Do you QOOQ in your kitchen?
Maybe you should.
QOOQ (pronounced “cook”) is an encyclopedic online cooking aid in form of a tablet specifically designed for the kitchen that made its debut at the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
According to the company:
The Qooq tablet is a denser 10-inch Wi-Fi touch tablet which accompanies you through your home and offers you all the multimedia functionality of standard tablets:
– An ultra-fast browser for surfing the Net and accessing all cookery sites in particular
– Access to the social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, etc.
– A video player for watching films and series from a USB or SD source
– An MP3 player for listening to your music from a USB or SD source
– Radio Stations
– A digital photo album for displaying all your photos from a USB or DD source
– Access to your e-mails
– A weather app
– A note pad
You can also drop wine on the QOOQ or accidentally bump it into the soapy sink — and it will keep on working. Even the buttons are waterproof. It has shiny Zamac metal feet with non-slip blocks and a foldaway support. That means you can stand it up on the counter while you are stirring your Boeuf Bourguignon. It comes in a zingy red, cool black, and a subdued cream color. It looks pretty snappy on a kitchen workbench.
What makes the QOOQ a cooking tablet are the extras: “a full range of culinary services such as search engines, menu planner, shopping list management, the option of entering and sharing your own recipes. Access to 500 pre-loaded recipes, including 10 chef’s recipes on video, Free access to all Qooq content for one month.” After that, you have to subscribe to a service. It works with a Linux/QT operating system — but for now you’d better be able to read French, because the software isn’t available in English — yet.
How different is the QOOQ to what is already available?
If you buy a tablet — let’s say an iPad — you can search sites like food websites for recipes from chefs and ordinary home cooks. You can search for cooking videos on Youtube.com or on other sites. You can get weather, radio, email and the rest.
What sets QOOQ apart are its bumpers and splash-proof mineral glass screen: it is designed to take a bruising in the punishing environment of the kitchen. The iPad is not.
Also, it is dedicated to kitchen tasks — and if the service offers the same kind of easy-to-use video/recipes, then it would more seamless then using multiple sites on a standard tablet without QOOQ’s service.
Interested in an English-language version?
Please let Super Chef know.
Meantime, keep an eye on that QOOQ.
