As you can probably imagine, after writing such amazing articles every week for 10 years, losing Camille as a newsletter writer was quite a blow. She is literally irreplaceable. So, naturally, I didn't replace her!

Instead, I decided that...at least for a little while (if I can continue to make the time)...I would write an article or two for the newsletter each week. To be fair to Camille, she gave me more than two months advance notice. And, to be clear, I am sure there are many people who would be willing and capable of doing it. However, I don't know if anyone can do it as well as Camille. She was amazing and we're going to miss her!

But, as they say in the business "the show must go on!" Plus, I figured that it might be interesting for some readers to get a little more "Cook'n" in the Cook'n Newsletter. The newsletter typically has some great recipes and cooking & kitchen tips. But, I believe it could use a little more Cook'n in it. And, I think this sort of information is something that you might enjoy and find interesting & helpful.

What's more, being accessible and connecting with the Cook'n users is one of the things that makes DVO Enterprises unique. What other top tier software developer has a CEO that interacts with their users the way that I interact with you? Personally, I can't think of a single one. And, many people seem to like that and appreciate it. So, perhaps a little more of it isn't such a bad thing. I know I enjoy it. I love meeting with and talking to Cook'n users! And...I'm a pretty fungi so...what can I say!

Speaking of fungi, does anyone love mushrooms as much as I do? They're delicious aren't they? My son, Andan (the baby, the last of my five children living at home), hates them which makes it a little tricky when cooking yummy meals. I don't blame him. When I was his age, I remember complaining when my parents ordered pizzas with mushrooms on them as well.

So, where were we? Oh yes...putting more Cook'n in the Cook'n Newsletter. Let's get on with it, shall we?


How about that Version 15 Upgrade? Pretty cool, huh? As it turns out, this was easily the smoothest major upgrade we've ever released (in terms of fewest bugs and problems). This team of programmers that we have (aka the Cook'n Elves) is really top notch. And, they came together in a beautiful way.

Usually, at the end of a rigorous cycle, after several weeks of long hours, people get fatiqued and grumpy. It makes sense that when you are sleep deprived and stressed at the same time, your patience would run thin. But, in our case, it was just the opposite.

Don't get me wrong, we were sleep deprived, exhausted, and stressed. But, the closer we got to the ship date, the more excited everyone became! It was quite remarkable to behold. I think there are two main reasons for this:

First, the project was divided into many pieces and everyone was working on their individual tasks. It wasn't until the end that everything started coming together in a beautiful way. As each person completed their tasks, we got to see the end result and it was thrilling! I mean...when something that you have been working on for so long and so hard starts to come to life, it's exhilarating! I think we were all energized by this.

Synergy, as they say, is "an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts." Needless to say, we definitely felt a synergistic sensation when we saw what we had achieved.

Second, as we approached the finish line, we were so excited because we believed that you would like what we had done! We felt like we made something meaningful and, as we got closer to the ship date, we knew that we were getting closer to the day that you would get to play with and derive benefit from what we had created.

I don't know if you realize...but this is quite a thrilling thing for a programmer. Many software engineers work on projects for years only to have the project canned for one reason or another. Many software projects never see the light of day! With Cook'n, on the other hand, we know that if we make a mistake or, conversely, if we create something revolutionary, we're gonna hear about it from you and this is quite exciting for us!

So, yeah...we were really excited to release Cook'n Version 15. We worked longer and longer days up until the release. The night before the day of the release, we were all up till 4:00 am and we were practically giddy!

Two weeks before the release date, I threw out my back which was a huge bummer. When I did my work-out on Saturday, I was feeling strong so I did twice the number of situps that I usually do. Then, I worked 14 hours on Monday and 13 hours on Tuesday. When I got out of bed Wednesday morning...POW!! It hit me and brought me to my knees. The chiropractor said it was a combination of the extra situps combined with sitting in a chair for so many hours (plus a little stress sprinkled on top too).


I kept working but I was in some real pain. I guess I was moaning at one point. So, my son, Danny, who works by my side insisted that I stop. He encouraged me to work on my laptop from bed instead. But, I refused because I'm just not as productive on the laptop as I am at the DVO Command Center with my three 65" monitors surrounding me and I just had to finish my work! But, Danny didn't give up. He pulled my chair out of the way and replaced it with the zero gravity recliner chair and that was AMAZING!!


Getting in and out of the recliner was tricky because it was squished right up to the desk. But, since the desk raises and lowers, I was able to raise the desk and slither out when I needed to get up and then I would slither back in and lower the desk when it was time to work again.

Finally, there is one more reason why everyone at DVO is so excited. That's because...we are just getting started!!

What you see now is just the tip of the iceberg. The new Cook-It Feature is cool. Seeing Recently Made recipes on the home page of the Cook'n Desktop App is a fun new feature and a great way to discover THE BEST recipes. The new Scoreboard in the top right corner of the Cook'n Home Page is the bomb. And, the new Cook'n Leaderboards are really intriguing and a great way to unleash the power of the vibrant Cook'n Community. But, this is just the beginning.

Here are a few things you can look forward to in the very near future:

• "I Made This" option added to the Recipe View on mobile devices (iOS & Android)
• "Recently Made" recipes appearing on the mobile Discover View
• New Scoreboard (with links to the new Leaderboards) appearing on the mobile Discover View

And, shortly thereafter...are you ready for this? Drumroll please? LIKES! That's right. Pretty soon, you will be able to "like" recently made recipes. And, we will add corresponding leaderboards that track the number of likes given by a person, the number of likes a person has received, and we will display the Most Liked Recipes, etc. We plan to feature the most liked recipe in each monthly newsletter. And...much, much more!

So, keep your eyes peeled! If you want to get a jump start on these new leaderboards, get your best recipes dialed up and ready to go. And, get your friends to get Cook'n so you can "like" each other's recipes!

    Dan Oaks
    Founder of DVO Enterprises
    Creator of Cook'n
    Father of 5. Husband of 1.
    Monthly Newsletter Contributor since 2024
    Email the author! dan@dvo.com