Finding a way to provide a demo of an iPhone/iPod Touch App is not easy. One way to do this is to make a video and that is what has been done for cookCal, our iPhone/iPod Touch cookery calculator – and the video is on YouTube.

The video shows the App in operation, and so users can see how the program works before going to the iTunes App Store.

The video shows cookCal being used to calculate the amount of time that would be needed if you were following instructions such as: “cook for 10 minutes, and then at 20 minutes per pound (lb), and rest for 15 minutes before carving”. The calculation is also shown in metric (kilograms, kilo, kg).

The video finishes with a demonstration of how to calculate start and end times, and how the inbuilt presets can be used for calculating cooking times for beef (rare, medium, and well done), chicken, duck, goose, lamb (medium rare, medium, and well done), pork and a range of turkey sizes.

For more information visit the cookCal home page or read our recent blog post.

cookCal is available on the iTunes App Store

As I mentioned the other week (post) I was working on a new version of cookCal (download link), and one of the most remarkable things was that the update of cookCal was approved by the App store in just 3 days – post…

So, what is new in cookCal?

cookCal is a very easy to use cookery calculator that helps you do those tricky calculations such as cooking a piece of meat from 25 minutes, and then at 20 minutes per pound (or 44 minutes per kilo), and resting for 15 minutes before carving. Using the calculator is very easy, you just touch on the number that you wish to enter until it turns green (see the screen shot below – standing time shown), and then using the number buttons to enter new values.

With version 1.0 you could:

1. Enter the time per weight (min per pound or min per kilo)
2. The weight as kilo (kg) or pounds (lb)
3. Any standing time or pre-cook set times (such as the 25 minutes in the above example)
4. Set a start time and get an end time, or set an end time for cooking and get the start time.

It was also possible with cookCal to enter a time per weight for min per pound cooking, and the weight in kilos (or vice-versa) and get the cooking time calculated.

Version 2.0 of cookCal, builds on version 1 and has some great new features and these include:

1. Pre-cook set times (such as the 25 minutes in the above example) can be added
2. A post-cooking standing (relaxing) time can be added
3. Start and end cooking times, and the time to remove the meat from the oven, can all be calculated – enter a start time and get the end time, enter an end time and get a start time, enter the time you wish to remove the meat from the oven and get start and end times calculated
4. Cooking guide – meat presets – cookCal now comes with a number of suggested cooking times, and oven temperatures, for a range of meats including beef (rare, medium, and well done), chicken, duck, goose, lamb (medium rare, medium, and well done), pork and a range of turkey sizes.

Just like version 1.0 there is also an extensive help section built in to cookCal.

Screen shots of cookCal

New imperial cookCal calculator
If your recipe called for the meat to be cooked for 15 minutes and then at 20 minutes per pound, with a 10 minutes rest before carving, then the data would be entered as shown above. The 10 minutes would be entered as the ‘Set Time’ and the resting time as the ‘Standing’ time.

New metric cookCal calculator
If your recipe called for the meat to be cooked for 15 minutes and then at 44 minutes per pound, with a 10 minutes rest before carving, then the data would be entered as shown above. The 10 minutes would be entered as the ‘Set Time’ and the resting time as the ‘Standing’ time.

Cooking start and end times calculator
Once the required cooking time (including any resting time) has been calculated it is possible to calculate start and/or end times. If you enter a start time the time to remove from the oven (assuming there is a rest time) and the time for serving will be calculated. Alternatively, the end time can be entered and the start time calculated. It is even possible to enter the time you wish to remove the food from the oven and have the start and end time calculated.

Suggested cooking times and temperatures
cookCal now has inbuilt cooking guide for a range of meats including beef (rare, medium, and well done), chicken, duck, goose, lamb (medium rare, medium, and well done), pork and a range of turkey sizes. The calculator gives suggested cooking temperature, cooking time, cooking time per weight, rest times, and some cooking hints.

Suggested cooking times and temperatures
cookCal also comes with an extensive help section.

cookCal is now available for download on the iTunes App Store.

I feel guilty… earlier in the week I completed the iPhone developers survey for Apple in which one of the questions was “How satisfied are you with the App Store review process?”, and I said ‘not very’ – and yet the cookCal update was approved in 3 days….

The new version of cookCal was submitted to the App Store late afternoon on Sunday 7 February, 2010, and was approved and available for download by the evening of Wednesday 10 February, 2010…. Great! Fantastic!

It is great to see that Apple has listened to its developers and improved App store review process. And, again, I am sorry about the poor score I gave!!!

MMISoftware has just released their fourth application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, a ‘cooks’ calculator called cookCal – App Store link.

cookCal is an easy to use calculator that can be used to help cooks with those awkward ‘minutes per pound’ (or ‘minutes per kilo’) type calculations. For example, you have been given the weight inpounds (lb) and ounces (oz), or kilos (kg), and the time per unit of weight, and you need to work out for how long the food should be cooked. cookCal can also help with calculations when you know the cooking time in minutes per pound, but the weight on the package is in kilos (kg).

cookCal is particularly useful in working out cooking times when you:

• have food that needs be cooked at 50 minutes per kilo, and it weighs 2.978 kg, with a standing time of 20 minutes

• need to cook some food that weighs 4 pounds (lb), 2 ounces (oz) for 25 minutes per pound, with a 15 minuted standing time

• need to cook some food at 25 minutes per pound, and yet the weight is in kilograms

The calculator can handle all those types of calculations. In addition, the calculator can also be used to work out what time the food will be ready, or what time to start cooking to have the food ready for fixed time.

There is also a cookCal demo video available:

cookCal is now available for download on the iTunes App Store.

As I said in an earlier post the new version of iCalMaker (iCalMaker2) will be able to import date and time data, from tab or comma-delimited files, using custom date and time formats. This will also be applicable to exported data…

In iCalMaker version 1.0 to 1.9, the format of dates and time that could be recognised/used by iCalMaker was limited to the pre-set style in System Preferences.

In iCalMaker2 there is a choice, you can either use the values set in the System Preferences, or some values as set by you, the user, in the iCalMaker2 prefrences.

The date/time format for importing and exporting data in iCalMaker2 can be set in the Preferences

Basically, once the “Use Own Time/Date settings” is clicked the different settings become available. For example, the date can be “Day Month Year”, “Month Day Year” etc. The month can be a number (1 – 12), or an abbreviated month (Jun for example), or the full month (June). A year can 2008, or 08. The time format is equally flexible, i.e. hour minutes and seconds, or just hours and minutes. 24 hour time, or 12 hour…

In both cases, time and date, the separator can be set to one of the available presets (e.g. :, /, – etc.), or one of the users decides (other).

Finally, the order of date and time can be set. Time and date, or date and time.

Now, the question is: should an advanced setting be added where the user can set up their unique time/date format? Should it be made possible to save previously used formats?

Anyway, back to dealing with the mapping of recurring events to the data-model and the program interface… what fun.