Restaurateurs now have a new free app at their disposal to help handle the guest waitlist during peak times.

A Google spinoff group has come up with NoshList for the iPad. The app handles making sure somebody who checks in is seated in right order, based on the party size. It will also automatically send text messages to a guest's phone when their table is ready. So guests can wander around a shopping district or run some nearby errands if they're in an urban area waiting for a table.

In the past, restaurant owners would spend big money to put in proprietary systems to alert guest when their table was ready. These were the flashing coaster thingies that we've all probably seen.

But now all that's needed is to spend a few hundred dollars on an iPad. This is just one example of how the popularization of standardized gadgets makes it possible for so many independent business needs to be met at a much lower cost on a simple universal platform.

And we've barely scratched the service with all the apps that have yet to be developed!