Startup Dudes Are Sniping Restaurant Reservations with Robots
Silicon Valley has no time for the dictates of supply and demand: if a programmer wants to eat at one of San Francisco's most exclusive restaurants, he's going to get that fucking table by exploiting the place's website, because fuck you, that's why.
BuzzFeed's John Herrman peeks at a cabal of foodies who are using automated computer scripts to grab coveted tables before anyone else:
The consequences for restaurants are more complicated: Either way, they’re seating the same number of tables. But it changes their clientele and, by extension, how the city regards them. If hackers are fighting over your reservations, all your reservations will go to hackers.
Eating the best, with the best, might soon require a CS degree, in addition to a good paycheck. Or, you can just use a website like HackerTable, which aggregates high-demand slots. In the near future, we will all be reservation hackers, all cafes will be crowdfunded, and you'll share silverware with your best friend from Lyft.