News Feb 10, 2015 at 4:56 pm

Former Seattle Mayoral Candidate Creates App That Scans for Bad Ingredients in Baby Things

Sydney Brownstone
Back to article

Comments

1
Hurray, yet again, for Scott Kennedy. I've known him for 30 years and he's a damn good man.
Matthew Richter on February 10, 2015 at 5:02 PM Report this
2
Talk about a bad photoshop of a simulated screen, but they made sure to get the model's jacket open.

Reviews are one thing, but I don't want feedback from the unwashed masses about how product X contains GMO-derived cheese and Dr. Bonner's soap is fantastically worth the high price because they work to ban GMOs.
ChefJoe on February 10, 2015 at 5:29 PM Report this
3
Great idea.
JayMelm on February 10, 2015 at 5:59 PM Report this
4
Great idea. Hope nonprofits hop on because we need this. Because labels do suck. They suck bad. And i don't want hundreds of apps on my phone.
JayMelm on February 10, 2015 at 6:10 PM Report this
5
This could be a useful tool if it pulled from a database maintained by knowledgeable staff. Narrow your search by allergies or sensitivities or any other food concerns (including recalls, which they note)—totally helpful.

But crowd sourced food info? Good God that's fucking useless. I suspect the price of the app is a loss leader, the actual value in this venture will be data mining shoppers, a Safeway Clubcard for the coop set.
Dougsf on February 10, 2015 at 6:15 PM Report this
6
contains vaccines? not my child!
Max Solomon on February 10, 2015 at 8:09 PM Report this
7
I don't like how they will probably sell the data but I do like how Kennedy is open about how they plan to fund it. Just like anything worthwhile, building a free platform this size takes money and time. So as long as the data stays anonymous, and they remain transparent about the whole thing, I support this effort 100%. And I bet the reason why no one else has done this (it's an obvious idea!) is that they *didn't* invite everyone to contribute, or make it free. My only beef is WHERE'S THE ANDROID VERSION?
samanthaaa on February 10, 2015 at 8:42 PM Report this
8
You guys killed the mobile version of the website. This is a bad idea. Also, this redesign is ugly and slow.
Hanoumatoi on February 10, 2015 at 10:33 PM Report this
9
AUUUUGH WHAT HAPPENED
Unregistered User on February 10, 2015 at 10:45 PM Report this
10
Crowd-sourced eh?
That could easily fall prey to vested interests desirous of undermining the effectiveness. I would ask what sort of information validation / controls they have to prevent data dilution.
treacle on February 10, 2015 at 10:57 PM Report this
11
Digging this app, as well as the Slog redesign.
yelahneb on February 10, 2015 at 11:11 PM Report this
12
A Food Babe version of this will be imminent. Oh no, azodicarbonamide!
delirian on February 10, 2015 at 11:26 PM Report this
13
Do people post shitty videos on YouTube? Yes. But the good ones are there too, and they rise up through social sharing. Do people post worthless things on Twitter? Yes. But you can say what you want, find your audience, and follow users you know. Do people post crap to Reddit? Yes. But the community votes on the content to curate. Does anyone use Yelp? Yes. It's a publicly traded company with over 100 million unique visitors per month. So if these guys want to create the same thing for product information, I think that's a brilliant idea. In fact, I can't imagine any better way for people to keep informed and get more transparency. Congrats David and Scott and best of luck!
miromiro on February 11, 2015 at 1:21 AM Report this
14
Just read the FAQ and the crowdsource idea makes perfect sense: People post shitty videos on YouTube, but the good ones are there too, and they get passed around via sharing. People post worthless things on Twitter but you can say what you want, find your audience, and follow users you know. People post crap to Reddit but the community votes on the content to curate. These companies are big for a reason. Yelp is a publicly traded company, with over 100 million unique visitors per month. So if these guys want to create the same thing for product information, I think it's brilliant, and I can't imagine a better way for people to get information and build transparency in the marketplace. Congrats David and Scott and best of luck!
miromiro on February 11, 2015 at 1:31 AM Report this
15
@13,
I have family members all too convinced by little articles they read in Prevention magazine as being "factual" about health. The unwashed masses are not your best source for factual information... it gets drowned out by the extremely vocal crackpots. See all the posts in the Seattle Times comments area for many examples.
ChefJoe on February 11, 2015 at 2:55 AM Report this
16
Why is slog mobile broken and no longer mobile? Who did this? Make it stop.
SchmuckyTheCat on February 11, 2015 at 2:55 AM Report this
17
@11
I think the new Slog design will go over great with the younger "i'm so retarded that i read and comment on Slog" generation.
dnt trust me on February 11, 2015 at 3:00 AM Report this
18
@16: It works great on the desktop. I guess they didn't test it widely.

Still, I miss the green. Slog needs to be green. Here, let Ray Charles explain.

Test: this is a test to see if one of the more annoying Slog bugs is fixed. If File:Kermit_the_Frog.jpg">File:Kermit_the_Frog.jpg">this image works, it is fixed.

delirian on February 11, 2015 at 5:42 AM Report this
19
Nope. Hey dev crew, if you are paying attention to this thread, go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kermit_the_…

and click the image. You will end up at the Wikipedia file page. Try to post that link as a hyperlink using the standard anchor tag. It comes out like the above. It would be nice if this bug were fixed because sometimes the general image page contains useful information, especially on maps. There is a great SSM map that I can't post a link to because the colors are only explained on the parent page (the File page).
delirian on February 11, 2015 at 5:52 AM Report this
20
Great, I'll install this on my phone and put the link right next to my app with crowd sourced info on the safety of vaccines.

Seriously though, I hope they have professionals reviewing this crowd sourced info.
Root on February 11, 2015 at 6:51 AM Report this
21
I don't like the comment window, but I'll get used to it. If the new preview system means I don't have to click twice, though, it's deffo worth it.
Fnarf on February 11, 2015 at 8:31 AM Report this
22
Comments used to open on their own little window. Now they open up in a whole new tab. Not terrible, just something I miss from the old site.
Akbar Fazil on February 11, 2015 at 8:31 AM Report this
23
OK, then. I do hate having to see all the bumph every time I open comments -- the "promotions, stranger tickets, stranger perks" etc. cruft on the bottom of the page.
Fnarf on February 11, 2015 at 8:33 AM Report this
24
Also, I second ChefJoe's amusement that the promotional photo for this app has the model with her shirt open and her tit out, just to catch the viewer's eye.
Fnarf on February 11, 2015 at 8:34 AM Report this
25
On the old, functional, mobile page the story, comments, and navigation were all on one low-bandwidth page. Now it's slow loading high-bandwidth graphics and story previews with click through to comments with no navigation. It's crap for anyone on metered or slow data, or who cares about usability.
SchmuckyTheCat on February 11, 2015 at 9:00 AM Report this
26
And she needs to use more sunscreen, from the looks of it.
laterite on February 11, 2015 at 10:04 AM Report this
27
Ugh. Why couldn't they have made a posting announcing the redesign so we could have dumped all our comments there?
stinkbug on February 11, 2015 at 10:45 AM Report this
28
On my other computer I haven't refreshed Slog yet and it's still the old system.
Fnarf on February 11, 2015 at 11:48 AM Report this
29
Can you web design people right-justify the Name on Date, Year at 11:11 AM - Report this line?
Having it left-justified makes it harder for the eye to read the commenter's text, because the Bold + blue draws the eye down, it's distracting.

Also, you wanna make a slog posting discussing the reformat, so that we can hurl rotten tomatoes and erudite suggestions at you? thanks!
treacle on February 11, 2015 at 2:39 PM Report this
30
Oh, please make the Name line smaller too, at least 2-3 point sizes. It's distractingly big.

the insta-preview is pretty damn cool though. Nice work on that.
I wish we had colored comment boxes again, instead of All White All the Time with faint lines a'tween them. *sigh*
treacle on February 11, 2015 at 2:41 PM Report this
31
@2 @10 @15 - I don't like the "unwashed masses" providing product information either, until I realized that OpenLabel is mixing consumer feedback with more trusted nonprofit data. They are "tying together all the databases of nonprofit materials and government recalls" because "there isn't anyone doing it". A diversity of opinion that lets you pick and choose who to follow is far better than one group talking about one issue from one perspective. And light years better than the shitty label we currently use!
MASLOW on February 25, 2015 at 7:28 PM Report this

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview
Posted by (your name here)

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.

More In News

Council Member Tanya Woo Decries Graffiti Targeting Her in the CID as Hateful
Denny Blaine Activists, Beachgoers Upset about Mayor's Texts
The Bad, the Bad, and the Ugly
Strauss's Budget Still Guts $200M Away from Housing
Black Activist Alleges Assault at Protest Outside Council Member Bob Kettle’s House
The Suspects of an Anti-Gay Bias Assault Thought They Were the Victims

Editors' Picks

Seattle's Graffiti Culture War
Bad Apples
Steven Miller’s Spiritual Skinny Dipping
Nearly $1 Million Pours into Seattle Elections from Corporate “Neighbors”
Council Delivers on Promise Not to Please Everyone in Budget
The CEO of Seattle Is Hiring for the 2023 City Council
The Stranger
is a proud member of the network
Masthead Ad Info & Rates Jobs at The Stranger Contact Privacy Policy Terms of Use Takedown Policy Find The Stranger Near You
Support The Stranger
All contents © Noisy Creek, Inc.
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134