pizza
Latest
Recommended Reading: Brands are not your friend
Why Comcast Sent Me Pizza Ian Bogost, The Atlantic Brands -- well, #brands may be the more accurate term here -- do all sorts of things that seem like they're rewarding you, dear customer, for some action or loyalty. The Atlantic dives into how these acts of kindness and mountains (literally) of freebies almost always stem from an ulterior motive, especially when social media is part of the equation. Just because Comcast sends you a stack of pizzas, doesn't mean you're best pals.
Pizza Hut's 'smart' shoes turn you into a fashionable couch potato
When it comes to fast-food PR stunts, Pizza Hut doesn't hold back. Seriously, this is the company that's made a jacket that keeps you as warm as, well, a pizza. The ridiculous garment came with the same insulating materials as those used in Pizza Hut's delivery pouches, including an inner pocket where you can fit a naked slice to take on the go, because why not. But, as mind-boggling as the parka is, Pizza Hut's best stunt might be the Pie Tops II, a pair of sneakers that let you order a pie and control your DVR right from the tongues.
An autonomous Ford Fusion will deliver Domino's in Michigan
Domino's has been experimenting with high-tech delivery methods for years, from UAVs to drones with wheels. This time, the pizza chain might send a self-driving Ford Fusion to deliver your food if you're in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Domino's has teamed up with the automaker to test people's response to an autonomous delivery car. They'll use one Fusion equipped with all the trappings of a self-driving vehicle, including Ford's full suite of cameras, sensors, radar and LIDAR, to deliver pizza for the month-long test.
Robot chefs and en route baking could be the future of pizza delivery
Looking at its storefront, you wouldn't expect Zume pizza to be the kind of business gunning to revolutionize the food-delivery business. Tucked into a quiet commercial park in Mountain View, California, next to a defunct flower shop -- which now serves as the company's engineering bay -- Zume looks more like the countless IT startups that dot Silicon Valley than a pizzeria. But only from the outside.
Alexa will now order you a Domino’s pizza in the UK
There are many ways to order a pipin' hot Domino's pizza. You can use your smartphone, smash a tiny pizza button or even tweet an emoji to the company's official Twitter account. Now, finally, it's possible to buy a Texas BBQ or two by shouting at your Amazon Echo speaker in the UK. The voice-controlled ordering system has been available in the US for some time now — quite why it's taken so long to reach Britain is a mystery. Still, it's a welcome addition that could prove useful while you're watching the game or hosting a sweet Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tournament with friends.
Domino's will stream 'Ferris Bueller' for free on Facebook Live
In case you've been off the grid, ubiquitous pizza-chain-of-last-resort Domino's has been running a weird Ferris Bueller's Day Off ad campaign with Stranger Things actor Joe Keery. The attempt to tie itself with such a beloved film has met with mixed reviews, however, so it's taking another tack: Offering fans the entire movie for free on Facebook Live, June 11th at 7 PM EDT.
Apple patented (and made) a pizza box to rid your life of soggy crust
The tech-food crossover hall of fame is filled with concepts that are more stunt than solution. Consider KFC's phone-charging take out box or its 'tray typer' for texting with greasy fingers, or even the recent Guardians of the Galaxy 2 soundtrack embedded in a Doritos chip bag. Gimmicks, all. But unbeknownst to everyone, there was a bigger tech dog trying to revolutionize food packaging: Apple bent its divine design will to create a container that would, once and for all, keep your pizza from getting soggy.
Domino's delivery robots are invading Europe
Domino's has unleashed another set of pizza delivery drones, this time in Germany and the Netherlands. Last year, it worked with Flirtey to drop pizza to customers in New Zealand using unmanned aerial vehicles. For this pilot program, however, it chose to use autonomous rovers developed by Starship Technologies, a company built by two of Skype's founders. Domino's told Engadget that launching this program doesn't mean it has given up on developing its own delivery drones, which it's been doing for a year now.
Pizza Hut's smart shoes will order a pie for you
Pizza Hut is no stranger to using tech as a promo tool, but its latest may be particularly appealing if you're looking for new footwear. It just unveiled a pair of Bluetooth shoes, Pie Tops (yes, we know), that order a large pizza for you at the press of a button on the tongue -- think of them as Reebok Pumps that fill you up instead. As you might guess, there's a mobile app to both set your order defaults and change the button push requirements. You don't have to worry that you'll accidentally order a Super Supreme while you're out playing basketball.
Alexa orders delivery from Pizza Hut on Amazon devices
Pizza Hut recently debuted a chatbot to help you with a delivery order, but the restaurant chain is putting Amazon's virtual assistant to work for the same task. Alexa's newest skill includes the ability to order your pizza via voice integration on the Echo, Echo Dot, Fire TV and Fire tablets. While the menu options for placing an order from scratch are a bit limited, Alexa can access your favorite items and past orders as well.
Domino's starts delivering pizza by drone, but only in New Zealand
If you measure the future in terms how pizza is delivered, the future is now: Domino's now delivers via autonomous drone. Today, the pizza chain officially launched its drone delivery service in New Zealand. The pizzaria chain has been working with Flirtey on the program for awhile now, but has only just started offering it to a select group of customers.
ICYMI: Real-time drawing collaboration and sippable seawater
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: Google introduced a new cloud-connected whiteboard called the Jamboard, which is made for collaboration with coworkers, then the finished doodle can be stored in Google Drive. Meanwhile the SAROS is a wave-powered desalination system that can produce 3,500 gallons a water a day of potable water from seawater, up on Kickstarter with the aim of helping coastal communities get better access to drinking water. Finally anyone prepping for Halloween will have carving envy from this video. The Pizza Hut video is here. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
The new Papa John's app for Apple TV makes ordering a breeze
Papa John's knows a delicious pizza goes well with marathoning your favorite shows by way of the Apple TV. That's why the pizza giant has launched a new app to let you order, customize and pay a pizza order directly from the Apple TV itself.
Order pizza right from your Twitch stream with Hungrybot
When you're chilling on the couch watching your favorite esports stream on Twitch and hunger hits, pizza is just a few keystrokes away.
Pizza Hut delivers the world's first playable DJ pizza box
The major brands won't admit it, but it's pretty hard to innovate in the pizza-making industry. Stuffed crust and sausage-ringed pizza are now well established, so companies like Domino's and Pizza Hut are turning to clever marketing gimmicks to ensure sales keep ticking over. One such stunt is today's launch of the "world's first playable DJ pizza box" from Pizza Hut, which is a standard cardboard container rigged up with touch-sensitive decks, a mixer and other controllable buttons.
Domino's will track customers on their way to pick up pies
Domino's already lets customers monitor the status of their pizzas for delivery, but on Monday it will reverse that service, allowing pizza-makers to track the location of customers coming in for a pie pick-up. The program rolls out across Australia starting on Monday, according to CNBC. Anyone in the country who orders Domino's from a smartphone will be prompted to enable location-tracking on themselves, plus choose whether they're coming by bike, car or on foot. Domino's will start cooking the appropriate pizza once the customer is in range, so it comes out as fresh as possible, CEO Don Meij said.
Pepper the robot gets a job at Pizza Hut
SoftBank's Pepper robot has been gainfully employed in the past, but it's apparently ready for a new career in the food industry. Pizza Hut Asia is partnering with MasterCard on a trial that will use Pepper for orders and information in restaurants by the end of 2016. Once you pair your MasterPass account, you can do everything from paying for your meal to asking about the calorie count. It's not necessarily as quick as ordering directly from your phone, but a demo (below) suggests that it's fairly painless -- it's easy to see the humanoid helper taking some of the load off of Pizza Hut's staff. Let's just hope that it fares well in less-than-ideal conditions.
Pizza Hut gives you delivery estimates before you order online
You know the score: you order from an unfamiliar pizza place and have little idea as to when your food will arrive until you've already made a purchase. Wouldn't it be nice if you knew when that pie would show up before you spent your cash? Pizza Hut thinks it can help. It's offering an estimated "Visible Promise Time" that tells you when your online order is likely to reach your door (or, for carry-out, when it's ready) before you commit. The time varies based on the volume of orders, how many drivers are on hand and the typical drive time for your part of town. If you're not sure that ordering at 6PM on a Friday is a wise idea, you'll find out very quickly.
Now you can order a Domino's pizza simply by opening an app
Domino's already has a slew of ways for you to tell the company you'd like a pizza. There's the Easy Order button, the emoji tweet, the Echo method -- heck you can even do it directly through an Apple Watch or your Xbox One. But all those require you to put in a modicum of actual effort *shudder*. That's why Domino's rolled out its "no touch" ordering app on Wednesday.
ICYMI: UAVs of the sea, real-time FaceSwap and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-838513{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-838513, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-838513{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-838513").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: The Applied Physics Lab at Johns Hopkins has created a UAV that can stay underwater for two months, before launching through water and air. A mouth-mapping system using an off-the-shelf web camera is able to swap out anyone's lips onto the face of a famous person talking, and get pretty realistic results -- this can't end well. And Domino's is unveiling a robot delivery system in Australia that will either make you hungry or angry, depending on how you feel about 15-year-olds having a first job. Seiko created a Rube Goldberg machine with watch parts and it's darling. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
