Software Engineer Reverse-Engineers McDonald's Ordering API To Find Locations With a Broken Ice Cream Machine (lifehacker.com) 100
Software engineer Rashiq Zahid debuted a web app today that uses a reverse-engineered version of McDonald's ordering API to query every single McDonald's in the United States. "Assuming a store has correctly indicated that ice cream is unavailable and that its ice cream machine isn't working, it'll show up as a little red dot on the McBroken map," reports Lifehacker. From the report: Zahid even built in a statistics box into McBroken so you can see how various cities compare for ice cream uptime. According to Zahid, his system works by queueing up nearly $20,000 worth of orders each minute. Don't worry; he's not placing them and cancelling them over and over, so no McDonald's worker has yet to dunk their head in the fryer as a result of Zahid's shenanigans.
A number of different users on Twitter and Product Hunt have tested out Zahid's app by heading over to their local McDonald's restaurants and seeing what they can order. For the most part, the app checks out. Of course, there will still be occasional instances where a "working" ice cream machine actually isn't. Or, if you're lucky, you might find that an offline ice cream machine has since been reincarnated and that McDonald's simply forgot to note the change on their end. As for how long this little tool will exist before McDonald's gets wind of it and breaks its functionality, well, I'd place my ice cream order sooner than later.
A number of different users on Twitter and Product Hunt have tested out Zahid's app by heading over to their local McDonald's restaurants and seeing what they can order. For the most part, the app checks out. Of course, there will still be occasional instances where a "working" ice cream machine actually isn't. Or, if you're lucky, you might find that an offline ice cream machine has since been reincarnated and that McDonald's simply forgot to note the change on their end. As for how long this little tool will exist before McDonald's gets wind of it and breaks its functionality, well, I'd place my ice cream order sooner than later.
What's different across the border? (Score:5, Interesting)
Of course the other answer to my question is that the Canadian menu is better quality than what we get here in the US. I was in Southern Ontario a couple summers ago and my wife couldn't believe the salad I was able to get at the McDonald's nearest the hotel where I stayed; the burger selection was a vast improvement over the pitiful listings I see here in the states currently as well.
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The US?
Re: What's different across the border? (Score:2)
Fast food restaurants trying harder outside the US is not a condemnation of a nation.
The US is my favorite country in the world. But yeah, McDonald's is better everywhere else I've been. That doesn't mean America sucks. It means McDonald's sucks.
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Almost right:
It means Americans have lower standards (they're still eating the muck, no matter how much McDonalds cuts corners).
A similar thing happens with all the corn syrup they put in everything over there. And don't get me started on American cheese.
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It means Americans have lower standards
Hmm. You'd best be avoiding fast food outlets in the UK, it'll give you a whole new (scary) perspective.
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Re:What's different across the border? (Score:4, Interesting)
You visit a foreign country and go to a McDonalds.
First of all, I can't think of any good reason to describe Canada as "foreign". They speak the same language, they are in the same time zones, they have most of the same holidays, they eat the same food, they partake in the same hobbies, etc. Unless you have a felony on your record you could - were we not in the middle of a pandemic - easily cross into that country from ours with a passport.
I expect you already came up with your own reason for why I went to McDonald's while in Canada. I'm going to tell you the truth though. I went there because I had my two young children with me and i was facing massive GI distress so looking for anything further from our hotel room (McDonald's was literally across the street from our hotel) was out of the question that day. I would have much rather explored the local cuisine but it was out of the question.
Another "America is so bad"
You are the only person in this thread to have used those words.
bitching on an American website about an American restaurant
I didn't realize that we weren't allowed to talk about McDonald's menus in a thread about McDonald's. Please help me better familiarize myself with the rules here at slashdot; perhaps they changed sometime during the enrollment of the 5 million slashdot users after I signed up and before you did.
every other country is better than America,
More words that you - and only you - are using in this thread. Why the hatred? I pointed out that one restaurant has different menus on each side of the border (I'm [youtube.com] not [youtube.com] the [youtube.com] first [youtube.com] to notice this either) and you seem to have taken it as some sort of personal attack on your American-ness.
but you won't get the fuck out.
I didn't realize that was grounds for deportation. Is US citizenship now dependent on praising all things American at the expense of how anything is done anywhere else? Are you not aware that the US-Canada border is still closed [npr.org]?
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First of all, I can't think of any good reason to describe Canada as "foreign".
By definition Canada is a foreign country. They are a sovereign nation separated by those qualities that make up a nation. The items you mentioned are commonalities, but they don't make Canada, the US.
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You are technically correct, which we all know is the best kind of correct!
But in the context of a discussion about "foreign cuisine", Canada really isn't foreign. Heck, a Philly cheese steak is more foreign in most of the US.
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Heck, a Philly cheese steak is more foreign in most of the US.
OK look, now you're just poutine us on.
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Slashdot needs a +1, painful pun mod.
Re:What's different across the border? (Score:4, Interesting)
Specifically, I was thinking more along the lines of
4 : alien in character : not connected or pertinent
And under that definition, many people would find Puerto Rico - a US territory - to be more foreign than Canada.
Indeed Canada is a separate nation from the US; I would not argue otherwise. I'm just going for the use of foreign as an adjective describing something that is distinctly different from what one is used to.
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Damn it /.! Where's the +1 pedantic mod when I need it!?
Anon post to not remove positive mods. ~aitikin
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I would have much rather explored the local cuisine
Poutine? If you weren't in gastric distress before you might well be after! :-)
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I would have much rather explored the local cuisine
Poutine? If you weren't in gastric distress before you might well be after! :-)
Admittedly the Canadian city I was most recently in was not a great international metropolis. However I do still like to see what the locals prefer to eat (over the giant international chains) when I am away from my own home town. After all the cuisine of Kansas City (as an example) has specific well-known characteristics, even though it is in the same country I live in.
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Well, if you're ever in northern Michigan try the pasties, descended from a similar recipe brought by Cornish miners. About my favorite Midwest food besides smelt or kielbasa & kraut.
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Wow. Can you turn the hyperbole down to 27 or is it currently stuck at the level you are operating at?
You visit a foreign country and go to a McDonalds.
First of all, I can't think of any good reason to describe Canada as "foreign". They speak the same language, they are in the same time zones, they have most of the same holidays, they eat the same food, they partake in the same hobbies, etc. Unless you have a felony on your record you could - were we not in the middle of a pandemic - easily cross into that country from ours with a passport. I expect you already came up with your own reason for why I went to McDonald's while in Canada. I'm going to tell you the truth though. I went there because I had my two young children with me and i was facing massive GI distress so looking for anything further from our hotel room (McDonald's was literally across the street from our hotel) was out of the question that day. I would have much rather explored the local cuisine but it was out of the question.
Another "America is so bad"
You are the only person in this thread to have used those words.
bitching on an American website about an American restaurant
I didn't realize that we weren't allowed to talk about McDonald's menus in a thread about McDonald's. Please help me better familiarize myself with the rules here at slashdot; perhaps they changed sometime during the enrollment of the 5 million slashdot users after I signed up and before you did.
every other country is better than America,
More words that you - and only you - are using in this thread. Why the hatred? I pointed out that one restaurant has different menus on each side of the border (I'm [youtube.com] not [youtube.com] the [youtube.com] first [youtube.com] to notice this either) and you seem to have taken it as some sort of personal attack on your American-ness.
but you won't get the fuck out.
I didn't realize that was grounds for deportation. Is US citizenship now dependent on praising all things American at the expense of how anything is done anywhere else? Are you not aware that the US-Canada border is still closed [npr.org]?
Foreign because we have our own currency, we have health laws that demand a certain level of quality and we have a parliament that is responible to the voters, and not to the fortune 500.
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Foreign because we have our own currency, we have health laws that demand a certain level of quality and we have a parliament that is responible to the voters, and not to the fortune 500.
I was reaching for the definition of Foreign (as I mentioned in another post in this thread) that refers to basically how alien something is. When I look at US and Canada I see a lot more shared than the world's longest un-militarized land border. We share a language, we share many time zones, we share many customs, we share much of our cuisine, we share a lot of natural resources, the list goes on (including that we both declared independence from England at some point). I for one have been very disapp
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Yo, he's talking about a restaurant, if you are so triggered at the slightest statement that ANYTHING might be better somewhere else you got problems. If someone said Usain Bolt, a Jamaican, is the fastest runner in the world .. that's a damn fact. If you can't accept factsm you've totally lost your objectivity 100% as a human being. Wanting to improve the quality of a restaurant in the US by seeing that it was done that better elsewhere is more patriotic than blinding yourself to the truth and accepting a
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He's giving his opinion that one multinational restaurant chain provides products that he prefers in one country vs another country. Solely comparing the restaurant chain against their international branches, saying nothing about either country itself. He's also visited only one branch, and even these chains have differences from one branch to another.
Food differs from one country to the next, even the offerings from big multinational chains like mcdonalds and even between neighboring countries with many si
Re:What's different across the border? (Score:4, Funny)
We've been to McDonalds exactly once in the last 20 years. We were in Italy of all places. My wife is Peruvian, where potatoes make up a major part of every meal, but the Italians don't eat potatoes (gnocchi doesn't count). After two weeks in country with incredible food my wife was missing potatoes so badly that when we passed a McDonalds in Sienna she insisted on going in for french fries. A double order of fries later she was content and we spent another week enjoying the rest of wonderful Italian cuisine.
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People: "Are you classified as engineer?"
Me: "Negative, I am a web monkey."
Credits for the original: The Fifth Element [urbandictionary.com].
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To be fair: Some people approach programming in the same way an engineer would.
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Horseshit, I'm an MCSE and a titled physical security systems engineer for a company with 750,000 employees in over 40 countries on every continent but Antarctica.
Re: What's different across the border? (Score:1)
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Card-carrying (literally) IEEE member in good standing.
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Card-carrying (literally) IEEE member in good standing.
IEEE is not a professional engineering organization. Unless you've worked under a PE for 4 years, and then passed the PE exam, you cannot legally call yourself an engineer in most states. I have a mechanical engineering degree from an accredited university and have designed commercial aircraft for decades. I cannot legally call myself an engineer.
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Actually very few states require that any more. Microsoft spent a lot of time in court in the 1990s with the MCSE program. Professional organizations can put whatever requirements they want for membership, and to do certain work (designing power dams, certifying structure alterations, etc.) certification by the organization may be required. In most states having "engineer" as part of a job title has no requirements though.
What do you call the guy who drives the train in your state, by the way?
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Sad for you. You know that if this is really, really, REALLY important to you, you could move to a state or country which haven't made engineer a protected title, right?
Or you could stop getting upset that others, not living in a state/country where this requirement exists, can legally call themselves engineers and acknowledge that what you just wrote is not a universal fact but rather a local law/regulation.
Definition of engineering (Score:4, Informative)
The ABET definition of engineering is:
--
The creative application of *scientific principles* to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same *with full cognizance of their design*; or to *forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions*; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property.
--
You can *build* or assemble a bridge by using the same structure you've seen used to build a wall in a house, while choosing the lumber dimensions based on "seems strong enough". An engineer *designs* a bridge by doing the science/math such that they can forecast just how much load the bridge can carry before it fails.
Same with software - you assemble something that see like it pretty much works. Or you can engineer an information system based on known principles, so that you can reliably "forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions". That is, if a web application is engineered for traffic load, the engineer can predict how much web traffic it can handle before it fails. Just like a bridge engineer knows how much traffic load a bridge can handle. If the software is engineered for latency/speed, you can predict how fast it will run, based on established principles.
At this point somebody points out that a couple of times engineers have made an erroneous prediction of how a system would behave, because they failed to account for a given principle. They grin as they say "bullshit, engineer's scientific predictions of a system's behavior have been wrong, engineers can't predict shit". You know the difference between a bridge not holding the specified load and a typical web app? The engineered bridge HAS a specific load it's rated for. The engineer did the math, though once in a while they make a mistake in the math.
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Electrical engineers sit at a computer and write Verilog code.
Edit, compile, test, debug.
That is not much different from what a software developer does.
Re: What's different across the border? (Score:1)
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Yet Tim Hortons is sliding down hill in quality. It's not as good as it was 10 years ago. I hope someone takes over and straightens that place out or it will be gone by the end of the decade.
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Initially I didn't want to go to McDonalds, because "we have those back home", but my travel partners did and I was outvoted. And on subsequent days we did find other local restaurants to try instead. But to be perfectly honest, I would have been happy to return to McDonalds every day, because t
keep it up! (Score:1)
McDonald's should not break this. instead, they should fix the problem and make all of the dots green.
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by makeing the mc franchise buy an new Ice Cream Machine at there own cost on top of the all covid stuff they are out on.
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True, 10% seems like a lot though. I guess the same thing as the local corner store's squishy machine always being out of order though. Usually that's because it's in the process of freezing a new batch of sugar water though which I guess gives them a bit of a pass.
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I've read that the machines get nasty enough that employees just say they are broken. I'd rather have the downtime to be honest.
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I wonder if they can proactively run it? Ie run the thing at 2am so it doesn't kick in an noon.
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this is what hacking is all about.
i weep in envy
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But McDonalds does not sell icecream. (Score:5, Informative)
You'll notice their menu uses words like "vanilla cone", because it does not have enough cream to legally be called ice-cream.
Rather, it is full of corn syrup and emulsifier.
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Major chains are oriented towards consistency, so the burger in Iowa is the same as the one in Maine. Size, shape, color, flavor always the same.
A guy with raw beef and a grinder can't do that. So they aren't going for quality and freshness first. It isn't the pure beef Joe the local restaurant guy puts on the grill. That's too variable.
Re:But McDonalds does not sell icecream. (Score:5, Funny)
McDonalds burgers seem to be packed with cellulose as a filler and to give a different texture.
You should remove the wrapper first. Hopefully it will taste better then, but I cannot guarentee.
The "Impossible Whopper" doesn't (to me) taste anything like actual beef.
Gee ... I hate to be the one to break it to you, but ...
MOD PARENT UP! (Score:2)
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The "Impossible Whopper" doesn't (to me) taste anything like actual beef.
Gee ... I hate to be the one to break it to you, but ...
I tried the Impossible Whopper out of morbid curiosity after having already had an impossible burger at a more high end place where it was ludicrously more expensive than their already ludicrously overpriced beef burger.
The expensive one, for sure, it didn't taste like exactly like beef, but it was good, it had a meaty texture and a nice umami. I wouldn't pay that kind of money myself, but on the company dime, what the heck.
The Whopper, nothing like the expensive one for sure, but actually better than the
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McDonalds burgers seem to be packed with cellulose as a filler and to give a different texture. (I can't verify this.)
No offense but that idea sounds a lot like the old - and roundly discredited - urban legend from back in the 80s that McDonald's beef patties were actually partially / entirely ground up worms. That was quickly debunked by the fact that worms are more expensive per pound than fillet minon.
The notion that their patties would be filled - partially or fully - with cellulose similarly doesn't hold much credibility I would say. Making a cellulose patty that holds up under the temperature of a cooking gril
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No offense but that idea sounds a lot like the old - and roundly discredited - urban legend from back in the 80s that McDonald's beef patties were actually partially / entirely ground up worms.
None taken! I was thinking of the story the Kentucky Fried had to change their name to KFC because they were using genetically modified birds (or worse) that could no longer be called chicken.
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Kentucky Fried Chicken changed their name because people hated the word "fried", as it prevented them from pretending they're eating healthy even though they're eating extra crispy cause it's chicken. There is literature that explains this, it's not like a publicly traded corporation can just change their name on a whim and not explain it to their shareholders.
There are a lot of urban legends and outright lies about fast food that hilariously are spread by the same people who shout at COVID deniers about f
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Is there a chemical in exercise mats that's also in Subway bread?
I don't know, but I have heard their drinks are based on a chemical that is used as a neutron-moderator in nuclear reactors.
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Is there a chemical in exercise mats that's also in Subway bread? Yes, so what?
No, they took it out due to public outcry. And frankly, there's good reason to avoid its use [wikipedia.org].
I'm sure there's water in that mat too OMG ban water!!
You know, the people behind the no-dhmo "movement" weren't against avoiding toxic compounds. They were trying to make a statement about scientific illiteracy. I know the person behind literally the original website on the subject, and even lived in the geek house where the page was hosted (though this was after he moved to a different geek house — but we still hosted the page, originally on a 28.8k SLIP with a
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Yep. Why not? I wouldn't know that if it hadn't been for that connection, because why would I have cared? I went from a 14.4k straight to a 33.6.
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I was thinking of the story the Kentucky Fried had to change their name to KFC because they were using genetically modified birds (or worse) that could no longer be called chicken.
Around here we've been known to refer to them as Kentucky Fried Seagull. Personally, I call them DBB, for Dead Bird in a Box. I haven't eaten there in well over 30 years.
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I'm not sure whether it's just a regional difference, or depends upon whether the store is corporate-owned vs franchised, but I've noticed at least two distinct varieties of "vanilla-flavored frozen dairy product in a cone" served by different McDonalds restaurants:
1. The best is pretty good... maybe one step below Dairy Queen. Soft and smooth texture, with just the right vanilla taste. I like it.
2. The worst is like licking a vanilla-flavored extruded slurry of ice crystals. I hate it.
I'm pretty sure they
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Which is odd, since I recall they always used to call it "soft serve" rather than "soft serve ice cream" since the fat content was too low. They changed their ice cream recipe in 2017 though, so maybe that's the reason.
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Nope. I can't explain why they call them vanilla cones, but the ingredients [mcdonalds.com] do specify "Vanilla Reduced Fat Ice Cream." All of their ice cream based deserts have that.
Which is odd, since I recall they always used to call it "soft serve" rather than "soft serve ice cream" since the fat content was too low. They changed their ice cream recipe in 2017 though, so maybe that's the reason.
Used to be an old time fast food shop in the town where I grew up. Not far away a McD's popped up. I'd go to the Jmart to get a strawberry shake. He'd use real whipping cream with it out of a fridge case. I talked to him one time. He said the same guy that delivers the milk products to him also does McD's. He uses the top grade milk. McD's used the stuff that was almost bad. Years later I noticed that they seem to use milk looking liquid that's in a bag. The building the Jmart was in is still there. The ro
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As always, the Simpsons nailed it:
https://comb.io/CiCAKK [comb.io]
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Red/Green colorblind people can't read the map (Score:3)
Its the same as looking at the available hotels map of hotels.com on a PC ...a bunch of little red and green dots on the map indicating status.
This is useless for red/green colorblind people (6% of the population) who cannot distinguish these colors on a map like this.. all the dots look the same.
I don't like ice cream anyways :-)
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Are you colorblind and can confirm you can't differentiate? Or are you just aware that colorblind people exist?
I'm sure that different shades of red and green can be differentiated because they include hues other than red and green, I just haven't found a person to test that out on. Nor something other than a preposition to end that sentence with.
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https://knightlab.northwestern... [northwestern.edu]
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Thats what user selectable stylesheets were always intended for. If the default doesn't work for you, pick another stylesheet (or provide a custom one) that works for you. There should be at least *some* color you can distinguish, even if its just black vs white. People with very good eyesight and high quality screens can even differentiate between very subtle variations.
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Just enable colorblind mode on your computer. It's 2020.
That's nice, but (Score:1)
I wanted a McCowboyNealBurgerNugget Salad.
So what's the point, ultimately (Score:2)
Aside from the cool hack - which is cool, and soon to be rendered useless by McD no doubt - is this a map for those looking for the closest, most convenient way to get fat quickly?
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200 cal
5g fat / 3g sat fat
23 g sugar, 32 g carbs total (compared to 39g sugar for a 12 oz coke)
5g protein
For me their soft serve is actually pretty filling. I'm not saying it's a
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Maybe. I can't help but somewhat see this as promotional. I didn't even know McDonalds sold ice cream, but now I do, so...
Just use Google Maps (Score:4, Funny)
Search for "McDonald's". Note the pins on the map. THERE is where the broken ice cream machines are!
I'm going to be that guy. (Score:2)
Is this big reverse engineering feat simply looking at the html result of queuing a phantom order?
The app better be free and advertisement free, he is using resources that aren't his.
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Did he get permission to throw so many queries at McDonald's servers? Or to use the undocumented API?
Who cares? Is there a law against connecting to a web server?
The app better be free and advertisement free, he is using resources that aren't his.
Or what? They'll get mad and call him names?
Just the logical extension (Score:5, Interesting)
Just the logical extension of the first IoT device, the 1982 Carnegie Mellon ARPANet-connected Coca Cola machine.
https://www.ibm.com/blogs/indu... [ibm.com]
To pull data from the machine, Zsarnay installed a board that sensed the status of each of the indicator lights. A line from the board ran to a gateway for the department’s main computer, which was connected to the ARPANET—a precursor to today’s Internet, which, at the time, served less than 300 computers worldwide.
Kazar wrote a program for the gateway that checked the status of each column’s light a few times per second. If a light transitioned from off to on but then went off again a few seconds later, it knew that a Coke had been purchased. If the light stayed on more than five seconds, it assumed the column was empty. When the light went back off, the program knew that two cold Cokes—which were always held in the machine in reserve—were now available for purchase, while the rest of the bottles were still warm. The program tracked how many minutes the bottles had been in the machine after restocking.
McRib? (Score:2)
Now if they'd write an app that would tell me where the closest McRib is...
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Now if they'd write an app that would tell me where the closest McRib is...
They have kind of a cult following for that sandwich. Supposed to be available right now I think. Sometimes they show up in November.
LOL... Ingredients... Pork Patty, water...rosemary... Yea.. What's that pork patty made of?
Probably parts held together with meat glue.
Pay a little more, get some real pork ribs. I can't bring myself to order a mcrib anymore.
What's the purpose? (Score:2)
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If it's to prevent you from visiting a McDonald's with a broken ice cream machine, then what about the shake machine (which in my limited experience is broken more often than the ice cream machine)?
Ugh, please don't consume McDeeznutz shakes. They will kill you quicker than smoking. If you must have a shakelike fast food product, go to Wendy's and get a Frosty. They have like half the sugar of a shake.
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Why do I want to know locations that have a broken ice cream machine? Unless I have a business REPAIRING McDonald's ice cream machines, this website is of limited use. If it's to prevent you from visiting a McDonald's with a broken ice cream machine, then what about the shake machine (which in my limited experience is broken more often than the ice cream machine)?
I assumed this was talking about the shake machines. I didn't know they had ice cream at McDonald's, but I don't exactly go there very often.
Ice cream? (Score:2)
"if you're lucky, you might find that an offline" (Score:2)