20:29, Sunday 22 Apr., 2001 Link

Urbanbite is an interesting dotcom currently advertising in London. Premise: Tap in your postcode, see a list of restaurants in your area, order online for delivery or collection. It's a good idea, I think. We tried it last night, and the UI is exceptionally brilliant. But to be honest, I can't see how they're going to make money. It's no faster than ordering by telephone, and as useful as a restaurant finder and online menu is, that's not what they're pitching as. Another difficulty - one I hadn't anticipated before using them - was that the food places themselves aren't that keen on giving a cut of what they make to Urbanbite. When I took the food, it came with a plea to order direct next time: look here's the menu, phone number there, really please order straight from us.

The only advantages I can see of ordering online are if you order the same thing continuously (which, I must confess, I do), or if you don't have cash (they accept Switch). Or maybe if you have a really difficult unpronounceable address. But apart from that... hm.

It's like that sudden realisation when shopping from Amazon that, hang on, it's not that cheap, you're going to have to wait three days, and there's a book shop just outside anyway. No wonder the tech stocks have been tumbling.