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New Seefood: Not a Hotdog! How to Use AI Object Recognition in Your Apps

Fans of the geektastic HBO Silicon Valley series may remember the hilarious spoof "Not a hotdog" app. Join us, watch, and learn software development as we create it for real!

Q. Did you really create a working version of the fake "not a hotdog" app by Silicon Valley's Jian-Yang?

A. Yes, yes I did.

Erlich should buy me the palapa of my life, with twelve posts and braided palm leaves, so I will never feel exposed again. ;)

Opening and compiling the app

1. You will need a recent copy of RAD Studio or Delphi. You can download a trial or the free CE version here: [www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi](https://www.embarcadero.com/products/delphi)

2. To open and use the Amazon AWS Rekognition service you will need to install the Appercept AWS SDK.

   If you have RAD Studio 12 Enterprise or Architect you install the Embarcadero version using the GetIt package manager - by typing in "AWS" in the search box.

   Or you can get the full professional Appercept AWS SDK package directly from Appercept [www.appercept.com](https://www.appercept.com)

Where can I see the spoof "Not a hot dog" app in action?

I wrote this for an episode of our Embarcadero Winter Webinar 2024 series. You can catch the webinar replay via the link below.

The video shows the app in use and explains how I did it.

[https://www.youtube.com/live/-N4kAQuaIoM?si=vdBZOZdMs1OXBc6l)](https://www.youtube.com/live/-N4kAQuaIoM?si=vdBZOZdMs1OXBc6ll

Why is the 'not a hotdog' app called 'new seefood'?

In the TV series, Jian Yang has a penchant for creating 'clone' projects by taking an existing project and adding the word 'new' to the front of it - new Facebook, new Reddit etc. His "not a hotdog" app is actually called "Seefood" (because it sees...food). Hence: New Seefood.

Important notes

This app is intended for educational purposes only. It's a parody. It's an homage. It does work and it can recognize hotdogs (and not hotdogs) for real, but it's intended to show you how to use app design techniques and how to interface with Amazon's AWS Reckognition service.

We're trying to show you how an 'imaginary' app that appears for only a seconds in a TV comedy can be completely recreated and made to work for real in a matter of a couple of hours using RAD Studio with Delphi. It is not intended for actual release. The design and hilarious ideas behind the original 'fake' app belongs entirely to the brilliant people behind HBO's Silicon Valley TV series. If you've not seen it yet, you really should.

The fake app which inspired this one appears in Season 4, Episode 4.

Images used in the app and webinar

• The palapa was created using Bing AI - prompt "a palapa with twelve posts and braided palm leaves"
• The food images are from pexels.com plus some fancy editing :)
• The hotdog icon was created using a source image from freepik.com and then manipulated using RAD Studio 12's artwork creation tool

Ian Barker.</br> Embarcadero Developer Advocate.