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I reverse engineered McDonalds’ internal API

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Re: I reverse engineered McDonalds’ internal API

#191

Post by nixgeek »

dcolkitt wrote: post #171
shadowgovt wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be willing to wager that half the clocks might be wrong. It's something manager-on-duty can control, so Murphy's Law kicks in.

A standalone GPS NTP server is $750 retail. Commercial soft serve ice cream machines are at least $4000. Just building the machines with an autonomous GPS clock that doesn't need to be set, would double the revenue but only increase the upfront cost by 18%.

Since they need internet connectivity to phone home status to McCloud, I don't know why they wouldn't just run an NTP client to keep their time synchronized and accurate?

Moreover the $750 you reference must be a commercial product since you can do GPS on a Raspberry Pi for < $50 easily? Which product are you thinking works for this scenario? Think I've seen everything from $300 to $13000 solutions for this over the years.

Re: I reverse engineered McDonalds’ internal API

#192

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

ipsum2 wrote: post #156
fma wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well if you keep doing this and your credit card gives like a 5% cash back on restaurant purchases...this is virtually free money?

Until the one time it does work, and you end up with 500 ice cream cones.

Yeah, now you have 500 ice cream cones so it's still a win:)

Re: I reverse engineered McDonalds’ internal API

#193

Post by marshray »

ezconnect wrote: post #177
thisisnico wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cloud based clock. Don't you mean NTP? We've had this technology for years! If it's connected to the internet, it's a pretty fundamental piece of pretty much any networked OS. You can ensure correct time this way.

GPS based clock is better no need for internet connection. Seiko and other company has been doing this for years.

NTP is typically backed by GPS.

If you have a datacenter full of computers, obviously you don't want to run a separate GPS antenna for every system. NTP allows systems to synchronize to GPS over a network.

Re: I reverse engineered McDonalds’ internal API

#194

Post by missedthecue »

madeofpalk wrote: post #162
missedthecue wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How hard is it to devise an ice cream machine with a simpler sanitation process?

I would have imagined someone in technology (or at least enough to read HN) would understand the hidden complexities of things they're not intimately familiar with

Well I don't, hence why I'm asking...

Re: I reverse engineered McDonalds’ internal API

#195

Post by quickthrower2 »

pessimizer wrote: post #104
cm2012 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, and two folks in a garage can build FB in a week, its just a DB right?

Pretty sure that's how facebook was actually built.

Well that’s how it was started, which is a bit different. More code had been written since then.

Re: I reverse engineered McDonalds’ internal API

#197

Post by tectec »

bradly wrote: post #122
wnissen wrote: post #49

Just a note, the machines are not broken, they have shut themselves down for sanitary reasons. Ice cream, as a food that is very close to neutral in pH and without much in the way of preservatives, is a common source of listeria bacteria. To prevent serious health issues, the machine must be sanitized regularly. As I understand it, the process is involved, and any given McDonalds may not have a person with the time a…

> Ice cream, as a food that is very close to neutral in pH and without much in the way of preservatives, is a common source of listeria bacteria. Former Blue Bell Creamery CEO was recently charged with seven counts of conspiracy and fraud for not taking proper actions in regards to ice cream based listeria in 2015.

But their listeria just came from being licked?

Re: I reverse engineered McDonalds’ internal API

#198

Post by quickthrower2 »

m0zg wrote: post #69
cm2012 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep, and two folks in a garage can build FB in a week, its just a DB right?

I mean, the OP is literally right - ice cream + milk in a blender results in a better milkshake. Try it sometime. That's how milkshakes are made at a lot of the other restaurants.

MCD optimise for speed and throughout though.

Re: I reverse engineered McDonalds’ internal API

#199

Post by mcphage »

jacobush wrote: post #163
noir_lord wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Iirc it goes back to telegraphs, the line been physically down would prevent them working and it’s hung around since. Like hang up, when was the last time I hung up a phone, that style of phone went out of fashion here 30 or more years ago.

Ackshully it's from the even older phones with separate earpiece and fixed microphone. You'd really hang up the earpiece on these old ones.

You'd physically hang up wall phones, even when they had a combined microphone and speaker: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/515Mj67cq3L...

Re: I reverse engineered McDonalds’ internal API

#200

Post by pbhjpbhj »

d23 wrote: post #155
joezydeco wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's some detail, as someone that has worked with those machines before (internally and externally). In the good old days the soft serve and shake machines were taken apart every night and every piece was washed and bleach-sanitized by hand. Then it was reassembled in the morning. This would leave a lot of room for error and possible contamination in the process. And the sight of a shake machine hitting full pressu…

Since you and the OP are here, I have a random question: were the blizzards ever made with liquid plastic ingredients? It probably sounds insane, but someone from a plastics company spoke at my high school and said this was the case since it was easier to ship and needed no refrigeration. Now, decades later, I'm wondering if this was just complete nonsense or had an element of truth to it. I've been able to find noth…

Not my field, but edible gums (guar gum, or xanthan gum for example) is "plastic" (adj.). Gums are used more and more, AFAICT as a consumer; presumably to allow products to be bulked out with air.

Basically take anything homogeneous, add gum, add air, create a foam. Basically like an Aero bar but with way smaller bubbles.

You just cut a quarter (I'm guessing on this figure) off your ice-cream ingredients by weight and you can now advertise "scoops from the freezer"!

It's genius but just a more complex version of putting all the pizza toppings in the little window, or having the coleslaw tub be much wider at the top, or putting everything in a wide plastic skirt so the box is 20% bigger than it needs to be, ... packaged food sellers are scumbags.

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