Shake Shack Dashboard Widget
A prettier and more convenient way of viewing the official Shake Shack webcam.
Background
Since it opened in the summer of 2004, the Shake Shack has been enormously popular. People would endure an hour-long line just to get a burger, hot-dog, or frozen custard. Insanity, I tell you! (Although I do agree that the food is pretty damn good.)
Recently, the Shake Shack installed a webcam, pointed in the direction of the famously long line that snakes through Madison Square Park. Using the wonders of modern technology (the interwebs), anyone with a craving for the "Shack" and an internet connection can know before they go.
Lovely, right? Problem is, the webcam is a Flash movie embedded in a big web page and doesn't look all that pretty. Worse, it doesn't even display the frozen custard flavor of the day! To sum it up: It's not terribly convenient.
We have the technology. We can rebuild it.
I present to you the (unofficial) Shake Shack Widget:
(There's no line in the photo above because
it's just a screenshot from a quiet time.)
A live webcam image of the Shake Shack line combined with Custard Calendar data. All presented in a Mac OS X Dashboard Widget. Good Lord, technology is amazing.
» Download now!
Features
- Live view of the line at Shake Shack (essential information for every NYC resident!)
- Updates every 5 seconds, just like the official webcam.
- Displays frozen custard flavor of the day. YUM!
- Displays countdown to opening and closing times.
- Looks nicer than the official webcam, IMHO :-)
- One key-press / mouse-click away in your Mac OS X Dashboard!
- FREE! (Save your money for a Double Shack Burger)
System Requirements:
Current Release Notes:
- The webcam image may not load sometimes, so a 'broken' or missing image may appear. No worries, give it five seconds and it will fix itself. I know this sucks — I'm looking into it. I suspect it has something to do with the webcam uploading the image or writing it out at the same time I'm trying to load it. I assume their camera updates the image rather frequently (5 seconds), and the interwebs can be slow sometimes.
- The frozen custard flavor of the day file is hosted on my servers and updated by me. I just pull the information out of the PDF hosted on their site by hand. As such, there may be a delay in getting the monthly flavors updated at the beginning of each month, depending on when Shake Shack publishes the next month's "Custard Calendar".
Version History:
Version 1.03: 2007-05-25
- The Shake Shack changed the URL to the webcam image sometime in the past month, which was why there was no picture. This updated the points at the new camera URL.
Version 1.02: 2006-08-06
- Removed the double-buffering of the images, thereby reducing memory footprint by a lot.
Version 1.01: 2006-06-27
- Fixed the nasty memory leak. Please download and use this version! (Sorry about the memory leak. It helps to read the official Dashboard Programming Guidelines once in a while, I guess.)
- Refactored all the JavaScript into one nice tidy
ShakeShackWidget
object. (Still more to do, but this is much better.)
Version 1.0: 2006-06-21
Planned Features / TODO
- Work-around the image loading problem!
- Prettier design and iconography (help is welcomed -- I'm not a designer)
- Display upcoming custard of the day flavors (for the next few days).
- Display Shake Shack and Madison Square Park events.
Refactor the JavaScript a bit.
- Prettier website.
- (Your comments and suggestions are welcomed)
Credits & Contact Info
This widget was created by Justin Blecher. My email address is my first name (justin) at this domain (worksperfectly.net). Comments and constructive criticism are welcomed.
Download
Installation Instructions
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is required. If you're using Safari, click the download link. When the widget download is complete, show Dashboard, click the Plus sign to display the Widget Bar and click the widget's icon in the Widget Bar to open it.
If you're using a browser other than Safari, click the download link. When the widget download is complete, unarchive it and place it in Library/Widgets/ in your home folder. Show Dashboard, click the Plus sign to display the Widget Bar and click the widget's icon in the Widget Bar to open it.
DISCLAIMER: This widget is not provided by nor endorsed by Union Square Hospitality Group.