER - Droid (LANDSLIDE)
Push email, email alerts, superior search (as mentioned above).  Google knows email well.  Nice integration with Android.

One Major Annoying Missing Feature of the Droid:
Apple does a great job is identifying and activating phone # links.  So instead of having to type in a telephone number, you just hit the link and the number is dialed.  The Droid does not seem to have this phone # intelligence that the iPhone does.  This is going to be a huge backward step as I use this iPhone feature all the time.

That's pretty much it for now.  I have not had a chance to check out the apps, maps, camera, phone quality, battery lift, and search yet.  As I get more familiar with the Droid, I can document some of the other differences between the iPhone and Droid, at least for my usage patterns.

To be fair to the iPhone, I had the pre-3G version, so the Droid has a huge advantage in terms of speed over the 1st Gen iPhone.  I am not so big on apps and games, so Droid will probably fit my requirements better than some who use apps and games a lot.  I love the iPhone interface and the browsing (except for the speed) was good.  Phone quality was very suspect, so I expect the Droid to outperform the iPhone in that domain.

It is a shame that the iPhone is not on Verizon, so comparisons could be conducted carrier-independent.  As all iPhone users know all too well, the carrier matters!  So until Steve decides to play nice with Verizon, the iPhone must be judged with the limitations and weaknesses of its carrier partner.

And the truth is...

After a long conversation with my fellow family members, I questioned myself - "Do I really dislike Russia so much?" or was there just not enough alcohol on a table. A few days ago I read an article Medvedev defends freedom of speech and “telling the truth”, in which he stated that “A journalist’s main duty is to tell the truth”. After such an unbelievable comment, I decided to do some research and convince myself that there is hope for better tomorrow.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), there were more then 47 journalists killed in Russia during the past sixteen years, and most of them died due to being open about their political differences with the government (CPJ 2007). Therefore, Reporters Without Borders, ranked Russia as one of the worst countries with regards to freedom of the press. “The very few independent journalists are constantly harassed, imprisoned or forced into exile by the authorities. The foreign media is banned or allowed in very small doses, always closely monitored”.

During the presidential elections in 2000, Vladimir Putin stated that, in order to be a democratic society, Russia must have freedom of the press. However, after Putin won the 2000 election, he had a different approach towards freedom of the press in Russia, namely, tight control over what is being published or reported.

It seems that nothing has changed since the Soviet regime, when the press was highly regulated by political officials and dissident journalists were repressed or imprisoned. Some people blame the journalists for lack of reliable and truthful information, but it is understandable that many would choose to hide the truth when facing the fear of persecution and possibly death. Dmitri Khodolov, a reporter for the Moskovskii Komsomolets newspaper, was killed by trapped explosives in his briefcase in 1994, while investigating corruption in the military. The president of Smolensk radio was shot several times for accusing a local official of corruption during his broadcast.

Russian political structure does not have built-in checks and balances like U.S. does, therefore most of the power is in the hands of the president, which makes almost any effort to report the truth futile. In highly corrupted country such as Russia, where laws do not apply to everyone, people will always fear authorities and cope with the fact that violence, bribery, and silence is the only way to live in peace with the government. It is very sad, but reality is that Russia will always be one of those controlling federations, in which freedom "cannot exist".


http://en.rian.ru/russia/20081022/117883951.html

http://rt.com/Politics/2009-12-09/medvedev-defends-freedom-speech.html

The Eat-All-You-Can Challenge

It was around noon when Ken spun around in his office armchair

"We need a challenge here," he exclaimed.

"I'm going to order a truckload of food and start our very own GetQuik Eat-All-You-Can contest," Ken exclaimed as his arms gestured the shape of what seems to be a huge truck, "and the winner takes the gluttony throne."

Irina gave her usual eyebrow- raising look.

Qishan started preparing his stomach for battle.

I prepared for my new blog post.

The Gluttony Throne is serious business.

Christina and Andrew weren't around, so it's a pity they had to miss out on the action.


So off to our first ever Gluttony battleground we went. The venue of the first battle was at Spice Hut.

"What should we order in truckloads?", Ken asked the group.

Irina was quick to reply, "I love Samosas. Like totally in love with them."

"Gimme all the Samosas over there and a whole tray of fried rice," Ken turned to the guy behind the cashier.

The guy immediately understood the gravity of the situation. He was fast to dish out all the food he could grab. No one jeopardizes the Gluttony Throne.

I was quick to bail out after 3 Samosas and 2 plates of rice in the first round. I didn't lose, I just had to take a picture for the blog.

What you see here is the start of Round 1.

Irina was fast, she gobbled down half of the Samosas in the blink of an eye.

Qishan didn't want to bail. You could tell he was on the verge of giving up, but it's in his blood to never say die.

Okay I was just kidding. He didn't really care about the Gluttony Throne. The iPhone in his hand seemed more important.

Ken adopted the slow and steady method, downing plate after plate of rice.

The final winner of Round 1 was never decided, since half of the food was still intact after everyone threw in the towel.

The Gluttony Throne remains empty. For now.

Best Trash Talk at an Indian Restaurant

Yuan Lin orders some naan at Spice Hut today.  Grabs his orders, big smile on his face.

Sing song voice addressing Qishan:  "I've got naan, and you've got none.  Ha ha ha ha ha."

Ordering Group Orders In Order

Today I'm going provide a little guide on how a user invited to a group order on the GetQuik system may select the desired food items for purchase.

Firstly, login to the user account home page and this should appear:

The restaurant name enclosed in the red box above indicates the restaurant that has been selected for orders to be made. Notice the nature of the group order as listed under the Payment Option column.

"I am treating" indicates that the organizer of the group order is paying for the meal ordered by the group.

"Bill separately" indicates that members invited to the group order are to pay for whatever they order.

"Split bill evenly" indicates that regardless of the final bill amount, everyone is to pay an equal amount of money.

"Company pay" indicates that the company is paying for all the meals within the group order.

Go ahead and click on the restaurant name. It should bring you to the page below:

Click on "Choose My Meal" to start selecting the food items for order.

Users may click on any of the items they see on the menu to place an order for it.

After clicking, a window will pop up for the user to indicate further details and personalization options for the items selected, as shown below:

Click on "Add" to add the finalized food item to the checking basket on the right of the screen that has been following you around.

After you're done with selecting all the food items you want, remember to click on the "Submit" button within the checking basket to finalize your order.

Check the group order status box on the right side of the screen. Make sure the status underneath user's email is listed as "Submitted". If not, go back to the menu and click on "Submit" in the checking basket again.

Enjoy your meal.

Increase your restaurant's business

We can help you increase your business, but only as much as you are willing to help yourself. If you are not already with us, you can start by joining the GetQuik network.



Shameless advertising aside, we offer real tools you can take advantage of to improve your business.



1. Get online access to your merchant account. You are currently able to review transactions, update your information / logo / store hours with this. Soon you will be able to edit your menu, tweak your delivery settings and so on. The goal is to give you all our weapons in this war. Understand that the online restaurant business is like the offline version. Your actions affect your result.


2. Get webified. You'll never find a better deal. We create, host and market your website all on a single, low, flat fee. Let us help you drive online traffic to you.

3. Most of our customers are administrators, trying to order food for the entire company. Tweak your menu to help these admins and they will send you business. For example, have catering options, clear menu descriptions and decent prices.

4. Secure repeat business by delivering quality food on time. Do not go stingy on the portion too! Our customers eat frequently and not every administrator is adventurous. Do well and you can be sure of a slot in their regular rotation of restaurants.

In Other Words

Yuan Lin has not had exposure to eating beef for various reasons.  It is fun to watch as he experiences the magical flavors of steaks and hamburgers.

His first exposure with cow as food was at In-N-Out.  The verdict?  "Ok, not sure what the big deal is."

This Monday, we were at Pizzeria Venti in Mountain View.  Steak sandwich.  The order dialog was classic.

Server:  How would you like your steak cooked?
Yuan Lin:  Quizzical look on his face.  Excuse me?
Server:  How would you like your steak prepared?
Yuan Lin:  About 80%.
Server:  Quizzical look on his face.
Us:  I think he means medium-well.

Verdict on Venti Steak Sandwich.  Beef Nirvana.

Welcome to the dark side Yuan Lin.