
Pizza Compass - briangonzalez
http://pizza-compass.com/
======
danso
OK, I haven't had time to download the app, but was curious about the
description

> _PIZZA COMPASS IS THE EXCITING NEW LIFE-AFFIRMING IPHONE APP THAT HELPS
> PIZZA GET TO YOUR MOUTH. CREATED BY A HIGHLY SPECIALIZED TRAINED TEAM OF
> PIZZA EXPERTS. EXPERTS WHO ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT LIFE, LOVE, AND FRIENDSHIP._

The screenshots featured famous pizzerias...so is the data "curated" by the
pizza-compass staff? Or does it rely on other APIs, such as Foursquare? In
other words, is it similar to other locations (Google, Yelp, etc) services out
there, except filtered by Pizza?

Cool design concept...but is it really a serious effort at an app/startup
(i.e. there's a press kit, accounts for the pizza-compass domain)? The use
case is pretty limited...that is, limited to the times when you want just
pizza and are in an unfamiliar neighborhood. This is not a scenario that I've
found myself in...I either eat cheap pizza as part of a routine at a place
near work, or know exactly the fancy-pants pizzeria that I want to go to
dinner for. Unless there's a lot of custom or well-aggregated data specific to
pizza (such as, what kind of pizzas are there, price per slice, etc), it's
probably not an app that I would ever use habitually.

~~~
princess3000
This is really overthinking it, IMO. This app isn't a shot at Yelp or an
attempt to disrupt the pizza space... It's a joke. You pay a dollar, you get a
pizza compass. I think it's hilarious.

The quotes on their page about "life-affirming" and "some people might say
this is the most important app... ever" tell me that whoever made this app
just wanted to have a bit of a laugh.

~~~
pkulak
Haha, it's so funny! Oh, and look at all this money in iTunes Connect...

Yes, totally just a joke!

~~~
princess3000
Who said you can't make money from a joke?

~~~
rhizome
Nobody.

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hipsterelitist
I think this is relevant, since it launched today and no one in the last 7
hours has provided context:

<https://www.urbancompass.com/>

[http://www.businessinsider.com/ori-allon-has-hired-63-ex-
goo...](http://www.businessinsider.com/ori-allon-has-hired-63-ex-googlers-
twitter-employees-and-harvard-mbas-to-solve-new-yorks-biggest-problem-2013-5)

~~~
angersock
Is...is that a joke? Am I going insane? Is it a product?

I can't tell anymore. I just can't. So many smiling faces on their team/about
page...what the christ.

EDIT: Some minor looking around... maybe it isn't?

------
acgourley
The <http://zombo.com/> of 2013

~~~
TazeTSchnitzel
No, that would be <http://html5zombo.com/> ;)

~~~
angersock
I heard they just closed a 1.5 mil seed round with Andreessen Horowitz.

------
sjtgraham
I really like the way the video was done, i.e. the video background keyed
exactly to the page background, but IMO the video itself smacks of trying too
hard. I think they tried to ape the Dollar Shave Club vibe and I don't think
it went over.

~~~
CyberDroiD
Your comment doesn't make any sense.

~~~
cookingrobot
The comment made sense to me. The technical approach of filming on a white
background so there are no borders on the video is neat.

The content of the video felt inauthentic.

~~~
armenarmen
really? he struck me as a genuine pizzaficionado

------
binarymax
_"Grimaldi's Pizzeria > 11ft"_ That 11ft journey will take you 30 minutes in
line, but its worth it.

~~~
umsm
A chef (friend) told me: It's good pizza, but not worth standing in line for.
When I lived there, I had it and I thought it was OK.

~~~
potatolicious
The secret here is to go to the Grimaldi's in Manhattan (20th and 6th). I have
been there many times and have _never once_ stood in line. Whatever the delta
is between the Brooklyn location and the Manhattan location, it surely isn't
30 minutes of standing around.

~~~
Klinky
Which Grimaldi's is it again? Famous Grimaldi's? Original Grimaldi's? Famous
Original Grimaldi's? World Famous Grimaldi's?

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Sandman
Ok, HN, I'm obviously missing something so please enlighten me. Why is this on
the front page? I thought that it might be a joke as some people suggested ,
but it's not, there's an actual app that you can download on iTunes. So... I
just don't get it. Why is this important?

~~~
chuinard
I think it's a fine example how someone takes a novel idea like this, charges
99 cents, and probably ends up making a nice dollar off it. No one ever asked
for it, but a lot of people will want it.

Everyone is always asking to get their problems solved but it shows how you
don't always need a problem.

~~~
Sandman
Novel idea? What novel idea? There were apps that showed you bars, fast food
joints etc. in your vicinity before. A lot of them are free, too.

~~~
nathan_f77
The novelty is in the presentation and execution.

~~~
dannowatts
exactly this.

------
nutmeg
Pitch: beer-compass.com

Ready for VC funding now.

~~~
frogpelt
The shape of a slice of pizza is more conducive to pointing at stuff.

~~~
smileysteve
Didn't play much spin the bottle when growing up, did we?

~~~
bti
Too busy playing spin the pizza.

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andy_adams
I have never felt so compelled to install an app. Incredible.

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seanp2k2
This is great art. It's the kind of art that makes you question your beliefs,
the kind of art that makes you consider things in a different light; the kind
of art that makes you question your existence and the futility of the world
and capitalism.

Thanks for making this a reality.

------
deadfall
Reminds me of "wheres the ladies at" app.

------
TomJoad
Brilliant, time to port it to android. New weekend project: Beer Compass.

------
rubinelli
Someone should make an app like this for expatriates looking for the closest
Starbucks or McDonald's.

~~~
umsm
I usually just look up and notice the golden arches. There are so many, that
an app would take time away from enjoying a Big Mac

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lmm
Reminds me of [http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/02/wheretheladies-at-shows-
you...](http://techcrunch.com/2010/10/02/wheretheladies-at-shows-you-where-
the-ladies-are-at/) from... wow, really two and a half years ago?

------
joebeetee
Has anyone got a link to Zeus Goremunkist's Github profile? This guy looks
legit.

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maneesh
almost identical to my app, Nearest Burrito:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nearest-
burrito/id575617196?...](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nearest-
burrito/id575617196?mt=8)

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D_hemming
I don't have sound at work so the video just appears to be a man waving a
pizza slice around before I got bored and gave up. Is there anywhere on the
site where it says what it does in writing?

~~~
INTPenis
I assume you're being sarcastic since there's a picture of the app showing a
slice of pizza pointing your way towards a pizza place. And the name should be
a dead giveaway.

Either way I think it's a terrible example of the decadence of western
societies.

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amirhirsch
I had set the audio on Vimeo down, and I can't adjust the audio volume on your
site. I had to jump over to Vimeo to hear it

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dfrey
If I close my eyes while listening to the video, I see Saul Goodman from
Breaking Bad.

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Goranek
This guy is a modern Delboy

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sharkweek
Love it --

Should try a free version with ads to pizza joints all jostling for business.

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ChuckMcM
Ok, that is really really funny. Spinal Tap for the App set.

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aashaykumar92
Can someone please explain me what the app actually does??

~~~
m4tthumphrey
Is it not obvious?

1\. Search for nearest pizza place (probably using Foursquare) 2\. Pizza-
looking-compass-needle points to said pizza place 3\. Distance updates as
you're pulled towards pizza

Simples.

~~~
alan_cx
No, its not obvious.

I personally _thought_ it was that, _hoped_ it was that, but nothing on that
site _told_ me what you just did. I had to half work it out, half guess.

~~~
minimaxir
The difficulty in finding information just makes you more interested in it.
Growth hacking 101.

~~~
alan_cx
Yeah, sort of, but never if Im being "sold" something.

Customer 101 :)

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kevinSuttle
Brilliant.

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runnr_az
That's pretty great.

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rip747
the last 10 seconds of the video were a little weird.

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dakrisht
This is hilarious.

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chopsueyar
Awesome idea!

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yoster
After watching the guy in the video, I think I will pass on pizza today.... No
thrills , but it would help if they would have had a sexy model instead :)

~~~
Nursie
Sexy models don't eat pizza often enough to warrant a pizza compass app. At
least there's a bit of truth in advertising here!

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nick2021
Stupid app. Tap built in Maps app -> Search for 'Pizza'

~~~
format
That's what people said about the telephone!

