SOCIAL MEDIA

Passover App:
iBall a Better Matzah Ball

he holiday of Passover is corn-
ing up on the calendar really
quickly! It's always a daunting
task to "do Passover." As you may
have experienced, a Passover seder
is full of weird and quirky things
that we Jews do. Often when the
question is asked, "Why do we do
that?"the answer is, "To keep the
kids engaged!'
Thanks to a local Michigan-
based company, Captain Mus-
tache, "there's an app for that!'
Roy Krauthamer and Michael
Weinstein, partners in Captain
Mustache, have been building iPod/iPad apps for the
last couple of years. Last year they released the Pass-
over Matzah Ball Builder app. In this app, you can build
a matzah ball, dress it up and share it with your friends
and family.
This is not a complicated app made for serious gam-
ers or people looking for high-efficiency improvement.
This is a fun and simple app that kids will use; think
of it as a digital Jewish Mr. Potato Head. My 21/2-year-
old daughter figured it out quickly. She had fun
designing
the Matzah Ball and giving
it funny faces. Most impor-
Batt Builder
tantly, she is excited for
assover
Passover coming up soon.
I'm not looking forward
to explaining to her that
we don't dress up real
matzah balls!
The other great thing
about this app is that
it fits in with almost
everything I care about. It's
a Michigan-based company, it's
something my kids like, it's an
app and it's Jewish. How can you
go wrong?
When I spoke with Michael
about his app, his passion came
out. He loves being a part of this
company for the same reasons I like
his company."Forward-thinking
technology that is simple, engag-
ing, fun, Jewish and profitable," he
says.
There are a number of other
Jewish app makers in the Detroit
Metro area, but I love the small
business story that Michael and Roy
have. These guys started the
company together and are build-
ing it from the ground up. Last
year, they were featured in the Wall
Street Journal for the Dreidel app
they built.
For more fun, check out other prod-
ucts by Captain Mustache at its website
and enjoy the Dreidel app, a Christmas
app or a Halloween app. RT

T

N. V.11. 7b

Benji is a commercial real estate broker, blogger, musician, a partner in a
music promotion and production company, connector, father, husband,
social media junkie and advocate for the Metro Detroit area.

www.redthreadmagazine.com

Words To Live By:

"Passover affirms the great truth that liberty is the inalienable right
of every human being." - Rabbi Morris Joseph

[

FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE

MIZRACHI MUSIC AND NOSE JOBS
Jack Zaientz writes the highly entertain-
ing Teruah Jewish Music blog, which covers
all Jewish music, from ancient hymns to hip
hop. He recently pub-
lished a fascinating Q
& A with Alon Braier,
a freelance graphic
artist who created a
boxed set of cards
that pay "tribute to
the great Israeli miz-
rachi music pioneers
of the '60s and '70s."
Go to the site and you
can also read Zaientz'
take on #NoseJob-
Gate, the controversy
over Orthodox Jewish
rockers the Groggers' song "Jewcan Sam (A
Nosejob Love Song)," a song and video paid
for by an Orthodox Jewish plastic surgeon in
Florida. Interesting stuff.
Find it at teruah-jewishmusic.blogspot.
corn.

FOOD LOVERS
Follow Joe Hakim (@joefoodie), Henry
Balanon (@balanon), Angela Watts (@
wattyz), David Benjamin (@davebenjamin)
and Dave Murray (@davemurr) as they take
gastronomical adventures on their blog, the
Hungry Dudes.They write about restaurants
and recipes, such as how to turn last night's
garlic bread into breakfast this morning or
how to take the lowly french fry and kick it
up a notch with Parmesan and black truffles.
Sounds tasty. Check them out at
thehungrydudes.com .

DETROIT HALF-FULL
If you want to know about cool things happening in the city, places to go
and events to attend and the positive things you don't always see on the
evening news, you should put this one on your list of bookmarks. The site's
goal is promoting positivity within the city to change the reality of how
people view Detroit. Last month, it featured a post about the Live Detroit
Fund administered by CommunityNEXT. Visit at detroithalffull.com .

TWEETS THAT ROCK

" @Goldberg3000: In response to Mor-
mon baptizing of Simon Wiesenthal's
dead relatives, I suggest a public
bris for Mitt Romney ...

@shiraselko: They say when you
stop looking, the perfect per-
son will show up. I'm going to keep
looking so I can continue to be left
alone.

@rabbijason: Autocorrect keeps
changing 'Purim' to 'Porn' on my
phone. It's making for some unfor-
tunate text messages! #SorryGrandma
#Purim

@aimeeweiss: In
the Jewish nonprofit
sector, there is a fine
line between a date
and a meeting.

@Just1GOLDEN:
I'm giving my par-
ents s**t for not
red-shirting me from
kindergarten. Aug.
birthday blew my
chances for Detroit
Jewish News athlete of
the year.

RED mr.ADI April 2012 37