Now that Next Restaurant is onto their Childhood menu, all the hype about their amazing take on turn-of-the-century French cuisine has faded. Now you can make all of the courses from that menu at home with the "Next: Paris 1906" cookbook for iPad. more ›

Jacob Van Order believes so, which is why he created QuickTrain, an iPhone app that allows users to quickly tap into the Train Tracker data stream in order to find out when the next train is approaching the station closest to their current location, and bookmark those stations they use most. more ›

We'll slip on our "54" jerseys. We'll cheer on his interceptions and tackles, especially when he pounds Michael Vick into the ground. But do we also want him in your pocket at all times, on our iPhones? more ›

If the front page to their feed means anything, CTA will probably tweet in groups of 3-5 tweets over a 20-minute period, then you won't see anything for another hour. more ›

Note to AT&T: don't make Art Shay angry. more ›

It may be the only exclusive comic Ware draws for an iPad. more ›

In recent years social media, for better and worse, has changed the way we can obtain and disseminate information, do business, network and communicate and make something of our idle hands and thoughts. more ›

The deal is a step forward in Google's shift towards being a content generator, shore up its services such as maps, location services and searches, and compete with user review sites like Yelp. more ›

Don't call it a 9/11 novel. Whatever author Alex Shakar's ambitious, intricate and searching second novel Luminarium may be, it is much more than its backdrop of the fifth anniversary of that attack. The book follows Fred Brounian as he makes sense of himself and his world, where his software company is hijacked by the "Military-Entertainment Complex," the only positive vibes in his shambles of a personal life seem to be side effects of a neuroscientific research study, and texts and emails from his comatose twin brother start popping up. As a writer, Shakar is somehow a satirist of technology, an experimental scientist, a spiritual guide and a game designer rolled into one, but to make a setting such as 9/11 commemoration recede into a supporting role, he also moonlights as a magician. more ›

Shouldn't their energies best be served by developing smartphone and tablet apps, instead? more ›

When we first visited iNG, we were more impressed by the computer systems than the food. Well, the computer, which iNG servers refer to as "Skynet" (is that creepy or awesome? will it poison us?) has just gotten even better. Chef Cantu is just about to release a new system into the world, which he calls "The Matrix." He gave us a hint of this a few months ago, saying that he planned to distribute the amazing software that runs the complex menus at Moto, and now it's ready to go. The Feast got a full-scale run through of the software last week, and it's worth watching for any foodie, nerd, or foodie nerd. And yes, it can also play Pandora. more ›

During the NRA show, while we were giggling over fake food and silly signs, we also noticed one actual trend - everything seemed to be going electronic. There were so many different types of iPhone and iPad apps, wireless devices and techno-geek gadgets that we hardly knew where to turn, and yet when we did a little research and a few interviews, we weren't sure that most of them were actually useful. In fact, we suspect that while some of them may make dining faster and more "convenient" for some, most of them will lower the quality of the experience of eating out. But, you can bet they will be coming to a restaurant near you. more ›

Yesterday, CTA launched the beta test of its Train Tracker site, which was first reported last month. Unlike their Bus Tracker feature which uses GPS technology to determine the wait for a bus at a specific stop, Train Tracker uses information gleaned by CTA's QuickTrak system to calculate the wait for a train at a specific station. more ›

Bill Murray hates the future ... a rant from 1982 to bring you into the new year. This is raw footage from a promo he was shooting at the time and it's as much fun to watch for the content dealing with cars with dashboards that talk as it is to see Murray in action improvising and trying new things. more ›

The launch of the Fear No Art Podcast earlier this month reinforced the world’s constant ask for info on-the-go. We’re busy people, Chicagoans are, with places to go and buses to catch. And although podcasts are nothing new (P.S. check out ours!), we’re intrigued by the idea of an art podcast. Because a lot of art is visual, right? more ›

We don't know how many of our fellow iPhone users have complained about the phone's "autocomplete" feature, where the damn thing predicts the next word you want to type. It's led to a staggering amount of embarrassing texts, tweets and e-mails, when all we need to do to rid ourselves of the headache is to disable the feature. Google and your web browser of choice also carry this feature, resulting in searches you didn't want. more ›

Comcast high-speed internet subscribers looking for a refund on their service due to Sunday night's DNS outage better get in line and be prepared to scream at the top of your lungs. more ›

If you're a Comcast high-speed internet user and were trying to get online between 7:30 p.m. and midnight yesterday, chances were that you were receiving Domain Name System (DNS) errors preventing you from doing so. A DNS outage affected thousands of Comcast subscribers in the Chicago area, northwest Indiana, southwest Michigan and Minnesota. Comcast has since fixed the outage, but said that there are still some customers without internet service (and probably not reading this award-eligible reporting). more ›

Last night Groupon rejected Google's $6 billion offer to buy the Chicago-based deal a day company. Groupon CEO Andrew Mason wouldn't comment on the news, which had been a cause for speculation all week. more ›

The Tribune's John Kilkevitch reports that public transportation riders with smart phones or other high-tech gadgetry make for happier commuters. more ›

Resurrection Mary is by far Chicago's best-known ghost story. We've traveled Archer Avenue around the Willowbrook Ballroom on Halloween, in the dead of winter, even riding a Schwinn, in the hopes that Mary wanted to mount the sissy bar for a lift. more ›

After a seemingly endless construction, the new 18,000 square-foot Lincoln Park Apple Store at North and Clybourn is slated to open 10 a.m. tomorrow, undoubtedly adding even more traffic to an already over-congested area of the city.Red Eye's Scott Kleinberg has a nice sneak peek of the store, next door to the beautified North/Clybourn Red Line subway station. more ›

Been an interesting couple of weeks for the Art Institute. Last week it came out that the Modern Wing was so shoddily constructed, the AIC expects to shell out some $10 million for repairs on top of the $9 million already paid. AIC is suing Ove Arup & Partners International for - pardon the pun - damages. more ›

Here's a short film from the 1970s that looked back at the advancement of computer graphics leading up to that point. Interesting given the further leaps and bounds made since. more ›

Former Chicago Reader film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum has been as busy as ever since he "retired" from active duty at the paper. You could even say he's picked up the pace; a quick look at the Publications & Events page on his website will set your eyes a-swimming. A new essay, which will appear in expanded form as explores themes that will also be part of his forthcoming book Goodbye Cinema, Hello Cinephilia: Film Culture in Transition, examines how people's viewing habits have changed: more ›

Psst. Got an extra $2500 burning a hole in your pocket? Then head on over to your local Best Buy, where you can buy a brand-spanking new flat-screen 3-D television. more ›

The Gothamist network wasn't the only ones who released a new iPhone app yesterday. New York Media (publishers of the Grub Street blogs and MenuPages.com) also launched a new iPhone app that allows users to browse restaurant menus in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, San Francisco, South Florida, and Washington DC, along with rankings and reviews, filter options allowing you to narrow searches by cuisine, location and price, and the ability to post menus to Facebook or e-mail to a friend. more ›

At the beginning of each year cinephiles always like to try and predict what the new year will bring. And not just Oscar-related stuff either. Partially due to the mega-success of Avatar, people seem even more technology-obsessed than usual. Just a few days ago we learned that 3-D television from the likes of ESPN is less than a year away. more ›

Polynesian Pop expert James Teitelbaum is looking ahead at the same time he's looking back. His previous book, Tiki Road Trip 2, has proved invaluable for scouting out tropical vibes no matter where we happen to be. Thanks to Teitelbam's advice, during a recent trip we spent a wonderful evening at Los Angeles' legendary Tiki Ti (an upcoming Properly Sauced post will feature a facsimile of a drink we imbibed there.) more ›

When we heard about a new documentary featuring the music of Girl Talk, one of our all-time favorite interview subjects, we couldn't wait to see it. And that isn't hard: RiP! A Remix Manifesto is available online as a pay-what-you-want download. We're sure glad we did. It's the most clearly articulated work on copyright and remix culture that we've ever seen. more ›